THE REAL VALUE OF UNIONS
By Robert Hunter.
Let him who questions the value of
unionism pause to consider for a mo
ment just one thing that unionism has
accomplished.
It is well known that in the early
days of the present factory system the
day 'a work extended usually to four
teen or sixteen' hours
Thit lon day existed for all work
ers the skilled and the unskilled, the
ehildren as well as the men and wo
men.' The workers had not yet learned to
organize, and as individuals they were
utterly helpless to effect a change in
the hours of their labor or in the scale
of their wages.
There were, of course, no laws to
protect them, and so they lived entirely
at the mercy of their employers.
The normal conditions that existed
little more than half a century ago in
England and elsewhere throughout the
world of the factory system are equal
led today only in certain plague spots.
When one reads the stories of the
misery and oppression, the long hours
and low wages of those days, one won
ders how the workers managed to live
at all.
How much the condition of the work
ers generally has been improved it is
by no means easy to say, but we do
know that the condition of the workers
has vastly improved wherever they have
learned to value unity.
In those trades where the men have
known enough to fight for their rights
and to stand together there has arisen
what some soffers like to call an
"aristocracy of labor."
And if in certain trades there are
indeed aristocrats of labor, it is simply
because they have had intelligence en
ough to fight together, to pay dues to
one organization and to battle always
with unity and solidarity.
And what they have done all other
workers can de.
The "aristocrats" hold no patent on
their method of action, and by acting
in the same manner all other toilers
can win all the "aristocrats" have
won.
Now it is difficult to ascertain just
how much union workers have bene
fited by higher wages.
In that matter there is always the
question as to the increased cost of
living which makes difficult any com
parison of wages here and abroad or of
wages how with those of forty years
ago.
The best one can do is to compare
wages and hours today in one trade
that is organized with the wages and
hours in another trade that is un
organized. This has been well done by the de
partment of labor at Washington, and
the figures gathered by that depart
ment show beyond dispute the enor
mous benefits that have come to labor
as a result of organization.
Consider - for one moment the fol
lowing facts:
We all know that the workers in the
iron and steel trade are poorly organ
ized, and we find that the hours of
labor in this trade are from sixty to
seventy-two per week.
The hot blast men in all parts of the
country work about eighty-four hours
per week.
On the other hand, we all know that
the stone and granite cutters are well
organized.
When we look up the figures of their
hours we find that they work about
forty-eight hours per week.
The bricklayers, the carpenters, the
hod carriers, the painters, the paper
hangers and the plumbers are highly
organized trades; and when we in
quire into the hours worked by these
men we find that they rarely average
more thnn fifty hours per week.
These workers then are the aristo
crats of labor simply because they are
well united in their trade, are loyal to
their organization, pay their dues and
fight a common battle.
It would be difficult to find an argu
ment in support of unionism so potent
as this one. '
To find one set of workers like the
stonecutters working forty-eight hours
per week and another set of workers
in the iron and steel trade working
eighty hours per week should alone be
enough to convince every toiler in this
wide land of the value of unionism.
But this is not all. The hot blast
me who work an average of eighty
four hours per week obtain only about
la cents per hour for their labor.
The stonecutters who work on an
averaijp of forty-eight hours per week
receive an average of 40 cents per
hour.
In other words, the stonecutter work
ing about half the time of the hot blast
men receive at the end of the week
imich larger wages.
To look at it in another way. A hot
blast man during 1iis life sells to his
boss an amount of labor about equal
to that sold by two stonecutters during
their lives.
The hot blast worker gives in one
life what one stonecutter would need
two lives to give, nnd he gives the
labor of two lives for less money than
a stonecutter receives for the labor of
his one life.
Think of this and then consider how
tragic it is that one must actually per
suade workingmen to believe in indus
trial unity.
It is almost impossible to believe that
any class of workers should be blind to
the value of unionism or loth to suffer
almost anything to achieve it.
And what astounding evidence of
working class stupidity it would be if
the workers of this country should with
out a fight allow their unions to be
crushed and their right of organization
taken away by the capitalist legislature
and courts.
The value of unity is so clear, the
gains for these who have united are
so evident and the necessity of organ
ization for all workers is so great that
it would seem that men if they have
in-telligence to fight for anything they
would surely fight for this. '
HOW SINGLE TAX WORKS.
