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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1910)
WHY I AM A UNION MAN. Because I am not afraid to line up with my fellow workers and make an honest demand for that which is ours by heritage. Because I want to see every man, woman and child have plenty to eat, plenty to wear and plenty of time to enjoy it. Because I am opposed to filth and Ignorance and in favor of health and knowledge. Because I can think more of an honest heart under a ragged shirt than I do of a blockhead bloat with a bank account. Because a union man is never disrespected by any one except a lot of red eyed rounders with more money than kindness. Because when I pay my dues into the union I realize that I am stirring some "thickening" into a bowl of soup for some poor, hungry woman or child. THE LABOR PRESS. President Gompers Urges It Receive Generous Support. Again I direct the attention of the trade unionists of the country to the excellent services on their behalf per formed by the labor press. In the work of organizing, ofx giving correct Information to union men during con troversies with employers, of carrying on the discussions of questions arising In the course of the movement, a newspaper which is labor's own is indispensable in every large organiza tion and in every considerable indus trial community. The patronage ex tended by unions or individual union ists to the labor press is an invest ment in . support of a principle. As such the amount contributed ought to be made at all times as great as pos sible. A full and truthful account of an Incident during an emergency In the course of the struggles of an or ganization may turn the tide of af fairs in its favor, and an intelligent defense of the justifiable actions of labor's representatives may at the op portune moment save-, the members from hurtful misunderstandings and even disastrous dissension. The average labor periodical of America affords to Its readers an op portunity to keep up with the discus sion of the important social problems of the day. Every union man, there fore, should bear in mind his obliga tions to the labor press and regard it as an imperative duty to give a liberal support to the periodicals which can be called on at any and all times to defend union principles and promote union projects. It may be said with out Invidious reflection upon the ef forts of labor press managers and edi tors In the past that a steady advance Is observable in the appearance and contents of labor newspapers, while the number is Increasing. I urge la bor's representatives to vote and work for the assistance of their printed mes sengers even when any Immediate beneficial result may appear doubtful. A good labor paper, like a good tool, Is a thing which it is well to have at hand. rresident Gompers' Report. NO SERFDOM HERE. American Workmen Will Never Sub . mit to Slavery. When- will the opponents of union Ism get wise to the fact that it is impossible to maintain a system of selfdom on this side of the Atlantic? It never did exist, and it never can. A noted college professor said that the first ideal to take form in the American consciousness was "the ideal of liberty." It was this ideal that made Amer ica, and it is this Ideal that preserves the republic. Emerson has plainly expressed it: "We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds." The Industrial rebellion that" bas broken out in Los Angeles is the ex pression of this Ideal. Employers have undertaken to es tablish a system of industrial serfdom in this city. They have assumed a government of their employees arbi trary and oppressive in the extreme. They condemn the labor union for interfering with the sacred right to labor of American citizens and usurp a control of the actions of the worker as despotic as that against which the early colonists rebelled. There is no power strong enough to maintain such a despotism. Los An geles Citizen. . More Pay For Mine Workers. An increase in wages of G per cent for their work during October has been granted to the mine workers in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania by the anthracite strike commission. This wage increase is part of the plan under which the strike of 1902 was settled. The commission, after awarding a general Increase in wages, provided for further increases of 1 per cent for every advance of 5 cents per ton in the tidewater price of the do mestic sizes of coal. As the average price was $4.81 iu October, an advance of 30 cents, the mine workers were entitled to a 6 per cent increase in wages. Upholsterers Win Big Fight. The strike of upholsterers in San Francisco has been declared off on the promise that the difference will be arbitrated. Before the strike the bosses would have nothing to do with the union, but after their plants were tied up they saw a new light and will low discuss the question. A BRICKLAYER BISHOP. Dr. Mclntyreof St. Paul a Union Mem ber In Good Standing. "I believe in trade unions," said Bish op Robert Mclntyre of St. Paul dur ing a recent Interview In New York. Bishop Mclntyre is one of the strong men of the Methodist Episcopal church, n St. Paul they call him "the fighting Scotchman," because he attacks sin wherever it shows its head. He had been asked what in his opinion