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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (May 12, 1905)
fe XlIIIIIXXXXTTXIIIXXXZXZrXXXXXTTXTTTTTYTTTg.TTTTTTTTTT fTTTYTTTTTTTTTT YTY TTTTTTTXl ' MXXXITXIIIIILlIITTITtITIl'ITtIIIIIgrTII'fYYIITIIXTttIIITIZIIIITIIITTTTTmiITITTT7 IIIIH HtttTM Ul IB) mi Uli miu WW wo KE? These are the days of the improved machine and the broken down woman. We see the spectacle of the farmer riding a sulky plow un der a big red umbrella and his wife pulling on seventy feet of heavy rope to get a bucket of water out of the well. In the business offices down town we see men wearily at work reading the morning papers while electric fans cool their fevered and perspiring brows while in the kitchen at home nervous housewives stand over red-hot ranges and boil and bake and stew and fry and roast. In the print shop down town the printer throws on an electric switch and the job press runs of itself, the man having only to stand erect and gaily shove the blank sheets upon the tympanum but out at the house the wife bends wearily over the washtub. bowing her back 120 times a minute as she rubs the soiled 'linen over the old fashioned washboard. Why'n thunder don't the women organise a labor union and go on strike for labor saving machinery? A strike of the United Housewives Union of Lincoln wouldn't last more than twenty-four hours. Indeed not, for the men would be starved into submission before the strikers could get their hair crimp ed preparatory to a meeting to discuss the situation and lay plans for picketing the kitchens. While the men have, by organization and co-operation, secured a reduction in the working day from twelve hours to eight and 'nine hours, have secured improved sanitary conditions under which to work, have secured improved labor saving devices and materially benefited themselves in divers and sundry ways while the working men have done all these things their wives are compelled to' labor th same old twelve and thirteen hours a day without improved machin ery and in kitchens so hot and stuffy that any self-respecting union man would absolutely and unqualifiedly refuse to work therein. Imagine, if you can, a union printer, or a union cigarmaker, or a un ion leatherworker, or a union electrical workers, or a union barber or practically any other skilled tradesman who would work in a room 10x12 feet in size with a big steel range going full tilt and the Fun outside keeping things up to 100 in the shade. He'd see his em ployer in Ballyhack before he'd do it. But there's a whole lot of them who never give a thought to their wives at home who are doing that sort of thing every day in the year, beginning at 6 o'clock in the morning and keeping it up until 7:30 in the evening. But the union man who wouldn't do it himself seems perfectly willing that his wife should. One reason is that he doesn't think. Another reason is that his wife doesn't complain. The union man would give a kick that would make Si's mule Maud look like six lead nickles if his employer asked him to work thirteen hours a day within a foot or a foot-and-a-half of a redhot steel range when the ther mometer registered 102 in the shade on the front porch. And the kick would be effective, too, and don't you forget it ! Now, why'n the name of commonsense and self protection don't the women organize and make a kick? Down town the dentist throws on a switch and electricity turns the cruel little dingbat that tunnels into your aching molar and makes your head feel like the-quintessence of double distilled agony., But out at that same dentist's home his wife is running her sewing machine with her tired feet, and her aching back is bent over the machine until she comes to believe that her spine is an invention of Satan for the sole purpose of making women miserable. The dentist would "holler his head off" if he had to run the dingbat with his foot while electricity was running around loose, but he never gives a thought to the wife at home who is running up the long seams by footpower. When the man in the store or office down town wants a book or a paper or a sample, it's "Here, Johnny, get me this or that," and Johnny, the officeboy, hikes, off and gets it. BBut out at that same man's house more than likely the wife is trotting to the garbage box with a scuttleful of ashes, or trotting from the coal house with a scuttleful of coal, or' out in the coal shed splitting kindling with a hatchet, whose edge is as blunt as the conscience of a Parryite. And while this sort of thing has been going on for years, from good to better for the men and from bad to no better for the wo men the women, God bless 'em, haven't made any vigorous protest. Is it not about time that the dear creatures grasp the bovine by the horns, so to speak, and make an organized demand for shorter hours, better