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THE WAGEWORKER
WILL M. MAUPIN, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Published Weekly. One Dollar a Year. Advertising Rates on Application
l TRADE StfTpgncOWCIL
Entered as second-class matter Ap rit 21, 1904, at the postoffice at Lin
coin, Neb, under the Act of Congress.
UNION LABOR AND THE INJUNCTION.
In an address recently delivered in New York City, Public
JTosecutor William 1 ravers Jerome paid attention to the injunction
and in tnc course ot his remarks said :
"Arid let me add, that the greatest peril to the. labor movement
in this country is the misunderstanding now so prevalent on the
question of injunctions ; for the thing that is going to stand between
the labor organizations and their oppressors in the future is the in
junction of die federal courts, in spite of the idea that is held of it
today by members of trade unions.
That sounds very good, and if existing conditions were fair and
just it would doubtless be as good as it sounds. But Mr. Jerome
utterly fails to take into consideration existing conditions. If 'the
poor man had an equal show before the courts with the rich corpora
tions, then the poor man would be very willing to take his chances
against the injunction alongside the rich corporation. The Wage
Worker realizes fullv that in even intimating that the courts are in
fluenced in favor of the giant corporations it lays itself liable to be
classed among the anarchists. But at the risk of being thus classi
fied The Wageworkcr unhesitatingly declares that the giant corpor
ations have so manipulated things that they have control not only
of the lawmaking branches of the government, but of the judicial
branch as well. Senators and congressmen sit in legislative halls
as the personal representatives of the corporations. Judges are se
lected for the bench with reference to theSr willingness to favor the
corporations. What show has a laboring man in a damage suit
against a railroad before a judge elevated to the bench by the rail
road and a jury given free passes to and from the place of holding
court f
The judge who carries a railroad pass has accepted something
that every right thinking man must consider a bribe, and the judge
who tries a case wherein a railroad is party to the suit, while carry
ing an annual pass given by that railroad, has no moral or legal
right to sit as judge in the case. The judge who would accept the
present of a horse from a man charged with horse stealing would be
impeached. But there are judges who will sit in a case with a rail
road pass in their pockets and act as judge when the railroad giving
it is accused of violation of the law.
'What sort of chance has the laboring man who has no favors to
grant against that sort of practice? What show has the working-
man before courts subservient to the corporations? The corporation
manager has but to crook his finger and the creature he has elevated
to place and power cringes to do his bidding.
Take it right here in Nebraska. Every judge on the district
bench, with possibly one exception, carries a pocket full of railroad
passes. Federal judges come and go in private cars belonging to
general managers. Men drawn on federal grand juries travel to and
from Omaha on passes. Every county prosecutor carries a pocket
full of railroad passes. Practicall yevery practicing attorney is be
holden to the railroads because or railroad passes. This insidious
form of corruption permeates the body politic, and the result is that
the great corporations have everything their own way. Legislatures
yield and courts uphold. The workingman who seeks to stop the
injustice the corporation puts upon him is either laughed to scorn or
worn out by technicalities and laggard courts that are quick only to
do the bidding of the strong. 1 he workingman who seeks his nat
ural rights is enjoined temporarily and the injunction is made perma
nent because he can not afford either time or money to make show
ing in his favor.
The injunction is a weapon the workingman can not use, but a
weapon that corporations force courts to wield in the interests of the
corporations. Courts have enjoined men from walking the public
highways. Courts have enjoined ministers of the gospel from pray
ing for the souls of the men who toil. Courts have enjoined men
from quitting the service of cruel taskmasters. Courts have en
joined men who sought only to exercise the constitutional right of
free speech. With courts notoriously subservient to corporations
William Travers Jerome has the nerve to tell the labor unions that
the injunction is going to stand between them and their oppressors.
William Travers Jerome will have to guess again.
"BUFFALO BILL." GOLD BRICK.
