Volume 1, Issue 7

Volume 1, Issue 7, Page 1

(English Only) (Newspaper Headline and Adverts not included)

Published: 11/1/1910

Transcript:

The Recognition of the Union IS IT WORTH FIGHTING FOR?

*This article has been written during our late general strike but discussing a subject of permanent interest.

Mr. Finn contends that the principle is worthless. I desire to discuss a principle which plays a very important role in the Trade Union movement, namely, the recognition of the Union. No doubt a storm of protests and uncomplimentary insinuations await me for daring to attack this idol of Trade Unionism. Occupying a high place in the movement, this principle has nevertheless been the cause of many avoidable sacrifices. Let me assure my readers that I do not approach the subject carelessly or with a light heart, merely to cause a sensation. Rather do I feel it as a duty. I believe that it would be impossible to find a single individual in Socialist or Trade Union circles, who, even if he entertained such an iconoclast view, would have the courage of his opinions. One retraining motive might be the fear of being labelled a reactionary. More likely, however, it would be due to an utter want of thought on the subject. Therefore, to discuss this point in your columns would no limit serve a very useful purpose.

My thoughts have turned in that direction by the news of the cloakmakers’ strike, and by the fact of the strikers having placed the recognition of the Union in the forefront of their demands, while the employers opposed this more strenuously than all the demands put together. I regretted to see the cold statement in print that the first conference with the employers failed, because, though the employers were willing to concede wages and hours, they refused to listen to the demand for the recognition of the Union. I make bold to say that the principle of the recognition of the union has by no means the importance attached to it by trade unionists everywhere. To sacrifice material advantages for what to me is nothing but an abstract principle, is to exhibit the sense of the dog in the fable who let go the morsel out of his mouth for that mirrored forth in the water. In making a stand for this principle, my friends, you are fighting for a mere shadow. A few dollars a week more in wages a few hours a week less work, the abolition of the toll for electricity—these are real and tangible things; but what substantial reality has the formal recognition of the Union? The fact that the bosses have conferred with the leaders of the Union, and that they have offered to make important and far-reaching concessions, implies the recognition of the Union. To reject such concessions, merely because the employers have not been humbly begging to be allowed to recognize the Union, suggests a senseless disregard of material advantages and possibilities. If. as the editor observes in a note to me. I have been away from America too long to understand its present conditions, then let us turn to the articles of Ellstein and Rosebury who are now resident in the United States. Ellstein in particular is very explicit on the point. He says: The recognition of the Union does not necessarily mean a “closed shop;” it means the concession to the organized employees of the right to make their voice heard in the control of the industry in which they are engaged. For sheer abstraction and unreality commend me to this utterance. Personally, I would not give up a raise of 25 per cent, in my wages in exchange for this abstract right. Do not misunderstand me. 1 do not ridicule the idea that it is necessary for the union to have some control over the industry in which its members are engaged. I merely ridicule the idea that the bosses should be compelled to recognize this right. Were this right to have any legal value there would be no reason for this article. But since it has no legal value—at best only a moral value—I consider it strange that the cloakmakers should expect moral value among cloak manufacturers, especially those of New York. Recognition will come of itself on the Union succeeding in organizing ninety per cent, of the workers in the trade. It will then be recognized without signatures. On the other handy, should the union fail to organize more than twenty or thirty per cent, of the trade, signatures will have 110 value whatever. This is a truth that no one will gainsay. For years trade unions have waged war on capital, not for the sake of their interests, but in order to uphold a false creed, and if reports were true the cloakmakers have worshipped at the same shrine, at considerable sacrifice./. But is it possible, some one may ask, that trade unionists the world over should be blind to this point and that only I should see it? To this I might reply that amid the din and smoke of kittle the vision of the trade unionist is necessarily dimmed and one-sided. Perhaps if 1 were an active fighter in the movement my vision would be similarly obscured. But, surveying the movement from the outside as a friend, I am enabled to see this point more clearly, Besides, my critical faculty refuses to accept any principle, however sacred, without a keen critical analysis—a process which orthodox Trade Unionists or Socialists will not adopt. On turning over in my mind, the question why labor leaders and thinkers adhere so persistently to this “formal recognition” principle, I find that it is due to the inherent weakness of the movement. A strongly-organized Union would never put forward this demand. Its strong position would command respect. It would not be necessary to corroborate the fact with signatures; anymore than it is necessary to prove that the sun shines. The opponents of Trade Unionists are found not only among capitalists, but also among those workers who hold aloof from it. By urging the “recognition of the union,” the organized section seeks to influence the unorganized section. In other words, the organized workers demand that the bosses should help them to convert the unorganized. That is precisely the meaning of a “closed shop.” Unable to win over the unorganized by mere propagandist effort they ask the employer to help them by compelling the non-union man to join the union. In my opinion this is an unjust demand. The union opposes the bosses, the non-unionist is their friend; yet you expect the boss to side with his opponent against his friend. This is hardly fair. It is easy to admit the justice of the demand for higher wages and better conditions; it is also easy to justify the righteous indignation against the non-unionist for replacing the strikers at work. But where is the justice of the demand that’ the boss should side with the union in its struggle with the nonunion worker? Quite apart from the question of justice and fair play let me assure my readers that I felt impelled to write this article, no one to defend the bosses. I am too well known to be even suspected of such a motive. Though the question calls for discussion I did not contemplate merely its academic side. The news that thousands of people were starving because the bosses did not concede a point that has hitherto been little understood; when I see so much importance being attached to an untenable and worthless proposition, then, I care little what people will think; then, I say it is time to declare frankly: away with it! J. Finn, London.


