Evening star., 1923-11-04
AS, A UNION MAN SEES 1T

PLANTATION will probably have little ef-
feet on the receipts of the detective
agencies who specialize in labor mat
ters. There will still be gullible en-
ployers who cannot be made to be-
lieve that labor Is not conspiracy
conducted secretly and behind closed
doors. Evidently, they prefer to
shiver.
Business in Form OF Resolutions.
The business OF a federation con-
vention is brought before 1t by reso-
iutious and reports Of officers and
standing committees. These resolu-
tions and reports are considered by
convention committees, who In turn
report to the convention. and there
must be a report on every matter 50
referred. There is no such thing
resolutions in committee. This is
the right of representation and the
right of petition In the highest de-
gree. But it has its serious draw
backs in that there is a food Of
resolutions Of all kinds and character.
and frequently Immediately after
their introduction the impression
goes out to the world that they have
been approved by the convention.
when, as a matter of fact, the in
lege. and that means nothing at all
so far as the attitude of the gather
ing Is concerned. At the June con-
vention- of the federation last year
in Cincinnati about 125 resolutions
and special committee reports were
considered, taking up two weeks of
time and then. in order to avoid go
ing into the third week, a number
of resolutions and committee reports
were referred to the executive council
Co ncfd dnr 10 mo nf
conducting business Is also followed
In other labor conventions. Very few
of them are conducted behind closed
doors.
This freedom Of resolution intro
duction Is usually abused, in that un-
necessary and irrelevant matters are
thus brought forward. Unnecessary,
because acted upon at previous con-
ventions, and irrelevant because they
have no association with labor. The
quently been suggested that prior to
each convention an agenda should
be prepared by the council and that
discussion and action should be con-
fined to matters included in this ad-
vance program, except that by unani-
vote new proposals may be brought
forward or attention secured for
emergency questions arising after
the agenda had been prepared. 1t
seems, however, this Is q form OF
censorship that so far has not COM
mended itself to a majority of the
convention. Conservation Of time
and the desirability for fuller dis
cussion Of vitality important matters
may make some such method advis-
able.
vote Of BsAy Totals 81 .2S3.
At the last convention there were
!! 2s7 delegates representing ninety-five
national and international unions.
with 31,2s3 votes; five departments.
with ave delegates and flve votes;
thirty state federations.. with thirty
! delegates and thirty votes; ninety
one central hodies, with ninety-one
delegates and ninety-one votes;
thirty-nine local unions, chartered
directly by the federation, with
thirty-nine delegates and flfty-two
votes; Ave fraternal organizations
with six delegates and four votes.
A total Of 468 delegates and 31.465
votes, one vote for each 100 members
of the national and international
unions, and one vote for each OF the
other organizations represented, with
the exception Of the directly chart
cred local unions, which have one
vote for 0o0h 100 members or major
fraction thereof The six fraternal