Traction company managers will assure the
Division's committee a respectful hearing as
representatives of the organization, be
tween certain specified dates, the men will
rettdily pledge themselves not to strike dur
ing fair week.
Instead of giving this .assurance Vice
President Sharp immediately boasted that
he had put the men "in a hole," and pro
ceeded to make matters worse by violating
what was in fact a flag of truce. He, or
some one in authority in Lincoln Traction
company affairs, caused to be inserted in
one of the Lincoln papers on Sunday morn
ing, August 29. an advertisement for motor
men and conductors, "married men pre
ferred." This, too, in face of the faet that
ever since the organization of Division No.
522 the management had been adding extra
men with unwonted rapidity. This activity
on the part of the Lincoln Traction com
pany managers was not unnoticed by the
regular men. They knew all the time that
it was merely part of a concerted plan to
disrupt their organization. But they made
no protest. They thought, as they had rea
son to think, that business men like Mr.
Sharp and Mr. Humpe would at least re
frain from . underhanded methods. That
they were mistaken is evidenced by the ap
pearance of the advertisement mentioned,
and by subsequent boasts made by Vice
President Sharp to the effect that having
put the men "in a hole," and staving off
trouble until after the state fair harvest of
nickels, he didn't care what the men did;
that the company would be ready for any
trouble by that time. In the meantime new
men were being broke in on nearly every
run. and it was plain that the company was
violating the flag of truce so generously of
fered by the men.
So rank has become the discrimination
against the older men in the service who
have joined Division No. 522. and so plain
the favoritism shown some of the old men
who have refused to join with their fellows
in a concerted demand for better conditions,
that the men can no longer ignore it.
The general public should fully under
stand the situation. The motormen and con
ductors are paid a sliding scale the new
men receiving the minimum, and the wage
increasing until the end of the fifth year,
wh.'ii the maximum is reached. This is a
tsct't agreement that when a man begins
he shall have every fair opportunity to
it 'eh the maximum. But what show does
a man have to reach that maximum when
the company's managers can discharge him
for any reason at all, or for no other reason
than that they can get a new man to do the
work at the minimum instead of paying the
older man the maximum? The fact is. that
as soon as a man enters the car service he
secures an equity in the higher wage
schedule, .and in common justice he should
have some protection thrown around him in
order that his equity may not be wiped out
by the personal or selfish motive of some
man in authority. If i for this purpose,
among others, that the street railway men
have organized. They want the Lincoln
Traction Company to agree to a condition
that will protect the equity the men have in
the maximum wage. The fairest way to do
this is through a grievance board, such as
is recognized by the great steam railway
corporations of the country. It does not
mean that the Lincoln Traction Company
may not discharge a man when it sees fit.
It merely provides that it can only discharge
for cause, and that if the discharged em
ploye thinks the discharge is unjust, he may
have the matter considered amicably. If.
the discharge was warranted, then the mat
ter ends. If not warranted, the man is to
be reinstated and paid for the full time lost
by reason of the discharge.
The Amalgamated Association of Street
and Electric Railway Employes, Division
Xo. 522, submits in all fairness that this
demand is just, and that in no other way
can the rights of the men. their equity in
the maximum wage, be protected.
They are also asking for an inerea"se
of wages an increase that is only just
and fair. It is not larger than other cities
of Lincoln's class, and not so large as
most of them. Neither is it too high vhe5
one takes into consideration local condi
tions, rents, cost of living, etc.
But to all these reasonable demands
the managers of the Lincoln Traction Com
pany have turned a deaf ear. They have
also tried to take undue advantages that
illy become men who pretend to be hon
orable business men.
GENERAL LABOR NOTES.
Reports say that all towns throughout
Iowa are planning for big times on Labor
Day.
The grocery and provision clerks of
Brockton, Mass., are on strike for a short
er workday.
Union signwriters in Boston have won
their demand for an increase of 50 cents
a day in aH but five shops.
A committee has been appointed by the
Allied Building Trades of Philadelphia to
select a site for a labor temple.
Zanesville (Ohio) painters have been
granted the eight-hour day. The seale
agreed to calls for a minimum wage of
$3 a day.
During the last two months thirty-seven
new locals of building laborers have been
formed in different cities of the country.
The Trade and Labor Council of Hamil
ton, Canada, has appointed a committee
to decide on the advisability of building
a labor temple in that city.