Another idol has been shattered, another statue thought to be
of pure gold has been found to be gilded only. For thirty years we
have worshipped at the shrine of "Buffalo Bill" and thought of- him
as the chivalric embodiment of all. that was knightly. Time and
again have we stood in his presence with bated breath and silently
worshipped. Long years ago more than we care to recall we
first saw the waving locks of the renowned plainsman and were per
mitted to clasp the hand that had sent Chief Yellow Tail to his long
home. For years the memory of that handclasp was as wine to the
weak or the perfume of flow.ers to the lonely wanderer through the
desert of a dreary life. We measured all men by the plainsman who
had scouted where death stalked abroad, and reamed by night and
thought by day of the daring deeds of darksome danger performed
by the plainsman. How eagerly we devoured the wild and wierd
tales of Ned Buntlinc, and swore by them as by the words of holy
writ.
But the idol of our youth has been shattered, the dreams of the
days of adolescence have been dissipated, and "Buffalo Bill" stands
forth a mere man, stripped of all his glittering glory and revealed in
his true character of a two-spot.
"Buffalo Bill," like many another man, has gone the pace that
kills. Unbalanced by the homage paid him, he lost his mental poise,
his manhood and his reputation traded off for the smiles of bawds
and the fleeting, pleasures of the wine cup. Succumbing to the sin
ister smiles of the strumpets of society and concert halls, "Buffalo
Bill" turned his back upon the faithful wife who sacrificed and toiled
to make him famous, and today he stands revealed as a cheap imita
tion of a real -man who would swap a virtuous bed of roses for the
lecherous joys of a bawdy house garbage heap.
We used to think of "Buffalo Bill," armed to the teeth and
breathing destruction to the savage foe, as the embodiment of all
that was brave. Today we see in him a big and burly brutal coward
low enough in the moral scale to make a cowardly assault upon a
little woman whose only crime was in loving a man so infinitely
below her that she would have to descend a thousand feet into In
ferno before she could stoop far enough to reach his uplifted fingers.
Little did we reckon, nearly thirty years ago, that the man we wor
shipped as a knight without fear and without reproach was filling
the house thta sheltered his wife with the loud-mouthed bawds of
army posts and reveling through the nights in their lewd arms and
foul jests while the wife of his bosom, trying, in vain to shut out the
sounds of her degradation, was moaning and sobbing in her own
room, mourning the husband who had outraged her every finer feel
ing as wife and mother.
"Buffalo Bill" acquired his cognomen by reason of slaughtering
a few thousand buffalo to feed the construction gangs that built the
Overland Route. Buffalo were more numerous than hot tomalcs,
therefore, we presume, that in this wise he escaped the sobriquet of
"Hot Tomale Bill." "Pahaska," the Indians called him "The Long.
Haired One." Had we known thirty years ago what we know now
about this long-haired critter, we would have christened him "White
Livered Bill," and it's dollars, to doughnuts the name would have
stuck to him like cockleburs to a sheep s pelt.
Who but a white-liveerd libel on the name of man would take
cheap bawds to his home and expect his virtuous wife to welcome
them as guests and minister to their physical wants?
We mourn for the idol of our vanished youth. The memory of
the "Buffalo Bill" we thought we knew has been wrapped in grave
cloth and laid away forever. The knowledge of the "Buffalo Bill"
that is makes us reach for the carbolic acid bottle and light the
fumigating candle made ot sulphur. 1 o us he is neither Pahaska
nor "Buffalo Bill" he is "Cody the Coyote," a man who would
charge the wife who loved him well enough to die for him with try
ing to poison him in order that he might get a divorce upon the
charge and be free forever to pillow his dime novel locks upon the
lecherous bosoms of bleached bawds.
"Buffalo Bill." O ye gods and diminutive fishes.. Rather is he
"Two-Spot Bill, the Bibulous-Bluff."
