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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1906)
V ml 7 S TRADgSl OUNCILg) LJ J ' P J w zA istiiw llu I f i c i u iNi A Newspaper with a Mission and without a Muzzle that is published in the Interestof Wageworkers Everywhere, ' " 1 '' 1 - 1 - , VOL. 2 liiyCOLK, NEBRASKA, JAMTABY (, TSQ , , KO. 39 PRINTERS ARE STANDING PAT OCXXXXXXXXXXXXAJUUCXJ BF CONTENT WITH YOUR WAGES Pawn; of the New Year Sees the Union Printers of the United States and Canada a 1 Unit in Advocacy of the Eight Hour Day ' About Eight .Thousand .Men Walk, Out Ten Per Cent Assessment Endorsed by Overwhelming MajorityTA The first working day of the new year saw the beginning of the real struggle for the eight hour day among the union printers of the country, and there were about 8,000 men who refused to respond to the whistle On Tuesday morning. Backed by the National Manufac turers' Association and the National Associa tion of Advertisers the high-sounding names of two organizations having for their object the crushing of the labor unions the United Typothaete in several of the larger cities hav ing refused to concede the eight-hour day, and as a result the union men refused to return to work. This marks the beginning of the real struggle for the eight- hour working day, and upon the success of the union printers depends the fate of the shorter workday among other trades. If the printers fail to win the allied union busters will then proceed to tackle the other unions one at. a time, for they figure, that if they can beat the International Typograph ical Union they 'tan beat 'any of ihe trades' unions. Hut the printers are out to win. They will win. By referendum vote taken last week the printers by a majority exceeding 25,000 in a total vote of less than 40,000, endorsed the 10 per cent a week assessment to finance the eight hour struggle. -Already 318 unions have eight hour contracts. Less than one-fifth of the membership can be affected by the strike, and the four-fifths remaining at work have demon strated their willingness to support their strik ing brethren indefinitely. The men who are managing the fight for the United Typothaete are resorting to falsehood to bolster up their waning cause. Samples proving this assertion are coming to notice every day. Here is a sample: The United. Typothaete Bulletins Nos. 48, ."id, and 53 contained the following: "Annapolis, Md. Every shop in this city is now. an open shop. By an agreement with the. local union its members are working under open shop rules at usual rates and without re gard to hours. Relations between employer and employe "pleasant." The very assertion that the local union agreed to "open shop conditions" stamps the bulletin as a lie. There wouldn't be any local union in Annapolis inside of twenty-four hours after such an agreement. But the facts of the whole matter are plainly set forth in the fol lowing letter from President Thomas K. Mc Nier. president of Annapolis Union No. 114: Annapolis", Md., December 19. 1905. Mr. I 'resident: Cfur union, No. 114, never was in better condition. We are paying all assess ments and are willing to pay more if necessary. W'c had an agreement for nine hours until Jan uary 1, 1900. After that time everything has been settled upon eight hours; Give yourself no uneasiness on our account. Not one word of truth in Typothaete report." The Almighty has been good to the printers thus far during the winter. "You fellows will be eating snowballs on Thanksgiving and Christmas this year," said a Typothaete mem ber in Minneapolis to a striking printer. As usual the Typothaete man was off his base. On Thanksgiving day 74 striking printers sat down to as many turkey dinners, and the tur keys were generously provided by the men who who were already working the eight hour day. ( )n Christmas 79 turkeys graced the tables of as many striking printers,-and they came from the same source. And the boys who are at work haven't as yet begun to finance the strike. If the printers were opposed only by employ ing printers the strike would have been won ere it began. But l'ost and Tarry and the as sociated millionaires who are greedy for more gain at the expense of labor figure that they can afford to spend a couple of millions disorgan izing the unions, for it will enable them to re duce wages and lengthen hours to their im mense profit every year. And this class of men are financing the United Typothaete. It remains to be seen whether intelligent employ ing printers will long play catspaws for the l'ost and Parry monkeys. The injunction mills are grinding