Household Union. See COMPANY UNION. Housing. It is generally recognized that the provision of sanitary, comfortable, wholesome, and inexpensive living quarters for wage-earners is an indispensable requisite for any permanent condition of social well-being and industrial peace. The investigations into this subject made by the FEDERAL COMMISSION ON INdustrial RelATIONS are summarized in the following statements: "(1) The present provisions for the housing of workmen are generally bad, not only in the large cities but in industrial communities of every size and in rural districts. (2) Not only are the houses and tenements which are available for workers largely insanitary and unfit for habitation, but they are inadequate, resulting in high rents, overcrowding and congestion. (3) Such conditions make not only for discomfort and unhappiness, but for disease and degeneration. (4) The ordinary method of supplying houses through their erection by private capitalists for investment and speculation has rarely if ever been adequate. (5) Excellent plans for the housing of workmen have been put into effect by a number of firms and corporations, but such measures have not at all affected the general situation, and being dependent upon the volition of individuals can not be regarded as likely to greatly influence progress. (6) The tenement-house acts, as well as the health ordinances and building regulations of municipalities, while generally productive of good effects, are at best surface remedies and can never cure the evils of the present housing situation. (7) In every important European country government aid and direct intervention to curb speculation have proved to be necessary for the promotion of any real progress. (8) Governmental action in Europe has chiefly taken the following forms: extension of credit to voluntary non-profit-making associations; construction by the Government of buildings which are leased for long periods on easy terms; exemption from taxation and other subsidies for homes constructed for occupancy by their owners; legislation designed to prevent the holding of land out of use and to secure for the Government a part of the 'unearned increment."" (See BRITISH HOUSING ACTS; COMPANY HOUSING; MANCHESTER BUILDING GUILD; INDUSTRIAL HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION BUREAU.) ACTS. ACTS. Housing (Additional Powers) Act. See BRITISH HOUSING Housing and Town-Planning Act. See BRITISH HOUSING Human Engineering. This term has been applied to various efforts "to restore as far as possible the personal element to industry -to make it possible for employers to gain an inkling of the problems and the aspirations of their employees, and for employees to come into touch with some of the problems which the business man must solve." As commonly used, the term is synonymous, in a broad and general sense, with PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION. Human Relations Department. See INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT. Hungarian Trade Union Commission. See UNGARLÄNDISCHER GEWERKSCHAFTSRAT. Hunk. See HUNKY. Hunky. A common nickname in the United States for a laborer belonging to one of the Slavic races. "Hunk" and "bohunk" are alternate forms often used. Hunting the Fox. See CHASSE AUX RENARD. I I. C. A. See INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE ALLIANCE. I. F. T. U. See INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS. I. L. P. and T. U. C. See IRISH LABOR PARTY AND TRADES UNION CONGRESS. I. S. B. See INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST BUREAU. I. S. S. See INTERCOLLEGIATE SOCIALIST SOCIETY. I. T. and G. W. U. See IRISH TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS' UNION. I. W. W. The initials by which both an individual member of the INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD and the organization itself are most commonly known. Idle Money. See OUT-OF-WORK BENEFITS. Illegal Men. Workers who have not served the regulation APPRENTICESHIP period, and thus gained the right to follow their trade as qualified JOURNEYMEN, are sometimes so called. Illegal Strike. See INDEPENDENT STRIKE. Immigration. The influx of great numbers of foreign-born laborers, mostly unskilled and accustomed to lower standards of living than the native-born workman, has played a most important part in the American labor movement. According to Professor Commons, "no understanding of the American movement, compared with that especially of England, can be acquired until one perceives the importance of race and language. These underlie the strenuous demand of American unions for the CLOSED SHOP, as compared with the relative indifference of English unionists on this subject. The closed shop is essentially labor's application of the protective tariff principle. . . . It is, therefore, on this question of races and immigration that the real class conflict in American industry has occurred; for the backward or alien races have been made the instruments of employers to reduce the wages of the older