ly custodial in character. This, with a rapidly increasing rate of admissions (3,825 were admitted in 1910) gives much hope of an extensive segregation of this class in institutions. The present report is essentially one on institutional provisions, as shown by the fact that few feeble-minded persons were enumerated for many populous states. Four-fifths of the entire number enumerated were found in institutions of the following 11 states, the list being given in the order of number of inmates shown by the returns: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, California; 3,421 were enumerated for New York and 854 for California. A good indicator of the fact that the burden of feeble-mindedness is a public one is the census showing that 83 per cent. of all cases enumerated were being supported at public expense. The fact that the census report on almshouses indicates a decrease of the feeble-minded in almshouses in six years from 16,551 to 9,813 corresponds with the present theory that this class should be segregated in special institutions. The present report emphasizes the meagerness of knowledge on an important point respecting public policy, namely the extent of feeble-mindedness in the general population, a beginning in this direction in the census of 1880 not having been continued. There are varying estimates tending to place the ratio of feebleminded above that of the insane. Special studies recently, as in Burlington County, New Jersey, reveal the existence of large, menacing groups. Hence great interest attaches to the proposed plan of a state commission in New York to survey completely large representative areas. Care of the Epileptic.-It is encouraging to note that many states have not been blind to the needs of this class. Connecticut has opened a colony with a capacity of 80. In Illinois a colony school is being established on a tract of 1,100 acres. In Iowa land has been acquired for a state colony. In New Hampshire the state school for epileptics is being enlarged, and in Virginia a new building has been added to the colony. The Blind. The year's progress has been most notable in respect to the treatment of the problem of the blind apart from the now well established school system for blind children, especially in respect to trade schools and workshops for the adult blind and supervision through field agents. Trade schools and workshops have been opened at Berkeley, Cal., St. Louis and Memphis. Studies of the blind population, with a view to similar development, have been carried on in New Hampshire, North Carolina and Washington. An interesting development has taken place in Kentucky, where, following preliminary investigation by a private society, the U. S. Public Health Service has conducted clinics for the treatment of trachoma in Knott County, and has established three hospitals for the same purpose, more recently undertaking an investigation of the causes of blindness. XVI. LABOR AND LABOR LEGISLATION TRADE DISPUTES LABOR JOHN B. ANDREWS The Michigan Strike. - A bitter strike which was begun in the summer of 1913 in the copper mines of upper Michigan lasted until April, 1914. The chief issue involved was the recognition of the union, the Western Federation of Miners. The men contended for the right to bargain collectively through their organization as to changes in working conditions, while the operators characterized the union as a lawless one, with which they would have no dealings, directly or indirectly. end of 1913, Moyer, the president of the Western Federation of Miners, who was in charge of the strike, was, it was alleged, forcibly driven out of the strike region. The violence and charges of illegal acts on both sides so roused public feeling that, following the precedent set in the West Virginia strike of 1913 (A. Y. B., 1913, p. 414), on Jan. 29 the House of Representatives passed a resolution ordering an investigation by its committee on mines and mining. At about this same time an attempt at mediation by the Federal Department of Labor was accepted by the strikers but refused by the operators. The mine owners had posted notices that certain reductions in hours and wage increases would be made on Jan. 1, and a few at a time, the men gradually went back to work. In April they voted to discontinue the strike. The miners were taken back only on condition that they give up union membership and promise to remain non-union. The Colorado Strike.-A strike of coal-miners in southern Colorado atThe strike was accompanied by the tracted national attention in April usual unfortunate features of many when the shooting of 19 persons, the such disputes in isolated communities majority women and children, by the dominated industrially, politically militia, revealed the fact that nothing and socially by a single business in- less than a state of civil war existed terest and inhabited largely by the in the strike region. The strike had foreign-born. Cases of violence ne- been begun in September, 1913, and in cessitated the calling in of the mili- many aspects bore a likeness to the tia, and the strikers charged that cer- Michigan copper strike. They were tain armed mine guards, brought in both carried on among a population from the East by the companies, largely foreign-born, in isolated comjoined it, and that it was used in an munities dominated by the mining attempt to break the strike and not companies politically and socially. In impartially to preserve law and or- both the fundamental issue was the der. They also maintained that in recognition of the union, in this case some cases the courts were unduly the United Mine Workers of America. favorable to the mine owners. At the In Colorado the other demands in cluded an increase in wages and the enforcement of various state laws relating to mining conditions, which, the strikers charged, were not observed by the operators. Soon after the beginning of the strike the state militia were sent to the scene of the trouble and martial law was declared. The strikers complained that mine guards were enrolled in the militia and that it was not used impartially to preserve law and order, but rather to