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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 1907)
J i itn IiITCOL.N, NEBRASKA, AUttUST 2, 1907 NO. 18 W7 a (BtMmn 7 STADgWjUNOp) How "Scabs" are Used To Destroy the Unions The followln circular has been mailed to every employer of labor, and the probability is that nearly every union contains one of the snake-in-the-grass members of this association. Every union should be on the look out for these cattle, and if caught should deal with them like all traitors should be dealt with. In a street car union during the lockout In a Western city there were some, for the general manager stated that he knew everything that was pro posed in twenty minutes after the meetings adjourned, and really gave It as a reason for not taking the old men back on the terms offered by them. We believe that the best way to beat these spies and put them out of a job would be to hold open meetings. We would like to have expressions on this line. The circular reads as follows, and it will pay all union men to pursue it: WE BREAK STRIKES. Labor Troubles. This service makes a specialty of handling labor troubles, either existing or contemplated. Strikes. We break strikes in all parts of the United States or Canada, and are pre pared to submit a list of references from manufacturers and others who have employed us during the past five years. Guards We have In our employ experienced guards for the protection of life and property during strikes and lockouts. These men are all over six feet in height, and selected for their ability to handle this class of work. All have .seen strike service, many hold State and city police commissions, and should not be confounded with guaras furnished by our Imitators and re cruited from the slums of the cities. Secret Operatives. We furnish secret operatives of all trades, union or non union, for work In mill, mine, factory, store, etc., for the purpose of securing inside Informa tion. Is your shop being unionized? Is your output being restricted? Is the union running your shop? Is material being wasted or stolen? Have you a "shop committee" and who are they? Do your foremen show favoritsm? Are you losing castings in your foun dry? Do you care to know what is being done at union meetings? Let us place a mechanic operative with you, and find out. About Strikes In handling strikes we take entire charge of the same, furnish necessary guards to protect men while at work or escort them to and from work boarding outside. We employ, transport, and deliver nonunion men to fill up affected plants. We charge no premiums on such me chanics, but employ them at price pet day you wish to pay them, charging only for actual time agent may be ser ving in securing them. Boarding Nonunion Men. We have found from experience thai strikes are broken quickest where new men are boarded inside or adjacent to affected plant and we are prepared to fit up and maintain temporary board ing quarters, etc. Our captains are thoroughly competent to handle such boarding quarters", making same prec tlculfy selffsustalnlng. Sanitary ar rangements are carefully looked after and nothing is allowed to go to waste. Secret men attend all meetings of strikers and report procedings. This service possesses the necessary equip ments, such as Winchester rifles, po lice clubs, cots, blankets, etc., to han dle any sized trouble. We are repre sented in all of the larger cities of tiro United States and Canada, and a rep representative will cull on you free of charge upon request. Address all communications to the Joy Detective Service (Incorporated). Cleveland, Ohio, or J. D. Scott, 1110 New England Building. San Antonio (Tex.) Dispatch. ALL RECORDS BROKEN. All immigration records In the his tory of the country were broken by the aggregate returns for the year ended June 30 last. The total num ber of aliens laiuled during the year was 1,285,319, as against 1,100,735 dur ing the previous year. Of the total 132, 1S5 came from Russia. PREPARING FOR LABOR DAY. First Meeting to Consider Plans Held Last Monday Evening. The meeting at Central Labor Union hall Monday evening, to consider the matter of appropriately celebrating Labor Day, played against several other public attractions, and as a re sult the meeting was not largely at tended. The meeting made no defiin ite arrangements, leaving that to a meeting to be held next Monday night, at which time it is hoped a larger rep resentation will be had. It was the unanimous opinion of those present that it was not advis able to have a parade this year. The custom of parading is falling into dis use, the unions seeing a better way to spend their money. It was also the unanimous opinion of those present that an effort be made to have a grand picnic and celebration, prefer able at Capital Beach if theproper ar rangements can be made, and if not, at Antelope Park. For the purpose of having something definite to act on a committee composed of Steiner, Mau pin and Kates was appointed to con fer with Manager Gorman of Capital Beach, and if possible have a report ready by next Monday evening. The plan which met with the most approbation was to make the day a holiday in fact as well as in name a holiday for all members of the family. A parade in the morning means early rising and a lot of hard work on the part of the good wives. Then a rush home to prepare dinner ,and by the time It Is over a good part of the day has been spent in work. A better way, In the opinion of the majority, is to have an afternoon and'evening of pleasure at the Beach or the city park, with a program of sports no ex pensive parade, no rush of work just a general good time. However, all this will be left for a future meeting to decide. Every union Is requested to have some of Its members present at the meeting at Central Labor hall next Monday evening. At that time