THE ALTERATION CLOAK TAILORS.

Successfully organised as Branch 4 of Local 9, L. G. W. U.

Hitherto there has been very little aid or written in reference to the constructive side of the cloakmakers Organization, and no wonder, for this can only be learned among the leaders of the inner circle. If, for instance, you wish to know something about the ladies’ tailors, or the shirtmakers, or cloak operators, or pressors, or Reefer Makers, or Finishers, or the latest recruits, the alteration tailors, you can only glean one or two meagre ideas from the advertisements of their sectional meetings which appear in the labor press. Such an’ advertisement about an instolation meeting of the alteration tailors recently caught my eye and I was seized with the desire to learn something about this new division of-the great army of organized cloakmakers. Their brothers of the other sections must have had some idea of trade organization before. But these new recruits, the possibility of whose organization no one has contemplated with any degree of certainty; who used to toil unlimited hours somewhere in stores, or in their tenement homes, these people are organized? And their organization brought about by the leaders of the late general strike? My curiosity was strongly aroused. Accordingly, I betook myself to their meeting at Casino Hall and I found it well attended. I saw at a glance that the Italian element predominated and was subsequently informed that 75 per cent, of the alteration tailors consist of Italian workers. This revealed that Sam Gompers was right in his estimate of the strike as an “industrial revolution.” It has perhaps not been realized as yet that this wonderful movement has created a new epoch in the history of organized labor in this city. The unionist atmosphere at this meeting was surprising. Before the meeting was called to order nothing else was discussed by the various groups in the hall. These people seemed to have been permeated with the feeling that they have been liberated from a certain bondage into freedom; that better labor conditions have made a great difference in their life. They are filled with the sense of victory and are determined to maintain it at all cost. One might have observed this expression on every face when Bro. Guyer, the energetic Secretary of Local 9, appeared on the platform to install the new branch 4 in the name of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. Brother Guyer talked of the great victory and what it meant to them and impressed upon them the lesson to hold their present position firmly. Election of officers followed. Beizel was elected chairman, Rudeman, Vice-Chairman. Sobel, Financial Secretary and Shein, Recording Secretary, the Executive Board to consist of three Italian brothers and three Jewish. The alteration tailors are said to number between three and four thousand workers and some of them entertain the hope that sooner or later they will become a local union for themselves under a separate charter. A. Rosebury.


DO YOU WEAR A PIN OR A BUTTON BEARING THE EMBLEM OF YOUR INTERNATIONAL UNION? IF NOT? WHY NOT?

Get one from your secretary and show it to your employer and your shopmates that you are a loyal member of your organization.


BURY THE PAST AND THINK O F THE FUTURE.

Bro. Epstein, President of Local No. 10, impresses on his members the lessons of the recent General Strike.

While opinions differ as to the actual benefits derived from the great struggle in our trade, it cannot be denied that we have succeeded in forming the nucleous of a permanent and most powerful Union and secured the recognition which we demanded. Many of our brothers have not yet realized the huge problem the committee was confronted with, in the handling of a strike in which no less than 70,000 people were involved. And it is not fair to those who devoted their tireless energy, their days and nights in planning and deliberating, that finally resulted in victory, to be attacked by criticism and condemnation at this late day. That mistakes were made, cannot be denied, but what general in time of battle, does not make mistakes? It is far better to strike for, and win the recognition of our Union, than an increase in wages, or decrease of hours, without the powerful organization, needed to maintain the conditions once created. With such an organization, the possibilities of the future are unlimited. The great task, which confronts us now, is the training and educating in the duties and obligation of membership of our vast numbers. It is necessary that each and every member of the Union shall become familiar with the laws, and try his utmost to live up to them. It is also necessary that each and every member display a spirit of confidence and trust in the officers whom they have selected. For the future success and progress of our organization, there is no more important factor than harmony, without which the best efforts will fail. An Organization divided among itself, is a grave danger. Let personal prejudice be buried forever and let us devote ourselves unselfishly and energetically in serving the interest of the Union.


