THE WAGE WORK
ER
A Newspaper with a Mission and without a Muzzle that is published in the interest of Wageworkers Everywhere.
VOL. 2
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, SEPTEMBER 2'J, 1905
NO. 24
Think About This
Just
God made the earth, the air and
necessaries of life.
The air is free, and the use of natural bodies of water is free.
But the earth is monopolized to a large extent.
Law prevents the monopolization of waterways, and men are at
liberty to use the lakes and the navigable rivers and the ocean as
they see fit so long as their use thereof does not interfere with the
rights of other men.
It is different with the land.
The man alienated from the soil is a dependent upon the bounty
or the whim of other men. ,
The man who can have free access to land can be practically
independent.
All things necessary to sustain life come from the earth, the air
or the water. When free use of any of these three is restricted man
is to that extent enslaved. "
There is no more reason why the land should be monopolized
than that the air and the ocean should be. Land monopoly is a
greater curse than industrial monopoly, because the latter is depend
ent upon the former. Of all men the man who works for wages
should be opposed to land monopoly and in favor of what is com
monly called the, "Henry George theory."
Were it possible for the wage earner to have recourse to the
soil he would be independent of employer, of trusts and of monopo
lies. He would not find it necessary to strike for living wages and
decent treatment. ' ,
Years ago the arrogant English mine owners of Africa deter
mined to reduce the already insignificant wages of the native Kaf
firs engaged in the mines.
"We'll starve 'em into submission," declared the mine owners.
But they did nothing of the kind. The Kaffirs took to their
native bush and lived off the soil, which was as free as the air they
breathed. And the mine owners were compelled to make choice
between giving the Kaffirs fair wages or closing the mines.
Wouldn't it be grand for the American wage earner if he could
wield the same power against the arrogance of the corporations?
Now what's the matter with forgetting to put on the corporation
or the partisan collar when we get up in the morning, and remember
only that we are men, endowed with certain inalienable rights r
Whafs the matter with thinking a little more and playing the polit
ical sucker a little less? . . ,
Is it not about time that the American wage earner do a little
free and independent thinking?
& We propose to sell to the employer eight hours out of
the twenty-four, and we will do as we please with the re-
maining sixteen.
THE PRINTERS.
Cheering News From All Along
the Firing Line.
It looks good all along the fir
ing line. The good effects of or
ganization and preparation are
more noticeable every day. Es
pecially good is the news that
er or see him wronged, if in our
comes from St. Louis. Only a few
months ago the whole of print
erdom was shocked to hear that
St. Louis had . "crawfished" and
the way the Typothetae crowed
made a lot of union men sick at
the heart. And then the inter
national executive council got
busy. It took St. Louis a week
to back up, and when old No. 8
did back up she jammed the end
gate so far into the Typothetae
that there was nothing but the
"hounds" left. The St. Louis
boys, when they saw their mis
take, proceeded to make good, and
now comes the glad news that
St. Louis is right in front. On
September 19 six contracts were
signed, leaving only eight shops
in all of St. Louis to reckon with.
Around strike headquarters the
boys are feeling good, but around
Typothetae headquarters there is
a feeling of gloom.
On September 19 the lastu
the Blooinington, Ills., shops
signed up and everything is love
ly over there. On the same date
twenty-four Chicago shops sign
ed up, making a total of 158 shops
that have signed up for the 8-hour
day. The Typothetae is still ad
vertising for non-union men, and
is getting plenty of replies. But
strange to say a majority of those
who respond are not printers,
and those that are printers are al
ways found around the union
headquarters after a day or two.
R. R. Donnelley & Co. keep the
following advertisement standing
in many of the metropolitan
dailies:
"WANTED Compositors, non
union, $19.50 per week ; strike
on. A few A-l stone, job and
make-up men. Largest job
printing plant in the U. S. Per
manent positions guaranteed
competent men of good charac
ter. Transportation expenses
refunded to all who can make
good. R. R. Donnelly & Sons
Co., Chicago."
To Donnelley 's credit, be it
said, he is not trying to secure
printers under false pretenses. He
admits that there is a strike on.
In Omaha the situation se.us
to have resolved itself into a
a Little Bit
the water. These are the three
game of . diplomacy. Organizer
Boyle and President Fisher are
fiaming up schemes to balk Tom
my Bartlett, and the battle vill
probably hol.l this aspect uncil
the expiration of the contract
about October Then it wi1' 1-c
soen whether bartlett can rmke
good on all of his big talk of the
past three or four months. The
Typothetae bunch in Omaha is
sore because the Chicago bunch
is advertising in Omaha territory
for printers. If any "rats" are to
be had, naturally they will go to
Chicago because of higher wages
and a desire to see a real big city.
