GENERAL MENTION.
Swiped Bodily From the Portland Labor
Floss Without Apologies.
(ilsisHw in kers will form women 's aux
iliaries. Hooi'Vi'lt has agreed to speak in
Fargo on Labor lay.
In Kansas tin- law against paying men
in cheeks is being enforced.
In Berlin. Germany, there are 230,
001) card holding trade unionists.
Tlu I'hoto Kngr.ivcrs' International
union reports $.n.O(io in the treasury.
Work mi tlio immense water system
of Lo Angeles lias been resumed.
German unions are i xcoptionally
Stroag among unskilled brandies of
Jabot.
MMl employees in I. a nenshier, Kng
laud have i',ual pay for work, regard
less of sex.
The sugar trust is on with another
fight with its refinery men in the vicin
ity of Xew York.
Hereafter the v.ty department of
public works will bid on every public
contract let in Milwaukee.
Telegraphers haw gained better pay
and conditions by arbitration witih the
Grand Trunk 1'aiVfic.
Organized farmers and mechanics
have united in Spokane for clean and
honest city and county government.
Night schools and trade schools for
adults in Germany are increasing. A
coll 'ge of trades is also provided for.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire
men ihas apropriated funds for the es
tablishment of a cmirsi.' of scientific
firing.
Milwaukee authorities have rut 104
dives out of business in 'the last few
months. They were all stations dn
the "white sl:ive trade."
Milwaukee is to construct cottages
and sell on the installment plan at fig
ures so low as to make the ordinary
real estate shark weep.
The difficulties dn Spain seem to be
between the gobackers and the stand
patters. The liberal element seems to
be out of the running.
GRAND CI 1IEF STONE, B. L. E.
The conrl ti pealed to for an injunc
tion iii Spokane against peaceful pick
eting by wallers has decided that such
picket ing is la w f ill.
Oklahoma union labor forces are
keeping after any political printing
without the union label. Merely jnen
tioning its absence is very irritating.
Cedar Kapids. Iowa, has an Employ
ers' Association and it has labor unions.
Instead of fighting they have agreed
to arbitrate nil differences.
The Foresters of America in Calilor
Jiia have condemned the Japanese, and
their official organ contains the explicit
ami brief slogan, "Fir? the Jap!"
The Maryland legislature has passed
a law requiring that the union label
of the Allied Printing Trades council
be plared on all printing done for the
lit ate.
....wnvidb obvkin- iiiglnef oil mf w
No I'inkertou det, (.tivrs are allowed
to stir up Mrikes in Milwaukee. They
lire classed as vay;s and given short
idiift not.iees. Some of them are in
I'urtland.
Milwaukee is to have a niiinicipally
owned street car tirnijiial station. All
lines must use it. It is expected to
pay and will also prove a great con
venience. The Chicago traction trust is supply
ing its men with a free magazine. Its
articles on .welfare, faithful service, etc.
lire described by a rough critic as
" hogwash. "
The governor of Arkansas comes out
squarely for organized labor, and will
not, as the head of the state, employ
er permit 'the employment of any but
union men.
Tls- Secretary of Commerce and La
bor has decided that there as nothing
to the charges of th A. F. of L. that
tdavery exists on the sugar plantations
of tl Hawaiian Islands.
The (iermnn government pays dam
age to those injured on tin1 state-owned
and operated railroads. Last year these
satisfactions amounted to more than
$1,400,000, or 4 per cent on an invest
men of $:i 3,000,000.
During th year ending with June
over 25.000 emigrants seeking admission
to t his country were turned back for
physical defects and indications of be
coiiug public charges. The admission
Iff? r u
of Hindu laborers in San Francisco has
become a public scandal because most
of them could be s.mt back, and the
traffic stopped.
The federal laborers of Spokane .havi;."
established a fund to be used in en
forcing the eight-hour and other laws
regarding public laborers. And some
of the contractors the shocked at such
anarchy!
Courts have ordered the city council
of Spokane to call an election for a
board of charter makers not later than
October 1 ; but there are other courts,
and the council does not want to give
in to the people.
S. D. SMITH. HAVELOCK, NEBR.
Blacksmiths' Union
Three thousand striking workmj?n and
their families are camping out in Los
Angeles, and they buy all theiir supplies
from other points rather than patronize
unfair stores and "open" shop busi
ness men.
The proposal that women be called
on to render military service if ithey
were granted the right to vote has been
taken up seriously in Germany. Women
could do much in hospitals and camps
to relive and to aid.
Both Taft and Ballinger thought
the government irrigation enterprises
savored too much of Socialism. With
the dignity and red tape of the army
engineers tied to dt, the reclamatiion
bureau will not be so much after this.
Sheet Metal WorkeTS in St. Louis
won after thirty-seven days' strike. The
bosses point out that the workers lost
$:i.",00( in wages. If the strike lhad
been lost the bosses would soon have
caused worse loss than that.
