councils may be formed and chartered by the Building Trades Department "in any state or territory of the United States or province of Canada, provided that a majority of the chartered local councils shall have made application therefor, and they shall have power to make their own laws in conformity with the laws of this Department." (See TRADES COUNCIL-AMERICAN.)

Building Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor. Organized 1908, under a constitution of which the first two sections are as follows: "(1) This organization shall be composed of national and international building trades organizations, recognized as such, duly and regularly chartered by the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR. Membership shall be confined to national and international building trades organizations that are affiliated with the Federation, and which are universally employed in the building industry, either in erection, repair, or alteration. (2) The object of this body shall be the encouragement and formation of local organizations of building tradesmen, and the conferring of such power and authority upon the several locals of this Department as may advance the interest and welfare of the building industry; to adjust trade disputes along practical lines as they arise from time to time and to create a more harmonious feeling between the employer and employee; to issue charters to national and international unions, state and local BUILDING TRADES COUNCILS for the purpose of attending to building trades matters." The delimiting of JURISDICTION in the building trades is one of the most important functions of this Department. Its constitution stipulates that "each affiliated organization shall be required to submit a written. statement covering the extent and character of its trade jurisdiction, and when allowed by the Executive Council and approved by the general convention, no encroachment by other trades will be countenanced or tolerated." (See DEPARTMENTS of the American FedERATION OF LABOR; NATIONAL BOARD FOR JURISDICTIONAL AWARDS.)

Building Trades Parliament. A recently organized INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL for the building industry of Great Britain. It differs from the WHITLEY PLAN in providing not merely for "a permanent improvement in the relations between employers and workmen," but in its effort to build up "a new and better industrial order." It consists of 132 members, one half elected by the trade unions and half by the associations of building-trade employers. It makes decisions by a majority of the whole council, instead of following the Whitley council practice of requiring a majority on each side,

Bulgarian General Federation of Trade Unions. See ZENTRALVERBAND DER BULGARISCHEN GEWERKSCHAFTEN.

Bull System. It is not uncommon for American railroads and other quasi-public corporations to maintain a permanent private police force. This is known among workers as the "bull system” -"bull" being a common slang designation for a policeman. In differentiation from a city or state police officer, a private policeman is usually termed a "company bull," "railroad bull," etc. POLICING OF INDUSTRY.)

(See

Bummery. After the split in the INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD organization in 1908 the Detroit or POLITICAL ACTION wing applied this derisive nickname to the Chicago or DIRECT ACTION wing the present I. W. W. The name originated in a popular I. W. W. song with a refrain beginning "Hallelujah, I'm a bum."

Bureau International du Travail. See INTERNATIONAL LABOR OFFICE.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. One of the five permanent bureaus of the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. It was formally organized January 1, 1885, as the Bureau of Labor in the Department of the Interior, and was made an independent department in 1888 as a "Department of Labor," but without Cabinet representation. In 1903 it was renamed the "Bureau of Labor" and placed in the Department of Commerce and Labor. Upon the creation of the present Department of Labor in 1913, this bureau was transferred to it, and the title changed to "Bureau of Labor Statistics." The fact-gathering bureau of the Department, its function is to gather, collate, and report statistics of labor, and generally to disseminate labor information. Besides an important periodical, the "Monthly Labor Review," the Bureau publishes numerous bulletins, reports, monographs, etc., relating to all phases of the labor movement, both here and abroad. It aids in standardizing state labor legislation and administration, in establishing and reorganizing state statistical departments, in providing state labor bureaus, members of Congress, and other bodies and persons with needed labor facts, etc., etc. The principal officers of the Bureau are a Commissioner of Labor Statistics and a Chief Statistician.

Bureau voor de Roomsche Katholicke Vakorgenisatie (Bureau of the Roman Catholic Organizations). See DUTCH LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.

Bureaus of Labor. Permanent government offices for the investigation of labor matters, in particular the collection of statistics regarding wages, hours, and conditions of labor. The first government bureau of labor was established by Massachusetts in 1869. Since then similar bureaus, under various names, have been established by the Federal government, by some forty state governments, and by nearly all prominent foreign governments.

Bureaucracy. Literally, government by bureaus; in ordinary usage a term of opprobrium for the excessive multiplication of, and concentration of power in, administrative bureaus of any sort. Bureaucracy implies a minute subdivision of functions; inflexible formality and pride of place on the part of administrators; and official interference in many of the properly private concerns of life. The evils of bureaucracy are commonly considered to be inherent in any scheme of STATE SOCIALISM. Some of its characteristics are occasionally found within the labor movement itself-generally in the case of old and conservative trade unions of the craft type, where control has become strongly centralized.

