THE COMMON WELFARE

THE BINGHAMTON FIRE
AND ENCLOSED STAIRWAYS

After many conferences and two days of public hearings on the enclosure of factory stairways, following the Binghamton fire—and backed by the attorney-general’s opinion in regard to the scope of its powers—the industrial board of the New York Department of Labor has adopted rules and regulations for the enclosure of stairways in factories of four stories or under. On account of the vital importance of exits, their rules are quoted in full:

Regulation No. 1. In all factory buildings less than five stories in height in which more than twenty-five persons are employed above the ground floor, or in which, regardless of the number of persons employed, articles, goods, wares, merchandise or products of combustible material are stored, packed, manufactured or in the process of manufacture, all interior stairways serving as required means of exit, and the landings, platforms, and passageways connected therewith, shall be enclosed on all sides by partitions of fire-resisting material extending continuously from the basement. Where the stairway extends to the top floor of the building such partitions shall extend to three feet above the roof. All openings in such partitions shall be provided with self-closing doors constructed of fire-resisting material, except where such openings are in the exterior wall of the building. The bottom of the enclosure shall be of fireproof material at least four inches thick, unless the fire-resisting partitions extend to the cellar bottom.

Such enclosure of stairways shall not be required in factory buildings in which there is an exterior enclosed fireproof stairway or a horizontal exit serving as a required means of exit, as defined in Section 79f, Subdivisions 8 and 9 of the labor law. Where approved automatic sprinklers are installed throughout such buildings, such enclosure of stairways shall not be required unless more than eighty persons are employed above the ground floor.

Regulation No. 2. In all factory buildings no articles or wares of a combustible nature shall be kept or stored inside the limits of any stairway enclosure, or unenclosed stairway, or on the landings, platforms, or passageways connected therewith, nor shall such articles or wares be kept or stored under any stairway unless such stairway and any partitions or doors thereunder are constructed of, or covered with, incombustible material.

Both rules become effective October 1, 1913. The labor law specifically provides for the enclosure of stairways in buildings over four stories.

The attorney-general’s opinion was asked by the Industrial Board in this case, for the purpose of determining at the beginning of its work the question of its powers not only in relation to matters not covered by legislation but also to those covered in part by law. The essential part of the opinion follows:

“It seems to me to be entirely beyond question that the industrial board has power to adopt rules and regulations upon subjects of which the statute already treats. The statute itself makes mandatory provisions for many safeguards and then makes provisions that additional safeguards may be required by the industrial board. There is nothing in the letter of the statute nor in its manifest intent to confine the jurisdiction of the industrial board to such few subjects only as are not expressly legislated upon by the statute itself. Such an extensive limitation upon its powers would be manifestly absurd and far foreign to the evident purpose of the Legislature in enacting additional legislation for the protection of the lives and health of employes in factories.”

The attorney-general’s opinion further states that the legislation does not offend any constitutional provisions.

SANITARY SURVEY
OF THE OHIO

The Public Health Service, under the direction of Surgeon-General Rupert Blue, has undertaken a “sanitary survey” of the streams which feed into the Ohio river. It is proposed to test the waters of these streams in order to determine scientifically to what distances the contamination of sewage is carried by flowing water. The object of the survey is to establish standards of pollution beyond which no community will be permitted by the federal government to trespass in dumping sewage into streams.

This is the first time that the federal government has ventured to invade the local police powers of municipalities, except in times of great extremity, such as during the yellow fever epidemics along the gulf coast.

The survey of the Ohio Valley will probably result in the erection by the government of “purification plants.” It has been suggested that such legislation will be deemed constitutional under the law prohibiting the transportation of disease germs in interstate commerce.

OREGON COMMISSION
AS STRIKE ADJUSTER

The Industrial Welfare Commission which was created by the last Legislature to determine and enforce reasonable wages, hours and conditions of work among women and minor employes in Oregon began work June 3 with Bertha Moores representing the employes, Amedee Smith, a retired manufacturer, representing the employers and Edwin V. O’Hara, chairman of the committee of the Consumers’ League which secured the passage of the act, representing the public and chairman of the commission. Caroline J. Gleason, whose investigation of the wages and conditions of women workers in Oregon furnished the chief data in the campaign which resulted in the passage of the law under which the commission operates, is paid secretary.