break up the strike. There were many acts of violence on both sides. At the end of November, 1913, a conference between the two sides failed to bring an agreement, splitting on the question of the recognition of the union. In December, 1913, a Federal grand jury indicted many of the union officials for violating the anti-trust law by seeking to create a monopoly of labor. The jury also found, however, that the coal companies had violated the state mining laws. An investigation of the strike was voted by the House of Representatives on Jan. 29, in connection with the similar study of lawlessness in Michigan. When the dispute began in Colorado the strikers with their families had moved out from the company houses to tent colonies on land leased by the United Mine Workers. One of the largest of these was at Ludlow. On April 20, in a battle with the strikers, the militia had fired into this tent colony, the tents were burned, and from bullets and fire together six men, two women and 11 children were killed, the women and children being suffocated in pits underneath the burning tents. Each side claimed that the attack had been begun by the other, and the militia charged that the strikers had deliberately used the tent colony for cover for their attack. Public concern was manifested in many ways. President Wilson sent a representative to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who controlled the largest of the coal companies involved, urging that he submit the dispute to arbitration. Mr. Rockefeller refused. His position was that nine-tenths of the men were opposed to the strike, which he declared was really fomented by eastern agitators, and that if the union was recognized it would demand the right to say what men should or should not work, which would be an invasion of American liberty. Following Mr. Rockefeller's refusal to arbitrate, President Wilson acceded to the request of the Governor of Colorado and sent in 2,000 Federal troops to restore peace. The soldiers disarmed both the strikers and the mine guards and deported all strike breakers who had been brought in after April 20. The militia withdrew when the Federal troops took control. Thus quiet was maintained during the summer. In early September, President Wilson proposed a "three-year truce" so that the Federal troops could be withdrawn. All miners not guilty of violence were to be taken back to work; all mining and labor laws were to be observed; neither union nor non-union workers were to be threatened. The miners at each mine were to elect a grievance committee to confer with the officials when necessary. Any difficulties not settled by these committees were to be taken up by a commission of three, appointed by the President himself and representing each side and the public. The decisions of this commission were to be final. The striking miners voted to accept this plan, but the mine operators refused. They objected mainly to being required to reemploy all those on strike, which in the existing conditions in the industry would compel them to displace some of their employees who had remained at work during the strike, and to employ certain strikers now under indictment, but not yet tried; they objected also to the creation of grievance committees, and to the final settlement of disputes by the outside authority of a commission. Early in December President Wilson appointed another commission to settle future labor disputes in the Colorado mines. members included Seth Low of New York City, representing the public, Charles W. Mills of Philadelphia, as a representative of the operators, and Patrick Gilday of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, District President of the United Mine Workers, for the miners. On Dec. 8 the union involved voted to call off the strike, and on Dec. 30 part of the Federal troops were ordered withdrawn. The Minor Disputes.-Another intervention of Federal troops in a labor dispute took place in Arkansas in the Hartford Valley district in early November. A strike occurred in certain coal mines which were involved in bankruptcy proceedings and were being operated by a receiver. The business was thus in charge of the Federal courts, and when the strikers made attempts to injure the property, the affair came immediately under the jurisdiction of the Federal authorities. President Wilson, therefore, sent in troops to force the observance of the orders of the court. A strike on the Delaware and Hudson railroad in January involved all the employees except the office force and the shop men, lasted a single day during which time the movement of traffic was entirely stopped, and ended in the management's agreement to the demands of the men. The question at issue was the reinstatement of a conductor and an engineer who the Brotherhoods claimed had been unjustly discharged. But one noteworthy strike was carried on under the auspices of the Industrial Workers of the World during the year. This one took place in the Pittsburgh district and the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. was the principal firm involved. The strike was caused by the introduction of the premium and bonus system of payment. A prevailing belief in the principle that the worker is entitled to all the returns of industry also increased the discontent of the workers. The business depression made it easy to obtain men to take the strikers' places and the strike failed. A strike of the employees of the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills in Atlanta, Ga., pending at the end of the year, marks "the first effective organization of labor among southern textile workers." Unlike the former memorable textile strikes, this one is being carried on by the United Textile Workers of America, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and not by the Industrial Workers of the World. The strikers' demands include not only a substantial increase in wages and the reinstatement of those discharged because they were union members, but also a 54-hour week for all women and minors and the discharge of all children under 14. A strike carried on by most of the employees of a large