The Labor Signal. (Oklahoma City, Okla. Terr.), Vol. 3, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, January 2, 1903 Page: 1 of 16
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The Labor Signal.
Official Journal Central
Trades and
Labor Assembly
VOLUME 3.
OKLAHOMA CITY, O.
T.. JANUARY 2,
1903,
NUMBER 12.
NEW YEARS' GREETING.
The new year is here and 1902
is a thing of the past. We have
had our trials and our successes,
our defeats and our victories. \Ye
have a hearty welcome and a
kind greeting for all our sub-
scribers and patrons. Oar cir-
culation has increased in the last
year at a very satisfactory rate
and our advertising patronage is
fully up to our expectations, for
which our patrons have our
thanks, and we assure them that
we shall endeavor to deserve the
same hearty support in the fu-
ture that we have received in the
past from both readers and ad-
vertisers.
Wishing you all a happy and
prosperous new year, we are
The Labor Signal.
Great is Oklahoma City.
According to the daily press of
the city, Oklahoma City will
soon be vieing with other great
cities of the country on being a
great railroad center. It is now
asserted that the Missouri Pa-
cific ^s coming to Oklahoma City.
It is said that the M. K. & T.,
the Frisco and the Missouri Pa-
cific will build large shops here.
We are of the opinion these ru-
mors are correct as every move
made seems to bear them out.
Oklahoma City is a wonder
and a marvel to all visitors, and
within the next two years she
bids fair to be a more marvelous
city than she has been in the
past.
somebody said so. Hut they fail
to stop and consider both sides
of the case.
For the sake of argument we
will admit that the iaboring
men as a class, do receive more
wages than they did ten years
ago. We will say 20 per cent.
Now let us take the laboring
man's side of the ease and see
how this 20 per cent increase in
wages has helped him. Ten
years ago he could rent a house
IQ02-IQ03.
Every member of organized la-
bor has cause to feel proud of
lhe record made by their organi-
zation in 1902. The number of
members has beed nearly doubled
in the past twelve months, the
public has become aware of the
to fact that the movement is here
stay, and are fast becoming ad-
vocates of our common cause as
they see in it the only solution ol
our present amelioration from'
the grinding greed of the non- for $8 a month that now wou]d
producing classes, whose heel cost j1jm $12, a raise of 50 per
has giaduallv been grinding the ^ cen£ He could then support his
life out of the laboring men of j family, outside of house rent,
the country. \ for $1 a day, and to live the
Richard Kessel, one of the
co-operative movement in Okla-
homa City, and the one man who
can be said to be the leading
character in the development of
this movement and to whom,
more than any other one man,
can its success be attributed, has
been appointed general mana-
ger of the movement here. Mr.
Kessel has proven himself to be
a man of indomitable courage
and also of the strictest integri-
ty and we bespeak for the asso-
ciation a sound business admin-
istration under Mr. Kessel, and
wish to erongratulate him on
his success.
The Typographical Union of
Oklahoma City have a new scale
to go into effect January 5th.
1903. Fifty-four hours a week
and $14 per week for printers
working by the week; against58
hours a week and $13.50 per
week. Thus is another nail
clinched for organization.
Our cause is a hundred fold
stronger than it was at the be-
ginning of 1902, More demands
for better conditions have been
granted without strikes than
same as he lived then it will cost
him $1.50 a day, another 50 per
cent raise. And so it goes all
through the list. Say he received
j $1.50 per dav ten years ago and
ever before and more strikes have todav he recciVcs 20 per cent in-
been won than in any pei iod of Crease, or $1.80 a day, or 20
twice the length of time. A gieut . davs jn a month he received $39
many sliong inst.tuLions that , j.cn vcars ag0 and today $46.80.
ha\e fought unionism foi long fjjs expenses ten years ago were
years have yielded and unionized 1138 a mmuh and today thev
their whole business. New fields ! wollld be? if he lived
have been opened up, and upon tjlcu
Elsewhere in this issue will be
found an article headed, "Munic-
pal Profits." While these are
all in a foreign country yet the
same conditions can be brought
about here at home. If the peo-
ple of this country would only
stop and consider the amount of
money that they pay corpora-
tions for transacting their busi-
ness they would be amazed at it.
The various insurance compan-
ies, the railroads, and all other
corporations pay immmense sal-
aries to their officials and big
dividends to their stock holders
which could as well be turned
into the public treasury as into
private fortunes. The figures
shown in the article are well
worth studying.
I this week's issue we present a
column of news worthy the in-
vestigation of all and especially
those who held aloof from or-
ganization. In no instance is the
raise in wages therein named less
than 10 per cent, and in some
cases as high as 25 per cent. In
some cases it is a reduction of a
10-hour work day to a 9-hour
day and in some only a raise of
10 per cent, but in many areduc-
tion in hours and a raise in
wages. Every one of these
changes was brought about by
thorough organization; none
were granted where no organi-
zation existed. Thus is it again
shown that the organized wage
earner has power to better his
condition while the unorganized
classes are mere tools to the ca-
priccs of their masters. Unor
ganized men, read and reflect.
At the last meeting of the Bar
bers Union a business agent was
appointed to demonstrate the
status of unionism in this city in
regard to the patronage received
by union men.
the whole, the movement is in
the best of condition.
With these conditions every
member of union organizations
ought to feel proud and be wili-
ng to put their shoulders to the
wheel and help make 1903 a
record breaker. This can be done
as he did
$57 Ten years ago he
made a surplus of $1 per month,
now he has a deficit of $10.80.
This means he must have worked
every working day in the year.
But there have been many men
thrown out of employment by
various mergers and improved
machinery and the number of
and we hope that when we are days work has correspondingly
able to put 1904 in the date j been decreased so that instead of
lines at the head of the paper we j the raise in the wages the labor-
can say as much of 1903 as we ing classes being adequate to
can of 1902 at the present. j their necessities, it is a mistake!
Let the watchword be "for- for the percentage of raise in
ward" for every member of the
different crafts and then we will
be able to say "1903 was the
Banner year so far in the move-
ment."
commodities has been two and a
half times as great and the la-
boring man is really in a worse
condition than he was ten years
ago. The figures given here are
very liberal for the employers,
A False Conception. foril the government statistics
Many people think that if la-, are any SooJ tlle.v show a worse
bor receives higher wages today jcondition tllan vvc have depicted,
than it did five, ten, or twenty |butwc havc shown enough to
years ago, that it necessarily fol- pr°ve the fallacy of the argu-
lows that their condition is im-1 ment that the American work-
proved just that much. This ingman never was so well paid
argument is used by nearly every as now
one who opposes a raise in
wages and a great many people The 8-hour law of the state is
accept it as they do nearly every strictly enforced in Kansas Citv
other thing a9 true because on all municipal work.
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The Labor Signal. (Oklahoma City, Okla. Terr.), Vol. 3, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, January 2, 1903, newspaper, January 2, 1903; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc120705/m1/1/: accessed July 11, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.