work conditions and more convenience in the way of labor saving machinery? "We really can't afford it," growls the head of the family, lighting his 10-cent cigar and preparing to take the car to get to his office seven blocks away. "No ; my mother cooked over an old fashioned 'charter oak' cook stove and never made any complaints, and my mother was a fine cook ; none better. We can't afford one of those new-fangled gas ranges. They cost too much money to run, for the blamed robber gas company soaks it to us right and left." And the wife, after humbly asking for a little kitchen convenience quietly subsides, and the head of the house goes down town and buys every blamed thing in sight calculated to make his work easier. The wife can slave away in the stuffy kitchen over a redhot coal fire ; but down in the office her husband tilts back in a swivel chair and lets the Klondike breezes from an electric fan cool his perspiring brow. Wouldn't that jar you? Your true blue union man would go on a sym pathetic strike to assist a fellow unionist in securing better condi tions, but many of them O, so many never give a thought to the partner of their joys and sorrows, especially sorrows, toiling away without modern conveniences and in the midst of surroundings that would make a business agent call a strike. Lincoln Gas Why don't the women strike? Why don't the wife who slaves away over a redhot coal range get a few facts and figures to present to her husband. Let her show that the 10 cents a day he spends for tobacco would pay for running a gas range and relieve her of one-half of her kitchen work, to say nothing of adding a thousand per cent to her comfort and convenience. Let her show by the records that it costs less to operate a gas range than it does to run a coal range to say nothing of the saving in the labor. With a gas range the wife has no coal to carry, no ashes to dump, no litter to sweep up, no spot marks to wash off, no kind ling to srustle and split. Scratch a match and the cooking begins. No long waits for the stove to get hot enough to boil the water. When the cooking is done, turn a valve and the expense stops. There have been thousands of strikes called by labor unions for far less substantial reasons than a thousand Lincoln .housewives have for striking. The man who don't buy his wife a gas range when the gas is at his door and there, is no cost for connecting up, deserves to find his wife on strike when he comes home in. the evening. More than that, he deserves to. be boycotted Iby the Amalgamated Order of Good Fellows who have enough regard for their wives to give them the advantage of all the labor saving and health saving and energy saving conveniences that they demand for themselves. ' ' , ' ' If the housewives of Lincoln who are toiling and sweating' over coal ranges through the long summer when gas for fuel is to be had,' will organize and strike for their rights, The Wageworker will back them up in their fight until the last canine is suspended and the kine return lowing to their domicile, ' , Let the Housewives' Union xf Lincoln inscribe upon its banners, "We Demand Justice and Gas Stoves." Let it go forth panoplied in the robes of right and conscious of the justice of its cause, and the mere men will capitulate without resistance. What about gas for fuel ? Cheapest fuel known to man. You can do the cooking, washing and ironing for, a, family of five for $3 a month or less and there's no coal to carry, no kindling to split, no litter to clean up. No weary waiting for the stoye to warm up and make the kitchen a furnace. The minute you touch a match to the gas you have the hottest flame imaginable.' When the cooking is done the heat is turned off and the kitchen is as cool as the parlor. It's all so nice, so handy; so convenient, so comfortable, that the wonder is that any wife in Lincoln would consent to be without a gas range. : '., '. If you don't believe what we say about gas, ask your neighbor who uses it. We know a man who wouldn't dare even hint at cut- , ting out the gas rangfc. And he wouldn't do it anyhow. It's too cheap and too. handy and too easy for the little woman. ; The gas company people can tell you all about gas ranges and sell you one cheap. Better see the man. , E lectrac hmm Co Gas Ranges, Water Heaters and Radiators. New Ranges Connected Free .1- M MxxITTTTTTXTtXXXXxrrTx-mTTlI ttttTHTtm TTTtHmlIHMmn Pattern and Street Hats I am regularly receiving and showing the finest line of Street and Pattern Hats ever brought to the city. Never before have I been able to offer such gen uine bargain in the Millinery line. It will give me pleas ure to show you my goods. SADIE PUCKETT Railway Time Table YOUR CHRISTMAS: PHOTOS STUCKEY'S 1439 O. Confectionery Ice Cream, Dr.CHffordR. Tefft DENTIST Office Over Sidles Bicycle Store PAGAN'S C A l228 O STREET HANDLES EVERYTHING IN SEASON MODERATE PRICES. FIRST CLASS SERVICE MEALS, (Sets AND UP ALL NIGHT L.av.s. Lincoln. B. & Mo. R. R. R. Depot 7th and V Sta. Arrives. Lincoln. 