Every railroad corporation in the state maintains a high priced
lobby in Lincoln, and these lobbies occupy the finest suites of rooms
in the hotels. Every member of the legislature has passes over all
the railroads for themselves, their families and their wives relations,
Is it any wonder that workirigmen can not get the legislation they
ask, nor the people the relief they seek?
The Lincoln Distraction company announces that it is going to
do the public the favor of buying a couple of more decent cars. The
public should now make haste to relieve the Distraction company of
all its delinquent taxes and cease their demands for decent treatment.
The man who insists upon sharing the benefits procured by
organized labor while refusing to assist in the work of securing those
benefits, is no better than the man who would steal the pennies from
a dead man s eyes to pay for rushing the growler.
The "open shop" simply means that the people employed
therein have no means of protecting themselves against the insatia
ble greed of men who think more of dirty dollars than they do of
their immortal souls.
Let every union and union man in'the city get behind the Labor
Temple protect. A vear of unanimous effort would mean the erec
tion of a temple that would forever stop all agitation in favor of
Parryism in this town.
If disgruntled politicians of Lincoln imagine for a moment that
they can persuade organized labor to drag their moldy chestnuts out
of the fire, they would better seize the first opportunity to take an
other think.
If the legislature has any time after giving the corporations all
that they demand, the people may stand some show of getting a
little of what they want, providing the corporations do not ooject.
The "closed shop" merely means that the employer is willing to
deal justly with the men m his employ, the open shop means tne
destruction of the labor unions, and its advocates well know it.
Mr. Workineman. how do you like the idea of trying your case
against the railroad before a judge who rides on a railroad pass and
generally accepts the tender of the manager's private car?
P.for von vote for councilman, ascertain how the candidate
stands on the question of organized labor. The time to do the real
work for unionism is before the election, not afterwards.
Tf it is a law calculated to be of benefit to labor, it is safe to say
that it was enacted against the opposition of men who profited by
reason of not having such a law long before.
Thr- !li;1 nrintinrr trades label on all city nrintiiiET simply means
that the city gets good work for its money while giving competent
workmen a fair wage for doing the work.
The coal dealer who employs non-union teamsters and has his
printing done at a "rat" printery has no reason to complain if union
men refuse to patronize him.
Organized labor will not offer any banquets to legislative com-
15 - . .... . e-. . . 1- T
mittees. That sort ot work will De leit to concerns urc mc
Broem and Duster company.
For that tired union feeling, take regular doses of The Wage
workcr. Fifty-two doses for one dollar, and a year s treatment guar
anteed to cure.
At the risk of growing tiresome The Wagcworker repeats that
if vou do not demand the union label your unionism isn t worth a
tinker's dam.
When organized labor makes a unanimous strike at the ballot
box it will accomplish something.
Patronize The Wageworker's advertisers, and tell the advertiser
all about it. It helps a lot.
The union label is the badge of weft paid labor. Do you ask to
see the badge ?
C. W. Post reminds us of the trapped rattlesnake that bites itself
in its frenzy.
The professional "scab" is always a professional lawbreaker.
"But I have been working some to
day, myself, Mr. Bildad. And there are
many things yet to be done before 1
can go to bed.
