The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1913-09-29
TIMES BUREAU,
At STATE CAPITAL,

Indianapolis. Ind, September %
Lack of harmony among the labor or
ganizations on subjects of legislation
is given as the cause of the failure of
the labor organizations to obtain the
passage of bills which We're before the
legislature last winter and which were
known as labor bills. This is the ex-
PLANTATION which is made by Edgar A.
Perkins, at present chief inspector of
the state department of inspection.
Perkins was president of the state
labor federation while the legislature
was in session last winter, but resigned
that position last summer when he was
appointed to the present office in the
state house
Perkins report as ex-president OF
the state federation will be read to the
annual convention of the federation at
Terre Haute on Tuesday of this week.
He places the blame for much of the
failure to secure labor legislation on
the railroad brotherhoods, which. he
says, fought some of the most meritori-
Gus bills In order to advance other
bills in which they were interested. The
concluding part of his report reads as
follows:
Not great deal was secured in the
way of labor legislation at the hands
of the sixty-eight General Assembly.
Yet the session was not entirely bar
rem of results Several bills of inter-
est to the railroad men were enacted,
a first class boiler inspection law was
enacted. and by providing for the ap-
pointment of commissions to investi-
gate the questions of workmen's com
pensation and the conditions surround
| ing women in industrial life the means
was provided whereby these two sub
Ijects may be considered at the next
session with definite facts in possession
/ of the members. AT the last session
these two questions overshadowed all
! others in which we were interested.
That nothing positive was accomplished
| is not particularly remarkable. Public
opinion has not crystallized on either
subject, and there is a wide difference
| of honest opinion as to just what
should be done to secure the best re-
suits. Even among our own member
ship we are not a unit on either propo-
sition. So it is not to be wondered at
| that members of the Legislature, many
of whom come from districts In which
the Industrial question does not enter
| in large degree, should hesitate, or
should lend willing attention to the
arguments of our opponents. Yet
Through the work of the commissions
there is bound to come enlightenment
on these subjects. and with this under
tstanding of the case we can reasonably
Hope to secure that for which we con-
ltend.
However. in my opinion. chief
factor in retarding favorable consid-
Grafton of some of our measures was
to be found in division of sentiment
lamong the various legislative repre-
ltions representing labor. For instance.
on the workmens compensation bill,
the representatives of the railroad
lbrotherhoods were inclined to take
tissue with u.s. and I was told on some
Occasions that, while we asserted that
1.-THE bill under consideration was the
ldesire of labor, we were not entirely
Icorrect, as some representatives Of
llabor were opposed to the bill. Re-
Igarding the bill for changes in the
factory inspection department I was