0
THE WAGEWORKER
WILL M. MAUPIN, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER ,
Published Weekly. One Dollar a Year.
Entered as second-class matter April 21. 1904, at the postoffice at Lin
coln, Neb, under the Act of Congress.
HOW IT WORKED.
Several years ago the English in South Africa concluded that they
would make the Kaffirs native Africans work for even less than
the meagre wages they were paying them. The Kaffirs refused to
work, and the English, smiling their superior smile, said to them
selves, "Wc will starve the 'niggers' into submission."
But they did not. And why?
The Kaffirs merely returned to the land, which was not owned by
private individuals and speculative corporations, and proceeded to
make a living. The English couldn't find them, for the country was
too big. Finally the English had to submit, increase the wage above
the old standard and offer better treatment. Then the Kaffirs re
turned to the mines.
Here's another case. A few years ago a young man with a family
came to Lincoln and secured employment with the Lincoln Distrac
tion company. He owned eighty acres of land near Bennett, but
came to Lincoln because of the superior school facilities offered. He
worked for the company four years without an increase in his meagre
pay, and then went to the office and asked for more. He was told
that he would get no increase ; on the contrary, he would have to
take a small reduction. AVhen he protested he was told that the
company could put on a new and younger man who in six weeks
could do the work as well and do it for less money.
"Put him on," was the reply. "I will go back to the farm."
He did return ta the farm. Why? Because he owned the farm.
Do you begin to get a glimmer of the facts? The land is the source
of all wealth, and it should not be privately ownedany more than
the air we breathe or th e sunlight we enjoy should be privately
owned. As long as the present land ownership system remains just
so long-will monopolistic privilege prevail and the wage earner be
subject to its caprices.
Just think it over for a little while. Then think some more.
Then keep on thinking until you begin to get a glimmer of the real
truth. Here is something from the pen of Tom Bawdcn, editor of
"Our Commonwtalth." Read it and digest it at your leisure :
"Labor must war on. monopolistic privilege instead of produc
tive capital, and with the 'open shop' demand 'open opportunities' in
natural resources and communal privileges, in order to equalize this
terribly unequal distribution of material progress."
When organized labor begins to think a few days ahead of next
Saturday night's pay envelope it will have made .. ..... .owards
solving the problems confronting it.
PROSPERITY NO !
Prosperous times in this country? Comparatively, yes. In fact,
no. For five weeks the entire country has been fast in the grip of a
cold spell almost unprecedented in its severity. During that time a
million people have suffered from Jack of fuel and clothing while
the Astors and the Vanderbilts held their balls and routs and dis
played millions of dollars worth of diamonds.
Right here in Nebraska hundreds of unfortunates suffered from
the cold because they had no fuel, although they had plenty to eat.
In Pennsylvania and Virginia thousands suffered from hunger, al
though they had plenty of coal to keep them warm. Yet the building
of huge public libraries goes merrily on while people freeze and
starve in hopeless misery.
In God's name, fellow citizens, what's wrong?
Don't try to answer with the miserable cant of "equal oppor
tunities" or "improvidence of the poor." That's not the answer.
There's something wrong somewhere. Thousands shiver with in
sufficient clothing in the rigors of a northern winter, and southern
planters are burning cotton because the price is so low it will not pay
the cost of production and they seek to reduce the supply and thus
get living prices. Great factories shut down because of "overpro
duction," and thousands starve and die because they can not get the
things produced in these great factories. Shoe factories close clown
because there is no market for their wares, and thousands upon thous
ands walk through the snow with their almost bare feet upon the
ground. The government spends $130,000,000 in a year on its army
and navy and thinks it nothing, but it points with great pride to the
fact that it expects to spend $10,000,000 within the next eight or ten
years in irrigation projects that will make homes for the people.
The average wage in 1850 was $300 a year, and the largest in
come was $25,000 a year. The average wage in 1904 was $500 a year,
and the largest income was $35,000,000.
Prosperity? Yes, for the very few; but what about the im
mutable many?
