teer. A most interesting item in the first volume is a brief obituary notice of the death of Peregrine White, famous in our history as the first white male child born in New England. The news is under a date line from Marshfield, Mass., of July 22, and is as follows:

Captain Peregrine White of this town, aged eighty-three years and eight months, died the 20th inst. He was vigorous and of comely aspect to the last; was the son of Mr. William White and Susanna, his wife; born on board the Mayflower, Captain Jones, commander, in Cape Cod Harbour, November, 1620; was the first Englishman born in New England. Although he was in the former part of his life extravagant, yet was much reformed in his last years and died happily.

This volume was presented to the New York society by the founder of the famous Bruce typefoundry, George Bruce, who at the time had not perfected his improvements in stereotyping and typecasting which afterward made him famous, but was, as he designated himself, a printer. This was in 1805, when he was a journeyman. The New York Daily Advertiser's imprint reads: "Printed and published by George Bruce." He afterward started a book printing office and in 1818 erected the typefoundry.

The Globe and Commercial Advertiser, started in 1797, is the oldest New York daily and until this year was printed uninterruptedly as the Commercial Advertiser. It has witnessed the birth of all the daily newspapers of the metropolis now doing business and has seen hundreds of others born and buried. Only three of our present dailies are older than the Globe. One twenty-seven years older suspended publication on June 1, through financial troubles. This was the famous Worcester Spy, which was first started in Boston in 1770 by Isaiah Thomas, but was soon afterward driven from that city on account of its outspoken utterances in favor of independence, and its publisher settled in Worcester. Since then the Spy had appeared continuously, first as a weekly and then as a daily. It was originally named the Massachusetts Spy.

Many have been the improvements in printing and in journalism since the NewsLetter first saw the light. The telegraph, the telephone, the electric light and power, the

typesetting machine, the printing press-all these and others too numerous to mention lend their aid toward making the press of today the power that it is, not to speak of the enormous developments of modern journalism.

Not the least among those things that have made our press powerful is the freedom that we boast of and which is sometimes arrogated to itself by newspaperdom under the head of "freedom of the press." The work done by the journalist is enticing to many who could make fortunes if their talents were devoted to commercial ends. The itch for writing keeps them in fascinating bondage, however, and they mainly die with nothing to boast of so far as money is concerned. Newspaper life in other countries presents a contrast far from appealing to the American editor. For instance, in Russia newspaper work is not pleasant, inasmuch as the government spends more money on its press censors than on its schools. Last year eighty-three newspapers were suspended for various periods and twenty-six were forbidden to accept all advertisements, while 259 editors were told that they would have vacations in Siberia if they continued their methods of reviewing public questions. This year other newspapers have been suspended, one for a fictitious account of a Russian victory over the Japanese. Strange but true! Perhaps the civilization that sits on the Japanese gun carriage will ultimately benefit the Russian printer.

It appears that a phrase in common use is indirectly attributable to an oldtime printer who has a certain niche in the hall of historic fame, John Peter Zenger. Zenger, a German by birth, was the second printer in New York, and his famous trial in 1735 is matter of record in our history. He published the Journal, which took the side of the people against Governor Cosby. For his utterances he was tried and acquitted, the result being a decided victory for the people. The acquittal decided two points that the press is free and that juries in libel suits are the judges of both the law and the facts. The phrase in question is "it would take a Philadelphia lawyer" to

explain so and so, and it is due to the fame won by Andrew Hamilton, of Philadelphia, who appeared for Zenger in his trial for libel and won his case in spite of a court and jury packed to convict the printer. The expression was long local and peculiar to New York, but its use is now widespread.

