3. The wages paid to women workers in most occupations are miserably inadequate to meet the cost of living at the lowest standards consistent with the maintenance of the health and morals of the workers. Nearly three-fifths of the women employed in industries in Portland receive less than $10 a week, which is the minimum weekly wage that ought to be offered to any self-supporting woman wage-earner in this city. 4. The present conditions of labor for women in many industries are shown by this report to be gravely detrimental to their health; and since most women wage earners are potential mothers, the future health of the race is menaced by these unsanitary conditions. A NEW FEDERAL AGENCY FOR SETTLING STRIKES An important power vested in Secretary Wilson of the new federal Department of Labor, which has hitherto practically escaped attention, gives to him the right assumed by President Roosevelt, when he initiated the machinery for settling the coal strike of 1902. The provision referred to in the law creating the department reads 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." Speaking of this section Secretary Wilson gave this interview to the _Washington Post_: "The secretary of labor, by the terms of the act creating the new department, is empowered to act as mediator in disputes between labor and employers. The policy to which I shall adhere during my administration will be to do all I can to bring labor and capital together in mutual conferences, so that they may settle their own differences." It has been pointed out that this power can be invoked at the will of the secretary. In this way he can bring public attention to bear upon any labor dispute which he believes warrants his official notice. Mr. Wilson has as yet given no indication as to how frequently he expects to use this power. Attention has also been called to the fact that this section may have an important effect upon the Erdman Act for settling transportation strikes. FINGER PRINTS TEN CENTS KATHARINE ANTHONY It was in a small restaurant in the downtown business district. The girl who came in and sat down opposite me at the "table for ladies" was clearly "office help." She could not have been more than sixteen, and in the boyish-looking brown velvet hat that she wore she appeared scarcely that. Her manner had little of the self-assertiveness so commonly seen in the young girl wage-earner. "How much is the veg'tubble soup?" she asked the waiter in a confiding tone. "Ten cents," he said. The price appeared satisfactory and the waiter went away with his very brief order. While the young girl waited, she caught my eye.