The American Labor Year Book

The present volume is the result of a genuine co-operation of a number of persons. The greatest part of the section on the International Socialist Movement was prepared by Ludwig Lore. The account of the movement in Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Latin America, was written by Algernon Lee, while the article on Japan was contributed by Sen KataJessie W. Hughan edited the section on the Socialist Movement in the United States.

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The editor takes this opportunity to express his gratitude to the various contributors who generously responded to his call, as well as to those who aided him in the preparation of the book.

Frank Morrison, Secretary of the American Federation of Labor, Walter Lanfersiek and Adolph Germer, former and present national secretaries of the Socialist Party very kindly supplied information relating to the respective organizations.

It is with a deep sense of pleasure that acknowledgement is here given to David P. Berenberg, Spencer Brodney and Harry W. Laidler who helped in editorial and other capacities and to Ida Crouch-Hazlett, W. M. Fiegenbaum, Lewis Gannett, Avis Hotchkiss, Josephine Nixon and Thomas Seltzer who assisted in collecting material, writing articles, proofreading and indexing. Bertha H. Mailly and the entire staff of the Rand School helped at every stage in the preparation of the volume.

Had space allowed, a number of valuable articles and much statistical material would also have been included. The editor was forced to omit a great deal of prepared material and to shorten a number of articles. It was his hardest and most painful task. He, however, hopes that the readers will understand his plight and, in missing certain items of interest to the Labor Movement, will not ascribe it to the lack of appreciation of their importance. The book has been enlarged to more than a prohibitive size and, it is the earnest hope of the editor that the future issues will not suffer on account of lack of space. Criticism of the present volume, as well as suggestions for guidance in the preparation of future editions, are earnestly solicited.

The publication of the Labor Year Book has been made possible by the establishment of the Edward Berman PubÎishing Fund of the Rand School by Mr. and Mrs. Morris Berman in memory of their son, Edward, who died July 15, 1916.

ALEXANDER L. TRACHTENBERG.

September 1, 1916.

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THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR RESEARCH, 1915-1916.

Since its organization in the Fall of 1915, the Department of Labor Research of the Rand School of Social Science, under the direction of Juliet Stuart Poyntz and Alexander L. Trachtenberg, has done much to prove the need of such an institution for the Socialist and Labor Movements.

Investigations-During the strikes in the Dress and Waist and Ladies' Garment Industries the workers' organizations called upon the Department to conduct investigations into the earnings and conditions of their members. The results of the studies were used in the arbitration proceedings between the workers and the employers, as well as for publicity purposes.

Reference Library—A Central Labor Reference Library containing public documents, official reports, periodical publications and proceedings of labor unions for the use of labor organizations and students of the labor movement was started and is rapidly being built up. The labor unions throughout the country are co-operating with the Department.

Legislative Work-At the request of Congressman Meyer London the Department has furnished material on Social Insurance and Unemployment at the public hearings before the Committee on Labor of the House of Representatives, which is reproduced in the printed proceedings of the hearings.

Information-The Department has supplied from time to time information on various subjects to persons in preparation of speeches, debates and articles.

Labor Year Book-In co-operation with a number of interested persons, the Department has prepared for publication a Labor Year Book, the first of its kind in the United States.

NOTICE.

Secretaries of National and International Unions, State Federations of Labor, Civic, Co-operative and other organizations are requested to send, as they are published, duplicate copies of Annual Reports, Journals, Proceedings, Agreements, and all other publications to

THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR RESEARCH OF THE RAND SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE. 140 East 19th Street, New York, N. Y.

INTRODUCTION.

BY MORRIS HILLQUIT.

This volume represents the first attempt in this country to establish a reliable annual chronicle of the aims, struggles and achievements of labor throughout the world.

Within its own sphere the scope of the American Labor Year Book is practically unlimited. It will be the earnest endeavor of its publishers to record in the pages of the succeeding volumes, year by year, the progress and problems of the most important economic and political movements making for social reform and for the betterment of the workers' lot.

No period of our history has been so replete with significant economic struggles, startling political developments and radical social reform as the present. The United States is in the process of remaking and countless movements are directly and indirectly co-operating with each other in the process.

In this swift current of struggle, change and progress the active worker in the movement is carried along from day to day and from task to task without opportunity to pause for orientation. And yet a periodical orientation and re-orientation is as essential to the labor leader, Socialist and social reformer as periodical stock-taking is to the business men. To be truly useful and effective the modern social worker must be familiar not only with the conditions of the movement in which he is directly interested but also with those of the kindred and even hostile movements, their aims, programs and practical achievements. With an alert eye and open mind he must study all new fields of activity, new methods of action and new currents of thought, and learn alike from their weakness and their strength.

The American Labor Year Book will aim to furnish this opportunity to the practical social worker. It is an undertaking as ambitious and difficult as it is timely and necessary. In the preparation of this volume the compilers have en

countered not only all the usual difficulties attendant upon a new enterprise of this character, but also many additional obstacles arising from the abnormal social conditions of the times. The devastating war in Europe has largely disorganized all social movements and checked all social progress in the belligerent countries. Only scant and fragmentary information was therefore obtainable on the Socialist and labor movements of Europe, which in normal times contribute the largest share of the world's social progress.

The publishers of the American Labor Year Book are fully aware of the shortcomings of this volume, but they hope to do better in each of the succeeding editions by dint of increasing experience, and particularly upon the restoration of normal conditions in Europe. In the meanwhile they find comfort in the conviction that the work is worth while as a beginning and as the basis for steady and progressive improvements.