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3
VOL. 3
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, FEBTJARY 8, 1907
NO. 44
S TRADES ijjggai COUNCILS)
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Among Lincoln's
Hustling Unions
The Central Labor Union meets
next Tuesday night, and the labor
fair committee will make and submit
its final report. There is much -other
business of Importance to be transact
ed, and every delegate should make it
a point to be present when the gavel
falls.
The most Important business of the
evening will be the election of officers
for the ensuing term. This is a matter
that demands the careful considera
tion and action of the delegates, for
upon the selection or the right meu
depends the usefulness of the organ
ization. Let every delegate be there.
THE CARPENTERS.
Notice of Special Called Meeting to be
- Held Next Tuesday.
All members of Local No. 1055, Unit
ed Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners, are heerby notified that next
Tuesday, February 12, is a special
called meeting for the purpose of
; acting on by-laws and trade rules for
the ensuing year. This meeting is
' stirring up a great deal of enthusiasm
among the boys and every member is
earnestly requested to be present and
give their views and cast their ballots
for what they thing should be..
Since the city authorities have seen
fit to let the job of remodeling the old
post office to an out-of-town firm. we
, extend our best wishes to the firm
for their success while in Lincoln.
We have heard considerable about
" ,' home Industry' from our most prom
Ineat business men during the last
two or three weeks, and we are cer
tainly glad to hear it. True, home in
dustry would mean a great deal tq
Lincoln. But we have in mind a cer-
" J ' rXs!fS Urni 'that speaks up wftfiagreat
big voice. This firm started in 'busi
ness in a very small way many years
ago. Its first place of business was
a little shop on N street. The firm
. thrived and prospered and removed
from N to O, and prosper still. They
say they handle nothing but the best.
The firm's catalogues go far away.
They have built on here and added
on there, and right now they are re
modeling some. But Instead of re
. membering some industries they en
i gaged carpenters who have been
brought from outside towns' because
they would work long hours for small
pay. Yet this firm talks about home
, Industry and denounces catalogue
houses. If this is patronizing home
Industry we don't know it, but we
are willing to take a few lessons.
The headquarters report for De
cember shows receipts of over $53,000
,ln dues tor the month.
The Lead, S. D Carpenters' Union
will celebrate its first anniversary
on February 12th with a grand ball.
TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION.
February Meeting Largest In Hisjory
of the Organization.
r
V The meeting of Lincoln Typograph
ical Union last Sunday was the largest
in the history of the organization, fully
four-fifths of the members, being pres
ent when President Coffey's gavel fell. !
The business of the meeting; was
transacted with usual dispatch. The
executive committee made a report
that met with the approval of the
members. One new member was obli
gated. ."..'..
' President Fisher, Financial Secre
tary Kinney, Secretary Platz and Mr.
Kellogg- of Omaha Typographical Un
ion were welcome visitors and ad
dressed the meeting. They brought
words of good cheer from Omaha, and
their remarks were loudly applauded.
The Allied Printing Trades head
tiuarters, room 8, Holmes block, ate
becoming popular, and U13 boys are
beginning to drop in fo;; social inter
course, i
Official notice has been received of
a reduction of the assessment to 3
per cent. '
BURIED BY THE UNION.
I. D. Howe, the aged bricklayer who
died recently, after suffering a stroke
of paralysis, was buried by the local
Bricklayers' Union, of which he was
a member, the union bearing all the
expenses. Mr. Howe was a stranger
in Lincoln, and had been here but a
short time. His fellow unionists saw
to it that his last hours were made as
comfortable as possible, and all that
fraternal hands could do to exhibit
love and respect for the dead wa
done,.
FEAR JS ALL RIGHT.
But There Were Too Many Trimmers
Against Him,
Charles W. Fear, delegate from Kan
sas - City, was the most courageous
man in the late I. T. U. convention. It
is easy for men to get stage fright and
be silenced by the noise of a big bull
dozer and a drilled army of pay roll-
rooters, but it takes a brave man to
stand alone in a convention of 200 dele
gates and go down in defeat with a
smile on his face. Mr. Fear wrote
and introduced a resolution in the
convention which provided for the
election of a committee to investigate
the management of the Printers'
Homo. This was looked upon as a
terrible crime by those who might
be investigated. He was threatened
by Superintendent Deacon and Trustee
Shepard. Various schemes were adopt
ed to induce Mr. Fear not to introduce
his resolution, but he stood like a
rock for what he thought was right
and he was about the only man in the
convention who did. He was downed
by the convention, but he went down
in defeat with a smile on his face,
while the victors were in a maddened
rage to thing he would dare defy the
king. Secretary Bramwood requested
all delegates who had spoken in oppo
sition to Fear's resolutions to write
but their remarks so that they could
be printed in the proceedings, but
when Fear requested that his state
ment be also printed in the proceed
ings, a motion- was made and carried
that his statement be not printed. The
delegates voted in favor of a trustee
appointing a committee to investigate
the trustees. This commute "white
washed" the Citizens' Alliance of Colo
rado Springs. Fear stood alone against
such a job and we admire him for his
courage. Oklahoma Labor News.
