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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1905)
THE WAGE WORKER"- I Patronize I The Waj eworker A Newspaper with a Mission and without a Muzzle that is published in the Interest of Wageworkers Everywhere. VOL.. 1 .LIXCOIN, NEBRASKA, APB1L 7, 1905 ifl tr )t tt lk it; fit Hi "ir uaJiua-a.anL-iiraraja-afjfjf Xf. 52 THE TYPOTHETE SEEMS WORRIED By a mistake the following letter was addressed to "W. if. Maupin, Lincoln, Nebraska," presumably because the writer labored under the impression that because Mr. Maupin is a publisher he is oposed to the Typographical Union and the 8-hour day. Doubtless others publishers are in receipt of a similar letter. "It is here given advantage of The Wageworkcr's wide circulation and is called to the attention of printers as well as other unionists, as it shows the work that is being done in opposition to the 8-hour day: "Chicago Typotlictac, Monadnock Building, Chicago, March 20. To Employing Printers: "As you are probably aware, the International Typographical Union at their convention at St. Louis last year passed a resolution that the eight hour day must go into effect on ci before the first of January, 1 !;. The present contract between the Chicago Typo graphical Union and the Chicago Typothetae. an organization of employing printers, expires. July 1, 1005. The Chicago Typographi cal Union have prepared a tentative contract which they have pre sented, which includes among other desirable feature THE CLOSED SHOP, THE EIGHT HOUR DAY AND AN INCREASED WAGE SCALE. The Chicago Typothetae at a large meeting of their organiza tion unanimously passed the following resolution: "Having received request from C. T. U. No. 10 that a committee of the Typothetae be apointed to meet a like committee from their union for the purpose of dis cussing a new agreement, the Executive Committee "recommend that a committee of three be appointed to discuss this matter with the representatives from the union." "That a committee of three be apointed by the President to act on such commitee, the President to be chairman and member of the committee." "Such committee shall be instructed to inform the committee from the Chicago Typographical Union No. 1 that the Chicago Typothetae will not enter into any agreement which gives, by contract, the closed shop. And that the committee be further instructed to inform the committee from the Chicago Typographical Union that the Chicago Typothetae at the present time will not consider a decrease in the hours of labor, nor an increase in the scale of wages." "That it is the sense of the Typothetae that all members who may be approached by any committee of the C. T. U. No. 1 in connection with any new agree ment whatsoever, be referred to the committee of three appointed at this meeting without any conference with the committee on their part." and their committee of three have informed a committee from the Typographical Union of the Typothetae's action. "Yc arc sending out this circular to keep informed every em ploying printer in the middle west what the action of the Chicago employing printers will be, so that any reports to the contrary by interested parties may be refuted with authority. 'If you are interested in resisting this demand of the Typograh ical Union, which seems to the Chicago printers to be unjustifiable, you are urgently requested to join the national organization which has gone on record against the closed shop a,nd the eight hour day. Any correspondence addressed to the National Secretary, Mr. John Maclntyre, 15:20 Broadway, New York City, or to Mr. Edward F. JIamm, Secretary of the Chicago Typothetae, 1214: Monadnock Block will receive immediate attention. Yours very truly, "CHICAGO TYPOTHETAE. "EDWARD F. IIAMM, Secretary." Mr, Maupin presents his compliments to Mr. Edward F. Hamm, Secretary, and wishes him many happy returns from his letter. A VERY HUMBLE APOLOGY. The Wageworker tenders a very humble apology to II. F. Bish op, councilman from the Third ward. The trouble occurred because there are one too many Bishops in the city council a trouble that will be rectified the first time the union men of the city get a chance at John S. Bishop, the surplus Bishop of the council. When the members of the allied printing trades of the city sought to secure the passage of a resolution calculated to secure the label on all city print ing. John S. Bishop opposed it and voted against it.' He sought to be real humorous about it, and in his elephantine way succeeded in be ing real funny in his own estimation. The Wageworker inadvert ently accused II. F. Bishop of the attempt at humor, a mistake for which it is heartily sorry and for which it sincerely apologizes. II. 1". Bishop is chairman of the council committee on printing, and he not only voted for the resolution but gave it his hearty support. 