Chicago restaurant during the winter of 1914 brought out a court definition of what constitutes "peaceful picketing." It was claimed that the police made many arrests among the strikers for doing what was legalized by Illinois statute. Each side sought an injunction against the other. The judge ruled against any speaking to strike breakers while on picket duty as "tending to intimidate," but allowed the publishing and distribution of printed matter. The peaceful state of the garment trades in New York City, in contrast to the former incessant disturbances, again demonstrated the efficacy of the "protocol" (A. Y. B., 1913, p. 417). The only strike was that of the workers on children's dresses in non-union shops, and its aim was to bring standards of hours and wages up to "protocol conditions." A strike of 3,000 coal-barge captains in New York harbor presented unusual elements. These men bring the city's coal supply from the Jersey railroad terminals. They obtained an increase in wages from $40 to $60 a month, claiming that with this increase they could afford to have their families live on shore instead of on the barges, where the children had no chance to go to school. In Stockton, Cal., the Merchants', Manufacturers' and Employers' Association tried to carry on an "openshop lockout." They locked out their union workmen and pledged themselves not to use the union label, not to increase existing wages or shorten hours and not to make any agreements with labor organizations. Dull business and the disturbed industrial conditions produced by the European War made the latter part of 1914 an unfavorable time for demands from wage-earners for improved conditions, and consequently few important labor disputes were begun during the latter part of the year. Boycotts and Blacklists.—The heavy damage verdict against the Hatters' Union for boycotting the makers of the United States was asked. In March he rendered it as follows. The combination of the unions into the Allied Printing Trades Council was legal. The "political boycott" it carried on was also legal. In this political boycott the unions warned publishers of schoolbooks who have work done on them by non-union firms that appeals will be made to boards of education not to purchase such books. But it is pointed out in the opinion that any secondary commercial boycott, such as was tried in the Danbury Hatters' Case, is entirely illegal. This exists when union members threaten not to make purchases from stock books printed by non-union houses. One of the firms affected, an engraving company, then turned to state action, sought to enjoin the Council, brought a civil suit for $50,000 damages and also started criminal proceedings. The injunction was denied (Gill Engraving Co. v. Doerr, U. S. D. C., 214 Fed., p. 111), however, and the firm then came to an agreement with the union, so that the other two actions were dropped. "Danbury hats" in connection with a strike against D. E. Loewe & Co. was once more affirmed, on Dec. 18, 1913, and once more appealed by the unions to the U. S. Supreme Court. This case has been in the courts since 1903 (A. Y. B., 1911, p. 352; 1912, p. 400). After seven years of litigation the contempt case against Messrs. Gompers, Mitchell and Morrison, chief officials of the American Federation of Labor, was finally settled by the U. S. Supreme Court. In brief, the course of the case has been as follows (A. Y. B., 1911, p. 351; 1912, p. 400): The name of the Bucks Stove and Range Co. had been placed on the "We don't patronize" list of the Federationist, a bookseller because he carries in the official organ of the American Federation of Labor. A sweeping injunction was issued to prevent this boycott, which was deliberately disobeyed, as the Federation believed it illegal. The trial of Mitchell, Morrison and Gompers for contempt of court then followed and heavy sentences were imposed. Appeals and retrials ensued, till the last verdict of the U. S. Supreme Court ended the litigation. The verdict, however, was a disappointment in that no principles were enunciated, but the sentences of the lower courts were reversed on account of the statute of limitations. The Court found that the chief alleged contempts had been committed more than three years before the date of bringing the action. The Allied Printing Trades Council of New York City, a federation of all the local unions in any way connected with the printing business, was involved during the year in a series of legal proceedings having to do with the legality of the boycott. Among Arbitration and Conciliation.-The these allied trades it is the custom seriousness of certain recent labor disto refuse to handle any work done by putes, notably those in Lawrence, non-unionists. For instance, union Paterson, West Virginia, Michigan, binders will not work on books print- and Colorado, and the failure of ated by non-unionists or plates engraved tempts at mediation have increased in a non-union shop. A warning was public interest in more effective methsent to union members in another ods for peaceful settlements. A visit state not to handle such "non-union" from Justice Higgins of Australia, engravings. Interstate commerce was judge of the Commonwealth Arbitrathus involved, one of the firms com- tion Court, which settles all interplained, and a Federal grand jury state trade disputes, gave a possible made an investigation in February, impetus to the cause of compulsory but found no violation of the anti- arbitration. He described its worktrust law in this action. Next the ings in Australia as highly satisfacopinion of the Attorney-General of tory, but since such a plan involves A similar affirmation of the right of organized labor to take action against the use of non-union material by union men was won by the refusal of the New York Circuit Court of Appeals to issue an injunction in the so-called “Paine Case" against the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (Paine Lumber Co. v. Neal, U. S. C. C. A., 214 Fed., p. 82). This was a case where union activities prevented an open-shop firm from selling its non-union made trim for buildings in New York City. |