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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 1904)
Enormous Growth of Trades Unions and Trusts (Copyright, 19H, by Frank a. Carpenter.) ASIIIVfSTf )N. Jau. 1. (?d c'.al "JTl Correspondence of The Iiec.) I I have I o;-n ankiil to make en In- terxlew ln etil ?atlon of wmc of th? creat b c.i !-an J-butter que- tlons which are now agitating the minds of most of the men and women of the V nlted EUt?P. These qu a ions are thiso relating to the n 'W cond.tlons of capital and labor; the question of the big dealer wall .wing tlie little on,, of hl.?h wigr-n and high price', of long or shf.rt hours, of union and nonunion, and e p.clal y whether the consumer Is to l.e ground be tween the upper r.nd nether millstones of employer nnd em j lay.-. These are prl lore which affect every man's p ickot'jo k, hts chance to work for whom he pleases, his wages If he is a laborer and hl prnilts if he Is a calt.a 1st, and, In fad, the cimfort and success or failure of every one In th.! country. The Interviews wl'l bo with representa tive men of ull diSf-ci. I shrill h ivj talks with lome of our chlif c ipltnilsts. Includ ing now and then a million lire or trust magnate, who will Rive ui the benefits of organized en pi til, and shall have expres sions of opinion from the leaders of the trade unions, who In their mighty binds wield the millions of o -girthed labor. The nonunion masi will be represented by other thinkers, ns will also the unargar.lzr-d and long-suffe. Ing public, which pays all the bills und forms the very foundation of the existence of laborer and oapltallit. I wish to say at the start that these in terviews are not the expression of my opinion or that of this paper. In them the man who talk may nay what be pleases, and the more forcibly the better. My only aim is to give a fair show to all r.ldes with out fear or favor. If labor la denounced this week, capital may havo its denuncia tion next. The unionist and nonunlonlst Is here on an equal footing, nnd the indi vidual establishment and the great trust stand side by side. As for mo, I am only the telephonic connection between the men Interviewed and my readers a mere re ceiver and transT.llter my chief ambition being to distinctly convey the sound. The pr;eent letter gives some idea of the situation and the parties at issue. The In terviews will begin publication next Bun day. In the past the United States has been great through its Individual citizen. It lias been the land of all others where the single man could stand alone and fight his way up through any sphere to fume and fortune. ThN condition Is rapidly chang ing. We are doing things In the large. Men work In bands, and dollars In millions. The land Is one of golden giants, of mighty masses of organized capital and herculean armies of organized labor. First look at our combinations of capital. They surpass In their accumulations tho wildest dreams of a Croesus, on Alladln or a Monte Crlsto. It is not long since the millionaires of the United States could be counted on your fingers and toes. Now they are numbered by the thousands, and we havo Individuals worth more than the aggregate wealth of some of the smal'er European states. Take Carnegie! No one knows Just what he has, but his $300,000,000 of steel securities bring him In an Income of more than $15. 000,000 a year, or more than $41,009 dollar for every day of tho week, Including Sun days and holidays. John Rockefeller scoopi In something like $2,000 an hour -nil the year through from his stocks, real eitato and mines, and the Vanderbllts, Astors and Goulds havo proportionately large Incomes. There are today a number of men In the United Statos worth $00,000,000 and upward, and the organizations of capital wh03e stock runs Into eight or more figures U legion. We now have. In addition to the billion dollar steol trust, which, by the way, Is a little shrunken at the wulst. and In addi tion to the gigantic Pennsylvania railroad about 850 Industrial combinations, which command all told fifteen thousand millions of dollars. We have 213 Industrial trust capitalized at seven thousand millions, and more thnn 6.000 other corporations. These trusts are swallowing their smaller com petitors. They are branching out to Includa all businesses of profit and In many cae are binding the hands of Industry with trade regulations. Indeed, we are fast becoming a nation of pool makers, rate fixers and profit sharers, and new ques tions of enormous Importance stare us In the face. At the same time our working men are organizing on a gigantic scale. The trades unions are growing as never before, and they are combining Into associations of enormous proportions. Wo have more than 20,000 unions in one federation, and these unions cover every trade ond hope to con trol every wage earner. John Mitchell es timates that there are from 2,500,000 to 1,000,000 worklngmen In the various unions; and 8amuel Gompers tells me there are more than 2.000,000 