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action, accompanying it with the de- tails of the welfare plan, and asked each member of the association to give it the most careful attention and study. Regarding the conditions which prompted the plan he said: OUTLINES THE WELFARE PLAN. It is common knowledge that prior to 1902, what is now referred to as the 'open shop" principle prevailed on lake vessels. Indeed, it was to make this more assured that the Cleve- land Vessel Owners' Association was formed in the early eighties. After that association was absorbed in the Lake Carriers' Associa- tion in 1891, shipping offices were established in various lake ports. Most satisfactory efforts were made in various ways to improve the quarters and every living and other condition of men on ship board. Then, having in mind the example of some of the railroad companies and the _ so-called Shipping Federation of Great Britain, and other efforts by industrial concerns encouraged by commercial bodies in this and other countries, the question was considered of establishing in the principal ports club rooms, for the use of which sea- men should pay a small due, but enough to give the independent feeling of paying some- thing toward their maintenance, together with some death benefit or scheme of mutual insur- ance, to which the employer would contribute either directly or by guaranteeing a fund, all without restriction of or reference to the right of the employe to be a member of any union or society of any kind for any purpose, and of necessity having in view to give those coming within and helpful in its proper suc- cess, reasonable preference in employment to the end of improving the service generally and in the interest of everyone concerned. A committee of eighteen, including some of the most prominent owners and managers on the great lakes, was appointed; sub-committees investigated; preliminary reports were made, and on Jan. 15. 1901, the executive com- mittee, without dissent, voted approving the general project and laid it before the mem- bers at the annual meeting. On Jan. 16 and 17 it was the chief topic of discussion at the annual meeting, at the close of which the members of the association present, by unani- mous rising vote, approved the general project and appointed a committee to work it® out in detail. : The records and papers of the association show that discussion was of a plan for closer relations between officers and men and owners of vessels in the membershin of the Lake Carriers' Association. and at the close of the discussion the adoption was of well considered but still to an extent tentative suggestions of the committee on the general proposition that there should he established a svstem through which there should come to all officers and employes frompt financial assistance in case of iniury, incident to the employment. and there- with prover vreference of emplovment on ves- sels of the Take Carriers' Association. leaving every man. free to exercise fully his desire to be a member of any other beneficial asso- ciation or union. : : As the result of such preliminary investiga- tion, reports and the broad discussion and ac- tion at the annual meeting of 1901, the same or a similar committee reported that it is practical. and that all owners and emploves would find it of mutual interest in tniting and sustaining a beneficial federation of can- tains. mates, engineers and all other emnloyes. Without setting out here in full their re- port, it included: FEATURE OF THE PLAN. The appointment of a board of five trustees to administer the benefit feature. The agreement of the vessel owner to bear an expense equal to one cent per ton on his en- rolled tonnage. : That any man employed on the vessels in the Lake Carriers' Association should, on ap- plication, be supplied with a benefit book with graded amounts. The application of the benefit to cases where accident clearly arises out of the employment. Following this a plan was formulated. in- cluding the administration of the affairs by a board of five members, with the aid of an ad- visory committee of fifteen members, to be chosen by the members of the association In annual meeting. Authority over the adminis- tration and for the final decision of every auestion that might arise concerning the _bene- fit and its disposition was to be with this ad- 'Carriers' TAE MARINE. REVIEW visory committee, acting with the aid and rec- ommendation of the board of trustees. It was proposed to give to all this the name "Lake Beneficial "Federation." It was pro- posed that everyone on board ship should be eligible; that membership should not be con- strued to interfere in any way with being at the same time a member of any other associa- tion or union; that in view of the beneficial purposes, however, preference in employment should be given as: far as practicable to mem- bers; that applications for membership be made upon printed forms, warranting the facts stated . as to experience and with pledge to comply with all the rules and regulations; that there should be a membership ree of one dollar; the issuing officer and secretary of the association to maintain permanent written records; that on employment the benefit book should be handed to the master to insure a record of the date and nature of the employment, and be re- tained by him, and the duty imposed on the master of making record of the character of service and reason for discharge on a man's leaving the ship, failing compliance with which the book issued would cease to represent mem- bership. The master was to be required to report to the secretary cases of desertion, fail- ure to serve and other misconduct, with au- thority in the board of trustees, or such rep- resentatives as they might select, to pass upon the circumstances and go so far as to cancel and void the membership. In February the executive committee of the association Sent out a copy of a tentative plan, which had been prepared by the then secretary, Mr. Chas. H. Keep, with the aid of investiga- tion by the special committee. The committee had considered the plan of what was known as the English Federation, which had some feat- ures in common, and plans of mutual insur- ance by various railroads and_ other compa- nies; and the whole matter was expected to be definitely formulated and put into operation by and confirmed at the annual meeting in Jan- uary, 1902. Then, before having worked out the plan in detail or establishing the exact basis, some of the unions proposed to under- take this feature of the work if contracts were made with them for the supplying of men, and the Lake Carriers laid aside its plan after discussion, and not withoyr considerable divis- lon of opinion, a majority being willing to