HARBINGER
ORGANIZATION. EDUCATION. ELEVATION.
Vol. II.
Raleigh, North Carolina. November 7. 1903.
No. 44
TOE
CARVING THE TURK
The man behind the carving knife
la coming to the fore;
He's sharpening the trusty blade
Oft used in days of yore.
And when it gets the razor edge
Reauired to do the work,
Hell croudly wave it in the air
And shout "Bring on the turkl
ird);
j
When from the oven comes the bird.
So nicely stuffed and browned,
He like a hero true will pose
And proudly look around.
Upon each face about the board
Hell see a wistful smirk,
And then with an important air
He'll start to carve the turk.
But thoueh the carving knife is
keen,
It often disappoints,
For there is trouble right away
In getting at the joints.
The carver makes a savage jab,
Then gives the fork a perk,
And on some fair one's lap descends
A section of that tUTk.
With nervous hands he starts again,
And slashes left and right
Until the fowl that looked so nice
Is in an awful plight.
And his chagrin is more intense
At seeing smiles that lurk
On faces of the waiting ones
Who watched him hack the turk.
It takes so long to pass around
The turkey he has carved
That when he comes to serve him
self He's feeling almost starved.
And then he registers a vow
That he will play the shirk
Hereafter and will surely make
Another carve the turk.
Pittsburg Chronicle Telegraph.
TO STOP CHILD SLAVERY-
Children of tender years, vie
tims of the "sweatshop" evil and
subjected to socalled "slavery" in
Chicago's manufacturing estab
lishments, have found new friends
in the Chicago Teachers' Club.
At the meeting held September
25, the club voted to co-operate
with the State factory inspectors
in an effort to wipe out the "child
slavery evil." Intense interest
was manifested in the work by
the teachers and the vote to un
dertake the work of rescuing the
children was unanimous
No line or action was arranged,
but the teachers will always be
in readiness to answer the call of
the State factory inspectors.
The determination of the teach
ers to enter the child labor field fol
lowed an address made by Edgar
T. Davis, chief of the factory in
spectors. It was the first meeting
of the season and the Teachers'
Club had invited Mr. Davis to
inform them of the work being
done bv his department. Al-
though somewhat brief, the ad
dress proved of interest to the
teachers and was followed by a
general discussion.
From data collected during
Mr. Davis' trip to Chicago sweat-
shnns the following table has
. J .
been prepared showing as ac
curately as possible the condition
of affairs :
Number of children employed
in Chicago under fourteen years
of age, 2 ,500 ; number of children
ernnloved in Chicago between
fourteen and sixteen, 15,000
number of children employed in
Chicago through fraudulent cer-
- tificates and thus violating the
law, 3,000 ; number of children
employed in , shops, working
under unsanitary conditions, 2,000,
This table of statistics, declares
Inspector Davis, is as nearly ac
curate as .possible, and., 11 any
thing, underestimates the number
of little ones employed in tne
city s sweatsiiups;
1 -Ll-l . .
MAKING WAR OR ORGANIZED
LABOR-
To Organized Labor, Greeting:
The Merchant Tailors' Associ-
ation of the United States,
ed up the Manufacturers' Associ-
Buun,c maug w iuu,
organized journeymen tailors of ,
he country, in the hope of crush.
inn nut timrmicm ariH fnmt nrr tli
ing out unionism, and forcing the
a : Li -
most "o c duiodS as to
wages, under the pretext of rank-jand
ing workmen, and without regard
, tucCJk .w"ltu
intnvicp aoraiticr a7!ii-ifv arm in.
.utwr""- "fa - '
justice. In making the fight to
refuse to furnish "back-shops"
(shops in which the men can
work), they thereby admit their
purpose to return to the old sys
tem of tenement house home
work. The following facts and
appeal are earnestly commended
to the serious, favorable and sym
pathetic action of all members
of organized labor. Read carefully
to your organization.
