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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (March 12, 1910)
Hlbe TOagewotlftet Patronize cut Ad vezlisers and Boost Established l go 3 and Still Growing VOL. VI. LINCOLN, XEBBASKA, SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1910. 8 PAGES fioe.ety THE UNION PRINTERS' HOME AT COLORADO SPRINGS One minute of his working time every day Is what each union printer in North America gives as his mite toward tho maintenance of the Union Printers' Home at Colorado Springs, Colo. Every month every one of the 00,000 members of the Internationa! Typographical Union pays an assess ment of 15 cents half n cent a day, or loss than tho amount the average printer will earn in a minute's work ing time. It is a small sacrifice, but it is this small sacrifice, coming from very man working In co-operation with his fellow laborers, which gives the Home an annual fund of $90,000 for maintenance and improvements. The printers have imilt and main tained the home themselves and they arc- proud of tho fact. It is their home; every man has an equal share in It, an equal right to partake of the bounty if the time should come when old ago or illness should make it nec essary for him to retreat to tho shel ter la the rearing and maintaining of i which ho has done his small part. Since the foundations for the main building were laid in 1891. nearly $S50,000 has been spent in buildings, furnishings, improvements and main tenance. Every cent of this, with the exception or the original gift of $10, 000 by George V. Childs and A. J. Drexe!, and the income from the Julia A. I.nild endowment of $1,000, has been contributed by the printers them selves. Not only has the Union Printers' Heme proven a splendid example of what can bo accomplished by harmoni ous co-creratlon. but it has been to other labor and fraternal organiza tions an inspiration because of its humanitarian features. It has been the pioneer institution in its field and bas become the model from which others copy ideas and methods. Tho Modern Woodmen of America have recently opened their national sana torium north of Colorado Springs, while tho National Association of Let ter Carriers has selected that city as tho sltj for Us home. A number of other otgan'zaticns are considering the plan nnd in many cases it has been an investigation ot the Union Printers' Home that has decided their committees in recommending the buildings of such an institution. Figures may tell a part of the story of the Un'on Printer's Home. Rut it is not sufficient to know that the proi erty, which stands on a commanding eminence east of Colorado Springs, is today valued at $1,000,000, when twen ty years ago this tract was barren pralrlo land which could have been bought for a few dollars an acre; or to learn that there are now six build ings en the grounds: the main build ing, tho Bun'tarium, the superintend ent's cottage, the laundry, heating ilant and barns, besides the tent col ony nnd solarium. It is not enough to know how these eighty acres have been reclaimed from barren wastes until they form one of the garden spots of the continent; nor to be told that in all. more than 1,000 have been admitted to residence since ISO:.', that the average number at any one time is 130. and that the average cost per resident Is only $30 a month. It U far more significant to learn bow this home has been so managed that it has "become indeed a sanator ium where the sick may sojourn for a tlmo to build up. In Colorado's health-giving climate, their broken constitutions and restore lost strength and vitality, a haven where the aged and Infirm may retreat to a peaceful closing of a life that has been spent in toll and battle in a world of labor and strife. Ueally to understand the work that Is being done requires an inspection of the buildings and ground.!, a few hours random chat with the residents and an investiga tion of the methods and regulations 1n force. Many of the printers them selves scarcely comprehend the scope and Importance ot the home, and the annual convention has twice been held in Colorado Springs in order to give the membership at large a broad er understanding of the great insti tution they are supporting. Of tho residents, some there are who are cripples; s;me are blind; nmnr aro old; and members have been "exilrd" with a death sentence from tuberculosis, but are slowly building up the bodies that have been wasted by d'sease. And the hearts of all beat true to that thought of broth erhood which Is placed in arching let tors above the gateway to the grounds, In this legend. "The Union Printers' Home; Its llounty Unpurchaable." Tho printer, when be is admitted to the Home, is supposed to bring with him a certain amount of clothing. After that, everything, even to a weekly pension, is furnished him. Every care is taken in securing a food supply that is of the best. Milk and eggs are procured from the Home's own dairy and poultry farm. An excellent library with 11,000 vol umes provides reading matter. There are facilities for all kinds of sports, while there are many festive occa sions such its the Fourth of July bar becue, the annual picnic in North Cheyenne Canon, the Christmas tree, and monthly winter night entertain ments. In tht( tuberculosis sanatorium, every precaution is taken to safe guard the patient and to assure him of the best of treatment. Regular mmm MAIN BUILDING AND habits and hours are required and the drinking of intoxicants is strictly pro hibited. All sanitary regulations are rigorously observed and the buildings are exceptionally well ventilated. Although tin; first proposition to establish a Home was made in May, 1S57, nothing definite came of the plan until 1S.SG, when Messrs. Childs and Drexel made an unconditional gift of $10,000. To swell the fund, the printers, on the birthdays of these two gentlemen, each contributed the amount