The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1915-11-19


and ammunition which they are
now using in an active campaign
against the law. Yet, at the same
time, those in charge of the admin
istration Of the law have had their
position weakened by the loss of
some of their most experienced and
competent men. Thus, our enc
mics are succored whilst we are
crippled.
During the past year the COM
mission, through its chief deputy,
I. P. Kerns, and its safety director
Victor 7. Noonan, has done much
along the line of industrial safety
Hundreds of meetings have been
held in which short addresses on
safety were made to the workmen,
foremen and superintendents
These meetings were held right in
the factories. The employers
showed their earnestness in this
work by allowing their employees
from thirty to sixty minutes during
the working hours to attend these
meetings. In this way a much
larger attendance was secured and
much tetter results were obtained.
Through the chief deputy of the
mining department, j M. Roam,
much good work was done along
safety lines by system of bulle-
tins calling the attention oF the
miners to the manner in which
miners had met with accidents and
showing how such accidents could
have been avoided.
During TIE past year we have
been working on a code of safety
and sanitation for the workshops
and factories of the state. We have
had sub committees of employers
aud workmeu OF the various trades
working on these rules. We had
hoped to have completed the work
long before this. But it turned out
to be much bigger job than we
had thought. We have called a
meeting of the committees on safety
and sanitation for the 25th of this
month. At that time we hope to
have fual action upon the adoption
of code of rules on safety and
sanitation.
Mr Crcxton has told you of
what has been done through our
statistical department, so | won t
take up any of your time to spOak
of the great and valuable work that
has been done there
Although little or no labor legis-
lation has been gained in any of
the states during the past year,
th-re is no reason for us to feel
discouraged The labor sections of
the Clayton Antitrust act, and
the Seamen $ Act, are, in a sense,
the greatest Legislative victories la
Dor has ever gained from the con
gress of the United States.
l hope the next victory will be a
measure making it unlawful to dis
charge man for belonging to a
labor union If men can exercise
lawful right only at the sacrifice
of their bread and butter that right
is more of a mockery than a benefit.
Our opponents sometimes say
that they are opposed t. trade un-
ions because the unions sometime s
force men to join when they would
prefer not to do so. They say that
this is tyranny; that it is an in
] fringement upon the personal lib
erty of the individual citizen; that
this personal liberty is a sacred
thing; and that it is more impor-
tant to preserve this personal liber-
ty of the individual than 1t is to
attain any object that organized
labor is trying to accomplish.
l just want to take a minute or
two of your time to put this per
sonal liberty argument to the test
of logic and see how it will stand.
If we 60 back to primitive times
we won't find any civil government.
Mans natural rights existed prior
to any earthly government. But
as the population of the world grew
the people found that one man in
the exercise of his natural rights
sometimes came in conflict with
another mans natural rights.
Therefore, they deemed 1t ad-