Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (July 10, 1909)
TUT m n 77 L TRADES THareilI COUNCILS LIXCOIiX, NEBRASKA, JULY IO, 1909 12 PAGES XO. 14 VOL.. ii c r 1 lfl HI I W Among the live Ones Here and Hereabouts Has your local selected Its member convict bricklayers, either with or 1 - . :. ! rithmit string A lot of union men or th general Labor uay roiumu. - - - --- -- . Or Me 5n" ... I hHit!9r: at I the bathing beach at Manawa, and be driven home. The writer has seen it happen more than once. The Lin coln laundry that first unionizes, short ens its hours and raises its wage soa;e, is going to make more money than any laundry ever made in Lincoln. It will have 2.500 earnest boosters behind it- Labor t If not. better gei uuj. Day is only about six week off. and if it is to be celebrated in Lincoln as usual, now is the time to get busy. Several locals have selected their com mitteeman. The celebration last La bor Day is " evidence of what can be done by intelligent and tireless el tort. U was the greatest celebra tion in the history of Lincoln union ism. Of course Mayor Love had a right to appoint whomsoever he pleased to the position of city weighmasier, but In appointing a successor to T. C. Kel .h mavor had no warrant for in- . . ... , j ; the faithful omciai wno n were astonished to find several men on the ground clothed in prison stripes and minus the union card. The union men withdrew at once. Here is another sample of what unionism stands for: Last week Wal ter E. Allen, a member of the Electri cal workers Union at Sioux City, died, leaving a widow and a couple of small children. The union buried him. More than that, it held a special meet ing the day after the funeral and raised $100 for the widow and orphans. And there will be more money forth- 1 coming when the widow and orphans TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION. ..t.!nw HH.u - . J. I f nroanWotinill as chars of the city scales tor tne " " "7 foTor five years. -I want a man who this that the JCirbys .the Cleaves m ill not be run by the hay setiers market square." Major Love Is report ed as saying. That is an insinuation that is not borne out by the facts. Mr. Kelsev took charge of the city scales when that branch of the city's business was conducted about as loosely as a business cou'.d be conducted. He made it a source of profit to the city and a credit to his business-like Judg ment. He was faithful and until the mayor's insinuation appearea, " noUce of appointment of another, there never was the faintist intimation that Mr. Kelsey was not doing his whole duty. The displacing of Kelsey is not a matter of surprise unless it be surprise that It did not occur sooner. But there are several thousand people In Lincoln who know Kelsey was not displaced because of Inefficiency. A better man tor the place never held it. and the Parry's would put out of business. If ever the cigarmakers needed the support of their fellow unionists they need it now. The prohibition wave has worked havoc with their business. Why? Because - millions of cigars made by union men and women were sold in saloons, and now that the sa loons have been put out of business that source of demand has been closed. You can help them wonderfully by ask ing your grocer to carry Lincoln made cigars. Begin a systematic demand for Lincoln made cigars right now. and if it is made as strong as it should be, another six months will see the present force of Lincoln cigar makers more than doubled. Installs Officers and Obligates a Couple of New Members. Lincoln Typographical -Union No. 209 installed its newly elected officers last Sunday. Then President Binga man assumed the gavel and brought the local through a mass of business in record time. Two new members were obligated. Delegate Coffey reported from the State Federation of Labor and the union immediately and unani mously voted to affiliate. It also drew a warrant for its initiation fee and the first quarter's dues. The newly printed copies of the constitution and bylaws were passed around. Then the union proceeded to do a little financial stunt, the vote be ing unanimous. The August meeting will be held just prior to the St. Joseph convention, and at that time whatever instructions the delegates need will be given. terly report, which showed 133 mem bers in good standing. This makes the Musicians' Union the largest in Lin coln. It also enjoys great financial prosperity. STREET RAILWAY MEN. How They Conspire Against Union Labor The truth is that the trouble be tween the Pittsburg Railway company Midnight Meeting Was a Hummer and . and its employes was part of the New Members Taken In. The Motormen and Conductors held a special meeting at Bruse's hall at midnight last Saturday night, and in ! general plan now being carried out to 'break up the labor unions. There the language of one of the men it was a "hum dinger," whatever that is. A dozen new members were added to the roll, and the interest and en thusiasm displayed by the rank and file was good to see. The members are taking hold in earnest, and they are proceeding cautiously. Conserva tism is in control, and will continue right along. The meeting lasted until 2 a. m., and it was full of ginger to the end. Some of the speeches made were worthy of men who have been in the movement for years. An effort is on foot to secure the presence of President Mahon in the near future, and if he " comes there will be a meeting that will shake the building to its foundations. Sam Chaplin thinks "chicken- awake and dreams -chicken asleep. That's why he made a mistake the other day and drove a nail through his hand in stead of through a board. This Is an explanation of why Chaplin is carry his left hand around in a bandage and his chair left vacant in the barber shop. Th. management of the Lincoln Traction Co.. took special pains to declare that the increased wage scale was In no wise due to the fact that ..