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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 1909)
A WAGEWORKER By Maupin & Hogard WILL M. MAUPIN .... Editor W. P. HOGARD ..... Manner The Aim of the Average Mam is Published Weekly at 137 No. 14th 3t LJncolr, Neb. One Dollar a Tear. Entered a second-class matter April 21. 1904, at the postofflce at Lincoln, Neb., under the Act of Congress of March 3rd, 1879. THANKSGIVING. i Thanksgiving Day! Your voices raise To God on high In hymns of praise. The fruitful yield Of vine and field Has brightened all our earthly ways, Give thanks to God who rules on high For welcome rains and sunny sky. For peace and love Praise God above. And all his mercies glorify! Thanksgiving Day? Praise God and Mng Till every vale and hill shall ring. Thanksgiving Day! From work apart Let mankind come. From field and ' mart Let anthems rise To pierce the skies To prove the thanks within , each hearty Give thanks to God for mercies shown, And kneel today before His throne, For peace and joy Without alloy The' loving Father's kingship own. Thanksgiving Day! Let ev'ry voice Show how our grateful hearts rejoice. Thanksgiving Day! Forget not those Who know naught save life's bitter woes. Be not delayed Give them the aid That brother unto brother owes. Lift up the brother bowed with care. Divide your blessings everywhere; The highways scan For fallen man Who needs the help that you may share. Thanksgiving Day! Give from your store To aid the hungry, sick and poor. Thanksgiving Day! From distance 1 wide Let loved ones come to sit beside The festal board Whose joys afford Ixnig hours of love whate'er betide. Give thanks to God for earthly ties; For love that beams in shiuing eyes; Sing songs of praise Until your lays Are echoed back from vaulted skies. Then at God's throne kneel down and pay Your homage this Thanksgiving Day Will M. Maupin. THAT TRACTION SETTLEMENT. The more one investigates the pro posed Traction settlement, whereby the city Is to become a virtual partner in the company, the more one is im pressed with the idea that it is not a good thing for the city. Neither is it a good thing for the men who are in the employ of the company. It doubt less Is a good thing for that portion of the citizenship which holds Trac tion stock, but it appears to be rather one-sided. In the first place the pro posed agreement does not go fully enough Into the matter of betterments and extensions. It does not hold out any promise of better wages for the men who do the work. The best way to settle this whole business la to compel the Traction company to pay its taxes to date. Then have the railway commission fix the physical valuation and allow the company to pay a reasonable divi dend on that valuation. All surplus over and above expenses, taxes, de preciation, etc., and the dividend on the Investment, to be put into exten sions, better cars, and better wages, If the city is going into the street railway business it does not need a partner, but should own the whole thing. That would be the best solu tion, anyhow. But the proposed part nership, in which the city will stand u good chance to hold the sack, ought to be very carefully considered before It is accepted. THE PROPOSED CHARTER. , The gentlemen representing the commercial club and the city council who are engaged in framing up a com mission charter for the city do not want to overlook the very Important matter of providing for a referendum on the charter Itself. The failure to provide for this in the charter last winter resulted In defeating it. It will not do to say that Lincoln has voted in favor of the commission plan, there fore It la unnecessary to refer the charter to the people. That assertion Success in BMsiness HE appearance of prosperity in your clothes will help to a great extent your business efforts; clothes are not all that's necessary to become successful but play a very important part, and go much farther than most people realize, towards pro moting your interests. Let Your Clothes Work for Against You If you are wearing success and that is in clothes pays in In order to be sure and will make you you go where hone being our claim it will pay you to come to our store and see our suits and overcoats for fall and winter. We guarantee to give you style and quality; fit you perfect ly, and make you look and feel successful. Suits and Overcoats, $10.00 See Clothing Window Armstrong was refuted last winter. The Wage worker believes it is warranted in de claring that unless provision is made to have the charter referred to the voters for adoption, organized labor will do its utmost to defeat the char ter in the legislature. The referen dum is a cardinal principle of trades unionism. And the charter commission wants to avoid all flub-dub in making the charter. It must provide for the in itiative, the referendum and the re call, or organized labor will oppose it. It must fix responsibility, and it must provide for referring all things per taining to the selling of city property to the voters. It must provide ade quate