THE NEED FOR HARMONY AND TRUTH AMONG US.

A member of Local 10 gives good advice. The long ten week battle is over; the smoke from the ruins are rapidly floating away, and member are beginning to have a clearer view of their surroundings, and, to see better the real needs of their organization. It would indeed be putting it mildly to say that by the late General Strike the I.L.G.W.U. had made considerable gains. \Nay rather have they become a tower of strength in the labor movement. Probably never in the history of the labor movement have Local unions grown in so short a space of time to such proportions.  Local No. 10 has shared wonderfully in this growth. For years in the face of the most discouraging conditions, Local 10 has tried to organize the Cutters of New York and vicinity with only slight success. Every attraction was offered to induce them to join; the initiation was reduced to a trifle, organizing committees were appointed, a death benefit fund was established; but it was not until the General Strike was called that they came to our Local in large numbers. We hardly realized that there was such an army of cutters in the cloak and suit trade. The increase in our membership was over sixty per cent, and at last we have accomplished what years of energy and effort failed to do. It now lies with the very men who have struggled to attain this end to solidify our ranks, to make them more compact, to drill our new recruits in the rights and duties of unionism. This cannot be done by petty bickering nor by airing any personal animosity. We can only do this by falling in line behind the men we have chosen for our leaders and giving them our hearty and loyal support. If you are desirous of speaking on a subject that will be of benefit to the local do so clearly and without beating about the bush. Leave your personal affairs outside. To exaggerate evils is dishonest and slanderous. The truth is always more wholesome. We are all brothers of one organization without regard to race or creed, trying to better the conditions of our trade and members who try to create conditions and ill feeling are committing wrong and injustice to their fellow workers. Bro. Epstein, our newly elected president, is trying to promote harmony and strengthen the organization and certainly deserve the earnest support of every fair minded member. In his most important appointment: The Executive Board, he has shown zeal and tact in placing men he believed most qualified to sit and deliberate calmly, sincerely and conscientiously for the welfare of our Local. With such men as Bougnet, Ondusko, Pinna, Janow, Deutchman, Baron and Martin, confidence in our cause will be increased and those members assured that their interests will be well taken care of. With Cohen, Martin, Fruiesen, Besser and all the rest of your officers, your affairs are indeed well guarded. These men deserve, your support. Let us leave it to sound judgment. By assisting them you can raise our trade to a higher standard; by retarding them we can only court reaction which can have only one ending, that of dragging us backward and downward until we have passed out of the field of activity. If you are interested in your local you should attend your meeting regularly, support every movement that tends to promote the interest of your local. Oppose every movement to degrade and wreck your union. Harmony.


ON THE WARPATH NEWS FROM LOCAL UNIONS Newark, N. J., Local 21.

A vigorous movement has been set going by Bro. Chas. Fromer among the ladies’ garment workers in Newark. N. J. Bearing in mind that hitherto Newark has been known as a non-union city, and that our efforts to reach the employees has met with no success, we may congratulate ourselves upon the results of the recent agitation. Our great victory in New York has rendered it absolutely necessary that ladies’ garment workers everywhere should be thoroughly organized. The sooner this is recognized by our local unions the better for all concerned. Some two weeks ago Bro. Fromer was instructed to visit New Jersey and the cities around New York. First of all, he proceeded to Newark, and after a few enthusiastic meetings he succeeded in organizing the alteration tailors who in the past have been neglected. There are altogether about 150 of them in that city. During the first ten days fully one hundred tailors joined the union, and it was expected that before these lines arc in print all the employees will have been unionized. It should be noted that the movement has been brought about without a general strike. This will no more be necessary at present. For the workers have gained better conditions of labor solely because they joined the Union. This is the advantage of being well organized and prepared prior to embarking on a strike. In that case there are nine chances to one that the demands of the workers will be conceded without strike. Precisely this has happened in Newark. First of all, the alteration tailors joined the union and then they have presented their demands to the employers. The latter fearing a strike granted the concessions asked for. The hours worked in Newark prior to this movement were 58 per week and, as is invariably the case wherever the workers fail to organize, these were accompanied by insufficient wages. « The result in Newark might be called a bloodless victory. It was only through organization that the employees have secured: (1) a raise of 15 per cent, in wages; (a) 53 hours per week; (3) overtime to be paid for as time and a half, while the recognition of the Union was implied by the negotiations. According to Bro. Fromer’s report, there is now a promising element in Newark for a good and permanent organization. Let the employees bear in mind that this is the sole guarantee for being able to maintain their improved conditions.

Cloak and Skirt Makers of Philadelphia. Formerly Locals Nos. 24, 58 & 65, now amalgamated as Local No. 2.

