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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1905)
T H E WAGEWOR ECER A Newspaper with a Mission and without a Muzzle that is published in the interest of Wageworkers Everywhere. VOL. 1 ScOLN, NEBRASKA, JANUAEY 271 NO. 42: Are Such "Factories'' Good Fdt Lincoln? Anions other business firms crippled by Tuesday night's big fire was the Lincoln Shirt and Overall company, which sustained a com plete loss of its plant and stock, although the monetary loss is practi cally covered by insurance. The loss is chiefly from the fact that it is put out of business for a long time right at a period of the year when ' it should be busiest in getting read to fill spring orders. A meeting of the directors of the company was held Wednesday morning and the situation gone over. It was the unanimous opinion that the people of Lincoln ought to come to the front and provide the company with a suitable building at a rental not to exceed $100 a month, and that if this was not done the company would locate its plant in some other and preferabl ysmaller city. The Wageworker would be sorry to see any business enterprise lost to Lincoln, and it entertains the hope that the Lincoln Overall and Shirt company will not feel compelled to go elsewhere. But right here The Wageworker desires to make a few deductions from figures given in Tuesday evening's News and doubtless inspired. The News says : ' "This enterprise has been one of large importance to the city as well as to the company. Seventy-five, persons have beengiven-prac- tically constant employment, and an average weekly pay roll of $500 has been expended in the city. The business is on a good basis and growing rapidly. It is no experiment, and yet the company confronts a serious dilema." A simple little sum in long division will show that "an average weekly pay roll of $500" distributed among seventy-five employes means an average weekly wage of $(!.G0 a week. But superintend ents, traveling men, foremen and foreladies, bookkeepers, ct.c, etc., certainly draw more than the average, and in view of this fact one wonders what wage is drawn by the girls who run the machines or 'v do the real work of making the shirts and overalls. This "average wage" business is very deceitful. For instance, the "average wage" on any great railroad system, including president, vice presidents, general manager, division superintendents, master mechanics and everybody else would doubtless look good, but the section hand working for a dollar ways of drawing the average. And an average wage of $6.60 a week in a manufacturing plant like the Lincoln Overall and Shirt "V factory simply means that quite a nnumber are workig nine and ten hours a day for an almighty scant pittance. If The Wageworker is not mistaken Manager Jones of the Lincoln Overall and Shirt factory is opposed to labor, unions and one of those eminent business gcntlemnc who insist upon "running their own business without the interference of walking declgates." If The Waceworker is mistaken it apologizes. But employers who pay an average wage of $6.60 a week are idea of interference from organized As before stated, The Wageworker would regret it exceedingly if any Lincoln enterprise should be compelled to seek another field, but before it rends its nether garments trying to provide the Lincoln Wverall and Shirt factory with a suitable location at a merely nom - inal rent, it would like to know a little more about the "average wage" paid. WHAT WOMEN CAN DC A Great Work at Hand That She can Accmpllsh by Unionism. When a man marries, he generally tries to the best of his ability to make his home pleasant and comfortable for the girl who ha3 consented to share her lot with him. And a woman ought to consider her husband's interests first. If a woman has a husband whois a candidate for some office on the re publican ticket, do we bear her sing ing the praises of her opponent? Why, even if she didn't know the difference between the republican ticket and an example in algebra, she would swear by it because her hus band does. But when a man belongs to a union, the greatest and only protection a working man has, how many wives uphold him? When there is an extra assessment to aid some strike, she will say (as a rule): "Let them take care of themselves. You are not one of them, and why should you help them? I need that small amount my self, I want to buy a new waist." "But listen!" the husband will say; "If ever I am on strike these men will help me." The wife answers: "But you may never go on a strike; there is all your money gone." Such a woman might be talked to till a man turned to stone, and she'd never understand. She doesn't want to, and when a person doesn't want to understand, they're worse than those who can't. A man comes home and says to his wife: "My dear, when you go into a store to buy anything, always ask for goods with the union label on them, as that will insure to us the fact that we are not buying penitentiary made goods." The wife smiles very sweetly and sJ she will, and the very next day "pftJ into an unfair house and buys goods that salesmen tell her are not made by union working men. Now, what are the union men going to do in their fight for Justice when their wives, who have promised to be a helpmate to them, will tear down what they have built nip? Even if the union men do demand unlgn-made goods, where they spend one dollar l heir wives and daughters spend fifty. What the country wants and needs and fifteen cents a day lacks a long usually very much incensed at the labor. are