Oklahoma Labor Unit (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 5, No. 39, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 15, 1913 Page: 2 of 4
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THE OKLAHOMA LADOR UNIT
A clean, conservative, independent, non-
partisan newspaper for the home
Published every Saturday by the
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MOITT m. POWELL, Manager
look owned e«cln lvely by Union Men.
Address all communications to
The Oklahoma Labor Unit
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they will promptly notify the business
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In the delivery of their paper
Witered at the Oklahoma City, Okla-
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under the act of March 8, 1879
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LEGISLATIVE COMMITItE REPORT
4 COMMON FAULT
Cloning up the urgent huslnoBB of I many hard blows, however, It will be
the regular .es.lon and pctponlnis necessary for a conference between
the senate and house committees on
COUNCIL > b
TRADES I I ERE,
The United Mine Workers of Amer-
ica now have a membership of 286,965,
Bays the Miners' Magazine. And (he
Mine Workers do not believe in
"direct action," "sabotage," or "hitting
the ball^J box with an ax," but still
this organization Is growing at such
a rapid rate that mine barons are
realizing its power, and direct
actionisls" are searching for more
malignant invectives to give expres-
sion to their fanaticism.
Men with courage enough to march
straight up to the inouth of a loaded
cannon are plentiful onough. Hut the
brand of courage which bolsters a man
sufQcienlly to pass the two and one-
fourth cent railroad fare bill over the
governor's veto has not been inocu-
lated in enough of the members of the
Oklahoma senate. All praise to those
who stood for the bill despite the gov-
ernor.
We will yet wake up In Oklahoma
and place a few union men, men who
know and feel the needs of labor, in
the state senate and house of repre-
sentatives. Better to be on the inside
and know what is going on than to
be begging crumbs from the other
fellow, the fellow who doesn't know,
and much less cares.
With ninety percent of the votes
in Its hand, labor cannot consistently
whine if it suffers injustice. A strong
man keepeth his house. And there
are card men running for the com-
mlssionerships to be voted upon
March L8th. That is enough to say.
all bills that can be acted on In the
expected extra session has marked a
strenuous week with the fourth legis-
lature and incidentally a few of the
bills in which labor haa been interest-
ed have been held up pending action
on supposed more Important measures
by the law-makers, the one of most
importance being the full crew bill
which lias not been passed on this
account, awultlng the action of the
governor on the two and one-quarter
cent rale for passengers on railroads
which was vetoed by the governor
and failed of passage over his veto in
the senate March 13 by a vote of IB
to 26, a veto requiring two-thirds of
the senate of 30 votes. Some opposi-
tion was shown to the full crew bill
by members of the senate on account
of the fare rate and tills bill affecting
railroads particularly, so by the peo-
ple losing a lower rate on railroads
the laboring masses may secure this
needed legislation, however, vetoing
being so popular your committee can-
not express the outcome with cer-
tainty.
The hospital bill which was vetoed
by tho governor was passed over his
head in the senate late Thursday
evening by a small majority. We feel
that the houso will take similar action.
The semi-monthly pay-day bill was
signed by Governor Cruce after being
in his hands five days on March 13th.
This bill did not carry the emergency
clause and will not take effect until
July first of this year. This is the
first of the five preferential measures
that has weathered the storm of both
houses and received the governor's
signature.
Compensation for workmen injured
in industries of this state appears to
be a favorable measure with the ma-
jority of the law makers but the bill
which has been submitted by your
committee and now on both calendars
of the legislature will receive no ac-
tion in the regular^ session which Is
slated to adjourn within the next few
days but it is to be hoped it will be
In the special message for the extra
session with a recommendation for
action as it was in the first message
and your committee on good authority
are led to believe it will be. This bill
is worthy the consideration it will
demand and the law makers of Ok-
lahoma who are first to see its need
and place it on our statute books will
forever receive the praise of both
workman and employer because it is
this bill and a fairly good law will
probably be the result. The agitation
of this bill 1b new to many of the law
makers and it Is to be hoped if it
cannot be secured like the laboring
masses demand at this time that the
education campaign Instituted at this
legislature will bear fruit at an early
date.