At the beginning of its work the commission was asked to adjust a strike among the women employes of the Oregon Packing Company at Portland, which employs about 200 girls and women during the summer season. It had no power to make a legal ruling effective in less than 90 days and by that time the packing season would be over for this summer, so its office could be one of conciliation merely. Investigation revealed that with the piece rate in force a large number of the workers were earning as low as fifty to ninety cents a day. The commission succeeded in getting the company to sign an agreement pending the setting of a legal minimum, which fixed one dollar a day as a minimum for all workers except those “old or crippled” who may secure a special permit. Piece rate prices were re-arranged so that the worker of “average ordinary ability” would earn $1 a day, thus enabling the better workers to make more.

Two “conferences” of nine members each have been organized by the commission, one to consider questions relating to mercantile establishments, the other to deal with factory problems. The commission is engaged in forming conferences to deal with laundries, telephone companies and hotels and restaurants.

Interesting recommendations have been made by the conferences already established. The mercantile conference reported that forty dollars a month is required for the decent maintenance of women workers in that occupation. The factory conference has recommended $8.60 a week pay as a minimum for factory workers, and a nine-hour work day. The present legal maximum is ten hours a day. Investigation has shown that one-half of the department store girls receive less than forty dollars a month at present and about the same proportion of factory girls get less than $8.60 a week. If the commission, after holding a public hearing as provided by law, decides to enforce these recommendations, its decision will directly affect the wages of fully one-half the women workers in department stores and factories in Portland.

The commission has authority to regulate the employment of minors without calling a conference, though it holds the usual public hearing. It favors restricting night work of girls under eighteen in all industries, its chief opponents being the department stores.

NEW METHODS IN
MOTION PICTURES

Motion pictures are bringing the scenes and events of distant lands and even of other ages vividly to the eyes. The Durbar, the coronation, the Scott antarctic expedition, the story of “Quo Vadis,” as shown by the “movies,” not to mention a thousand and one travel subjects from a railway trip in the Andes to street scenes in China, are playing a growing part in popular education. Films are being used increasingly to spread information and enlist public co-operation in the struggle against tuberculosis, dirty milk, flies and other menaces to health. And now, as described in The Survey of September 6, Mr. Edison himself is enlisted in the problem of adapting motion pictures to school training.

All this development of course hangs on improvement in the mechanism by which motion pictures are projected on the screen. A new method is announced designed to eliminate all flicker which is clearly one of the serious problems in its strain upon children’s eyes. The inventor of the machine, called the vanoscope, is Lewis C. Van Riper and he essays to show continuous action by having each picture dissolve into the next instead of projecting a series of entirely distinct pictures on the screen. Col. S. S. McClure has been so impressed with the especial adaptability of this new method for educational purposes, that he is now on a trip to Europe to gain what he can for its wide use in this field.

In the prevalent method of motion picture projection, the film movement is in the nature of a series of quick jerks, each taking about one-half of the time given to each picture. Nearly 50 per cent of the time is taken up in moving the pictures forward and 50 per cent in projecting them upon the screen. Hence the flicker and the chance of eye strain.

The principle underlying this present method of projection is that the persistence of vision in the human eye is about one-tenth of a second. It has been found that a speed in projection of from 16 to 17 pictures per second is necessary to enable the eyes to retain the image of one picture until the next is projected upon the screen and to overcome or partially overcome annoyance to the eyes caused by the intervals. This is the rate of projection now used throughout the world on all standard machines for monochrome pictures and photographs for such use have had to be taken at a speed of at least 16 per second in order to appear natural.

Some of the advantages claimed for the new method are that there are no intervals between successive pictures, but each succeeding picture dissolves into the one preceding it in exact proportion as the volume of light shifts from one to the other; that there is no flicker; and less danger of fire because the projecting light does not reach the film directly, but is reflected by the mirrors; and that the front seats in an assembly room would be made as desirable as any other seats.

BOSTON CONFERENCE
ON ILLEGITIMACY

Perhaps in no field of social work are the factors less adjusted, the issues more baffling, than in that relating to unmarried mothers. It has become not only desirable, but positively imperative, to a wise pulling together for the workers in Boston dealing with problems related to illegitimacy to unite in some sort of permanent group for free discussion of aims and means.

The Conference of Workers on Problems of Illegitimacy which was organized in Boston last year has had a fruitful year of discussion. Each month some general question has been up for consideration, the question always being precipitated by the detailed story of some puzzling specific case. In this way have been thrashed out the following questions:

What shall we do with unmarried mothers who are unfitted for housework?

