The Oklahoma Labor Unit (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 38, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 12, 1910 Page: 1 of 8
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The Famous Steam Roller Won't Deter Labor Candidates from Running for Office, Even If "One" Politician is Sore
THE OKLAHOMA LABOR UNIT
Endorsed by the
OTi OMA CITY BUILDING TRADES COUNCIL
DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF ORGANIZED LABOR AND THE F. E. C U. OF A. OF OKLAHOMA
LI
Endorsed by th«
OKLAHOMA STATE FEDERATION OF LABOR
Endorsed by the Oklahoma City
CENTRAL TRADES AND LABOR ASSEMBLY
VOL. 2
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, SATURDAY. MARCH 12, 1910.
NO. 38
! there was no doubt as to existence
I of a boycott, and lifter this point was
' settled, there was left the question
S as to the amount of damages to be
I awarded
On February last the jury, after,
, I being out two hours, ordered actual
I damages of $74,000 to the plaintiff,
I but as the suit was brought under
____ ; the Sherman anti-trust law, triple
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE ^alll!lge8 can i,0 recovered.
LEATHERWORKERS TO
MEET BOSSES.
HER GOES
10 CHICAGO
DO YOUR PART.
C. C. Zeigler, of Oklahoma City, j
third vice president of the Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Leatherwork-
ers, has been called to Chicago to at-
tend a conference of the executive
committee of his organization and the
manufacturers.
On Wednesday, February 16, official
notice was delivered to the National
Saddlery .Vlanifracturers' Association
that, beginning Monday, March 21,
eight hours shall constitute a da>'s
work with no reduction in wages for
week hands and an increase of 15 pet-
cent on all prices for piece hands, and
the meeting in Chicago is the result
of this notification.
"[Considerable argument has been
made against the shorter work day.
by the manufacturers," says Mr. Zeig-
ler, "because of its possible 'limitation
of output; We find, however, by a
careful examination of the United
States Census Statistics, that in the
year 1850 the average per capita pro-
duction of wealth in the manufactur-
ing industries in the United States
was $1,064, and fifty years later, in
1900, it had increased to $2,451, or an
increase in production of 130 per cent.
In 1850 the average annual wage in
the same industries was $247, or an
equivalent of 23.21 per cent of the
product. Fifty years later, in 1900,
wages had risen to $437, an increase
of only 77 per cent m wages as
against 130 per cent increase in pro-
duction.
"With the complete specialization
of labor and the enormous increase
in production, the leather worker
should, by every logical reason, reap
the benefit of labor-saving machines
and labor-saving systems, so he could
participate in the industrial progiess
and the blessings of civilization, with
fewer hours of daily toil and more
hours for leisure and opportunities
for recuperation, study and reflection,
to better fit the workers for the
highest thought and activity of citi-
zenship."
Mr. Zeigler states that "reports re-1
ceived from all the local unions show |
that they are enthusiastic for the t
proposition, a unanimous sentiment
prevailing that their just demands
should be conceded without any rup-
ture in the existing friendly relations
between the organization and the em-
ployers." j
When a union elects a member to
an official position, it does so not to
make him a target for censure and
abuse, but that he may be a center
around which the members shall gath-
er to make effective the work of the
organization. This is a lesson that
has not taken enough hold on the
minds of union members. There is a
peculiar perversity possessing many
union people that makes them knock
the men they have elected to office.
They seem to have an idea that be-
cause they have elected a brother to
office they have a right to dog him to j
their heart's content. They treat
him very much the same way Indians
used to treat their squaws, only j
worse. The Indian made his squaw [
do the work, but he didn't have much j
to say, while some union men pile all I
the work of the organization on the
shoulders of the officer and a heap of j
abuse on his head. If the union
members who are guilty of this folly
would have as much to say in the j
way of boosting as they have In the j
way of knocking, how easy would be !
the work of the officers and how suc-
cessful the organization.—Ex.
FALSE STATEMENTS ISSUED.
Iven Deetner, secretary of the Car-
penters Union of Anadarko, writing
to the Unit, states that false state-
ments are being issued in regard to
the conditions of work in that city.