'This newspaper hopes that union men will take the trouble to make widely known that II. F. Bishop was all right on this question and that John S. Bishop was all wrong. Also that they will seize the first opor tunity to let John S. Bishop have ample opportunity to retire from active official Jife and devote his entire time to his peculiar kind of humor. TWO LEGISLATURES. The Kansas legislature adjourned a week ago, the Nebraska leg islature this week. The Kansas legislature met a lobby with the millions of Stand ard Oil at its head, smote it hip and thigh and did business. The Ne braska legislature met a lobby, second hand and cheap, was dazzled by its frazzled beauty, and from between incestuous sheets beshrewed those who questioned its virtue. This, of course, generally speaking. The Kansas legislature had men in its ranks who would have been glad to assist the Standard Oil monopoly in giving physic to .he people of Kansas, but they were a miserable minority, shame faced and powerless. The legislature of Nebraska had in its mem bership clean, strong and decent men who were humiliated and ernwded to the wall by the lobby-following majority; briefly, the leg islature of Kansas was for public interests, and legislated along these lines. The legislature of Nebraska killed the bills of most vital in terest to the public, and followed lobby dictation to the very end. In Kansas, the legislature passed a maximum freight law, a law against discrimination of the greatest importance to the state, a law making pipe lines common carriers, and established a state refinery to save the- oil interests of the state from annihilation at the hands of the trusts. These were the central issues in Kansas. In Nebraska the legislature killed the direct primary law, killed every anti-pass bill, killed every effort at rate reduction, killed the bill asked by irrigation farmers, killed the bulk sales bill, killed other measures of public interest just as rapidly as the lobby pulled the strings. ' There is a mighty contrast in the spirit and work and results of the two legislatures. The- business interests of Kansas asked nothing that did not re reive attention and support. The business interests of Nebraska were less considered by the legislature that has just adjourned, than ever before in the history of the state. Lincoln Trade Review. When you have the label put on your printing you serve notice on your customers that you patronize print shops that pay good wages and want the trade of well paid workmen. Buy Lincoln made union cigars, get a good smoke and help Lincoln' workingmen. OOCCCXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX) AN OPEN LETTER TO F. W. BROWN Lincoln, Neb., April 6. To Mayor-elect Frank W. Brown: The battle of the ballots has been fought and you have won a victory unprecedented in the political history of the Capital City. The Wageworker takes this occa sion to congratulate you on the honor that that been bestowed upon :you," and to congratulate the city of Lincoln for having had the good sense to, seize the opportunity to elect a thorough and capable business man to the office of chief executive. Lincoln is to be more congratulated than you, for while Lincoln gains a material benefit by electing you, you make material sacrifices in accepting the position. During the cafpaign which began with your nomination and ended in your triumphant election, The Wageworker gave you its consistent anc hearty support, and while it is not egotistical enough to claim that it won to your support the votes of union labor or that it has any particular influence among union men, still it believe it had some little influence and contributed in a small way to your victory. But The Wageworker does contend; that you owe your election primarily to the almost solid union labor vote of this city, and it is ready to submit what it deems adequate proof of the contention. The men who favored your election because of your position on the ex cise question naturally voted for your colleagues upon the democratic ticket. Most of your business friends who voted for you voted for your colleagues n the ticket in order that you might not be hampered in your excise work by an unfriendly board. These facts for they are undoubted facts will be admitted by all. What, then, measures the difference between your vote and the vote of Messrs. Thompaon and Pegler? The answer is plain: the vote of the union men. of the city. Roughly speaking, you ran about 800 votes ahead of your colleagues on the ticket, and under the conditions cited above this 800 votes came, without a doubt, from union men who felt kindly towards you because of your known and. attested friendship for union labor., The Wageworker boldly asserts, and without fear of successful con tradiction, that had you not reeeived the almost solid support of the union men of this city, you would have been defeated by about the same ma jority piled up against your colleagues, Messrs. Thompson and Pegler. The Wageworker would emphasize this fact because; it wants to con vince all thoughtful men that, first, the union labor vote is getting togetheii