On the last days of June of the
present year the merchant tailors
of Kansas City, Mo., submitted to
the journeymen tailors in their
employ the following communi
cation :
"Believing it to be our mutual
interest, the undersigned mer
chant tailors have resolved that
in the future we will treat with
our men as individuals only, and
employ same as long as they meet
our requirements. It is not our
motive to reduce wages : on the
contrary, we will pay more for the
highest class of workmanship,
thereby making it an incentive to
excel ; we decline to pay as much
for poor work as the first-class
men are justly entitled to. We
also reserve the right to judge the
class to which it belongs, and
place the jours, (journeymen) in
their respective grades. WE de
cline TO FURNISH BACK SHOPS,
as past experience nas proven
them to be a detriment to the
craft instead of a help. We will
not put any restrictions on our
men as to helpers, as we deem it
very essential to the trade that
we have apprentices."
(Signatures.)
About the same time an ex
actly similar communication was
submitted to the members of the
Tailors' Union in Binghamton,
N. Y. Since that time the mer
chant tailors of Cleveland, Den
ver, Chicago, Parkersburg, W.
Va., Stockton, Cal., and other
cities have taken exactly the
same position as that set forth in
the Kansas City letter, refusing
to treat with committees of the
tailors' unions, or to nave any
1
dealing with them as an organ
izea Doay. wniie not saying so
in words, yet in act declaring that
the tailors' unions must disband
me journeymen tailors were
among the earliest pioneers of or
ganized labor on this continent
Before the year 1800 they had
some unions, and in the earlier
years, running from 1800 to 1825
they formed probably more loca
unions on this continent than any
other craft, and all through trade
union history and development in
this country the tailors have car
ried their share of the burdens
and performed their part of the
pioneer work of the trade union
movement. In every effort that
has been made to cousolidate the
trade union movement into
federation the tailors have taken
part, and an active one. They
have been affiliated with the pres
ent American Federation of La
bor; since its foundation. They
have never asked assistance of a
financial character f rom the other
trgde5 unions of the'' Country in all
their history, but the Merchant
Tailors Protective Association,!
backed up by the Manufacturers'
Association, of which body Mr.
D. M. Parry is the spokesman and i
president, has declared that the
liu d e i
aQd their actions in the ;
cities cited above show that they
, d d he M , ,
tf . ,
'
I
.SIDie,
Their members have been
- j . fc courts f damages
thdr rt attached; in!
, junctions hFavrben served '
them, and arrests of pickets have
. '
been made by the score. The ex
penses 01 tne organization are,
therefore, enormous, and they need
the help of organized labor to
meet them. If organized labor
will respond in somewhat the same
degree of liberality to assist the
tailors in their struggle that they
did to assist the anthracite miners
in theirs, the attempt to destroy
their organization will not be suc
cessful. For several years the journey
men tailors have been struggling
to do away with home and tene
ment house work. In this cru
sade they have met with a very
great degree of success. Now
comes the Merchant Tailors' Pro
tective Association, backed up by
the followers of Mr. Parry, arid
declares that the tailors must give
up working in the shops fnrnish-
ed by the employers, as is done
m all other trades, and carry
their work home to their kitchens
to make it. If the struggles of
any organization are entitled to
the sympathy and support of or
ganized labor, surely this struggle
of the tailors for maintenance of
their organization and for the
abolition of the home and tene
ment house work is exceedingly
so.
In an interview published in
one of the daily papers the repre
sentatives of the Employing Tai
lors stated that they could draw
on the defense fund of the Manu
facturers' Association, which was
said to amount to a million and a
half dollars, in order to success
fully carry on their contest with
the journeymen tailors. We feel
assured that the organized work
ers in the United States and Can
ada will respond with sufficient
liberality to make it impossible,
even though the fanatics who are
trying to destroy the Tailors'
Union expend a million and a
half, or even more.
We submit this appeal to our
fellow-workers of this country,
feeling assured that it is of such
a character and that it will so
strongly appeal to all members of
trade unions that not a single
union will fail to respond as lib
erally as possible
The Executive Council of the
American Federation of Labor is
deeply concerned that the Jour
neymen Tailors' Union of Amer
ica shall be successful in its effort
to maintain its members in the
great contest in which they have
been engaged for several months,
and in which they can and will
be victorious, if sympathetically,
liberally and promptly the unions,
local, central, national and inter
national come to their financial
assistance.
Fraternally yours,
Sam. Gompers, Pres.
Jas. Duncan, 1st Vice Pres.
John Mitchell, 2d V. P.
Jas. O'Connell, 3d V. P.
Max Morris, 4th V. C.
Thos. I. Kidd, 5th V. P.
D. A. Hayes, 6th V. C.
John B. Lennon, Treas.
. Frank Morrison, Sec'y.
Ex. Com. of Amerlcp Federation of Labor.
.'" Note. Please send all. contri
butions to John B. ' Lennon; Gen
eral Secretary, Bloomington, Jilt
nois,Jwho will "receipt' therefor,
THE OPEN SHOP BRAZEN
HYPOCRISTI
BY SAMUEL GOMPERS.
Is it stupid;ty or hypocrisy?
We are illclined to think that a11
tlis "crusade" by the Parry-led
manufacturers and
;
P P r
ODcu SrlOD. Of t
in favor of the
open shop." or the retusal to
recognize or deal with unions as
business bodies having labor and
services to sell, is the product of
conscious hypocrisy, but it is not
impossible that some of those who
have joined it are really stupid
enough not to see the absurdity,
the self-stultification, the brazen
dishonesty of this pioposition.
The public has read the ad
dress recently issued by the Ex
ecutive Council of the American
Federation of Labor, and knows
oar position on the open shop
question. It also knows some
thing of the attempt of plutocracy
to misrepresent President Roose
belt's attitude toward unionism.
This order in the Miller case,
which had no application to any
service or establishment other
than governmental, was tortured
into something like a general
principal or rule of action for all
employers. This miserable at
tempt has failed, and even capi
talistic papers have been com
pelled to point out to their read
ers" that under no circumstances
can the order or its influence be
construed to apply to private bus
iness. We do not propose to discuss
here the merits of the Miller case.
But the manner in which that
case has been used, exploited and
abused by enemies of organized
labor must go far to convince
even the skeptical that the "open
saop" cry is hypocritical. Never
theless, for the enlightenment of
honest ignorance that may be de
ceived by this capitalistic trick,
we will subject the open shop
proposition to serious examina
tion. The open shop is represented
as the embodiment of a great prin
ciple the principle of equal
rights and equal opportunity.
The Declaration of Independence,
the Constitution, the Bible, are
quoted in support of the open
shop. Organized labor is de
nounced in the bitterest terms for
daring to demand so unpatriotic,
un-American and immoral a thing.
But the open shop proposition
implies that organized labor must
give up, not a special privilege
improperly held, but the common
and fundamental right to refuse
to work with non-union men
Why should labor give up this
legal and moral right? The right
is of the same class and impor
tance as the right to quit work
It is fundamental. To ghe it up
would be to restore slavery, and
to make slaves of the most skilled
and competent of American work
men.. And why should not the union
man work with and beside the
non-union man ? That, frankly,
is none of the employer's business.
Labor is under no obligation to
justify its likes and dislikes to
him. We were constantly told
that supply and demand regulat
ed the employment ot labor, and
that the market was free and
should remain so. This being
the case (we grant, it for. -argu
ment's sake), .the workman may
say to: the? employer that .he will
not work for, him . except .. on cer-
tain terms, which terms may in
clude an agreement on' the em
ployer's part to engage no men
obnoxious to them.
These propositions cannot be
denied. No one has been hardy
enough to contend that union men
may be compelled to work with
non-union men, or that the for
mer may, by law or judicial pro
cess, be prohibited from striking
against the employment of the
latter. In view of these facts,
what life or meaning is there left
in the "open shop" proposition ?
Now, let us consider this prop
osition from the employer's point
of view and not necessarily the
reasonable and fair employer.
Take our violent and harmless
friend Parry and his admiring
disciples. This band of capital
istic agitators believes that labor
unions are criminal conspiracies,
"organized mots." They dis
criminate (or would discriminate,
if they had the courage and in
dustrial power) against all union
men. Suppose they should de
clare that on no account will they
give employment to a man known
to be identified with any union.
We should instantly recognize
their right to adopt this policy to
threaten us with, to go over the
country urging other employers
to do likewise. We have no
thought of claiming any privilege
for labor which we deny to capi
tal plutocratic editors please
note, digest, copy and remember.
But what would those patriotic
and "American" defenders of the
open shop say to Parry ? "If the j
union shop is immoral or against
the general interest, the non-union
shop is equally so." There-
ore, Parry would have to divide
his work fairly between unionists
and non-unionists. This right
to favor his "scab" friends would
be gone.