received from setting 1,000 "ems" of type. Louis It. Ehrich of Colorado Springs offered an eighty acre site, and this city was selected as the permanent location for the Home at the Denver convention in 1SS9, alter a spirited contest with many other cities. In 1891, contracts were let for the main building, which was dedicated with appropriate cere monies on the birthday of Mr. Childs, May 12, 1892 a notable occasion in the history of union labor. The location is ideal. The buildings face the west and the view of the mountains extends from Castle Rock, thirty miles to the north, to the Span ish Peaks, eighty miles to the south, with Pike's Peak, 14,109 feet high, di rectly in front as the central feature of this grand panorama. To the west the land slopes to the city and to the southwest to Prospect Lake. To the cast are the limitess prairies. Tho soil is dry and loose and produces abundantly when properly irrigated. The grounds are beautified by lawns, (lowers, trees and shrubs. A compre hensive scheme of landscape garden ing has converted them into a won derland. The main building is four stories in height and is of white lava-stone with red sandstone trimmings. It contains seventy-five rooms with the otfices, and originally cost $75,000. The two story $::0.000 library addition dedi cated only a short time ago. adjoins the main building on the north and increases not only the library, but also the kitchen and dining-room facilities. The sanatorium is to the south of the main building, and near it are the twenty touts and the solarium. Tho sanatorium building is three stories in height, the total cost being $27,000. The superintendent's cottage is north of the main building, while the laun dry, heating plant and barns are in the rear. A massive gateway spans tile entrance to the grounds. The trustees have within the last few years devoted special attention to the treatment of tuberculosis, a dis ease to which printers are particular ly subject because of the nature of their work. The methods employed by the Uniou Printers' Home in its successful battle against the "white plague" are attracting attention all over tho country. At the International Congress on Tuberculosis held in Washington in 1908, the Home -was represented by a prize-winning ex hibit and the model tent was present ed, upon request, to the National As sociation for the Prevention of Tuber culosis, for display at the various ex- HOSPITAL ANNEX, UNION PRINTERS' HOME. hibtions given throughout the United States. During the last few years a special commission has made a study of the disease and as a result of its investi gations the most approved and scien tific methods have been adopted. The results have been little less than mar vellous. So satisfactory have they, in fact, been in the City of Sunshine, as Colorado Springs is familiarly called, that a proposition made at the Bos- either clear or partly cloudy. Through ton convention in 1908 for the trans-lout the year there is a comparatively fei of the tuberculosis sanatorium to j equable temperature, a minimum of 1 1 " 1 , 1 1 , : 1 , : ,.r- --t or , j . ..; ., LIBRARY AND Arizona was defeated by a decisive majority. In 190,", ten tents were erected near the sanatorium building. They have pioven a valuable acquisition to the hospital service and their efficiency has been so thoroughly and sat'sfac torily demonstrated that the number was recently doubled. Officials of the union are authority for the statement that fully 50 per cent of the patients who have had the advantage of tent life bae recovered hor.lth and strength and have been enabled again to resume their business ditties. The percentage would be higher but for the fact that too many are not sent to Colorado until they are in the last stages of the disease. Those who come here in the earlier stages are, with the proper care and treatment, reasonaby sure of a prolongation of life, if not of permanent and absolute recovery. Colorado Sprins is .in ideal site for the location of an institution such as the Union Printers' Home. This city at the foot of Pike's Peak and the center of one of the most renowned scenic areas in the world, enjoys an all-the-year-round climate that is near ly ideal. Never too hot in summer, nor too cold in winter, with almost perpetual sunshine, a bracing, invig- 1 orating and uncontaminated air, a dry, porous soil that is never muddy, this is a most desirable place for the old to spend their declining years and the ill to regain lost health and vital ity. Official records of the Colorado College weather bureau show that there are only twelve days a year on which the sun does not shine at some time of the clay; that there are 120 absolutely cloudless days; and 309 READING ROOM, UNION PRINTERS' HOME. precipitation and a low humidity. The year round the sun sh nes seventy of every 1.00 hours it is above the hori zon. The atmosphere is asceptie and free from germ life. Colorado Springs' weather is nearly a continuous bless ing. The affairs of the Union Printers' Home are managed by a board of trus tees, elected by a vote of the entire membership. As the union is not an incorporated body, they hold the prop erty: and an agent is appointed as a check against any illegal use of the property. The members of the pres ent board of trustees are: President J. M. Lynch, Syracuse, N. Y.; vice president, Thomas McCaffery, Colo rado Springs; Secretary-Treasurer J. W. Hays, Minneapolis, Minn.; L. C. Sheperd, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Anna C. Wilson; Thomas F. Crowley, Cin cinnati, O.; and T. D. Fennessy, Los Angeles, Cal. Since June 1, 1898, Chas. W. Deacon has" been superintendent of the Home, in which position he has been highly efficient. Geo. Nichols of Baltimore is the agent. HOME COST HIM A LEG. Couldn't Purchase One From the Wages He Received. Chicago, March 3. "That's my home my missing leg," was the state ment made by