food preparation trades. Short time was reported in certain cases, but the following trades reported overtime: Engineering trades, shipbuilding trades, leather trades, sawmilling and machining trades, cement trade, printing and bookbinding trades, paper trades, pottery trades, and food preparation trades.

VOLUME OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM (GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND) IN JULY, 1917, AS COMPARED WITH JUNE, 1917, AND JULY, 1916. [Compiled from figures in the Labor Gazette (London), August, 1917.]

UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE NETHERLANDS.'

A Dutch trades-union periodical publishes the following statistics of unemployment in the unions on the 1st of June, 1917, in comparison with preceding months back to September, 1914:

UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG TRADE-UNION MEMBERS, SEPT. 1, 1914, TO JUNE 1, 1917.

The large proportion of the unemployed in September, 1914, indicates the panicky condition which the outbreak of the war caused in industrial circles.

The figures indicate a much better situation in July, 1916, than in June, 1917. The relatively greater unemployment this year is due to the practical suspension of ocean traffic, to the closing or reduced working time of factories because of lack of fuel, and in a less degree to other results of the war.

No trade had more than 10 per cent of complete unemployment on June 1, 1917, excepting diamond workers, 38.3 per cent; glass and earthenware workers, 16.9; harbor laborers, 47.8; and seamen, 28.7. The percentage of diamond workers unemployed, though very large, was substantially the same as in June, 1916, and was due in both years to the extinction of the trade in diamonds with the European belligerent countries.

1 From report of United States consul at Amsterdam to State Department, Aug. 2, 1917.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.

STATISTICS OF LABOR ORGANIZATION IN CANADA.

The Sixth Annual Report on Labor Organization in Canada for the calendar year 1916,1 recently issued by the Canadian Department of Labor, presents, aside from statistical data on trade-unions, statements giving the extent to which trade-unionists have enlisted, the action taken by various labor bodies looking to restricting members from becoming militiamen, the attitude of organized labor toward the scheme for registering the man power of the Dominion, and the declarations of organized labor on the war. While in 1914 and 1915, owing largely to enlistments, the number of local branches of tradeunions decreased by 134 and the total membership decreased from 175,799 at the close of 1913 to 143,343 at the close of 1915, a recovery of 17,064 members is noted in 1916, the membership at the end of that year being 160,407, although there was an additional loss of 41 local branches.

The year saw much activity among the officials of labor organizations in an effort to arrest the decline in trade-union membership in Canada, and while no advance is shown in the building and kindred trades, progress in the better-organized districts was recorded by the metal, clothing, and railroad trades. Percentages of the trade groups have undergone considerable change during the past two years. The building trades, which in 1914 had 18.9 per cent of the total trade-union membership, had been in 1916 reduced to 9.4 per cent, while the railroad employees, with 24.9 per cent in 1914, had increased to 30.5 per cent in 1916.

Of the 160,407 members, 129,123 are said to be in international organizations (91 of which have branches in Canada, 84 of these being connected with the American Federation of Labor), 22,884 in noninternational organizations (their activities being confined to the Dominion), and 8,400 in independent bodies. Of the international organizations the brotherhood of railroad trainmen heads the list with a reported membership of 10,684.

It is stated that 1,284 local branch unions reported 21,599 enlistments since the declaration of war; also that 593 British reservists have joined their regiments. The building trades lost most heavily,

1 Canada. Department of Labor. ada (for the calendar year 1916).

Sixth annual report on labor organization in CanOttawa, 1917. 230 pp.

contributing 19.5 per cent of the enlistments; railroad employees came next with 16.4 per cent.

The report states that the most representative labor body in the Dominion is the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada, which is closely identified with the international labor movement, and that 48 of the 84 international organizations operating in Canada and affiliated with the American Federation of Labor have also affiliated their Canadian membership, numbering 58,755, with the Trades and Labor Congress.

Included in the report is a statement of trade-union beneficiary work. The following table shows the beneficiary disbursements made during 1916 by 80 of the 91 international organizations operating in Canada (the other 11 not having beneficiary features) and also the disbursements made by the local branch unions to their own members. It is explained that in the case of the international organizations the expenditures are for the whole membership, since it was not possible to secure from the officers a statement of what proportion of benefits were distributed among the Canadian membership.

BENEFITS PAID BY INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING IN CANADA, AND BY LOCAL BRANCH UNIONS, IN 1916.1

The disbursements were mostly for the year 1916; some of the reports, however, are for the fiscal year of the respective organizations.

2 Includes international, noninternational, and independent local branches.

* Includes also traveling benefits.

4 Decrease.

Includes also accidents.

As already suggested, the report notes the opposition of some labor organizations to military service, but states that of 143 international organizations operating in North America a very limited number have passed restrictive laws; the names of these are given in the report. As to the attitude of labor toward the registration of the man power of the Dominion, it would appear "from the various resolutions adopted and opinions expressed by the chain of trades and labor councils throughout the Dominion that the at

titude of organized labor on the question of registration is far from one of unanimity."

One chapter of the report, entitled "Organized labor and the war," sets forth the pronouncement of the Trades and Labor Congress

of Canada in which was reaffirmed the declaration of 1915 "that it is the duty of the labor world to render every assistance possible to the allies of Great Britain, more especially for those in Canada who form a part of the Empire, in an endeavor to secure early and final victory for the cause of freedom and democracy." Both the trades and labor congress and the Canadian Federation of Labor expressed themselves as opposed to conscription for military service. The report includes the text of proposal of the American Federation of Labor that wage earners be represented in the peace conferences, and notes that the British Trades-union Congress rejected this suggestion while the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada approved it.

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