rapidly these days. An injunction may be expected in every strike center, but the printers are not worrying. They are fighting this battle with their brains and with their money. They are - obeying the laws of the land, and propose to continue that course. The iWageworker ventures this prediction : There are more men on strike today than there will be thirty days from now. And the men who return to work will return under an agreement for the eight-hour day. The Post and Parry crowd is up against the proposition of then lives, and their millions will not win them a victory. HERE'S TO BROTHER STELZLE. May He ', Live Long to Prosecute the Great Work He is Engaged In. It'sust a little late, but acting on the prin- cipiyltnat it is nctter late man never, ine hvorker desires right now and right here i-nd its hearty New Year greetings to tharles Stelzle of Chicago and his co in the Department of Church and La- Ithe Presbyterian Church of America. aiKUhis fellow workers ore engaged in a tof V laiTbv V bor N e splendid ca cayrand th nd thev arc furthering it with THE EIGHT-HOUR WORK DAY IS RIGHT 4 ... . Every Honest Citizen Should be on the Side of The Striking Printers William Randolph Hearst in Chicago American This newspaper and its associated newspapers throughout the country will to the extent of their power heip the printers in their strike beginning tomorrow. j The editor and owner of these newspapers proposes to use all of his influence to win for the men a demand based on justice and fair play. The fight is made by the printers "in job and book offices" for an eight-hour day. THE EIGHT-HOUR DAY IS THE ONLY QUESTION AT ISSUE. This newspaper believes in the eight-hour day. It advocates laws compelling recognition of the eight-hour principle by all government contractors and in all government employ. In this particular, strike for the eight-hour day this news paper knows THAT THE MEN ARE IN THE RIGHT. We employ printers in five cities of the Union, many hundreds of them; . we employ them all on a union basis, and on an eight hour basis exclusively, and we know what we are talking about when we say that eight hours are enough. We know that eight hours is all that a printer should work when he works . conscientiously AS GOOD UNION PRINT ERS DO WORK. It is not possible to demand at this moment, perhaps, the absolute eight-hour day in every line of industry in the United States. There may be, as both employers and employes allege, certain lines of human labor in which the eight-hour principle cannot at present be properly granted. But there is no doubt whatever that THE PRINTING BUSINESS is one in which, the eight-hour day can be and SHOULD be applied to all printers without exception. Those among the Typothaete or employers of book and job , printers who refuse their men the eight-hour day are divided in two classes. Some of them know nothing about printing, about the strain on the eyes,, on the system, etc. If they need enlight enmnt we shall try to enlighten them before the strike is ovA: IT WILL BE WON. Other employers know perfectly well that the eight-hour day is a fair day, a reasonable AND JUST DAY. But selfishness in them is stronger than justice or fairness. And they want to fight with their men in the hope that they "will be able to squeeze out of them that extra ninth hour, as much out of place in the print ing business as the twelfth or sixteenth hour would be. 1 The work of the conscientious typesetter is extremely hard. It requires absolute concentration of the eyes, mind, muscles and nerves, all of the faculties, throughout the hours of work. The substitution of the typesetting machines for the old method of handsetting has greatly increased the strain upon the printer's vitality. And at the same time it has increased very greatly the productivity of the worker. Is it resonable to say that an invention which reduces the cost to the employers, and INCREASES THE PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY OF THE OPERATOR, shall not also bring some benefit to the workman?.' It is foolish and inexcusable for the workingman to protest against improved machinery, against the achievements of the human intellect. It is stupid and unjust for the employer to pro test against giving the workman some share, A FAIR SHARE, in -the new discovery especially when it entails harder work. The employer who UNDERSTANDS what he asks of a printer, sitting -at a machine with the fumes of hot metal entering into his system, CANNOT HONESTLY ASK A MAN TO WORK MORE THAN EIGHT HOURS A DAY. The ignorant em ployer SHOULD TAKE THE OPINION AND ADVICE OF THOSE THAT KNOW