Bureaux Paritaires. Public LABOR EXCHANGES in France, organized by an agreement between employers and employees. Great care is taken to preserve their character of impartiality. The governing board is composed of an equal number of members elected by the respective interests, and the presiding officer belongs to neither interest. The exchanges are directed to receive demands for workers from employers' associations and to send employees directly to the office of the employer, not to the association making the requisition, in order to avoid any suspicion of recruiting labor through private exchanges.

Burial Money. See DEATH BENEFITS.

Business Agent. The paid representative of a local trade union or other labor body, whose function it is to look after all "outside" interests of the union, particularly the relations of union members with their employers. In some unions the business agent also performs certain duties ordinarily left to the SHOP STEWARD, such as collecting union dues, detecting and calling attention to violations of TRADE AGREEMENTS, and preventing the employment of nonunion workers in union shops. In addition, he sometimes fulfills the functions of an employment agency. "Employers who need additional journeymen apply to him in the early morning hours before he starts on his round of visits from one establishment to another,

and he dispatches such men as are out of work to fill the vacant places. As an ORGANIZER he seeks to persuade workmen to join the union. Frequently he acts as financial secretary. Sometimes when the union pays sick benefits he visits sick members to determine their eligibility to receive such benefits." The office of business agent exists in only a minority of LOCALS. A local must have considerable strength before it can afford the expense, and in many trades the need is hardly felt. The office plays an especially large part in the building trades. "In his capacity of employment agent for the union the business agent is able, if not quite upright, to serve his special friends, and so to make it worth while for members who are or may be out of jobs to consult his desires. As the representative of the union in dealing with employers, he is able to bring the organization without the previous consent of the members, into positions from which it cannot easily retreat. In some unions he has power to order strikes. Even when this power is not formally granted, his advice to quit work will often produce the same effect. On the other hand, the business agent may sometimes take it upon himself to make agreements with employers on behalf of the union. The union is likely to repudiate such agreements if they do not meet its views; but the employers blame the union in such cases, and consider that it has violated its obligations. So long as he holds his place, therefore, the business agent has a large power for good or evil. The living of his fellow-members depends upon his wisdom and his honesty. But they realize it, and they watch him with the eyes of a jealous master. If they come to believe that he is either rash or foolish or dishonest his authority will be quickly ended." (See WALKING DELEGATE; TRADE UNION GOVERNMENT-LOCAL; BUILDING TRADES COUNCILS; AGITATOR; DISTRICT UNION.)

Business Engineering. See SCIENTIFIC Management.

Business Unionism. The functional type of labor organization which, in Professor R. F. Hoxie's characterization, "is essentially trade-conscious, rather than class-conscious. That is to say, it expresses the viewpoint and interests of the workers in a craft or industry rather than those of the working class as a whole. It aims chiefly at more, here and now, for the organized workers of the craft or industry, in terms mainly of higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions, regardless for the most part of the welfare of the workers outside the particular organic group, and regardless in general of political and social considerations, except in so far as these bear directly upon its own economic ends." Business

unionism depends mainly upon COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, favors voluntary ARBITRATION and MUTUAL INSURANCE, and as a rule deprecates strikes and avoids POLITICAL ACTION. It tends to be conservative and exclusive, seeking merely to improve its own position within the existing economic system. The RAILWAY BROTHERHOODS are perhaps the best exemplars of business unionism in the United States, although the type is dominant in the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR as well. (See PURE AND SIMPLE UNIONISM; OLD UNIONISM; CORPORATISME.)

Button. See WORKING BUTTON.

Button Strike. Among American coal-miners, members of the union "in good standing" usually wear WORKING BUTTONS, issued by the union. In many cases these union members have refused to work with men not wearing buttons-thus precipitating what is called a "button strike." Such strikes were at one time of considerable frequency.

Butty or Charter-Master System. Under this form of the CONTRACT SYSTEM, once common and still occasionally found in certain sections of the British coal-mining industry, different parts of the mine are let out to working contractors, who hire the coalhewers to work with and under them. The "butty-man" or "chartermaster," as the working contractor was called, paid his gang a daily time wage, but was himself paid on the basis of output; hence he would naturally always have an interest in speeding-up the hewers, since the faster they worked the larger would be his profits. A modified form of this system is found, or was formerly found, in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. The "butty system" is sometimes known as the "butty-gang system." (See Boss MINER.) Butty-Gang System. See BUTTY SYSTEM.

By-Laws. In some labor unions the WORKING RULES formulated by the national organization are supplemented by local or district "by-laws," which cover in more detailed form the various regulations in regard to terms and conditions of employment which must be observed by members of the union and by employers in the particular locality or district concerned.

Bye-Turnman. In the British iron industry (and perhaps in other trades as well) this is the common designation for an extra or relief worker who frequents a particular works and is given habitual although irregular employment whenever he is needed. (See ONAND-OFF SYSTEM.)