union wives and union daughters. Where women have come to the front haven't they always won? Who can fight and win against a woman who is a woman? Can't the women see that where the husbands received two dollars ($2) a day before unions were in existence they now receive three dollars ($3)? The old saying, "Men must work and women must weep," has gone out of style. There is very little use for weeping, clinging women that men used to die for and consider them selves heroes for doing it. What we want now are women who work; wom en who are not afraid to hold up their heads and say: "I demand the rights that belong to me and mine." Oh, women sisters! Wake up be fore it Is too late! When women will stand side by side with , the men in their struggles the men are strength ened and encouraged, and women should consider who are men fighting for if not for them? If a man cared nothing for his family, would he care how much money he earned as long as he was provided for? And now let us put our hand in the hand of our union brothers and say "As long as I live I will do my part toward advancing tne cause or Or ganized Labor by always demanding the union label." Colorado Springs Labor News. WHAT MEANS IT? Looks Like a Scheme to Make Trouble for Union Pressmen. Every day for the past week the following advertisement has appeared in the Lincoln dally newspapers: PRINTING pressmen in the state de siring to make a change address us, stating particulars. Address 274 Journal. Doubtless this advertisement has been seen, read and answered by number of boys in the country towns who have had a brief experience suov- ing noteheads and envelopes into Gordon press, or patent insides into the grippers of a country Campbell and imagine that they are pressmen. And doubtless they think they see in the advertisement an opportunity to come to a city and make big wages.' The boys would better think again. The wages are not big. the work is hard the expenses are high, and the chances are that they would not last long, Why? Because they can not do the work, for one thing; and another thing, they wouldn't be given any con sideration whatever after they had been used to hammer down the wages of expert pressmen. The country pressmen would better stick to their jobs and let the above glittering offer go. Don't be a "scab.'V PRISON-MADE BROOMS. Watch fOr Them and Admit Them to no Good Union Home. The Lee Broom and Duster Co., is displaying in the show windows of Incoln business houses the diploma it received at the St. Louis exposition. The Lee broom is convict made, and is made in competition with free labor. Union men and women should make note of the fact. The Merkle-Wiley broom, made at Paris, III., is not a fair broom. The Merkle-Wiley company wa3 made a union shop at the request of the pro prietors in 1899. Now the company is trying to force the open shop and the employes are on strike. Keep your eyes opened for the Merkle-Wiley broom, and when you see it remember that it is "unfair." SOME RESOLUTIONS. Painters and Decorators Disclaim any Connection With Political Scheme. Painters and Decorators' Union No. 18 of Lincoln has adopted the follow ing resolutions: : Whereas, A few men have gotten themselves together and formed a "La boring .Men's Political Club" and have endorsed certain candidates, etc., and Whereas, This has placed organized labor in Lincoln in a false position, and Whereas, This union stands: for clean The Central's The oyster supper and social Tuesday evening was the most successful affair, financially and so cially, ever engineered by that body, and it success argues well for the growing spirit of unionism in the Capital t.ity. lhe weather was bitterly cold, and although this doubtless kept many away, it did not prevent the hall from being comfortably filled, and when the oysters were served there were four rows of guests the entire length of the hall. It was a jolly and good nattired crowd that came up for pleasure and fraternity, and they got all they came for including the good music and the dancing. President Kelsey of the central body made a few remarks, and the editor of The Wageworker succeeded in con fining his speech inside of 120 seconds. , Then came the oysters, and when they had disappeared the tables followed suit, and the dancing began. In order to give the evening the proper start r. Anhauser of the Cigarmakers' Union sang "When Other Lips and Other Hearts" and was warmly applauded. The success of the social was so great that President kelsey s an nouncement of another one to follow in a reasonable time brought forth thunderous applause. The committee in charge acquitted itself nobly. One of the features of the evening was a recitation by Master Roy Walker, who is so little that he had to stand on a table to be seen, but who recited so manfully and so plainly that he was awarded a round of applause. Master Roy is not a "child wonder," which fact made his contribution to the program all the more pleasing. But he is a bright little fellow who wins the regard of all who meet him. It may truthfully be said that the social event wound up in a blaze of glory, for when the social closed at midnight the merrymakers were permitted to see the biggest fire that Lincoln has had in years. What the Firemen Really Need The Wageworker will not undertake to give either old or new facts about Tuesday night's fire. It merely desires to make a few remarks regarding the work of the fire department. The daily papers paid fulsome compliments to the firemen and the firemen deserve every word of them. Of course the firemen worked hard