turned soldiers will be taken care of and helped to secure civil occupations. These bureaus will not complete the operating organization but every postmaster in the Province will be a representative and will be supplied with forms so that in the more remote localities service may be obtained by those wishing work. On the staff of each bureau will be a returned soldier whose duties will consist in meeting all returned soldiers applying for positions and giving them what help is needed in order that they may settle down to civil life.— [Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Mass., Jan. 24, 1919.]

Foreign Branches of the Royal Bank of Canada.

Proposals of the Royal Bank of Canada for the establishment of foreign branches in some of the chief cities of South America and elsewhere are being discussed. Already this institution is represented in Cuba and other countries of the Caribbean, and it now plans to extend the sphere of its influence by opening branches at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Montevideo, Uruguay. A branch at Paris, France, will also be started, according to reliable local report.-[Report of U. S. consul at Quebec, Jan. 13, 1919, Commerce Reports, U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Jan. 29, 1919.] Office of Labor, Research, and Employment Service.

In view of the labor conditions in Canada incident to the ending of the war and the consequent necessity for developing and standardizing the provincial employment offices, so as to work out the unemployment problem with the least possible friction and inconvenience to employers and workers, an order-in-council passed December 16, 1918, established under the minister of labor an office known as the director of labor, research, and employment service. The main duties of the new office will be to study and report on unemployment; ways and means of lessening unemployment; on unemployment conditions, including wages and hours, industrial accidents and diseases; and on ways and means of improving conditions of employment.-[Monthly Labor Review, U. S. Dept. of Labor, February, 1919, p. 136.]

Railway Adjustment Board.

By an arrangement with the Canadian War Board and representatives of the six railroad brotherhoods a board known as the Canada Board of Adjustment, No. 1, was established to handle all controversies growing out of the interpretation and applications of the provisions of wage schedules or agreements, which are not promptly adjusted by the officers and employees of any of the railroads operated by the Government.-[Monthly Labor Review, U. S. Dept. of Labor, January, 1919, pp. 165, 166.]

Organization for Soldiers' Civil Reestablishment.

The fitting back of veterans into civil life is intrusted to a separate Government department of soldiers' civil reestablishment, with a representative in the cabinet. To this department are attached the invalid-soldiers commission and the pension board. This department centers in one civilian organization the service of picking the man up after discharge from the army, looking after his disabilities, giving him his industrial reeducation, and endeavoring to locate him in a position where his capabilities will be best suited to the trade or profession he wishes to enter. The work of the department, apart from that of the pension commission, which is a self-contained branch of the department, is divided into five branches as follows: Medical service, commandants' branch, demobilization branch, vocational branch, and directors' branch.-[American Review of Reviews, New York, N. Y., Feb. 1, 1919, p. 177.]

Model Houses for Industrial Workers under the War-Measure Act.

A fund of $25,000,000 has been created by the Dominion Government and will be available by way of loans to the several provincial governments in connection with the carrying out of the program for the construction of model houses for industrial workers through municipalities or otherwise.

The Dominion Government has fixed a low rate of interest of 5 per cent and will accept bonds, debentures, and other forms of security from any of the provincial governments for loans made to it.U. S. consul at Calgary, Commerce Reports, U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Feb. 4, 1919, p. 551.]

Production for the Rebuilding of Europe.

The Canadian Manufacturers' Association is calling upon Canadian manufacturers to organize into trade groups so as to be ready to compete for a share of the work of rebuilding Europe. They point out that manufacturers must be prepared to turn out standardized products in quantity. They have issued a condensed list of materials needed immediately in Belgium which includes copper, brass, contractors' equipment, transportation material for railroads, dredging equipment, and agricultural machinery.-[Iron Age, New York, N. Y., Feb. 6, 1919.]

Demobilization.

The Government at Ottawa had worked out plans for bringing the men home which involved a careful process of selection by which men would be brought home according to their occupation and the demand there would be for the labor and skill which each soldier had at his command. When the men in the army heard of it they objected, as they wanted to go home by units so that each battalion when it

detrained at its destination could form up and parade with its colors flying and bands playing. The soldiers' protests have been heeded and the army will come home by units.-[Record, Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 16, 1919.] ·

Expenditures to Provide Employment.

In an address to the members of the Engineering Institute of Canada, the minister of public works stated that it is the duty of the Government to expend the public money so as to provide employment for the people whether the expenditures are politically sound or not, that for the next year money will be spent where it will do the most good in the prevention of unemployment, and that unemployment is always most acute in the larger centers of population. He added that the Government intended spending large sums of money on the construction of highways.-[Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Mass., Feb. 22, 1919.]

Dissemination of Trade Information.

The Canadian Trade Commission receive a great deal of information pertaining to business which may be obtained in Europe. Much of this business is of an urgent character, and, in order that information relating thereto may be made immediately available to all concerned, the commission has asked manufacturers to organize into groups through which any information received by the commission may be transmitted.-[The Canadian Official Record, Mar. 4, 1919, p. 4.]

