Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 1907)
;Tr?7W3WPf5' JtryT "',' "J .BUBWIT"" nrS7-". -- tv;" f" i'w ;$j.j r" F"' ""!.( vrsr'"iwl.'y: The Commoner. AUGUST, 10, 1907 13 MHMMM LJ B 9 " H) JK VH VB 8 Ll M -B fc UIV WWjsC,' H JH H WITH THE PALS OF OTHER DAYS Hot Springs, Ark., August 12. Once more the writer is hobnobbing with the "pals" of other days the printermen. The older the architect of this department grows the better he likes to foregather with the-union printers in international convention assembled and indulge in reminis cences. "Where a bunch of old-time printers is assembled, there you will be sure to find that fraternity which maketh for jollity, and the good will that maketh for lasting friendships. The great feature of this convention of printers is the "Old Pirate's Re union." And thereby hangs a tale that to be. enjoyed needs some elucidation. The "Missouri River Pirates" composed that pioneer band of union printers that worked along the Mis souri river in- the early days from 1877 to 1883, preaching unionism wherever they stopped, and reviv ing the spirit of local union men who had grown discouraged.. Unions had been established at Atchison and St. Joseph even before the,w&.r, but the war, and the panic of 1873 caused them to lose their charters, and unionism was at a low ebb -vhen good times began in the late 70's. Then it was that the "Pirates" be gan working along the river Kan sas City, Leavenworth, Atchison, St. Joseph, Council Bluffs, Omaha, Sioux City, and cities lying not far inland. The result was a renewal of union ism that blazed into success, and now every city of 15,000 in the Mis souri valley is organized, the print ers drawing top wages and are work ing the eight hour day. The architect of this department started to learn the printer's trade about the time the "Pirates" were in their glory, and among the most pleasant recollections of his life are thoBe concerning the "tourists" who never lost an opportunity to drill unionism into his youthful mind. The result was that as soon as he had served the requisite apprentlc ship he hiked to the nearest union town and. became a full fledged union prinler. But he started on the road about the time the glory of the "PirateB" was fading, and it never was his lot to be counted 'one of them. But the "Pirates" are gathering here from the four quarters of the earth, and they" are going to have a reunion that will go down in union printer history. It will be held Wed nesday, long before this shall reach The Commoner readers, but next week we'll tell you all about it that is, most all about it. Just as soon as this letter is .finished the writer is going out to "faint up Ben Hill, foreman of the St. Joe Gazette, for it was under Hill's supervision that the writer set up his first line of type on a morning newspaper, 'way back in '83. He, expects to meet "Red" Hill, the old proof read er on the Omaha World-Heral, who once marked Webster's Dictionary when a compositor called him down for a correction and offered old Noah as ocular demonstration. He ex pects to see "Gig" Martin, who al ways comes into town "by hand." He?ll look for Dixie Dunbar who, disgusted with his gas jet put on his coat and started out of the office to "&tch some lightnin'1 bugs to dissi pate this gloom' If he doesn't meet Bill Boyer, Native Missourian '. an' proud of it, he'll feel badly, for it was Bill that gave him the first word of encouragement as a "tourist" at Rockport, Mo., in the fall of '83. My, my, but that was a long time ago! though it has been fifteen years since ho worked at the case. Uncle Sam is quite a prominent citizen in Hot Springs. He main tains a bath house here for those who can not afford private baths, and he also maintains a reservation which is cared for just like Uncle Sam cares for all his parks. The springs are good for any old ailment. They will relievo a man of about everything, and the hotels attend to relieving us of the rest. Met a gen tleman yesCerday evening who said that he had shot himself full of chlo ride of gold in an effort to get rid of the drink habit, but without suc cess. But he came down here, boiled himself in the baths for a couple of weeks and is now all right. "They got the gold out of my system, and out