One effect of taxing land values and
exempting improvements is seen in
Vancouver, B. C. where since this pol
icy has been put in effect the Canadian
Pacific has agreed to let the city regu
late all wharf charges on a new line
of cement quays over 6,000 feet long
where formerly nothing but mud flats
lay idle. There will be no wharfage
robberies and cinches in Vancouver.
Portland, wake up! Portland Labor
Press.
DOUGHERTY MADE GOOD.
There are those who believe that a
state labor bureau should be run wholly
in the interests of employers and care
fully ignoring the interests of labor.
Wageworker.
And there are some in Oklahoma who
feel that way yet none of them had
the nerve to sacrifice themselves on
the democratis ticket against Charley
Dougherty. He wag the only state
officer in the primary election who had
no opposition. Oklahoma Labor Unit.
CALLED HIS BLUFF.
Offered Criticizing Preacher Job As
Chief of Police.
Because he delivered a sermon from
his pulpit denouncing the city officials
for not enforcing the raw and express
ing the fervid hope that he could be
chief of police for a while, Kev. J. J.
Lace, a Methodist minister of Greeley,
Colo., has "had his bluff called."
The city council last Saturday offered
him a job" as policeman, with a fine
chance to become chief of police.
In offering the job, the council ask
the preacher:
"Can you distinguish between a
woman who is bad and, one who is
just giddy f
"Can you tell the difference between
a poker game and plain cribbagef
"Can you tell when a man is drunk
enough to be sent to jail, and when
he is only hilarious enough to be sent
home!
"Can you distinguish between young
couples, innocently spooning in the
park, and those who should be ar
rested f
"Will you walk your beat from 8 in
the evening until 7 the next morning?"
If the minister qualifies the council
makes this offer: "After a year, if
you have demonstrated your ability
to detect criminals, catch bootleggers
and keep your own skirts from the
muck, the council will come to you
with open arms and ask you to take
the job of city marshal. For years
the council has been looking for a man
to fill that position who has the per
sonal reputation of a Joseph, the pa
tience of a Job. the wisdom of a Solo
mon and the courage of a lion."
WHICH IS THE WORST?
Western Woman Asks Two Embarrass
ing Questions.
Can the worst that has even hap
pened in the prize ring compare with
short-weighing the government, which
is the people?
How about the "big" man who
pounces upon a little child on a
thousand little children and puts them
to work in a factory that destroys their
bodies and their souls?
Or, what of the "big merchant"
who. by the club of hunger, compels
his women employes to labor long
hours on semi-starvation wages? Mrs.
LuBeine Helen Baker, Spokane, Wash.
The strike of hodcarriers at San
Francisco was settled ion August 3 up
on the understanding that all hodoar
riers who are not attending brick
layers and plasterers shall work only
eight hours a day instead of eifht
botiirtf and a half and that t'hey shall
be 'paid for a 'full day, receiving the
saime as the other hodearriers who
work the extra time.
The San Francisco Labor Council 'has
approved ithe proposition to weate the
office of female factory inspector, sug
gested by the Woman's Union Label
League.
o
AUGUSTUS H. HYERS, HAVELOCK
Machinists' Union Postmaster
THE MACHINISTS' UNION
A Little History of One of the Livest
of Local Organizations.
Machinists Lodge No. 269 of Lin
coln and Havelock was permanently
organized during the winter of 1904.
At that time most sf the railway mem
bers kept their membership under the
hat. . Later the railroad managers real
ized that the organization was not an
tagonistic, but was formed for mutual
protection and benefit, and then the
railroad boys came out into the open.
The contract employes were in the
majority at first, but later the rail
road members became most numerous.
Today the membership is over a hun
dred and still growing. Meetings are
held twice a month, alternating be
tween Liiicolu and Havelock. About
7", per cnt reside in Havelock, the
rest in Lincoln.
Xo. 2G9 is a "live bunch." It is
always helping others as well as tak
ing care of its own. A little bit about
some of the charter members may be
of interest :
C. H. Lingle, for" years the local's
efficient secretary, has just completed
an entirely new automobile for a Lin
coln company. John Curran has been
recording secretary ever since the hills
were holes in the ground. Every time
he is re-elected he declines, then the
boys compel him to hang on. H. F.
Moore is another old-timer, although
he has traveled around quite a bit.