A remarkable conclusion, we
think. Does any advocate of the
open shop accept it, and would he
apply it to Parry and all other
employers angry and hostile to
ward unionism ? Certainly not !
The unionist may not demand the
union closed shop, but the em
ployer may insist upon the non
union closed shop. This is the
position of our enemies. Can we
credit them with honesty, with
ignorance ? We conclude that
the agitation is hypocritical on
the part of the majority of the
employers and editors who are
carrying it on.
As was pointed out in the open
letter issued by the Executive
Council of the American Federa
tion of Labor, we do not deny the
right of the non-union man to
work where, when and for whom
soever he pleases. We simply in
sist upon the same right of all
union men to reiuse to associate
with them in factory or in the
club, and we insist upon our right
to tell employers that they must
have either union shops or non
union shops. They will not bully
us into working under objection
able conditions by affecting to be
lieve in any straw and impossible
"principle." If they want our
labor, they must make it pleasant
for us to work for them.
In short, the whole question is
really one of economic strength
Where unionism is weak, the
open shop, or even the non-union
shop, will prevail. V
Where organized labor is strong
enough to obtain just and decent
treal ment, and where it is able to
supply the normal demand for the
best labor, the employers wil
unionize their shops with good
grace and drop the open shop
humbug.
: The rabid employers are teach
ing the still ' unorganized work:
men the importance, of . unity barr
mony ana enective co-operatioju,
American reaerationist.
REFUSE TO ARBITRATE.
Special Correspondence. J
Los Angeles, Cal., Oct. 31.
Recently the Butcher Work
men's Union adopted a nine-hour
workday and asked the Council
of Labor for an endorsement
The Council withheld its indorse
ment until the butchers would
agree to arbitrate in case of a re
fusal. To this the butchers agreed.
When the managers of the pack
inghouses were waited upon,
they not only declined to arbitrate,
but refused to meet their em
ployes upon any proposition. As
a result a strike followed, and
every member of the union came
out and are still out. As usual
the Los Angeles Times is daily
resorting to abuse and misrepre
sentation, with the hope of pre
judicing the public against the
union. The Times has whipped
the proprietors of small meat
markets into acting as strike
breakers, and many of them work
ed all day Sunday at the slaughter-houses.
There is a proba
bility of a general strike in Los
Angeles and a widespread indus
trial disturbance.
Union men and women every
where can help their fellow-unionists
in Southern California y
rapping the infamous Times at
every opportunity.
Let every reader of The Har
binger write one letter to each
of the following advertisers in the
Times :
Carrara Paint, 811 Carrara Bldg.,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
"Santal Middy" E. Faugera, 26
North William street, New York,
N. Y.
Roval Baking Powder Co., 100
William St., New York, N. Y.
Philo-Hay Specialties Co., New
York, N. Y.
"Castoria" The Centaur Co., 77
Murray street, New York, N. Y.
Chemical Co., Boston, Mass.
"Postum" Postuin Cereal Com
pany, .cattle Cireek, JMicn.
Lydia E. Pmkhani Medicine Co.,
Lynn, Mass.
Scott's Emulsion Scott &
Brown, 409 Pearl street, New York,
N. Y.
Ghirardelli's Ground. Chocolate
D. Ghirardelli, San Francisco, Cal.
Tell these advertisers that organ
ized labor does not look with favor
upon any person or firm that is
aiding labor s meanest enemy, the
Los Angeles Times.
AN EDITOR'S PREDICAMENT-
An editor near Custer, Indian
Territory, got a cattle show and
concert mixed in making up, and
now he has to keep dark. This
is the way he did it : "The con
cert given by Robinson's most
beautiful young ladies was highly
appreciated. They sang in their
charming manner, winning .the
plaudits of the entire audience,
who pronounced them the finest
herd of short horns in the coun
try. A few are of rich brown
color, but the majority are spotted
brown and white."
Thirty-five clerks in the Lou
isville and Nashville railroad
freight offices were told to get
their salaries and leave the com
pany's employ - because they had
joined the local union of the
Railroad Clerks' Association.
The men refused to 'take their
money, but left the offices. . .
! At the present Tate the immigra
tion record for thes eiJrwt faxaX. yo&x
will exceed 1,000,000.