park funds, and it must give la bor a fair show as to wages and hours on municipal works. Organized labor is in favor of the commission plan of government. It wants all elections to be non-partisan, the candidates to be nominated by pe tition and elections to be by the eliminative process. The charter committee has a big Job ahead of it, and it will have to act wisely and well if it expects to achieve results. NOTHING DOING. The editor of The Wageworker, who was a delegate to the Toronto conven tion of the American Federation of Labor, strove in vain 'to secure some co-operation in" the effort to secure the 1910 convention. But no response could be had to repeated telegrams and letters addressed to the Commer cial Club. The editor believes that with a little co-operation from the club the convention could have been se cured. At least it seemed so up until the minute when the aspiring cities were asked to state what they could offer In the way of halls, committee rooms, etc. The Lincoln delegate coiildn't offer anything official, and ot course the committee would not con sider his personal invitation. The convention goes to St. Louis. It may be that a convention of mere working men was not considered wor thy of notice. But such a convention is bigger than anything Lincoln has ever had. It would have meant from 600 to 1,000 delegates and visitors for upwards of two weeks all well sup plied with funds. Some of the most influential men at Toronto volunteered to assist the Lin coln delegate in his efforts to land the convention, but when it was learned that not a single citizen of Lincoln Armstrong's clothes you look like a long step towards it; good style business and costs of obtaining clothes that are right look right, it is very important that but good clothes apart from the delegate showed any interest in the matter, they quit. So did the Lincoln delegate. The Omaha Examiner charges the editor of The Wageworker with hav ing engineered, the Ferrar protest meeting. If the Examiner is no nearer right on other matters than it is on this one, there is no further need of explanation for the Examiner's queer actions. The editor of The Wage worker had absolutely nothing to do with either the calling or the man agement of that protest meeting. He merely accepted an invitation to ad dress tt briefly. Humphrey O'Sullivan has further entrenched himself in the favor of Lincoln Unionists. His latest kindly action is to come across for $200 to help the Labor Temple project along. They don't make 'em any better than O'Sullivan. Long may he' live! Lincoln merchants are showing a decided friendliness to the Labor Tem ple project, their friendship taking the form of generous subscriptions to the stock. If the union men will come across a little bit faster for a couple of weeks, success will be assured. In a week or two The Wageworker will have an office in the Labor Tem ple, and every unionist in the com munity will be expected to drop in and subscribe, just to make business. Mr. Sharp says the Lincoln Traction Co. pays better wages than any other city of Lincoln's class. Mr. Sharp, however, signally fails to offer wage schedules in proof of his assertion. A lot of central labor unions were never given the least attention by the American Federation of Labor except at per capita paying time until this charter revocation matter began. Gompers, Mitchell and Morrison in jail won't help sell any more of the "scab" Buck stoves. Nor will it seal the mouths or hold the pens of Amer ican freemen. The Nebraska Federation of Labor meets at South Omaha, January 4, 1910. See to it that your local union is represented by a live one. In the meanwhile, despite court de cisions, injunctions, mandamus pro ceedings and other processes, The instead of you no more here. are handled; this to $40.00 Clothing Company Good Clothes Merchants Wageworker has no hesitancy in say ing that it will not buy a Buck stove because the. Buck Stove and Range Co. is unfriendly to the best interests of The Wageworker. And that goes both ways from the middle. The charter committee may not know it, but organized labor purposes having something to say about that charter, either in the making or in the adoption. Suppose the city authorities insist that the Traction company show a re ceipt in full for all taxes due the city before any more conferences are held. Every local union in the state should take an interest in making the an nual convention of the Nebraska Fed eration of Labor a rousing success. Some of these days Jim Lynch is going to ; step on Jim Duncan, and when that occurs Duncan will be flat tened out like a pancake. The Traction company is, as usual, taking its own time in the matter of paving the cemetery road. , Van Cleave has won a court victory, but it isn't selling any Buck stoves for him. Another little boost or two and the Labor Temple is all to the good. CENTRAL CITY STRIKE. Nebraska Town Has a Little Labor m Difficulty on Its Hands. Central City, Nov. 25. A strike is something new here, but the town experienced one of considerable