Is there any room in the trade union movement for the apostle of depressing effect? There surely is not, and the less teaching of this kind that we have the better it is for labor.

There are a few men and women in the ranks of organized labor who seem to thrive on preaching the gospel of despair. They never fail to tell you of the starvation of working men, women and children and the terrible wreck that is wrought upon humanity by those in control of the various forces of society. These men and women see no good in life. They do not hear the singing of the birds; they do not see the beautiful sunshine and enjoy the days that are made for humanity's sake.

The real trade unionist is a confirmed optimist, going about preaching the gospel of hope and as he goes through life, throwing words of comfort here and spreading flowers along the pathway. Far better, my friends, that we help one lone struggling being here than to let him to his fate and blame his as well as our own shortcomings upon the system of to-day.

And why shouldn't the trade unionist feel happy? There is no institution in America that has and is doing as much for downtrodden humanity as the trade union movement of our country, as exemplified by the American Federation of Labor. Over 2,000,000 men and women, yes, coming toward the three million mark, doing everything they can, every minute they live, for the betterment of mankind. And the year 1916 has been a great one for organized labor. This giant of brawn and muscle is fast becoming that intellectual being that will break the chains of the past and bring about the enjoyment of the blessings of to-day through education and organization.

No ideal of the people is brought forth that is not championed by the

trade union movement. No institution is so class-conscious as the trade unions which go to make up the great American labor movement.

On every side wages have been increased, hours shortened and some great fundamental finally worked out. And no organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor has enjoyed greater blessings than the United Mine Workers of America. At the New York joint conference an advance of wages, giving our people millions of dollars, was secured. That great fundamental for which men have bled and died for on the industrial field and for which they have been driven back in defeat in the legislative halls of our country since the inception of the coal mining industry, was forever established on the entire North American continent. This wonderful victory established at the conference table without an industrial battle was surely one of the greatest in the annals of our organization. Yet we did not stop in our onward march. For more than fifty years the anthracite miners have hoped and dreamed of the time when the eight-hour day would be theirs. In recent years two titanic industrial struggles took place in this field, but the miners were forced to stack their arms for the time being and await that great day. It finally came. When the great metropolitan newspapers were saying no, when the apostles of despair everywhere were decrying the efforts of those we trusted with the destiny of the anthracite miners. Yes, that day was ushered in, again at conference in New York, where the operators, swayed by the powerful argument and sound logic of the miners' representatives, were forced by intelligent reasoning to yield the eight-hour day.

With all these marvelous achievements of our grand and glorious move

ment there can be no room in the organization for the destroyer of confidence. No, my friends, the trade union movement is made up of workers, not shirkers, men and women with red blood in their veins who do not cry in despair over their failures of yesterday, but who have the courage to fight on for achievement to-day and for the victories of to-morrow.

At no time could you feel prouder of the fact that you are a trade unionist than to-day. This is the era of true unionism. Let us go on and on teaching the gospel of hope, strengthening our organization and making life better, brighter and sweeter.-Van Bitner, in United Mine Workers' Journal.

"Is Mrs. Grass at home?"

"Yis, sor; but she's just takin' a bath."

"Will you tell her I would like to see her."

SUGGESTION FOR A PARADE. From the San Francisco Bulletin.

Suppose that some organizer of some preparedness parade, eager to make his enterprise a notable success, stuck up some such motto as this: Preparedness requires: 1-A living wage. 2-An eight-hour day. 3-Abolition of slums.

4-The reform of all unwholesome living and working conditions. 5-The elimination of unemployment.

6-A guarantee to workingmen of all the rights and privileges mentioned in the Constitution.

7-A shifting of emphasis from property rights to people's rights.

8-A centralizing of national policies upon the creation of a free, healthy race, too strong, just and free to be conquered.

Such a parade would take at least five years to pass a given point.

The

are all imbued with an intelligent understanding of what they are out

complish it, will often achieve their purpose, to the astonishment of critics and the discomfiture of the enemy.

Let it never be forgotten that a trade union is not a suite of offices, a president, a secretary, a membership card and a rule book. A trade union is a body of individual men or women whose actions, conduct, outlook and determination are all making or marring the success of the movement all the time.

It is not enough even to pay your subscription regularly and to fulfill all the laws and covenants of the society you have joined. You may still be a slack member if you merely observe the letter of the nation and miss the spirit. We have known some men in trade unions who have been the most scrupulous in attention to small duties, have never missed a meeting, never been in arrears, and never caused the slightest trouble. But when it came to giving any rational explanation of what they hoped to achieve by trade unionism they were nonplused.

On the other hand, we have members who (to hear them speak) were full of the most revolutionary ardor, and were just about to usher in the New Jerusalem with a flourish of trumpets (their own, as a rule), yet who were woefully deficient in their attendances and generally owed two or three months' subscriptions. May we be saved from both these classes!

A strong union-one capable of doing battle with the serried ranks of capitalism is one which possesses not only a good bank balance (strikes have been won on empty coffers before now), but strong, resolute membersmembers who take the trouble to understand the whole aim and policy of the working class movement. A strong union is one wherein is exhibited a nice balance of forces-aspiration urging on leadership, and diplomacy counseling the rank and file.