Get your thinking caps on, you wage earners. Wipe the dust
out of your eyes and look into the future a little further than the
next pay day.
Steady work this week, with no assurance of work next week;
three meals a day this week, with no assurance of anything to eat
next week ; the music of the shop whistle this week with no assur
ance that the music will ring next week that's not prosperity by a
long ways.
THE WAY
The Wageworker is under obligations to several of its staunch
supporters for help along a line that may easily be extended. They
have secured advertisements for this newspaper from stores where
they trade, and have done so by calling attention to the class of peo
ple among whom The Wageworker circulates and showing its ad
vantages as an advertising medium.
lhis is the kind of help that counts. And the publisher appre
ciates it much more than he can tell. Every time you mention The
Wageworker when buying of one of its advertisers you help the
paper and help the cause. And the cause is as much vour own as it
is the publisher's. If the editor
were dependent upon its net revenues for his living he would be up
against it good and hard. Up to date the-net receipts would not pav
him 5 cents an hour for the work he has put in on it. But he is no't
complaining on the contrary he is well content. He sees a future
for The Wageworker. He believes that it is growing in influence
as it is growing in circulation, and he is going right ahead just as
long as he can meet the bills of the printers and the pressmen.
The Wageworker is not yet a
it. 1 ne paper nas appeared regularly every week for forty-hvc con
secutive weeks a record that beats anything ever before made by
a labor paper in Lincoln, and there have been several such. Today
The Wageworker has upwards of 1,000 names on its subscription
books, and every name is either that of a bona fide subscriber or one
to whom the paper is sent by a friend and paid for.
If you will stand by The Wageworker you may depend upon it
mat ine Wageworker will stand
The trusts and corporations
by electing representatives who
labor docs nofc get what it wants
trusts and corporations: lo elect-trust
tives. ieer . r - t -
Tl. ,1 .-. . . . a
x iiv ujjtii snivel jcis
Wall ctrndt i:,-irwiil'fif caIIc tarliif-
never gets, and makes a million in a day that's business. The cor
poration elects a man to the United States senate to represent itf
Advertising Rates on- Application
TO HELP.
and publisher of The Wageworker
year old although it is very near
by you.
get what they want from congress
will do their bidding. Organized
from congress because it helps the
and corporation representa
.-
AAA -- 1 i iL..' a. T1
$,uuu a iiiiil mats an. x lie
Ua 1 .- ' i- ,w4- . . 1
interests, and the people pay the
tradesman makes an average of
Astorbilts give a function and spend
$10,000,000 worth of diamonds
ple go to bed hungry every night
face another cheerless day that's
The coal barons puts miners to
late a big stock of coal. Then they force the miners to strike. Ihcn
they proceed to put up the price on the plea of "scarcity of product"
and make $60,000,000 in addition to what they have saved in wages.
And they'll keep it up until "Americans learn enough to take charge
of the coal that God Almighty put in the ground for the equal use
and benefit of all mankind. Socialism? Not a bit of it just com-
monsense.
The son of the millionaire
policeman puts him in a cab and sends him home that's "sowing
wild oats." A laboring man gets on a drunk because he wants to
forget his troubles for a few hours, and the policeman yanks him to
the bull pen and the court gives him $5 and costs or ten days in jail
that's preserving the dignity ot
There are upwards of 50,000
wages. It takes an average oi .;,uuu votes to eiect a congressman.
By this rule the wage earners are
three-tenths of a congressman.
some one to give it the- name of
of the three-tenths.
; C. W. Post offered his "Result
large number of country weeklies
he got it on the patent insides, and now the country weeklies are
roasting him to a frazzle. Every time Post opens his mouth he puts
his foot in it so far that his instep jams his epiglottis.
The printers are paying an
cent a month on their earnings for
fund." The fund will approximate
there isn't a union printer in the
about the assessment, either.
There are lawyers, doctors,
druggists in the -Nebraska legislature. If therdare any union work-
mgmen members of that body Ihe
get upon their track. Yet there are
2,000 union men in Lincoln.
