With this issue the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor begins the publication of its MONTHLY REVIEW. Since the suspension of the bimonthly bulletin in July, 1912, the bureau has felt the need of some medium which it could use for the presentation of important material which accumulates but which in its separate items may not be sufficiently voluminous to warrant presentation in a separate monograph bulletin in any of our estab lished bulletin series.

The MONTHLY REVIEW will be from henceforth the medium through which the Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish the results of original investigations too brief for bulletin purposes, notices of labor legislation by the States or by Congress, and Federal court decisions affecting labor, which from their importance should be given attention before they could ordinarily appear in the bulletins devoted to these subjects.

Through the MONTHLY REVIEW the Bureau of Labor Statistics will deal with such news items of labor as may officially come to its notice. Attention will be given to the current work of this bureau, the other bureaus of the Department of Labor, or any other Government agencies dealing directly with labor matters. The bureau will aim to keep in touch with the current work of the various State labor bureaus, or State activities by whomsoever conducted, within the field of its purview. There are at the present time 37 of the States, and in addition Hawaii, the Philippine Islands, and Porto Rico, which have bureaus or departments of labor. Similar bureaus exist in 31 foreign countries. In addition to these there are the State industrial and workmen's compensation commissions, the minimum wage commissions, factory and mine inspection offices, the State and municipal employment agencies, and a number of other offices regularly engaged in the study of questions and the publication of reports of special interest to labor. Temporary commissions are appointed with in

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creasing frequency to serve but a short time and investigate some single phase of the industrial problem. Most of this material is entirely inaccessible in any form to the general reader. A special purpose of the MONTHLY REVIEW will be to make available regularly and promptly notices and summaries of American and foreign official reports of all bureaus, offices, and commissions of the character indicated above. An attempt will be made to keep in touch with the more important current movements and methods for the reporting of industrial accidents and occupational or industrial diseases and for the prevention of these; to report industrial and vocational surveys, the better housing of workingmen, and any other activities, public or private, that have for their object the betterment of industrial conditions. Summaries of sickness and out-ofwork or old-age benefit funds maintained by large employing corporations, national trade-unions, etc., will receive attention.

It is hoped that through the MONTHLY REVIEW the Bureau of Labor Statistics can come in closer touch with current labor activities and by means of this publication give wider publicity and deeper significance to such activities. In the furtherance of this object it is sincerely hoped that the officials in charge of Federal, State, municipal, and private activities along the lines indicated will cooperate by transmitting to the United States Commissioner of Labor Statistics the earliest copies of any plans, outlines, or reports of work in which they are severally engaged.

The MONTHLY REVIEW will be issued on the 29th day of each month.

CONCILIATION WORK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

The Secretary of Labor is empowered to mediate in labor disputes, and in his discretion to appoint commissioners of conciliation, his authority coming from section 8 of the organic act of the department, the precise terms of which in this respect are as follows:

That the Secretary of Labor shall have power to act as mediator and to appoint commissioners of conciliation in labor disputes whenever in his judgment the interests of industrial peace may require it to be done.

In the exercise of the powers granted in the above section of the law, the department, through its commissioners of conciliation, during the year ending June 30, 1915, exercised its good offices in 32 labor disputes, in which a total of 94,289 workmen were involved, The employees involved in these controversies, the numbers affected, and the results secured, are shown in the following statement:

FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT WORK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

The immigration act of February 20, 1907, created and defined the functions of a special division of information within the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (now two separate bureaus) in the terms following:

It shall be the duty of said division to promote a beneficial distribution of aliens admitted into the United States among the several States and Territories desiring immigration. Correspondence shall be had with the proper officials of the States and Territories, and said division shall gather from all available sources useful information regarding the resources, products, and physical characteristics of each State and Territory, and shall publish such information in different languages and distribute the publications among all admitted aliens who may ask for such information at the immigrant stations of the United States and to such other persons as may desire the same.