Is it ever advisable to separate the child from a normal mother?

Is institutional or private care best for a pregnant girl and under what circumstances is each preferable?

What shall we do with pregnant girls from other states or countries?

The conference was pretty fully agreed upon the policies of treatment that follow.

It is advisable to keep mother and child together where possible if the mother is in any way capable of bringing up the child. In cases where the mother is unfitted for domestic service it may be decidedly wiser to place her where she is happier and more efficient, in a factory, for instance. But even here financial responsibility for the baby, and at least weekly visits to the child, should be insisted upon.

It is desirable to send back to the states or countries from which they come girls who arrive here pregnant in order that each section may develop care for its own unmarried mothers. Although this may mean old-fashioned care in the individual case because of the lack of modern agencies and institutions in places from which the girls come, it is one of the means of making localities that are not equipped to deal with such situations more alert to their responsibility.

It is difficult to determine in what cases individual care or institutional care is wise. Particularly wayward girls often need the discipline of an institution, while the more innocent type are not helped by association with those they are sure to be brought in contact with, even in institutions that take only first offenders.

Wherever there are not very positive reasons to the contrary, it is of great importance to tell a girl’s family of her approaching confinement in order to enlist their co-operation and to enable the girl to have the most natural and helpful relationships possible at a time when she needs every constructive influence to build up courage for her life ordeal and determination to keep her child and give it every opportunity within her power. Her family ought to be, and if properly approached and dealt with, often is, the social worker’s greatest asset in this effort.

It was discovered that little provision, other than that in almshouses, is made for people who have had cases of venereal disease, as the good private institutions caring for prospective mothers exclude, and naturally, such cases.

The Conference have also discussed at each meeting various aspects of the greatest single cause of illegitimacy—feeble-mindedness. They have tried to formulate more definitely the indicia of the high grade feeble-minded cases, and to determine more clearly the relation of the social worker’s investigation and history to the doctor’s analysis. They have debated the desirability of domestic service under supervision for these defective girls. The high grade feeble-minded girls if cared for in an institution probably cost the state more than the same girls doing domestic service, even allowing for the immense amount of surveillance necessary on the part of the visitor to keep them out of harm’s way. Neither institutions nor philanthropic agencies have enough equipment adequately to deal with this class of delinquents. The conference has faced the question of segregation in institutions and of sterilization as a means of preventing a continuance of this evil in future generations. They have asked whether it was ever safe to return a feeble-minded girl to the community. While agreeing that marriage of feeble-minded persons ought not to be permitted, they have not reached a final conclusion as to the best means of prevention.

A committee has been appointed to make an investigation of the causes other than feeble-mindedness that are at the root of illegitimacy. This committee has already done valuable work as a by-product of its main purpose in suggesting important points which agencies are apt to omit in their histories, and in aiding in a greater standardization of work. A full report is expected of this committee next year.

Study groups are being organized to take up the questions of legislation, venereal disease, the efficiency and range of existing institutions, public opinion, feeble-mindedness and statistics. Any further information about the Boston Conference may be had from the secretary, Mrs. Stanley King, 295 Beacon Street.

Minor in St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“What have you got against me?”

“Nothing. But our masters have ordered us to fight.”

PROBING
FOR PEACE

The investigational method has proved of such demonstrated worth in all-American situations—whether of civic conditions or strikes—that its application to the peace movement will be watched with interest. The reference is of course to the appointment by the International Peace Endowment, through Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University, acting director of the endowment, of an international commission of inquiry into the Balkan war. The first move toward this is said to have come from Bulgarians who in consequence of attacks on them by the Greek and Servian press demanded a public inquiry into the extent and responsibility for atrocities committed during the war. The New York Evening Post calls the proposed work of the commission a “diagnosis of war,” and congratulates the peace movement on the greatest opportunity that has been presented it to win the world’s serious attention to the nature and implications of war. The topics of investigation include the responsibility for the outbreak of war, the economic waste caused by it and the truth about the outrages committed by non-combatants. Of these, the last appeals most strongly to the popular imagination, but the first, the responsible cause, is, in the opinion of the Post, the most fundamental. The main point of attack on war by peace advocates says the Post “lies in the direction of ascertaining who or what is responsible for war. Is it being fought for a worthy cause, or is it being fought because certain leaders or certain interests desire war? It makes all the difference in the world whether the mangled bodies on the hillsides in Thrace and Macedonia are the price paid for the liberation of the Balkans from Turkish misrule, or whether those dead bodies and shattered limbs are incidents in the ambitions of a king or a commander-in-chief, and a testimonial to the skill of travelling salesmen from the gun factories at Essen and Creusot.”