The strike at Jamestown,- N.
Y., lasted only long enough for
the two daily newspapers and ali
the job shops to sign up for the
eight-hour day. The men were
not compelled to leave the offices.
LTp ' around Winnipeg, Man.,
where they manufacture bliz
zards, 125 men walked out, but
later a goodly number went back,
five of the principal shops sign
ing up. Reports from that north
ern city are encouraging.'
But from all the leading Ty
pothetae centers comes the wbrd
that the Typothetae has just be
gun to fight. That sounds very
nice, but somehow or other it
doesn't scare the printers a lit
tle bit. The Typothetae made
much of the fact that the "Citi
zens' Alliance" of Niagara Falls
had offered a bonus of $10 a week
to all non-union printers who
went there to work. But the bait
hasn't served the purpose intend
ed. Behind it lies a story that
will be told when the battle is
over.
Rochester, N. Y., is now in the
middle of it, but the union is
ahead of the game. None of the
newspapers are affected, and a
number of independent shops
have signed up. About 100 men
are out yet, but this is only about
half of the number that went out
originally. The rest are back at
work under the 8-hour day.
In view of the fact that union
printers are striking for the 8
hour day and getting it the fol
lowing want ad. from a western
Nebraska town reads funny:
''WANTED Experienced print
er to take full charge. Wages
$10 a week. Want none but
sober, reliable man."
We have vainly scanned the
horizon, to see an army of print
ers hastening westward to snatch
off this job.
President Greenley went up to
Omaha last week and spent a
couple of days mingling with the
boys there. He believes that
Omaha will win out, but admits
that the Typothetae has framed
up a good plan of campaign.
GRAND
H Elrotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
September 28-29, 1905
Under the auspices of Division No. 98. The
meetings will be held in the Auditorium. The
public is cordially invited to attend the opening
session on the first day. Grand Chief Engineer
Warren S. Stone and Third Grand Engineer
Delos Everett will be in attendance upon these
meetings. The program is as follows:
FIRST DAY'S PROCEEDINGS
9:30 a. m. Address of welcome by Hon. John H. Mickey, Governor of Nebraska.
Address, "Brotherhood Reflections," by Hon. Norris Brown, Attorney General of
Nebraska. .
Address, "Brotherhood Facts," by Grand Chief Engineer Warren S. Stone.
Address, "Further Facts," by Third Grand Engineer Delos Everett. ,
The speaking will be interspersed with yocul and instrumental music, and the pub
lic is cordially invited to be present. ' '
2:30 p. m. Automobille ride about the city, starting from the Lincoin hotel, ten
dered to the visiting members by the Commercial Club of Lincoln. . The ride will be
immediately followed by a visit to the Burlington shops at Havelock.
8:30 p. m. Joint opan meeting to which all railroad officials and members of the
Brotherhood are cordially invited, thus to promote goed fellowship and to exchange
ideas of mutual concern.
;
SECOND DAY'S ROCEEDINGS
9:30 a. m.: Reviewing of work by grand officers, and discussion of subjects of
general interest to the Brotherhood of the middle west as may be outlined in a supple
mental program.
2:30 p. m. Continuance of morning subjects.
GRAND BALL FRIDAY EVENING
The rally will close on Friday evening with a grand ball at the Auditorium. Visit
ing brothers will be admitted upon presentation of traveling card.' Admission $1.00.
The public cordially invited to attend this ball.
NOTICE TO BROTHERHOOD MEN
Transportation will be granted members of the Brotherhood by the Burlington
Railroad if request is made by official where employed through General Manager George
W. Holdrege, Omaha, Nebraska. Reasonable rates will be made by Lincoln hotels, the
Lincoln hotel having been designated as headquarters. Members of the Brotherhood
and officials of the railroads are cordially invited to attend these gatherings.
St:
Klopp, as manager for the Typo
thetae, has exhausted every re
source to push the union into a
violation of the existing contract.
but the boys have blocked his
game right along. When the
fight does come, if it comes at all,
it will come all at once, and
Klopp will be in smoke so thick
he will have to dig it out before
he can sneeze.
Reports from headquarters at
Indianapolis are cheering in the
extreme. The Typothetae rep
resents a small minority of the
employers, and the independents
are signing up with gratifying
regularity. And even members
of the Typothetae are signing up.
much to the disgust of the offi
cials who are drawing fat sala
ries for stirring up trouble and
keeping it stirred up.