The National Civic Federation Monthly Review says the day is here when the employer can display, to his own advantage and to the country's good, a spirit of reasonable liberality in his attitude toward the payment of his employes. After noting that the record of lower market prices, reduced wages and economies in the number of workmen employed testifies that our industries have slackened in activity, the Review says "the time is peculiarly favorable for the exercise of self-restraint by employers in compelling wage reductions. Conservative leaders of the unions have shown upon their part a growing spirit of reasonableness and a wholesome inclination to fair dealing. The movement for conciliation, for harmonious relations, for industrial peace, has gained breadth and strength, because of this prevalent spirit of its leaders, throughout the ranks of organized labor. There is no doubt that the manifestation of the spirit has had its moderating effect upon the general attitude of public opinion toward the unions. These are influences that work for the common weal. They are impalpable but nevertheless real assets in the total public welfare. * The employer who realizes this situation and tempers his treatment of the employed with a measure of discretion in enforcing economies will not only strengthen his individual position but will contribute to the benefit, in the long run, of his entire industry and to the harmony that is essential to national health. It is a time to keep in mind the truth that the natural law of supply and demand should be modified in its operation between human beings by a due regard for the burdens that are made heavier by every decrease in the earnings of toil. This higher motive is reinforced by the fact that reasonable altruism has one of its roots in selfishness. That is, broadly speaking, generosity, like honesty, is the best policy."

These

*

*

*

are noteworthy and gratifying

sentiments and as such are worthy of greater circulation than is afforded by the Review. In our own unions the employer who pays above the scale secures more from his men by far than does he who is a stickler for the scale and nothing more. The generosity of the employer of the former class is more than returned, not alone in the output but in the good name gratuitously given to the firm by the satisfied workmen. This is where reasonable altruism benefits. As it is there appears to be much unnecessary cutting of wages and reduction of working forces in various branches of industry, and it is to these that the remarks of the Review are more applicable.

Few of the readers of THE JOURNAL know that England boasts of a "labor college." This, too, at the seat of learning to which our university undergraduates are invited by the provisions of the will of Cecil Rhodes —Oxford. Ruskin College, now in existence over five years, offers to any worker in the trade union movement an opportunity for a thorough education in those questions which the movement may be called on to decide. For the first time in the history of the famed university there is a college whose purpose it is to equip those who wish to serve any section of the labor movement with a grounding in labor problems as complete as that hitherto obtained by a privileged few. The curriculum includes the labor movement, the co-operative movement, industrial history, history of social movements, political and social problems, political economy, speaking and public work, sociology, logic, psychology, local government, constitutional history, the tariff problem, etc.

The above mentioned subjects are taught in two ways: (1) By residence at the college, for which the fees (including all expenses of board, lodging and education) are £1 (say $4.85) a week; (2) by a correspondence school, which helps the students to learn most of the subjects by working for an hour or so a day in their leisure moments, and for which the fee is a shilling (or 24 cents) a month. Up to the beginning of this year 200 students had passed through the college, and nearly 5.000 had at one time.or another joined the correspondence

school. The fees, it will be noted, are extraordinarily cheap, and can not be said to have a deterrent effect on a would-be student.

The college has been incorporated by the board of trade (a government department) and its supreme management vested in a council consisting of representatives of the Trade Union Congress, the Co-operative Union, the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, and the London Trades Council, together with other prominent leaders of the labor movement and educational authorities. By this means it is ensured that the college can not depart from its original object and that public confidence can not be abused.

The college has had to find a new home, its former building being rented, and the council is collecting funds wherewith to erect a college. Between $10,000 and $15,000 has already been subscribed and a site bought on which there are three houses, which will be altered suitably. The parliamentary committee of the Trade Union Congress has issued a circular in which it is pointed out that the time has come for the labor movement itself to take the college in hand and make it an assured success. Now that Labor with a capital L is showing that it is determined to take its rightful position in Great Britain it more than ever needs the knowledge and training necessary to maintain that position, and there can be, therefore, no better investment of the workingman's money than the maintenance of a labor college. Ruskin College, the committee says, is one of the greatest assets in the labor movement, and that movement must show that it understands the value of education. It is hoped, therefore, that the council of the college, through an adequate response to the call in the circular, will be able to build a college for the workman as well equipped for all practical work as any of the historic institutions in Oxford. There is on foot a scheme which will enable the council to offer residential scholarships at Oxford to all the unions which contribute to the building fund in proportion to the amount of such contribution.