in its own interests, and that it is a force that must be reckoned with from this time on ; and, second, that it pays to treat fairly and as men thosf whd eat bread in the sweat of their faces and bear the marks of the honest toil that has made this country rich and great and powerful. The Wageworker did not support you because of your position upon the excise question, although it would have opposed you just cs heartily as- , it supported you had it believed you were in favor of a "wide open' town.; The Wageworker did not support you because you were a democrat, but rather in spite of that fact. The Wageworker supported you because it believed you would enforce the law, that you were a capable business man, and that you were friendly to the organizations that have sacrificed so much of time and money to make conditions more endurable for those who toil in mill, shop, yard and factory. Briefly, The Wageworker supported you because you were a friend of organized labor, a good business man, an enterprising citizen and a man who believes in the enforcefent of law. And if The Wageworker contributed in any measure to your victory it is proud of it, and is well repaid by a knowl edge of that fact. The Wageworker will not ask anything from you for itself. It will not recommend any man for appointment. It will not ask any favors that can in any way be construed as personal. -It only asks that you enforce the laws to the letter, appoint men to office because of their fitness and not because of their politics, disregard political lines and seek only the good of the entire community, regardless of creed, color, politics or race. Above all, The Wageworker wants you, by your official acts, to give the. lie to the narrow minded bigots and self-seeking cliques, that sought to defeat you by circu lating cruel and baseless lies to the effect that your candidacy represented) all that is vicious and criminal in our municipal life. Ram that pack of; vicious lies down their throats, Mr. Bromn, and make them say they like it. And workingmen who supported you because they knew you were honest and friendly, and who resented the nasty insinuations against their civic pride and love for their home, will stand by while you are doing it and cheer you just as heartily as they supported you in the campaign. The Wageworker now desires to call your attention to a few things, Mr. Brown, and ask you to consider them well. It believea that you only need to have a wrong called to your attention to set you to work righting that wrong, and there are some wrongs going on in this town that you should put a stop to as soon as you become mayor. The Wageworker does not believe that the social evil can be wiped out, but it knows that it can be minimized, and it makes bold to ask your assist ance in the work of minimizing it. In the name of common decency, in the name of our wives and sisters and mothers' and sweethearts, drive the bawds out of the blocks and compel them to stop flaunting their fine feathers in the faces of the honest and virtuous women of this city who are compelled to earn an honest livelihood for themselves, or make sacrifices with theirj husbands in order that their children may be decently clothed and educated. The workingmen and women of this city are more vitally interested in this. Mr. Brown, than in any other thing, for this infernal danger threatens th homes of the poor and unfortunate more than it does the homes of the rich and well to do. The saloon question, the gambling question, the political question all these questions sink into utter insignificance when compared to the ever-growing and monstrous 3cial evil that is rotting the bene of the body politic, poisoning the blood of the nation and making a mock of home ties and common decency. In every effort you may put forth to minimize this awful evil, you will have the support of The Wageworker, and it be lieves it speaks the sentiments of every loyal union man when it says you will have their earnst supoprt in the work. Thre is another evil The Wageworker would point out and ask you to reduce to the lowest possible ebb the unlicensed saloon that caters to boys and girls and women the drug store soda water fountains. They are doing more harm today than all the saloons in the city, for they are making their recruits from the ranks of innocent girlhood, debauching boys not yet well into their 'teens and catering to a class that would be awfully insulted if invited into a wine room. The seductive soda spiked to the limit with, cheap . whiskey and adulterated wines and disguised under high-sounding names is starting more girls on the downward path, creating an appetite for strong, drink in mora boys, and creating more parental heartaches for the future than the licensed saloons of the city. There are drug stores in this :f".ty pat ronized by boys, and girls, and women that sell more alcohol than half the saloons, and do it in a way that does infinitely more harm than the saloon. The Wageworker pledges