The feverish activity now prevailing in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Boston, created by our recent general strike, has had hardly any effect on our members in the Quaker City. Everywhere a vigorous agitation is proceeding, preparatory to making demands for similar conditions to those recently won in New York. Even the Ladies’ Tailors, Local 38, of New York, which consisted of about two hundred members prior to the strike, controlling none of their shops, now have a membership of over 1,500, and control ten of the biggest shops, apart from a large number of smaller ones. But our locals of Philadelphia have apparently learned nothing from this wonderful movement. The Philadelphia cloakmakers have however accomplished one wise thing; they have combined their forces. As already indicated, the former three local unions of cloakmakers have amalgamated under one charter as Local No. 2. It is to be hoped that they will now use their combined energy for obtaining improved conditions of labor. The International office is determined to leave no stone unturned in order to wake up our members there and make them alive to their needs. Bro. Weinberg has been engaged as organizer of the International Union and is now on his way to New York. As soon as he arrives in this city he will probably be sent to Philadelphia for a month or two to bring about a better state of things. While mentioning Bro. Weinberg, it might be said here that he received his commission early in October during his stay in California; and on his return tour Bro. Weinberg has been addressing very successful meetings at St. Louis, Mo., Chicago, 111., and Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo, Ohio. Reports to hand from these places show that the local unions of those cities have derived much benefit from his visit.


Cloak Makers of Boston, Mass. Local 56.

Information to hand from Boston is most encouraging. The Cloakmakers’ Union has of late been making much progress. The work of unionizing the shops is going ahead and the membership is growing. About forty members join the Union every week and this gives the active workers good hopes for the future. Local Union 56 has adopted a practical method of organization. Outwardly they would appear to work in open shops, but in reality their shops are as good as union shops. The Union has a strong influence over the employees, exercising an indirect but none the less thorough control. The business agent of the union is freely admitted into the shops; and when it is a question of preventing scab work from being made, or when the employees think that they are entitled to higher prices, their demands are always respected. The local union now has a membership of about 800, an increase within the last six months of 300 per cent.  There is however a lull in the activity of the other locals of Boston, probably due to adverse local conditions. The ladies’ tailors, Local 36 have, since the last few months, registered no progress; while the Ladies Waistmakers, Local 49 remain practically stationary. If the latter could only free themselves from their natural timidity and start organizing by shop meetings, their union would gain considerable strength and their working conditions would improve accordingly.


CLEVELAND, OHIO.

Our local unions in Cleveland have recently made great strides forward. First Vice-President Greenberger has stayed there during October and his organizing work has been very satisfactory. Among the ladies’ garment workers of that state are found a large number of Hungarians and Bohemians. To unionize these people a special organizer who could talk to them in their own language it needed. But although the General Office is prepared to engage a man with the requisite knowledge and ability, no one could hitherto be found for that field of action. Despite this difficulty however, Bro. Greenberger has accomplished much good there. Owing to his agitation a strenuous activity has set in. The Joint Board of Cleveland has engaged two organizers and held meetings of the Italian pressers and finishers. During that time a number of pressers have won improved conditions of labor. The pressers there suffer from the subcontracting system and have availed themselves of this opportunity to demand redress of their grievances. They struck in two firms. At first the employers refused to listen to the proposal of negotiation with the leaders of the union. They wanted to deal with every employee separately. Bro. Greenberger however, caught the bull by the horns and called off all the employees. For some days no one went to work and this finally brought the employers to their senses. They came to the very leaders whom they refused to see before and finally conceded their demands. Not only have the pressers won better conditions but also. the cutters and skirt makers. The local unions have gained considerable increase in their membership. Bro. Greenberger has devoted much attention to the Cutters’ Union, Local 42, bringing about a good deal of improvement in their inner organization and discipline. He has also done much to bring the finishers into line. In his view the latter will soon be in a-position to apply for a charter, constituting themselves into a separate local union.


Chicago Cloakmakers, Local 44.

The activity of the Union hitherto has been confined to two mate things: first, negotiations with the employers about prices for the fall season; secondly, the organized collection of monetary support for die cloakmakers’ strike of New York. In both of these things we met with fair success. Our quiet but systematic agitation has increased our membership by about 150 members, and we had only one strike this season as against five in the Spring season. The working conditions in Chicago have been till now most irregular and anomalous. Every firm had its own arrangement, not only in the matter of hours but also in that of pay day and kind of payment. We have set to work and succeeded in equalizing conditions as far as possible. We have introduced lunch time in the shops to be not less than 45 minutes. Work on Saturday till 1 p.m. only, and no overtime on that day even for double pay: pay day once a week instead of once in two weeks. The opposition to a shorter working day comes not so much from the employers as from a number of short-sighted piece workers themselves. Fortunately, the Union is supported in this demand by the pressers who are weekly workers and arc greatly interested in the shortening of hours. Their attitude on this question is destined to be of great service to us. At the end of September last we reached the third anniversary of our reorganization. During that *tie we have more than doubled 01″ membership; while the numerical strength of the pressers has increased fourfold and they have now ‘ separate charter. Otherwise there is peace and harmony among us a% this gives « hope and encouragement for the future. -S. Ellstein.