A snow blockade interferes
newspapers devote columns to telling all about it. A million people
suffer horribly because of the same snow and cold, and the daily-
newspapers say never a word.
want to attract attention. -
Perhaps one reason why congressmen do not put their ears to
the ground to catch public sentiment is that they are afraid of hav
ing their ears stepped on.
We are waiting to hear what
say in reply to secretary uramwood oi ine international typo
graphical Union. Whatever it may be it is quite sure to be Hot
Stuff.
Too cold to attend union meeting last week, eh ? Well, it wasn't
too cold to accept the benefits that
union, was it?
If it hasn't got the union label
are contriouting to tne enemy or
the label.
If a union card means anything at all it should mean that the
bearer is willing to do a fair day's
It takes a whole lot more than
a union button on the coat to make
When you patronize a Wageworker advertiser you are helping
three of us The W ageworker, yourself and the advertiser.
If you are in the union game
eyeorows. i ne nan-way uiiiuuisl
Here is a little matter to consider: The true blue union man
will insist that his coal be delivered
If you can't get union made
Better quit anyhow. "
Gee, how popular the laboring
that holds its election in the spring!
Properly Labeled
THEN AND NOW
They say of General Washington
He
could not tell a lie.
Which fact is put in history and oft
embalmed in ryhme.
And if 'tis so of course it is as days
go fleeting by
We see how sadly things have
changed since George's day and
time.
For Washington achieved success in
finance and in war,
Despite the fact he struck to
truth through thick and thin with
vim.
But just suppose a little case the
thought gives ene a jar
If George lived now and tried it on,
pray what would happen him?
If he should go to Wall street
To deal with bulls and bears;
Or trade in puts and calls neat.
Or buy and sell some shares
In deep blue sky or bricks of gold
Pray tell me if you please,
How soon would George, if truth he
told,
Be brought down on his'knees?
We have heard the hatchet story some
three thousand times or more;
We've had the picture held before our
weak and sinful eyes.
In dreams we'ye seen his papa come
with angry mien and roar
And heard George 'fess, "I chopped
it, pa; I cannot tell a lie!"
Iconoclasts are telling us the story is
untrue
But true or false 'twas good enough
to point a moral clear. -But
what, I ask, could Washington in
"frenzied finance" do
If he should try the truthful dodge in
this particular year?
He couldn't run a beef trust
Or corner coal and wheat;
'Twould make his heart with grief bust
To tackle sugar 3weet.
He'd last a round with Mr. Baer.
bills that politics. The skilled
$2.50 a day that's industry. The
$50,000 for flowers and display
that's society. A half million peo
and wake up in the morning to
hell.
work in the spring, and accumu
gets on a howling drunk and the
the law.
voters in Nebraska who work for
entitled to a congressman and
Thtj Wageworker is waiting for
their congresman, to say nothing
j 1
of Boycott" advertisement to a
and they refused to print it. Then
assessment of one-half of one per
the purpose of raising an "8-hour
$300,000 by January 1, 1906. And
country who is making any kick
dentists, farmers, merchants and
Wageworker has been unable to
5,000 union men in Omaha and
with railroad traffic and the daily
Moral : lie a corporation it you
"Sadie Magttire" of Omaha has to
accrue to you by reason of your
on it you may be and doubtless
organized laDor. iviorai : jemanci
work for a fair day's pay.
a union card in the pocket and
a union man. . ,
at all, get into it clear up to your
is iwu-iuuuns acau.
by a union teamster.
chewing tobacco, quit chewing.
man is right now in every city
About as long with Schwab;
They'd quickly do him up for fair -And
jolt him from his job.
'Tis well for General Washington and
i for his wondrous fame
He lived a century ago, for were he
with us now
And tried to. beat the "system" at its
own peculiar game
Instead of saying "I can't lie," he'd
go to learning how.
