-1
F:HE
A Newspaper with a Mission and without a Muzzle that is published in the Interest of Wageworkers Everywhere.
VOL. 1
LINCOLN, XEIJBASKA, FEH11UAEY IO, 1905
- NO. 44
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4
A "Friendly
i Given Answer
Miss or Mrs.) Lctitia Patterson used the columns of the Lin
coln Journal one day last week to tell the people of Lincoln what a
benevolent .institution the Lincoln Overall and Shirt company is, and
incidentally to make it appear that The Wageworker did not know
itat it was talking about when it referred to the business as a species
of sweatshop.
Far be it from The Wageworker to engage in disputation with
a lady. Rather than do such a thing we will admit that the Lincoln
Overall and Shirt company is a grand institution and that its man
:iger, Mr. L. O. Jones, thinks nothing of personal profit so long as he
can pay the highest wages to working women. The editor of this
family newspaper is the son of one woman, the brother of another
and the husband of another, and long years ago he learned the fool
ishness and the impoliteness of getting into a dispute with a member
of the female sex.
But Miss (or Mrs.) Patterson's figures regarding wages are so
utteriy at variance with those given in the Evening News the day
after the fire, and known to have been given by Mr. Jones himself,
.that The Wageworker is impelled, to believe that Miss (or Mrs.)
Patterson performed the most of her figuring with Mr. Jones' pencil,
and that Mr. Jones had another thought before he handed over the
pencil.
Our friendly critic of the Journal tells us that many of the em
ployes of the Lincoln Overall and Shirt company made from Vl to
SI5 a week, If this be true and it must be, because a lady said so -
then (lod help the remainder of the employes of a firm that
pays an "average wage" of $t.t0 a week. Mr. Jones, the manager,
says the company employs to people and has a pay roll averaging
$o00 a week. Miss (or Mrs.) . Patterson says many of the employes
make from $13 to $15 a week. The Wageworker prefers to leave
th's little disagrcemnt to Mr. Jones and Miss (or Mrs.) Patterson.
This newspaper is informed that Mr. Jones, while forming the
company, held out as an inducement for stock subscriptions the
agreement on his part to accept a certa'm per cent of the net earnings
of the company in lieu of a salary as superintendent. On this basis
he was made superintendent. Mr. Jones, in his inspired statement in
the livening News the day after the fire, said that the margin of profit
was small, owing to the keen competition. Now, Mr. Jones is op
posed to union labor, and his chief competitors in the western overall
and shirt field is McDonald of St. Joseph, a union factory that pays
good wages. This being true, where would Mr. Jones, opponent of
organized labor, make his first attempt at economy in an effort to
bring the net profits up to a point that would enable him to draw
a comfortable salary? .
Of course it would be econoniy in the matter of wages, and he
would cut wages to the lowest possible point in order to make the
largest possible showing of profit and thus make his own salary
larger. " " . - 1
Clearly our friendly critic and Mr. Jones' gallant defender is sad
ly twisted in her logic, else biased in her judgment.
Miss (or Mrs.) Patterson says that "many of the employes make
from $12 to $15 a week." How many? Twenty out of the seventy-,-'Ve?
Well, let us call it twenty who make $12 a week. That's $'240
week for twenty of the seventy-five employes, leaving $360 to be
' o'ivided among fifty-five employes an average of $4.73. And the
greater. the number who earn "from $12 to $15 a week" the smaller
the average wage of the balance.
Again, Miss (or Mrs.) Patterson says that one reason for the
smallness of the wage of many is that there are so fany "inexper
ienced" or "new employes." That does not sound good. If the wages
are so goo!, as our friendly critic of the Journal claims, how comes
it that there are so many inexperienced employes? Why do not the
experienced and skilled employes remaiii at the factory instead
of giving place to "inexperienced" help?
The more we dive into this matter the more complicated it
becomes. Wages are very good, but so many of the employes are
unskilled that wages are small. That's feminine logic for you.
The Wageworker still insists that a manufacturing company
whose average wage scale is $6. CO a week for a nine hour day six
I davs a week, is not a credit or a profit to any western city. And it
further insists that such a company that asks the citizens to rally to
its support is exhibiting a species of nerve that ought to be sufficient
assurance that it has little or nothing to fear from "keen competition"
of similar factories in neighboring states.
ing their members time and opportunity to acquaint themselves with
existing conditions and seek the remedy. The opponents of organ
ized labor would debase citizenship by compelling ignorance and un
dermining health. Labor organizations are continually working for
the uplift of humanity. Parry associations and the like arc; contin
ually working for the uplift of the dollar and the debasement of
labor . All their fine talk and pretensions of interest in labor's welfare
will not conceal this ironclad fact.
