By 45,000 votes for the independent Good Government candidate against 15,000 votes for all other candidates the people of San Francisco have vindicated the capacity of American municipalities for self government.-K. C. Times.

In this issue of The Clerk we print a cut of Brother W. C. Ritter, president of Cleveland Lodge No. 47, who is one of our most faithful and influential members. Though he has passed the meridian of life Brother Ritter is a persistent and zealous worker in the cause. His interest in the Brotherhood is not actuated by desire or purpose to benefit self; on the contrary he expects and seeks only the satisfaction of knowing that he has conscientiously performed his full duty to his fellow man, as he sees it.

Every worthy member should, and some day must, hold like views of and for the Brotherhood that Brother Ritter now holds. He realizes that effective organization will benefit the railway companies as well as the clerks; and by rendering careful, faithful and full service to the company by which he is employed he teaches his loving desciples and co-workers as eloquently by example as he does by precept.

It is upon a foundation of such material that we hope and expect to build an organization that will win the friendship and compel the respect of all.

SPECIAL NOTICE TO ATTACHED MEMBERS OF THE GRAND LODGE.

In order that our records may be more complete all attached members of the Grand Lodge are requested to advise Grand Secretary-Treasurer Brother Fisher name of road by which they are employed. If not in the railroad service, they are requested to advise him to that effect. His office often receives requests from general committees or boards of adjustment for information as to the number of attached members employed by their respective lines and in order that we may be in a position to give this information accurately, this request is made. In

furnishing the information please give membership card number. This is important and I urgently request all attached members to comply without delay.

WILBUR BRAGGINS,

Grand President.

CALL FOR REFERENDUM VOTE. Be it resolved, That the Grand President and Grand Secretary-Treasurer are hereby authorized and instructed to call for a referendum vote to change the Constitution and By-laws of the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks.

It is the sense of Algiers Lodge No. 55 that a protective fund fee of ten cents a month, payable monthly, will materially assist the entire Brotherhood in attaining benefits which seem almost impossible of, attainment with the present protective fund fee of fifty cents per annum, which has been found inadequate.

Be it further resolved, That this Law shall become effective immediately upon its adoption. P. E. MUNTZ, President,

A true copy of Minutes.

ROBT. PETERSON, Secretary.

ROLL OF DISHONOR.

Frank W. Pell; last known address, I. & G. N. Annex, Palestine, Texas. See April, 1906, Clerk.

R. S. Price; last known address, Memphis, Tenn. See April, 1906, Clerk.

R. H. Munn; last heard from at El Paso, Texas. See May, 1906, Clerk.

Juan Conchola; last known address, Aguascalientes, Mexico. See November, 1906, Clerk.

C. C. Evans; last known address, care L. & N. R. R., Cincinnati, Ohio. See May, 1907, Clerk.

Arthur J. Peebles; last heard from scabbing on the S. P. at Houston, Texas. See August, 1907, Clerk.

0NOTICE.

You will perhaps note that this issue of The Clerk is somewhat smaller than usual, and will state as a reason therefor that circumstances made it impossible to get the October issue out on time, and we are trying to get caught up, and in order to do so have reduced the size and otherwise hurried the November Clerk.

THE TRUE DIGNITY OF LABOR. By Hon. Chas. W. Fairbanks. (In Illustrated Sunday Magazine of the Cleveland Leader.)

We are essentially a nation of laborers and we have no hospitality for human drones. Indeed, the nation is the rich fruit of labor, for our ancestors, noble and splendid men and women they were, with their strong right arms carved out of the wilderness this great Republic. They felled the forests, founded mighty cities, spanned rivers and knitted together all sections of the country with great highways of commerce and means of inter-communication. They have reclaimed the waste places, and on every hand have taught the necessity and the true virtue and dignity of labor.

There are many questions which vitally affect labor and which have received and are receiving the earnest attention of publicists and economists. It is a gratifying fact that more people are studying labor problems today than ever before, and that those who are disposed to study them are no longer regarded as singular, but as sober thinkers, desirous of promoting justice, elevating the condition of their fellow men and advancing the well being of society. No higher motive than this can actuate men.

