though in the nature of things he lived constantly in its atmosphere. He once told me that it was an unbroken rule of his life never to reply to personal attacks upon himself or his work. Avoiding the polemics of the labor question, President Wright directed the energies of the National Bureau into the investigation of the economic conditions surrounding labor and the study of methods for promoting the welfare and uplift of the working classes. The reports of the bureau during the twenty years of his administration are a mine of information on such subjects as the conditions of workingmen and working-women, the slums of the cities, co-operative production and distribution, building and loan associations, trade and industrial education, railroad labor, convict labor, industrial depressions, compulsory insurance, the unemployed, wages and hours of labor, the housing of the working people, regulation and restriction of output, together with the annual reports he organized on the costs of productions, strikes and lockouts, wholesale prices, divorce, and the cost of living.

He developed a bureau of economic research, devoted to the study of all movements for the improvement of the conditions of labor. He scrupulously avoided propaganda in the interest of the labor union crusade; and by this wise and conservative course he not only strengthened his bureau and enlarged its sphere and influence, but immensely advanced the material interests of labor, both organized and unorganized. While his attitude towards the trade-union was always distinctly friendly and sympathetic, he deprecated the excesses that have sometimes distinguished its methods. He became a potent personal factor in the movement for the gradual elimination of the methods of savagery from the strike and the lockout. His annual reports on the latter subjects were an impartial presentation of the statistical facts revealing the actual results of these trade warfares, accompanied by certain conclusions which his investigations justified. "As a rule, tradesunions oppose strikes," was one of these conclusions. "They are growing more and more conservative in their attitude towards these questions," was another. His influence among

union labor men was uniformly in the direction of moderation; and it steadily pushed forward the advance of organized labor to the position it is destined to occupy in this country. This I know from the words of labor men. President Wright gradually won the deep respect and the profound regard of their ablest and most useful leaders.

From the beginning of his study of this great human question, President Wright foresaw, as through a mental telescope, the position which organized labor was destined to hold in the great drama of industrial life. He had studied the labor question in all phases of its evolution, in all the ages that have gone before. He realized that it was interlocked with the whole future of civilization. He understood that it must pass through its several stages,-stages of injustice, of intrigue, of riot, even of bloodshed. But he foresaw the ultimate outcome, never faltering in his conviction that the time will come when the employer and the employee will settle their grievances face to face, man to man, with open books, each with careful regard for the rights of the other. His faith has carried us a long way towards the realization of that dream.

To his persistent advocacy may be attributed the wide recognition which the principle of collective bargaining, and incidentally of the sliding scale method of wage adjustment, has already secured. He taught employers that it is better "to deal with well-organized and administered trade-unions as the medium through which to adjust questions of wages and other conditions of employment, rather than subject themselves to the chaotic and unreliable results which follow when workmen act as individuals."

The direct moral influence of Colonel Wright's personality and work was much greater than organized labor itself yet realizes, and it is an influence destined to continue and increase.

It was quite as potent with the manufacturer. He compelled the respectful attention of the employers of labor throughout the country; he was a frequent and honored guest and speaker at their gatherings. He held and fearlessly enunciated a doctrine regarding their duty and their opportunity which

lifted the manufacturer above the category of the mere fabricator of goods and wares, the mere purveyor to physical wants, the mere seeker after dollars. I will illustrate this by a single quotation from his writings, which embodies the highest conception of the responsibility of the entrepreneur, a conception which not so many generations back would have been regarded as preposterous, but which to-day, while not always, perhaps not generally, accepted, is no longer openly disputed:

"The weal or woe of the operative population depends largely upon the temper in which the employers carry the responsibility intrusted to them. I know of no trust more sacred than that given into the hands of the captains of industry, for they deal with human beings in close relations; not through the media of speech or exhortation, but of positive association, and by this they can make or mar. Granted that the material is often poor, the intellects often dull, then all the more sacred the trust and all the greater the responsibility. The rich and powerful manufacturer, with the adjuncts of education and good business training, holds in his hand something more than the means of subsistence for those he employs: he holds their moral well-being in his keeping, in so far as it is in his power to mould their morals. He is something more than a producer: he is an instrument of God for the upbuilding of the

race.

