dominated; and not content with reaching out for mastery as to commodities which substitutes for meat and its by-products, they have invaded allied industries and even unrelated ones. The combination has not stopped at the most minute integration but has gone on into a stage of conglomeration, so that unrelated heterogenous enterprises are brought under control. "As we have followed these five great corporations through their amazing and devious ramifications-followed them through important branches of industry, of commerce, and of finance-we have been able to trace back to its source the great power which has made possible their growth. We have found it is not so much the means of production and preparation, nor the sheer momentum of great wealth, but the advantage which is obtained through a monopolistic control of the market places and means of transportation and distribution. If these five great concerns owned no packing plants and killed no cattle and still retained control of the instruments of transportation, of marketing, and of storage, their position would not be less strong than it is. The producer of live stock is at the mercy of these five companies because they control the market and the marketing facilities and, to some extent, the rolling stock which transports the product to the market. The competitors of these five concerns are at their mercy because of the control of the market places, storage facilities, and the refrigerator cars for distribution. The consumer of meat products is at the mercy of these five because both producer and competitor are helpless to bring relief." We learn that in 1917, a war year of patriotism, sacrifice, and suffering, though the sales of the packers had barely doubled, their profits were four times as great as in an average year prior to the war. Suggested federal legislation.-Many interested and important organizations have joined in urging corrective legislation affecting the meat packing industry. Among them may be mentioned: The American Live Stock Association, whose activities inaugurated the Federal Trade Commission's investigation; The National Grange; The Farmers' National Council; The National Board of Farm Organizations; The American Farm Bureau Federation; The American Federation of Labor; The Wholesale Grocers' Association; The League of Women Voters; The Women's Trade Uni gue and the National Consumers' League. groups, and co-operatives better opportunities to do business than now exist under the packers' control, and would materially aid in the elimination of unnecessary middlemen. Bills in the sixty-sixth and sixty-seventh Congress.—In the sixty-sixth Congress the Kendrick and Kenyon bills were considered by the Senate Agriculture Committee and a new measure, the Gronna bill, was drafted. Although the provision for compulsory licensing was omitted, this bill had the support of the combined consumer, farmer, and labor groups that had so valiantly championed the original bills. On January 24, 1921, the Gronna bill passed the Senate by a vote of forty-six to thirty-three. The bill went to the House Committee on Agriculture and was reported out with an amendment by Chairman Haugen. It is believed that it would have passed the House had it been allowed a place on the calendar by the Rules Committee. In the sixty-seventh Congress the Norris bill was introduced into the Senate. It was the Gronna bill of the last session amended to provide for one live stock commissioner in the Department of Agriculture, instead of an independent live stock commission of three members. It sought also to protect the powers of the Federal Trade Commission. The Norris bill was supported by all the national farm organizations as well as the League of Women Voters, the Consumers' League and various labor groups. In the House the Haugen bill, which was passed on June 2nd, provided that jurisdiction over the packers should be vested in the Secretary of Agriculture, and that the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission in so far as it relates to live stock and live stock products in domestic commerce, should be terminated. The Haugen bill omitted any provision for authoritative current, public information made possible through the medium of uniform accounting systems. It seemed to make the provisions of the anti-trust acts inapplicable to the packers. It omitted the voluntary registration of stock yards, abattoirs, and warehouses to secure all possible improvements in the marketing, and storing systems by means of non-financial federal aid. The representatives of the National Grange, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Farmers' National Council, the National Board of Farm Organizations, the American Federation of Labor, the National League of Women Voters and the National Consumers' League, called upon Chairman Haugen to present a letter pointing out the serious defects and omissions in the bill, and requesting that amendments remedying the defects should be made by the Agriculture Committee. A rehearing was granted, but none of the suggested amendments, and the Haugen bill passed the House, without a record vote, in the form in which it came from the Agriculture Committee. The House bill, after its passage, was reported to the Senate. The Senate Committee on Agriculture sought, without success, to substitute for it the Norris bill. The vote was thirty-four to thirty-one against the substitution. After a week of intens dramatic debate, the Senate, on June 17, passed the House bill with several im! amendments, by a vote of forty-five to twenty-one. One amendment adopted Section 6 of the Norris bill, which gives th of Agriculture power to investigate, and to furnish to producers, con distributors information respecting live stock market supply, demand, F conditions. Another amendment included Section 16 of the Norris bill, which that the Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe uniform systems of accounts and records. An amendment was adopted providing that commission men shall be included in the provisions of the bill. Though the amendments improve the bill, there is one great disappointment, because the bill as passed seems to terminate the power of the Federal Trade Commission to further investigate the packing industry. An exception is made in an amendment which would allow the Secretary of Agriculture in the exercise of his duties to call upon the Federal Trade Commission to make an investigation and report. It is believed that this provision will make it necessary for Congress itself to pass new legislation before it can order investigation by the Federal Trade Commission concerning business in which the packers are engaged. It may mean that important investigations now being made by the Federal Trade Commission will have to be abandoned. The bill will probably be referred to a conference committee composed of members from both Senate and House. It is hoped that the Senate amendments may be accepted and that something may yet be done to prevent the crippling of the Federal Trade Commission. Significance of pending legislation.