some thing dennite will be decided upon. Let it not be claimed by any union that it lias not been invited to partici pate in the arrangements for all are invited on an equality. TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION Regular August Meeting Will Be Held Next Sunday Afternoon. Lincoln Typographical Union No. 209 will hold its regular monthly meet ing next Sunday afternoon at Carpen ters' hall. At this meeting if any in structions, are to be given the dele gates to the international they must be given. Lincoln w ill be ably represented among the visitors at the convention, "Doc" RIghter having determined to attend and watch the "Pirates" he used to know when he was "apprentic ing" at the business. Mrs. Radebach may accompany her husband, August, who is one of the local delegates. Mrs. John Marshall will represent Capital Auxiliary. The indications are that the con vention this year will be the smallest in years in point of numbers. The vis ting list will be materially reduced and a number of local unions will be unrepresented. But this may result in an unusual display of "fireworks" at the convention. The Swigart case is going to cut a figure, despite what looks like an effort on the part of the executive council to drop it. The Butte appeal will also come up, and Duke Linstrom and his bunch are going to realize just what they helped put Shel by Smith up against at the Toronto convention. It tickles the "vampires" to be able to roost quietly on the fence and watch these chickens gaily flying homewardj Butte union objects stren ously to being judged by the same standard it insisted on having applied to Philadelphia and Shelby Smith. Frank Swigart seems bent on court ing trouble. Instead of meekly sub mitting to the "call down" of the ex ecutive council, and then agreeing to let the council quietly drop the mat ter, Swigart has showed fight, and he is going to have the whole matter threshed over at Hot Springs. Swigart I had It handed to him for sure. He spent months of time and dollars of his own money to make the Home li brary one of the best in the world, and for reward he was called down in harsh terms by men whose only con nection with the Home has been to work for it on salary. No wonder Swigart waxes wroth and insists on having the whole thing ventilated. It would seem that the acme of litleness was reached when Swigart was noti fied that the Home management would no longer receive books from him un less he prepaid the express. Yet that is just what was done. But fine books continue to go to the Home, and the management will have to explain to the rank and file if these contributions are allowed to remain uncalled for. O, there may be some warm doing at Hot Springs, even if the convention is small in numbers. LABOR TEMPLE COMMITTEE. Several Unions Have Not Yet Report ed Their Representatives Several unions have neglected to name their members on the Labor Temple committee, and this is hamper ing the work of the committee just at a time when the committee should be hard at work. The general public, which has mani fested a willingness to participate in the erection of a temple, Is taking note of the fact that the men most inter ested in the project from a material standpoint are allowing the project to go by default. This is not as it should be, and the different unions should get busy. The railroad organizations, al though not affiliated with the Ameri can Federation of Labor, ought to be getting in on this proposition. Their membership is large, and of all work ing men they are most in need of a central headquarters. The railroad organizations are alone well able to carry one-third of the project, and The Wageworker believes that if a half dozen men in each of the brother hoods will take hold they can arouse a great enthusiasm in favor of the en terprise. The Locomotive Engineers, the strongest financially if not nu merically, ought to take the lead among the brotherhoods. What's the matter with Secretary Wiggenjost taking up the matter and agitating it among the engineers? The Brotherhood of Railway Carmen has not yet been heard from, and 'ertainly a new union full of ginger ought to be enrolled in this good work. The committee is going to be called together some time next week and the n.atter is going to be started off with a whoop. The unions that fail to get in on the preliminary organization are going to be sorry for it when the roll is made up. Now is the time for all good union men to get busy. MAGOON SETTLED THE STRIKE. Cuban Cigarmakers Give Him Credit for Helping Them Win. Everybody in Lincoln knows Charley Ma goon. Of course it would sound better to say "Governor" Magoon, but U is easier and sounds more friendly to just call him Charley still, for he ii yet and always will be Charley Ma goon to Lincoln people, even if he is governor of Cuba and ex-governor of the Panama canal zone. And the indications are that the s;ime genial and companionable quali ties that made him "Charley" to everybody in Lincoln will sooner or later make him "Charley" to the peo ple of Cuba. At any rate, he haa cinched a place in the affections of the Cuban workers, and especially the Cuban cigarmakers, for he took a fin ger in the recent strike of the cigar makers and compelled the bosses to accede to the demands of the strikers. The strikers not only wanted better pay, but they wanted It in better money. They demanded their pay in American money, and when refused they wnt out on strike. The strike lasted for three or four months, and the cigarmakers had about lost hope. Suddenly some one suggested that they tell their troubles to Governor Magoon. He was laughed at. "What does a great officer care about the troubles of a workingman?" he was a? ked. "But he Is an American, and they are always fair," retorted the man who made the query. "We are not dealing with Spaniards now." So the