SOME SHORT ARM JABS
is little doubt that the lodge will grow and flourish. We commend
it to the careful consideration of all men who are seeking fraternal
ties.
President Taft is another one of those eminent gentlemen who
Here's hoping that Christmas morning will find a ton of coal in are heartily in favor of the 8-hour law on government work, but thor
every man's cellar. oughly opposed to its enforcement. He favors the enforcement of
the 8-hour law with enough "exceptions" to make it look like a col-
"A bill for an act entitled an act to repeal " Let the legislature lander.
get busy on that sort of thing.
Senator Nelson W. Aldrich submitted to a surgical operation
Thursday. We hope the operators removed his gall.
The case of Senator "Lafe" Young is among the best available
arguments in favor of the popular election of senators.
We have just given Chicago University ten million dollars. But
we had to let John D. Rockefeller take it away from us first.
Have some regard for the frazzled nerves of the tired clerks today
and tomorrow. Don't be selfish in this season of good will.
THE OFFICE BOY SAYS
"Billy" Lorimer is to be pronounced spotless. We cheerfully
admit that he is no worse than a number of his senatorial colleagues.
Alderman Candy's "forestry ordinance' has been stabbed under the
fifth rib by the city attorney. But why so long a delay in the stab
bing?
If the democratic legislature of 1911 wants to make Nebraska a
prohibition state, all it will have to do will be to repeal the 8 o'clock
closing law.
There will be no barbecue on the state house grounds in January,
but there will be some hot roasts handed out from the old building,
just the same.
The "dope" smuggled to the men in the state prison is to be
compared in amount with the political "dope" handed out by a lot of
would-be dictators.
Jawn Rockfeller has given annder 'steen millyuns to ol Chi uni
versity, God knows what fur. It won't help me git better woiges.
De Skoit wid a stuffed boid on her hat don't cut much ice wid me
when she hollers about men bein' cruel t' der hosses. :
De dames wot love t' talk about de flooence o' Isben on modern
tiiought don't seem t' keer no more fr de feelin's o' de worn out clerks
after talkin' about it. . -
I've been just dat hungry dat I ain't goin t' ask no investigation -w
hen a feller dat looks down an' out hits me f r de price of a sandwich.
My boss hands out me woiges wid a smile, but I've seen him
lookin' worried when He was figurin' up de stubs in his checkbook. I
guess dat means dat it's up t' me t' make good wid de boss by coming
across wid de woik. -
If some prayin' people I know git t' heaven, it's me Fr de elevator"
goin' down.
It didn't hurt me none t' learn dat Santy Claws ain't, 'cause it
come easy. But I'd like t' bat in de eye dem blokes wot t"ink it's
smart t' tell trusting little kids dat Santy Claws ain't no such fing.
A big banker smiled at me de oder day an said, "Howdy, Chim
ie !" Bet dat man got his bumps a plenty when he was a kid.'
Andy Carnegie ain't so much. I come inter de world wid as
much as he did, an' I'll take as much out of it.
Don't expect much in me Christmas sock, but I'll bet dat de lo-e
wot'comes wid it wouldn't go in a boxcar.
Superintendent Bishop should not have experienced much trouble
in providing a plenty of codovers for -the medical colleges. The
woods are full of "dead ones."
The petty annoyances to which the builders of the First National
Bank block have been subjected is not calculated to encourage other
enterprising men to undertake similar building projects.
A large water-logged club is awaiting that abortion of a charter
evolved with so much labor from the combined nightmares of a num
ber of well-meaning but sadly deluded citizens of Lincoln.
There is an old saying that some men grow under responsibility,
while others merely swell up. We are reminded thereof by the awful
swelling apparent "in some who hold themselves responsible for cer
tain political results last November.
My, wouldn't there be a row if Governor Aldrich should appoint
some man to a good office simply because he was a Catholic? Was
there anything aside from sectarianism that dictated the appointment
of one certain man to an important commissionship? -
Kennison, the man who wantonly murdered Sam Cox at Min
atare a few years ago, is to apply for a pardon on December 31. We
disclaim being vindictive, but Kennison ought to be thankful that
he was not hanged, and he ought to be left in confinement for many
years to come.
Congratulations to Senator Burkett! He is no "lame duck." He
takes his defeat gracefully, and is going to settle down in Lincoln to
the practice of law instead of hanging around Washington looking
lor some soft political snap. We commend Elmer Jacob Burkett's ex
ample to several other eminent but retired statesmen.
Auditor Barton, in calling attention to the fact that the state su
perintendent of public instrucion has heretofore had the handling of
immense sums of money for which he was accountable to no one, put
his finger in an important matter. There has been considerable of a
political machine built up around an office that should be separated
from politics as widely as possible.
"The Loyal Order of Moose" is a new organization in incoln but
an old and rapidly growing organization in the east. It presents
many attractive features to the average man, especially to wage earn
ers and men of small means, affording good protection and benefits
at a minimum cost. Its plan of operation is simple, safe and sound.
The Lincoln lodge will be officered by well known men, and. there
"SIX DAYS SHALT THOU YABOR!"
Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 10, 1910. To the Editor of The Wage-;
worker: This letter has to do with the question of Sunday work. The
scven-dcy week obtained for years in the newspaper end of the print
ing trades. We got over it by enacting a law which requires our
members employed on seven-day situations to give out one day each
week to the first obtainable substitute. As a result, our wages for
six days are now in excess of the wage formerly received for the
seven-day week. ' ' ' "
The subject was forcibly impressed upon me by a paragraph ap2
pearing in the report of a sermon delivered by a local minister. The
paragraph follows : " - .
"It seems to us that the worst enemy of the working
man is the person who wantonly removes the sacredness of
his one day of rest, commonly called Sunday, for if one line of
amusement makers be allowed lo pursue their regular line of
business on Sunday, on what logical basis can we prevent
hundreds of other lines from opening up also? I have in my
possession a most urgent appeal published by the actors of
this country, in which they request lh clergy to assist them
in keeping theaters closed on Sunday-."
One of the local newspapers in discussing this matter truthfully
said hat not a tithe of what will come is included in the labor of those
thus called on to minister to the selfish enjo-ment of Sunday amuse
ment seekers. The same license that acquiesces in law breaking for
this purpose will break it for other purposes and, unchecked, we shall
come on a time when there will be no Sunday free from work for the
average man. And what is more, the equation will settle itself so
that in the run of things the working man will get no more for his
seven days than he now gets for six.
Labor has come a long way from the almost unremittent toil that
bound the worker to his task for practically all of his waking mo
ments, to a time where it has been discovered that the worker can do
really more work and better work in shorter days than longer. This
has been followed by the movement against child labor to give the
child a chance of an education and a time free from body-breaking
toil in their tender years.
Our German members, during a period of industrial stagnation,
decided to work five days a week, giving one day for the relief of their
less fortunate brothers. Then they continued the practice. Today
they receive as much for the five days as they formerly received for
the six days.
Sunday should be a day of rest and not a vehicle for the imposi
tion on the workers of the seven-day week.
JAMES M. LYNCH,
President International Typographical Union.