associated together In the American Federation of Labor. This federation has national. International, cen tral, state and local unions, which It hopes to wield as one man on all great labor questions. Some of the unions are very strong, and some arc piling up funds In their treasuries to use In the strikes and struggles which may arise between capital and 1 ibor. The United Mine Workers, for Instance, has 300,0(0 workers, and It his $1,000,000 Hived up. The Cigar Makers' union has IO.Ot'0 members Bnd It annually handles, nil told, more than $l,C(J0,ton, giving death benollts and out-of-work payments to Its unfortu nate memlK-rs. There are many other unions of large Fize. but these show more or less what all are doing and the power they may wield In the future. These trades unions do not 1 y any means Include the majority of our working men. It is doubtful If they have more than 15 per cent of them. Nevertheless they are banded together under leaders, and a well commanded army Is stronger than ten times ns many i-.idlvldu lis. I have said there nre 21,000 unions. To rhow tluir variety I give you some of those which are of a national or international character, taking them from n list which I have from tho American Federation of La bor. There are national associations of bakers, bnrbers, bill posters nnd blacksmiths. There nre associations of blast furnace:nen, boil it makers, bookbinders, boot nnd Fhoe work ers, broom mukets ami those who 1 ibor It breweries. There are brotherhoods of carpenters and Joiners, of wagon workers and woo.l carvers, car workers and chain makers, and also of clerks and clgir makers, coop ers and commercial telegraphers. There are unions of electrical workers and electrical constructors, of coal-hoist lug engineers, steam engineers nr.d als of fire men, flour mill men und freisl.t handlers. Thore nre garment workers united In a union embracing many thousands, glasa workers, glass bottle blowers nnd gl iss snappers. . Even the gold beaters h ive a national union,, nnd also the grinders of table knives. The hatters nre united. The horscshoers have a brotherhood nr.d JBo have the hod cartlrs. Everyone knows of the Iron and eteol workers, the leather workers and the long shoremen. The machinists havo numerous unions and so have the metal workers nnd the mire workers. , There are natlonnl unions of molders, of meat cutters and metal polishers. There are brotherhoods of oil and gis men. nnd also of painters nnd paperhangcrs. Every householder knows of the plumbers' union, and every publisher those which deal with printers and pressmen. There are all sorts of railway orgin Izations, there are saw Bmlths nnd skin ners, shipwrights and stage employes .and unions of tailors, tinners and tln-plato men. Indeed, I might go through the rest of the alphabet and give numerous unions under every letter and Include only those which are national In character and cover tho whole United States. These labor unions are bettor organized than ever before, and their leaders have enormous power as to the Inauguration or the prevention of strikes. Their demands for higher wages and better conditions are steadily advancing and within the past few years the strikes have materially increased. According to the figures of the labor bu reau here at Washington there have been moro than 22,000 strikes In the past twenty years and these have Involved a loss to '.Ik V, .: v. Earl Eaub, Leon Agncw, the wage earners and their employers of about $4OO,tO0,OC0. Tho losses of the work men have leen more than twice those of their employers. They have amounted to over $:i!0,0(0,0 0, nnd have caused mere than C.OOO.KO Idle workmen. During the samo time the lockouts have affected more than COO.Oi.O, resulting In a wage loss of about $00.0:000. Of the above strikes nb'ut on?-ha!f s tc cce.'ej; rone we're pirlil succe s s and mo c t .nn or.etl l.d total failures. The Ftrlkrs of the paat yeir hav l;een more thin usj,lly sucOislul. Times have be.i tool, o das peniy and the employer.? could i.ot afford to stop th" fu-t ,ri -. 'iny hnve glen In to tho men anl wa.es hive risen. limes now promise to l.-e hard. Many estabil -hrm nis are cutting down their fences and s n.o aiv leluing wa:;i'. Wh ther these changes will cju e new strll es renalns to be se.m. At the samo tl ne an as. n I i'cj:i of in mu factu c s h is lee.i form -d to oppose what the c'i'in ore the o.e.c.lo:n of th? u-1 v.m. Ibis is h M to laic a ir.e nl.ership of ..', factories, e ich of v,hl h c-.n'rlbuts.i $")0 a. year tiwrrd the rn e n nt. It l rapld'y in reaving in size and Is extending its work to ull parts of the country. It lias cs'.ab.i tied n puM'ca'lon anl 1 lform it on bur-nu nt Inda:rto"'s and, like the trtde.i union., it Is del ,g n 1 :i I n.iry work In a-vo atl-.m of Its pl-iipe-. 1h lra-i of ll.ii Association is Uu'l.l M. larry of In :I ani, who Is n'so p c id, nt of thj CI. is n.a' Ir.d s HjI Ass el . I n of Am i iea c ti re ted with It. Thcs? people el. In tint t; e lalo.