- mn had orxanixed. Of course it Th increase Is due wholly to the generosity of the management. But Isn't it funny that it took we niu8- w.t fivo or six years after tne aa vent of "prosperity to get their gen- : vorkine order, and that when It did begin to work It was with in a week after 85 per cent of the .mon and conductors had organ- uivtwi ixed a union and received a charter TEAMSTERS. The newly organized Team Drivers Union held a short meeting Saturday evening and transacted a lot of busi ness. The interest in this organiza tion is growing, and another month will doubtless see the membership well around the hundred mark.- THE MUSICIANS. If there is any one class more than another in Lincoln that needs the ben efits of organization it is the laundry workers. The girls in these estab lishments work long hours at work ill-suited to them. Their pay is not at all commensurate with their labors. Watch the laundries closely this sum mer. You'll see girls taken from the terrible atmosphere therein, hot and moist, and carried fainting to hacks to First July Meeting was Put Through 5 in "Jig Time. The Musicians met last Sunday at noon, and rushed through their busi ness in jig time. It took just twenty minutes to transact all the business and it amounted to a whole lot. But the executive committee had paved the way by getting everything ready. Then again, it was frightfully hot, and many of the members were due for PAYS FOR HIS NERVE. . Violator of Contract Labor Law Con , victed and Fined. Norman Thackarey, foreman of the Arnold Print Works in North Adams, Mass., was convicted of violating the alien contract labor law, in the United States district court last Tuesday, and fined $200. It was contended he in duced Clifford Galard and Bernard Tugwell, two English mill hands, to come; to this country and work in the plant of which he was foreman. still to eat Secretary Kendrick read the quar- SAMUEL GOMPERS IN LONDON, Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, land ed from the steamer Baltic at Holy head, and arrived in London at 1 o'clock on June 27. He was met by engagements at 2 o'clock witfiWflfieTr-fTJjmsJ' J. . Shaekieixm and James A. Sed- don, members of the House of Com mons, and other labor leaders. have been a number of conferences held by big employers of labor, most of whom are members of the Na tional Manufacturers association, to devise ways and means of crushing all organizations of workingmen by concerted action all over the coun try. It is said here that the steel trust first suggested that such an effort be made and that the Lake Carriers' association acted with the steel trust in interesting all other organized employers of labor in the scheme. The crusade against organized la bor was decided on, according to the story told here, over nine months ago when Van Cleave was president of the National Manufacturers" asso ciation, and it was agreed that the program would be followed out just as soon as the campaign was over. The action of the Lake Carriers' association in declaring for the open shop and establishing a blacklisting system was part of the plan. It i3 stated here that the steel trust declared for the open shop in its sheet and tin plate mills in pur suance of the program agreed upon over nine months ago, and that in similarly declaring for the open shop the Republic Iron and Steel company is now carrying. out its compact to join in the movement to destroy the labor unions. Proof or the conspiracy has been obtained, according to reliable au thority, and this evidence," so it is said, shows that the hat manufactur ers had joined In the agreement. The claim also is made that the Pittsburg Railway company deliber ately planned to have its employes eo on strike and that the scheme was to inaugurate in this city a gen eral crusade against organizations of street railway men aQ over the- cows' try. So far as the aUac oa street rail way unions is concerned, the erosade ended in failure became of the atti tude assumed by Mayor Xagee. The mayor found that, vender an olil law, he had the power t? seise the prop erties of the railway company and operate them on behalf of th muni cipality. He accordingly served no tice on the officers of the railway company that if the strike was noc settled he would take advantage of that law, seize the company's prop erty and operate the road. This threat brooght the e-KBpaa? to time immediately. All its care fully laid plans to continue th strifce until the unions were destroyed were abandoned. It has been learned that week a?i the railway company here had ar ranged with other street rail ay companies in at least a dozea eie to detail all their extra men to Pitts burg just as soon as the strike was declared. And among the