When John Paul Jones attack
ed the Serapis there was some
thing doing. When both ships
were about blown to bits the Brit
ish commander signalled to the
intrepid American commander:
"Do you surrender?"
"I haven't begun to fight," was
Jones' answer.
Fifteen minutes later the Brit
ish commander struck his colors.
The International Typograph
ical Union has not vet begun to
fight.
UNION MEETING
THE PHILANTHROPIST.
He Reasons Out an Excuse for
His Business Methods.
When Kerjones first went into
the overall and shirt business he
had an occasional twinge of con
"Science. Every time he stood up
before a big assembly and prayed
in a loud voice that the poor work
ing girls should be delivered
from temptation he thought of
the $3 a week he paid them and
wondered if they could live on
that. But he would then think
that he paid some of them $3.25
a week and three or four of them
as much as $4 a week, and then
he would feel better and his elo
quent prayers would make the
brethren look at each other with
unctuous joy and exclaim :
'"Isn't Brother Kerjones an aw
fully pious man !"
But there was here and there
a man who couldn't reconcile the
Kerjones professions with the
Kerjones sweat, shop methods,
and one day one of these men
went to him and inquired :
"Mr. Kerjones, how can you
reconcile your religious profes
sions with the starvation wages
you pay?"
"My dear brother," replied
Kerjones. "I have settled that
matter with the Lord to our mu
tual satisfaction. My business
methods redown to the glory of
the Master."
"How is that?" queried the in
credulous stranger.
"Just this way," said Kerjones.
"This matter troubled me con
siderably for quite a while, but.
one day I saw a great light. I
was out in my garden standing
by a bee hive. It was about time
to remove the honey and I made
preparations to do so. But just
then the thought occurred to me,
'have I a right to take the honey
from these bees?' It took me
several days to decide the ques
tion, and then the answer came
as if by inspiration. I took the
honey. I was convinced that it
was my duty to take it, because
if I did not the bees would be out
of work all next seasen. And I
wanted to provide them with
work. So with the girls in my
factory. If I paid them too hight
wages they would learn lessons
of profligacy and it might lead to
their ultimate ruin. A man or
a woman can not be anything but
a Christian on $3 a week."
The Kerjones philosophy is
not confined to Lincoln, but it
has an awfully good exponent not
a mile from the intersection of
Fourteenth and O streets.
Get a Move
And
The Central Labor Union meets next Tuesday evening. Has
your union been regularly represented at its meetings of late? -Or
have you been standing off on the corners and "knocking" about,
the Central Labor Union being no good?: -
If the central body is not doing effective work, whose fault is
it? Is it yours, or the fault pi the few faithful ones who have been
regular in attendance? . v -
Perhaps you think the Central Labor Union can be"6f no ser- "
vice to you. Perhaps not. You may be so almighty big that you
will never need any help. But some mighty big Unions ' that felt
that way have been "bumped" good and hard, and it took the con
ceit out of them. Just because times are good and work plenty is
no sign that the time will not come when you may have to pull your
belt up another hole in lieu of a square 'meal. Don't get too chesty
just because .work is plenty. Remember that it was .only a few
years ago that there were a dozen men eager to take your job at
half the money. Right now when things are good is the time to
strengthen the lines against a recurrence of the Coxey army davs.
Don't like the way things have been run in the central body,
eh? Well, then, get busy and start things to going the way you
think they ought to go. And you can't do -it by standing on the'
corner and "knocking." Go right up to the C. L. U. meeting and
make your "holler" like a man, and quit sneaking around the corners'
and shooting off your bazoo. Make it your personal business to '
see that your union is represented at the central body's meetings,
and if you are in earnest about wanting the body to become a live
factor, secure election as a delegate. But if you, wpn't- do any of
these things, for heaven's sake have the manhood to keep your mouth
shut against complaints and criticism.
The Central Labor Union this winter should be made so inter
esting that union men of every craft will hustle to be elected dele- -gates.
: . .
The Ministerial association has resumed its regular sessions and '
from this time on the fraternal delegates will doubtless be present
at the C. L. U. meetings . "
Democrats and republicans have nominated candidates for jus
tice of the supreme court of Nebraska. Read the platforms, investi
gate the candidates and then tell us where the interests of the toil
ers come in. ' .
We propose to sell to the
the twenty-four, and we will
maining sixteen,
ft
CHURCH AND LABOR.