"This may sound like sentiment: I am willing to call it sentiment; but I know it means the best material prosperity, and that every employer who has been guided by such sentiments has been rewarded twofold,-first, in witnessing the wonderful improvement of his people; and, second, in seeing his dividends increase and the wages of the operatives increase with his dividends. The factory system of the future will be run on this basis. The instances of such are multiplying now, and, whenever it occurs, the system outstrips the pulpit in the actual work of the gospel; that is, in the work of humanity. It needs no gift of prophecy to foretell the future of a system which has in it more possibilities for good for the masses who

must work for day wages than any scheme which has yet been devised by philanthropy alone." *

And so President Wright conducted the National Labor Bureau as he had conducted the State Labor Bureau. So it happened that he had the unique experience of being continued at the head of these two bureaus as long as he would stay there, an experience the more remarkable and interesting because this particular bureau was a storm centre, always encompassed about by political dynamite. He had come to be known as the sane seeker after truth. He had compelled the complete confidence of his fellow-men.

This is the central and striking fact in his life,—the key to his character and his career. I shall therefore dwell upon it here, in the hope that we may fully understand it.

In the first place, Colonel Wright was a man of great tact. He was what is known as a good "mixer." He could fit himself to every environment. In personal intercourse he was cordiality, kindness, and good humor combined. I have rarely known a better story-teller. He had an anecdote to fit every emergency. He could relieve a taut situation by a flash of quaint or subtle humor that would force a laugh on the verge of a quarrel. He was pre-eminently a pacificator: his mission was to point the pathway to peace; and he had consummate art in finding it. But never at the sacrifice of his own convictions. He would never commit himself to a course he believed to be wrong; but he could see both sides of every question, and, when he was compelled to differ, he knew how to do it without arousing militant antagonism. He commanded respect for his opinions, but he thrust them down no man's throat. His absolute sincerity was never questioned, even though it was always yoked with urbanity.

Thus President Wright possessed all the qualifications for the most difficult duty which fell to him by reason of his office as National Commissioner of Labor,-the duty of acting as the official investigator of great labor disturbances and sometimes as arbitrator between the contending parties. He was the

***The Factory System as an Element of Civilization," by Carroll D. Wright.

chairman of the commission appointed by President Cleveland to investigate the great Chicago strike of 1894. That strike in some of its aspects, and particularly in the questions of national authority involved, was the most dangerous and ominous labor strike which has taken place in this country. President Wright's report was absolutely colorless in its presentation of the facts, fearless in its analysis of their bearing upon each other, and uncompromising in its conclusions. It at once encountered a criticism most violent and vitriolic. In the case of almost any other man, the episode would necessarily have terminated his public career. With President Wright, as the atmosphere cleared, and passion cooled, it added much to the strength of his position.

In the great anthracite coal strike of 1902 Colonel Wright was, from the beginning to the end, the trusted adviser of President Roosevelt, and helped him to shape the masterly policy by which he dealt with the situation. While the trouble was still brewing and before the actual strike occurred, the President called upon Mr. Wright to ascertain and report to him the causes and conditions underlying and surrounding the controversy between the miners and the operators. Within a period of less than two weeks Mr. Wright had placed in the President's hands a report which condensed into twenty printed pages the whole horrible story of a controversy that had been brewing for years, and was complicated by innumerable technical intricacies and interwoven disputes as to the facts. The report is one of the most luminous and discriminating documents in official literature. It handled fearlessly, lucidly, and with absolute impartiality the several contentions of both parties. It contains this interesting basis for the diagnosis it presents: "The specific demands in a strike are the material elements on which the controversy is based. But the phychological elements must also be considered, to ascertain the true situation." In its analysis of the case, from these two points of view, the report is a masterpiece. It concluded with certain "suggestions that seem desirable and just." "Should they be adopted," said the Commissioner, "with some