companies that had agreed to send nwa to Pitts burg to take the places of the strikers was the International Railway cotzv pany of Buffalo. Special to Buffalo Republic from Pittsburg. BARBERS TO HOLD CONVENTION. ROLAND -ir t..i, Tv';-w .Tn th new resident of the Manufacturers' Association, was most bellicose in his attitude toward organized labor in his inaugural address at tne time 01 nis recem n-n. He said among other absurd things: "The way to handle the animal that we have been fighting is to take mm ny tne noma and shake the eussedness out of him." That is not exactly a new policy; Mr. Van Cleave has been Irving that and Mr. Post and Mr. Parry before him, and yet the rv" r aur '-on'mal" so far from hanging to existence by a Ued a union and TM rt, in another part of bis speech froM their e-tiona. "' than ever. Tfmay not be entirely the organization had nothing to do with the Increase, we suggest tnai the management have their statement repeated daily in the papers. There is little enough of humor in the daily papers these days, anyhow. The Central Labor Union will meet next Tuesday evening, and by that tinw. it is expected that the Labor Day Committee will be ready to organixe. . This meeting ought to be a rouser. There hav been "doings" in the or ganized labor field since last the cen tral body met, and when it meets again there ought to be representatives from a couple of new unions on the spot- Bert Chipnian came up from Kan-r-iiv a few days ago and will visit with relatives in Lincoln for a time. He has been in Kansas City tor sever al months. It looks good to see Bert around among 'em again. He is al ways a booster tor unionism. His old enemy, rhumatism, still gives him a twinge now and then. raniial Beach Is a mighty pretty place these days, and you'll enjoy an afternoon and evening there with your family. You'll hear a lot of good union made music And you will be enter tained by a number of other attrac tions furnished by the management. This amusement resort is worthy of liberal patronage, and there is no bet ter place to send your wives and little ones for a day's outing. m i .nA Rhrw Workers will 1 U hold their 1911 convention in St. Paul Minnesota. Tk. nnion bricklayers of Council Bluffs draw the line at working with i.f. tn take the "animal" bv the horns. Someone else might be thrown. Mr Kirby waxed very abusive and, as usual with such at- tempts, resorted to misrepresentation instead 01 stating xauu.. . that renresentatives of the American Fed- eration of Labor had accepted invitations to speak before women s ohiha and that the Y. M. C. A. even desired information on the lhr movement and that men of standing in the community should associate with leaders of organized labor. Such wild abuse might contain possibilities tor grave puone miscniei were 11 uui neutralized by its own vicious stupidity. Mr. Kirby as the Bombastes Funoso of the Aiamuactnrers Association is likely to do more harm to his own class and col leagues than to the hosts of labor. He is likely to complete the revolt which started with an outburst in his convention against Van Cleave s abuse of organized labor. Some employers have been ith harborina the fire-eating type VI Mailt IV vuui j,v . - - srwwh savored of recklessness and exaggera- tion. But if this were ever in a degree true of labor s represen tatives it might have been accounted xor uu- s of wrong which conceivably would render a man bitter and violent in his statements; but we hear very little nowadays of this type of labor orator. Strangely enough the Manufacturers' Association tko ;isr.rm;hll hitter, reckless tone and its hated opponent I the labor union manages to keep sweet tempered even under re markable provocation. r- Tr;rhr fvrc.ts that under our American institutions the workers are not in a separate class, there is not the old time status aP o on.l currant hilt" all are in some sense masters of their own destiny and all equally valuable as eitizens of our eountry. . ... m . 1 1 jL " . None may gainsay tne riiriit or tne worsens u urjiam u cu.- nli ft of the whole people. Mr. Kirby t. ClUV tlV .v-a. makes the mistaken assumption that labor has no rights except u nAAA..,i ht. tha Anmmvprs nnti 1 1121 l me uiauiiauuu ui muse anviucu -, -1 - iflWtr . TmihVioiislv misehievous. T,,t- ko rf mir oiintrv know better, 1 hey know that J-Jlltl V Jv. vrv vm. w - - lakA. .a mi Mnnr.mi neeessitv. that it is here to stay I. iiC lauui ituavu - ' and that the moutnings 01 tne iviroy s ami vau viws uut ua vA Aouoa -ti-hioh thev nroress to represent. VI vvnr l &1 V - IW i, M-.-k. . xr . horn of the iniDositions and injustice of J. 41 tr l . - a. - employers, who, confident of their strength, treated the workers just .as Mr; Kirby would have them treated now. He would have fkom run-iriliiil ac cliivoe and orimina s Hp woulil denv tnem an lll 111 llUlUVU 1 ! . t. I -.1 uuu - ......... . rights before the law, and then grossly misrepresent their effort to obtain justice. We fear that Mr. Kirby suffered somewhat Irom exasperation 1 . - 1 . - TT. ' T .- . 1 . -. T 1. 1 fat. min1d!l ana trepidation, xie ijiius mai, luc ktumuic auu m. w.isvi-o nnnrttrcr ot-o rtnt tn Tn -fnr.loil liv the hitter, vindie- "J ' . - i - i i i I. : . 