Still he hangs on to his 269 card. In
1908 Ralph Lash quit the machinists'
trade for good, and went into the mar
ket gardening business. Just as he
was about to harvest a bumper crop
along came that disastrous July flood
and away went the crop down Salt
Creek. Then Ralph came back to the
trade. John Malstead is the president
at this time, and is the comedian of
the lodge. He has made so good that
he is now serving his third term. Peter
Koll, the secretary, has opened a gar
age in Havelock and expects to be able
to use a few machinists in due time.
Frank Boehme is the keeper of the
funds. Personally he is a philanthrop
ist, but when it comes to expending
the lodge funds he gets so excited he
mixes two or three languages. "Red"
Eckland is the business agent and he
is on the job all the time. The lodge
affiliates with the Central Labor Union
at Lincoln and with the State Federa
tion of Labor. By the way, Xels
Stonestrom, now with the U. P. at
Omaha, helped prganize No. 269. So
did N. C Broker, who is working at
the Lincoln round house.
It 's always a pleasure to meet this
live bunch or any of its members,
and The Wageworker is under many
obligations to all of them.
PLIGHT OF WORKING GIRL.
Mrs. Robbins Compares the Conditions
in East and West.
Thecondition of the working girl in
the west is much better than that of
her sister in the east, so said Mts. Ray
mond Robbins, president of the Wo
man 's National Trades Union league,
who hae an intimate knowledge of the
subject on which she speaks, through
her lorvj study of industrial problems
and a Ibroal sympathy for her less for
tunate sisters.
"Few of the girls in the west start
bo wwrk at the ages of 12 and 13 years,
as they do heta," she. sand.
"We have onr L3fcbor problems,
but none like you have. The girl work
ers of your city belong to the second
and third generation a generation of
which the mothers have been ground
down by machine labor. In the iwest
the sapping process has not got beyond
the fiTst generation. In consequence the
women workers of the west have more
vitality.
"If immigration to this country
should 'be shut off suddenly," she con
tinued, ' 'it would only be a short time
before we would feel our great physical
loss. The strong peasant women comes
over here and transmits her strength
to her children and that is why our
girl workers have more vitality than
yours, for it is in the west that the
peasantry of Europe settles. But I be
lieve we are at ,the turn of the tide.
I think better times are coming for our
women workers. The question is whe
ther the intelligent women of our coun
try will join iwith us to make the tide
rise higher and hurry on tin ; better
day."
Mrs. Robbins said of th, -.iraalti.y
women who trade in the shops:
"They are stupid. I don't mean nat
urally stupid. They are surrounded by
a high w-all over which they cannot
look and to the top of which they can
not climb. It is these women we want
to teach. It isn't that they have a
lack of sympathy or tnat they wouldn H
help if they knew, for I think they
would."
Mrs. Bobbins said that in Europe
more was done for the girl workers
than in this country. In several for
eign countries, she declared, the hours
of labor were properly apportioned so
that there -were eleven hours of rest
between working days and greater at
tention was paid to snh matters as
sanitation.
The average wage of the woman
worker is $270 a year," she said, "and
you must remember that average means
below, as well as above. In the textile
industry something like two-thirds of
the workers are getting $6 a week.
Deduct room rent and the price of
meals from $6 ,a week and what have
you left ?
"Is it not wry difficult if or a girl
to lead an honest life under such con
ditions?" Mrs. Robbins was asked.
"Yes. and the marvel is that so
many thousands of them are good hon
est women, as I know they are." re
plied Mrs. Robbins.
"Why, I have known girls to live
on nothing but rye bread and olive
oil in order to scrape together enough
money to buy a new hat or a new
dress."
"What is the Temedy for such a
condition of affairs?"
"One remedy' is trades unionism.
Orgamize the women and teach to think
and act. Another is the ballot. I am
an ardent suffragist. Everybody is
who ever tried to do anything for wo
men workers.
Another general clothing strike is
under way in New York C-ity. Fifteen
thousand tailors, of whom 6000 are wo
men, quit work in 300 factories on
Augtvst 4, demanding a fifty-three .hour
wek and an increase in wages. .About
15,000 nione are expected to quit work.
The wages of thousands of pasper 'mill
workers in New Hampshire, Nw York
State, Vermont, Maine and Massachu
setts were advanced a average of 5
par cent on Angust 2 toy the Interna
tional Paper Company.