Cesare in New York Sun.

THE WORLD IS OVERCROWDED AND OVERARMED.—London Economist.

A list of names has been suggested as members of the commission, but the final make-up will not be known until the meeting to discuss the work of the commission which is to be held soon in Paris. The proposed membership includes:

PEACE IN
WEST VIRGINIA

The West Virginia coal strike, which lasted sixteen months, and was marked by the violence and bitterness of a civil war, has come to an end, and contracts have been signed on both Paint and Cabin creeks. The Paint creek agreement, which was signed on July 24, accords full recognition to the United Mine Workers, and grants practically all their demands, including the check-off; that is, the deduction in the office from the miner’s wages of his union dues and the payment of them to the union officials. On Cabin creek the agreement signed on July 29 did not grant recognition to the unions, but it is stated in the Coal Age that by the change from the long ton to the short ton the miners have secured an increase in wages, amounting to about 12 per cent. They have gained also the nine-hour day, a semi-monthly pay, the right to employ check weighmen and to trade where they please. The Paint creek contract is to run until March 31, 1914, while that of Cabin creek is to continue a year longer, coming to an end April 1, 1915. The Coal Age sums up the cost of the bitter struggle, now ended, as follows:

“Thirteen lives were lost in the insurrection. The cost in money was as follows:

Operators loss in business $2,000,000; Loss to the miners in wages $1,500,000; Cost to the tax payers of the State $400,000; Additional cost to the tax payers of Kanawha County $100,000; Cost to the United Mine Workers collected by the check-off, a forced levy on the miners of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania $602,000; Property destroyed $10,000. This makes a total of $4,612,000.”

BUSINESS IS LIFE: A SURVEY
OF NEGRO PROGRESS

WM. ANTHONY AERY

Negro farmers, bankers, merchants, contractors, cotton brokers, insurance men, real estate dealers, social service workers, town and community builders, caterers, engineers, undertakers, educators—these men, representing the entire country and especially the South, told at the recent session of the National Negro Business League held in Philadelphia, with eloquence torn of simplicity and hard experience in the school of life, thrilling stories of success won through struggle, persistence, and good-will toward their white neighbors. The Philadelphia meetings furnished abundant proof of the statement that quality and service count in business and that men buy good products and efficient service without regard to color or race.

“Forward to the land!” In thundering tones did this command and entreaty ring out through the Academy of Music to the thousands of Negroes who had assembled to hear Booker T. Washington deliver his annual address to the league. There are some 200,000,000 acres of unused and unoccupied land in this country. Will the American Negro, especially the city Negro, acquire his share through hard work and thrift? Will young Negroes quit the poolrooms with their debasing effects and march into usefulness and comfort on the land? Will the Negro seek the signs of civilization—the automobile and the dress suit—and miss civilization as it is represented in the home and the bank account? Will the Negro forego some pleasures today so as to enjoy richer treasures tomorrow? Will the Negro allow others to think and plan for him instead of thinking and planning for himself? These vital questions of business and of life itself were put squarely to the thoughtful Negroes who had come great distances at their own expense and in many cases at considerable sacrifice of time and money. They also reached some of the city Negroes who had come out of mere curiosity to hear Mr. Washington urge a return to the Negro’s richest opportunity—the land.

Mr. Washington is far-sighted enough, however, to see the need of better Negro business enterprises. There is, indeed, according to his opinion, room in this country, without conflicting with the interests of white people, for 900,000 more Negro farms; 1,000 sawmills; 1,000 brickyards; 4,000 grocery stores; 2,000 dry goods stores; 1,500 shoe stores; 1,500 millinery shops; 1,000 drug stores and 90 banks.

Successful “demonstrations”—human interest stories—were a conspicuous feature of the sessions.