you its support in any effort you make to stop this unholy and illegal traffic, and assures you that every husband and father . in the ranks of union labor will do likewise. The soda fountain saloon is infinitely worse than the wine room. Its victims are boys and girls that the saloons could not, if they would, reach out and get. It is a criminal in the sight of the law, a menace to society, and an evil for which there is no possible excuse, moral or financial. The Wageworker feels that it has a right to ask these things of you, Mr. Brown. Not because it loyally and energetically supported you, but because they are right. And it feels assured that you will do this because The Wageworker believes you intend to do the right thing. Had it not so believed, nothing could have induced The Wageworker to support you. You will enter upon the duties- of your high office with the best wishes of this humble little newspaper. ..In all that is good it will do what it can to hold up your hands. But it will not hesitate to criticize if it thinks you are doing wrong, or point out what it thinks are mistakes. The interests of Lincoln as a whole are paramount to the interests of any man or organization, and The Wageworker stands for Lincoln first, last and all the time. That is why it is a union labor newspaper. It believes that unionism broad, liberal, fraternal, thoughtful unionism stands for the best in municipal, state and national life, and for the highest hopes and aims and aspirations of the men whose brain and brawn have been the country's resource in times of peace and its bulwark in time of stress and war. May your administration be such as to add to your reputation as a busi ness man and citizen, and be beneficial to the Capital City the best city of them all. Yours very truly, "THE WAGEWORKER." COOOOOOOCOOOOCKXXXX REV. MR. BATTEN WRITES A LETTER The following letter from Rev. Samuel Zane Batten was rc ccived last Saturday, and while it refers mostly to an election that .is now history, it contains some things that The Wageworker be lieves merit a reply. On more than one occasion The Wage worker has complimented Rev. Mr. Batten on his habit of saying' ' what he thinks, although it can not always commend what he' says. It is so unusual and so refreshing in these days to hear a minister sneak out without fear or favor, refardless of wealth or I'tiflufni-p and say what lies in his heart to say, that we enjoy it hugely and applaud the speaker, even though we can not always endorse whatv he says. Rev. Mr. Batten's letter reads as follows: ''Lincoln, Neb., April 1. The Editor of The Wageworker: In view of your kind words concerning me I am led to believe that you would not intentionally mis-report me in anything. But in the issue of The Wageworker for March 31 you quote me as saying at the meeting last Sunday afternoon that I was in favor of crippling the liquor traffic as much as possible. And you go on to say, and say rightly, that 'crippling an evil" is not the best way of dealing with it. Now, lrst of all, I did not say then, nor ha'e I said, at any other time, that high license is the best way of dealing with the liquor traffic or of reducing its ravages. In fact, I have, been op posed to license, high or low, believing it to be a bribe to the tax pa3"er and a failure as a remedy. I am on record in a dozen places to this effect. Last Sunday afternoon I spoke straight against the liquor traffic, and opposed it root and branch. But I have believed that it is better to have thirty saloons than forty five. "The amount of license in itself counts for nothing; but if by raising the amount of license we can reduce the number of drink" shops, we have gained a little. " "But where is the consistency on the part of the editor 'of The -Wageworker? One thousand dollars is a high license; true it is not quite as nign as 5i,ouu, out jt is nign license none tne less, in tact, it is much higher than in many of the states. I fail to see how you can oppose the saloon so long as you stand committed to men who stand for $1,000 license-fee. ' "If the question of license, either the question in itself or the . amount of the fee, were the only question involved in the election, the way of every man would be fuch better. We would have noth ing to do but support the prohibition candidates. But when we have fio prospect of electing the best men on the best platform, we must take the next best thing. And where we can not get every thing that we want we must take the better in preference to' the worse. ' . " ' "I might easily convict the editor of The iVVageworker of incon sistency along other lines.