This ideal is impossible in a body made up of men who think they have

done all that is required of them when they have seen the secretary's initial ticked against their weekly three pence. The best members-the members we want behind us when we start to do battle with the enemy-are those who are not afraid of the drudgery (and often danger) of delegate duty; are steady proselyters-bringing outsiders into the fold like brands from the burning; are loyal to their fellows and their officers; are not afraid to put their finger on the weak places of the organization, yet who do not indulge in carping criticism at a crisis; and who, above all, are daily identifying themselves, body and soul, with the democratic uplift. With such a force we can go far. All types of workers, even in the most conservative trades, may find their level and sink their differences if this spirit is pursued. It is a high ideal, but it is the only one worth following if we want to create a union that shall be a power in the industrial world.

THE METRIC SYSTEM.

In an address delivered before the Rotary Club of Easton, Pa., and published in the Rotarian magazine, Major Fred R. Drake, chairman of the Committee on Metric System in the National Wholesale Grocers' Association, admirably sums up the indictment against the absurd system of weights and measures that still lingers in England and the United States. Some of his striking facts I condense and present herewith. In the latter part of the eighteenth century the metric system was adopted by France, and now it is either legal or obligatory in every nation of the world except here and in the British Empire.

It is the era of internationalism. We have international systems of time, longitude and the like. The metric system of weights and measures is the only system adapted to world use, and has already been almost universally adopted. Why do we not take it up?

Our present tables of measures are difficult. Nobody knows them. For

instance, a statute mile has eight furlongs, a furlong has forty perches, a perch two and three-quarters fathoms, a fathom two yards, a yard three feet, a foot twelve inches and one inch three barleycorns. An acre is four roods, a rood is forty rods, a rod is thirty and one-quarter square yards, a square yard nine square feet, and a square foot 144 square inches.

A barrel has four firkins, a firkin is nine gallons, a gallon four quarts, a quart two pints, and a pint four gills. Isn't that a blessed bunch of nonsense when you come to think of it?

The metric system is so simple it can be learned in an hour. It uses but five names of units and six short numerical prefixes.

The chief advantage is that it has the decimal ratio. By it a child can learn to measure wheat or water or land or distance as easily as he now learns to count money.

The entire system of scientific and electrical units are now metric; and this may be one reason for the rapid advancement of science during the last fifty years.

In the official work of the Government in the army, navy and public health service the metric system is used.

It is the official system in the Philippines and Porto Rico.

International postal rates are prescribed in metric units and settlements made on that basis.

It is said that America is due now to enter into world relations, abandoning its traditional policy of isolation. Would not the first step best be the adoption of the system of measurements in use by most of the rest of the civilized nations?

Finally, Congress has never really legalized the pound, the yard, the gallon and the bushel, leaving that to the States. It has only legalized coinage.

Congress did legalize in 1866 the metric system, but it is not compulsory.

We need to agitate public sentiment until Congress compels its nation-wide adoption-Dr. Frank Crane.

EIGHT-HOUR LAW TEST BEFORE HIGH COURT.

Washington. — Railroad managers and the Government have come to an agreement on carrying the fight over the eight-hour law to the United States Supreme Court. They have decided to use the recent decision by Federal Judge Hook, in Kansas City, as the vehicle for all their arguments for and against the constitutionality of the Adamson law.

Under the terms of this agreement both sides will appear before the United States Supreme Court, when it convenes December 4th, and join in a plea to have the Missouri, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad case advanced so that there may be a speedy decision. Meanwhile no more suits will be filed by the railroads against the law and the managers will prepare for an adverse decision by so arranging their accounts that they may be able to meet any demands of their employes because of a failure to work them but eight hours.

It is understood that the railroads wanted the law tested in the case of a larger railroad, especially the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, but the Government insisted that every question of law was contained in the Judge Hook decision, which involved smaller road. The Government agrees, however, that any railroad may file arguments in such manner as to include their objections to the law.

a

Baltimore. In a speech before the A. F. of L. convention last week President Gompers digressed for a moment to make this reference to Federal Judge Hook's ruling that the Adamson eight-hour law is unconstitutional:

"If it was the intention of Judge Hook to give the opportunity for the test as to the constitutionality of the law, why did he not declare it constitutional and make the other fellow test its constitutionality? Why did he not place the burden of proof of its unconstitutionality upon the railroad

managers who want to evade and avoid it, instead of upon the Government to affirm the constitutionality of the law? I call your attention to the industrial contrast manifested in the mental attitude of the old-time judiciary, some of whom are still holding office, appointed under the old regime. and who regard labor as a commodity and article of commerce."

LET US SMILE.

The thing that goes the farthest toward making life worth while, That costs the least and does the most is just a pleasant smile. The smile that bubbles from a heart that loves its fellow-men Will drive away the cloud of gloom and coax the sun again. It's full of worth and goodness, too, with manly kindness blent;

It's worth a million dollars and it doesn't cost a cent.-Ex.

THE FRIENDLY HAND. By James Whitcomb Riley. When a man ain't got a cent,

An' he's feeling kind o' blue,
An' the clouds hang dark and heavy,
An' won't let the sunshine through.
It's a great thing, O my brethren,
For a feller just to lay

His hand upon your shoulder
In a friendly sort o' way.

It makes a man feel curious;

It makes the teardrops start; An' you sort o' feel a flutter

In the region of the heart; You can look up an' meet his eyes; You don't know what to say, When his hand is on your shoulder In a friendly sort o' way.

Oh, the world's a curious compound,
With its honey and its gall,
With its cares an' bitter crosses,
But a good world after all;
And a good God must have made it-
Leastways, that is what I say,
When a hand rests on your shoulder
In a friendly sort o' way.