the union and the contractors' association, requesting them to meet that evening at the office of the Bureau of Mediation and Arbitration in joint conference for the purpose of adjusting the difficulty existing in the trade. The conference was held in response to the letter and a compromise proposition made as follows: "The weekly wage scale to be $19.25 for the present. Further increases to be granted on the 15th of August 1915 and 1916, respectively." The proposition was referred to the union and the employers' association. The agreement was ratified and a contract was agreed upon. The men returned to work September 16. Three disputes occurred during 1914 in the shoe factories of Brooklyn, concerning piece prices in the cutting, fitting and trimming departments. The Shoe Manufacturers' Association and the United Shoe Workers of America made joint application for the services of Mediator M. J. Reagan as arbitrator.

The first case was arbitrated on April 23. There were five firms affected, employing a total of 1,615 workpeople, 119 of whom were in the departments directly affected. The shoe manufacturers had two representatives at the meeting and the shoe cutters, two representatives, the mediator presiding as arbitrator. Ten points in dispute were settled by the arbitrator.

On June 24 a second case was arbitrated. This involved one firm with 150 employees, 17 of whom were directly affected. Mediator Reagan acted as arbitrator with two representatives from the cutters and two from the manufacturers' association. The price list arbitrated contained 150 items.

In September another wage dispute arose between the manufacturers and employees and Mr. Reagan was again requested to act as arbitrator. Five firms were involved, which employed 1,550 workers altogether, 92 of them in the departments where the dispute originated. As before, the manufacturers had two representatives and the shoe cutters two representatives. The disputed prices were settled by arbitration on October 1.

Besides these cases of arbitration without strikes, two strikes of shoe cutters in other Brooklyn factories were settled by the Bureau, one by a conference of the parties arranged after considerable effort by the mediators, the other by mediation with the strikers separately, resulting in submission of the dispute to arbitration.

Six hundred umbrella handle and cane makers in New York City went on strike October 8, followed on the 11th by 300 silversmiths who struck in sympathy. A demand was made after the strike occurred for a 49-hour week for the original strikers. The Bureau intervened October 17 and found the strikers willing to into a conference but the manufacturers at first refused. The first joint conference was arranged on November 12. Subsequently, a number of conferences were held and terms of settlement were adopted by the committees but were not ratified by the union and the manufacturers' association. The terms offered by the manufacturers were a 53-hour week for umbrella handle makers and silversmiths to work 51 hours per week. The strikers demanded a 49-hour week. On January 10 the attorneys representing the association and the union met in conference and agreed to a reduction of hours to 51 per week for all. The strike was declared at an end and the men returned to work January 14.

A strike of 620 weavers employed in a cotton mill at Utica occurred on November 14. The cause was a dispute between weavers and loom fixers, with demands for discharge or reinstatement of certain loomfixers and weavers. A representative of the Bureau intervened on November 24 but was unable to bring about a settlement. On the 29th he arranged a conference between the superintendent of the mill and representatives of the local and national unions. A satisfactory agreement was reached, the company agreeing to reinstate all the strikers except the one for whose reinstatement the weavers went on strike.

The teamsters of Utica notified their employers on January 1 of their request for an increase in wages to take effect April 1. When the employers refused to grant the increase, 375 teamsters employed by 40 firms went on strike, which caused almost complete suspension of trucking and coal transportation in the city. On April 2 the president of the teamsters' international union requested the intervention of the Commissioner of Labor and one of the mediators was sent to Utica. The employers had formed two independent organizations. The trucking firms offered an increase of one dollar per week and refused any further concessions.

The association of coal, material and lumber dealers at first refused to meet or treat in any manner with the strikers, but the mediator succeeded in arranging conferences and suggested that the whole matter be referred to arbitration, also suggesting that the trucking firms be invited to act jointly on the arbitration proposal. These terms were accepted and the strike was immediately ended. The result of the arbitration was a compromise increase of wages.

Number of disputes settled by mediation with parties separately.

Particulars of each intervention are given in the table which is appended to this report.

The years 1913 and 1914 show a striking contrast in the amount of labor disturbance in the State. In 1913 there was an unusually large number of disputes, breaking all records of number of workmen involved and time lost. But 1914 produced less than half as many strikes and lockouts, the number of workers participating therein was about one-fifth as many, and the time lost scarcely more than one-ninth of the amount lost in 1913.

The following table shows the extent to which the different groups of industries were affected by disputes in 1914.

*To the end of all disputes. † To September 30, 1914.

The largest number of disputes, as usual, occurred in the building industry, but the largest amount of time lost was in the metal trades, which was 203,473 days. The clothing industry was second in importance with a loss of 152,812 days and the building industry third with 141,866 days. The leather and rubber goods group shows the same number of disputes as in 1913, with a loss of time amounting to 125,162 days.

The decrease in number and extent of disputes was quite general in the various industry groups. Thus, in the building industry 38 disputes occurred as against 83 the preceding year, in the metal trades 19 compared with 33, in the transportation trades 17 compared with 33 and in the textile trades 5 compared with 28. The clothing industry shows the greatest decrease in extent of lost time. In 1913 there were 22 clothing trade disputes with a loss of nearly 6,000,000 days, but in 1914 only 16 disputes causing a loss of 152,812 days. In two industry groups, the metal trades and wood manufactures, the loss of time was slightly larger than in 1913. There were six classifications of industry which were entirely free from disputes in 1914, namely, agriculture; chemicals, oils, paints, etc.; paper and pulp; water, light and power; hotels, restaurants, etc.; and public employment.

The most important general cause of disputes in 1914 related to matters concerning trade union organization, such as union recognition, discrimination against union members, closed shop, etc. Both the number of strikes and the aggregate number of days lost in this cause were larger than in 1913. More than half the total number of workers involved in strikes and lockouts were involved in these trade union disputes, and the loss of time was over half the year's total. The number of strikes for wage advances was one less than the trade union disputes, but the time lost was considerably less. In 1913 the movement for shorter hours produced 28 disputes with an immense loss of time, but in 1914 only five disputes and a loss of 84,213 days. Disputes concerning employment or discharge of particular persons were about half of the number in 1913.

Results of disputes were nearly the same in proportion as in the preceding year. There were exactly half as many disputes successful and half as many partly successful, but the number lost entirely was less than half. About 90 per cent of the employees concerned in disputes were at least partly successful. This proportion is a very little less than in 1913.