For "gentlemen's agreements" and all
euch financial tricks,
The "rebates" and the "mileage"
well, I rather think you know
The man who tried the truthful game
with such a mess to mix
Would quickly get it in the neck and
stand no earthly show.
He couldn't form a brass trust
Or dabble long in steel.
He couldrf t run a glass trust
Or corner flour and meal.
Truth is not on Wall street's roll, ,
And falsehood's above par;
So George, I think upon the whole
you're .hetter ' where you are.
RECONSIDERATION
"I am opposed to this so-called bill for
the relief of the people," exclaimed the
pompous congressman. "The people
are too ignorant o know what is best
for their interests. I shall exercise
my superior judgment in their behalf
and save them from the consequences
of their own folly by opposing this
vicious bill.
"But your constituents have peti
tioned you to support it," we ventured,
modestly and tremblingly.
"That, sir, as I said before, is be
cause my constituents do not know
what they want."
"But 3,000 farmers in the south end
of your, district , met : yesterday and
burned yoii in effigy, while '4,000 farm
era and merchants met day before
yesterday and unanimously voted to
oppose your re-election." The chairman
of your congressional committee has
resigned, and seven of the nine mem
bers of that committee are out actively
fighting your re-nomination." -:'!
"What's that?" gasped the congress
man. "Framing it up to beat me be
cause I oppose their wishes. What's
this country coming to? By the way.
on seeond thoughts I believe there are
some merits to this proposed ,law and
I rather think I should give it my sup
port."
SPEAKING OF BABIES
"Are babies worth what they cost?"
asks an exchange.
The man or woman who would ask
that question is to be pitied.
"Are babies worth what they cost?"
Bless their little hearts, the divi
dends they pay each day exceed their
cost' by as many 'thousand per cent a3
there are dimples in their faces and
smiles on their lips.
The slightest touch of a baby's hand
is ample compensation for all the pain
and tears and heartaches and financial
investment it brings. The men or wo
men who would stop to consider what
the baby cost while looking into its
eyes or listening to its cooing, would
talk through their noses to save wear
and tear on their teeth, or tip-toe down
the street, to save. the wear on shoe
heels. "Are babies worth what they cost?"
The sight of a baby's smiling face at
the window can make bright and glor
ious the finish of a day begun in men
tal anguish and loaded to the Plimsoll
line with financial .difficulties and
dread. - The prattling welcome at the
door could no more be neasared in
dollars and cents than the love of God
could be measured by finite minds.
Are babies worth what they cost?
Ask the mother and father who are
weeping by the side of the little coffin
that holds the mortal remains of the
little one that brightened their home
for a brief span, and catch the answer
in their broken sobs and moans. All
that they have, and all that they ex
pect ever to" have in this world, would
they give just to call back to life for
one brief day the little one too soon
to be consigned to the bosom of Mother
Earth.
Worth what they cost? A3 an in
vestment they cost a te dollars in
money and a few hours rot pain and
tears, but they return dividends of
hope and love and light evefy day
through the span of eternity.
Are babies worth what they cost?"
We'd pity the babe given into the
keeping of a husband and wife who
could quit looking into its eyes and
fondling its chubby little form long
enough to ask themselves that ques
tion.
As a matter of fact, we can not be
lieve that any .-eal father or mother
ever asked such a fool question.
NOT WHOLLY BAD
John Lawrence - Sullivan, erstwhile
champion of the fistic world, who is
now on the lecture platform and deliv
ering temperance addresses, points
with pride to the fact that he never
smoked a cigarette. This calls to mind
the story of the serene and benevolent
old lady who was noted for her grac
ious habit of always having a kind
vord for everybody. One day while a
group of girls near her was discussing
some absent acquaintance and indulg
ing in a lot of gossip, the good ' old
lady spoke up and let drop a few words
of praise in the absent one's behalf.
"Well, I do believe grandma,, you
would have a good work for Satan him
self!" exclaimed one of the group-.
"Well,' observed grandma with a
benevolent, smile. "I have always be
lieved that Satan paid strict attention
to his own business."