THE NEW LAW OF OUR CONSTITUTION.

Every member entitled to $500.00 on complying with certain conditions. Upon paying the small sum of 50 cents every member may now insure for the substantial sum of $500.00. This is the essence of the new law adopted at our recent convention in Boston. The new law has been embodied in Article XVIII Section 1 of our Constitution and it is of great interest to every member to read and digest it. Some two weeks ago the general office had issued a circular to all local unions, drawing attention to this revised law. A number of secretaries have since written for further information on this subject. We have furnished the secretaries with the necessary information and hope that they will do their duty and familiarize their members with the beneficial nature of the insurance that this law provides for. We now wish to address ourselves directly to the members concerned and to impress on them the necessity of immediately insuring for this benefit. The original law also provided for the sum of $50.00 payable at the death of a member in continuous good standing, after one year’s membership. After two years membership, the sum increased to $75.00, and after three years it culminated at $100.00. One hundred dollars is surely not to be despised, still, the sum was far too small to create in the mind of the member an abiding interest in our organization. It is to the credit of the Boston convention that it delegates somehow felt and predicted a splendid future for our International Union, and that they have taken the question of the payment of benefits into serious consideration. There was then a widely prevalent feeling that the International Union should sooner or later assume the responsibility of direct payment of strike and sick benefit from specially provided funds. A committee of five has been appointed to give expression to that feeling and prepare a workable plan. This committee is already at work and its report is expected before this year is out. As a preliminary however, the convention saw fit to increase the death benefit to $500.00. The new law provides in effect that any member of the International Union not above 50 years of age on joining, in continuous good standing for one year, and whose arrears of dues, fines and assessments do not exceed three months, in case of his*or her death, the International Union will pay to his or her estate $50.00. This benefit increases by $50.00 every year to $500.00, payable after ten years membership. Members who have reached the age of 50 or over at the time of their initiation, or who fail to furnish a doctor’s certificate to receive one-half of this amount. To provide a fund for this benefit, the convention has decided to levy upon every member a special assessment of 50 cents; only those members whose assessments have been received and their names duly registered in the General Office to be entitled to this benefit. Those who are familiar with this kind of insurance will at once perceive that the 50 cents are not destined to cover the cost likely to be incurred, and that the International Union will ultimately have to meet this payment from its general funds. The intention was that this 50 cents shall form the nucleus of a fund, which, having regard to our present membership may amount to $50,000.00 and will be sufficient to cover the cost of this provision during the first four or five years. Thousands of working people are eagerly joining various lodges and orders for the sake of a certain insurance benefit, payable at their death to their families, who would otherwise be left unprovided for. For this they willingly pay between ten and fifteen dollars a year. Compared with that, the opportunity we now afford to our members to become entitled to a sum of $500.06, after ten years of membership, for the sole premium of 50 cents, is positively one of which they should eagerly avail themselves. The conditions are that this 50 cents must be paid without delay, that the member must be in continuous good standing, that he must be under 50 years old, that he must bring a doctor’s certificate as to his health, and that he must fill in a special application blank and answer a few very simple questions. A member who is over fifty years and one who fails to produce a doctor’s certificate will be entitled to one-half the sum above mentioned. True, the International Union will pay the sum of $500.00 after full ten year’s membership. But the law includes, as has already been shown, also members of one year’s standing. These will be entitled to $50.00, and every year this grows by $50.00. It should be borne in mind that everywhere the weekly dues are 15 tents, a member pays to his local union during the first year only $7.80, of which $1.30 goes to the General office. For this small sum the union also helps him to secure better conditions of labor. And when the International Union pays $50.00, it means a benefit that no lodge or insurance company could possibly undertake to pay for the small and only premium of 50 cents. All the powerful trade unions both in this country and in England have gained their power and influence, because they are in a position to give their members a helping hand in time of need. A really great and powerful union is all in all to its members. It protects them against the aggression of their employers, it supports them when on strike and it insures them for every kind of benefit. The members thus cling to the union and are loyal to its leaders. The union on the other hand gains strength and influence which enables it to control the trade.  The General Office will supply to all local secretaries special application blanks. The first half should be filled in and signal by members. The other half will be for use by the general office only and will contain a receipt for the 50 cents assessment. As soon as this blank with remittance is received the receipt will be mailed to the member and his name will be duly registered Our Union is destined to become a tremendous power and our aim is that concurrently with its growth, both numerically and financially, our members should benefit both directly and indirectly. Let our members bear in mind that benefits and privileges imply corresponding duties, and to be a loyal and devoted member of a great and powerful organization means that he is helping to provide proper and effective support for himself in time of distress. Do not postpone asking your secretary for the special D.B. application form. Fill in and forward to the general office, accompanied by a doctor’s certificate and an assessment of 50 cents. Don’t delay it! Now is the time.