MORE THAN HE DOES. This newspaper has a right to advise him. For it has tried the eight-hour system in all of its departments. And in all of them, as in the typesetting department, the eight-hour day has been found to work perfectly ; beneficially to the men and bene ficially to the employer. If the employers persist in their unjust refusal to give the eight-hour day, this strike may be prolonged and painful. Public opinion, however, should help'to make the-Strike a short' one. You can judge of a cause fairly well by the arguments 'ad vanced in its favor and by the tactics of its defenders. What do you think of the first suggestion that comes from the employers refusing to give their men eight hours? THEY SAY THEY WILL PUT GIRLS TO WORK IN THE MEN'S PLACES. That is a nice American, decent, gentlemanly threat, is it not? How manly to take the sisters of the printers supposing you could hire them, which you couldn't and set them to work beside the pots of boiling-hot metal ! It would be a nice thing to hire some thousands of Amreican young women to do a work too hard for them for wages, too low, wouldn't it? Men of means who pretend to set an example to the community act rather queer ly when they say: "You can hire girls dirt cheap. Thousands of them have learned typewriting. They can be made into typesetters with the modern machines. WE CAN HIRE ALL THE GIRLS WE WANT FOR $8 A WEEK." Of course, the girls could not do the work properly, and the employers know it. But suppose they COULD do it? Suppose that it were possible to take women and, making them do hard work fit for men only, break down their health in the course of two or three years to save a little -money, would that be something tobe proud of, something good for the nation? . One notorious rat hole in New York calling itself a news paper announces that girls are already being put to work in the places of the men. , . The scheme, however, to crowd men out, to put women in at slave wages, will not work. The printers of the United States are united. They are intelligent and determined. They will find 'among the honest newspapers and the great body of the citizen ship the support that they require. They gave fair warning more than a year ago to their em ployers that they would demand the eight-hour day beginning with the first of the year. They have made their demand fairly, in manly fashion, with plenty of warning, living up to their contract to the last day. THEY OUGHT TO WIN'THEIR FIGHT; THEY WILL WIN THEIR FIGHT. And thi newspaper will be extremely glad to help them from beginning to end. OOCOOOOOOOOOOCXXXXXXXXXXXX)! ooocxxxxxxooocxxxxx marked ability. They are bringing the church to a fuller realization of what it should do among the toilers, and they are also making clearer to the minds of the toilers what the real mission of the church is. If, every church in the United States had departments similar to the Department of Church and Labor of the Presbyterian church, and all of them managed by such splendid men as Rev. Mr. Stelzle and his associates, there would be a social revolu tion inside of the next decade. The Wageworker prints regularly an article from the pen of Rev. Mr. Stelzle and it urges its readers to peruse them carefully. Nothing better in the way of union literature is being offered to the union men and women of the country. We call especial attention to his ar ticle in this issue, "Be Content With Your Wages." Rev. Mr. Stelzle is a union machin ist and has worked his way up, aided by the friendly assistance of his fellow unionists, and he knows from experience what unionism means to a man. We wish for Rev. Charles Stelzle and his co workers in the great Presbyterian church long lives of usefulness and an abundant success to crown all their efforts in behalf of those who eat their bread in the sweat of their faces. Minneapolis to give the delegates all the as sistance possible. Denver Bricklayers' Union No. 1 is one of the largest locals in the west, having a mem bership of upwards of 400 and a treasury that is bulging ' with funds. John Heartz,1 an ex president of the international, is ' now presi dent of the Denver local. ANOTHER INJUNCTION JUDGE. DENVER WANTS BRICKLAYERS CONVENTION. Delegates Armed With Invitations from City Officials and All Labor Unions. The fortieth annual convention ot i:he Bricklayers' International Union convenes in Minneapolis on January 8, and promises to be the largest and most, interesting convention ever held by this, strong and conservative or ganization. An attendance approximating 1, 000 delegates is expected. Denver is out after the 1!)07 