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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1907)
3 TUT fe TRADES iBSSfj COUNCIL VOL,. 4 -LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, SEPTEMBER 20, li07 JSTO. 25 V Temple Committee Gets Good Runming Start The Labor Temple committee met t the home of S. L. Chaplin last Monday evening and took several long steps towards getting the move ment into workable shape. Eight unions were represented, a gain of two over the first meeting of the committee. The following delegates were present :. A. V. White, Plumbers' J. V. Dickson, Carpenters'. T. C. Kelsey, Leatherworkera'. A. B. Woellhaf, Painters'. T. W. Evans, Cigarmakers'. Alex Weckesaer, Pressmen. Tred Ihrlnger, Typographical. S. L.x Chaplin, Barbers'. After the reading and .approval of the minutes of the Initial meeting, Secretary Maupln proceeded to read m draft of the articles of incorpora tion prepared after consultation with Hon. Frank W. Tyrrell, county at torney, who volunteered to help the i-ommlttee In every way possible with legal advice and assistance. Just as srou as incorporation papers can be whipped into legal shape and made satisfactory to a majority of those at Interest, they will be filed. It will ' tnke several further meetings of the committee, however, to perform this task, and after that will come the work of planning the campaign for t nances. That the. general public is taking notice of the project is evidenced by thr fact that several real estate apents have visited the secretary for the purpose of calling attention to the "best possible site," and three or four representatives of money-loaning con cerns have visited with a view to se curing the contract for negotiating any loan that the association may deem necessary to secure, k To date the committeemen elected ave expressed themselves in favor of the "closed stock company" plan of procedure. This plan contemplates the organization of a stock company along such lines that its business will be retained in the hands of union men through their various locals. Further than this the committee has not defl nitely gone. The articles of incor poration as considered so far, but not decided upon, provide for a stock company with a capital of $50,000 Ownership of stock is limited to $1,000 for an individual, and to $5,000 to any union. No organization not affili ated with the American Federation of Labor will be permitted to h.id stock ub an organization. Each union holding $100 or more of the stock vlll be entitled to one member on the beard of directors, and six directors at large are to be elected by the in dividual stockholders. Proxies will be allowed, but only to the extent of representing 1,000 shares. That is, a stockholder holding 500 shares cannot set as proxy for more than 500 shares belonging to another stockholder. The board of directors will elect seven trustees, five of whom must be members in good standing of a trade or labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor The "term is two years, unless mem bi-rshlp in the local union lapses by reason of failure to pay dues or ex pulsion. The president, vice president, secretary and treasurer will constitute a majority of the board of trustees The association will have the power t' call In stock at any time upon pay ment of 'the current market! price, The cumulative system of voting will be provided for in the articles. ThU will always 'insure the minority repre sentation on thei board of directors and board of trustees, and will pre vent any scheme to "freeze out" any minority stockholders. The committee hopes to have the legal papers ready by the first of October for final reference back to local unions. When a majority of the unions have given them proper ap proval the committee will proceed to arrange its financial campaign. And when it is framed up there will be such a campaign for subscription as Lincoln has never before, seen. The committee will meet next Mon- . day at the home of Fred Ihrlnger, K39 D street . The committee Is under obligations to Mrs. Chaplin. Just as Chairman Dickson announced the adjournment of the meeting Mrs. Chaplin appeared and invited the committee out to par take of a luncheon. The invitation did not need to be repeated, and the committeemen did full justice to the ample spread provided. The hostess was given a unanimous vote of thanks. The delegate from the Electrical Workers, although selected several v.'eeks ago, has not yet reported for duty. The Bartenders' delegate has also failed to report, but has submit ted an excuse that was accepted. He promises to be on hand in the fu ture. Louis Taylor has been selected to represent the Commercial Telegra phers. This leaves the Bookbinders, ricklayers, Lathers and Stereotypers unrepresented among the tradesmen. None of the railroad brotherhoods has as yet shown signs of any interest in tho project. But the temple project Is working out in good shape. A little patience ard a lot of hard work will insure success. And the committee is show ing by if s promptness and interest that is going to do its full share of burden-bearing. THE CARPENTERS. Still Continue to Add New Members to the Union Roll. Last Tuesday evening the Carpen ters added three new members to the list, thus keeping up the record for substantial growth at every meeting of the local. It was announced that every ex pense attached to the burial of Brother Erickson had been paid by voluntary donations from the mem bers. The fact that Brother Erick son was not a beneficiary member was not allowed to figure. The union took care of it. Work continues to be good, and the business agent is kept busy trying to answer the calls for men. The first meeting night in October will be