The attacks in England during recent years on the trade union and co-operative

movements (which perhaps have reached their greatest success in the United Kingdom), followed by an onslaught on municipal ownership or enterprise, show that there is an urgent necessity that Ruskin College's facilities be utilized by the trade unionist. When men with sound economic training and knowledge and true ideals of citizenship take the field on behalf of labor their work will prove of incalculable value in advancing the interests of the cause, in the workshop or on the lecture platform, or when attending trade union, trades council, congress, conference, or general meeting of a co-operative society. If each trade union were to give only 4 cents per member toward the building fund, the future of the college would be assured. The scholarships will make it possible for young workingmen to get that education for which many of them yearn but which at present is beyond their reach.

The prospect for the education of workmen in the subjects named above is alluring. At such small cost, too! It is doubtful whether there is a similar institution in any other part of the globe or one in which an education in these topics can be secured so cheaply. Certainly such an education can be had in numberless universities or colleges or academic institutions both here and abroad, but the expense bars the poor man ; he can only think of what might be. There is an object lesson for us as union men in this short account of this English college and its purposes.

There is, however, a movement in one of our western colleges to which attention should be called. The University of Wisconsin, whose sons are of the brawniest and brainiest, has under way something similar to the régime at Ruskin College. During the present summer there will be lectures on trade unionism, the union label, the open shop and kindred topics, such as the principles of economics. Few workingmen will be able to take advantage of the lectures, which is unfortunate, post-graduates of the university being mainly those most benefited. These young men will have portrayed for their benefit the intellectual and moral forces which guide the union men of our country, and there is little doubt

that other and older institutions of learning will eventually fall into line in this respect. Scholastic dissertations are of small value unless widely disseminated, and it is the human book that has most force where progress is concerned. The able speaker drives the searcher after knowledge to his books in a way that is astonishing, and what is wanted above all things are able and convincing speakers. If these speakers come from the ranks of unionism so much the better, which truth has no doubt been recognized by those who have the welfare of Ruskin College in their charge. It is noteworthy that among the subjects taught at that institution are speaking and public work. Good speakers and workers are scarce, unpalatable as the thought may be. It matters little if a man be cyclopedic in learning if he has not the power to impart his knowledge or his thoughts to others. Even if there is ability to write well there is all too frequently the inability to have the writing printed. That is one reason why good speakers have more power over their audiences; the eloquent man reaches the intellect and then the contagion spreads.

The following want advertisement appeared not long ago. So far there has been no outcry by the noble guild of proofread

⚫ers:

PROOFREADER-By young lady, graduate of a normal school and of course in proofreading; highest references. C. L., 479 Herald.

Apparently we have some innocents at home, who are very much abroad as to the requirements of a certain profession.

A co-operative printing press is on the tapis in England. Although the scheme is a co-operative one the principle underlying its formation is widely different from what one usually understands by co-operation, as it is not the intention to make money and share the profits as in ordinary co-operative concerns, nor for individuals to take big dividends out of the labor of others. The trade unions, through investment and use of their respective funds, are necessarily employers of labor in their own and other branches of the trade, so that by their own actions trade unionists may be indirectly responsible for the employment of workers

under unfair conditions. It is, therefore, thought that if the trade unions actively enter into the field of co-operative production they would strengthen their position materially. The printing trade offers an exceptional field for such productive enterprise placing in the hands of the unions the machinery whereby they may not only educate the workers but improve their position generally. In a co-operative printing press there would not be the difficulties that many other trades have to contend with, as all the work can be done in one building under one control.

Apparently such an institution would be successful, as there is always a great demand for printing from the trade unions and a large amount of work will immediately be at the disposal of the "Trade Union Printing Works," thus removing the risk usually attached to the starting of ordinary business ventures. The advantages of having such a printing establishment are: (1) The absolute security to subscribing unions of having their own work produced under fair and proper conditions; (2) the recognition of the workers as something more than mere wage earners, and the demonstration of the fact that such an institution could be conducted on lines that would prove the possibility of carrying on a business successfully and yet observe a more fair and humane attitude toward their employes than is generally done; (3) the incentive to other trades to embark in the field of co-operative production; (4) the provision of the means for the financial support of the workers in all directions, including parliamentary, municipal and trade matters. Parenthetically it may be remarked here that the union label gives us in this country the certainty of having work done under fair and proper conditions, but its use does not involve any recognition of the employes of one entitled to use the label as something or anything more than mere wage earners. Co-operation or profit sharing is not favored by the American master printer; his capital is not to be strengthened by that of his employes, no matter in how small a way. All or none is his motto.