The organization of a $100,000 old-line legal-reserve insurance company by Negroes, headed by H. T. Perry, and its heroic struggle during five years to secure the paid-in capital, was told simply and dramatically by H. H. Pace. It shows what can be done in the South. Perry’s experience in Atlanta should put fresh courage into the hearts of ambitious Negroes who really want to give their people better stores, better banks, better insurance companies, better hotels, and better country life. The story of Perry’s defeat in collecting the paid-in capital, required by the Georgia law for the starting of the Standard Life Insurance Company of Atlanta, followed by his victory, through hard work and faith, emphasizes the importance of teaching men to act co-operatively when they wish to do big things. This story will long be remembered by the delegates and their friends, for it contains real “education for life, in life and by life,” as Dr. Wallace Buttrick has phrased the thought—the underlying aim of Hampton and Tuskegee.

Another interesting event of the past year, in the Negro business world, has been the opening of the $100,000 cotton-oil mill at Mound Bayou, Miss., a Negro town which was founded by Isaiah T. Montgomery, an ex-slave of Joseph Davis, brother of Jefferson Davis. This Negro enterprise shows what Negroes can do when they pull together and turn their disadvantages into advantages.

Nineteen years ago, J. H. Blodgett began his up-hill climb with $1.10 in his pocket and a suit of underwear in a paper bag. Further, he was arrested as a tramp for wearing a straw hat in winter time. Today, he owns 121 houses in Jacksonville, Fla., having a rental value of $2,500 a month. Blodgett got his start as a railroad window washer at $1.05 a day. He and his wife worked hard, saved their money, and finally built their own home. He declares that there is no excuse for young, able-bodied Negroes to waste their time in hotel work at $20 to $30 a month and tips when they can grow tomatoes in Florida at $1,000 an acre.

What is a correct formula for success on the farm? Henry Kelley, of Belen, Miss., who has been hard at work since 1873 and is now worth some $50,000 offers a reasonable one: “Industry, economy, education.” Kelley started out independently in 1886 with 520 acres of land which he cleared as quickly as he could. He built a home, and by degrees established a good business in cotton ginning, grist milling, and log sawing. Then he began to build tenant houses and to deal with his own people in the spirit of the Golden Rule. Today, he works 1,750 acres and has fifty tenants. His payroll ranges from $800 to $1,000 a month and he has work for his hands “from January through December.” He produces about 500 bales of cotton each season. He has no trouble, on account of his color, in doing business. His Mississippi white friends, he says, have always been good to him. Kelley is a hard worker still. His day—and that of his hands—is “from sun to sun.”

J. T. Kirklin, of Columbia, Mo., started in 1873 as a handy boy on the State University farm and received thirty cents a day. Out of his own wages he had to board himself. He was glad to keep his job because he was learning how to farm scientifically. In 1903 he began to take first prizes, in competition with white farmers, for his fine strawberries, carrots, watermelons, and garden truck. His first market wagon was an ordinary wheelbarrow. Later he bought two buggy wheels and made a wagon—a push cart. While some of his own people were laughing at his crude outfit, Kirklin was saving his money and improving his small truck garden. Today he is worth $20,000 and is a quiet and respected citizen.

Has the Negro building contractor who knows his business a fair chance to succeed in the South? B. L. Windham, of the contracting firm of Windham Brothers, Birmingham, Ala., declares that efficiency and not color determines the kind of work that Negroes receive. His firm has built a $100,000 apartment house for white people in Birmingham, Ala. It employs, on an average, 100 people—all Negroes—throughout the year to handle some $300,000 worth of contracts. The business of this firm of Negro contractors has grown from $50,000 in 1903 to $265,000 for seven months in 1913 and is carried on from the Mason and Dixon line to the Gulf of Mexico.

The annual meetings of the Negro Business League give some striking stories of Negro success and progress to men and women who need courage and inspiration for their work. Other stories could be cited to show that the Negro who applies himself to business and refrains from whining wins the patronage and good will not only of his own people but also of the white people. Courage, initiative, and persistence are indeed required for the task of establishing any business.

The resolutions, adopted at the final session of the league, summarized the progress of the Negro during fifty years of freedom. Ten million American Negroes now pay taxes on over $700,000,000 worth of property and own 20,000,000 acres of land (that is, about 31,000 square miles). They own 63 banks, capitalized at $2,600,000 and doing an annual business of $20,000,000. Today there are Negro business leagues in twelve states.

Facts of Negro progress need to be better understood by white and black people. One of the best sources of information is the Negro Year Book, edited by Monroe N. Work of Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala.