Newspapers / The Labor News (Greensboro, … / Sept. 10, 1909, edition 1 / Page 1
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-Mil .-j 1 1 - 1 i . i . m. l .! . ' f - ' , - : ' ' ' . ' ' ' . , ' " - - h r -l ' r ' . iv - ORGAN OF THE STATE FEDERATION OF LABOR, ENDORSED BY GREENSBORO TRADES COUNCIL. i. Motto : organization, education and elevation. GrREEKSBOJRO, N. C, i SEPTEMBER lO, 1909. NUMBER lO. VOL. V. The Labor News. Published by the dabor News Publlsh ing Company. A J. WILLIAMS, Editor. PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY. , P. O. Box 833. Subscription Price: .?1.00 . .50 One year . Six months Entered as second-class matter May 27th, 1905, at the postoce in Greens boro N. C., under act of Congress of March 3d, 1897. . A Mew If members of organized labor would ask for goods that bear the un ion label, it's a 100 to 1 shot that the merchant would keep them. There is talk of trading off our court house for the Keeley institute. What's the matter of doing away with the temple of justice and enlarge the jag cure property? . Every member of organized labor should help to organize the unorgan ized. That is the only "safe and sane" way to raise your own wages and keep them raised. Do your Part. The Norwegian government makes loans to workingmen at low interest, to enable them to build thei? own homes. Our government makes new hnnrt issues for the money sharks of Wall Street and lets the workineffW the interest. Mr. J. C. Benson, the newly elect ed Secretary-Treasurer of the Print ers' Union, wants it to be known among the craft that his office hours will be between the hours of 3 a. m. and 6 p. m., and that he can be found at the office of the Daily News during those hours only. It is both expected and feared that when all the North Pole huntres re turn home there will be no end of argument and discussion among them as to who "saw it .first." . Even if both Cook and Peary have found it, who cares, and of what benefit is it to the human race? In other words, "what's the use?" Nearly everything is protected but labor. Labor has to protect itself, in some instances when labor is endeav oring to protect itself, the "stand-pat" protectors of the trusts sends out the troops to protect the "interests" and to see that labor does not protect it self. For further particular, see the news from Shoenville, Pa. Labor Day was a quiet one in Greensboro this year. The banks and the postoffice peppO were about the only folks thaj?ot any real benefit from the day here. The banks were closed all day and the postoffice ob served Sunday hours. Quite a few members of organized labor went to Salisbury, where a big celebration was pulled off. Editor Reece, of the Record, is about to get himself into trouble. He has been slandering the possum. He says a possum dinner can't be en joyed unless one is about half drunk. Does Col. Joe mean to 'insinuate that President Taft was "under the in fluence" when he tackled that possum dinner the good people of Atlanta prepared for him? It was at first thought that corn products was the cause of the new and strange disease, pellagra, but this has been disproved. It is the opinion xf many that, if it is caused from eating anything, more than likely the cause, will be found in tiie many breakfast foods on the market. Some of it is made from both corn and wheat, while the latest is said to be made from al-. falfa hay, choppedrand sweetened to suit the taste. Thomasville, it seems, has at last succeeded in landing two .cotton mills, so that, according to a newspaper correspondent, the women folks of that section can have employment. The fact that 1 the. male , population, which nearly all works In the wood- working industry there, can not make a living for their families and educate their children, a cotton mill or two for the women was almost a necessity. Samuel Gompers, the "Grand Old. Man" of organized labor, is now in- foreign lands. He was sent there by the American Federation of Labor to inquire into labor conditions. He is, expected home October 10, and already preparations are being made to give him a rousing welcome when he comes. It is safe to say that it will be a welcome the like of which was never tendered a labor leader in this or any other country. As was expected R. Don Laws edi tor of the Yellow Jacket, a freak news paper (?) published over in the stisks of Surry county, refused to meet Col. Dick Maple, Socialist orator and edit or of the National Ripsaw, Nashville, Tenn., as was agreed upon, at the Labor Day exercises at Salisbury on Monday. R. Don knows when he is well off, and prudently backed out of the game in time to keep the doughty Maple from skinning him- alive. China is not a healthy place for dishonest folks to live in. When a bank cashier or other officer goes south with the funds, everybody con nected with the bank officers, stock holders 'apd directors are lined up in a row and have their heads chopped off with an axe. If the United States should have such a law, does anybody suppose there would be so many bank looters? Hardly. While we do not approve of 4 this method of pun ishment for any sort of crime, it will be seen at a glance that if that scheme were in vogue here there would be very few banks looted. Mr. John T. Rees, well known in Greensboro, who has been in business in Charlotte for some time, has re turned to nis first love. He has bought the pool arid billiard rooms of Couch & Shaffer and invites all his old inenas to can an see mm. n - i i i mi. :rxrc txscTt for a tobacco and cigar stand, and everybody who knows John will under stand what that means that he will keep everything in that line that is worth while. He will also handle all the daily papers and periodicals. "A food expert," says the Philadel phia Ledger, "is any man who can make his wages buy enough for the family table." Such experts are few and far etween, when the high prices of provisions and the low price of labor is considered. Greensboro Typographical Union met in regular session last Sunday after noon and transacted quite a deal of business, the most important of which was the election of a secretary treasurer to fill out the unexpired term of Mr. J. S. Pender, resigned. Mr. J. C. Benson, of the News chapel, was elected to the place. No. 397 is growing steadily.' Every union printer in Greensboro is at work at good wages, while "our friends the enemy" I are in pretty bad shape, if all reports be true. They should turn "jiners" and enjoy some of the good things the "faihful few" have in store for them. The union wants only the competent ones, however. STRANGE, THIS Evidently there must be something the matter with the various brands of news service the country is afflicted with. One of our daily papers had a big story Monday to the effect that President Taft had interfered in the strike at the Pressed Steel Car Com pany's plant at Pittsburg, where there has been so much blood unnecessarily shed recently. But on Tuesday morn ing there was not a word about it in the dispatches to the press from "the greatest newsgatlxering service in the world." Monday's papers said the news became public through one of the officials of the car company that the President said the company must either arbitrate -sfith its employes or close the works, and that the chief executive was following the precedent of Ex-President Roosevelt during the great strike of the miners in the An thracite region. If the stories are true of the treatment accorded the em poyes of that concern, it would be a blessing to the vorld at large if the plant should not 'only be permanently closed, but it woujd help matters great ly if the government would take the plant from the rightful (?) owners, those "divine right" leeches that are growing to be a I menace ; to our free institutions, and if it could not operate them without enslaving the .working men,, burn it to he ground and plant a garden thereon. FUNNY, ISN'T IT? Some people evidently have an idea that the editor of a labor paper has a cinch oh the money market, that he is just coining the cash and salting it down preparatory to retiring ai an early date from work. , This idea seems to be prevalent with quite a bunch of members of organized labor wlio have open accounts at this office, if we may judge by the manner in which they receive the frequent in vitations to pay up. PECULIAR CREATIONS An exchange says: "In the begin ning God created the heavens and the earth, the editor, then the advertiser which was all good. The next day it snowed and he created the man who does not believe in advertising and another who does not take the home paper. And then the devil got into the molding room and created the man who takes the oaDer for several years and fails to pay for it. After he had completed that sorry job and having a few lumps left, he created the ex cuse of a man who settles his sub scription by instructing the postmaster to mark his paper rerasea. DROP PERSONALITIES Thue union men are entitled to their differences of opinion upon the methods employed in advancing the great labor movement, but personal prejudices should never be injected into such matters. Personal prejudice is detri mental to unity of action, and is, there fore, a menace to that harmony of spirit and endeavor upon which the workers' success so much depends. Those who have at heart the inter ests of themselves and fellow-laborers should confine their efforts to those interests, and let personalities take care of themselves. HATE AND MALICE GRATIFIED The men who fight the battles for labor, who make enemies of capital ists and corporations by what they do and say, have trials enough to en counter without feeling that they must be on their royal guard against ene mies in the very ranks of labor who ought to be their friends and support ers. But while it is discouraging to know that there are creatures so des- ?qMo Qa fn af to hlirht the eood rv "nT Invot TTion it rmict npvftr b forgotten that the sound sense and good judgment of the great majority of the laboring people can be relied upon to scorn the work of gossips and render futile the efforts of the falsifier, who would willingly wreck every hope of labor's future that in the ruins they might find some petty hate or malice gratified. DELAY YONKERS STRIKE TO ASK HELP OF COURT The threatened trolley strike there has been delayed by the arrival in Yonkers of National Delegate Pratt, of Philadelphia, who recently won the strike in that city. At the trolley men's conference it was decided to employ expert accountants to exam ine the books of the alleged insolvent Yonkers Railroad Company, now in the hands of Receiver Sutherland, and also ask the courts to instruct the receiv er to accede to the demands of the trolley men. They ask an increase from 24 to 27 cents per hour for all men who have been employed more than one year. AN OFFICIOUS GRAND JURY REBUKED The official returns of the vote tak en by the United Hatters on strike of abandoing the union label, the ques tion submitted by the grand jury of Essex county, N. J., are given as' fol lows: To surrender label, in Orange, 3; against, 1,407: in Newark, for, 6; against, 1,981. The butting-in grand jury, although accused of playing in with the manufacturers and requested to take a secret ballot among the lat ter on the question of abandoning the strike, seems to have tumbled into a hole and pulled it after them. The unanimity of the hatters has aston ished the non-union bosses and shows that they will remain out until they win their fight. BIG ENGLISH STRIKE AVERTED The Scotish miners have won their strike, securing a substantial wage in crease. The operators in that far awav land vowed that an increase would never be granted, but 600,000 English miners became interested, and by a referendum vote declared they, too, would strike if the bosses didn't change tneir minds. This, was dif ferent, as the English government has trouble enough now with its unem ployed problem, a land taxation scheme, and a big financial deficit, be cause of increased army and navy ex penses, for the jingo Britisher is work ing German war scares to the limit. MISTAKES ABOUT LABELS Some Manufacturers Think They are Sold at Wholesale. Amusing letters frequently reach the headquarters of the United Gar ment Workers of America. Two re ceived recently were along this line; "Gen Sec. United Garment Workers of America. Dear Sir: We are manu facturers of shirts and overalls. We desire to buy a lot of union labels. Let us have your figure per thousand.. One southern manufacturer wanted the., first shipment to be only ten million. ... t WOMEN DISPLACE MEN The Smith Premier Typewriter Com pany, of Syracuse, N. Y., has recently begun substituting women for men in many ; of their departments. Already about 200 women have displaced men, with a difference in wage rate amount ing, to about $10 a week per worker. The men formerly earned from $14 to $18 a week, but the girls are receiving frn' $4 to $10 a week for doing the same work. The girls are workikg on drill presses and other operations that the men heretofore thought they alone coUld perform. -A. great feeling of uneasiness pre vails among the men still employed in the. factory lest they- too shll be displaced by' women. j LABOR NOTES jrhe quarterly audit of the books of the United Mine Workers of America wnich was ended May 31, shows that thjB organization has $839,024.61 in the treasury. Molders in Trenton, N. J., report trh.de fair and the union gaining, in membership. Fourteen members are ndw working in shops which a year ago were non-union. Carpenters' Union No. 22, of San Francisco, the largest union of the; craft in the world, has voted an ap propriation of $4,500 for hats to be wbrn in the Laboi Day parade. THE WHYFQRE 'Why do members allow themselves tolbe suspended? The answer is a simple one. They were not union men -at heart when they joined. They needed a job and they joined the union 'to get it. They accepted all the benefits the union give and in return made it their business to give as little to the union aa it is possible for them to do. But some will say, "I -ttas hard pressed and could not afford it." What rot! i A man working every day can af fqrd to pay his dues. ,Should he find through sickness in his family or himself, and it is proven that he has not wasted his money, not one local of all our six hundred would allow hia suspension, yea, not one mem ber'but would gladly assist him. When a man allows himself to become sus pended he proves beyond the perad vf nture of a doubt that the seed of un ionism was never nurtured in his bos- . GENERAL MENTION Brief Bits of News Picked up Here and Thereabouts. There are more than 5,034 local unions of farmers in Texas. The Iron Molders' Union in Dallas, Texas, has been reorganized. Job printers in Chattanooga, Tenn., have received a raise from $16.50 to $18 per week of eight hours. After negotiating for eight months the printers and publishers in Fort Worth, Texas, have signed contracts. The Brooklyn Publishing Company and Flannburg Mirror Company, New York, have been granted the union label. The eight-hour law of Oklahoma ap plying to public works has been held constitutional by the State Court of Appeals. The Burlington, la., Typographical Union signed a new wage scale with the newspaper employers, securing an increase of $2 per week. The Southern California Printing company, one of the largest plants outside the fold in Los Angeles, has been added to the union list. East Chicago has a woman paper hanger and painter in Mrs. Belle Brad ford, who for ten years has supported herself and a family at this occupa tion . The Cincinnati Publishers' Associa tion has signed an agreement for five years. The wages agreed to are $28 per week for night work and $25 for dav work. So great has become the. demand for the Union Label on mineral water in Brooklyn, N. Y., that the bosses sent an invitation to the mineral water makers' union for a conference. The Italian lime burners at Rock land, N. Y., went on strike for an in crease from $1.50 to $1.85 per day, and free and independent American scabs went to work in their places for $1.75. An agreement has been reached with the John A. Blutach Printing company of Rochester, N. Y. This firm has for several years done most of the printing for the breweries in Rochester. The Bill Posters of the city of Bost on, Mass., who were on strike for three weeks for an increase in wages and better working conditions against the Donnelly company of that city, have been successful in their strike, winning a complete victory. The Allied Printing Trades Council in Cincinnati wanted a desk, and they ran all over town trying to get one. They were unsuccessful in their search but still insisted on the label, and therefore had one made to order at the Cincinnati Butchers' Supply Co. That's unionism for you, and the right kind, too. -; ' f v SMELL OF THE CLOVE. On a late evening a prominent resi dent of the Fifth ward went home in a somewhat bewildered state, after witnessing the "boxing match" at the Armory. When his good wife opened the door the "sport" said: My Dear: I was so frightened that my tongue clove to' the roof of my mouth when the "wallops" came so fast. ' Mrs. My dear old boy, I can smell that clove now. . Hurrah, let the Eagle scream. Leave it to the Mrs. ' PUT AN END TO HIS DILEMMA But, it was Queer how the Dear Girl . Guessed George was Telling His. Own Story. . George stopped rowing ostensibly to rest. "Gladys," he said with an elaborate affction of unconcern, to the young woman sitting in - the stern of the boat, "there's a friend of mine that's head over heels head over ears, I mean in love with a beautiful girl and as good as she is beautiful. He has known, her ever so many years and he has been going to see her a long time, but he's too big a coward that's what he says to ask her, you know, if Here his voice trembled a little and he parsed to wipe his perspiring brow. "Beautiful girl, is she?" queried th young woman, idly dipping her fingers in the water at the side of the boat. "Lovliest in the world tha't what he says, I mean." f "What's her name?" "He'd he'd rather not have her name mentioned." "Friend of yours, you say? Who is he?" "Oh! I don't dare to tell you who he is. He might not like it." "Very mucii in love with her, is he?" "Clean gone. He says it makes him fairly ache." "And he's afraid to tell her so?" "Yes. He says he can't guess from the way she treats him whether she er likes him or not. He's a coward that's what he is." "What are you telling me about him for?" "Well he asked me what I thought he'd better do and I couldn't advise him. I suppose I I'd be just as big a coward as he is. That's why I'm asking you. Wh-What do you think he ought tb do? Tell her and run the risk?" "I am sure I don't know." George gasped, swallowed and changed the subject. "Isn't this water clear?" he said. ".You can see the sand and the stones at the bottom. ' How deep it is and yet how transparent." "Yes," she said. So like you, George!" "Dear girl," he whispered 15 min utes later as he stroked her hair car essingly, "how did you know I was telling you my own story?" "O you goose!" THE BUREAU OF LABOR National Establishment that is a Joke on Laborers. One of our subscribers, who is an old government employe, seems much disturbed because of the rumor that the labor bureau is threatened with extinction. Our good friend is fearful that the alleged influence of the Civic Federa tion will wipe out the Labor Bureau and turn it into a "bureau for the study of child life." With all due respects for the feelings and sentiments of our good friend, we will say right here that he need not worry about the labor bureau. It is a waste of time for him or anybody else to tell us what the bureau was created for or what it .has done since it was established. We have been pretty well in touch with all impor tant labor events during the past twenty-five years and among other things, the work of the labor bureau has come under our personal observa tion on numerous occasions. The labor bureau was created through the efforts of organized labor, but on all important matters its re ports have been seemingly framed up to meet the desires of the party in power, and it is believed by many that the bureau has never yet report ed all the facts gathered by its agents. To do so would probably cause trouble "for the party." When the late Carrol D. Wright was succeeded by the present chief, Dr. Charles P. Neill, we are told that we were to have a square deal; that the great .problems having a di rect bearing upon the welfare of the working people would be investigated and the facts laid bare so that organ ized labor and its friends might take such steps as may be necessary to effect a remedy for the abuses which are known to exist. The record shows that Dr. Neill has been chief of the bureau nearly five years and he has not yet made a re port of any consequence. The fact of the matter is, Dr. Neill is nothing more nor less than a fine type of those sociological college high-brows who have wormed their way into active participation in real7 labor matters, and, like most of them, he is unable to comprehend what he is up against. We do not say that Dr. Neill is not a "good fellow." Not by any means. If you want a "jolly" he is there with the goods every time. But when it comes to real labor matters, I think Dr. Neill lacks the ability to get at the core of things. . His knowledge comes from the books. He has not been up ' against every-day conditions that the average workingman has to contend with, and, therefore, he can not understand them. Dr. Neill is a theorist, pure and sim ple. He is unable to grasp the things that have a close relation to. the world ly affairs of workingmen and women, and hence our desire to see him trans ferred! to a position where he can "study" to his heart's content and ex ploit his knowledge of. things embry otic. Washington Trades Unionist. ; "By his book alone God has wrought wonders of transformation. A. T Pierson, D. D. ; LABOR'S NATIONAL" PLATFORM. 1. The abol -On of all forms of in dustrial servitude except as a pun ishment for crime, . . Free schools, free text books and compulsory education. ' ' " 3 3. Unrelenting protest against ' the issuance and abuse of Injunction pro cess In labor disputes. . 4. A work day of not more than eight hours In the twenty-four hour day. ; i . ; E. .. 5. A strict recognition of not oyer eight hours a day, on all federal, stae or municipal work and at not less than the prevailing per 'diem wage rate of the class of employment In; the vicin ity where the work Is performed, 6. Release from employment one day in seven. ' - "7. The abolition of the contract system on public work. 8. The municipal ownership -of pub lic utilities. 1 5. The abolition "of the sweat shop system. ' . 10. Sanitary Inspection of factory, workshop, mine and home. 11. Liability ' of employers for In jury to body or loss of life. 12. The nationalization of telegraph and telephone. i S 13. The passage of anti-child labor laws in states where they do not exist amd rigid defense of them where they have been enacted Into law. 1 14. Woman suffrage co-equal with man suffrage, the initiative and refer endum and the imperative mandate and right of recall. 15- Suitable and plentiful play .rounds for children In all cities. ; 16. Continued agitation for the pub lic bath system in all cities. 17. Qualifications in permits to build .of all cities and , towns, that there shall be bathroom and bathroom attachments in all houses or compart ments, used for habitation. 18.r;We'; favor a system of finance whereby money shall be issued ex clusively by the government, with such regulations and restrictions as will protect it from manipulation by timr fniertsfbr thefr J6wn private gain. 19. The initiative and referendum and the imperative mandate and right of recall. The above is a partial statement of the demands which organised labor, in the interest of the worker nv nt all the people of our country makes uyuu moaera society. Higher wages, shorter workdav Kot. ter labor conditions, better ter and safer workshops, factories. mms, anu mines, in a word, a better, higher, and nobler life. Conscious of the InsHc wknm and nbbillty of our cause, the Ameri can Federation of Labor appeals to all men ana women of labor to join with us in the great movement for it More than two million wage-earners, who have reaped the advantages nf or ganization and federation appeal to their brothers and sisters of toil ta unite with them and participate in the glorious movement with its attendant benefits. There arc affiliated tn the AmoHoan Federation of Labor 118 InternaHnnot .Trades Unions with their 27,000 local unions; 36 state Federations; 537 City Central Bodies and 650 Local Trade and Federal Labor Unions hav ing no Internationals. have nearly 1,000 volunteer and special organizers as well as the of ficers of the unions and of the Ameri can Federation of Labor itself always willing and anxious to aid their fellow workmen to organize and in every other way better their conditions. SAMUEL GOlaVUJRS, Pres. FRANK MORRISfWi. Sec'y. IMPROVED ORDER RED MEN. Eno Tribe, No. 61. Graded School Building, Revolution Mills. Meets every Thursday even ing 8 p. m., from April to October; October to April, 7:30 p. m. Degree of Pocahontas. Washita, : No. 8, Revolution Mills. Meets every Saturday evening 8 p. m., from April to October; October to April, 7:30 p. m. MANAGER We want a good man who has $1,000.00 or more to invest, to manage a branch office for us in the Loan, . Real Estate and Invest ment business. We can offer the right man a -contract ; which has some future to.it. It will pay you J to investigate, this proposition, : Na tional Loan and Trust Co., . Tifton, Ga. . . , : iadjesl;ooii i 5: If you are thinking or buying- an Off- ' trick Plume any time- soon it will be to r tout advantage to write for our priee -list. We can save you at least one-tMrd . of the price. - Cash or installment. ' -' ; -. x AGENTS WANTED;--?.? rT" THE EAGLE M. O. CONCERN, : ... .BolMLEaleighjD.,; , , Jl
The Labor News (Greensboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 10, 1909, edition 1
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