meeting, and. to that end has sent James II. Nicholson and "Sunny Jim" Miller, secretary of the local organization, as dele gates, with instructions to bring the convention home with them. The delegates are armed with invitations from city and state officials and all the labor unions of Denver,- and the Chamber of Commerce will have a man in St. Louis Jurist Classes Labor Unions Wtih Commercial Trusts. Last Saturday in St. Louis Circuit Judge" Taylor granted the Greeley Printing company a temporary injunction against the St'. Louis Pressfeeders and Assistants' Union No. 43, the St. Louis Lithographer Pressfeeders' Union and several similar organizations, on the alle gations presented that they as labor unions are combinations in restraint of trade and are trusts and labor monopolies. The injunction prohibits' interference with the printing com pany's business, intimidation of employes, posting pickets or doing anything in restraint of commerce. No returnable order is made. Judge Taylor said that the defendants, if they so desired, could move to have the injunction dissolved at any time. This is in line with other injunctions, se cured by employers upon false representations, and based upon the erroneous plea that a labor union is a trust. It is another incident that should emphasize the fact that the in - junction writ as now so commonly abused-is a menace to the liberties of the American work ingman. Under the Taylor injunction as un der similar injunctions men are deprived by judicial writ of the rights of free speech, and their efforts to etter their industrial condition is set at naught by the autocratic decree of -a judge who makes h s own laws and then uses the machinery of th : courts to enforce it. Any man who would call a labor unin a "labor mon opoly" ought to hie limself to a home for pare tics and call in a brain specialist. But under present conditions workingmen are powerless in the face of an injunction. They dare not violate it, for the judge can send them to jail without giving them a trial by jury That is the menace of the injunction. The working men of the country ought to get together and secure the enactment of a law guaranteeing the right of "trial by jury in all contempt cases. Until they c1q bthe arrogant trusts and corpora tions have the whip hand of them. HORSE ON GEORGE. Decked Him But Got a Physician to Care for the Equine. The president of the trust, in an affable after-luncheon mood, stopped to converse with old George, a stableman. "Well, George, how goes it?" he said, tak ing a dollar cigar from his mouth. "Fair to middlin', sir," George answered. "Fair to middlin'." And he continued to currycomb a bay horse, while the president smoked and looked on in good-natured silence. "Me and this here hoss," George said, sud denly, "has worked for your firm sixteen years." "tWell, well," said the president, thinking a little guiltily of George's seven-dollar salary. "And I suppose you are both pretty highly val ued, George, eh?" " 'Hm," said George. "The both of us was took sick last week, and they got a doctor for the hoss, but they just docked my pay." Ex change. AND THE SAME TO JERE. - ... y President Sullivan of the JBartenders Sends His New Year Greetings. President Sullivan of. the Bxrtenders' and "Waiters' sent out a happy and "characteristic holiday greeting to his friends, among whom The Wageworker is proud to beknumbered. It presents a good picture of the gqfal presi dent standintr under the barkeeoers' Hid wait ers' banners with a stovelid in his hant "With the lid in our possession," card. It says more, too, and all in ; of the happy Christmas season. Here's, 'Videri .'Sullivan ! May his efforts in tl organization- never lag, and may he h Viivi p"ro"-4jpef:' JfVthe 1 1 nt f V- V Rev. Charles Stelzle Administers a Sharp Re- i buke to the Pharisees Who Distort the Scriptures in Order to Induce Workingmen : " to Submit Themselves to the Unjust De-. mands of Employers What the Preacher . Meant When He Said It. ''" ' (. It was a great preacher that said it original ly. There probably never was greater than he, with the exception of Jesus Christ. At any rate, Jesus said of him a few daW after he r preached that sermon, "Among those thatVrel born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist." - f . But what did he mean? Did he imply that ' there should never be a .strike or a demand for better conditions? Some. unfair or ignorant agi- . tators have insisted that the Bible and the church teach that doctrine, and they have -"-flung into our faces with scorn the text of John the Baptist, declaring that it is vicious nd de