We are so bound together as a people that we are necessarily concerned in each other's welfare. Whatever adversely affects any considerable number of our population, adversely affects, in a measure, all others, and, conversely, what benefits any considerable number necessarily benefits, in some degree, all others. There is no such thing as complete and absolute independence, and it is well that it is so. Our interests are so interlaced in the loom of the Almighty that we cannot live apart if we would, and we would not if we could.

There has been a decided advance in the cause of labor in recent years. The evolution in our industrial conditions, which is the marvel and admiration of the world, has rendered it necessary that labor should or

ganize. Labor organizations have their origin in the instinct of self preservation, of mutual advancement, of common good, and are as natural and legitimate as the organization of capital. In fact, the organizations of labor and capital naturally go hand in hand. The one is essentially the complement of the other.

That labor organizations have done much to advance the cause of labor there can be no doubt. They have been earnest advocates · of education, knowing full well that knowledge is real power. They have established newspapers throughout the country, intelligently devoted to the promotion of their interests. They have founded benevolences, and paid millions of dollars to their membership. They have increased wages when inadequate and secured reasonable hours of service. They have abolished or modified conditions in the sweat shops of great cities which were undermining the health and morals of the operatives. They have stood against the abuses of child labor. They have taught the necessity of the observance of contracts, knowing full well that contracts are founded in honor and are the basis of commercial success. They have increased and seek to maintain a higher moral among their membership. They are opposed to anarchy. Anarchy has no greater foe than they. They know that labor's best interests are dependent upon the maintenance of orderly and stable government.

There are more than thirty thousand local labor unions in the United States, with a membership of more than three millions. What infinite good can be accomplished by this mighty amy of peace and industry if held true to its opportunity! Its success will depend upon the character of its leadership and upon its adherence to sound and rational principles. It must spurn those who prostitute it to the accomplishment of mere selfish purposes or political party ends.

One of the functions of organized labor is to secure the recognition of its rights by capital through pacific means. War is de

structive, the labor wars are no exception to the rule. It has seemed to me that through organized labor misunderstandings between labor and capital can be minimized, turbulence and disorder largely avoided and that stable conditions may be maintained. The strike should be the last appeal, and resorted to only when other means of securing proper redress have failed. This is, indeed the fundamental theory upon which organized labor is founded. The problem of the strike has been recognized as a grave and difficult one, and a satisfactory solution has been earnestly desired. The Congress of the United States, a few years ago, enacted a law providing for the arbitration of differences between the carriers of interstate commerce and their employes. The mechanism for the settlement of such differences is provided by the act. It may be employed by mutual agreement of the parties. This was certainly a step in the right direction.

Compulsory arbitration has been suggested, but it has found few advocates. It is not acceptable to either interest; wherever it has been, attempted it has been abandoned, except in New Zealand, where the experiment is proving by no means satisfactory.

We want no slave labor. Two million men, with their blood, wiped away slave labor forever. We want no labor, either black or white, in a virtual state of serfdom. Labor must be free with all the prerogatives which pertain to freedom. It must be free to sell its commodity in the highest market. capital must be likewise free to employ labor where labor desires to dispose of its commodity. There must be reciprocity of privilege, reciprocity of opportunity.

So

be a margin of each day for self cultivation, for the improvement of the man. In the end there will be a better man and better worker and better results.

There is no greater evil than that of child labor in workshops, factories and mines. Labor organizations have done much to correct this evil in many of the states, and are making commendable effort to eradicate it where there are no laws to govern it. No such abuse can long endure when the moral sense of the country has been aroused as it is being aroused. Mere selfishness cannot long stand in the way.

Child labor is not alone wrong done to childhood. Society is vitally interested in the fullest possible physical, moral and intellectual development of its members, and in the end it suffers if the children who are to constitute its membership are atrophied in the essential qualities of healthful citizenship.