JOB’S AFFLICTIONS PALED.

Leonora O’Reilly, the vice-president of the Women’s Trade League, was praising this organization’s work in New York. “And it has a great future before it,” she said. “I have no doubt that a century hence the members of the league will regard the woman of today as we regard the farmer’s wife of the early ’40s. “A Maine deacon of the early ’40s was talking to the minister. He sniffed and whined: “Oh, yes, Job suffered some. I ain’t denyin’ that, parson. But Job never knowed what it was to have his team run off and kill his wife right in the midst of the harvest season, with hired girls wantin $2.


Our General Organizer Buff, Weinberg returned from the Western trip and will remain m the East until the end of this year. Locals desiring his service should communicate with the General Office.


THRU ANSWERS.

A Story by Katal Mundes.

The face of the beautiful countess evinced a firmness and determination which told convincingly and unmistakably that she was not to be turned from her resolution. Pointing to an artistically fashioned box, the gilt polish of which shone brilliantly in the lamplight, she said in a serious and firm tone: — “Open one of those three drawers, Valentine, but be very careful in your selection, for undue hurry might be fatal. Each of these contains an answer to the importunate requests that you have been addressing to me since the last six months. Should you find the right answer, the answer which spells ‘yes,’ then, and not otherwise shall I consent to become yours. Take heed, however, that you-fail not, for you will ‘then never see me again.” “My God,” he sighed, this implies two unfortunates possibilities against one bright one. How could your gentle soul, my dearest, devise such a cruel ordeal for me to pass through?

“Oh,” she laughed sweetly, “when I am consigned into your arms by this accident I shall at least derive consolation from being able to cast the entire blame on the accident alone.” For a considerable time he stood before the drawers, at a loss how to act. He reached his hand in the direction of the guilded knob and hastily withdrew it again. For a time hesitation and doubt seized him and a feeling of despair tortured his heart. Finally he made up his mind to choose blindly, with closed eyes, trusting that Amour’s providence would not forsake him at this trying moment. And Amour extended him his favor. The pink leaf that he unfolded with trembling hands revealed the one word of happiness and joy—”yes.” Instantly he seized his lady love with his strong arms, pressing her to his heart with a sense of victory and security. Now she was his forever. There was no fear of her resistance. Was it possible that she would break her word? No, she was not capable of such cruel deceit. Her very insistence upon his confidence in her promise enhanced her in his eyes. Yes, she fully- deserved that confidence.

Until the very hour when the flaming rays of a glorious sunrise pierced the grey shadows of night, when the smiling glance of a bright morning penetrated through the texture of the embroidered curtains into their room, until then have the lovers been basking in that love and tenderness’ which ever bursts into flame even when seemingly exhausted.

Yet, Valentine’s happiness was evidently not complete. A slight cloud settled on his brow and his eyes betrayed a query he hesitated to utter. “What more can you wish?” she enquired with astonishment. “What else can be wanting to your happiness? You are ungrateful!” “There is only one thought torturing me,” he said. “A thought, that possibly does not concern me, now.” “The thought that for the happiness of possessing you I have to be thankful to a mere blind accident and not to your own self.” The cloud on his brow deepened and he heaved a heavy sigh. At this she burst into such loud merriment that fairly shook her whole body. “Oh, my dear stupid lover,” she exclaimed. You would have found in all my drawers the same answers that my heart gave you.”


DECLARES IT EMBEZZLEMENT.

The Court of Appeals, District of Columbia, has decided that a treasurer of a trade union who appropriates money for his own use is guilty of embezzlement, and can be held for this criminal offense. The question came up in the case pf William Rhodes, treasurer of Local No. 77, Steam Engineers, who claimed he was robbed of his pocketbook containing $220 of the union’s money. Rhodes’ lawyer attacked the embezzlement charge, and insisted that the indictment was defective, for if he was guilty the charge should read “larceny.” The Court of Appeals held that larceny consists of unlawfully taking from the possession of another, and that the taker must commit a trespass. Embezzlement is a breach of trust, and while the union was not incorporated, it is recognized by law, the same as other mutual associations, and that Rhodes was in possession of the funds only by right of his office, which he had abused by taking the money, and was therefore guilty of embezzlement. —Kansas City, Mo., Labor Record.


LABOR AND PUBLIC OWNERSHIP.