was the strongest power for good the labor un ion could exert Jin a time of strike. "Christian charity and brotherly love," he replied, with a smile. "It is the strongest force in the world. It will do more to win ' battles, bring ibout justice and strengthen the arm of right than any other influence in the world. . ' "The labor unions are coming to see that more battles are won by moral Force, accompanied by manly assertion af-rights and righteousness, than were ever won in any .other way. I am proud to say I am a member in good standing of Masonsand Bricklayers' union No. 1 of St. Paul. I urge our ministers to Join the unions, to work with them for the improvement of the race through the bettering of the con iition of the workingmen and working women and children. "A country's prosperity depends upon the sterling character of its producing Masses. Upon the moral health of the masses depends the happiness and prosperity of all the people. I urge our clergymen not only to join the unions, but to march with them in their pa rades, to use the talents that God has given tbenxin theway j)flntellect .and Brains to the" advantage" oT the unions and the working people, to be their orators, their spiritua advisers, their comforters in times" of trial", of" worry, of hardship. "We are all wage earners. All the women in the world are our sisters; all the men in the world are our brothers. We are all, black and white, red, brown and yellow, his children. "It is something to be proud of to be a wage earner. You will remember that the head of the church was a wage earner, and the only title that he had that he claimed among men was that of shepherd. In his youth he was a carpenter. "It is one of the sorrows of the age that the workingmen have been drop ping away from the church, and the church is to blame for it. Can any one expect the workingmen to follow the church blindly, expecting something that it does not give? It is the duty of the church to make the working classes feel that they have in the church a firm friend. Then we shall see the workingmen coming back to it for comfort and for worship." LABOR IN AUSTRIA. Trade Unions Win Many Victories. Fewer Strikes Reported. The report of the ministry of com merce for 1909 indicates that there is a steady, decrease In the number of strikes in Austria. There was a total of 580 in 1909 compared with 721 In 1908. On an average each strike last ed fifteen days. More than half, the strikes were due to demands for high er wages, and one-fifth of them were for shorter hours. The workers were entirely successful in getting increas ed pay in seventy-one strikes. They were partly successful in 178, and they failed in 120. Disputes regarding labor organiza tions and recognition of the represent atives of labor caused eighty-one strikes. They resulted in victory for labor in thirty-six cases, partial victory in two and defeat in forty-six. The wage Increases obtained varied from 2 to 55 per cent and the shorter hours fixed for a day's work from pe min utes to two hours. Meager Pay For Working Girls. How -young girls working in stores and shops can live on the wages paid them is a problem scarcely understood by the Minnesota labor bureau, . ac cording to W. E. McEwen, commis sioner. Statistics which have just been compiled show that more , than 35 per cent of them earn only from 50 to 83 cents a day, that more than 45 per cent earn from 84 to 99 cents, that 1.51 per cent earn from $2.50 to $2.S9 and that only seven-tenths of 1 per cent are paid as high as $18 a week. Bad For the Drivers. - "Trackless trolley cars are being used in some of the English cities." "How, do the coal wagon drivers manage to kefep them blocked ?" Chi cago Record-Herald. Camp For Glassworkers. The committee of the San Francisco United Glass Workers appointed to se lect a suitable site for a permanent camp for members out of work or on a vacation bas secured a location on the banks of the Petaluma river. 'Made It Clear. Diner Is there any soup on the bill' of fare? Waiter No, sir; there was, Taxxt T. vcixuxi it ftff. Harvard Lampoon. Foolish Loiterers. People who sit and wait for great moments miss many wonderful small moments, and they are be oitied RECTOR'S White Pine Cough Syrup Is a .quick and positive remedy for all coughs. It stoqs coughing spells at night relieves the soreness, soothes the irrita ted membrane and stoqs the tickling. It is an ideal preparation for children as it containes no harmful anodynes or narcotics. 25c per bottle RECTOR'S 12th and 0St JT7 "M OFFICE OF DR. R. L. BENTLEY, SPECIALIST CHILDREN Office Hours I to 4 p. m. Office 2118 O St. Both Phones LINCOLN. NEBRASKA Dr. Chas. Yungblut ROOM No. 202 Dentin 1 BLCK BLOCK AUTO. PHONE 3416. BELL 656 LINCOLN, -:- NEBR. Wageworkers Attention Plenty of it. Utmost Secrecy. 129 So. nth St. Kelly &Norris MONEY LOANED on household goods, pianos, hor ses, etc. ; long or short time, No charge for papers. No interest in advance. No publicity or fil papers, We guarantee better teims than others make. Money paid immediately. COLUMBIA LOAN CO. 127 South 12th. Capital Aulixiary No. 11 to Lincoln Typographical Union No. 209 meets every second and fourth Wednesdays at the Labor Temple. MRS. FEED W. MICKEL, 3200 U St. J , Secy-Treas. tan Vr?"l IT r " t Cfnf' jTE- -TK -.