By the act of March 4, 1913, creating the Department of Labor, the Bureau of Immigration, and with it the Division of Information, was transferred to that department. By this transfer the scope of the work of the division was considerably enlarged on account of the larger powers given to the department, as is plainly indicated by these words of the act:

The purpose of the Department of Labor shall be to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.

Prior to this the work of the Division of Information had been almost entirely limited to securing positions for aliens; lack of a clear understanding of its purposes, and misapprehension caused by that lack of understanding, hampered its work at the start. In 1909 the chief of the division proposed certain changes in its work aiming to enlarge its scope. These changes were discussed by a conference of labor leaders with the then Secretary of Commerce and Labor,' but as no results flowed from this conference the project was dropped, and the division had to wait until the creation of the Department of Labor for a fresh start in its work. The division has further strengthened itself by cooperating through the department with the other departments of the Government, namely, the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, Commerce, and the Post Office.

1 Labor conference. Proceedings of the conference with the representatives of labor, held in the office of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Feb. 10 and 11, 1909. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1909.

The actual work of placing the applicants for positions is, of course, mainly done away from Washington. The work is divided among 18 principal headquarters, subordinate to some of which are branch offices. Each headquarters is the center of a larger geographical zone; the arrangement is as follows:

Zone 1.-Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Headquarters, Boston; subbranches, Portland, Providence, and New Bedford.

Zone 2.-New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Headquarters, New York City; subbranches, Buffalo and Matawan (N. J.).

Zone 3.-Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia. Headquarters, Philadelphia; subbranch, Pittsburgh.

Zone 4.-Maryland. Headquarters, Baltimore.

Zone 5.-Virginia and North Carolina. Headquarters, Norfolk.

Zone 6.-Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. Headquarters, Jacksonville; subbranches, Savannah, Mobile, Birmingham, and Charleston.

Zone 7.-Louisiana. Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Headquarters, New Orleans; subbranches, Gulfport and Memphis.

Zone 8.-Texas and New Mexico. Headquarters, Galveston; subbranches, Albuquerque (N. Mex.), Big Spring, Brownsville, Laredo, Eagle Pass, San Antonio, Del Rio, El Paso, San Angelo, Amarillo (Tex.), Tucumcari and Deming (N. Mex.). Zone 9.-Ohio and Kentucky. Headquarters, Cleveland.

Zone 10.-Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Headquarters, Chicago; subbranches, Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie (Mich.), and Indianapolis.

Zone 11.-Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Headquarters, Minneapolis.

Zone 12.-Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Iowa. Headquarters, St. Louis; subbranch, Kansas City.

Zone 13.-Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Utah. Headquarters, Denver; subbranch, Salt Lake City.

Zone 14.-Montana and Idaho. Headquarters, Helena; subbranch, Moscow (Idaho).

Spokane, Walla

Zone 15.-Washington. Headquarters, Seattle; subbranches, Walla, Tacoma, Aberdeen, Everett, Bellingham, Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Custer, Lynden, Nooksack, and Friday Harbor.

Zone 16.-Oregon. Headquarters, Portland; subbranch, Astoria.

Zone 17.-California (north of the northern boundary of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and San Bernardino Counties) and Nevada. Headquarters, San Francisco; subbranches, Sacramento, Fresno, Eureka, and Monterey (Cal.).

Zone 18.-California (south of the northern boundary of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and San Bernardino counties) and Arizona. Headquarters, Los Angeles; subbranches, San Diego (Cal.), Tucson, Douglas, Naco, Nogales, Phoenix (Ariz.), Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Bakersfield, San Bernardino (Cal.), Yuma (Ariz.), Calexico and Indio, (Cal.).

An immigrant inspector is in charge of each headquarters, with an assistant ready to take his place if necessary.

Through the assistance of the local post office placards are posted informing the reader of the work and purpose of the division, directing him how to proceed if information is desired concerning a position.