The proposed capital of this proposed English institution is £10.000, or say $50.000-though it is really less. As the col

lective property of the subscribing trade unions, the surplus profits would be used for its extension or as directed by the representatives of the unions at the annual meeting. Each union would be entitled to one vote for every £50 or part thereof subscribed, but the limitation of the voting power of any union to be not more than 25 per cent of the total amount of the subscribed capital. The shares shall only be held by duly constituted trade unions through their accredited representatives, and interest at a rate not exceeding 4 per cent per annum shall be paid after all working expenses have been met. The promoters of the project think that it will be successful because the unions would be to a large extent their own customers, because the printing of the anions would total at least £150,000 per annum, a large proportion of which would be at the disposal of the printery, and because it would not be affected by the ordinary fluctuations of business, as the printing work of the trade unions and benefit societies is continuously at a normal condition.

The hours for the workmen will be fortyeight per week, which is as it should be. The reader will have noted that the subscribers to this proposed co-operative press will be the unions and societies, not individuals. Whatever we may think of this proposition as a business venture it seems that the workman should have a chance to buy a few shares, as a measure of upliftment. Such an opportunity would appeal more forcibly to the constituents of the unions which are appealed to as bodies, and they would give their adherence to the plan much quicker. As the offices are to be followed, when feasible, by branches in the large towns the venture would receive heartier support from the individual workman. As it is, the latter is asked to subordinate his interests to those of his union, wh derives its subscribing capital from him and his brethren. As it stands, the New Era Press, Limited, appears to have an auspicious future. The scheme affords plenty of room for speculation on the part of American printers as to how a similar venture would succeed in the United States. Such an institution here would not interfere with the use of the label by the proprietors

of houses which work under union conditions-the only fair ones, at that.

One of our daily contemporaries recently printed the following story:

Periodically J. G. Bennett inspects his newspaper plant, and careful preparations usually precede his coming, but recently one unhappy printer scandalized his fellows by appearing in a semitipsy condition on the momentous day. The man was barely able to keep awake, but was still sufficiently alert to evade the foreman. During an unguarded moment the tipsy printer had accidentally encountered an ink roller, and his face was covered with a thick black smudge of ink. He did not move during inspection, but leaned sadly against the wall and returned Mr. Bennett's gaze pathetically. Mr. Bennett said nothing until the moment of leaving, and then called the foreman. Presently the foreman returned, furious. Shaking his fist in the ink-smudged countenance of his subordinate he ejaculated:

"Say, you wash up an' go home, and come back tomorrow when you are sober."

"To get my wages?" stammered the offender. "Am I bounced?"

"Naw!" snorted the foreman in disgust. "The boss saw all the ink smeared on you and called me out to say that you look like the only man in the shop that works, and he raised your wages $5 a week, damn you!"

'Tis a good story, but it was first told over fifteen years ago. Then the printer was a pressman who had had one eye blackened artistically. Sober enough at work he heard that Mr. Bennett was due in the pressroom, and to hide his damaged optic he Ismeared it with the ever handy ink. True enough he had his wages raised, on the supposition by his employer that he was a worker from Workville.

The stories told about Mr. Bennett and his whims would fill a pamphlet. On one occasion he cabled to stop issuing the Evening Telegram. The consternation that that message caused may be imagined. The paper did not stop, owing to the representa tions of the management. A story not so well known is about a Herald editor. The gentleman received a message from Mr. Bennett in Paris, to report to him immediately. He took the first outgoing steamer and on arrival called on his employer. That gentleman told him that he had sent for him in order to tell him that he no longer required his services. That the editor was dumfounded is saying little-cela va sans dire, as they say in France. The tenor of