No action before adjournment Is ex-
pected on the minimum wage for wom-
en bill, lleaide this needed legislation
there are several lien bills, coercion
law, and bills which organized labor
could well afford to support which will
die on the calendar without action.
Committee substitute for house bills
228, 279, 376, 440, 489 and 542, the
first five being the measures submit-
ted by Representative l'eery in the
house and are measures that are favor-
able to the miners and have the sup-
port of this committee, this measure
passed the house by a large majority
after a strenuous fight in striking off
the bill two sections which were sub-
mitted by the mine operators, but the
mine operators did not quit, they fol-
lowed the bill to the senate and ap-
peared before the committee there
with the following section which they
wanted placed in the bill for the pres-
ervation of life and the conservation
of coal in this state:
"Section 16. The shooting of coal
off the solid is hereby declared to be
unlawful. In the preparation of every
shot to be fired in any slope, plane,
air course, cross-cut, entry or room
neck in any coal mine in this State,
the coal to be shot down shall be cut
or undermined to a depth at least six
inches greater than the depth of the
hole in which the explosive is to be
placed, and to the full width of the
shot to he fired. No shot shall be fired
by any person in any slope, plane,
cross-cut, entry or room neck in any
coal mine in this State unless the coal
has been first cut or undermined to a
depth at least six inches greater than
the depth of the hole prepared for the
shot and to the full width of the shot."
"In preparation of shots to be fired
in any room or rooms in any coal mine
in this State no shot shall be prepared
or made where the block of coal
sought to be removed is greater in
width than the perpendicular height
of the coal, and it shall be one-half
mined for the full length of the hole,
and no person shall fire any shot in
any room in any coal mine imprisoned
not less than thirty days nor more
an eradicator of damage suit attorn- il,1Bn twelve months. .
eys and accident insurance societies.! Anyone familiar v> i , .
Pending on third reading and final;under which coal is now Produc<^
roll call is the status of the bill re-1 Oklahoma and the agreement under
strictlng the hours of female workers «'llich the miners are^ w iiio(orl„v
Capital cannot complain when it
gets swung up on its own scaffold.
With what measure it has dealt out
to labor it may be meted out to cap-
ital some day, when the chickens
come home to roost.
Having had eight distinctive candi-
dates assure us that they were, with-
out doubt, to be the nominees for
city commissioners, we are neces-
sitated to await the count in order to
decide which ones are the jokers.
in certain industries, however, the
bill is now loaded with amendments
and added features that would make it
menace instead of a help in its
present form. This bill passed the
house of representatives as it was
presented by your committee but since
reaching the senate it has met with
Trades unionism is slowly yet grad-
ually winning at every point, especial-
ly in the congress and in the legis-
latures of all the states. It's a pretty
good institution to belong to.
There is entirely too much secrecy
in our labor union meetings. We have
nothing In the business of the union
to be ashamed of and very much to
be proud of.
As for us, we rather welcome the
veto. The more of it we have the
sooner the people of Oklahoma will
wake up as to what is being slipped
over them.
The principals and aims of trades
unionism are almost perfect. The one
thing needed 1b for its adherent to
push the movement with their whole
hearts.
Halfheartedness never won In any-
thing. The union man that Is not giv-
ing the best that is in him to the
cause is a very poor substitute for a
man.
Let the judiciary remain as It is,
then, with all Its usurped authority.
It will be very convenient when once
labor gets into control of things.
The money spent in union dues is
the best Investment a workingman
ever made. Nothing else ever pays
so large a dividend.
Labor iB the Indirect author of all
its woes. It suffers no Injustice, no
oppression, that It does not tamely
permit.
Poverty is a crime of which the
"captains of industry"—the men who
manage things—cannot be held guilt-
less.
Labor unionism climbed a notch
when Billy Wilson, the miner, was
made a member of the President's
cabinet.
Unionism will never make the prog-
ress that it should until our women
are more interested in the movement
In everything we should strive to
strengthen the cause of unionism.
the proprietors see the inconsistency
of this added section and doubt the
feasibility of Its practicability to the
fields of this state.
C. C. ZEIGLER,
C. TULLIS,
LEE PAYNE,
Legislative Committee.
THE NON-UNIONIST.
Tlie non-unlonlst Is as helpless as
a sapling in a tempest.
You may boastlngly declare that
you will work for whom you please, at
what wages you please and when you
know you will do nothing of the sort.
You know that you will work when
your boss pleases you shall, at what
he pleases and for what wages he
pleases to pay you—if you do not be-
long to the union of your trade, which
fixes equitable hours of work and liv-
ing wages.
You fully realize that no non-union
man can dictate his hours of work or
wageB. The minute he starts to do so
he finds himself out of a job. With
the union man its different. He has
the backing and support of his union,
and few employers would dare take
the chance of a costly strike by treat-
ing any one employee unfairly.
Organized labor has by united ac-
tion shortened the workday, raised
wages and bettered the condition of
the worker in nearly every line of hu-
man endeavor. All will agree that
even now the worker does not get a
fair share of the products of his toil,
but, at the same time, all must agree
the labor organization has done a vast
deal towards that end which could
have been accomplished by no other
means.
Your common sense tell* you that
you should be a member of organized
labor. It tells you that your duty to
yourself, your family, your fellow
worker demands it. You must realize
by now that as an individual you are
unable to improve your working con-
ditions. The union is your only haven
or refuge, and you should seek It at
once.
Join the union right now.
No rightly intended action of man
has ever been a failure. It may not
turn out just as he designs, but it al-
ways counts for something some-
where.
An exchange remarks that a farmer
does it himself while an agriculturist
hires it done. Won't somebody ques-
tion Campbell Russell on this sub-
ject?
The trouble with the legislature now
seems to be that the governor has the
lawmakers on his hip. It's take ac-
cording to directions and receive $6
per or do as you please at $2.
No use to waste sympathy on the
fellow who is now down and out and
who had all the getting while the get-
ting was good. Our sympathy is for
the fellow who never had a chance.
(By the Rev. Charle* Stelzle.)
The Bins which we see and con-
demn In others, are usually those of
which we, ourselves, are guilty Look
out, for instance, for the man who
constantly accuses others of hypoc-
risy and insincerity. It would seem
that since all humanity is so full of
fault and weakness, there would exist
among men the greatest forbearance,
not for the sin itself, but for the sin-
ner. Stroug should be the thought lu
every mind that God hates sin, but
He loves the Binner.
Nothing in scripture better Illus-
trates this truth than the story of
Jesus and the adulteress, as it is told
in the gospels. It may again be read
with great profit:
"And every one went home except
Jcbus, who went to the Mount of
Olives • • • But he went again
Into the Temple Courts early in the
morning, and all the people came to
him, and he sat down and taught
them. Presently, however, the Teach-
ers of the Law and the Pharisees
brought a woman who had been
caught in adultery, and placed her
in the middle of the Court and Bald to
Jesus:
'Teacher, this woman was found in
the very act of adultery. Now Moses,
in the Law, commanded us to stone
such women to death; what do you
say?"
They said this to test him, in order
to have a charge to bring against him.
Hut Jesus stooped down and wrote
on the ground with his finger. How-
ever, as they continued asking him,
he raised himself, and said:
'Let the man among you who has
never done wrong throw the first
stone at her.'
And again he stooped down and
wrote on the ground. When they
heard that, they went out one by one
beginning with the eldest; and Jesus
was left alone with the woman in the
middle of the Court. Raising himself,
Jesus said to her:
'Woman, where are they? Did no
one condemn you?1
No one, sir,' she answered.