local importance. The workmen employed in setting up the poles and wiring the streets for the new municipal ' elec tric lighting system complained that they were being pushed too hard by their boss, and after registering sev eral complaints went on strike. About twenty of them quit work at once. The authorities are very anxious to have the work completed and the town lighted by the new system be fore the first of the year, and so J. W. Early, the electrical engineer in Charge of the work, has gone to Co lumbus to endeavor to secure new workmen to finish the Job. It is ex pected that he will return early in the week with enough workmen to re place those who quit their Jobs. ' ' w THE LABOR TEMPLE PROJECT. The Goal of Success Is in Sight and Everybody Feeling Good. When the directors of the Labor Temple Association met at the Temple Monday evening every one wore a smile. Things ar coming along in bully shape. The plasterers are out of the way, and the painters are just waiting for things to get in shape for them to go ahead. The wiring and the plumbing work is completed, and the carpenters are pretty well along. Two weeks more will see the Temple ready for occupancy. But it was the financial situation that called for the most attention, and as soon as the directors came to order the subject of finance was taken up. The first thing done was to allow bills for labor. Every such bill has been paid up to the date of meeting, and there is' enough cash on hand to pay all material bills as soon as the' need for buying more is at an end. In ad dition to this the treasurer has a thousand dollars ready to apply on the purchase price, and more coming in every day. Things looked so favorable that it was decided to make an effort to clean up both the December and February payments on December 1. This would save some interest, and in addition would give the association a deed and obviate the necessity of hav ing hall leases censored by an out sider. To carry out this plan three committees were appointed to visit Lincoln business men and solicit sub scriptions to the capital stock. The committees started out bright and early Tuesday morning, and by noon had $1,500 pledged, payable before December 1. Wednesday another good ly sum was added, and by the time The Wageworker goes to press the entire $3,000 needed will be in hand. This will practically insure success If the unionists will then come along with their share in future, and there is every indication that they are de termined to do this. Just as soon as the campaign for stock subscriptions is completed due recognition of the subscriptions will be made. Suffice it to say at this time that with one. single exception every business man approached gladly made a generous subscription, and nearly every one offered to. increase it if nec essary. It took but a few minutes to reveal the fact that the business men of Lincoln have been watching the Temple project closely, and that they are in hearty sympathy with it.. The list of unionists subscribing for ... one share a month for twelve consecu tive months is growing nicely, and the local unions are responding nobly to the call for funds. ' t - : - r - . PAINTERS' CONVENTION. Will Meet in Cincinnati and Impor tant Questions to Come Up. The question of holding a conven tion this fall of the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hang ers of America, which was recently submitted to a referendum vote, was carried by the decisive vote of 16,276 for" to 1,410 against. ' iThe convention will assemble in Cincinnati in December, and will be the first in several years. : ' ' A great many important questions are to be considered, among them the establishment of a home for aged and infirm members, and the matter of creating a pension scheme in addition to the death and disability benefits already paid. , ... " The Lincoln local will be represent' ed by Rv Glover. ; Mr. Glover will leave Saturday or Monday in order to be on the ground early. The painters are well aroused on the Labor Temple project. The local has $200 invested in Labor Temple stock, and .is preparing to take a lot more. They may be depended upon to do the right thing. THE BARBERS. Agree With Employers to Further Shorten Up Hour of Work. In every union barber shop in the city is posted a notice to the effect that after December 1 the' shops will close at 10 o'clock on Saturday even ings, instead of at 11 as heretofore. Thus has the union secured another shortening of the hours of toil with ous reducing the wage scale. Of course a! lot of non-union barbers will profit equally with the union barbers, but the union ' barbers pay the ex penses of maintaining the organization that secures these benefits, i Sam Chaplin is out and around again, but it will be some time. before he is able to resume work. The sur geons came awfully near cutting his left hand all to pieces, but they de sisted just in time. It was a mighty close call for amputation. Sam says the only good feature of the whole thing was the fact that It broke him of the habit of chewing tobacco. A i