nationalities. The hostility to immigration, exhibited by American unionists, is simply evidence of their attack upon the instruments used by their employers to defeat their demands." The economic effects of immigration are thus summarized by the staff of the FEDERAL COMMISSION ON INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, on the basis of evidence presented to the Commission: "(1) The immigration policy of the United States has created a number of our most difficult and serious industrial problems and has been responsible in a considerable measure for the existing state of INDUSTRIAL UNREST. (2) The enormous influx of immigrants during the past twenty-five years has already undermined the AMERICAN STANDARD OF LIVING for all workmen except those in the skilled trades, and has been the largest single factor in preventing the wage scale from rising as rapidly as food prices. (3) The great mass of non-English-speaking workers, who form about one-half of the labor force in the basic industries, has done much to prevent the development of better relations between employers and employees. (4) The presence of such a large proportion of immigrants has greatly hampered the formation of trade unions and has tremendously increased the problem of securing effective and responsible organizations. (5) The unreasonable prejudice of almost every class of Americans toward the immigrants, who form such a large proportion of the labor force of our industries, has been largely responsible for the failure of our Nation to reach a correct understanding of the labor problem and has promoted the harshness and brutality which has so often been manifested in connection with industrial disturbances. It has been and to a large measure still is felt possible to dismiss the most revolting working conditions, the most brutal treatment, or the most criminal invasion of personal rights, by saying, 'Oh, well, they are just ignorant foreigners."" The increasing success of American trade unions in organizing the foreign-born workers, as apparent particularly among the coal-mine and garment workers, has lessened these evils in some degree; but opposition to unrestricted immigration is still a prominent item in the programme of organized labor. The first GENERAL Labor Conference of the League of NATIONS proposed that migrations of workers from one country to another be permitted only after obtaining the approval of the employers' and the workers' organizations of both countries affected. In the United States no agency exists for consulting either employers or workers on this question. A permanent immigration commission would, however, be the natural channel through which such mutual arrangement could be effected. (See CHINESE EXCLUSION LAWS; JAPANESE-AMERICAN Passport Agreement; ASIATIC BARRED ZONE; CONTRACT LABOR; PADRONE SYSTEM; INDUCED IMMIGRATION; AsSISTED IMMIGRATION; BIRDS OF PASSAGE; HARVESTERS; IMMIGRATION BUREAU; NATURALIZATION BUREAU; IMMIGRATION LAW OF 1921.) Immigration Bureau. This is the second oldest of the five permanent bureaus of the United States Department of Labor, having been organized in 1819 in the Treasury Department under the title of "Office of the Superintendent of Immigration." From 1903 to 1913 its functions were administered under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; and in the last-named year, in accordance with the provisions of the organic act creating the Department of Labor, it became a part thereof. Under the direction of the SECRETARY OF LABOR this Bureau is charged with the administration of the various Federal acts regulating IMMIGRATION and the admission of Chinese to the United States, and with the examination and registration of alien seamen arriving from foreign ports. Immigration Law of 1921. This "act to limit the immigration of aliens into the United States," which went into effect June 3, 1921, provides that "the number of aliens of any nationality who may be admitted under the immigration laws to the United States in any fiscal year shall be limited to 3 per centum of the number of foreign-born persons of such nationality resident in the United States as determined by the United States census of 1910." In practical effect, the law applies only to members of the working classes. Impartial Chairman. Joint arbitration boards or committees of employers and workers frequently utilize the services of an "outside," "neutral," or "independent" person, who often presides at meetings of the board or committee and in some cases individually decides the matter in dispute. In the British trade machinery for CONCILIATION and ARBITRATION, the impartial chairman (also called "neutral" or "independent" chairman) has long been prominent. "The power of this impartial chairman," to quote O'Brien's "Labor Organization," "differs greatly in different cases. For instance, in the Mining Conciliation Boards an independent chairman is only called in when the two parties fail to agree, and has only power to decide between the rival proposals of the two sides, without being |