The Washington herald., 1911-12-31
BUSINESS HOLDS IT'S OWN;
. LABOR FIGHTING FOR MORE
Review of Year in Commercial Industrial and Finan-
c;aI Life Full of Interest

Neither the best nor yet the worst can
truly be recorded of the 1911 business
year in America. Considering the period
of uncertainty connected with Canadian
reciprocity and the Democratic tariff pro-
gramme. the governments veto of higher
railroad rates, the numerous trust prose-
cutions. and the more persistent de-
mands OF labor on a new basis of craft
sOlida rity, the captains of industry may
be said to have had a rather rough and
costly voyage over the commercial seas.
Certain Il was that orders sIackened in
the iron and steel trade until the inde-
pendentS actually began to, cut prices in
May, despite the story told CT the trust
trying to hold the market up. Also the
wooden mills of New England Curtailed
production one-quarter from January to
September.
On February % the Interstate Com
merce Commission threw n wet blanket
on the hopes OF the railroad interests by
vetOinG Internationally the proposed gen
eraI advance in freight and passenger
rates. The railroads bowed to the Will
of the government, but Immediately be-
gan a Systematic laying off of workmen,
and, wherever not contrary to contract.
cutting down of wages. All this was
after the Western trainmen had got III
per cent advance in January.
Rise. of Craft UniOnism.
Then. as If in reply TO this move, came
a new method of union warfare, namely,
the combination CT all classes of workers
in given craft. This was called the
system federation among the shOpmen
of the Hartman lines. and when they
Joined in a concerted demand for better
hours and conditions of work, Vice
President kruttsCbnit warned the unions
and the public of a new danger in or
ganized labor. He said it would mean
the turning oyer of the operation and
control OF the big industries to the work
ers. Nevertheless, the system" shop
men. comprising half a dozen different
:rafts allied on all the great Hartman
lines. did begin a strike September 60
which is still or, at least nOminally, as
the year draws to a close. although the
railroads have managed to go on about
their business with a new set of men
breaking in.
Another move in this direction was the
decision Of the miners union to affiliate
with the railroad union. In October, a
railroad strike that won out in short or
der was that of the GeOrgia-Florida fire
men, who tied the system up tighter than
a drum for a week, and then got their
wage increase.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad made
a departure by organizing system OF
committees among the men to study prac-
tical safety methods.
Court-settIed Strike.
L1 August, in the city of Des Moines,
a distinctly new method of strike settle
ment was applied with apparent salts
faction to both sides. The city street car
system was all tied UP by striking car
men, and public sympathy was with them
to such an extent that it was impossible
to use outside help. ThereupOn Judge
De Graft. on appeal OF the mayor, or
dered the company to cOncede the de-
mands and the men to go to work. Both
parties obeyed the order.
The big strike of garment workers in
Chicago collapsed after one firm had
given in. The Cleveland garment work
ers, after a long and bitter struggle. had
to give up. The strike Of the Baldwin
locomotive workers, which began June s..
gradually lost force and was called off
August q. New York, in November, wit
messed the failure of the ash and gar
bage drivers strike against night work.
at great cost and Inconvenience to the
city.
1911 Crops Not So Big.
The annual report of the Secretary of
Agriculture tells a story of decreased
but still enormous production. the total
value of all crops being $S.5 100000. or
SZ77, 900. 600 less than last year. But still
the total farm value increased to S5,50l,
100000.
Bank deposits rose to the record mark
of IS 4S9 995. OIL.
Internal revenue receipts showed big
increase in the production of alcoholic
liquors.. 600 gallons more of distilled
beverages and 100000 barrels more Of
beer than last year.
Progress of Medical Science.
Science in it's various departments has
presented no startling or epoch-making
discoveries or triumphs of a popular
character, but at the same time inves-
tigators and inventors have done a vast
amount of experimental work in all lines.
In medicine DR.. FleXEer, of the Rookie
feIler Institute, announced that a serum
had been produced for the cure of spinal
meningitis. The army experts have al
most eradicated typhoid by the use of
serum cure Surgeons have done Won
ders in the direction of skin and organ
grating, the new wrinkle being the
preservation of live tissues in cold stor
age indefinitely The British royal COM
mission reported that tuberculosis could
be contracted from animals, contrary to
the Koch dictum,
In the field of aviation Curtiss developed
the hydroplane, as to be able to rise
from and alight on the water, while Or
Vile Wright in a series of gliding expert
ments in North Carolina tried out a new
balancing device. and made the gliding
record of nine minutes and fOrty-five
seconds. Sommers in France carried six
passengers in his aeroplane, and Garros
established the new altitude record of
Il, ,943 feet Vedrine won the Paris-Madrid
race, and Beaumont the Paris-London
race. HelleS in France made the longest
continuous flight, or 746 miles In fifteen
hours. Beatty at Chicago won the en-
durance record with passenger by flying
three hours fOrtytwO minutes twenty
two seconds. Atwood made a new cross
country record by flying from st. Louis
to New York. 1,240 miles. in twenty-seven
hours and forty-five minutes flying time,
but this. was eclipsed by c. P. Rodgers
in his fight all the way across the con-
tinent from New York to Pasadena, 4,0l7
miles. from September Il to November 5.
After. being delayed by a fall there,