- I find that you are supporting a candidate for mayor who is favored by the corporations without exception, and you are opposing a man who is opposed by the corporations. You are complaining of me for not being strongly enough opposed to the saloon interests, and you are supporting men who are supported by practically every saloon and bad house in the city. Come, come, Mr. Editor ; you have got on smoked glasses,, and are seing only the things that favor the democratic ticket. I rejoice in your brave words against the infamous drug stores and pledge you my help in fighting them to a finish. You may put me down as opposed to the ca1or.ii 1-tteiiipcc in cpacnii ofwl 0,1 1 if c-oenn anrl it T V,rl toTtA 1 1 o f 1 It I. . .r 1 I IIL1.'11.....J 111 ! V l. 1 ' V 1 1 Ul I VI V J L I L V ' I . 1 1 L. 1 1 rll , LI 1IM 1 1 i. IJ V 1 1 V 1 .V1 L.Ub candidates you are supporting were more likely to take a-decided, stand against the liquor business than, the republican candidates, I would support them. 1 do not care a continentl for party as party in city politics, or in any other politics, for that matter. But-1 do not see how you can pin your faith to men who are supported by the sa- . loonists and 'madames' of the city without any exception so far as I can learn. Your very truly, ' ' "SAMUEL Z. BATTEN." Let first attention be given to Rev. Mr. Batten's charge that the ticket headed by Mr. Brown was supported by contributions from "saloons and- bad houses." We presume that Rev. Mr. Batten's au thority for the statement was the assertion in the Evening News. Since the News has admitted that its only foundation for the story was the word of an unnamed police officer, and since Mr. Maguire, secretary of Mr. Brown's campaign committee, denies it and Mr. Maguire's word is as good as thaf of any man inthe city we pre sume that the reverend gentleman will not insist upon repeating' the charge. As to the charge that The Wageworker supported a candidate supported by the "saloon element," permit this newspaper to say that it will never refuse to do what it believes to be right simply because saloon men happen to be doing the same thing. Because an occa sional minister goes wrong is no reason why this newspaper should condemn all ministers. ' , Rev. Mr. Batten says: "If by raising the amount of the license we can reduce the number of drink shops we have gained a little.". The Wageworker will admit it for, the sake of the argument. Then why not regulate the! social evil by license, raise the license a little every year, and thus "gain a little?" If piling on a license will reduce the volume of wrong, then in heaven's name let us try the license system on the social evil, bank robbing, political grafting, house breaking, highway robbery and assault and battery., , Rev. Mr. Batten has read The Wageworker to poor advantage if he thinks this paper took into account the , difference between $1,000 license and $1,500 license. This paper and its editor are op posed to the license system, but not more so than it is opposed to prohibition that always has been a failure and always will be a fail ure until the church of Jesus Christ gets to work with the sword of the spirit instead of the enacting clause of a fallible legislature and changes human nature. - ' This newspaper does not belong to that class of newspapers that oppose everything a corporation favors and favors everything that the corporations oppose. And when Rev. Mr. Batten accuses the ed itor of The Wageworker of supporting Mr. Brown because Mr. Brown is a democrat, he is guilty of an injustice of which he should be ashamed when he thinks it over. If Mr .Brown fails to meet the expectations of this little newspaper the fact that he is a democrat will not shield him from the very severest chastisement it can visit upon him. Let Rev. Mr. Batten remember this, and if he thinks Mr. Brown is going wrong let him come to The Wageworker office and state the case fully. If he and' the editor agree the two of us will join hands in the work of making the new mayor see wherein he is oc the track. 1 ' . Speaking of inconsistency. Rev. Mr. Batten says he favored the $1,500 license candidates because "there was no prospect of electing- ' the prohibitionists." Are we to understand from this that Rev. Mr. Batten would rather vote for high license candidates and win than to vote his honest convictions and lose ? iWe hardly believe he means that, and yet what other construction can be put upon his letter? That sort of logic, carried into action, would' forever prevent any re-' form in our social or political life. The man who is opposed to the saloon has no excuse for voting for license of any amount, high or low, if he wants to be honest with himself and true to his God. That's the long and short of that matter. . , We believe that Mr. Brown will make as good a mayor as Rev. Mr. Batten thought Mr. Hutton would make, and we further believe that when he realizes it Rev. Mr. Batten will be man enough to ad- mit it. '.-:' The Wageworker's compliments to Rev. Mr. Batten, and may he continue to be one of the too few ministers who are brave enough to say what they' think. , . . The labor leader who violates the law is damned as a criminal. The trust magnate who violates the law and gets rich at it is hailed as a captain of industry and his advice sought in the councils of the nation. - - - . . "