a special called meeting, and every member is. requested to be piesent and submit his due book for comparison. A fine is attached for failure to respond to this notice, and the secretary has been instmcted to Impose the fine for each failure. The following resolutions were adopted Tuesday evening: Whereas, God in His Divine wisdom has Been fit to call from life unto death a friend and brother, Henry Erickson, Therefore be it Resolved, That we tender our heartfelt sympathy to his sorroving family in their bereavement to the end that they may be encouraged to accept with resignation the Divine will. And be it further Resolved, That our charter be draped in mourning for thirty days, that a copy of these resolutions be presented to his family, a copy be spread upon the minutes of this local and that they be published in The Wageworker. ROSWELL SHEPHERD, President. J. A. CHAMBERS. . Rec. Secretary. THE BARBERS. Set Down on the Proposition to Open a Sunday Shop. In the wash room of the Commer cial club set a barber chair, and on the wall is a card announcing that on Sundays, from 9 a. n., to 6 p. m., Mr. Green will have a barber there to at tend to the wants of patrons. The Barbers' Union met Wednesday night, and among other items of business considered, was this Sunday opening proposition. It did not take long to dispose of it. Permission to operate the Sunday shop was refused for two reasons. First, the union is against Sunday opening. Second, the union would not, if it, could, consent to a violation of the city ordinances. If the Sunday shop at the Commercial club rooms does operate, it will be after the courts have decided that the ordinance is invalid. The barbers unanimously tendered striking telegraphers financial assis tance. They also sent assistance to their striking brothers in St. Louis who are out to enforce a demand for better hours and wages. The new 15 cent schedule went in to effect in all union shops of Lincoln on September 1. After three weeks trial it seems to give satisfaction. The local Barbers' Union is much interested in the Temple project, and the members stand ready to do their share, and a little more, towards mak ing it a success. ANOTHER EIGHT-HOUR SHOP. State Journal Company Puts the Short Day Into Effect. The State Journal Printing . com pany, which employs over 150 mem bers of the Allied Printing Trades, put the eight-hour day into effect in all departments recently. There was no reduction of wages in any depart ment. Having contracted with ths Typographical Union for the eight hour day the Journal company reached the conclusion that it would be unwise to work one department eight hours and the rest nine. For thia reason all departments profited by the campaign of the Typographical Union. "It remains for the employes to demonstrate the wisdom of our ac tion," said Manager Traphagen the other day. "It rests with them. We are perfectly willing to work the shorter day provided we can make money. If the short day is profitable, well and good. We are going to try It. and if the employes deliver the goods we will be satisfied." , LINCOLN ENGINEER KILLED. G. L. Graves Goes to His Death Be neath ' Overturned Engine. Last Monday, G. L. Graves, a Bur lington engineer living in Lincoln, was instantly killed in a wreck two miles east of Seward. Graves, who was pulling a freight, struck a hand car loaded with two steel rails. As a result the engine was derailed, and overturning into the ditch caught the unfortunate engineer and crushed the life out of him. Fireman Gus Niles jumped and escaped with serious bruises and fractures. It is claimed that the hand car was not properly protected by a flag, and a careful investigation is being made. The body of the dead engineer was brought to Lincoln . and prepared for burial. The services were attended in a body by the Brotherhood of Lo comotive Engineers and the Auxiliary to the Brotherhood. Mr. Graves at tended the meeting of his Brother hood the day before. He leaves a wife and three ' children, two daugh ters and a son. The funeral was held from the home of the deceased engin eer, 1246 T street, and was largely at tended by sympathizing friends and neighbors. Interment was in Wyuka. Mr. Graves was one of the most popular engineers on the road. He took an active interest in Brotherhood affairs, and outside of railroad circles he had a host of friends. His sad death has cast a gloom over circles in which death is not an unaccus tomed visitor in the guise of accident THE PRESSMEN. Formulate Their Demands and Pre sent Them to the Typothetae. The executive board of the Print ing Pressmen and Press Assistants' International union was in session at the headquarters of the organization In the Lyric theatre building last week. This is the first meeting of the board since the headquarters were removed from New York to this city. The following members of the board were in attendance President George I.. Berry of San Francisco, First Vice President Peter J. Breen of New York City, Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Mc- Mullin of Cincinnati, and Theodore Galoskowsky, editor of the Interna tional Pressmen. Agreements, wage scales and contracts between employ ers and men in all sections-of the country were under consideration be fore the board, and several matters wave been formulated to be pre sented to the National Typothetae. The board will leave here to meet the Typothetae at a conference to be held at Niagara Falls. Cincinnati Chronicle. Immediately after the adjournment ol the executive board, President Eerry went to Niagara Falls to attend the meeting of the United Typothetae The demands of the pressmen for a modification of the agreement en gineered by Higgins was presented. It calls foi; the