of my pockets, too," he said. There is only one bad feature about a visit to Hot Springs, and that is the sight of so many suffer ers who are here for help. But even that has its bright side, for the man Who has health and strength can not look on them without returning thanks for his manifold blessings. A man who has health and strength and a good digestion never knows how well off he is until he sees some poor, unfortunate who lacks all those things. A reception was held at the Ar lington hotel yesterday. People who have an idea that printers are a dissipated, forlorn, happy-go-lucky, careless class of craftsmen, should have been present at the re ception. He would have seen a bunch of as fine looking men as he could locate in a year's search. Fact is, they looked like a bunch of bank ers, or lawyers, or Wall Street finan ciers. Some of them are getting along in years, but the majority of them are comparatively young men. They are jollifying, for this is the first convention held since the win ning of the bitter fight for the eight hour day. That fight was begun on January 1, 1906, and since that time the 45,000 union printers, of the country put up over $3,000,000 In cold cash to secure victory. During the struggle not one union printer so far as known wag arrested on any charge of violence, although three or four were arrested and fined for contempt of court, the contempt con sisting in ignoring a judicial order not to assert their rights as free born American citizens. The general pub lic heard very little about the eight hour strike, for the reason that it was so quiet the dally newspapers could not make any news features out of.it. Now, after less than two years of battling for the short "work day, the International Typographical Union has more money in Its treas ury than it ever had at one time be fore, it has more men working the eight hour day than It ever had working the nine hour day, and while financing this battle the printers maintained their splendid Home at Colorado Springs, where 150 aged and invalid printers are cared for as they deserve to be. When a man1 thinks pf all these things he has a right to be proud of the fact that he1 has carried a union printer's car)! for ndarlya'quarter of a century, 'even Speaking about the Union Print ers' Homo at Colorado .Springs brings to mind the fact that this Homo contains one of the finest libraries in the United States. Two years ago James Monroe Kreitor, a mdmbor of Columbia Typographical Union, Washington, D. C, conceived the idea of having every visitor tD tho Colorado Springs convention in 1906 bring a book for the Home. This was done, with the result that the library was enriched by some thing like 2,000 volumes. Then B. Frank Swigart of St. Louis Typo graphical Union, got into the garni and began writing authors, publish ers, statesmen and everybody else, telling them about the Home and Its library, and asking for donations. Tho result is that the library now contains upwards of 8,000 volumes, many of them priceless. President Roosevelt contributed a complete set of his books, autographed. Kmperor William of Germany 1b on tho list, and his Imperial signature looms up on the fly leaves of tho books he sent. King Edward VII of Great Britain and Ireland, contributed au tographed books of great value. Every cabinet office is represented, every justice of the United States supremo court is represented, and Mark Twain sent In a sot of his books with a characteristic dedication, for Mark is an old-time printer. Tho library today, apart from its senti mental value, is worth not less than $30,000, and now tho printers are going to assess themselves and raise enough money to build a library an nex to the Home. Tho writer of this department carries quite a bunch of what people call "life insurance," and tho fruits of which ho can never enjoy. It costs him a lot of money every year, too. But in the Typo graphical Union he has Insurance that simply can not bo beaten. Ho donesn't have to die to get it, either. If over lie becomes crippled, ill or Incapaclted from Work, he can go to the Uniqn Printers' Homo at Colo rado Springs and live on the fat of the land in a home that Is a home In all that the name- implies, sur rounded by a veritable garden, and in