and heroically. Nobody ex pected them ever to do anything else if occasion demanded. Every time there is a big fire the papers dilate on the "heroic work of the firemen," just as if that sort of thing were not just as common; with the firemen as falling off the water wagon is in a distillery district. One might be led to think by a reading of the compliments, that the "heroic work" was something unusual. At Tuesday night's fire the members of the city fire department did not do anything sur prising. It is true they fought a nasty fire in about the worst weather that could be sprung on a helpless people. It is true that they suffer ed horribly from the cold. It is also true that they faced death in a dozen different ways, and all that sort of thing. But nobody ever had the least suspicion that a single member of the force would ever balk. Everybody knew that the firemen would do just what they did, and everybody knows that the firemen would do it again under similar circumstances. That's what makes firemen. The fire de partment is not in any immediate need of compliments. It doubtless appreciates recognition of its good work, but what the department needs more than compliments or recognition of services performed is better appliances, better quarters, better pay and better hours. If the taxpayers will provide these things The Wageworker is willing to bet the firemen will quite willingly do without the compli ments. The fireman's life would be chiefly "beer and skittles" if he had nothing to do but sit around the engine house and play checkers or curry the horses. But working at his business for just one night like last Tuesday night earns him about all the salary he gets in a twelvemonth. There are about 20,000 men in Lincoln who wouldn't do it for twice what a fireman gets unless he had to, as most of the firemen do. ,' , But the point- The Wageworker wants to make is that the fire men need something more than words of praise they need a lot of things that will make their work more effective and their vocation a bit less dangerous. government and the enforcement of law and order, therefore be it Resolved, by Local No. IS, Brother hood of Painters, Decorators and Pa perhanger3 of America, representing one of the largest bodies of mechanics in the city, do hereby state to the pub lic that we are not a party to the "Laboring Men's Political Club" and we deny the right of a few men to speak in behalf of all the workers of the city. W. .E., DEWEY, Pres. I. R. DELONG, Sec. tSeal.) ELECTRICAL WORKERS. Getting Ready for Their Third Anniver sary Ball on February 10. The Electrical Workers give their third annual ball at Fraternity hall on February 10, and the preparations they are making to entertain their friends is sufficient guarantee that the evening will be enjoyably spent. The sale of tickets is now going on and the indi cations are that the crowd will tax the capacity of the hall. The Electrical Workers have a habit of springing pleasant surprises at their annual functions, and it is hinted that there will be some unusual' doings in this line this year. NOTICE TO PAINTERS. Important Meeting Called to Consider Questions of Great Interest to Them. All members of Local No. 18, Broth erhood of Painters, Decorators and Pa- perhangers of America, are urgently requested to be present at the second meeting in February, Friday the 10th, for the purpose of transacting business vital to the welfare of the union. Every member should bear the date in mind and be, there without fail. Oyster Supper s. given by Central Labor Union last Capital Auxiliary Celebrates Anniversary On January 21 Capital Auxiliary No. 11 to Typographical Union , No. 209 celebrated its second anniversary, and the members of the ; auxiliary made it an occasion for entertaining their husbands a th hospitable home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Righer, 2308 Dudley. De spite the bitter cold weather seventeen couples were present, and a more pleasant evening the average printer man never had the privi lege of enjoying. The, committee inrcharge of the celebration had left nothing undone to make the affair a success. Remembering the fact that the Lincoln Distraction company thinks so much of its dingy little yellow cars that it turns them into the barn shortly after sundown, the auxiliary planned to make the evening as long as possible, and for that reason it was announced that the festivities would begin promptly at 7 o'clock and they did. The gentlemen went right from their work to the Righter home, and there they found their wives and supper all ready. It was a genuine supper, too. None of your little coffee and wafer and tooth pick feeds, but the kind of a supper that makes a, tired and hungry workman feel like a grand duke and gives the cottage"' th'je -appearance of a baronial -castle. It took an hour ,to do the banquet justice, but the feat was accomplished to the complete" satisfaption of the ladies. The best compliment one can pay a good cook is to eat all she caff stack before you. The ladies of the auxiliary were handed a finF bunch of compliments on this especial occasion. A neat little game of wits arid geography was played. Tickets, made in the form of coupon railroad tickets were handed around; and with the warning to "tote fair" the guests were turned loose arid in vited to guess. There were sixteen stations on eaeji' tiipket. ;'rThis is the way it worked : Station No. 1 was described as '.'that for which our forefathers fought." The wise guest wrote "Indepiendence." Station No. 10 was described as "an opera encore." and one