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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1910)
WAGEWORKER By Maupin & Hogard WILL M. MAUPIN . . Editor W. P. HOGARD . . - Manager Published Weekly at 137 No. 14th St., Llucolr, Nob. One Dollar a Year. KntrU as second-class matter April II, 190!. at the postofflce at Uncoln, ;.eti., uwiur the Act of Congress ol March ::rrt. 1879. TO LABOR UNIONS. ' Will you assist us by ap- pointing some one In your i union to furnish us with news? V The Wageworker wants to pub- lish the news of your local, and in order to do so must have your assistance. It is our aim to give our readers all the la- bor news that Is to be had and we wish to do it properly, so n that you will be satisfied. By helping us In this way, you not only make this paper more val- uable and complete, but your j knowledge of what Is going on t! In the labor movement is bet- ter and the good feeling among $ the various crafts is more strongly cemented. When this fellowship idea is instilled thor- oughly among us there is less likelihood of a break In the ranks and it is certainly need- ed at the present time. SAME OLD FOOLISHNESS. The meat boycott landed just about where we thought It would. The trusts were not hurt a bit, a lot of people pinched their bellies, and the newspa pers had some big headlines. And there you are! What did the beef trust care about a little thing like a thirty-day boycott? It simply went right on killing and freezing, knowing full well that in good time the people would come trooping back for meat at any old price demanded. Ever hear of city peoplo refusing to drink water unless the local water com pany reduced rates? Yet that would not be sillier than trying to pinch the beef trust by depriving our stomachs of nourishing food. That meat boycott was about the sil liest "trunt busting" plan we ever heard of. What did it accomplish? First, we went hungry in order to punish the trusts. Then the trust re duced the prices it paid for live stock, thus pinching the farmer. Then the farmer economized, thus lessening the demand for the products of labor. This resulted in stagnation of business. In the meanwhile the beef trust went rlht ahead filling its cold stor age warehouses. What a lot of Jerusalem ponies we are, to be sure! The meat strike would be laughable if It were not so pitiful. What does any trust care for that sort of a "strike"? The coal operators force a strike now and then, knowing that it will increaso the price of coal stocks on hand. .The beef trust was not averse to the stock yards strike, know ing that it would profit by an increase In the price of the cold storage stuff, About one-halt the strikes are really pullnd off by the bosses, who use the workmen as dummies. The workmen think they are striking for justice, when as a matter of fact they are be lug used as tools to further profit the bosses. But there is one kiud of strike that would, if we went at it as a body make the bosses of the trusts sit up and take notice. The strike of the ballot! tuui wouia ne a siriKe as Is a Ktrike! The trust barons wouldn't laugh at that kind of a strike. And if the strike were made universal the trusts would not profit from It, either. Quite the contrary. Suppose every worklngman should sit right down now and write to the congressman from his district and de mand that congress at once remove the protective tariff from live stock und dressed meats, backing up the de mand with emphatic notice that if the congressman failed to comply he would not again receive the vote of the writ er. That might have the proper ef fect. But If it didn't, then next No vember strike at the ballotbox. and vote for no enndidate for congress who will not pledge himself to remove the tariff on live stock and dressed meats. Get that sort of a movement well started and watch the beef trust hus tle to block the game. We're paying an average of $7.50 per capita for the benefit of a few wool growers and fewer gamblers in wool. The wool tariff is the rankest kind of robbery. There has been no reduc tion in the wool tariff sitfee 1870, yet the number of sheep per capita is smaller. Today we are taxed $7.50 each to protect five-tenths of a sheep per capita. As a result the half-wool-half-shoddy suit of clothes you ought to be getting for $8 you are paying from $16 to $20 for; everything con taining even a suspicion of wool that you buy you are paying double for and why? The trust barons tell you it is to "protect the American work- ingman," and yet the workers in the woolen industries are among the poor est paid workers in the country. We are merely paying those ridiculously high prices, because we are a lot of "suckers." And we can refuse to buy clothing until we freeze, or we can re fuse to eat meat until we are faint with hunger, and the trust magnates will laugh at us. But if we were to go out on strike, picket the polling places with sensible men, and use the weapon of the ballot, we'd have the trust magnates