"Vou ought to manage your affairs
better, Mrs. Bildad. You allow your
work to accumulate and push you. I
never do. I have everything down to a
system. -
"Yes, and It 5s an easy system," said
Mrs. Bildad. "After you ate your
breakfast you spent an hour looking
over the morning paper while I was
getting the children ready for school
and gathering up the dishes. Then
you sauntered on to the car and spent
twenty minutes riding to the office
while I was sousing my hands in hot
dishwater and planning on what I
should give the children for lunch
When you got off the car you "
"I'm not going to stand this sort
of " began Mr. Bildad, but, his wife
went rignt on:
"When you got off the car you saun
tered into the cigar store on the corner
and bought a half-dollar's worth of
cigars and chatted with the cigar deal'
er about politics while I was sweeping
the rooms and making the beds. Then
you went on to the office and '
"Yes, went to the office and slaved all
day!" shouted Mr. Bildad. ; u
"You went to the office, opened a
dozen letters, dictated replies, finished
up the morning paper, smoked three
cigars and went to the club for lunch
while I was cleaning out the closets
and washing the windows. After lunch
you spent two hours playing billiards
in the club rooms while I scrubbed the
hall and bath room floors and took
down the curtains up stairs. After you
had finished your billiards you went
back to the office and dictated a dozen
more letters and then called up three
or four friends by 'phone and talked
to them about your spring hunting
trip while I was taking up the car
pets in the front bed rooms upstairs
and lugging them out on the line and
beating them. About 5 o'clock "
"Yes, 5 o'clock when I was utterly
fatigued by my business cares I
began Mr. Bildad. But Mrs. Bildad
paid no attention and went right on:
"About 5 o'clock you started home.
but stopped on the corner to buy some
more cigars and talk city politics,
while I was getting supper ready and
trying to keep the children from tear
ing the house down. Now you want
to read the evening paper and leave
me to wash the supper dishes, mend
the children's clothes, sew the buttons
on your coat and trousers, get the
ennaren reaay ior Dea, set tne yeast
to- raise because you can't eat baker's
bread, and get things in shape to make
good time with my house cleaning to
morrow. Mr. Bildad, I want you to
help me pull the tacks
'Where's that tack puller, Mrs. Bil
dad?" shouted Mr. Bildad, throwing the
evening newspaper into the corner a
hopeless wad of wood pulp. "Give me
that tack puller. Tired as I am I
would rather pull tacks than listen to
your constant harangues."
A minute later Mr. Bildad was pull
ing the tacks and saying things to
himself that are not to be repeated
here. But Mrs. Bildad never smiled
She went right on with her endless
work.
Properly Labeled
MARCH
There's a twang in the air, and the
sun shines fair.
But what will it be tomorrow? .
There's a soft breeze rare, so away with
care;
For trouble we should not borrow.
When the sun tolls out old Winter's
knell.
When the buds with joy begin to swell,
And life is life, and all is well,
We've never a time for sorrow.
There's a lilt in the breeze through the
waking trees,
But what Will tomorrow bring us?
There's a gleam on the leas where the
song bird flees.
So list for the songs they sing us.
When the rivers wake from their ice-
clad sleep.
When the springtime flowers begin to
peep,
And hope is hope, then let us keep
The joys the spring days fling us.
There's a blue in the sky as the sun
mounts high,
Tint what 1r tomorrow keenine?
There's a light for the eye as the day
creeps by,
So what is the use of weeping?
When the sun shines o'er the world
today,
When hope walks with us along the
way,
And joy is joy, let come what may,
Flowers will awake from sleeping.
There's a promise true in the sky's
clear blue.
But what will it be tomorrow?
There is hope for you if your heart
beats true,
So trouble you should not borrow.
When the sun shines warm and soft
wind blows.
When the Frost King bows to fate and
goes,
And loe is love, and the joy tide flows,
'Tis never a time for sorrow.
MR. BILDAD
Just as Mr. Bildad had settled him
self in his easy chair and opened the
evening paper, Mrs. Bildad addressed
him in a petulant tone of voice:
"Mr. Bildad, I wish you would help
me pull the tacks out of the sitting
room carpet."
"Great Scott, woman:" ejaculated
Mr. Bildad. "Am I not to have a mo
ment's rest? Am to be compelled to
toil around this domicile two or three
hours after supper when I have been
toiling all day in the narrow confines
of my office? Woman, what do you
think I am a machine that never
runs down?"
CARDS'
The joys of tomorow must be earned
today.
Self-help does not necessarily mean
selfish help.
Man made money is better than a
money made man.
The crosses we elect to bear are not
the crosses that win the brightest
browns.