He says: "False statements are be-
ing made in out-of-town newspapers
IF THE PRICE OF EGGS KEEPS
(Copyright isw .)
t
PHILADELPHIA TRACTION
TICS.
Philadelphia hail a street car strike
a short time ago which was quickly
settled, and now the men arc again
on strike. So the people whose ave-
nues of information are confined to
the daily press imagine the street car
workers to be a thankless and unsta-
ble mob.
The daily papers will not tell them
that the Traction company, by im-
posing horrible conditions, brought
the men to the revolting point In the
first place, and that the strike was
promptly "settled" only because t ho
j city election was pending and it was
thought advisable by the Traction-
Municipal-Politlcal powers to keep the
workers from "going Into politics."
Only the workers' threat of going into
politics caused the settlement.
The election over, however, and all
FULL TEXT OF
PRINTER BILL
The Spring Chickc.i of 1910 May Show Corresponding Class.
Do You Realize Where Your Actual
Benefit Comes In?
A Panorama of Facts Primarily Directed to the Young Unionists,
But Qyite Applicable to the Old Grumblers and a Lot of Oth-
ers Who Are Union Men Only Because They Have
to Be—A Good Missionary Tract For Organizers
I members of the craft say, "What is
j the use of paying dues to the union, it
don't do me any good?"
Yes, What's the use? This much,
young man: Because the union has
made it possible for you to earn a Hy-
ing made in out-o -town newspapers f(u. thfln be.ter work.
by some of the real estate men here ; « ^ aMe tQ (,arll bo.
that leave the impression that work vol„. lmkm w«s formed. You
in this community is goodland men conditions of 20
needed. We want to decry these
How often do we hear the younger the workingmen and women of today
statements as untruthful. There are
plenty of men here and wages are
only 20c an hour for common labor,
years ago, and if you do it is because
some one told you, not because you
suffered the hardships which beset us
3 in those days. Prices, hours, wages,
Kindly advise through your paper ^ Jettons, halr days <-
that laborers are not needed in Ana-
darko at the present time.'
whole days off were unknown to the
old guard when they served their
would be serfs, if not actual slaves.
Organized labor compels the recog-
nition which individual effort could
not accomplish. Its very existence is
the bar which has separated us from
the grasping greed which made the
black slave possible and which evolu-
tion would have forced upon white
and black alike if a restraining hand
had not appeared. :Study the history
of Greece and Rome and you will find
an exact parallel at the start, but the
exact opposite at the finish. You pay
a certain amount per month, that is
true. Your actual benefits amount to
dollars per week, not even thinking of
the monetary benefits which our un-
ASSIST HATTEHS
HIGH BROWS OF
ROADS CALLED
| time. Closing all day on holidays! ion allows.
| would have been a drop from heaven. Some of you say you only pay it so
I The handful who started this union that a few officers can have a fat and
land made it possible for you to en- lazy job. You know it is a lie when
| joy such benefits as we have attained j you say it. You know that your sal-
get no more than you do, but they aried officers can do better at smaller
paid the price, while you enjoy the wages in the shop than they can in
That the state of Oklahoma through
its corporation commission proposes
to exhaust its every available power
to retain in force its railroad rates,
which were recently enjoined in a de-
cision by Federal Judge W. S. Hook
at St. Louis, was made known the
first of the week when the commis-
sion issued subpoc-nas for sixteen of
the most prominent railway officials
fruits of their efforts.
Why pay dues to your union?
In order that you may keep the ben-
the office, where so many calls are I
made on them that when the month
is over they seldom have living j
STATE PRINTER NOW ELECTIVE
—MUS HAVE TWELVE YEARS
EXPERIENCE.
Oklahoma printers aro Jubilant over
the new state printer bill, passed at
tin present session of the legislature.
This act requires candidates to ha\e
at least eight years experience as a
journeyman printer, and the term
"Journeyman printer" is defined as a
printer who has served an apprentice-
ship of at. least four years.