cigarmakers waited on Gov ernor Magoon, and the big-brained big-bodied, big-hearted Charley got busy. As a result the cigarmakers got what they had demanded. On July 21 the cigarmakers had a big parade in honor of Goevrnor Magoon, and there were 10,000 men in line. Governor Magoon reviewed the parade from the balcony of the palace, and Senor San chez, on behalf of the cigarmakers, presented to the governor an en grossed copy of the letter he had written and which settled the strike. Then Senor Sanchez said J'This is the first time that the work ink people of Cuba have ever organ ized a public demonstration to show their appreciation of the good work done by the government. But this should be no wonder to you, Governor Magood, for the working people have always been neglected by the ruling powers. This occasion is an excep tional one, and the working people take special pleasure in demonstrat ing their appreciation of the good work done by the provisional governor of Cuba." Governor Magoon acknowledged the' evident good will of the cigarmakers, and in reply said: "I am profoundly thankful for this manifestation, and it gives me pleas ure to be reminded of whatever good I may have found occasion to do this country. I congratulate the working men on the resumption of their work, v.hich enables them to earn again their daily brcau and suppoit thoir families, and puts the tobacco industry once more on its former footing. I consider that this is the happiest mo ment of my life, hi view of the sin cerity and spontnniety of this demon stration." J'Cuba," a Havana publication, hid this to say about Governor Magoon the next day: r in titjn 1 lumse f'The representative of the interven- has hereby succeeded in making self popular with the working peo pie. The demonstration of last Sun Cvigj . .night in honor of Magoon was really most important, for it brought together some ten or twelve thousand workmen of the cigar factories, who enthusiastically celebrated the excel ltnce of the foreign governor. Accord ing to those taking part in the demon stration, neither in the time of Spain ror of the republic, had the sons of toil ever found such justice, affection and courtesy in the palace of the Plaza de Armas. The man whom Roosevelt has sent us as a shepherd, to keep us from straying, is, therefore, to the Cuban workmen an ideal gov ernor such as Cuba has never before had, and such as certainly she will never have again if the condition in which we at present exist shall be changed'.' That all sounds good to Lincoln people, regardless of their political be liefs. It makes us all feel proud to think that the man who earned all these enconiums from workingmen is a Lincoln man. Here's to Charley Magoon! Long may he wave! Of course we ought to say Governor Mugoon, but gosh hang it, we never can get used to hitching a title to his name. It sounds so much more cor dial and friendly to just say Charley. IN ORCHARD'S CLASS. Jackson Man Who Is Entitled to Rank With the Prize Confessor. Because he refused to bury his father for the ostensible reason that he needed all his money for the new home he was constructing, George Duckett, an employe of the Novelty Manufacturing company, of Jackson, Mich., lost his job recently. The dis charge was caused by the refusal of men to work with a man who refused to bury his father when he was well able to do so. Young Duckett is an excellent workman, but the fact that his father died in ,a poor house coupled with the knowledge that he re fused to pay $8 for his burial, lost him his position. San Antonio Dis patch. THAT'S RIGHT. Charles W. Fear has been appointed oiganizer of the A. F. of L. for Mis souri and Kansas. We are right glad of it. He has been working his fool head off for the cause for a dozen years and it is high time he at least got his expense money. Fear will get results if they are in Missouri or Kansas. That's a cinch. Western Laborer. The Boise Trial Despite the efforts of the conscience less Pinkertons, the scheming of mon ey barons and" the machinnations of unscrupulous legal sharks; despite the "confessions" of the myopic-brained Orchard and the blasphemous pro testations of the hired McPartland; despite the prostitution of the legal machinery of a great state to compass the destruction of a labor organiza tion; despite the open and brazen cor ruption of the ballot box; despite the hiring of the militia to private corpora tions and. the consequent attack upon legal rights guaranteed by the consti tution despite all these things Wil liam Haywood stands today a free man by virtue of a verdict of acquital rendered by a jury of his peers, and the heartless combine of greed and hate that sought to railroad him to the gallows is shown up for the scorn and contempt of all honest men. The Wageworker never for a mo ment believed that Haywood would be found guilty, but realizing the strength of the conspiracy having for its ob ject the removal of the men responsi ble for a labor organization that was a thorn in the flesh of the mine own ers, it feared a disagreement and the consequent delay in securing the free dom of the accused. Before we congratulate Montana up on giving Haywood a fair trial, and be fore we point with pride to this evi dence of judicial fairness, let us re member that had it not been for the hue and cry raised by the trades unionists of the country there might now be a different story to tell of the outcome of the Boise trial. Publicity is a wonderful weapon, and It is a good weapon that trades unions stand not in fear of, however much the men whose god is money may fear and hate It. It was publicity that forced a fair trial of Haywood; it was publicity that created the demand which" not even the mine owners could oppose successfully. Senator Borah, the chief attorney for the prosecution, stands discredited before the world. Indicted for fraud