'Neither do I condemn you,' said
Jesus; 'go, and do not sin again'."
Pol. Adv.
POORLY PAID FRENCH WOMEN.
Washington, March 10.—The French
government has recently published a
table showing the wages paid working
women in France. Women ironers, in
dress goods employment, are some-
times paid as high as 6 cents an hour,
3 cents an hour being the minimum.
Their working day is ten hours and
over. Dressmakers' pay runs from 3
to 5 cents an hour. Their Working
day never runs less than ten hours,
and at times their payment has been
recorded as low as 2 cents per hour,
Waistmakers work ten hours a day,
the average pay never exceeding 48
cents. Women embroiderers' wages
run from a minimum of 3 cents to a
maximum of 10 cents per hour for es-
pecially clever workers. The minimum
rate for milliners is 3 cents and rarely
ever exceeds 7 cents per hour. Con-
sul Hurst makes the observation:
"There Is a grow solidarity among
women wageearners in France, and
there is every reason to believe that
the average wages paid will be mater-
ially increased during 1913." It is to
be hoped that the French working
women will make an earnest effort to
improve their industrial conditions.
GEORGE h. KLEIN
DEHOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR
COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WORKS
I HAVE BEEN CLOSELY IDENTIFIED WITH THE INTERESTS
OF OKLAHOMA CITY FOR THE PAST TWENTY YEARS.
YOUR SUPPORT WILL BE APPRECIATED.
J. H. SCHOLLMEYER
...BOOKS AND STATIONERY...
Special Orders Solicited for Books Not in Stock
ST. PATRICK'S DAY AND EASTER NOVELTIES
134 West Main Street Telephone, Walnut 7673
Open Until 9 P. M. Saturdays 11 P. M.
WAGES OF AMERICAN WOMEN.
Washington, March 10.—The United
States census for 1905 on the manufac-
ture of women's clothing showed that
women sixteen years of age and over
were paid an average of $6.85 per
week, and children under sixteen years
of age, an average of $3.49 per week.
Compensation to seamstresses and
dressmakers working on their own
account varies so in the several sec-
tions of the country and frequently
with the seasons that no accurate av-
erage could be stated by the census
statisticians.
SOUGHT THE REASON.
Washington, March 11.—it is re-
ported by a Boston news agency that
the manager of the Baltimore & Ohio
recently started an investigation to
ascertain why labor was scarce along
his line, and why there was not the
usual inflow of Italian immigration.
The answer was not to be had in
America. The manager found that
wages in Italy had risen to $1.37%
per diem, and that Italians did not
have to cross the ocean to seek work
along the lines of the Baltimore &
Ohio.
RAILROAD TELEGRAPHERS.
St. Louis, March 10.—February was
a busy month for the Order of Rail-
road Telegraphers. Committees that
hd been in conference for Bome time
seeking increases in wages and im-
proved working rules reached settle-
ments on the following roads: Besse-
men and Lake Erie, Chesapeake and
Ohio, Delaware and Hudson, Southern
Railway, Seaboard Air Line, Milwau-
kee and Puget Sound, Chicago and
Great Western. The end of the month
finds eleven committees on as many
roads negotiating for betterments.
ADVANCES.
The attack on the suffragettes in
Washington, D. C., was a disgrace to
the capital city and to the nation. It
was a slap in the face for every
American woman and a blot upon
American manhood. For the capital
of this nation to be unable to prevent
such Insults and brutality is bad
enough. To have no desire or make
no effort to control such a riot is in-
finitely worse.
We point with pride to the unparal-
leled prosperity of the country, but
must confess we shed a few tears when
we look over our books and count up
the long list of unpaid subscriptions.
The paper that Is good enough to
read is good enough to pay for. Think
it over and settle.
President Taft vetoed the sundry
civil appropriation bill, carrying $113,-
000,000, because it prohibited the De-
partment of Justice from using its
anti-trust appropriation to prosecute
labor unions or farmers' organizations
He said the immunity provided was
most pernicious class legislation."