eight-hour day and lecognition of the union. This was refused. Immediately President Berry left, announcing that the matter would be at once submitted to a referendum vote jof the organization. It is pre sumed that two propositions will be submitted, one to ratify the Higgins' agreement, and the other to insist upon the eight-hour day. It is safe to say that the pressmen will stand by President Berry and repudiate the alleged contract for the open shop made) by Higgins. THE PLUMBERS. Are Going to Make an Effort to Get Philadelphia Squared Up. General Organizer Thomas E: Burke of the plumbers, gas and steam fitters' union, well known to the craft in Oma ha, is to undertake the task of organ izing Philadelphia. He admits it is a tremendous undertaking, but is game and will make the try.. It would be very gratifying to his Omaha friends to see him succeed in the City of Brotherly Love. We know the Quak ers will love Burke if they get ac quainted with him. Success to Tom my. Western Laborer. The Lincoln plumbers at the last meeting elected Brother White to rep resent the local on the Labor Temple committee. The local also made a liberal appropriation for the support of the striking telegraphers. THE BARTENDERS. The fourteenth general convention of the Hotel and Restaurant Employes' International Alliance and Bartend ers' International League of America will convene Monday, October 14th, 1507, at Toledo, Ohio. HOME PATRONAGE AGAIN. How Loudest Advocates Thereof Sig nally Fail to Practice It. Last Tuesday morning a Lincoln housewife, realizing- the- need of a new broom, went to the telephone, to order! one. Being an advocate of home! patronage and in complete ac cord with the campaign or "building up Lincoln industries," she ordered a Lincoln made broom. She called ' up nine grocers and three other stores handling brooms among other goods. Eight of the twelve are known to be members of the Commercial Club. ' Not one of the twelve had a Lincoln made broom in stock. One had a broom made in Deshler, Nebraska, and the other eleven carried only the convict made Lee broom. This, too, when there is a broom factory in Lincoln that is operated by a Lincoln man who employs free labor at fair wages. But business men who prate about "patronizing home indus try" and "building up Lincoln institu tions" prefer to handle a broom made by convicts in the state prison, thus driving free labor, out of the market and crippling a business institution of Lincoln that is really doing some service In the upbuilding of Lincoln. Finally this Lincoln housewife found a grocer who did carry a Lin coln made broom. He was the thir teenth man approached. He is not a member of the Commercial Club, but he declared that he handled the Lin coln made broom because he believed in patronizing home first. If the Commercial Club wants to "make good" it ought to be getting wise to the fact that the mechanics whose weekly wages make It possi ble for Lincoln merchants to live, are quite well aware of the hypocrisy of the merchant who preaches ,- "home patronage" and then freezes out the little business enterprises that are forced to meet the unfair competition of convicts. SECEDING TEAMSTERS. As a result of a split in the ranks of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, caused by the action of President Shea in Chicago, 150 team sters held a convention in Rochester, N. Y., this week. The new organiza tion calls itself the United Teamsters of America. N. W. Evans, general president of the organization, presid ed. John Sheridan, of Chicago, was elected president. Delegates from Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Detroit and other cities were present. The organization claims a membership of 40,000. The wage ' of mechanics in Yukon territory, per day of ten hours, is $10; common laborers, with board, $4 to $5; without board, $6; draft teams, per day (two horses), $25; clerks, per month, $150 to $300. Telegraphers Still Hold W. L. Johnson, a telegraph operator who is still pounding a key at tho Lincoln office of the Western Union Telegraph company, while men with nerve to ask for justice are on strike, tfkes exception to The Wageworker classifying him among the "scabs." Under date of September 16 Mr. Johnson writes The Wageworker as follows: "In your last week's issue of The Wageworker you dub me as a 'scab," that I was a union telegrapher, etc. I-wish, to correct this statement by informing you that I did not belong to the telegraphers' union, as Mr. Taylor, secretary of the local union, will at test. My version of a 'scab is one who belongs to a union and refuses to strike, or one who takes the place of a striker. In this respect I have done . neither. I have ' simply ' at tended to my duties as I have for the past ten years in this office.' I have a family to support; have always done so, and shall continue to do so through the medium of the telegraph , key. Mr. Taylor and the striking operators of our office hold na enmity toward me for the stand I took, and you have certainly gained your information from an unreliable source, or else simply jumped at a conclusion. , ' "W. J. JOHNSON." Mr. Johnson is not the first man who has fallen back upon the pitiful excuse of, "a family to support" to justify himself in failing to stand by braver men who were battling for justice. ' Adam was the first man to blame his wife for his own weakness. and from Adam to Johnson men have been doing the same thing ever since. Mr. Johnson's definition of a "scab" fjL&y salve his own conscience, but union men who have a backbone in stead of a cotton string do not de fine the word that way. Union or non-union, W. L. Johnson was guilty of giving aid and comfort to the enemy of his fellow workers, and if that