organization for promoting the election of labor members to Parliament was decided upon by the TRADES UNION CONGRESS. As a result of this. decision a body known as the Labor Representation Committee was formed during the following year. This was a federal body representative not only of trade unions and TRADES COUNCILS, but also of socialist and cooperative societies. In 1906 this body was renamed the British Labor Party. Except for a section which included the Independent Labor Party, the organization supported the recent war and took part in the coalition government. Under a new constitution adopted in 1918, individuals not associated with other socialist or labor organizations are permitted to enter the Party through membership in the so-called LOCAL LABOR PARTIES, and to share in the election of five members to the national executive. Of the remaining seats on the national executive, four are reserved for women, and the others are allotted to the national societies-labor, socialist, and cooperative. The principal purposes of the Party, as set forth in its constitution, are (1) "to secure for the producers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry, and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible, upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service"; and (2) "generally to promote the political, social, and economic emancipation of the people, and more particularly of those who depend directly upon their own exertions by hand or by brain for the means of life." The Party is thus avowedly socialistic in its aims, representing the moderate or right-wing school of socialistic theory. It is affiliated with the second INTERNATIONALE. The membership of the Party exceeded three and onehalf millions in 1919. Since 1918 it has been the leading opposition party in the Imperial Parliament. (See PARLIAMENTARY LABOR PARTY; LABOR AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER; COUNCIL OF ACTION; BLACKCOATS; WOMAN'S LABOR LEAGUE.)

British Ministry of Labor. The administrative department (organized December, 1916) of the British government that concerns itself with the welfare of the laboring classes, including the supervision of LABOR EXCHANGES, UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE, TRADE BOARDS, and JOINT INDUSTRIAL COUNCILS; MEDIATION, CONCILIATION, and ARBITRATION in industrial disputes; the preparation of labor statistics; etc. At its head is the Minister of Labor, to whom are attached a "Parliamentary secretary," two "joint permanent secretaries," a "second secretary," a solicitor, an accountant-general,

and heads of the following departments: Establishment, Wages and Arbitration, Employment, Industries, Council Secretariat, Intelligence and Statistics, Training, Appointments, Civil Liabilities. The three last-named are temporary departments.

British National Industrial Conference. Early in 1919 Mr. Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister, summoned some five hundred representatives of employers' associations and trade unions, to discuss in conference some of the more pressing national problems in connection with industrial reconstruction and labor unrest. At a meeting held February 27, 1919, the Conference resolved to appoint a joint committee, composed of employers' and workers' representatives in equal number, with a chairman chosen by the government, "to consider and report to a further meeting of this conference on the causes of the present unrest and the steps necessary to safeguard and promote the best interests of employers, workpeople, and the State." This joint committee's report, unanimously adopted by the reassembled conference on April 4, recommended, among various other matters, the "universal" legal determination and enforcement of MINIMUM WAGE scales, a compulsory FORTY-EIGHT HOUR WEEK, obligatory RECOGNITION of trade unions, and the formation of a permanent national industrial council or industrial parliament to advise the government on all matters concerning industry. (See INDUSTRIAL UNREST.)

British Trade Union Organization. As a specimen of the elaborate administrative organization of some of the larger British national unions, that of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers is thus outlined in C. M. Lloyd's "Trade Unionism": "It has in daily attendance at its headquarters in London, a paid Executive Council of a Chairman and seven members, elected by ballot from the seven divisions into which Great Britain is divided. Side by side with this Council, and largely under its control, works the GENERAL SECRETARY with four assistants. For organising purposes there is a staff (under the direction of the Executive Council) of twelve Organising District Delegates, each elected for three years (and reeligible) from and by the district in which he has worked and resided for the twelve months immediately preceding his nomination. The duties of these Organizing District Delegates include the visiting and strengthening of branches, the attending of conferences, the interviewing of employers, and so on. There is also a network of District Committees, varying in size according to the number of branches in the district. The Committee-men, who must be working at their

trade, are elected half-yearly (the President and Secretary annually), and are empowered, subject to the approval of the Executive Council, to deal with questions of trade disputes, wages, hours and conditions of labor, and so on, in their respective areas. At the head of the whole organization are the Delegate Meeting and Final Appeal Court. The Delegate Meeting consists of one delegate for every 3000 members chosen from equal electoral areas. It is only summoned in emergencies or to deal with matters vitally affecting the Society. It has power to alter or rescind any rule (due notice having been given to the branches), but it must not abrogate any of the principles of the Society, 'unless thereafter forty per cent of the membership vote in favor of the change.' The Final Appeal Court, composed of one delegate for every 6000 members and meeting every two years, considers and decides all appeals against the rulings of the Executive Council." (For main references to general details of British trade union organization, see BRANCH; Multiple-BRANCH UNION; SIngleBRANCH UNION; GOVERNING BRANCH; COMPOSITE BRANCHES, CENTRAL EXECUTIVE; REPRESENTATIVE MEETING; DISTRICT COUNCIL; ADVISORY COUNCILS; DISTRICT DELEGATES; GENERAL SECRETARY; SHOP STEWARD; STEWARD.)