M. J. McKane, a vet eran switchman in the hearing of the request for higher wages by the switchmen before the state board of arbitration recently. "Some have sa'd that it is the only way for a switchman to get a home," continued McKane. "I never made enough money to buy a house, and perhaps would never have succeeded in getting one if I had not lost my leg while switching cars. I received a small house as a recompense, but gave my leg for a home. I can't switch cars any more, tout I run an elevator and get my rent free, so I am just as well off as before." Other switchmen told of having to vork thirty-eight hours at a stretch ind another said that he had worked 129 hours in a month. The hearing adjourned until Wed lesday, -when the employers! will give ;.heir side. HANDED A LEMON. How Uncle Sam Put One Over on Lo comotive Engineers. How a body of American locomotive engineers was induced to go to Pan ama on the strength of a "gentlemen's agreement" between their brotherhood and United States officials in charge of the work on the canal, and how the engineers, after being buncoed out of tbeir "accumulated time," threatened to go out in a body, is here told for the first time by a man who is near the top rung of the ladder in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers: "When the government wanted loco motive engineers to run its dirt trains on the isthmus it came to us and practically said this: 'Get us strong, young, capable engineers, and we will hire none but brotherhood men, but we can't officially do business with j your union, because every other union would want to be recognized, and that is against the government's policy.' "We skimmed the cream for them. Men who were running engines on the Rock Island, New York Central, and other crack roads, left positions that they never could get back again to work on the canal. "You must know that the rapidity with which the dirt trains are han dled is the mark that sets the pace on the jcb. Steam shovels may lift any amount of dirt, but it depends upon the locomotive engineers to get it away. A nine-hour day was agreed upon although the steam shovels only work eight and all over that time the engineers were to receive time accumulations. "But a new man came in and the face of things changed. The engineers were told that they could not have time accumulations, and that with one thing and another conditions be came all but unbearable at the isth mus. A strike was only prevented by the determination of our national executive to have no troubue with the government. But the point is this: Will 65,000 engineers forget the 'gen executive to have no trouble with the United States officials?" Washington Correspondence Detroit Union Advocate. COME ON, BOYS. St. Louis Labor Compendium Gives Some Wholesome AdVice. Speaking of the International Labor Press Association the St. Louis Labor Compendium says: "Non tarn potentia sua quam Negli genta nostra!" You bet your life! We don't know what it means, but if the Labor Com pendium said it, then it goes with us. and don't you forget it. Wed ont giva damf or theh ighb rows oft he execu tivec ounc il any more. That's flat. We are tired of trying to pay composition . and press bills with hot air supplied by the Jim Duncans and others. The Wageworker. We take your word for it. The "In dian" lingo used by The Wageworker is certainly more digestible to the "highbrows" of the Duncan calibre. But the editorial of the Compendium was not for them. It took us some time to hunt up something that would make the labor editors think "and search their memories or dictionaries to find that "who would be free, them selves must strike the blew," and if the labor editors must either be- pau pers or slaves and sycophants in order to live, it is not by the power of the "highbrows" so much as by your own neglect. The" representatives of the labor press at Washington during the A. F. of L. convention don't need that re minder They turned the trick by or ganizing the International Labor Press. Now let the balance fall in line and make it a grand success. St. Louis Labor Compendium. WHAT'S THE REASON? The Question of Rents Is Still a Press ing One Here. Without going into the question of whether prosperity is dependent upon a "wet" or a "dry" town, we want to call attention to the fact which can not be disputed that since Lincoln went dry there are fewer vacant resi dences and store and office buildings than ever before in her history. We know one little firm that has been looking for a suitable loeatien for a print shop for several weeks, and the best it can do is a $40 a month small room on a side street," or a $30 a month room east of Seventeenth. There is not a single vacant store room between Tenth and Seventeenth, one in a block at Twelfth and M, one, maybe two, undesirable little rooms at Twelfth and N, and a "rattery" or two in obscure places. That don't look like "prohibition is killing Lincoln," doea it? Far be it from us to assert that this condition is due to a "dry" town, but we want some sort of an explanation, for The Wageworker is the concern that is looking for a location. TEMPLE DIRECTORS. Short and Uneventful Meeting Held Last Monday Evening. The board of directors of the Labor Temple Association met Monday even ing, but aside from the consideration of some routine matters little was done. Secretary Ihringer announces that with extra help he expects to have all paid up stock subscriptions entered this week and the stock cer tificates properly issued. The first of tbe week the painters got busy and painted the front of the Temple building. The work adds im mensely to the looks of the property, and when the second coat and the dec orations are added it will make the other buildings in that vicinity look , cheap. The building trades of Denver, after a biA ji ciui iiijuiua tjuuic, uc:ic,c I they will soon be working again under I better conditions.