1, 1. ' 11 ; .... .J ..1 i ..1 i TiMmnff live, and viruiem auunc yvxucu aix :oiica "--"i upon tne labor unions, inere are a good many cuina who like them. They have dealt with unions for a period of years and find the dealing satisfactory, such men can not be iooiea or coerceu iuw joining the Manufacturers association and conmouting wiifj in order that the labor unions may be vilified and hounded ont or existence. While the labor unions much prefer to spend their resources in the constructive work of organization, and regret the expendi tures made necessary in court proceedings and unjust injunction cases, yet we can say truthfully that the fierce attacks of the hire the Manufacturers' Association in the last two years have but raised up friends for the labor movement on every side. De-J spite the depression of the past year and a half the unions have . . . . . - - .Of.. , held their own and there is no trace 01 any m eixeci ib attacks of the Tan Cleaveites, and they are now moving forward. Such persecution has always made the persecuted flourish. The result seems to worry Mr. Kirby. It looks as though he were not too cheerful or too hopeful in taking up the bad job where Van Cleave let it off. desire to become .A a. I luuniuattuivii ---'"-"- -" ----- a force for good or to range itself with the constructive and pro gressive organizations of our time it snouid pray iur a prrur... who would evidence a sufficient amount of well-balanced gray mat ' ... . . . - ii., . . ter in his cranium to refrain from suen mournings as iuuk which Mr. Kirby immensely amused the wnoie counirj rtfceuu.. We said in our editorial last montn: "it ; lli-o oa-tr that we entprtain neither hope nor desire that the National Association of Manufacturers shall elect as its ;.i... ,n;na utnnlnvor who has neither the courage, m- telligence, nor the bonesty of his convictions: but he need not be an extremist or a fanatic or centuries Denina xne times. filling so responsible a position should be an employer representa tive in character, representative in business, and representative of . - i n J -:-. . 7 the best conceptions Ol American uiauuuuu aim cuii"i'- Jlr. Kirby is none or tnose tnings, we regret to a, t effect of his time-worn tactics will be to make his own colleagues ridiculous rather than to inflict any great damage on the workers. . i i - r i Meanwhile the labor movement goes serenely on its way, uunu- : . nnl naioAtiii(, rrirn rti sni i iri Munnpratinff with everv 1 1 1 U ujj auu v. - civie, reform and educational foree which makes for progress. A , i i i "i i i i.i r c. . comparison OI me wotk acmevea uy iue lauur union ia 11s wu r.f...tivo flFit iiiiil ti a VlAatniAtive tapt"i fif th TCirhv's and Van Cleave's should draw a parallel which no sensible employer . m -l t : .. l'1 . : . . Can auoro to ignore. Aiuencau t-upraiiuuist. First International Assembly ef "rh Craft in Many Years. Something in the way of a novelty for the Journeymen Barbers' Interna tional onion is soon to take piace. Th novelty win be in the form of aa in ternational convention, and may be called a novelty becaase It is the first that the organization has hei.i for a long time. It will be held in Milwau kee, beginning October 5. and win oc cupy about one week. The organization, was formed is 1 337 in Buffalo. X. Y at a meeting that was attended by five mem represent ing five local onions of barbers. TbcT mmbership, which whea formed was about ISO. and the membershj ia good standing at the present time ht about 26.000. Convention were he id each year until IS 54. when it was de cided that they shoald be held rati three years, and since then there has been no international cowventio of the barbers. In support of this poli cy the argument is advanced that con siderable money is saved. One of the matters that will be brought op at the XQwaakee eoaves tion will be a proposition to establish a home for barbers, soraethios; after the nature of the home of the Interna tional Typographical anion. Jaroo Fischer, international secretary of the barbers. Tisited the Printers' Home- several months ago, and espressei mnch satisfaction with what he saw. He will make a fall report of his vfeiit daring the convention. THE CARPENTERS. Installed Officers and Transacted m Lot of Other Business. Local N'o. 1055 Installed the follow ing officers Monday night at the regu lar meeting: President, S. D. Swab. t Vice-President, EL 31. Heywortd. Recording Secretary. C. H- Chase. Financial Secretary. E. S. Acott- Treasurer, John Pirn. The attendance was small oa ac count of celebration of the Fourth. Next meeting is a called meeting, and the matter of labor on the pro posed band stand win come np. The local is invited to send twi delegates to the dedication, at Indian apolis, IbA, of the new headquarters building, July 22. bat this will fcar dly be done on aecowat of the expense. We win have soma more to say shoot this later. Bro. X. B. Sickard of Cnlverirr Place is still laid np with rhessaa tism and his wife is barely able t be around from the same eacse. They have been laid up for tw months or more. Bra. A. J. Marsh of Eureka Sarins. Ark is keeDfnc his dnes 9u Says he does not care to become a hack number, even if he Is clear away from any local. FOR REXT 1221 South 15th St. choice 3-foom cottage, with bath, sani tary closet, city water, foresee, gas for lighting and cooking. Sse law a and shade, first-class location. See M. L. Williams. 15 C Sc