6:26ara C:00pm 4:35pm l:6$im 1 :60pm 6:26am 10.63 am i :00pm 7:10am . S :50pm 10.53 am to :63am 5.40 pm 6.00 pm 2.00 pm 6:6Upm I 10.50 am 1:20am 4:25pm 12:0&pm :00pm Chicago Flyer via Oma ha Chicago Flyer, via Louis ville Chicago Limited via Om- I aha and Co. Bluffs.... 10.J0om!Omaha and Pacific Jc. l-aawnner Omaha Paasene-er . . Chicago & Omaha Fast I Mii - Schuyler Passenger, via! Ashland Plattemoutb via Loulr 1 villa McCook and Hastings I rassenger - .Crete. Sutton tc Fairfield Fassenger Denver and Hastings I FXyer Denver and Hasting nyer Kearney Express . . . Beatrice and Wymore Passenger Beatrice and Wymore! Passenger ColumDus express, via Mllford and Seward.... Nebraska City & Kast Broken Bow Passenger! via uermantown Broken Bow Passenger via Mllford.. Grand Island Passenger) via Mllford H IQrand Island Passenger! via Oermantown Portland. Seattle andl Deadwood Express 4:16pm gt. Louis and Kansas! City Special l.66am ilttt. josepn ana stanaui i City Express 6:00pm (Table Rock and Tecum.l 1 seh Passner lTsble Rock and Tecum- I seh Passenier.: :i0am ?:07ara 10:25am 4:26pm 12:40am 10:25am 6:10pm 6.20 pm 10.10am 5:16am 1:40pm 1.40? .1 4.20 pm 10:10am 10:20am lO.Iaam (:20pm llOlOOam SOME BAD ADVICE Dally except Sundays. Dally except Saturday. C. eV N. W. Ry. Leaves. Lincoln Depot nth and B Sta. Arrives. Lincoln. 1 :vuam 1:45pm 1:46pm 1:46pm 1:46pm :80pm Fremont. Norfolk. Longl pine, tjmaua ( ui'ion Station). Bonesteel: al so local points in Iowa anJ Illinois, dally ex-l cent Sunday Chlcneo Limited St. Paul, sioux taiy um. Albion Line, except Sun. Blark Mills Wyoming Express, umana union Station, Chicago, Cedarj Ranids and Sioux City Wahoo and intermediate stations, way f reignt. ll:0Ran 11:05am 11:06am 6.20am (:20pm 7:45am Leaves. Missouri Pacific. Arrives. Lincoln. Depot 9th and 8 Sta. Lincoln. Kansas City Express 1 7:10pm Knnsaa City and St.) Louis Limited I 6:40am y:16am 10:16pm Leaves. I Lincoln. Union Pacific. Depot O A 6th Bts. Arrives. Lincoln Speaking about "the good old days," the only kind we'd give a snap for would be ' a return ot those wherein we were a barefooted boy, clad tn a roundabout and headed for grandma's over Sunday. ... . . 7:30amManhattan and Kansas I City except Sunday 8:00pm .66amChicago and Weatern connections, except IRundav .' 7:20nm Beatrice Express, exceptl Sunday I 9:66am Stromsburg Branch Ex- I press, except Sunday. .ll:25am 7:20pm 5:35pm Leaves. Lincoln. C H I. A P. R. R. Depot 20th and O Bts. Arrives. Lincoln. 10:4bam ..Omaha and Co. Bluffs.. I 6:20pm 2:68pm Chicago Express I 8:20pm 2 :20pm Colorado, Utah ft Coast) Points I 2:58pm 2:14am Chicago Daylight Speclall 8:52am k:62am Rocky Mountain Llm-f Ited, Colorado Daylight) Train I 2:14an (.80pmKansas. Oklahoma andl Texas Special 10.45am Satan seldom worries about the man who always has an excuse handy. The most successful men are those who have profited by their mistakes. The man who takes an interest in his work is seldom without employ- 1 ment. New York Schoolm'am Gives Some Al mighty Bad Advice to Graduates. We were prevailed upon the other night to attend the commencement of a public night school for women and girls. We thoroughly enjoyed it all but the address made by the estimable principal to her pupils. After com plimenting them in the usual way up on the advancement they had made, etc., she advised these graduates they were largely stenographers and dressmakers to not take advantage of their enhanced skill by asking their employers for a higher salary. She said that, as taxpayers, their employ-, ers were supporting the school, and in this way practically paying for their education; in fact, that as they had i:ttle or no business experience, they were really paid while learning. But for the nature of the occasion we would have felt tempted to have taken issue with the fair speaker, electing to be ungallant for the sake of truth. Working girls as the future mothers of the country fulfill their duty to the state, we opine, and per haps in a higher measure than mere taxpayers; by remaining good, de spite the temptations sometimes asso ciated with small wages, they do their share towards supporting the state; by taking care of themselves in such a way that they have no need of re formatories, hospitals and prisons they are a valuable asset and more. The aid they render the state in fruitful womanhood contributes to the popula tion, and makes theirs the responsi bility for the early education of the future citizens of the country. Be sides, the taxpayer does not pay taxes for their sake, but because he is ob liged to do so. Moreover, such talk is out of place in a public school. The public schools belong to