down on their marrow bones in short order. Sure we might have a little panic, brought about by the trust magnates In their efforts to retain their grip on our throats. But wouldn't you rather go hungry for a little while and then run things right, than to be forever threatened with starvation if you didn't continue to be the abject tools of the trust mag nates? The meat boycott is a ghastly joke! We'll never get anywhere with that sort of foolishness. If God gave you any convoluted gray matter in that cranium of yours then for God's sake agitate it a little. The man who pinches his belly be cause he is too lazy to think or too ig norant to care, deserves all the pangs of hunger that may attack him. The trust barons are not. afraid of that class of men. THINK IT OVER. It is now proposed to issue $200,000 or more in bonds for the purpose of building good roads in Lancaster county. Don't do it! ' That isn't the way to get good roads. Xor is it the right way to get the money for building good roads. The tax would be unjustly levied. The men who would profit most from good roads would pay the least in propo rtion towards the cost of building them. ,Our tax system is wrong. The Lin coln wage earner who owns his little home would pay vastly more taxes in proportion than the rich speculator who owns hundreds of acres of unim proved lands that he is holding out of the market while it rapidly enhances in value through the efforts and en terprise of others. Our tax system puts a premium on indolence and a fine on enterprise and public spirit. Again, if the street in front of your cottage is paved, you pay for all of it, and also help pay for the intersections. Now the farmers ask you to also pay for the paving in front of his farm. He'd have a fit if. anybody proposed making him help pay for paved streets In Lincoln by taxing him for that pur pose. "But," you say, "the city would profit by good roads." Of course, but don't forget that the farmer also profits by having a big market like Lincoln close to his farm. That makes that part of it about equal. We favor good roads, and we are willing to bear our share of the ex pense. But the small home owner is compelled to bear more than his share under our present system of taxation. Suppose we base the good road tax on the land values the value of the land for use and occupancy. That would be fair. Just one example. The editor of The Wageworker owns a modest little home at Thirty-third and Q streets one lot from the corner of Q. The 1909 taxes were $35.38, to which might be added the personal tax of several dollars more. There Is a vacant lot next to the editor's home. It paid taxes amounting to about $5. Yet the lot is just as valuable for use and oc cupancy as the lot on which the ed itor's cottage stands. But the editor is fined $30 a year because he is try ing to provide his family with a home. The owner of the vacant lot gets just as much benefit as the editor, but he pays only one-seventh of the tax. Is that fair? Good roads will increase land values, but the tax will bear Heaviest upon the improved lands, and the benefits will be greatest to the unimproved lauds. Farm land values are but 17 per cent of the total land values of this country, yet the farm lands pay 55 per cent of the tax raised from the amount levied on land. Mr. Farmer ought to be an enthusi astic single taxer. But, then, he ought to be an advocate of trades unionism and the shorter work day for crafts men. He isn't, because he is short sighted. Unless something better in the sys tem of raising the money is found, The Wageworker will oppose the pro posed tax for good roads. The Sherman law prohibits rebates. Paul Morton of the Santa Fe boasted that he gave rebates. Was he fined and sent to jail? Nit! He was made secretary of the navy. But union hat ters are given the hook when they try to protect themselves and their families. That's the way the laws are enforced for the rich and poor alike. Judge .Sears of Omaha didn't hesi tate to grant an injunction requested by an employer of "scabs." And it is a blanket Injunction that denies union men rights guaranteed them by the constitution. Yet some people wonder at the growing disrespect for the courts. But then, some people are about as thick-headed as some judges are crooked. He v. Jlr. Somebodyorother complains that the petition for the referendum was very unsanitary, soiled and filthy. Isn't it awful, Mabel! Really, those dirty, greasy workingmen who signed it ought to have washed and mani cured their hands before they signed it. Some people have no considera tion at all for the finer sensibilities of their betters. President Sharpe says that the oc cupation tax means that the company is restrained from adding one new and modern car a month to its equipment. Gee, if we'd remove the occupation tax in about four or fve years we'd have so many cars there wouldn't be track room for them perhaps. . President Sharp says the six-for-a- quarter ordinance prevents the com pany from