The House immediately passed tliej*
bill over the vetoe but the Senate, al-' *
though remaining in session beyond
the usual hour, did not vote on the
bill, thus allowing the veto to stand.
There should never be the slightest
hesitancy In aiding another union or
union man when the opportunity of-
fers. The very purpose of unionism is
to help each other, so why hesitate at
any time?
Resolutions were unnecessary for
our swearing off this time. The price
did it.
Peterboro, Canada, March 11.—The
controversy between the Typographi-
cal Union and the employers, which
at one time came close to a strike,
has been ended by an amicable settle-
ment, that provides for a substantial
increase in the wage scale. The in-
crease is $1 per week for hand men
for the first year, another dollar for
the second year, and another dollar
for the third year, making an aggre-
gate $3 increase. Linotype, monoline
and typograph operators secured a
similar advance in scale. Two dollars
a week advance is provided for night
work. The employes of the Canada
General Electric Works have secured
an increase of 10 per cent for all me-
chanics, receiving 30 cents per hour
and under. A 10 per cent Increase
is also given to all females who have
been in the employ of the company
two years or over, and a 5 per cent
increase to those in the service one
year and over. The company has in
its employ over 1,800 people.
+++++++++++++++++
LABOR DEPARTMENT
*
♦
♦
♦
♦
The following from the New York +
Times, one of the distinct orgaris of +
capitalism, while in the nature of +
a knock on "Billy" Wilson, will be re- 4-
garded as a boast by his thousands +
of union labor admirers: "It is im-|4*
possible to speak with approval either +
of the Department of Labor or of the
appointment of William B. Wilson
of Pennsylvania to be its Secretary.
We are convinced that Mr. Taft should
have vetoed the bill making this new
Cabinet place instead of signing it.
With Mr. Wilson as secretary, It be-
comes not a Department of Labor but
a Department of Union Labor."
Washington, March 11.—The
government of the United States
now has a department devoted
exclusively to the interests of
labor. Last summer the house
passed the Sulzer hill, and in
the closing hours of the Sixty-
second Congress the Senate
concurred and the president
signed it. Apprehension was
felt that the hill would not be
reached in the Senate, but Sen-
ator Borah of Idaho, chairman
of the Education and Labor
Committee of the Senate, suc-
ceeded in securing considera-
tion and passage a few days
before adjournment. This Is a
distinct achievement for the
American Federation of Labor,
as it has urged for years that
this department be created.
Start Housekeeping
Tucker Will Help You. Little Down, Rest in Payments
$10 DOWN. $10 MONTH $10 DOWN, $10 MONTH
3-Room Outfit
$97.50
TXfi
j-'1 v. '"-PL ™
Here's What You Get in This Cozy Outfit
All For
BEDROOM-
2;inch Brass Bed
Springs and Mattress
9x12 Room size Rug
One Dresser
Rocker
Chair
Lace Curtains.
DINING-ROOM—
Chairs
Extension Dining
Table
Buffet
9x12 Rug.
KITCHEN—
Detroit Jewel Range
"Handy" Kitchen
Cabinet
Chair
Linoleum.
OUT OF TOWN ORDERS
irefully packed and shipped te any point in the state at our regular retail
ices. We pay the freight.
Ca:
prices
TuckerFurnitiikCo.
^ - -INCORPORATED*-
COMPLETE HOUSE FURNISHERS.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA.
10 AND 18 MAIN STREET.
16 and 18 Main Street—Eait of Lee-Huckins Hotel
First We Make The Cloth—Then The Garments
SIOOLSUITS
MADE TO ORDER
hi our iwr akop by experi-
anc.d UNION TAILORS
W. EAELE BROWN, Hjmag«
World* uir|t«t Tallow M Stora*
17 NORTH HARVEY
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Oklahoma Labor Unit (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 5, No. 39, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 15, 1913, newspaper, March 15, 1913; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc157140/m1/2/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.