It has been a part of our national policy to permit the people of other countries to share with us our national blessings. Many millions have come hither to unite their fortunes with ours and join in upbuilding the country. They have been, in the main, desirable. They have been industrious, selfsacrificing, patriotic. When the national honor has required they have stood shoulder to shoulder with the native born and won enduring glory.

For many years there was no limit to our hospitality. There was no prohibition against the coming of any who desired, but in recent years we have deemed it in the national interests to exclude certain undesirable classes, among whom were contract laborers. We did not consider those desirable citizens who could be induced to come under contract to take the places of American workmen. We have not regarded it in the national interest to admit their own iniative to become joint sharers in the splendid privileges of our institutions. Acting upon the principle that our supreme duty is to our own countrymen, we closed our doors against the Chinese. We do not want cheap labor. We want well paid labor. We desire not only well paid labor, but want that labor steadily employed.

We speak of labor, but not as a class, for this is a country where class distinctions do not and should not obtain. Our country is not divided into classes, and we trust in the Providence of the Almighty it may never be

come so. The laborer of today is the capitalist of tomorrow. There is no avenue of opportunity that is not impartially open to all. Even the alien born may attain to every place save one, and that the Chief Magistracy of the Republic.

The true managers of our railroads, manufacturing industries, banks, newspapers, in short, the leaders in almost every avenue of activity, are those who, as a rule, have walked the humbler ways of life. Our statesmen and publicists are those who early learned the necessity of work. Those who shall control the destiny of the Republic will come from the ranks of no class, but from farms, workshop and mine.

I am an optimist, believing that we are growing better, not worse. The church and the school were never more potent than they are today in advancing Christianity and education. There was never more charity and philanthropy than now. Let us hope that we may all look upon the questions that concern capital and labor with a clearer vision to the end that justice may be done among men.

Our flag stands today for more than ever in all its splendid history. There are more people today than ever before who love it, and who, if need be, would die for it. We must cultivate for it a wholesome respect. Beneath it labor enjoys greater opportunities and is more blessed than under any other flag upon the face of the globe. It protects labor, and labor protects it. Whenever it has been in peril the strong arm of labor has been extended in its defense. Let us devoutly hope that wars may not again disturb the nation, for labor's victories are won in peace.

SUCCESS OR FAILURE.

It is just as important and just as necessary to have a solid organization back of the committee which goes before railway officials for a revision of schedule as it is to have a solid organization back of the committee which conducts the first negotiations for recognition as a craft union.

Just at present preparations are being made by our craft on several railway systems to send committees before the various managements, either to obtain new schedules or to revise old ones, and on a few roads the committees have already been convened and drafts of proposed new or revised schedules presented for adoption. Therefore it is

proper at this time to point out to our members on all such roads the importance of presenting a solid front to the management and displaying as much enthusiasm and interest in Brotherhood affairs as is possible to muster up, for there is nothing quite so pleasing to the railway officials who oppose the fair requests of organized labor as the appearance of division in the ranks of the union or a lack of interest and enthusiasm among the members. In the minds of such officials lukewarm members are equivalent to nons, and fault-finding members are depended on to stay with the company in the event of failure to reach an agreement between the committee and the management and the possible later development of a strike.

In the past considerable progress has been made towards organizing some of the larger railway systems in the West, but just at the time when prospects seemed most hopeful, when it appeared that the required percentage of maintenance-of-way employees would surely be obtained which our laws specify must be enrolled as members before grievances can be legally acted upon by the Brotherhood, and even in some cases when we had reached the point where a committee had been appointed and an assessment levied to defray its expenses while negotiations were in progress, the entire result of many months' painstaking and patient effort has been knocked to pieces by a few impatient and contentious individuals making a loud howl about "slow progress" or "too much expense," thus causing many members to lose confidence and bringing failure upon the entire movement.