raising wages. Yet the wages have been raised oftener since the six-for-a-quarter was adopted than they were during the same length of time prior thereto. Don't worry! The benevolent gen tlemen who have been appointed by Divine Providence to administer the great business affairs of the country will see that you are properly cared The Long Winter Nights May be made bright and cheerful by illuminating the home with either Gas or Electricity. And the disposition of the housewife may be sweetened by relieving her of the drudgery of filling "smelly" kerosene lamps and cleaning smoky chimneys. Nothing is so well calculated to make home happy as bright lights and cheerful dispositions. We will furnish the illumination and the cheerful dis positions will follow as a natural result. I! It's a Question o! Cost Let us prove to you as we can that it is - cheaper, more convenient and far better to illu minate with gas or electricity than it is to illumin ate with kerosene amps. Counting cost of kerosene and chimneys, to say nothing of the drudgery connected therewith it costs no more to use gas or electricity. And as for the results dollar for dollar you get immensely more and better light always ready, no cleaning, no break ageby using our illuminants. Equipping a Modern Kitchen Mr. Mechanic, you insist upon having the best and most up-to-date tools. Why deny your good wife the same conveniences for her trade. If you think hocsewifery is not a trade, just try it. Equip the kitchen with labor saving devices first a gas range, then electric irons, toasters, etc Come in and let us show you a few things. Lincoln Gas and Electric Light Co. OPEN EVENINGS for. Turn right over and go to sleep again ! Under the Sherman anti-trust act the Hatters' Union has been mulcted for $250,000 damages. Ever hear of a heartless trust that was cinched under that law? Will the industrial giant ever get his eyes open? The supreme court has taken an other tuck in the rights of American workingmen. The supreme court is so busy hammering the trades unions that they haven't time to give any atten tion to the trusts. The Wageworker's' nomination of Richard L. Metcalfe for United States senator is being enthusiastically sec onded in a thousand different quarters. Let's make it unanimous. The supreme court's decision on the Lowe-Hatters case made more anar chists in one day than Emma Goldman has made by all the speeches she ever delivered. That decision in the hatters' case surely tickled Mr. Post so much that he went right out and bought some more silk lingerie for the ex-steno grapher. By the way, will the State Journal refuse to publish the applications for liquor license in case Lincoln goes "wet" at the referendum? We inquire to know. Don't subscribe for your labor pa per. Starve it to death! The daily papers will fight the battles of organ ized labor for you. t SHIRTWAIST GIRLS WIN. The 3,000 striking shirtwaist mak ers of Philadelphia have won their fight. They go back to work with better pay, shorter hours and recogni tion of their gievance committees, They will no longer be required to buy their own thread and needles, That bunch of girls gave their male friends in the union game a lot of val uable pointers or how to fight and win. If you want to save a few dollars in buying furniture or carpets we have both new and second-hand. Call and see us. J. C. Fanton & Co. Unions in Waycross, Ga., will have a labor temple. r&w o Fits and Misfits are being given to men all over town, but you'll never get a misfit here. We are experienced cutters and fitters, and make it a nm'nt to give every patron the best fit possible in the choicest fabrics, beautifully lined and finished and perfect in every detail of making. Yet we do not ask any fancy price for our high-class goods and superior workmanship. . . With Every Suit Ordered this Week an Extra $5.oo Fancy Vest ' ' SCOTCH WOOLEN MILLS UNION TAILORS 133 SOUTH 13th STREET J. H. McMULLEN, Mgr. AUTO 2372 Farmers and Merchants BanK d. W. MONTGOMERY, President ? oft Open Saturday evenings 6 to GREGORY, The Tailor Knows how to dress you up and has the finest linp of fall and winter goods in the city. : : : : : : : : Pressing a Specialty If You Want to Save Money Use CAPITAL COAL Clean, Hoi, All Burns Up. Lvmp, Egg and Nut. IIUTC1IINS and HYATT COHPaNY EVERY SHOE "UNION MADE" HERE KOMO COAL The best coal in the market for the money LLJMF EGG OR NUT $6.50 For Furnace, Heating Stove or Kitchen Range. Try it. J" 23 WHITEBREAST COAL CO. AutO Siiii 11UB 0 STGEET vercoat To Your ORDER and Measurement H, C. PBOBASCO, Cashier Good Advice "Save what you have and live within yonr income. Avoid speculation. No matter what I was making, I always made it a rule to save something; and this conrse.if persisted in. is snre to succeed. The money will pile up in time." Commodore Vanderbiit. 8 F. & M. bldg. 15th & O Sts. Your Business Solicited Thompson Shoe $3.50 S $4 Handcraft Shoe $5.00 All Mew--"F0R MEM"- All Nei on's Bootory 12th & P Sts. 1