Plans for Unemployed.

The specific steps the Canadian Government is taking to solve the unemployment problem may be summarized as follows:

1. Twenty-five million dollars have been set aside for housebuilding. This is in the form of a loan allocated through provincial governments to the municipalities on which devolve the operation of the scheme.

2. Veterans are encouraged to go farming, and Government literature describes this as "the most extensive settlement scheme ever evolved." Under it returned men may obtain land, funds, seed, equipment, and instruction. The essential part of this project is a system of loans under which a veteran may secure capital up to $7,500, with 25 years to repay it.

3. All public works are to be immediately resumed.

4. There will be construction and expansion on both Government and privately owned railways. One railway, it is said, will require 120,000 men this season.

5. Shipbuilding construction will be continued, providing Canadian yards can compete in cost with British yards.

6. Public highways on ambitious lines are to be constructed undera system of cooperation with provincial governments.-[World, New York, N. Y., Mar. 9, 1919.]

Price Reductions to Soldier Land Settlers.

The chairman of the soldier-settlement board has announced that soldiers who participate in the benefits of the land-settlement provisions will be given considerable reductions in price on the purchase of agricultural implements, live stock, and harness. Very favorable arrangements have been made with manufacturers of implements. and harness, by which soldiers will be given a wide range of choice of first-class implements at prices substantially below those quoted to civilians. Twelve hundred retail lumber merchants will cooperate with the soldier-settlement board by giving soldiers who go on the land wholesale prices for lumber required for permanent improvements, plus the bare cost of unloading, handling, and other charges.[The Canadian Official Record, Mar. 18, 1919, p. 3.]

Demobilization.

Canada is demobilizing her fighting corps, including the four divisions at the front, by sending them home as units, so that Canadian committees are able to give a welcome to their home battalions. Through a system of exchanges each battalion has been reconstituted so as to consist of men from one given area. The rest of the army is to be demobilized on the "standard-draft" plan.

Canada has been divided into 22 dispersal areas, the principal city in each area being the dispersal station. Men who have signified their intention of going to the same dispersal area are assembled in concentration camps in England in drafts of 500. Each soldier chooses the area to which he wishes to go. In making up the drafts long-service men receive preference over those who have served a shorter time, and married men have priority over single men. The men receive their medical examination before leaving England, so that all delay in Canada over this detail is avoided. Questionnaire cards, asking among other things for the soldier's previous occupation, the occupation which he now prefers, and the locality in which he intends to settle are distributed to the men overseas. These cards, after being filled out, are sent to Canada for the guidance of officials. On arrival at the dispersal station men who have been sick en route are immediately received by the district depot for medical treatment and receive pay as part of that unit. All other men fall in alphabetically and are paraded to a military depot, where, under one roof, are arranged the offices of the ordnance officer, the soldiers' reestablishment disposal staff, the paymaster, the officer commanding the dispersal station, and the railway agent. At the ordnance office each man turns in his equipment, except his steel helmet and

clothing, which he is allowed to keep. A representative of the soldiers' civil reestablishment department gives him such information and advice as he may require and a card of introduction to the nearest branch of the provincial returned soldiers' commission. To the head office of the latter a record is sent of all men interviewed by this representative. The paymaster issues the man a check covering his back pay, clothing allowance of $35, and first month's war service gratuity. Finally the officer commanding gives each man his discharge certificate and passes him on to the railway agent from whom he receives a free ticket to his home town. The military authorities supply adequate quarters and rations for the men until train time and for those who wish to stay overnight.

In order to secure employment for discharged soldiers, employment offices are established in all the urban centers, and when necessary in smaller places. In each Province the local offices are linked together by a provincial clearing house in the capital city, which furnishes information as to labor needs and opportunities in every locality. Also in every Province there are returned soldiers' commissions to keep former soldiers in touch with the nearest employment offices and to safeguard their interests.

Regarding the wounded men, there are 32,000 hospital cases in England and 10,000 in France. While these men are receiving the best of care, just as soon as they are fit to move they are brought home on hospital ships in care of the Canadian Army medical corps. On arriving at the Atlantic ports they are taken on hospital trains to the various military hospitals and are kept in charge of the military authorities until certified by a board of medical officers as either cured or in such a condition as to require prolonged or permanent institutional care. In the latter case they are taken on the pay rolls of the medical service branch of the department of soldiers' civil reestablishment and placed in suitable hospitals. Soldiers so incapacitated through service that they can not resume their former occupations are trained by the Government for new activities. While undergoing training a single man receives $50 a month, a married man $38 a month for his wife. If he has a wife and child the allowance for them is $42. Where there are more children, larger allowances are granted, the maximum being $55.-[Literary Digest, New York, N. Y., Mar. 22, 1919, pp. 22, 23; 49-56.]

Housing.

The city of Toronto has appointed a permanent housing commission whose procedure will be as follows:

1. Houses will be built to sell; not to rent.

2. The commission itself will not build the houses, but an incorporated company will be formed.