- urlon h n thing more than ,a l :b :r tius de I ti -d for the b n -tit of 1 s own mo r her s at the cxp.T.so of the public. They st nJ for the n tun on man nnd for tlie l.i("i I lual anl cjcal y for the tights of the e np'oyer nsilint or;jui.hJ libir. They i.tc for the (pen tho.a nr.d :ig:inU boycotts, blacklists and strikes, c a mi lg tliut nil dirTeiencs bi trtce i empli);. ers nnd enp'oyes should be s.'MlicL by jny amic able m thod that will p eie.ve the rights of loth parties. re.liips the most powe.,ful fotce nnw or ganized for the p. even 1 n of la'ber trou lUs is the Nation 1 Civic f"c.e.at'on. Tills Is corpKed of , prominent entloyors of labor, the heads of tho great labor unions and a numler of leading thinkers repre renting the public. These men nie?t to gether In convent ons tit co.tel.i fixed peri od i to dlscuis the ("iffercn C3 of labor nnd car Ital and how they may l.e amical ly sct.Ud. They hive un executive commu te.1, which tries to b.l.15 the erp!oye-s and eniployea together whe.e or Core is trou ble, and this has already Fettled many strikea und prevented ctl.ers. In VX2 the Cllc federation averted a strike of rO0) workmen in thirty p-p?r mills, and It has Fettled eleven coal sttikes retore the traulles In the anthracite folds began. Its memters did what they could In the an thracite strike, but were unable to succeed. During the preFer.t year their work lias leen much greater, embracing labor difn cultlea of many kinds, a report of which, I am told, will Boon b? given to tho public. The Civic Federation embraces the lead ing thinkers of the United Slates. Its ix ecutlve committee Is divided Into three groups of twelve each, one group on tho part of the employers, another on the part X) vV Clyde Elliott. Manager; Owen Torter. Everett CENTRAL CITY HIGH SCHOOL BASKET of the wage earners and a third on the part of the pub.lc 'ine. rop4tj.entutives of the public are such men us ex-1'iesident Cleveland, Cornelius N. Hits, August Uthnont, Charles Fiai.cls Adams, Ubcai- Straus, ArchLLhop John Ire land, iiidhop 1-otter, President Eiiot of liurtuid and John O. Milhurn cf liuftulo. 'Ihe tmployeir are htadtd by Senator Ma.k lli.ni. a, and with him are men like Schwab of the tttol trust, Inuerwotd of the Erie railrcad, Ni.ton of the I nited States Shlpbuiluing company, Mar.us Ma: l.s, prcsidint cf the National Ass c a tion cf Clothing Manufacturers; Cha.l.s H. Ya!or, jr.. pic. I t. lit of the Newrp..per 1 v.'oAi I. era' association; If. II. Vreelund of ti.t 1. rut tallwai und olIkts. The liihcr lenders are equally sttong. Tiny are headed by Samuel Gompers of tha A met Kan Federation, mat have such men us John Mitchell of the United Min Work ers. Tlmdcre J. Shaffer, president of th3 Amalgamated Iron end Steel association; Janus O'Conntll of the American Mac.ln LstH, Henry Vhite of the Garment Workets and John Tolln of tho Boot and Shoe Workers' union. Tho president of the Chic Federation is Mark lianna. The vice presidents are Sam uel Gompers and Oscar Straus, while Ralph M. Eisley Is the secretary. All theFe combinations r.re chiefly for labor nnd capita!. Their eillterences are to be reconciled. ''hat the average man wants to know Li where the puLlic Is to tome in. How about the consumer who pays the I Ills? Everybody's business Is r.o lody'c busincES, and while the representa tives of the public tn tlie Civic Federation are men c.f great force they have not the I h1 peickethook Interest cf employer nnd empleyc. The l-.-b:rers want high wages, the manufacturers can satisfy them with out personal loss by increasing pi lees, and the public carries the burden. Indeed, the comblnatlens of capital as to prices are now organized as never before. Nearly every trade has its association, which meets together to stifle Individual competition. There is a wholesale drug gist combination which represents 90 per cent of the Jobbing trade of the United States. The members of this meet and de cide Just how much we shall pay for our pills, powders and bitters, and especially for our patent medicines of all kinds. The combination will not permit the dealers to undersell one another. It has spies on the ro3d to watch them, and the man who cuts the regular list is furnished no more goods. The book sellers and book publishers have recently combined to force the retall'ng of books at net prices, and the book stores which give discounts are not to be sup plied. The plumbers' associations are now pro viding that all sorts of plumbers' supplies shall be sold only to plumbers, and the handy Yankee will no more be able to stop a leak or put in a washer or spigot for himself. He can't get the spigot without ordering It through his plumber, and If he does so the plumber will get his percent age out of the price. Indectl, It Is not pos sible for the ordinary man to buy a section of gas pipe In many of our cities. In this way the consumer Is at the merer (Continued on Page Sixteen.) 1 fl- " 1 ... - I - , f r- Rowland. Earl Martin. BALL TEAM. - --?T-"