the people, and whether they are day or night schools their pupils are not objects of charity; and when they become graduates they have every right to make the most . of the education they have received. Brick layer and Mason. THE PRINTERS Nominate Officers and Nominate An other Delegate to Toronto. .The Typographical Union met in regular session last Sunday and was notified that it was entitled to two delegates to the international conven tion at Toronto. It was decided to elect a second delegate and to select a member who was going to Toronto, anyhow, thus saving the expense. H. W. Smith was nominated for the posi tion, no other nomination being made. J. E. Mickel and O. C. Fodrea with drew as candidates for delegate, leav ing only F. M. Coffey and J. M. Leaden as candidates for the first delegate-ship. Nominations for local officers for the ensuing term were also nominated, and the election will be held at the meeting on the first Sunday in June. The delegate election will be held on Wednesday, May 17, time and place to be announced later. A committee was appointed to ar range for the proper observance of Memorial Sunday. 1 President Brown of the Pressmen's and Assistants Union visited the meeting and explained the trouble his union was having in securing recog nition from the employers' associa tion. The union informed Mr. Brown that it was ready to lend whatever assistance it could to the pressmen in their efforts to reach an agreement with the employers. Mr. Brown was asked- a number of questions and re plied frankly, and the result of his visit is a better understanding be tween the members of the two bodies. John Moore, head of the Star ad alley, is in the hospital with an at tack of typhoid fever. Mrs. Moore is similarly afflicted and is in the hos pital with her husband. ' F. C. Greenley has moved down town so he won't have to waste so much time getting to his pork chops and taters. He and his family are now domiciled in the McBride block. Members of Lincoln Typographical Union should bear in mind the fact that the May social of Capital Auxil iary will be held at Bohanon's hall on Wednesday evening, May 17. Charley Turner says it is good to be able once more to see the sun rise without having to remain up all night. He is now working a day shift on C. B. Righter's new machine. THE BARBERS After Considerable Backing and Fill ing Agreement about Reached The Barbers' Union has been having a long siege with the employers over the scale and shop rules, but an agree ment has almost been reached and all signs of trouble have about disap peared from the tonsorial sky. The "boss" barbers wanted a reduction of the guarantee from $12 to $10 a week, and also some changes in the union rules. The union conceded a reduction in the percentage from the sale of tonics, but stand pat on the guaran tee. The "boss" barbers wanted the unioi. to discipline members who showed up, for work in an intoxicated condition, or threw down the shop because ot that fact. But the union refused, say ing that the employers had the mat ter in their own hands, and could dis charge any man guilty of that offense. The union men insist that they have benefitted the employers by making it sure that every shop is placed on an equal basis so faras hours are con cerned. The owner of the union shop knows that when he closes at 8 p. m. all other fair shops are closed Prices are maintained and a better class of workmen furnished. For a time there were signs of serious dis agreement, but the conservatives on both sides are in a majority, and as a result, the difficulties have practi cally all been settled to the mutual satisfaction of the parties to the agree ment. The barbers have organized a base ball team and claim to have the best one in the city. Any other union that imagines itself the possessor of a win ning aggregation of ball tossers is invited to meet the barbers' club. Sun day afternoon the barbers met the Lin coln Park team at Lincoln Park and pulled oft a victory .by the score of 11 to 10. Jack Scott, who has been in the business for upwards of fifteen years in Omaha, has purchased the Pioneer shop at Eleventh and O streets. The Pioneer is a 7 -chair shop and a favo rite with the public, and Mr. Scott announces his determination to make it " even more' popular. And "Jack" is the man who can do it. THE CLOSED SHOP. Omaha High School. Defends it With Signal Success in Debate. The work of Parry and his crowd has had the good effect of calling pub lic attention to the merits of the union contract, and the more the people study that question the better the standing of the labor unions. The Closed Shop vs. the Open Shop has been debated all over the country, especially by high school and univer sity debating teams, and so far fully 99 per cent of the decisions have beea in favor of the defendants of the