FLORIDA IS CALLING
The Southern Colonization I
Company, the largest Eeal Estate
firm in the United States, has just
completed arrangements to place
upon the market a "very large tract
ol prairie land in the South-Central
part of Florida. The reason
why this land has not been placed
under cultivation long ago, is be
cause, heretofore, this large tract
has been so far from market,
which made it impossible to de
liver the crops at a profit, but
now the Company itself is" build
ing a railroad right down through
this tract of land, which will at
'once place the products of this
soil in toich with the markets of
the world.
This land is located where we
have an ddeal climate, on the Kis
simmee Prairies, where our lands
are located. The highest tem
perature ever recorded is 98 de
grees and it seldom ever gets be
low 40 degrees, above zero. The
rainfall averages about 50 inches
a year and the water supply is
excellent, as good water may be
obtained at a depth of 15 to 30
feet and Artesian wells are suc
cessful at 100 to 500 feet.
The soil consists of a sandy
loam and is underlaid with a clay
sub-soil.
Any kind of .fruit and vegeta
bles can be raised in this part of
Florida that can be raised any
where, even in California, on
cheaper land and without irriga
tion, and besides that, we are
nearer the market wihich makes it
very profitable to the grower. It
is an easy matter to raise as much
when profitably cultivated on 10
acres of this ground, than is often
grown elsewhere on 160 acre
farm. We can show many orange
groves within a few miles of our
land that cannot be bought for
$1000 an acre. Our lands will do
as well.
The folowdng is what a man says
about truck farming in our part
of Florida :
"Kissimmee, Florida.
Dec. 3d, 08.
Dear Sir :
In January 1908 I purchased
two acres of land near Kissimmee
for $100. During the Spring and
Buy your ticket; then
come to our office and
we will check your bag
gage straight from your
residence to destination,
avoiding any waiting at depot. Cabs on call at -any
time, night or day. f Leave your checks and have
your baggage delivered to any part of the city. jpg
Ensign Omnibus and
Transfer Co,
Bell Phone 303 . . Auto Phone 2303
Office 221 South 1 1th LINCOLN, NEB.
J. T. CLARK
Residence Phone Bell F-1228
CLARK &
INCORPORATED
Office Phones-Bell 1363; Auto 2634
Plumbing, Electrical Work, Gas, Steam Fitting
1505 O St., LINCOLN, NEB.
Also all kinds of houses for sale or rent. We have
houses to sell on easy, payments. Call and see us.
Henry Levi, Manager of the Real Estate business..
J. T. Clark, Mgr. Plumbing and Electrical Work..
C. A. TUCKER-Jeweler
S. S. SHEEN-Opti
Your Patronage Solicited
1123 O Street
Summer I worked and cleared the
lands, fenced same and put up a
small barn at an additional cost
of $200. Up to October, 1908, I
had sold about $500 worth of
vegetables. At present I .have:
35,000 celery plaints, 2,000 straw
berry plants, 10,000 lettuce plants
8,000 cabbage plants, 30,000 Ber
muda onion plants and three
fourths acre of sweet potatoes.
This crop is looking fine. Could
not be better. Estimating this
crop at prices obtainable in Kis
simmee, its value is $3,500.
Yours truly,
D. EOTUNDO."
What do you think of this kind
of a return? You do not need
a large farm to have an independ-.
ent living in this part of Florida.
Our next Excursion will be
luesday, September 20th, at
which time the Company will start
a private car irom Lincoln, whin
Liir; v w iii i a ,n i i v il l i i.iiHi r m th i a n
return for the 'benefit of their
customers.
. Our lands are sold from $15
to $25 per acre and on easy terms.
We will sell all the way from 10
acres to all a man can pay for,
but we will not load a man up
with more than what is profitable
for him. Our 10 acre tracts we
will sell for $25 per acre, on terms
as follows: $1.00 per acre down
and $1.00 per acre each month
until the same has been paid for.
We will sell 20 acre tracts on the
same terms. Our large tracts we
will sell with one-third down and
we will make easy terms on the
balance.
Call on us 'before the above date
and get more information and get
some literature on the subject. Do
not let this opportunity pass, it
may never call again. .Take it
now while it ds within your reach.
We have many things to tell yu,
but space will not permit, there
fore, we invite you to call at our
office.
Southern Colonization Company.
Kooms 1 and 2. Xo. 140 South
13th Street.
Frank E. Schaaf, Local' Mana
ger. James R. McCann, District
Manager.
HENRY LEVI
Residence Phones Bell 279; Auto 6313
LEVI CO.
Yellow Front