grading. Some employers in history have also quoted this Scripture passage, in order to point out that the Bible teaches absolute subser vience on the part of the employe to his em ployer. , i' . I am reminded in . this connection of &e . smart young man who insisted that the Bible itself says "there is no God." But when he was : compelled to look up the reference, he discov ered that what the Bible really said was, "The fool hath said in his heart, 'There is no God.' ," Something like this Aleck are the men who twist the Scriptures so as to produceall sorts of economic absurdities, warping out of their . true meaning the greatest and most beneficient teachings of Christianity. . - But let us look for a moment at the circum stances under which the words were spoken and the persons to whom they were addressed. The story is found in the third. chapter of the -Gospel of Luke. The fearless preacher who afterward was beheaded because he dared to denounce the reigning monarch for his sin was speaking to a great multitude that had' ; come out to hear him. The burden of his mes-i sage was summed up in the single word, "Re pentance." And it was noted that this repent- ance had particular reference to sins committed agains't men. As the preacher proceeded the people began to ask, "What shall we do then?",, ; He nswered, "He that hath two coats, let "r huh impart to. him that hath none ; and he that . hathkineat,' let him do likewise." Will you note; -by the way, that he said, "two" coats not "six ?" Then came the publicans the govern ment grafters of the day and said : to him, "Master, what shall we do?" The preacher an swered, "Exact no more than the law de-- mands." Finally came the soldiers often the brutal representatives, the policemen, of a for- , eign government ; men who were following the . example of their superiors by robbing the working people; it was a case of graft which was very much worse than anything .unearthed in our day. "And what shall we do?" they " asked. And John the Baptist answered: "Do violence to no man; neither accuse any false ly ; and be content with your wages." The em phasis was upon the word "wages," : ; It was not intended to teach that working- ' men in every generation should be content with ; their- wages. It was intended to teach that these brutal, conscienceless soldiers should not demand from the masses of the people, upon pain of bodily injury, that which did not right- , fully belong to them, in order that they might add this money to the wages received from the government. The words, "be content with your wages" must be viewed in the light of the spirit of the entire address. No one not even the most radical agitator can successfully de- ny that the preacher was making a fight for the poor and the oppressed. And so, instead of degrading the toiler, this injunction is actually a plea for fair treatment for the man who was powerless to resist op pression. - DESERVES A GOLD MEDAL. Youthful Little Hero RUks His Life to Save , the Life of Another. ; ,; - Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Walker are the happiest " , and most grateful parents in Lincoln today, and Downing Charlton, aged 12, is a hero who. is clearly entitled to a gold medal for bravery. Mr. and Mrs. Walker are happy and grateful because the life of their little three-year-old . sgn Lawrence, has been spared to them, and . Master Charlton is a hero because he risked his own life to save that of Lawrence. On December 28 Mr. Walker's little niece, took Lawrence on the ice of Antelope Creejc, and without warning both broke ' 'through where the water was over four feet deep. The ' -little girl managed to get to shore, but Law rence sank. His little body arose to the sur- face just as Downing Charlton passed, by. Master Charlton was attracted by the little girl's cries and saw Lawrence's body come to the surface. Without a minute s hesitation the brave lad flung off his coat and jumped into the , icy water. He grabbed the drowning boy an(K by almost superhuman effort managed to drag him ashore. Lawrence was hurriedly taken home, and aside from the shock was not in- r jured. Master Charlton did not wait to be thanked, but skipped out to change his -clothes and meet his playmates. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have made public acknowledgment of .. Master Charlton's bravery, and are as grateful as loving patents can be. Master Charlton is modestly declaring that "it wasn't nothing much to do,"rbut the general public knows bet ter. A moyshould be. made at once to secure foi" the bra xttle fellow a eold medal for his bravery. n ) -J-