Rev. Charles Stelzle Tells What
His Purpose Is.
Here comes the editor of a
Western Socialist paper, who ac
cuses me ot trying to swing
workmgmen into the church, and
immediately he declares that
am insincere in my motives.
I do not expect to make every
reader believe that I -am. perfect
ly sincere. I do not propose to
try it; but these is nothing like
plainly telling another man just
what you believe and why you
beheveit.
Recently I declared with em
phasis that I stand for organized
labor, and I gave my reasons for
this position. I'd like to know
why it is inconsistent for a man
to believe in both the trades union
and the church ; and if I believe in
the church, why should I hesitat
to tell men so and try to persuade
them that it is a good thing, just
as I would tell them that trades
unions is a good thing?
i do not think for a moment
that any sane workingman would
believe me if I pretended I do not
care whether or not he is indif
ferent to the church, and that for
which it stands
And so I would say without
fear of losing caste with my fel
lows, that just as I stand for or
ganized labor, so I stand for the
organized church. And just as I
would persuade a man to identify
himself with one, so I would seek
to have him identify himself with
the other, because, however they
mav differ in some of their meth
ods, they have much in common.
Ihe pledere of the man who
unites with the. American Feder
ation bf Labor, commits him to
"the emancipation of our- class
from poverty, ignorance and self-.
ishness ; to be respecttul in word
and action to every woman ; to be
considerate to the widow and or
phan, the weak and the defence
less; and never to discriminate
against a fellow-worker on ac
count of creed, color or national
ity To defend . freedom of
thought, whether expressed . by
tongue or pen. lo educate our
selves and our fellow-worker - in
the history of the labor move
ment. We promise that we will
never knowingly wrong a broth
power to prevent it. We will en
deavor to subordinate every self
ish impulse to v the' task, of ele
vating the material, intellectual
and moral conditions of the entire
laboring class." ' ' ' ' ' '
Every Christian man and wp-
man couia suDscriDe to mesc
principles. There is nothing in
them that is contrary to the pledge
of the man who joins the church.
Need I be ashamed, therefore, of
asking a man to identify himself
with an organization whichstands
On
Do Business
employer eight hours out of
do as we please with the re-
' ; '
committed to these high
es?
.; When the church was started '
two. thousand years. a$o; " it was '
organized by a company ofjwork-. "
ingmen. Its leader was ' a car- i
penter. When it spread to other V
cities if . was received most cor-
dialljr by the workingmen who f
formed the great labor guilds of f
the day, the labor unions we S"
would now call them. And it is
not impossible that Jesus Him
self was a member of a carpen-
ter's guild in Nazareth.
I can see no reason why, work-
ingmeri -should not again rally '
around the Church of Christ, ac- '"
cepting Him as their leader and
their champion. I believe the
day is approaching when this
will come to pass; when with
L1 '' -1 tnai t-cin virtue 1M 1 v 5
from Him; the pledge of the un-
ionist and the vow of the Chris- ,
tian, looking toward the complete V
emancipation of the wholebody'i
of workingmen, physical, mental f
and moral, will be iived out for '
the sake of our brother men. ' K I
MR. BRYAN'S FAREWELL
Gives The, Commoner Force a,.
Little Talk Before Leaving.
Mr. Bryan left Thursday morn
ing for San Francisco, en route
for Honolulu, Tokio, Pekin, Auck
land, Bombay, Melbourne and the
capitals of Europe. Wednesday
morning he bade the employes of
the Commoner farewell, making
a touching little speech. At the
conclusion a member of the force,
on behalf of all the employes, pre
sented him with a handsome
fountain pen with the information
that he was expected to write
each one personal letter at least
each one a personal letter at least
thought oface in two weeks would
be enough.
Mr. Bryan shook hands with
each member of the force, ' and
was wished a pleasant journey
and a safe return.
FREIGHT HANDLERS.
Courage Oozes Out and They De-
f - ctde to Hang On.
A week aero the freight hand
lers of Chicago talked loud about
demanding a 10 per cent increase
and striking if they did not get
it. They have finally decided to
back down. They have waived
the demand for the. increase ant. , -accepted
a two year contract, at
the old wages and under the ex
isting conditions. '
. By the way, there .used tc b
a union of freight handlers righ'y
here in Lincoln. What has be-
come of it? The Burlington is v i
vainly advertising for freight
handlers. Wouldn't this be- a
god time to reorganize and se-
cure recognition ? ;
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