Bu means of a purchasing agent the
workiingmen 's government of Milwau
kee, Wis., saved a dollar a ton on all
municipal coal. The official getting
that anu-uint of graft from it kicked
with no beneficial results to himself.
Tin appropriation by Cosgress will
result in a very elaborate and probably
a very thorough investigation of mine
idonts. The sum of $:!10.0l!0 is avail
able, and the work will be carried out,
under the newly created Bureau of
Mines.
The American Anti-Boycott Society
lis very much miffed at its desertion by
the Bucks Stove concern. It has had
a good 'thing collecting contributions
from rich suckers to light Gompers and
the A. F. of L., and it hates awfully
to let go. Perhaps it won't.
The 'three nurses who testified in the
Hyde murder case in Kansas City have
been boycotted by the physicians of
that eii'ty and compelled to leave town, j
Thi 're same physicians are no doubt in
synrpathy with the "open" shop fight!
agamNt orgain.eii lauor.
PRESIDENT FRANK M. COFFEY
Nebraska State Federation of Labor
It is coufiedntly asserted that almost
the entire issue of the Anti-Saloon
League millions of leaflets, pamphlets
and giveu-away literature is prints!
without the label, and usually in unfair
shops. No wonder its representatives
keep away from union meetings.
In British Columbia the timber claims
are said to be licensed to cut timber
over 100 acres of land, the particular
bkcatioa of which is not surveyed. The
government gets $140 for each license,
and in many cases such licenses apply
to the same piece of land or timber as
half a dozen other licenses. This mav
1-S. 'w; ; - , -j ' . . , -
BOTH
liMjk like trouble for B. C. in the future
but it probably spells more trouble for
American speculators than anybody
else.
It is proposed to hold the next con
vention of the Washington Sta.te Fed-
BUSINESS AGENT I-RED EISSLER
Carpenters Union No. 1055
eration of Labor on 'board a steamer
off the wharf at Olympia. At the time
of its gathering the legislature will be
in session and rooms and board will be
difficult to se:uiv. The ship will be
hotel and hall.
,.v c,)lln,v. x,.w Mexico, is mak-
t ;.,i t,, ;nvJihiri in it-
bonds that tli'.v are not taxaOle. Silver
City is doing the same thing. It secures
purchasers, although most beads of
that nature are n.it taxed, anyhow, be
cause the holders thereof never show
up xcept 1or .their interim:, and then
only through banks.
To keep 'persecution 1'rom t hem -
the Uus.-iau nobility encourage ; lie de
graded and ignorant masses to perseiuiM.'
the Jews. The results are sickcawig
and revolting. It is s:;id that if five j
certain Jewish families i.f Kurojie
would refuse To lian U:i- ia :.'.iy money
that the perecut:ons would come to
a sjieedy stop.
One of the measures coming befjn
the people of Arkansas next month la
that of exemption of cotton factories
from taxation. The idea is that if
you want factories don't fin' and pun
ish them for coming where you want
them. If you kick a dog every time
you call r.nn, or up miu.vs up n nuuui
culling, the animal refuses to come at
all after a while.
! It is gentlv intimated that the Mor
gan-Guggenheim -Kockef oiler interests
will cause a panic this fall in order
to scare the fool working man into
voting the republican ticket. This has
been a trump card to talk about as
a bluff these many years. If it is
ever laid on the deck there is libcly
to be a sudden and nerve-racking rough
house one of these days.
.It is told thet a number of years ago
the saloonkeepers nwded friends in
Boston. Union cigars were almost im
posxible to secure in any Boston salooH,
but after the labor unions in the Cen
tral Council had indorsed the anti-
WE MOVE
TRANSFER COMPANY
PACKING & STORING A SPECIALTY.
PHONES. 121 NO. 12TH ST.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.
saloon movement by resolution, the
securing of r. cigar not of union make
was difficult in the city of "kulehar. "
The rescinding of the resolution was
the price paid to secure the deal.
The Manufacturers' Association has
started in to mate Washington, D. C.
the "model open shop town of the
United States." If the association
means business it will immediately im
port into that city 10.000 Hindus, 25,
000 Japs and as many Chinks as can
be gathered up. In order to make sure,
scvenal thousand Mexican peons can
be brought from the -i ict;'l open shops
of Yucat'au. Let us have a full ex
hibition. TH2 STRUGGLE FOP. EXISTENCE.
By Kcv. Charles J
The cost of living dur'.i:
:elz!t.
Z the past fif-
teen years has been rapiiliy increasing.
In ten years it has gone up 41) per cent.
This tendency will pro'oa'dy never de
crease very materially. While wages
have gone up. they have "My no means
kep.t pace with tli? living expenses.
