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 NO TES AND ABSTRA CTS 719

head, is like a great family. Every month a delegate from each of the departments, thirty in all, meets with the directors and discusses the conduct of the work. These delegates are never foremen, but represent the men themselves, and the suggestions they make are from their own point of view, not from that of the foreman." In this way the subject of shorter hours of labor came up last spring. The workmen dele- gates to the conference suggested a working day of eight and one-half hours ; the directors themselves suggested an eight-hour day, "a great innovation in Germany." Since April I, 1900, the latter has been in operation, resulting, according to the testi- mony of the directors, in fully as much work, and apparently of better quality, than was before accomplished in the long day. Other aspects of the work of the Stiftung already successfully inaugurated or projected are : the maintenance of a highly popular free reading-room, said to be the largest institution of its kind in Germany ; the build- ing of a fine library; large contributions to local hospitals, that the workmen may be cheaply treated ; special courses of instruction for the men in mathematics, pi ysics, drawing, mechanics, the German, English, and French languages; the establishment of a free swimming bath in the river Saale ; the construction of parks and summer- houses about the town ; the equipment of an astronomical observatory in the Univer- sity of Jena ; the founding of a chair of mathematical physics ; the building of an experimental physics laboratory; and the annual contribution to many other worthy enterprises of science and philanthropy, such as even a recent polar expedition. The profits of the business have been large, and its prosperity seems assured. But in case the Stiftung should ever go out of business, for whatever reason, one-half of the pro- ceeds remaining after the debts are paid will go to the city of Jena, to be used for the good of the inhabitants, and one-half to the University of Jena. Not a cent is reserved for private disposal. C. J. B.

The Amelioration of the Condition of the Laborers in the United States.

A visit to the foreign section of social economy at the Palais des Congres impresses one with the considerable efforts that are actually made in the United States for the purpose of elevating the mental and moral condition of the laborers. The large manu- facturers see in these efforts the best means of developing that reciprocal sympathy between employer and employ^ which is the principal element of industrial pros- perity.

These isolated efforts of employers have been given a common center by the organization of a league for the purpose of coordinating their efforts. The League for Social Service was founded at New York in 1898 for the purpose of profiting by the results of the scientific work of professors and students by presenting these results in a practical form, so as to render them immediately applicable for the great entre- preneurs and for those who are interested in social measures for promoting industrial progress.

The league is, consequently, an intermediary for the exchange of ideas and informa- tion. To fulfill its task it has created several services corresponding to the different means of action that it proposes to employ: (i) service of consultation and inquiry; (2) library and records; (3) propaganda and practical demonstration; (4) service of publications (monthly review, tracts, conferences); (5) service of information ; (6) institute of " social service."

Among the patronal institutions so numerous in the United States, the secretary of the league has selected, as a principal type, the National Cash Register Factory at Dayton, O. a factory which has realized a great number of the improvements extolled by the league for the amelioration of the workers, and augmenting, by a natural reaction, the profits of the employers. Among the means for the improvement of the condition of the workers in the factory may be mentioned : (a) making the buildings cheerful, wholesome, and commodious, and beautifying the grounds with flowers and shrubbery; (6) providing of free shower-baths; (c) establishment of a library; (d) assigning of portions of a tract of land to the younger employe's, cultiva- tion of which is under the direction of a landscape gardener, prizes being offered for the best results ; (e) establishment of a series of prizes for the purpose of rewarding every suggestion relative to the amelioration of production, reduction of expenses, and general organization of the industry.

In several places the rooms of the factories, in which the workers spend at least