There is a world of difference be
tween asking God to help and asking
God to do it all.
It is nossible to borrow and be the
gainer by the interest. A good book,
for instance. .
Speaking of investments, what brings
greater returns than a word of cheer
spoken at the right time?
The man who takes his business
troubles home with him seldom has
any home joys to lighten his office
hours.
Some men never look up save when
they toss back their heads to' make
sure of getting the last drop in the
glass.
We incline to the belief that the
mother who keeps the "cookie jar" well
filled seldom has any trouble with her
hoys.
When a girl is too little she 13 very
anxious to help mamma. When she
is big enough she has very likely lost
the desire.
After you have put yourself In the
other man's place for a short time.
you may , have a .reason for changing
lyour place.
There is entirely too much of this
subway business about national leg
islation. What the country needs is
more work above ground.
It is easy enough to be cheerful when
things are coming right, but the man
who faces adversity with a smile is the
man who wins out in the end.
It might have been true in Solo
mon's time that "the wicked flee when
no man pursueth," but in this day and
age they usually grab the market and
chase the rest of us into a corner.
. The man who marries a small woman
with the idea that her dressmaking
bills will not be as large as that of
her larger sisters, is due for a big
surprise shortly after the honeymoon
is over. t
Strange how some erroneous ideas
cling to the minds of the people. The
real poets we have seen looked to us
like reasonably prosperous business
men. The poorest poets we have seen
usually affected the long hair and
slouch dress idea we have been taught
to associate with poesy.
Frock-Coated Legislation
Now comes the season of legislatures.
At the national capital, and at the
capitals of most of our forty-five states,
gathering of "statesmen" and of the
sinister camp followers of and: sut
lers to the lawmaking army.
Of these several thousand temporary
Free
Cooking
Lessons.
Miss Rena Vawter,
of Domestic Science
department, Kenwood
Institute, Chicago,
Mrs. Elizabeth O Hill
er, . principal is now
forming classes for de
monstration lectures on
cooking
Tickets can be
obtained free
upon application
to the ,
LINCOLN GAS
& ELECTRIC
LIGHT CO.
OPEN EVENINGS.
Bell 75. Auto 2575,
&
Expert R
3pairers ana
Fi nishtrs
Have your chairs recaned,
your furniture upholster
ed, umbrellas mended.
We call for your
foods and guar
antee all
work.
329 So. 11th St, LINCOLN
Bell Phone, Li 1849.
but potent custodians of our rights,
how many sit in seats bought for them
by interests hostile to the , public
good? How many of them it as mere
registering keys of political machines,
financed and controlled by those same
interests? How many sit for the peo
ple rather than for party? Finally,
how many sit in their own proper per
sons, men free and eager to do what is
right? . ; .
Most of them are in parson-like frock
coats they give the legislative cham
bers an air of solemn, even funeral.
respectability. But if they buttoned
their frock coats and, without doing
any lawmaking, rode home on their
free passes from the railways, would
we as a nation be any the worse off?
How much they will do that ought
not to be done! How little that will
not have to be undone. Saturday Ev
ening Post.
Limerick
There was a young man in Calcutta'
Who found a long hair in the butta.
But the star boarder said
With a shake of his head,
'It won't help you to flutta or mutta."
LOOKS GOOD
Just before Christmas time The
Wageworker chronicled a little , trou
ble on the cold storage building, which
is being erected by Contractor Camp
bell. Mr. Campbell waxed wroth be
cause some of the building laborer had
joined the union and he fired' them in
a bunch. His object seems to have been ;
to put a quietus on the Hod Carriers
and Building Laborers Union." If it '
was, then Contractor Campbell missed
out. '
Today the union has seventy-five
active members, whereas It had only
nineteen on Dec. 1, 1904. And the en
tire cold storage job is now union and
work - is being pushed at a rate that
makes Contractor Campbell feel good.