Is not "scabbing" The Wage w orker does not know the definition cf the word. ,. The plea that he "has a family to support" may sound good to those who are unacquainted with the facts. The facts are that the strikers succeeded in almost persuad ing Johnson to act square, and they offered him the big end of the bene fits that the strikers were to have. Then, too, Johnson has the contract for the Bijou theatre program, which is good for $20 or $25 a week or was until Johnson threw his fellow workers down. It- is not likely to be worth 'so. much to him when the loyal union men get busy on that score. But "support for his family" wasn't all that actuated Mr. Johnson, if re ports are true. Let Mr. Johnson an swer these questions through the col umns of The Wageworker. Is it not true, Mr. Johnson, that you were persuaded to, remain at work when your comrades quit by the of fer of double time and double pay? Is it not true, Mr. Johnson, that since the strike you have been1 work ing practically two shifts a day and drawing practically double pay for each shift? 1 .And is it not true, Mr. Johnson, that your greed' - for money, rather than a desire to "support your fam ily," impelled you to give your strik ing comrades the "double cross?" ' And lastly, Mr. Johnson, is it not true that deep down . in your own heart you feel that you have been guilty of doing what "scabs" do? You are welcome to all the space you may reasonably ask in The Wage worker to answer these questions. The strike of the telegraphers has been "broken" again. If you don't believe it just pick up last Wednes day morning's daily and look at the full and complete returns from the Oklahoma election. On Tuesday Ok lahoma held an election that attracted the attention of the entire country. Upon it hinged the admission of a new state, and a possible decision of the future political complexion of the country. Millions of voters picked up J their Wednesday morning's papers The Companies Level and vainly searched for something definite from that election. Only a vague reference was made to it just such a reference as mght be "grape- vined" by any good telegraph editor. It the Western Union and Postal had been able to make even a showing of covering that Oklahoma election they would have exerted every possible scheme to do It. But they knew it was useless to try. So they devoted their efforts to getting their few "scab" press operators to send out the "grapevine" written In Chicago, and followed it up with the old chestnut, "the strike is broken." The strike is not broken. The Western ' Union and Postal are still tied up. "Western Union stock has dropped from 114 to 95. The telegrams you file and pay 40 cents to have delivered quickly, are mailed under a 2-cent stamp to the point of address, and ' there copied on a telegraph blank and delivered by messenger. You can get as speedy a service by mail. " :.:''' A MAIL YOUR OWN TELEGRAMS! The Wageworker owes its humblest apologies to O. R. Carson. Through a similarity in the sound Tho Wage.-, worker was deceived into classing Mr. Carson as a "scab." The truth is thai he is one of the strikers, and he is "sticking." Not only has he refused to return; to work for- the Western -.-Union, but it is not likely that he will ever again work for that slave driving outfit. The "scab" i C E. Thorson, who is still working for the Western Union. ' The local telegraphers on 'strike are feeling confident. . Four of the six have found good jobs on "union" wires, and the other two - are still holding , out The Central Labor Union, the Bricklayers, the Plumbers and the Electrical Workers' have "come across" with financial assist" , ance, and there is more to follow. Ihe money is being used to send the boys on to better jobs and hold the others here to watch the corners. ; ' Last Saturday night the United Press hadi to rig up a, new circuit. This is the service taken by the Sun- ; day Star, and Secretary Taylor is the operator. Somewhere along the long circuit the messages ' went over a wire presided over by members of the Order of Railway Telegraphers. . Af ter the service had been running for about an hour some Operator along the line, growing' suspicious, opened his key and flashed the signal, "Sign!" Getting no immediate response he left his key open and proceeded with his routine work. And for an hour the wire was "dead." Finally he closed his key and again signalled, "Sign!" This time one of the C. T. U. boys sent the "password" and immediately the O. R. T. boy indignantly queried: "Why in hell didn't you say so at first?" And then the press wire got busy again and there was no more trouble. But,, of course,; the strike has been,' broken again, and the O. R T. boys are not doing a thing to help their brothers of the C. T. U. The repbrt sent out from Cleveland or at least dated Cleveland and appearing in the. Associated Press dispatches a few days ago, announcing the return of a lot of strikers in that city, was a barefaped lie. , The ranks o; the strikers in Cleveland are still intact. Instead of weakening, the strikers have "lifted" several opera tors imported by the company. The Western Union is devoting its every energy to keep the Associated Press wires going, and even at this it is not meeting with success. ' Will Duff, formerly Associated Press operator at the Journal office, but now of Kansas City, "scabbed" on the Commercial Telegraphers Union in Kawville. He sought to ex cuse himself by saying that the de mands were exorbitant and two or three of the strikers were "lushers." If ever a man owed loyalty to his fel low craftsmen it was Duff, for they have given him the best of it for years. Those who are aware of his infirmity will understand how the boys could help him along.