Typographical Union Ball, Monday,
February 25, Fraternity Hall. Quick's
Orchestra.
THE UNION CLUB.
Pleasant Evening Spent at the Home
of Mr. and Mrs. C. B. lighter.
The Union Club met with Mr. and
Mrs. C. b. Righter last Friday evening,
and while the embryo blizzard raged
without the "Bermudas" enjoyed them
selves within. Every member of the
club "registered in" and the result
was a congenial gathering that en
joyed themselves to the full. At just
the proper moment the feast was an
nounced, and it consisted of a great
plenty and variety, the piece de re
sistance which is French was, of
course, onions.
High five was indulged in. Messrs
Barngrover, Bustard and Norton tied
for first prize, and on the "cut" Mr.
Bustard won. Erstine King won las
"booby." Mrs. Bustard won the la
dies' prize.
An interesting and entertaining fea
ture of the evening was the reading
and dedication of the "Official Ode of
the Bermudas," written by Mr. Spen
cer, faher of the hostess. It was the
first meeting of the club in three
months, and the members made up
for lost time.
' SURH1
All the rant and cant about the
open shop hallucination is positively
enervating. Reduced to its final an
alysis, it means simply laat the work-
ingmen shall not be allowed to com
bine for self-protection. However,
the manufacturers, stockholders and
bondholders can have all kinds of
close corporations for the purpose of
mulcting the public. Tobacco Worker
MUNGER WILL GO TO HELL.
He Has Stolen From Womanhood All
That Makes Womanhood.
Last week a girl working in Mun
ger's laundry stole some clothes. She
was led into the court room almost
fainting, and pleaded with Judge
Chambers to be as lenient as pos
sible. Judge Chambers passed sentence
and the girl who had worked in Mun-
ger's laundry for f 6 a week was brand
ed as a common criminal.
The girl had taken some clothes
from Munger's laundry and was
branded a thief but what had Mun
ger's laundry taken from the girl?
What has Munger's laundry taken
from many girls?
It was Munger's laundry, you will
remember, that under its previous
name of Cleaver's laundry, fought the
poor laundry girls' attempt to raise
their wages and better their condi
tions. It is Munger, himself, who is now
the secretary of the Los Angeles laun
dry trust and a prominent member of
the citizens' alliance.
This is the laundry which refused
to accede to the request from the
laundry girls that they be allowed to
work nine hours a day. . r
This is the laundry that pays its
little girls as low as $5 a week to
sweat ten and twelve hours a day in
the hot, foul steam of its work rooms.
And it is Munger's laundry with
1
PATRONIZE YOUR
UOHE INSTITUTIONS
Where you earn your money is the best ' place to
spend it. '
Let Lincoln workingmen remember that important
faet. Every dollar earned in Lincoln and spent out
side of Lincoln is a dollar taken away from the local
volume of money, and in time will re-act on the wage
earners. .'''..;
Every dollar spent in Lincoln adds to the volume
of business, and every addition to business means
more work for wage earners, i '
, . .These statements, are axioj.tic. r An axiom is a ;
self-evident truth. -
There is no reason whatever why a Lincoln wage
earner should buy a pound of groceries, a stitch of
clothing, a dollar's worth of fire, accident or life in
surance, a piece of furniture, a yard of carpet, or
anything else, outside of Lincoln. All these things
may be purchased as cheap or cheaper in .Lincoln
than elsewhere. You know your local merchants.
They are responsible, and if their wares are not up to
requirements they will make good. The catalogue
houses are financially responsible, of course, but if
the goods they sell are not satisfactory the purchaser
has no recourse. Every dollar spent with Chicago
catalogue houses is a dollar taken from Lincoln, and
that dollar never comes back to Lincoln. A dollar
spent with your home merchant remains in Lincoln;
and sooner or later some wage earner gets it.