The eight hour day is another step forward, and labor is going
to take it. Those who get in the way will be stepped on. The step
will be taken peacefully, too, for the sentiment of humanity is behind
it.
THE OPEN SHOP.
There arc ten thousand reasons why union men oppo.-e the" op-?n
shop. The open shop means that the better will be brought down to
the lwcl of the weakest and poorest.
Hut there is one overshadowing reason why the union man ob
jects to working alongside the non-union worker of the same craft
livery move made for the uplift of labor has been made by labor
unions. Every dollar of expense incurred in securing better laws,
better conditions and better hours has been paid by union men. The
unionists Jiavc performed all the work and footed all the bills in
every movement calculated to uplift the wage earner and make his lot
easier and happier. In these benefits the non-union man ha:; partici
pated without sharing any of the work or expense. Anil the union
man who has paid it all has too much self-respect to work alongside
the selfish, narrowminded. heartless and ignorant man who insists on
sharing the benefits. of unionism's actions without doing his share to
wards paying the expense.
That's why union men hate the "scab" and refuse to work along
side the non-union man. The man who will insist on sharing benefits
without paying his share of the expenses is too mean, too selfish, too
low in the moral scale, to be a fit companion for a man who is big
enough and broad enough to give of his time and money to better the
conditions of the toilers of earth. And this is the nub of the whole
business. The "open shop" is an idle dream in the field of skilled
trades. The men who are working for it arc chasing a phantom.
A Matter of Grave
Personal Interest
At last Sunday's meeting of Lincoln Typographical Union No.
20f), it was unanimously voted to fine any member who purchased
cigars at any cigar store handling the Henry George and George W.
Childs cigars the sum of $1.
Union printers are opposed to "scab" cigars on principle, but
there are other reasons for the fight that they are making on the
Henry George and George W. Childs cigars. In the first place, it is
an insult to any printer to name a "scab" cigar for either of these
great friends of unionism. Henry George was a printer, a square-
toed union man, and a man whose whole life was spent in an effort to
uplift his fellows. George W. Childs proved his friendship for union
printers on more than one occasion, and it was Mr. Childs who solved
for the printers a very grave problem by donating $10,000 as a nu
cleus for the fund that afterwards built the magnificent Union
Printers' Home at Colorado Springs. To name a "scab" cigar
after such a man is an insult that every union printer must resent as
forcibly as possible. And the cigar dealer who persists in handling
the Henry George and George W. Childs "scab" cigars in the face of
these facts is not deserving of the patronage of any printer and by
the same token he is not going to get it, either. It is not enough
that the dealer should handle a large line of union made cigars. If
he wants the trade of the printing fraternity he will have to remove
the two brands, that insult printers and defame the memory of two
of the best friends the printer and all other laborers ever had.
UNION LABOR IN POLITICS.
The Wageworker is not authorized by any labor union to make
this announcement. But this newspaper knows union labor weli
enough to make it, just the same, without fear of contradiction:
The labor unions are not going to take any part in the city
election as unions. . '.. ,
If any politicians are figuring on that sort of thing they may
just as well put up their pipes.
But union laborers are going to take a hand, and don't you forget
it. '
See Both Sides of the Shield
THE EIGHT HOUR DAY.
The eight hour working day is coming, and coming soon. Tho
industrial world may as well make up its mind that this is a fact and
liegin preparations to meet the new conditions. The argument- ad
5 vanced against the adoption of the eight hour day are the sum: old
nrrmmiMits that were used afainst llu' thirteen hour dnv- ihp twp!Vi
hour day, the eleven hour day, the ten hour dtiy and the nine hour
day. All the underhanded scheming will not avail. Tts opponents
work in the dark. Those who favor it work in the open.
Those who oppose child labor, sweat shops and unsanitary fac
tory conditions make their fight in the broad open light ot the day.
Those who favor these things resort to trickety, misrepresentation,
bribery and corruption. Labor organizations rear up patriots by giv-
FOR THE RICH.
James J. Hill, president Great North
ern Railway. '"The. general business
ot the country is satisfactory."