And John L. Sullivan never smoked
a cigarette.
CARDS
Self-help does not mean selfishness.
Sacrifice does not mean giving up
something you do not want.
Some men never learn the difference
between license and liberty.
The man who minds his own business
usually has a successful one.
You can not stand up for your own
rights by trampling on the rights of
others. .
Life' is vastly more'than'mere living.
For every tongue of gossip there are
sure to be at least two ears.
The ma- who owns nothing but
money may never be in danger of the
almshouse, but he is usually the in
mate of a poor house.
Great reforms are not wrought in a
minute, but many would-be reformers
become discouraged if they do not see
results in thirty seconds.
The man who looks up may stumble
occasionally, but he sees more that Is
beautiful and wholesome and good
than the man whose, eyes are always
turned towards the muck and mire of
"the street. -- .
NOT AN EASY JOB To wtt t,
' When Samuel Gompers, president of
the American Federation of Labor,
finished a speech of thirty minutes to
the national convention of tailors,
Delegate Herman Nehaus of Pittsburg
(a socialist) arose and said that there
was some doubt as to whether Mr.
Gompers was wearing clothes with the
union label, and moved that a commit
tee be appointed to investigate.
The motion caused a storm of pro-;
test, but Mr. Gompers quieted the dele
gates and suggested to the convention
that Nehaus be appointed a committee
of one to investigate, i
The convention shouted Its ap
proval and Gompere advanced to the
front of the platform and, pointing to
Nehaus, urged him to come forward,
at the same time opening his coat as
if to display the label. Nehaus re
mained in his seat and the delegates
yelled in derision. '
Being the labor leader (president of
the American Federation of Labor) is
not the "snap" some people seem to
think. He must keep his temper while
dealing with d n fools, and worse,
who have no sympathy, whatever with
the labor movement. San Francisco
Star. '"' ' ' - :
. Thirsty Tanks Maine's a nutty ole
state, ain't it? ''- J- - -
: Frayed Fagan Well, 'mebbe dere's
method in its nuttiness. Mebbe dey
wanter discourage tourists like up.
Thirsty Tanks Well, dey're doin' it;
cuttin' out booze an' namin' one o
deir towns "Bath."
.RAG A IN ' S
C A
1228 O ST R ED EST
HANDLES EVERYTHING IN
SEASON
MODERATE PRICES. FIRST
CLASS SERVICE
MEALS, I5cts AND UP
ALL, NIGHT
ooosoooooooeoosos
g Have your orders for
M Groceries and Meat
filled at : : :
: the Royal:
1028
STREET
'Phones:
BELL 324
AUTO 1234
90000000000000
M. H. HICKMAN
Grocer.
143 North 14-tH Street.
Burned out in the big fire but now
located as above and ready to
meet all our old customers , and.
many new ones.. "
FINE GROCERIES
A share of union patronage soli
cite. Expert Rjpairirs and
"Finilm-
Have your chairs recaned,
your furniture upholster
ed, umbrellas mended.
We call for your ;
goods and guar-
aotee all '
work.
329 So. 11th St., LINCOLN
BaH Phone, L 1349.
WHITE HOUSE
Grocery and Market
DEALERS IN
Fancy Groceries, f resh and Cured! Metis
1485 O STREET ;.
PHONES Auto 1438, Ball 262.
Orders Promptly Attended to by Phone.
"VOUR
CHRISTMAS; PHOTOS
Go To
STUCKEY'S
1429 O.
Confectionery
Ice C?i-sierri. - ;.
Dr.ClirfortfR. Tefft
DENTIST
Office Over Sidles Bicycle Store M
Bei.l, Phone 680. Auto Phone; 1630-
LEMING'S
DEALER IN
lee Cream, Oysters, MilK, Cream.
' Confectionery and Baked Goods.
. Pnmpt Attention Given to AH Oriccs.
401 So. Ilth Street, LINCOLN, NE8..
COAL
; FOR . COOKING
$4.90 PEP TON
II utchins & Hyatt
,'