Your local merchant will help yoti if you are in
the hole, lie will give you reasonable credit, and in
ease of sickness will stand your friend. The cata
logue houses do not know you, will not trust you
and after they get your money they don't give a
tinker's dam whether you live or die. Your local
merchants pay taxes to help support the schools
where the children of Lincoln wage earners are edu
cated. The Chicago catalogue houses do not pay a
cent towards the support of Lincoln schools. Lincoln
merchants pay taxes to help keep the streets clean
and well lighted and the city libi-ary open. The cata
logue houses do not pay a cent in Lincoln for that
purpose.
Last year the merchants of Lincoln voluntarily
subscribed upwards of a thousand dollars to improve
the new city park, which will be enjoyed by the wage
earners of Lincoln- and their children. The catalogue
houses will not subscribe a cent in a thousand years
for that beneficent purpose.
When you were out of work a month or two agd,
was it the local merchant or the catalogue house
that gave you credit and trusted you until you got
work and made the money to meet the bill ? The
local merchant of course. You would have suffered ,
and you family would have suffered if you had been
compelled to depend on the catalogue house.
Stand by your local merchant. Spend your money
at home, and you will be able to make more money
to spend. ' .
Home first, the world afterwards. That's a mighty
good motto for any city to follow.
Patronize home institutions and home merchants
unless you know them to be the enemies of organized
6
o
o
labor. ". j
8 0OffiO00505000 00OSO00S0000000
its union-hating proprietor that drags
a poor girl into court for trying to
steal some of the clothes she can not
buy . out of the scant wages paid by
Munger. '
Yes, the girl stole but who stole
first? ' 1
Why stole her chance to breathe a
fair share of fresh air?
Who stole her right to a decent
living wage?
Who stole from her all her strength,
her 'health, her complexion, her vital
ity in short, all of the things which
woirianhood must have or perish?
Who stole first Munger or the girl?
The girl may go to prison; but where
will Munger go? Los Angeles Union
Labor News.
. i . . ..
Typographical Union Ball, Monday,
February 25, Fraternity Hall. Quick's
Orchestra. ' , . .
If, every man and woman in i the
United States were to call for union
labeled goods congress would not have
to consider a child labor law.
f
Employer's Liability
There is a big fight on in the legis
lature over the enactment of an em
ployers' liability law, and It behooves
workingmen to get busy to prevent
a botching of the job. The McMullen
bill, which seems to be the bill settled
on by a lot of the house members, is
not all that the wage earners of the
state want. And it is a whole lot
less than what they have a right to
expect in view of the declarations in
the republican and democratic plat
forms. The McMullen bill includes
only common carriers within Its pro
visions, and it contains an attack on
the Burlington Relief Bureau that is
resented by the older men among the
Burlington employes. These old em
ployes elaim that the bill, If enacted
into law, will destroy the relief bur
eau and thus deprive them of sick,
accident and death benefits. They base
this contention on the ground that
they are now too old to secure insur
ance, and that even if they could the
extra hazardous nature of their-em
ployment would make the rates ex
cessive." McMullen and the support
ers of his bill declare that the Bur
lington is merely making this as a
threat to stave off the enactment of
any liability law.
The Wageworker is not interested
in the Burlington relief bureau save
to the extent that it wants it retained
if the men who are paying the money
into it want , it retained. But this
paper does oppose fle McMullen bill
on the ground that it is not what the
workingmen of this state want. If we
are correct in our understanding of
what legislators should do, it is not
a question of what Mr. McMullen or
any other legislator wants, but a ques
tion of what the people want who have
employed Mr. McMullen and other leg
islators to act as their . lawmaking
agents. If the Burlington men are
satisfied with the Burlington relief
bureau certainly Mr. McMullen ought
to be satisfied with it. And if the
wage earners of the state want a
broader law, one that, will be an em
ployers' liability law in fact as well
as in name, Mr. McMullen and his
colleagues ought to be willing to give
it to them. If it does not stand the
test of the courts the workingmen
will take their medicine and try it
again.
What the wage earners of this state
want is a liability law that is general
in its application. The McMullen bill
affords no protection to the lineman
who is roasted by coming in contact
with a live wire. It affords no pro
tection to the machinist who is in
jured by the carelessness or incom
petence of a fellow servant or the de
fectiveness of a piece of machinery
in the shop. It affords no protection
to the man horribly burned by the
explosion of a defective carboy of acid
or the carelessness of a fellow servant
who fails to properly secure the car
boy. It reltaes solely to employes
of common carriers, and that kind of
a law has just been declared unconsti
tutional by two federal judges on the
ground that it is class legislation. The
eight hour law enacted by a Nebraska
legislature sixteen years ago was de
clared unconstitutional on. the very
same ground that will be urged
against the McMullen bill if it is en
acted into law. The eight hour law
excepted farmers from its provisions,
and because it did not apply to all
classes alike Judge Wakeley declared
it ur constitutional.