sight of the eternal peaks of tho Rocky Mountains. And for this in surance he pays the enormous tax of ten cents a month, or $1.20 a year. After you have let this fact soak Into your mind perhaps you can begin to realize what a soft snap the man agers of the big "life" insurance companies have had for the past fifty or a hundred years. A growing feature of these annual conventions is the increasing num ber of women who attend. The printers are getting Into tho habit of bringing their wives along, and the result is beneficial in more ways than one. The social times are more thoroughly enjoyed, and some of the features that used to mark tho con ventions In the writer's early print ing days have been eliminated for all of which the rank and file Is duly thankful. There are several women delegates on the floor of the conven tion. They are a splendid ere lit to tho craft, too. Here Is a good thin? to remember about the Typogiaphi cal Union: Whenever you see a woman working at the case or on a machine in a union composing room you know she is getting the same rate of wage" as the men. "Equal pay for equal work," is one of the Typographical Union's slogans. It Is pretty nearly time for the day's "business" to begin. First comes the "German lunch," which 'Is now about ready to serve. Then comes a balloon ascension, follovei by a visit to the alligator arid' ostrich farms.- This' will bo followed by a vaudeville ' entertainment. So1' "the lEMINEMtMlftlN DIM H AC MfftM4MIE MHIINT I lAIIUd Slightly nwxl ituKrumenUt J2 Bllnwr troMjMOapt 5 Wubcra from taw npj 0 KrakNaora from M npj 7Knnbo from ISO npj 3 (Jhlcknrinpi from VK ow mm ordinary ccond4iinl Upright, JT75 npi nlto li Tflrr 8no J'Arlor Ormnd piano t itbont half. Now nlnnoM. mtihounny. 115 nni up. Write tor parilcaUrs. Ouli or oeny Monthly puymonU. LYON A MEALY, 32 Adams 8IM CHICAGO Wo ship piano everywhere on approval COOf 3 ttOkl&T lltlllHI HllCt rl pi of u. itwul R.S.&fl.B.LACETf.WMMnftoH.O.C, EttiMMI. LH Men Wanted T Kara CU4 ftalarlra fV T ts 18& MaUi Uklnerlrti hrMiNyManirylttMb, Fruit Ml UnlMMUII. I'otlUM I Matst. Apply ttk, wild nftf. , eUWMMtolUfy W1&U4. MAYFIEUJ HUX&EIUE5,KmI North.' rnHerrilaAtrieA,fll.ratflllaa.: K: CHILLICOTHE, MO. NORMAL AND BUSINESS COLLEGES ALLEN JK Instructor. lO student. j'rorrcnionni nnn ijitorary Courses. Kuternny tline. IN Student In ono Kansas City Hank, 3 Typewriter. Position secured, or tuition re funded. Car faro paid. BUtUi course dralrcd. Address, MOORE. Pram.. 1419 Monro. St., Chlllleeth, M, Anti-Trust Type Wo will JIK0A8T your ttoll box Into now typo for one-half tho original cost of now type. 8KN I) KOil CAT ALOO AND JtKCASTJNO I'LAN. 1 Wtt Will Pay tho Freight" TEXAS TYPE FOUNDRY SAN ANTONIO, TI2XA8 Life and Speeches! of W. J. Bryan IlhiBtratcd octavo, 4K pnercfl. published in 1000, nothlnjr later, nothing In print more complete. A few copies, last of publlHher'K stock at greatly reduced price. Substantially bound In clotb, by mail, prepaid, 31.00 copy. G. H. WALTERS, 8225T.8; WmfrSUm Our Bank Money Order Plan of Banking by Mail to tho simplest, safest and moot convenient, 4. per cont Intercut Is pnld from tho mo ment your money reaches us. Your Hav ing nro constantly on doposlt, earning (,'ood Interest, yot you have tho money In your poa- bcnnlon. ready foe In stant uso when needed. Auk for Booklet "B," which fully explains tho merit of this won derful plan. Write today. Tho Depositor Kavluea and Trust Co., Tom Jj, Johnson, President Cleveland, Ohio The Cost of a Piano should not bo reckoned entirely upon what yon pay to get it. A very Important factor, as tho yearx paj, Is what you pay to keen It in order, and mora Important Htlll Is tho length of service and tho detrrco of satisfaction It gives you. GABLER PIANOS while neither the highest nor tho lowest prices, aro unsurpassed by any Instrument mado In America or Europe In tho service and satisfaction they give for each dollar expended. Tho "GAHUStS. TONE" Is famous, and tho iiO'less-famoos "GAHLEK WOItKMANSUIP" makes that tone permanent through generation after generation or use. A Qablcr is cheapest UECAUSK BEST. Investigate Ernest Gabler&Bro. m ESTABLISHED 1SS4. , 500 Wjilllock'Avc., Bronx Borough, N.Y. City. z ' I 1 i ' rrs .TPk.W.Uffiki '. ' : M jixiJL k, . , '