Attention has of late been directed to the subject of public ownership of street cars. The first gun in this campaign has been fired by the Ohio State Federation of Labor calling upon the governor to summon a special session of the general assembly to enact a law-permitting municipalities to own street car lines. Data is being furnished by the Department of Commerce and Labor, showing the success of city owned street car lines in Belfast, Leeds and. Birmingham, which two cents for two miles is the average fare charged, and the cities even then make money over and above running expenses. —Pan-American Press.


“The industrial principle of the ‘open shop’ is now accepted and recognized as a controlling and righteous principle for industrial action, permitting freedom on the part of the employee, consistent with American manhood, and invading in no way the constitutional rights of the employer with respect to his employees, nor the sacred principle of the right of freedom of contract.”—Declaration of the National Association of Manufacturers.


WON’T ATTEND SCHOOL WITH “SCAB” KIDS.

Children of the miners of Springhill, Nova Scotia, who were recently on strike, gave the community a concrete lesson in class consciousness here a few days ago when they refused to sit in school with the children of the strikebreakers. “We won’t sit with ’em—they’re blacklegs,” cried out the departing: youngsters as they left the schoolroom, after discovering that the stitcheries’ children had entered. For fourteen months the coal miners of the Cumberland Railway and Coal Company have been on strike and on the first day of school the school teacher was stupefied with surprise to see three fourths of the children leave the room in a body shortly after the school had been called to order. The teacher’s demand that the children remain in the room had in effect.


Attorney General MacLean was finally sent for in order to get the children back to school. He visited the parents of the children, but to his astonishment found that the main obstacle lay not with the miners and their wives, but with the children. Nothing could persuade: the youngsters to associate with. what they called “blacklegs.” As the children of the striking: miners are in the vast majority, the school authorities were in a quandary and finally decided to ask the children of the strike breakers to stay at home. This the latter did. It is now believed that as a result of the of the attorney general in urging the company to settle with the mm had considerable influence toward the settlement.


The officers and members of Typographical Union No. 6 of New York, “Big Six” as it is commonly called, are making arrangements for the 61st annual Charity Ball of the organization, which will be held on the evening of Monday, November 28. in Madison Square Garden. The proceeds of the hall are turned over to the hospital fund of the organization for the endowment of beds in hospitals and for the care of sick members. This will be the first time in the history of any labor organization that Madison Square Garden has been secured for an affair of this kind and it is the intention of the members of “Big Six” to make the event a credit to the union labor movement. A cordial invitation is extended to everyone to attend. The tickets, admitting gentleman and ladies, are one dollar.


OPINIONS WORTH READING.

I deny the pertinence of the demand for equal rights for capital and labor. It is economically unsound, morally wrong. It is a plea for equality of the creator and the creature, hand and machine, man and dollar, life and the box car. Capital creates nothing; it is created. Capital is the result of labor applied to natural resources. When confronted with the emergency men will destroy property to save life. If a building is in jeopardy we will sacrifice one part to save another. Therefore, I hold that when a dispute is on between an owner of property and his employes, no one is justified to sacrifice any life even if the working men in their fury destroy property. The thought of shooting a man because he throws a brick in a car is monstrous. Destruction of property is wrong, but the destruction of labor is tenfold wrong. —Mayor Emil Seidel.


The Labor movement is a new Christianity, for it is a Christianizing industry. It is a new democracy, for it is democratizing privilege and injustice out of the world of business. It is a new philanthropy, for it is humanizing the relation of the employer and employe, buyer and seller. It is a new political economy, for the greatest destroyer of wealth in the modern world is wealth, and the labor movement, by striving to put all to work and open to all the riches of nature hitherto locked up, shut down, or reserved for exclusive exploitation, is creating a true wealth, beyond the wildest dreams of avarice. It is a new emancipation, and the logical sequence of all the great patriotisms of the past. For it will emancipate the only two kinds of slaves that yet linger as blots on the fair face of universal freedom —master and man—the slave; to starvation. Castling guns and court injunctions, and the slave who uses them. —Secretary-Treasurer W. E. McEwen of the Minnesota Federation of Labor.


WORLD GROWING SETTER. To say that because there it today three times as much social unrest as there was twenty-five year ago, therefore social conditions are three times as deplorable, would be absurd. No one would insist that tile recent uprising among the Russian peasantry indicates the conditions in the country are worse than they were when the country people were too thoroughly under subject to protest, no matter what their condition. The world is growing better. Crime seems blacker because there’s more white to set it off. The present social unrest is one of the most hopeful signs of the times. It is made possible because of what has already been achieved. Social conditions in New York city, for instance, were worse one hundred years ago than they are to-day. There were never so many agencies at work in our cities to purify them. Only the pessimist sees the eddy in the stream which seems to indicates a backward course. The flood in the midst of the stream shows the real tendency. —The Shingle Weaver.


REMEMBER THIS.