guest guessed it, although the answer was as easy as falti'rjig on a Lincoln pavement, "Sing Sing." The editor of the Wageworker won the gentleman's prize in this contest, having succeeded in correctly nam ing thirteen of the sixteen stations. The prize was a pair of strictly union made suspenders. He lacked one button of having enough to fit. but the hostess kindly supplied a pin. Mrs. Frank Odell won the iadies' prize, an apron made of handkerchiefs and bearing the union label. The anniversary cake, made by. Mrs. Freeman and ornamented by two candles, was then brought forth and carved. Mrs. Freeman was given a unanimous vote of thanks for this display of her culinary skill. Each guest was given an anniversary card bearing an approp riate toast, and the reading of these toasts brought forth loud ap plause and laughter. White the ladies were setting things to rights after tire banquet the gentlemen wended their way upstairs with un- ion made cigars in their faces and spent a half hour wonderincr how the executive committee was getting along, and telling of old times when "subbing" was. good. Singing of old-time songs, stories, and social converse whiled away the hours until it was "grab things and run" or miss the last car. Not the most uninteresting feature was the "athletic contest'" in '.' the kitchen, participated in by the gentlemen. Ever try your "grip" by seeing which of you' would let the broomhandle twist? Ever lay flat on your back alongside a friend and engage in an "Injun wrassle?" Ever stick a pin in the side of a chair and try to get it with your teeth, by twisting your body around the back of the chair? Ever sit bn the floor facing your opponent, grab a broom handle and see which could pull the other to his feet? The gentlemen all tried these diversions, to the great delight of the admiring ladies. Col. H. William Smith won the pin pulling match, Major John Zurbriggen captured the "Injun wrassler's" medal, Hon. Frank Odell proved that he could stand further away from a wall, lean over till his head hit and then straighten up with his hands behind his back than any other fellow present, and "Billy" Bustard won enconiums by falling off the chair seven times in succession while trying to pull the pin. The following were present : Mr. and Mrs. Righter, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Odell, Mr. and Mrs. Barngrover, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Bustard, Mr. and Mrs. Zurbriggen, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Mickel, Mr. and Mrs. Locker, Mr. and Mrs. Hebbard, Mr. and Mrs. Rhone, Mr. and Mrs. Marpin, Mr. and Mrs. Norton, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Freeman, Miss Hazel Smith and Miss Freda iMckel. Capital Auxiliary has been the author of many a pleasant evening, but none of them is to be compared in point of pleasure with the second anniversary celebration. If the other craftsmen in the city, could realize the help, socially and financially, that an auxiliary of fers, every craft in the city would soon be blest as Typographical Union No. 209' is blest by a band of women who are doing much for the cause of unionism. CHILD LABOR. How Sworn Officers of the Law Permit the Crime to Flourish Unchecked. State Labor Commissioner McMackin has been accused of being inefficient in a very . .important office. According to a report presented to Governor Hig gins by representatives of the New York Child Labor committee and the National and State Child Labor Com mittee, Commissioner McMackin . has manifested such indifference to his du ties that although "there were in 1903 over 50,000 violations found by inspec tors on their first visits to the fac tories of the state, there were only 1, 095 reinspections to determine if the orders of the department had been complied with, and but 9 convictions." In one case, an agent of the committee learned that a child four years old was earning nineteen cents a day, string ing beans. The report referred partic ularly to the employment of children in the canning factories of Syracuse, Auburn, Oneida and Rome. If Mr. McMackin is neglecting to en force the law against the employment of boys and girls under the legal age, he should be promptly removed from office. The future progress of our coun try depends upon the health and in telligence of the "rising generation." As child labor injures the body and dwarfs the intellect, the importance of compelling factory employers to ob serve the law muqt be apparent to even careless people. Chicago Union Leader. ROUGH ON PLATT. Comparing Him to Sawdust Post Is Little Short of Libelous. Mr. Post of the Battle Creek Grape Nut factory, is now out after the scalp of old Tom Piatt, the New York sen ator, who he thinks discriminates against him in nut express rates to different parts of the country. Post has just got through with a legal al tercation in which his wife secured a divorce from him on the grounds ..of cruelty, and he may be in good flght- ing condition to go after the ''New Yorker. It is a little bit unfortunate that this Mr. Post is now in the class with the union sluggers, as he has been legally declared guilty of wife beating. His charges that have been made against union men have been ex tremely bitter, but his is the lowest depths to which one can descend if he is classed in the same criminal cate gory with this Michigan manufacturer. Chicago Union Leader. President Kelsey of the Central La bor Union met with a sad mishap last Tuesday morning. Just as he was climbing into his carriage to be driven to work the alarm clock went off and woke him up.