The labor department at Ottawa, Cana
da, reports that 86,806 working days were
lost and 4.701 employes affected by trade
disputes during June.
The receipts of the Labor Day celebra
tion in Los Angeles, Cal., will be turne8
over to the Labor Temple association to
help complete its magnificent labor temple.
At Toledo, Ohio, a prize will be awarded
to the union displaying the most appro
priate motto in the Labor Day parade.
Last year this was won by the Carpenters'
union.
The bill posters of Boston, who were on
strike for three weeks for an increase in
wages and better working conditions, have
been successful in their strike, winning a
complete victory.
The Italian lime burners at Rockland.
X. Y., went on strike for an increase of
from $1.50 to $1.85 per day, and free
and independent American scabs went to
work in their places for $1.75.
The San Francisco Box Makers' and
Sawyers union is agitating the proposi
tion to establish a co-operative factory,
and declares that if a settlement with
the factories that are holding out is not
reachrd the necessary steps will be taken
to start the new factory.
Massachusetts placed in employment an
average of forty-nine men a day last year
from its three employment bureau offices
in Springfield, Fall River and Boston. This
year an average of 50 men a day have
been given employment through the Bos
ton office alone.
A strike in every city and town in Ok
lahoma in support of the eight-hour law,
involving 30,000 laborers, is predicted by
Deputy State Labor Commissioner - Wiley.
The trouble started when the labor com
missioner enforced the eight-hour law and
the employers cut wages to correspond with
the reduction in honrs.
The Switchmen's union is the only rail
road organization in Kansas City, Mo.,
which will take part in the Labor Day
parade.
CONCERNING SOCIAL RECOGNITION.
An tnd to all classes and class struggles!
Have not the great leaders of labor, John
Mitchell and Timothy- Healy, basked in
the light of the Japanese lanterns on the
terrace of the summer home of Mrs. 3.
Borden Ilarriman? And has not that kind
lady congratulated the great labor leaders
"npon their deliberate adoption of the
brotherhood standard?"
An end also to misery and poverty and
ignorance and crime! Has not Mrs. Har
riman, who has toiled all her life to help
her parents and her husband maintain
their homes in decency, has she not de
clared that the "making or marring of a
man's career is primarily within himself,
and does not depend npon the conditions
of society?" All of us may now become
rich and prosperous, educated and refined
without forcing others to give ns the
fruits of their labors, without hurling any
one into poverty and a life of crime and
shame. The social problem has been solved
through "sweetness and light."
There remains but one unimportant ques
tion : Does the husband of Mrs. Harri
man, the great "Wall street banker and
broker, in whose offices hnndreds mas!
have made and lost fortunes, accept the
views of his wife? Does he also believe
that "the making or marring of a man's
career is primarily within himself, and
does not depend upon the conditions of
society!" Or to put it more concretely
so as to apply it to his own bnsiness, does
he believe that a man can make a for
tune in his offices without being initiated
into certain ''conditions of society." for
example, the plans of Morgan, the Rocke
fellers, E. II. Ilarriman, Schitf. and others,
including Mr. J. Borden Harriman himself
who for anght one knows may be play
ing the game against some of his own cus
tomers? New York Daily Call.
THE CIGARMAKERS AND THE T.ABET.
The Cigarmakers are entitled to the credit
for instituting the union label movement
They had a lot of trouble with it, to b
sure, but they made it win, and as pioneers
in the game they have a right to feel proud
of what has been accomplished. In 1874 a
lot of eigarmakers in San Francisco adopted
a "white label" so as to distinguish th
cigars made by white men from the smokes
made by Chinamen. The plan worked well,
but in 1875 confusion was caused by the
St. Louis eigarmakers adopting a "red
label." By this time it was seen that the
label was a good weapon, and in 1380 the
Chicago convention of the Cigarmakers:
International Union formally adopted the
"bine label" as it exists today: It was
the first label definitely adopted for nse on
manufactured goods, and from 1880 to the
present time the union eigarmakers have
been pushing the label game strenuously
and successfully.
THE LINCOLN WALL PAPER CO.
This is the largest decorative establish
ment in the city. They carry an immense
stock of wall paper of all grades, and prices
to correspond. They are extensively en
gaged in the contracting of papering, paint
ing, and all kinds of decorative work and
employ a large number of workmen at all
times.