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About Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1911)
i THE INDUSTRIAL SITUATION IN UNCOLN NOW J, V 4 I r V V From the standpoint of organization Lincoln has always been like other large school cities. The expert mechanical trades are fairly well organized, but oth er departments of industrial life are sub ject to all the influences arising from a constantly shifting population made up largely of young men working their way through school, and a majority of them expecting to engage in professional pur suits. With from 1,500 to 2,500. young men willing to work at anything for any wage merely to tide them over their school life, there is always fierce compe- ' tition in certain lines, with a resultant demoralization of the wage scale. These young men do not get a chance to work in those trades demanding long years of apprenticeship, but they will act as "handy men" in the building trades. They will drive wagons, or clerk in stores, or wait on table; they can soon learn to wield a paint brush on rough work, or act as plumber's assistants on jobs requiring more muscle than skill, or do certain things in the field of wiring. It is all meet and proper to boast about the num ber of young men who are "working their way through school" and pat them on the back for their determination, but there are others who are entitled to some consideration in this matter. This stu dent competition means a lot of depriva-' tion to others, for many a man with a family to support finds himself held down to starvation wages by the competi tion of young men willing to work for wages, barely sufficient to support them through the school year. A school city can not, in the nature of things, be a well organized city from the standpoint of the workers. But Lincoln has become widely known as being, per haps, the best organized school city in America. Every mechanical trade rep resented in the city's industrial life is well organized, and other lines of indus try are well represented. The same good judgment, careful management and fair ness that fias resulted in organizing this great school city have acted to maintain peaceful relations between employers and employes. There has not been a strike of consequence in Lincoln in all the years of her history, saving only two or three that were on because the trades men on strike "were participating in a nation-wide struggle. But a purely local strike has not yet resulted in any perma nent injury to either party. There have been numerous differences of opinion, to be sure, some of them resulting in walk outs. But insofar as the general public knew by decreased service or undue ex citement, the industrial life of Lincoln has always been as calm as a summer sea. There are more levelheaded, conservative men in the ranks of organized labor in Lincoln than is usually found in organ ized circles. And Lincoln employers are entitled to the credit of leading their class in the matters of fairness, readiness to confer with employes and willingness to deal justly. Many a difference arises that under ordinary circumstances would result in strikes or lockouts, but which Lincoln sees settled by friendly confer ence and mutual concession. Being a great educational center Lin coln can not be a great industrial center. But because of its well organized condi tion, and because of the conservative management of union affairs on the one. side and an equally conservative conduct on the part of employers, Lincoln's indus trial condition is unusually satisfactory. Far more than the average proportion of Lincoln's married wage earners own their own homes. Child labor is com paratively unknown because it is not economic, and because Lincoln's organ ized workers are able to provide for their families without forcing the child from the playground or the schoolroom into th maelstrom of industrialism. This same independence is protection against the danger of the introduction of the "sweat shop." Recently a garment factory was compelled to close and move east be cause it could not get the class of help it needed, and this was due to the fact that the wives and sisters and daughters of Lincoln wage earners were independ ent. Through the influence, direct or in direct, of the trades unions of Lincoln, those lines of industry in which women are naturally tho larger part pay wages far above the average of similar indus tries elsewhere, the conditions of em ployment are far better, the hours shorter and the evil features of factory life as exhibited in the big industrial centers of the east are wholly unknown. -Quietly, without ostentation or blus ter, the trades union of Lincoln are work ing out their destiny. They are exerting not only an economic force, but are exert ing a moral force that results in com munity advancement. CUT OUT FOR A FINANCIER Youth Beginning ' Well and Father Seemed Abundantly Justified in His Reasoning. The old man was perched upon a high stool, figuring up the day's sales of dry goods, groceries and hardware, when his son came in with a rush. "Say, Pop," exclaimed the young man, "If I can buy a three-hundred-dollar horse for one-fifty will you take a chattel mortgage on him and help me out with the cash?" "What kind of a hoss, my son?" Inquired the father cautiously. "Bay, 4 years old, ' sixteen hands high, weighs 1,000 pounds, and sound in wind, limb and bottom." That sounds good to me, my son, and I want to do all I can to help you along in the world;" and he reached down into the safe for liis roll. "How much do you want?" "A hundred and forty-nine, fifty." The old man gasped and caught hold of the desk. "What?" he exclaimed. "A hundred and forty-nine, fifty. I've got half a dollar. Slowly the old man shoved the roll back into the safe. "My son," he said softly, "you are wasting time trading hosses. What you ought to do is to go into the loan and trust business." Lippincott's. Builders of Carnarvon Castle. Carnarvon castle is full of interest not only for the archaelogist and stu dent of medieval military architec ture, but also for all engaged in the economic interpretation of history. Fairly complete accounts are extant of the money expended on wages and material during the building of the fortress. The highest wage paid to the workmen was three pence a day to skilled artificers, two pence being more common. These artisans were all Englishmen, hailing from such places as Canterbury or Oxford. " Or dinary laborers, who were, to judge from their names, all native Welsh men, received only a penny. Allow ing for the purchasing power of the penny, these comic wages are of course far higher than the rates of the present day. Centuries later the translators of the Bible saw nothing ludicrous about the "two pence" prof fered for the hotel bill of the man be friended by the Good Samaritan. Westminster Gazette. NEBRASKA CONSTRUCTION CO. It is with more than ordinary pleasure that we call attention to the admirably conducted business es tablishment known as the Nebraska Construction Co., with offices locat ed at 412-413 Security Mutual - Life and O streets. This company ranks Building, at the corner of Twelfth next to the heaviest construction company in its line in the state. The business consists entirely of the con struction of Highway Bridges, prin cipally steel and concrete work. The company is at present engaged in the erection of a new steel and con crete bridge spanning the Platte River at Plattsmouth and this struc ture when completed will be the larg est and most expensive structure of its kind crossing this stream. Mr. Glenn E. Smith, the proprietor of the business is widely known as an hon orable and enterprising business man and in publishing this issue we glad ly make this reference to him and his business. Training School for Burglars. , An academy where burglary was be fcig taught on the most approved lines by experts in the profession was dis covered by the police at Berlin lately. The principal, who was an old convict, examined each student in the various branches of the science before grant ing the leaving certificate, which was equivalent to a degree in burglary. In return for their training, board and lodging, the Btudents were expected to pay a fixed sum and a percentage on their profits during the first year or so after they entered the profession. Living Portrait of Mark Twain. A singular story comes from a small town hi Pennsylvania, according to Harper's Weekly. On April 21, 1910. a cow was born on a farm near Albur tis at almost the identical moment when Mark Twain died at his home In Connecticut. On her right side, out lined in dark brown against a snow white background, is a profile bust of that author. The likeness, which was plain at the birth of the calf, has grown more and more distinct, until It is now impossible to fail to Identify the well-known foatures. Naturally, the cow was named Mark Twain. It is safe to say that the great humorist would have appreciated this joke of Nature at his expense. Surely Queen of All Hens. A certain industrious hen, Interest ed in the welfare of Petaluma, Cal., has gone so far in her efforts to spread the renown of the city of eggs and broilers that she recently placed four yolks in one shell. Her zealous ness was discovered by a firm of egg merchants, Whitcomb & Baker. The egg. was slightly larger than normal. It looked like a regular egg until a candle gave an X-ray view of four small yolks. A hunt Is still being made to locate the hen. In the same ship ment were a number of other eggs containing two yolks, but the egg with the four yolks is said to break all records.