-In whatever shape the bill may come from the Conference Committee, one principle at least has been established. It is that any business which practically controls any of the necessities of life is charged with public use, and should be regulated by the government. Surely our nation is morally obligated to make it possible for nourishing food to be brought and kept within reach of every home and especially all growing children. B. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PROBLEM OF NEGRO LABOR + and white employee, wages, hours, shop requirements, housing, transportation-these and many more have been issues in his assimilation to his new environment. We are to confine our remarks to some of the outstanding developments since the migration. The significant development is that certain anticipated difficulties did not develop. It was expected that discord and, in fact, open clashes between white and colored labor working in the same plants would of necessity occur. Surprisingly few instances of open hostility have been reported. Demands for separate conveniences and segregated compartments for the purpose of keeping the races apart were yielded to in a comparatively small number of cases. When the migration began, it was conjectured and accepted that epidemics would be generated in every city to which newcomers from the South would go. Exciting prophecies of the physical inability of negroes to withstand the rigors of northern climate could be heard on every hand. Cities were to be visited with epidemics of pneumonia and tuberculosis. There was to be no end to smallpox. Crime waves would sweep the North and bread lines were to be numerous. It is interesting to note that while in 1919 and 1920 there were epidemics of pneumonia and influenza, they were neither brought about nor accentuated by the presence of negroes. In fact, the deathrate among colored people during these epidemics was exceedingly small; and in no city has an alarming increase in morbidity or mortality ratios been discerned. In fact, in Detroit, the death rate has actually declined five or six points. It is, of course, too soon to say whether negro labor has satisfied every demand. It would be unreasonable to expect such development in six years after an experience such as we have indicated for three hundred years. And, too, what a difference between the passionless cotton fields of Mississippi and Georgia and the engaging and uninterrupted existence of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago! Yet, negroes actually "made good." Of course their turnover was high; in the beginning they were not punctual; they had difficulty conforming to northern frugality; in certain classes of work they did better, and in other classes, worse than whites; they jumped from job to job when no incentive or promotion was promised. In short, there were many inequalities, but when these are brushed aside there still remains the frequently acknowledged fact that negroes rendered satisfactory service and made gratifying progress in their new fields of labor. But success was not instantaneous. Churches, clubs, agencies, and individuals united in a campaign of education. Placards and letters containing advice to newcomers were distributed. Pastors preached about efficiency, orderliness, and citizenship. Counsel and warnings of every conceivable description followed the new workers into the shop where noon meetings were conducted, as well as into the home where talks with wives and neighborhood meetings were held frequently. There is still the problem of trade training. In the North, negro boys and girls have not heretofore taken advantage of technical courses. Heretofore they have not been able to get jobs as mechanics and machinists and have, therefore, never acquired in the North the habit of attending trade schools. It is hoped that progress in this direction will be realized as opportunities for skilled workers appear. Relationship between unionists and negroes, each of whom loc with mutual suspicion and fear, was regarded as one of the most se: Refer for details to two reports of the Department of Labor and the report mission on Race Relations to be published soon. 4 of the whole movement. The American Federation of Labor has all along affirmed the right of negroes to organize, but protests from autonomous internationals and locals have made the federation's avowals mere perfunctory expressions of good intentions. In 1920, at the fortieth annual convention of the federation, held in Montreal, Canada, a resolution was passed that "where international unions refuse to admit colored workers to membership, the American Federation of Labor will be authorized to organize them under charters of the American Federation of Labor." The attitude of the American Federation of Labor has been reflected in decisions and policies of most of the internationals. In fact, out of 110 national and international unions affiliated with the federation, only 8 have constitutional provisions barring negroes. During the steel strike, negroes were organized in the same local with whites. At the stockyards, the Butcher Workmen's Union has for the past four or five years made overtures to negroes. When the riots occurred in 1919 in Chicago, the police authorities, fearing a revival of attacks, would not permit negro workers to go out of the districts in which large numbers of them lived. This kept practically all of them out of the stockyards. The Chicago Federation of Labor sought the governor, the mayor, and the chief of police to say that, so far as conflict within the yards was concerned, organized labor guaranteed that no trouble would come to negro workers if the police were withdrawn and the situation left to union workers. Notwithstanding the fact that practically every negro worker was kept out of the yards for ten days or more, it should be said to the credit of the packers as well as the credit of organized labor that negro workers, men and women, were allowed to return unmolested to their old jobs. Packers and unionists did all within their power to restore and maintain order. The significant point in this development is that it indicates that organized labor has begun to recognize the negro as an industrial factor in the North. Wherever colored workers are employed in large numbers, the unions involved will seek their membership. They may dislike to have them employed, but once they are, the tendency is to admit them to membership. Organized labor constructed on purely personal lines, realizes that the negro must be recognized. Since there is a disposition on the part of manufacturers to use negro labor, labor leaders see the advisability of organizing colored workers as a means of protection and strengthening their own forces. Notwithstanding the favorable attitude of the American Federation of Labor and its internationals, four of the six nationals and internationals not affiliated with the American Federation of Labor from their membership. They the Amalgamated Clothing W World, admit negroes to memb tices of the railway brotherhood of Labor, there has arisen a strong an men. Chicago is the headquarters of t magazine formed an association for the and a former organ national of colored unaffiliated bodies which ought to affe unionizing negroes is b |