Gompers and his associates would never have had to stand trial if every union man had always demanded the label. The American government would not have had the tobacco trust to fight if union men would never use trust cigars and tobacco. The labor movement would gain loo per cent, in strength during the year 1910 if the union men, one and all, would demand the label. Let’s get together, talk the. label and demand the label. —Union Labor Journal.


“Above all we may help the laborer to assume a different attitude to his work. So long as his work is alien to him, so long as he works only for the sake of the wage, just so long is he a wage slave; and we cannot expect a slave to love his slavery, or to have joy in his work. Then, too, while labor organizations must be preserved and protected, they must add a new function, that of lending joy and nobility and skill to labor. “Thus, do men become new men. It is true that good men can grow in the worst surroundings. But that is God’s business; our business is to make the surroundings as healthy as possible. It does little good to talk to men about God and yet leave them in their wretched lot. How can these men believe in God’s wisdom and goodness in a world of mamonism, heartlessness and cruel struggle for existence? “In these United States we claim to have the most living Christianity in the world, and yet five or six men, most of them zealous church members, kings in the kingdom of mammon, control the entire material wealth of the country.”


WHAT IS A FRIEND?

“What is a friend?” It is the fellow who will inconvenience himself for you. It is the man who will sit beside your bedside when your frame has been touched by disease. It is the man who will come to you when the clouds are black, while the muttering thunder of misfortune growls along the sky. It is the man who will say: “Don’t be discouraged. I see you are in trouble, let me help you out.” It is not the man who will do you a kindness only when he feels he will get in return full value for services rendered. We would not give two cents for a man who would write his name in fancy letters in our friendship-album if he would not visit us when we are in trouble. — Ex.


The fifteen business agents of the unions in Spokane will hereafter have an auto at their disposal. It saves time.


WORK BRINGS RESULTS.

The true union man is the one that works for the good of the cause at all times. Talk doesn’t count for much in the labor movement—it takes the work and action to bring results.


Don’t delude yourself with the thought that if you pull out of the union it will go to smash, says an exchange. Far from it, as our union is here to stay, and no individual, nor a thousand of them, can make any material difference. Of course we don’t want even one man to leave us, as we are building-up, not tearing down, but if you are determined to play the sore-head, because your particular ideas are not adopted, and quit your organization, remember that you are slapping your own nose to spite your face. You cannot get along without a union to-day any more than you can raise wings. Unionism is the very life of labor today.


LABOR THAT AIDS THE WORLD.

It is true that all wealth comes from labor, but not necessarily from labor by the hands. The thinkers of the world have added inestimably to its development It was a portrait painter who invented the telegraph, a college professor who produced the telephone, and the list might be extended almost indefinitely. It is well that to-day, with all our indulgence in rest and play, that we remember that it is intelligently directed energy of whatever kind which makes man better and helps along the world to the millennial dawn. —Weekly Dispatch.


The experience gained by these fluctuating spells in the labor market compelled the workingmen to organize on more permanent lines, and to maintain the unions in times of adversity, thus securing and maintaining uniform wage scales. With the introduction of it. proved machinery in many lines of production, the movement for shorter hours became an imperative necessity and is gaining ground from year to year. The first milestone was marked Ten Hours, subsequently Nine and Eight Hours became the slogan of the advancing forces. It is still marching and never halts; every year more men and women are enrolled under the banner of eight hours and victory. The trades unions have accomplished more in one-half century than the political dreamers will accomplish in one thousand years. — C W. Perkins, in Cigar Makers’ Journal.


A QUERY.

Tell me why things are contrary

In this wicked world of ours;

Tell why the thorns are sharpest

On the very sweetest flowers.

Kindly put me wise to doings

In life’s perverted way,

How things manage to get twisted

In our lives from day to day?

There’s the fellow with the millions.

And a stomach that is bad,

Who can eat but milk and crackers

When great banquets might be had.

While I have a great digestion

And could masticate a mule,

Yet can get no decent eating,

That’s a quite contrary rule.

There’s the fellow fond of travel,

Who’d just love abroad to roam.

Never has a bit of money

And is forced to stay at home.

While the home man who hates travel

And has a world of wealth

Is forced to journey always

On account of failing health.

The man who likes theaters

And would glad go every night.

It the chap without the passes

That others always have in sight.

While the man who hates the showhouse

And to quiet home life leans

Works upon the stage each evening,

Setting up the pretty scenes.

Thus you’ll note how life’s contrary

In its daily little jaunt;

How you get each day a plenty

All the things you do not want;

But how stingy, in its dealings

In the things you love the best:

How you only get the leavings

That are levy all the rest.


Manufacturers using our label on shirt-waists: H. Frank. 33 W: 17th St. A. Friedman 81-95 University PI., New York City.

There is no excuse for you wearing a Non-Union Waist. Sig. Klein of 50 Third Ave N. Y. City, sells Union Label Waists.

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