closed shop. Last week the Omaha high school debating team met and vanquished the Beatrice high school debating team the questing being, "Resolved, That for the present the labor- unions in America are justified in opposing the movements of employers for the open shop." The Omaha team, composed of Arthur Proctor, Charles Brome and Carl Van Sant, upheld the affirmative and won a decisive victory. The de bate was listened to by a large num ber of Omaha's union craftsmen, end they cheered the winning team vociferously. GENERAL MENTION Some Items of General Interest Gath ered Here and Elsewhere. -For union made shoes go to Rogers & Perkins. . The Commoner force is preparing for its annual picnic." ' " , ' : Bricklayers are warned to keep away from Decatur, 111. . Rogers & Perkins handle a full and complete line of union made shoes. . Look for the union card' when you enter a barber shop. ' If it is not in plain sight, go elsewhere. '.The annual convention, of the In ternational Brotherhood of Papermak ers began at Holyoke, Mass., on May 8th. ' V -' V;; Wait for the appearance of the Ful ton Stock Company at the Oliver, be ginning the summer season on June 6th. ' ; jNewburgh, N. H., brick makers are on a strike for an increase of 20 cents a day. The strike is spreading to the near-by towns. Read "Why Don't the Women Strike?" And then do the right thing. Patronize Wageworker advertisers and help your friends and your paper. Organized labor is warned to keep away from the Pacific coast. There are hundreds of union men walking the streets of the Pacific coast towna. Union machinists at Quincy, . 111., who have been on strike for two years against the open shop, have won otit, and have returned to work on the closed shop basis. It took the Cigarmakers thirty-two years to establish the 8-hour day. . The Horseshoers worked thirty years be fore they secured the 8-hour day. The Typographical Union has been in ex istence fifty-two years, and on January 1, 1906, will inaugurate the 8-hour day. The Windsor cafe, under the man agement of Mr. Pennel is open and doing a good business. This cafe promises to become a favorite with merchants and wage earners who are compelled by circumstances to eat down town. 1" The local coal dealers' combine has fixed an arbitrary schedule of prices both for the coal it sells and the wage it pays, and so far has refused to meet the teamsters in conference for the purpose of adjusting diifferences. The consumers never had a chance with the dealers. Governor Pennypacker has Signed the child labor bill advocated by Presi dent Mitchell of the Miners' Union. To the Workmgmen! ...We handle... t ..UNION MADE GOODS.. V and am a workingman myself. , Allen's Kushion Komfort Shoe Parlors. 133 NORTH I4TH STREET. When the law ' becomes operative it ' f. will take about 4,000 children out of i the Pennsylvania mines and put them f in school. Did Parryism ever do as ' good a work as that? The teamsters' strike in Chicago is still spreading and the ranks of the strikers are being augmented every day.' Mark , Morton s continues to -breathe threatening and slaughter, and his gang 'continue to Import mur- derous thugs and Irresponsible neroes from the south to act as "scabs." The teamsters are standing firm and have the Situation well in hand. ; ' Left Alone It was an actor man who spake . - While tears rolled down his cheeks And wet the roots of stubby beard , Unshaved for several weeks. v "Alas," he cried, "I'm left alone; ;f He's gone before," he said. ' . "But two men e'er could play 'old Rip, ' ' And one of them is dead." - J He struck me for a dollar bill ' :fi With which to drown his woes. . .Jf. "How often have I spent my wage , - tjt, That was my way, and Joe's. What's mine is yours, and yours is ' H ' mine,' - Ji. He often to me said. " ;! Aalas, but two could play 'old Rip ' And th' other one is dead." ' ....... .v. ,..- ' ' i The old school actor man turned round - i To hide his swelling grief. "The way we used to chum," he said : ? i "Is almost past belief. ' : 5 3- If Joe grew tired he wired me : ', i And I played in his stead ", Yes, only two could play 'old Rip, - ! . . . .v And th' other one is dead." ? ' 1 I begged the old school actor man To come and with me and dine. Said he: "My grief is such a load I really should decline ? ; But yet I'll go; perhaps the change , - Will do me good," he said. . ' 1 "I may forget there were two 'Rips, , And th' other one is dead." i , . " - " " - ' - . : "When next you play the good old - ', part," . . - , , Said I, "I'll surely go." ' ' ' The old school actorman looked sad . ; '. And shook his head for no. . ; 't r "I'll ne'er again play that old part. 1 -.,..-. 'Twould break my heart," he said, . t j To think that of the two great 'Rips' - ' The other one is dead." . j i 1 A victory bought by money is at ways a failure. v