The question of education for our members occupied a prominent place in the discussions at our last convention. The report of the Education Commitee which recommended the working out of a systematic program for our members under the supervision of an Educational Committee of the International had the support of the entire convention. There seemed to be a general recognition of the need of special labor education within our ranks and of the importance of making provision for its immediate inauguration. In this spirit the convention provided for the appointment of an Educational Committee and voted the sum of not less than $5,000 to be placed at the disposal of this committee.

The committee has held several meetings and at last, after various delays, has organized itself and has worked out a plan of educational activities which it presents herewith and proposes to put into immediate operation. This plan has been prepared by myself, chairman of the Education Committee, and Juliet Stuart Poyntz, Educational Director for Local 25. In considering this program which is extensive and broad, it must be borne in mind that any scheme of educational work in the labor movement must be from the very nature of the situation, experimental in character and gradual in application. The scheme as outlined here is a general constructive plan which may not be carried out in its entirety at once, but which is necessary as a guide in the working out of details and in the determination of policy.

The field of labor education is so new that a careful consideration of policies, aims and purposes, is necessary in order to give it significance and effectiveness. The first consideration in elaborating an educational program is the purpose to be achieved. The aim of all educational activities within the labor movement must be twofold, the development of the individual worker and the strengthening of the organization. The problem is not merely to spread knowledge for itself, but rather that knowledge which

will lead to a realization on the part of the worker of his position as a social factor and thereby to a strengthening of the organization.

In working out the method of organization in our educational activities we lay emphasis on two principles; first, the importance of keeping a close connection between the work of education and the other activities of the organization; secondly, of preserving and encouraging local initiative in educational work. From this standpoint it is desirable that the educational activities shall be carried on in the same center as the organization activities, shop meetings, etc., a conclusion which is fully justified by the success of a similar educational experiment conducted during the last season in the Ladies' Waist and Dressmakers' Union, Local 25. This extensive connection of education and organization work has hitherto been impossible for lack of suitable headquarters. However, this obstacle has been overcome in the educational work of Local 25 through the use of public school buildings, and we have reason to believe that with proper efforts the use of these buildings could be extended to all locals. It is needless for us to point out the significance of the acquisition of such extensive facilities for our purposes which in fact make possible for the first time the carrying out of a broad, far-reaching and effective program of labor education.

Curriculum and Activities

In the arrangement of classes the following curriculum is suggested based on the general principles previously set forth and worked out with a view to the cooperation of the locals and the International.

Local Courses

In each local certain educational activities should be organized and conducted by the local itself, the purpose of which should be to make the workers better acquainted with the conditions and problems of their own local organization and better fitted for general participation in its activities. The local courses should consist of the following:

on important problems of our organizations.

Method of Organization of the Educational Work

The education plan of the International and locals should be organized and administered in cooperation, as follows:

I. An education committee of three should be appointed from each local.

2. These local committees should work in close cooperation with the General Education Committee of the International.

3. The general supervision of the educational work of the international should rest with the General Education Committee, while all local educational activities and social and organization activities in connection therewith should be conducted by the education committees of the various locals.

4. This educational program shall be carried out through the use of public schoolbuildings as centers of oragnization and education activity.

Finances

A financial scheme should be worked out whereby the International and the various locals should cooperate in bearing the expenses of this educational plan. The use of the public schools both for shop meetings and for general educational and social purposes is entirely free. The only expense, therefore, will be that of supervision and instruction. To defray this, the committee makes the following recommendations:

I.

The expense of the general course to be covered by a special contribution from the treasury of the International together with a fund provided by the locals in proportion to the size of their membership.

2. Each local to be entitled to seats according to its contribution to the general fund, additional seats to be charged for individually.

3. All expenses of the local course and the organization and administration of all local education, social and organization activities shall be defrayed by the local.

We believe that by adopting this educational program, we have met the sentiments of our convention, and that with the hearty cooperation of our local and General Executive Boards, we will succeed in laying the foundation of an institution of which our International may well be proud.

Elias Lieberman,

Chairman of Educational Committee.

Manufacturers' Bold Bid for the Open Shop. Early last month representatives of some of the largest manufacturing interests of the country waited on the Council of National Defense with the proposal for a joint agreement between the employers and employees working for the war to prevent strikes and lockouts, compel both sides to maintain existing conditions of open shop or closed shop and establish a board for compulsory arbitration of labor disputes occurring in connection with war production.

that now the moment is favorable to restrict the workers' freedom to strike or make demands for a union shop.

A "STRIKING" ANSWER IN THE
WEST.

If the Council of National Defence should listen to the request of the manufacturers and deprive the workers of their freedom of action, industrial unrest would be intensified. Russia has furnished an example. Far-sighted people can see that restrictions on labor and failure to restrict profiteering would cause something like revolutionary outbreaks. This alarm is shared in by no less a person than Herbert C. Hoover, U. S. food administrator. At the recent convention of the Chamber of Commerce in At

It is easy to see through the tactics of the manufacturers. The population of this country, engaged in gainful occupations, numbers some 38,000,000, while the organized workers, men and women, number about 3,000,000 Only some organized industries have strong unions that exercise a controlling influence in the factories by means of the union shop. The workers in the largest and richest industries, as, for instance, the steel and iron trades throughout the country, are very poorly organized. So the astute manufacturers are eager to tie the hands of the great majority of the workers and prevent them from joining the labor movement or put forward demands for a union shop.

