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THE HOME OF THE TRADES UNIONS OF LINCOLN, NEB.
No reference to Labor Day or to the
industrial life of Lincoln would be com
plete without a word about this city's
Labor Temple. Very little is said about
it, yet it is really one of the strong factors
in the social and industrial uplift. Mod
est in appearance, not vaunting itself, yet
doing a splendid work, the Labor Temple
is worthy of being classed among the ac
tive forces that are making for better citi
zenship. Five years ago, almost to the
day, the first real step was taken looking
towards the establishment of a Labor
Temple in Lincoln. Union men had been
talking about it and dreaming about it
for several years, but until then it had
not progressed beyond the talking stage.
Then a few "live wires" foregathered in
the home of one of them and said: ".We
are going to do things." It was slow
work and often full of discouragement.
But week after week this little company
met; a dollar here, a quarter there, little
by little the money came in until in time
the fund amounted to about $800. And
there it seemed to stick. Lack of confi
dence that bane of the workers seemed
to have put in its deadly work. Yet the
promoters did not despair.
Three years next month this faithful
little band got together, feeling a bit
"blue" but still determined, and said:" We
Wxll invest that $800 in a bit of properly,
and then if the workers fail to come
through the loss will be their own. A
little investigation disclosed what looked
like a golden opportunity. By paying
$1,000 down and agreeing to pay $2,500
more inside of sixty days, and another
$2,500 in another ninety days, with the
balance of $13,500 to run several years
under a mortgage, the association could
get possession of the building that is now
the Labor Temple although it looked
like almost anything else more than it
looked like even a possible Labor Temple.
"Let's take the chance," whispered one.
"Come on; let's go to it," was the
unanimous reply.
Then these hopeful and self-sacrificing
men went to a bank and borrowed
enough to make up the initial payment
of $1,000. They didn't even pause to
consider how that $2,500 was to be raised
in. sixty days. They paid the thousand
and set to work remodeling the building.
That is another part of the story, how
ever. They just felt that their cause was
so just, the Labor Temple such a vital
necessity, that in some way they would
pull it through. And they did! A few
days before the second payment was due
that sturdy bunch of progressive union
ists hustled out after it and they got it.
In fact they not only raised the second
payment of $2,500, but they raised
enough to discount the third payment of
$2,500. And then the Labor Temple was
as much of a fact as the government
building. -
In just three years after real and tangi
ble work began, this handsome Labor
Temple property, worth conservatively
$30,000, has been secured. It originally
cost $19,500, and it is not only more than
half paid for, but improvements that
would have cost upwards of $5,000 if put
upon any other building have been added.1
That brings us back to the remodeling.
Before even a start was made towards
raising the second payment a small army
of work men were inside the building,
tearing out partitions, tearing out floors,
tearing out old plumbing and wiring
"ripping the insides out of it." Much of
the inaterial needed in remodeling was
donated by friendly business men. Elec
trical workers made a picnic of putting
in new . wiring. Plumbers called it a
holiday when they marched into .the
building and put in an entirely new sys
tem of plumbing. The painters and dec
orators made the paperhanging and dec-