The present assistant state printer,
Dillon C. Lester, who has had charge
I the predatory power back in office j of that department since the office
again, the Traction company, which is ] was first created has proven him-
part of the above power, began mak- se'f a thoroughly efficient business
xecutive, and by reason of Ills prac-
tical experience has saved the state
of Oklahoma thousands of dollars.
Ills duties have been carried out in a
way tha* has attracted state wide at-
tention, especially among the printers
of the state who have come in daily
contact with him and his work.
Those printers who know of his work
and who were pushing this bill be-
fore til? lelslature were able to
prove to legislators and senators Just
what the quallfi ntion clause really
meant, and as a result the bill Is now
a law.
The full text of the bill, as Intro-
duced by Senator Yeager Is as
follows:
An Act To amend Section Five of
Article One of Chapter Sixty-five of
the Session Laws of 1907-8, Untitled
"An Act Creating a State Printing
Department and Providing for a
Hoard to manngo the Same, and Pro-
viding for the Appointment of a State
Printer, and Thereafter Providing for
the Election of a State Printer on and
after 1910, and Declaring an Emer-
gency."
He it Enacted by the People of the
State of Oklahoma:
Sectional. Section five (5) of Arti-
cle one (1) of Chapter sixty-five (65 >
Session Laws of Oklahoma 1907-8,
entitled 'An Act Creating a State
Printing Department and Providing
for the Appointment of a State Prin-
ter, and Thereafter Providing for the
Flection of a State Printer on and
after 1910, and Declaring an Emer-
gency," be and the same Is hereby
amended to read as follows, to-wlt:
Section 5. Tile State Printer, here-
tofore appointed and confirmed by
the State, shall serve until the gen-
eral election in 1910, and until his
successor is elected and qualified by
law At the general election in 1910,
(Continued on Page twol
Ing life miserable for its union em-
ployes, violating every single agree-
ment made, and, in the end, practical-
ly locking out the union men by arbi-
trarily discharging vast groups of
them. The men did not want to
strike, neither did their local or inter-
national officers; they were simply
forced to.
| So the fight must be fought over
j again. It will not be so easy for the
j men to win this time, for election is
I over, and politicians' promises are
j like the proverbial pie crust. Far bet-
ter would it have been for them liail
they gone ahead and realized their
threat, and put membere of the work-
ing class into all the offices. There
! would then be no possibility for the
police and firemen being used to run
the cars, for the workers would cer-
tainly not use their own forces
against themselves.
CAN YOU FIGURE IT OUT?
If a laboring man with a family of
five earns $12.00 per week, has to
pay $12 a month rent, $10 a month
for fuel and light, 40c for eggs, 40c
for butter, 12c to 20c for meat, and
buy clothes enough to keep the fami-
ly from freezing, pay doctor bills, etc.,
how much money ought he to lay up
In 50 years? Send your answer to
the puzzle editor.
SANTA EE TO
CHARGE 3 CTS.
Another railroad will soon give the
* i"" i ft I people of Oklahoma a < bailee to pay
ufi'8 ;thv;"ler! in days S°"e byf Yoeu know the insults they have to thrce-cent fare. The Atchison, To
gain8nrrtnr that vou mav take vour I suffer from people like you, who make peka & Santa Fe has, through its
I , the worl i ot la{,or which is 1 accusations you can not substantiate, counsel, filed formal notice with the
place in the world of labor which is ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ art, corporation commission that that
I'Tiiti, irrraw-i
"".'Si „ ,„u™ «.i- I. «. .;■ J"™ "Z" " Hoo"i
vances you will advance with it and boast, but this we sa> advisedIj.
In the United States circuit court
Monday at Hartford, Conn., argu-
ments were heard on a motion of
the United Hatters of North Amori-
ta to set aside the verdict of $222,000
recently obtained against the organ-
ization in the suit of D. E Loewe of
Da n bury.