at least test their purpose and ability to handle the subject with fairness toward owners and men alike acceptably in the case of all below the grade of officers through unions, which ex- isted or were forming. Accordingly, contracts were made with various unions looking to their supplying all the men by their unions, which also promised to deal justly in cases of injury, disability or death in the service, but leaving the system of individual contracts with officers. This plan was pursued from that time until and including the season of 1907. From the beginning there was complaint, which increased and covered the furnishing of men promptly, the service rendered, the continuity of the service according to articles signed, bitter com- plaint on the part of the men and their de- pendents of the administration of the benefit feature. COMPLAINTS FROM MASTERS NEERS. Complaint came from the masters and mates in the deck department, and from the engi- neers in their department, of inability to have the business of the ship conducted except upon rigid lines either of contract or of union reg- ulation; that the discipline of the ship was often dissipated by consideration of the precise terms of contract made in advance as to what a man should be called upon to do in a given case; and that the real business essential to the safety of the ship and the due perform- ance of her business was subordinated to tech- nical auestions of contract as interpreted by the unions or by individual members of the crew, whose contentions were generally and almost as a matter of course sustained by the unions. These complaints came in increasing volume and force, and the discussion of April 9, 1908, participated in by members representing nearly all of the tonnage in the association, brought out very forcefully the importance in general safety of these pronositions: 1. That it is impossible to define in ad- vance the precise duty and order of perform- ance of duty by the officers and men who fol- low this calling. 2. That, as our tonnage is princinally steam. the due and prover performance of duty must be in the direction and control of the execu- tive officers according to department. AND ENGI- 3. And, finally, that there must be, follow- ing the experience from the very beginning of maritime enterprise, someone afloat with the ship, that is to say, the master, as the vice principal of the owner and in a proper sense responsible for the general condition and per- formance of the crew. But, to the members of the association, many of whom, perhaps most of them, have seen service, also it was apparent that this all can be accomplished, and best accomplished, by just and reasonable consideration of what is best for everyone in the ship's company; that there should be clean, sanitary quarters, good venti- lation and good tools to work with; there should be good and sufficient food; that the wages of employes should be as liberal as the condition of the business will justify. But, also, it was the spirit of the discussion that the character of the service, the condi- tions, the exact thing to be done at any time, where a single ship includes property of great value and lives which may not be measured in money, may not be left in the hands of a half -dozen unions, dealing with as many de- partments of the ship and dictating the em- ployment and the service, with the asserted right to withhold, if necessary, altogether such service, on some general rule, made ashore, without reference to the circumstances de- manding attention and care and nautical skill and judgment. In other words, the service on board the ship must be homogeneous, and statement after statement of owners and man- agers was of the constant complaint of their licensed officers that this had proved impos- sible under the system of union contracts, to which they had been subjected by the action of the owners. : ' THE RESOLUTION OF APRIL, 1908. . This all found expression in the resolutions which were adopted by unanimous. vote of. some 91 per cent of the tonnage in the meet- ing referred to, on April 9, 1908, which may well be reproduced here, as follows: "The experience of the ship owners, man- agers and licensed - officers for the past years has demonstrated the necessity of what is referred to as the 'open shop' principle, in order to give that control and direction of . the ships which is required for the equal good of the owner, the employe of the ships and the dependent trade, and so it is resolved 1. That the owners of ships on the great lakes do now declare that the open shop prin- ciple be adopted and adhered to on our ships. 2: That the Lake Carriers' Association: stands for the foregoing principle. 3. That the matter be referred to the ex- ecutive committee, with full power to act and - carry out this principle. 4. That it should be the aim of the com- mittee in the means they shall adopt, to recog- - nize a fair and equitable rate of wages, to insist upon such regulations as shall promote the comfort and well-being of the employes, shall put the discipline of the ship in the hands of her executive officers, and tendering liberal, appropriate wages, and conditions, re- » quiring in response appropriate, diligent and prompt service from the members of the crew. 5. And at this meeting, representing 91 per cent of the tonnage of the association, as a definite and specific support to the committee. it is voted to adhere to and observe this ac- tion, referring also any and all special cases to the committee." : : : The foregoing data is reproduced _for the purpose not of informing, but of calling back to the attention of the members that, with the exception of the time during which we were willing to chance, and in the view of a con- siderable minority undertook without proper assurance to chance, the performance through | the unions of public and private duties pri- marily resting on the owners of vessels of the United States and on their licensed officers, and the due prosecution and protection of the business with its obligations as to the security of life and property and compliance with gov- ernmental regulations, the vessel owners of the great lakes have recognized the necessity of having these matters in the control of. the parties charged and entrusted and responsible for the due performance of all these obliga- 10ns. ° : : The project of leaving a feature of this to the unions failed ignominiouslv, and there is probably today no man associated in any fe- snonsible manner with the performance of these duties who takes a contrary view. The result, then, of the resolutions of April, 9, 1908, was not merely to express a criticism, but to take back into the proper hands the - due discharge of these bilities. duties. and responsi- --