Lucius Tuttle, president Boston and
Maine. "Conditions for the future are
in a most wholesome state."
E. Van Etten. second vice president
New York Central. "The war in the
east will make a o.emand for manufac
tured products which will necessarily
be of benefit to this country."
W. C. Brown, vice president Lake
Shore and Michigan Southern railway.
' "The prospect for' nest" year, was
never better than now."
B. L. Winchell, president Rock Isl
and system. "BtiFiness men are en
couraged and ars buying more liber
ally." E. P. Ripley, president Atchison sys
tem. "Everything points to good con
ditions." II. L". Mudge, ;?.neral manager Atch
iton system. "Prtspects, in my judg
ment, were nevev Detter."
E. H. Gray, president United State
fc'teel Corporation. "The outlook at
piesent is bright. '
S. P. Colt, provident United States
Rubber Company. "I frave never
Known the 'underlying conditions to be
better than they are at the present
time."
John Stantcn, vresident of several
larse copper companies: "The pros
pects for a large consumption of cop
per during the coming year arc very
bright."
John Claliin, president H. B. Clafiin
Company. "The increase o the wealth
of the whole country during the last
twelve months has been marked, and
confidence in the future seem3 now
completely restored."
Ebcn D. Jordar., Boston merchant.
"The year to count will be one of the
greatest prosperity."
Daniel G. Wing, president First Na
tional Bank, Boston. "With fair crop3
I believe we shall have for several
years to come expanding business and
general prosperity "
From he Boston Journal.
FOR THE POOR.
Peter Stewart, wife and twin girls,
17 months old, found starving in an at
tic at No. 10 Rochester s:reei, Koston
No work.
A thousand applicants besieged Pow
ers' department atore, Minneapolis, in
response to advertisement for clerk
wanted. A riot ensued in the scramble
to get in first and the police had to
bo called.
The Boston Journal says: "Poor of
the city suffering from sudden cold
snap. Ragged clothing, dilapidated
tenements, gaunt bodies, pinched faces,
hungry ...children crying; for bread,
empty coal hods, unpaid grocery bills
and utter helplessness due to lack of
employment and sickness. -
' McClure's Magazine says there are
ten times as many murders in the
United States as in any other country.
The Cincinnati Post says they are
caused' by bad government.
Every day people come to me and
complain that they must have work or
starve. Mayor of Portland, Ore.
Nora Clem, Omaha, out of work, at
tempted suicide rather than prostitute
herself to keep from starving.
Seven thousand worthy families In
Boston fed by Salvation Army all pau
pera but willing and. able to work.
Chas. Draper, Omaha, broke fourteen
window lights to get back to jail to
keep from starving and freezing.
Cleveland (Ohio) Leader: "There
are five thousand men in Cleveland
who are out of work and don't know
where the next meal Is coming from
right now."
Mrs. C. O. Erickson, Duluth, Minn,
worn out with work to keep her chil
dren, had to give up the struggle. Be
fore she was succored it was too late
and she died fro:n starvation, and her
little ones-were saved only with great
difficulty. See S't. Paul Press, Decem
ber lGth.
Tacoma News: "Recorder GofE, of
New York, has sentenced John Crane
and Arthur Nagle to nine years in pris
on for stealing thirty cents. Mr. Mis-
piegcl, late cashier of the St. Charles
savings bank, stole 178,163.00 and is
living in luxury at his home in St.
Charles, Mo. How slow is justice when
dealt out by judges against their own
kind!" Compiled by Appeal to Ilea
son.
When the Sleeper
Is Awakened
There is a prevailng notion among a large number of people that
when a person is found under the influence of strong drink, the
saloonkeeper should be arrested in order to reform the drunkard. ,
There is another class of people who think that by prohibiting
the sale of whisky, men will stop drinking it.
And still another class think that by distributing charity they
will remove poverty. . .
Some there are who believe that sacrificing one's self in fighting
other men's battles will give those for whom a battle is fought, a
self-consciousness of having achieved victory, and the ability to de
fend forts taken by those championing their cause.
Some imagine that because they waken early in the morning that
all other men are light sleepers ; and the reason all men do not get out
of bed early is because they need assistance to rise ; not because they
are still sleeping.
Experience has taught vis that unless the muscles are exercised -they
will wither and die ; and if men ceased to use their strength in
getting out of bed by depending upon others to assist them, they
would eventually be unable to walk after they were assisted to get
up. Men's brains need exercise to be developed, just as surely as do
the muscles need exercise to develop. 1 '
Let us apply this to the industrial question.