A factor which aided the disgruntled element, and the element which believed something could be got for nothing, was the announcement by a Ft. Scott lawyer (J. I. Sheppard), about four years ago, that the old orders were charging too much for dues and that they were progressing too slowly. He proposed to organize every trackman in the United States in ninety days, establish a minimum rate of $75 for section foremen and $2 per day for laborers for eight hours work. And for all this he only asked "the poor, down trodden trackmen" to send him $1 each, to pay initiation fees and dues for one year. This was the opportunity of those who wanted a "cheap" union, but it has proved to be a very dear experience to those who have sent their dollars to Mr. Sheppard.

They have only been paying for the privilege of continuing to work without a schedule, as schedules are not among the assets of the union conducted by Lawyer Sheppard. We believe, however, that their experience has taught them some wisdom, as we are making wonderful progress just now in the re-organization of the systems where the N. U. R. T. (Sheppard's union) made most of its converts, and we do not anticipate that the men who have once "abandoned the substance to grasp at the shadow" will be deceived or misled in the same manner again. On the contrary, we believe they will do everything possible for determined men to do to obtain the schedule of rules and rates of pay which they should have had years ago, and which they would have had if they had not allowed themselves to be hood-winked by rainbow chasers. There are many "pots of gold" for maintenance-of-way employees who go after them in a practical way, and they don't have to go to the rainbow's end to find them. Intelligent organization and practical, persistent procedure will bring the gold every time, but a reasonable amount of money is required to keep a practical labor organization in good working condition, or, in other words, in condition to produce results for its supporters. "The Advance Advocate."

LABOR TEMPLES AND LABOR LEADERS.

(By Rev. Charles Stelzle.)

There is nothing that develops a man quite so well as placing upon him some、 kind of responsibility which compels him to make good. Many workingmen know how true this is in connection with the purchase of a home, especially when they had just about enough money to pay down to bind the bargain-the remainder to be paid off in monthly installments. Somehow, that kind of a proposition puts a man on his mettle. He is ready to deny himself many a thing which he formerly thought was a necessity. There was a real satisfaction in feeling that he lived in a home which was actually his own. It gave him a pride which cannot possibly belong to him who rents. It gave him a dignity which seemed to place him away above the average man who had no such responsibility. Somehow the neighbors thought more of him, and duly respected his standing in the community as a property owner. It brought its hardships and its burdens, but these were

not to be compared with the compensations which came as the result of the struggle for the making of a real home.

If this is true of the individual, it also applies to an organization. The society that owns its own building soon has an influence in town which few other things can bring to it. How true this is of the fraternal orders as well as business houses. One of the most hopeful signs of the times in the labor movement is the fact that in dozens of towns in this country central labor unions are making a struggle to secure "labor temples," which shall be a credit to the union workingmen of their cities.

There is need for such buildings in every community. One of the great disadvantages in many cities is the lack of unity and co-operation among working people. Their meeting halls are scattered all over town, and many of them put up with miserably close and dirty quarters, largely be cause they cannot find better places which are as convenient in other directions. Workingmen need social centers, such as this would give them. They should have central bureaus which shall be in charge of the most competent and best informed official upon whom they can lay their hands -a man who has large ideas about the labor question and its present day needs. He should be a labor statesman and he should be so protected and safe-guarded from petty jealousies that he can look every man in the eye and tell him-whatever he thinks should be said upon that occasion. If he isn't big enough to keep from becoming a tyrant or a czar, he isn't the man for the job. Labor would profit immensely if it had such a man in every city, who would be honored for his work's sake. It will not be an easy job, but it can be made so valuable a one that even the kickers will be made to see its effectiveness.

A labor temple in every city, worthy of its workingmen, and a strong man to guide their destinies-that's what I'd like to see.

THE WANING HARDWOOD SUPPLY. Although the demand for hardwood lum. ber is greater than ever before, the annual cut today is a billion feet less than it was seven years ago. In this time the wholesale price of the different classes of hardwood lumber advanced from 25 to 65 per cent. The cut of oak, which in 1899, was more than half the total cut of hardwoods,