DEMAND GREATLY
FYfFcDC tllppi V
sion issued subpoc-nas for sixteen of va^eg you wlli advance with it andj boast, but this we say advisedly: ^ thi federal court!
the most prominent railway officials ))(j enableil to enjoy the privileges twenty years a man may have bee j' _ • ' j freight rates as laid
of the United States demanding their whlch increased civilization brings. | an officer of some kind in your union a^.,1 upo ; commission ' That labor conditions in Oklahoma
presence in uthrie, March 15, as wit- order that tUe thousand and and not one yea of that period has ! t "o-«-ent faro as provided for clty were neVer so good as at present
nesses in the freight rate investiga- benefits which you derive every he ever cared foi tin job. okl-ihonn The rail- , .1 .1
tlon now in progress. ". ° nol lie taken trom you and Do you think your officers care m tie awof Oklahoma. The .ui and lhat Ule demand greatlj exceeds
Tjcading labor
America have contributed lo a fund
to aid tl.e United Hatters in fighting
the verdict and to carry the case to
I he supreme court of the United
States if necessary.
If the verdict is upheld by the
highest tribunal it will be one of th>'
hardest blows ever dealt to organized
labor iu this country as it will pre-
vent tham in future from resorting
to the so-called boycott as a means of
fighting the "unfair'
manufacturers.
The suit again3t the United Hat
tpis has been one of the longest ever
tiiod in a district court. It crew out
of the alleged boycotting of the D. E.
Loewe company in 1902 by labor or-
ganizations, especially the United Hat
1ers of North America, whose officers
:\nd members, originally to the uum-
of abcut 2,500, were made par-
defendant. It was begun six
rjtgrs ago, considering time being
tiuteii up in disposing of various mo-
tions and in deciding whether juii--
dietion should be taken by the state
or federal courts.
ready to b
in progress
These subpoenas were served on
attorneys of the roads at Guthrie a*nd
are also to be placed in the hands of
proper process servers at the homes
of the various chiefs named with a de-
organizations of ' termination on the part of the cor-
poration commission to get responsi
ble officials of all roads doing busi-
ness in Oklahoma to testify in the
hope of being able to impress the fed-
eral court with the mass of testimony
when the rate hearing comes up on
appeal.
The corporation commission claims
to have enough facts to establish the
reasonableness of its rates and pro-
„L poses to give the officials usbpoenaed
merchants and an opportunity to controvert .them
i The commission desires information
at first hand to form the basis for
findings of fact in cases appealed for thought
from the orders of the commission miners j„ th
to the supreme court of Oklahoma
Some of the more prominent of
day may not be taken from you and Do you think your officers can
the trade as a whole forced back- when you roast them? Not at all. 11
ward in place of forward. j they feared criticism, they would not
Hundreds, yea, thousands, of argu- last three months. Because t.he> do
ments are at hand why you should, not fear it, is the reason we are a
not alone keep up your union, but success.
improve it as well. I " any officer fears criticism; if
Not a single, solitary reason can any officer carries watei mi both
you give why vou should not keep it shoulders to keep the fri. r. l-h:;i ol
up I him who is right ani1 him wh0
Your argument that it does you no wrong, that man is a disgrace 1 ■> th ■
good is groundless, foolish, asinine, j craft and a dishonor to his oifio
If it were not for organized labor | (Continued on Page 2)
in the laws of Oklahoma. The rail-
ids ''I rim d thai: these 1.11 es w't.| |h 8U,,p]y i9 shown In statements by
n ail as lo be confiscatory and
! the Free Employment bureau.
; day morning a list came to the
from every uranch of industry
, city requiring 300 men at one
Tues-
office
in the
At 5
Wants "Dope Artists" to Investigate
The organized coal
United States are about
to take their usual vacation (?) which
Some of tne more prouuuem ui ...
those summoned by the commission f'.° ^.IL^nontract
liec-
tiV
are George Gould, of the Missouri Pa-
cific; H. M. Winchell, of the Frisco;
I 13. P. Ripley, of the Santa Fe, and H.
U. Mudge, of the Rock Island.
' The American workman protected
' and given employment by a republi-
can tariff can far better get along
, with tha lamb of high prices than he
ever was able to make it against the
wolf of no
Editor the Unit:—Here is some food high priced coal on the union miner.