The increase in the rate !'..: the skilled
workers 'has been about -0 per cent,
but tiie wages of unskilled labor have
lvmained practically stationary. The
greatest expenditure of tje average
family is for food, constituting about
4o per cent of the cost of living, and
it is in the food products that the in
creased cost has been greatest. The
next largest item of expense is that
of rent, constituting about 20 per cent,
and that for e'othiug following with
about 10 per cent of the total exp'iidi
ture. We need not discuss the causes of
PRES. RAY VACNER, HAVELOCK
Blacksmiths' Union
this increased cost of living. There is
a very wide differeao i of opiiu'on as to
the reasons for increase, and no doubt
there is truth in all of them. But this
fact remains it is costing the average
wiorkingman more to live today than
it did fifteen years go, and his wages
are not as great proportionately as they
were at the beginning of this period.
If the rate of production ware the
one factor at work, instead of an in
creased cost of living, there tdrould have
been a deoline iu the cost of living
t
EVERYTHING
ft"1
of at least 15 per cent. The American
workingman is the moat highly skilled
workingmau in the world. lie produces
more than the workingmon do in other
parts of the world, but compared to
what he produces, he is probably the
W. L. MAYER, LINCOLN
Electrical Workers' Union
p oorest ptiid workingman in
The queMtion of a living wage must
necessariily be a relative term. It de
pends altogether upon the standard of
living which mon set up for themselves.
The living wag 3 of the day laborer
would not be a living wage for. the av
erage professional man. But, generally,
the term is employed to designate tih 3
".mount upon which the average work
ingman and his family may subsist. Th?
average family in New York City can
i ; l-e comfortably on less than $S00
a year. This applies to practically
everv other large city. Less than this
p'nount lowers the standard of living
! the normal demands of health,
wi;r.vi.ug efficiency and ordinary de
f e v.
The wages of the average worker in
the United States is $432.20 per annum.
this includes all wage-earners and
:t must be evident that thfre are large
numbers of workers who receive very
much less than this amount. A study
of the earnings of wage earners in
u ! ! e.t i a Xo. 03 of the Bureau of the
i indicates that during the week
fiat the Census was made in 1905, there
vie 220,70:1 wage-earners who received
!es than $:; 264,026 between $:i and
?4; ;:40.1i:i butweon $4 and $5; 363,603
"le'vveen $5 and $6; 434,285 between
:yi and $7; 4.-3,20:i between $7 and $S;
and 423,680 between $8 and $9. It
should be remembered that large num
bers of wage-earuets are not perma
nently employed during the year. In
many industries the workers are not
employed more than half the year. This
applies principally to laborers, who are
more subject to casual employment than
are the skilled workers, but even among
the trades unioniHts about 20 per cemt
are unemployed, even during prosperous
years.
It is true that there is often mors
than one wage-earner ja the family.
But the measure of a man's wages to-
day is not determined by bis ability
J
to support a family, but ratbeT by
what the average family as a whole
may earn, and this measure is the
margin of bare subsistence.
A PEACEFUL STRIKE.
Leatherworkers on Horse Goods Made
Conditions Better.
One of the most peaceful strikes on
record was conducted by- the United
Brotherhood of Leather Workers on
Horse Goods in their efforts to gain
the eight hour day. During the entire
period of cessation of work no dis
turbances are recorded.
The hours of employment in the
saddlery industry prior to the strike
varied from nine to ten, and the wages
the lowest received by any skilled
mechanics. The average yearly wage
being less than $12.00 per week.
While their efforts to establish the
eight hour day proved unsuccessful,
nevertheless, it resulted in putting in
to effect a universal nine hour day.
Notwithstanding the peaceful atti
tude of the Leather Workers during the
entire trouble they were bitterly op
posed by the National Saddlery Manu
facturers' Association, who declared
early in the strike that their doors
would be forever barred to members
of the Brotherhood. This, however,
only had the effect of making the men
all the more determined, and they de
cided rather than submit to such over
bearing tyrants they would leave the
trade, and no less than 1,000 secured
employment at other occupations.
The Saddlery Association in order
to get even decided to hire boys and
unskilled labor and teach them the
trade in three or four weeks; this how
ever, proved a dismal failure and the
individual firms began to break over
and offered n compromise of nine hours
with a substantial increase in wages,
which was accepted by the brother
hood. There are still a few firms holding
out to their own detriment. An officer
of the Brotherhood recently stated that
they have only a small number of men
still on strike, but that they felt con
fident that when business picks up
they will also make terms with the
organization, and a universal nine hour
day will be the result of their efforts.
The only shoe-man who is a union
man is Murray French of the Yates
French Co., 1220 O Street. He belongs
to the Musicians' Proteet've L'nion.
Local No. 463, and should have your
patronage.
TAXING TOIL AND THRIFT.
When the farmer clears and levels
a little patch of land the assessor tells
hira that as it is more valuable than
it was, and as land is going up in value
all the time, anyhow, he will have to
do his duty and raise the assessment.
But when it is pointed out that timber
land is going higher all the time, too,
and that timber is cash value, 'the
kindly-hearted assessor reduces the as
sessment on such land to "conserve our
natural resources." The farmer is not
a natural resource, don't you know.
He is "a pudding" for the tax dodg-
ers. Portland Lpbor Press.
1