Some men, a very few. arc awake to the fact that conditions arc
wrong and need radical changes before they are righted, but the great
majority of men and women are yet asleep to this fact. What is to be
done ; are they first to be awakened, or, get out of bed while still
in a state of coma? In short, are we to explain to the workers a plan
for radically changing conditions that they do not as yet know exist,
or should we 'apply (methods of restoring consciousness and let them
use their own brains and their own muscles in helping themselves
out of the difficulty?
Persons as a rule who seek charity rarely ever become self-reliant,
but again appeal for assistance when the first supply is exhaust
ed. The result is degeneration. On the other hand persons who are
refused charity or are not reached by the charitably inclined, but
forced to devise ways and means of self-help, become more, and more
able to provide for themselves. They become self conscious and
progressive.
Awakening persons out of a sound sleep before tired nature has
been fully refreshed, is not always conducive to sound health in those
disturbed. To arouse working people to attempt to bring about
those things which can only be accomplished through a natural de
velopment of society, is not only a thankless but a useless task.
The working people are indeed in the mud. There .have been
many improvements in the world's history, led by those orr'the sur
face, that aimed at "assisting" the workers to get out of the quick
sand. They have told them how to back up the team here, take up
a trace there, give this mule the advantage or pry on that wheel ;
with the result that the workers' have got stuck in the next mud hole
anel were as helpless as before, unless the same brains managed the
business of getting out. Not until the industrial conditions. sot .shape
themselves that the workers will be forced to sOtve the problem' with
out the aid or guidance of others, will they be able to establish a co
operative commonwealth, or to maintain it if they do.
In the meantime let us take the world as it is; understand the
conditions not only of industry, but the state of mind of the workers
and others resulting from such industrial conditions and do the best
we can with the material at hand. When they want anything
different the working people will let us know. They will awake re
freshed and strong because nature is satisfied. We need not worry
about the outcome, nor be afraid of their oversleeping. They and
the world Avill be ready. George A. Eastman in Detroit People.
MAKING THE LAW RIDICULOUS.
The state child labor law should be enforced without fear or
favor. It should not be relaxed, no matter whom it affects.
Bpt . that is not to say that it should be enforced with an eye
keen to spectacular effect. ' . , ', '
When the manager of the young violinist, Von Vecsey, was ar
rested for violating the law by causing the lad to play upon the con
cert stage after 7 o'clock in the evening it is plain that a mistake
was made. Von Vecsey gives but a single evening concert in Chi
cago. Common sense must be given a serious strain before such play,
ing as his can be described as "child labor." v
State Factory Inspector Davies should have thought of these,
things before he began suit. .
For all that Mr. Davies does to make the law rigorously effective
he deserves praise. But his occasional outbreaks on a line that can
have np other effect than to make the law ridiculous must be strongly
condemned. Chicago Record-Herald.
tha
OUR LABOR LEADERS.
Certainly no magazine has a higher standing among the reviews
n the American Reviews of Reviews, and no writer is read more
closely than Dr. Albert Shaw. In its. remarks upon the recent meetr
ing of the National Civic Federation, the magazine has this to say:
"There remain some heads of great corporations and some large em
ployers of labor in this country, who regard with distrust and even
with abhorrence the leaders of organized labor; yet no impartial
judge at the Civic Federation dinner would have assigned to the labor
leaders any lower rank,, either in character or capability, than the
capitalists and financiers who sat at the same table with them, or the
numerous representatives of the press; the church and the university.
Undoubtedly, in directness and force, the labor leaders were better
public speakers than any of the other elements that made up the
party." . '
THE FACT IN THE CASE.
Dr. Minot J. Savage, pastor of the Unitarian Church of the
Messiah, New York, in a recent sermon said: "I believe in labor un
ions. If I could have my way I would have all the workers of the
world' organized instead of partially so. I should have them held
legally responsible for their actions, for the keeping of that which
they undertake. When the members of a trade union have, by the
expenditure of their own time and means, created certain conditions
necessary to their safety and well-being in a given industry or insti
tution, it is morally their right and logically their duty to insist that
the non-unionist who seeks to share these conditions shall first agree
to share the labor and expenditure. necessary to their maintenance;
in other words, to insist that he shjill join the union." .