Broken Time. See SHORT TIME; STRAIGHT Time.

Brooklands Agreement. An important arrangement between operatives and employers which governed the English cottonspinning trade from 1893 to 1905. It provided elaborate machinery for the adjustment of wages and trade disputes by mutual discussion, without cessation of work. (See BAD SPINNING.)

Brookwood College. At a meeting of trade union leaders held at New York in the spring of 1921, plans were made for the organization under this name of the first resident workers' college in the United States. According to a formal statement issued by the conference, "it was decided to unite with the American labor union movement a force of education that will serve American labor with trained, responsible, liberally educated men and women from the ranks of the workers. The new college is not intended to act as a propagandist institution. Thoroughly in sympathy with the aims and aspirations of labor as a whole, the college will closely cooperate with the national and international labor groups, also with the various local colleges and schools that send to it working men and women who show promise as to need further education in order best to serve the labor movement and through it society." The

college will be established at Katonah, N. Y., and will be guided by the principles of academic freedom, student self-government, and cooperative living. (See WORKING-CLASS EDUCATION.)

Brotherhood. A title sometimes assumed by a trade union— notably the various national or international organizations of American railway workers, commonly known as RAILWAY BROTHERHOODS.

Brotherhood Cooperations. "For the purpose of maintaining the benefits of the rates, rules, and regulations now in effect, and for improving the same as conditions may warrant," the "big four" RAILWAY BROTHERHOODS have a special form of agreement by which so-called "cooperations" are formed in conjunction with other organizations of railway workers. These cooperations function through "cooperative boards," each of which consists of the "general committees" of the various organizations affiliated under this plan for a single railway system. Where a cooperation is formed, it takes the place of the existing SYSTEM FEDERATION, formed under the CEDAR RAPIDS PLAN, for the particular line of railway involved. The cooperative plan is carefully arranged to give the "big four" control of all cooperations.

Brown System. A plan of DISCIPLINE for railway employees devised by George R. Brown, an American railway superintendent. It consists, in essence, of keeping a record of each employee in the service, with a method of debit and credit marks for delinquencies or special efficiency. The employee is not suspended for minor offences, but is discharged or promoted on the basis of his record as a whole for a specific period. The Brown system is sometimes spoken of as "discipline by record" or "discipline without suspension."

Buck Stove and Range Case. An historic episode in American labor annals, of particular importance with reference to the use of the BOYCOTT and the INJUNCTION in labor disputes. In 1907 the Buck Stove and Range Company became involved in trouble with its molders. A strike and a boycott followed, the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR including the name of the company in its "We Don't Patronize" column, or UNFAIR LIST, of "The American Federationist." A sweeping injunction against this and other actions of the Federation was secured by the company, and later three high officials of the Federation were sentenced to prison terms for violation of this injunction. After legal proceedings lasting for more than

three years, the Supreme Court set aside the judgment of imprison

ment.

Buck System. See BERKSHIRE SYSTEM.

Buffer Employment. Temporary work provided for persons thrown out of jobs in a SEASONAL OCCUPATION or in a period of industrial depression or readjustment. Buffer employment usually consists of work upon public improvements of various sorts.

Builders' Parliament. See BUILDING TRADES PARLIAMENT.

Building and Loan Associations. This form of cooperative credit association, found chiefly in the United States, is intended to aid wage earners and small salaried workers in acquiring homes of their own. Small sums of money are collected on the instalment plan from all members, and then loaned to individual members who wish to purchase or build homes. (See CREDIT COOPERATION.)

Building Trades Councils. Local, district, and state bodies, representative of such trade unions in the building industries as are affiliated with the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR and its BUILDING TRADES DEPARTMENT-by which latter organization the councils are chartered. In the case of local councils (the most numerous and important type) it is provided that "the jurisdiction of this council shall completely cover the building industry either in erection, repair or alteration, and this council is endowed with full autonomy over all matters affecting all workmen engaged in said industry, when in conformity with the laws and decisions of the Building Trades Department." The functions of such councils are to determine local JURISDICTION and to discipline local unions for violations; to act for the locals in making local agreements with employers; to act together in disciplining employers by strike or otherwise; and to assist employers in securing and maintaining monopoly of the field. Each council has its own officers and executive council, and as a rule one or more BUSINESS AGENTS who "have power to order all strikes when instructed to do so by the council or executive board." An effective part of the council's machinery is the "board of business agents," the members of which keep watch for each other of violations of union rules, formulate and present demands, and to a considerable degree control relations with employers. In addition to the local councils, district councils or conference boards may be formed "where two or more local unions of an affiliated international organization exist under the jurisdiction of this council." State