The war has brought in its train a strong clamor to restrict freedom in various spheres of our national life. Gradually certain liberties are taken away from us on the excuse that the "war for democracy" demands such measures. The result of this wave of reaction will be that before seeing a ray of democracy in Europe we shall, in the meantime, lose the measure of true freedom that made America the freest country in the world. And so the manufacturers of the country have seized on the idea

ing:

If we fail (to give public service) we will have given impulse to these demands (radical claims as to the necessity of socializing our industries) and ground for their complaints. One looming shadow of this war is its drift toward socialism, for with the gigantic sacrifice of life the world is demanding a sacrifice of property, and we will surely drift to that rocky coast unless we can prove the economic soundness and willingness to public service of our commercial institutions.

Mr. Hoover has, perhaps, not thought of the workers when he made that statement. But the war is like a double-edged sword, striking the laboring population with one sharp edge of large profits, which drive up the cost of living, and seeking with the other edge to cut down the liberties of the organized workers. Mr. Hoover's warning had only an outward effect. In their inner hearts most employers of labor will remain callous. They will not change until the entire system is changed.

In the meantime the best and only answer the workers can give to the profiteers and exploiters is to strike for their rights.

ORGANIZATION WAVE IN KANSAS CITY.

The manufacturers of this busy center ignored the mounting cost of living and continued underpaying their workers. Interesting developments are reported by the

Labor Herald of that city for September 14. The report says in part:

Twelve weeks ago the unorganized box makers employed in the four largest box factories in this city, finding it impossible to live decently on their miserable pay, went on strike. This was the beginning of the greatest series of strikes and the greatest boom in organization among the unorganized workers that has ever occurred in this city.

The street railway employees, also unorganized, were the next to astonish the citizens of this city by going out in a body and tieing up the town for nine days and then organizing the largest local union ever in Kansas City, 2,500 strong.

Then things began to happen; the Grain Elevator Employees and the Radiator Workers struck and won their demands. The stationary firemen and engineers followed, demanding the eight hour day. The mail and baggage men at the Union Station struck and then the Freight Handlers and Railway Clerks in all the big railroad freight houses went on strike. These men have now been organized and are affiliated with the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks.

Next came out some 500 girls employed in the candy factories, followed by the workers in the soap factories, and all joined their respective unions. The express drivers of the Adams and Wells Fargo Express Companies brought up the rear of the striking army of labor in Kansas City.

This is a good illustration of what is passing in other centers of industry. It furnishes the best reply to the demands for legalizing the open shop, to the clamor for curtailing the right to strike and to the unrestrained grasping greed of profiteers and exploiters. The light of unionism is dawning on the minds of the unorganized, giving a new twist to their lives.

THE STRIKE IN SAN FRANCISCO As yet the seething unrest and strike outbreaks in the copper regions of Arizona, in the mines of Tennessee and Kentucky and the ship yards of Seattle have not cooled down, when strikes on a large scale have broken out in San Francisco and near

by places on the Pacific coast, involving the skilled metal workers and machinists employed on government contracts, amounting to $150,000,000 in value. The machinists walked out simultaneously from thirtyone steam laundries, the moulders struck in sixty shops, the boilermakers stopped work in twelve factories and the workers engaged on military apparel were reported to have followed suit. In addition, a strike of some 3,000 carmen was in progress. All

these strikes involved about twenty-five different unions.

The Federal government immediately got busy, and Mr. Hurley, the chairman of the Shipping Board, proceeded to San Francisco to stem the tide of industrial revolt and try to restore normal conditions.

Later President Wilson himself took matters into his own hands and appointed a committee of investigation, headed by Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson. At this writing a report circulates that the workers have returned to work pending the board's investigation and promise that their grievances would be redressed.

RADICAL SPEECHES AT FARMERS' CONFERENCE

While the world war has been raging and engrossing general attention there has sprung into existence in North Dakota as its central point the Non-Partisan Leaguea live, vigorous organization of farmers and small business men. As its name implies, the league pins its faith to none of the official political parties, aiming, instead, at assembling the farmers and producers under a new banner to wage a battle royal with the trusts, profiteers and oppressors of the people.

Last month the league held a conference in St. Paul, Minn., and suggestions for lining up the farmers with organized labor for the protection of the producers were openly made.

The opinion of the leader of the league, A. E. Townley, is interesting. In his speech to the conference he said in part:

The exploiters, the privileged classes, the men of steel and coal and flour, now appear in the disguise of war profiteers, and as ever the profits are to be squeezed from the toil of farmer and laborer. They fixed the price for the farmers' product. This conference has been called, not to protest against that price, but to protest against the failure to fix the prices of the things the profiteers dealt in. And again:

"In this time of world crisis you are criminally negligent if you do not keep in touch with your representatives and make them do your will."

An alliance of this league with labor, if brought about, could do things, no doubt.

A FEDERAL UNION OF 600,000. An important item of labor news last month was the fact that a union of 600,000