against the government, the indict ment against him was suppressed through influences that have long rob bed the government, because these in fluences were wielded by men who not only wanted to protect Borah but wanted him left free to send Hay wood to the gallows if it could possibly be done. Now let these men, who all along proclaimed the fairness of Mon tana justice, demand that Borah be placed on trial for his misdeeds. The attitude of Judge Woods throughout the trial was eminently fair. If at times he seemed to lean toward the side of the prosecution, at other times he seemed to favor the defense. And his instructions to the jury were such as to fortell the ver dict. But what shall be said of Darrow and Richardson, attorneys for the de fense? How they stood the awful mental and physical strain is a mys tery. They never overlooked a point; they seemed to grasp by intuition every point that would benefit their client. And their masterly summing up and thorough dissection of the evi dence stamped them as among the great lawyers Of this country. Dar row's defense of trades unionism should become a classic, and it should be reproduced in tract form and dis tributed by the millions. Now what will the ten millions of workingmen throughout the coun try do? What will be their attitude towards the occupant of the White House who, while Haywood, Moyer and Pettibone were on trial for their lives, prejudiced their case by calling them "undesirable citizens?" The Wageworker sends Its compliments to the nation's chief magistrate at Oys ter Bay, and seizes the occasion to re mind him that the "undesirable citi zens" of his classification are a major ity in this country. The Wageworker has interviewed a score of Lincoln men who are not trades unionists, many of whom are not even sympathizers with trades unionism and without exception these men have expressed themselves as satisfied with the verdict, and every one has stated that no-other verdict could have been rendered on the evi dence submitted. As Juror Robertson said, "The evidence wouldn't dovetail." The "confession" of Harry Orchard, bigamist, inciendiary, assassin, burg lar, tout and liar, was all that could be Results Just as It Snould brought against the accused, and upon the testimony of such a degenerate it would be criminal to convict even a dog of killing sheep. That there is need of reformation In the methods of conducting the busi ness of the Western . Federation of Miners will, doubtless, be admitted by a majority of its members. It has in times past been compelled by force of circumstances to meet force with force. Let it realize now that the time has past. Let it forever put a crimp in the Pinkerton spy system by for saking the "secret meeting" plan and throw its doors open to the public. The American Federation of Labor, the International Typographical Union, and other great unions, long ago abol ished the star chamber meetings, proving thereby that they have noth ing to conceal. Such action on the part of the Western Federation of Miners would do more to restore it to public -confidence than anything it could do. THE CIGARMAKERS. A Financial Statement of Which the Boys Are Very Proud. The report of the International Cigarmakers' Union for the past year is in the hands of the members.. It shows a membership of 45,418 in the United States; benefits naid during the year aggregated $467,716.63; paid for strike benefits, $44,735.43; paid for sick benefits, $162,905.82; cash in bank at close of the year, $714,506.17. The total cost to each member for all the purposes enumerated above was $9.50. The organization is a most sue- , cessful one, has ample money and the fact that so little money was paid for strike benefits shows that the mem bership is employed at good wages. ' The- .Des - Moines Cigarmakers' Union is going to insist that the sa loonkeepers live up to an agreement made three years ago in which the saloonkeepers agreed to sell and boost Des Moines made union cigars. A year ago there were one hundred cigarmakers employed in Des Moines. At the present time they number about forty. Cigarmakers' Union No. 4 won a victory on last Wednesday in police court when Samuel Levinson, cigar manufacturer, of 858 West Sixth street, was fined $200 and costs for unlawfully using the union label. It was shown that Levinson had sold a lot of cigars to a Dayton .dealer which bore the union label, although Levin son had no right to use the label. George W. Perkins of Chicago, inter national , president of cigarmakers' union, came here to personally con duct the case against Mr. Levinson. There has been a lot of union labels stolen from the headquarters here, and the officials of the union will in vestigate and endeavor to learn what has become of them.-r-Cincinnat.i Chronicle. FULTON'S LAST WEEK. Popular Stock Company Will Close Season at Oliver August 11. On Saturday of next week the Ful ton Stock company will close its sum mer season at the Oliver. The season has been very successful and the com pany has given the best of satisfac tion. Mr. Fulton and his capable company have established themselves in the affections of Lincoln people, and the annual engagement Is looked forward to with interest. Especially has the company and its management endeared themselves to the unionists of the city. The remaining perform ances should be to the "S. R. O." sign, and union men and women should show by their patronage that the many courtesies shown them are ap preciated to the full. WANTS NO "HEROES." The publishers of Scribner's Maga zine are installing a printing plant, and intend doing all their own work in future. The Typothetae officials made strenons efforts to induce the publishers to run an "open" shop, but failed. They will run a strictly union plant. Labor Day mass meeting at C. L. U. hall next Monday night. Either be there or quit your kicking.