To be effective, and to give wage
earners what they want, the employ
er's liability act must be universal
in its scope. Here is a bill, introduced
by Senator Burns known as Senate
File No. 233, that is just what the
wage earners of this state want:
A bill for an act to render employers
liable for damages on account of in
juries inflicted, upon persons in their
employ through the negligence of fel
low servants of such injured employe,
and to repeal any act in conflict here
with. "Be it enacted by the legislature of
the state of Nebraska:
, "Sec. 1. Whenever any action shall
be brought in this state to recover
damages on account of personal in
juries received by one who was, at the
time of such injuries, in the employ
o fthe party against whom such action
is brought, and the ground of such
action alleged is carelessness or negli
Law We Want
gence on the part of such employer,
bis or its officers, agents or employes, '
by reason of which said injuries were
received, it shall not be a defense to ,
such action that the officer, agent or
employe "guilty of such negligence
was, at the time thereof, a fellow er-
yant of the person so injured. This
statute shall apply and be in force in
all cases where such suit is brought
by the person injured, or by an ad
ministrator or other person entitled '
to maintain the same for the recovery
of damages on account of such in
juries to such employe. ' : '
"Sec. 2. All acts and parts of acts '
inconsistent with this act are hereby
repealed." ,
This is the sort of liability law that
the wage earners want, and as they
are the ones most interested, certainly
their ideas are worthy of considera
tion. ' ' ; ; ' .,- -
Mr. McMullen claims that his bill
will in no wise Interfere with the Bur
lington relief. The railroad men as
sert that it will. Now, in order to
avoid any dispute on that point, why
not take the bill that the employes
want, and which they are confident
will ; not antagonize the relief, and
which will include all classes of em
ployed persons instead of confining the '
benefits to a certain few?
The judiciary committee will again ' -
consider the several liability acts next
Monday afternoon immediately upon
adjournment of the house.
Tuesday evening at 7:30 the senate ,
judiciary committee will give a hear
ing on the child labor bill now before
it. This is the Clark bill which re- '
cently passed the house by an over- -
whelmning vote. . Strong opposition im
being manifested and . It behooves
those interested In its-passage-to take -sy-.i
an active part. i -, j
Typographical Union Ball, Monday,
February 25, Fraternity Hall. Quick's
Orchestra.
WESTERN UNION TRICK.
Employs a Detective Agency to Organ
ize Opposition "Union."
New York, Feb. 3. New York Local
No. 16, Commercial Telegraphers' Un
ion of America, in its regular semi
monthly meeting in Brooklyn today,
had a great surprise sprung on it by
one of the members. It was to the
effect that knowledge had come to
him that the Western Union Telegraph
Company, which has never recognized
the Telegraphers' Union, has under
taken to put a new union in the field
with the idea of drawing away from
the Commercial Telegraphers' Union
of America as many members as It
could and to create dissention among,
the remainder.
This plan, he said, is being managed
by a certain detective agency familiar
with such work, and a start is to bu
made this week. The idea is to start
it at first in New York, then in Chi
cago, and then in San Francisco.
Typographical Union Ball, Monday,
February 25, Fraternity Hall. Quick's
Orchestra. - .
A LITTLE ; SHAVER.
And not so little, either. He weighed
twelve pounds and arrived at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. R. L. McBride
cn Sunday, January 27. This is the
first born and of course he is a little
the finest boy' that has arrived in Lin
coln lately. Mr. McBride is ex-secretary
of the local Barbers' Union and
shop foreman in the Pioneer. Here'3
hoping that McBride Junior will be all
that his fond parents hope for him. ,
Typographical ' Union Ball, Monday,
February 25, Fraternity Hall. Quick's
Orchestra.
THE UNION PRINTER.
. Well, now, those ' typos must be
a good set of fellows. Just think!
Ten per . cent assessment for ten
months, then 7 for one month and now
5, and still they are as stubborn to
win the eight hours as ever. Could
any other union under the sun with
stand such an assessment T But they,
are out to win and they are accomp
lishing their goal, for all along the
line comes news of firms giving in
and desiring their former union help.
A union printer Is a credit to any
community. Toronto Tribune.