Let's see: It costs the coal company
anywhere from $1.30 to $1.50 to pro
duce a ton of coal—this includes ev
erything. Figure the freight and you it
have it. What do you pay for coal.' a
Oil March 31st the present contract The miner gets at present 72c a ton
Ihelr contention was upheld by .livlr:
Hook. The M. K. & T. went back I
to the three-cent fare last month.
The Hoik Island and Frisco rail-
roads were not parties to the first'
. lit, but have wlihin the past few
ii-ns filei! «uit along the same lin
s< ekicg to a void the two-cent fare.
All the cases uave been appealed1
and the state authorities are prepai
in-; to maU( a strong fight in tht ,
; ighor conns for two-cent Tares. A cers at the employment bureau say
i,lll appropriate '•« ,airv can never be filled because of the lack
,„ the ei, is pending in the legis- <>' applicants. In this branch as well
ialure Senator Bailey of Texas has as among that for men the demand is
been secured to assist In presenting the greatest in the history of the city.
!.I,e Oklahoma si.la of the case. I forthe first eight days iu this
j month, 525 men have been placed.
clock in the afternoon but 100 had
( en secured.
The demand is mostly for unskilled
laborers such as concrete workers and
! nu n to work on paving. At this time
i there is a demand for 100 women,
mostly for housework which the offi-
GET TOGETHER AT BOOTH!
Tli«
31 IUC jiicocui, vun«"--v i uc ••• **- o — i
will expire. Already the miners ill for digging it. and if there is any-
the southwest have attended two con- body who Imagines they can get rich
e approximately two lnil-
m voters ill the United States who
■i members <A organized labor.
They strike together, when ne-es-
try: hunt jobs together when out of
,. k. are locked cut together when
ventlons, and there is another called
for the 15th of March. This will be
the only chance to miss the much
talked-of vacation. You see the rea-
son I say vacation Jlsi Ibecause the
press agents get It that way. The
coal miners are highly elated because
the weather man has predicted an
early spring; they say grass will be
good and the only thing the miners
are worrying about is how long will
T,ast fall the case wa „
tried out rn its merits, and the trial democratic free trade
began on October 13, and, as it pro- work.-Okla. J'mes.
greased it became evident that the I We've found no difference at all-
struggle was virtually ore between democratic control^ we ^ ™ jwup. ^ how long wll
jury Judge James P. PlaU sald that Grady Town * Fa,n>. 'sumer of coal would lay the blame of
even fat, at this pric
see that -person.
Rather strange to see nice edito-
rials in certain newspapers on the
annual slaughter of the coal miners,
and in another column see where
some press agent says they aro so
well fed, well clothed and that their
demands are "so unreasonable." We
would invite some of the "dope art-
ists" to come along with us; we
think we can show you something
j worth while.
C. E. CO NX ALLY.
Lehigh, Okla.. March 7, *10.
I want to | tlx v bog!
independen
5 show
; but they
fiber.
If thoy would stop "
;r-h other on election
i 'Id accomplish more ii
lan they can acomplii
me by clinging to p<
•ejudico.
little
• dot
spirit of
always
This means, if the average keeps up,
that the total for the month will reach
2,000, or just twice as much as the
largest in the history of the bureau.
• I is not only in this city that the de-
j l iand comes, but from outside sources,
j Norman wants 100 street pavers and
other laborers, while the demand at
, the 101 ranch remains unfilled. One
firm in this city sent word to keep
endin
men
fa:
as tli
came ui
Th
dn ys
a fe
local
years
a life-
party
Others Did, Also
The charge is brought that George
Washington ate with his knife. Of
course he did. Washington was not
In all respects ahead of his time.
til the order was cance
unprecedented in the a
labor conditions.
'I he great shortage in women is a
problem which the bureau will be
compelled to solve and which officials
admit puzzles them. Farmers com-
plain that they can not get suitable
' help In house work. Wages do not
seem to be a question; many of them
! stating that they will pay anything
(Continued on Page two)
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Wilson, Ollie S. The Oklahoma Labor Unit (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 38, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 12, 1910, newspaper, March 12, 1910; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc106870/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.