Oklahoma Labor Unit (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 49, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 23, 1914 Page: 4 of 8
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THE OKLAHOMA LABOR UNIT
THE OKLAHOMA LABOR UNIT
LABOR UNIT PUBUISKiNC CO., Ownera.
X™cIeaL."conaervativti, Indfu-^iaEt, won partisan newspaper In the Interests
■Jt t£* Laboring I'eople.
" t'ubliHh'-ii Kvi'ry Saturday by
C. C. Zeigler, Managing Editor.
Address ail communications to The Oklahoma Labor Unit, 217 N. Harvey St..
Oklahoma City, Okla.
Correspondence from Local Unions, and Contribution! from
Union Men solicited.
Subscribers will confer a great favor if they will promptly notify the llusluesB
Ofllco of uny failure or irregularity in the delivery of their paper.
EnteredTat the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, pontofflce as second class mall,
under, the act of March 3, 1879.
SUBSCRIPTION—(Payable In Advance.)
One yesr $1.00
Six months 60
Three months 25
Regular contract and flat rates for advertising on application.
fellow workers in the craft unions the
benefits and necessity of our form of
unionism.
"If the writer was a member of the
moBt Isolated of craft unions. >ight
there he would remain, In his cr«*t
union, but ever advocate the better
way; always advising aililiatlon with
sister organizations; lighting opposi-
tion as best he could, but never seced-
ing from the many who must be edu
cated before auy of us can possibly
advance."
We have already, enough employ-
ment of girls in this city, under condi-
tions that are very undesirable to say
the least. Employment of girls in a
public bootblacking establishment
where a negro piano player is or has
been employed, is going quite a long
ways beyond the limit. Keep up the
protest against the exploitation of
children.
CITIZEN.
News from Local Unions
mrcouNaL
rRADI 9
Vahoma -
This week we add to the list of
UNIT subscribers the entire member-
ship of the Brotherhood of Locomo-
' tive Engineers, of Enid, the Carmen
of Heavener, the Teamsters of Okla
homa City and a nice list from the
Laundry Workers of Chickasha. The
latter consisting prlnciply of women
workers. We note that in every
movement in labor circles that our
women workers are more dependable
than the men.
While the efforts of the Joint Hoard
HEAVENER CARMEN;
with him when he was strong and
powerful. Their business is seeking
dollars, not friends, and we have no
doubt Mr. Post mistook the kind of
friendship they had to offer for the
real kind. Others before him and in
in his place have made the same mis-
takes.
Mr. Post was not an ordinary man;
he possessed talent; he had a good
supply of courage; he was a great
organizer and he acquired an im-
mense fortune through his business in
a remarkably short time. If his vir-
tues had been properly applied he
might have become a great benefac-
tor. He, however, chose the other
course; he continued to amass wealth,
to exploit the sick by making extrava-
gant claims for his cereal products
as health restorers, and to merciless-
ly condemn any and all persons iden-
tifying themselves with the American
workingman's uplift movement. He
died the worst hated man in America.
Verily the scriptures comes to pass:
"What proflteth a man who gains the
whole world and loseth his own soul?"
There is a moral in the life and death
of C. W. Post for us all. There is
no peace, health or happiness in the
domain of hate.
DEBS THROWS ANOTHER FIT.
LABOR'S MEMORIAL SUNDAY.
May 24 is the day set apart for
Labor's Memorial Sunday. As is fit-
ting, this labor memorial day comes
at the season when the nation does
honor to those who gave their lives
in the service of the country. More
lives have been sacrificed many times
over in the service of the nation's
commerce and industry during times
of peace than have been lost to pro-
tect the nation in times of war. That
many of these lives were wasted care-
lessly and wantonly is the disgrace of
our nation and our civilization. Our
society has had regard for profits,
material progress, wealth, rather than
for the human beings that should use
these things. Despite the marvelous
opportunities awaiting those who
came to this continent, the minerals
hidden in its depths, the fertility of
the soil, the vast acreage, suffering,
poverty, unhappiness obtains—all this
because man has not seen the value
of fellowman, because he has not
looked beyond present limitations to
see all that each man could and would
be, because he has considered the
lives of workers cheap.
There has been a force in society
persistently and surely battling
against this subordination of men to
wealth. This force has been the com-
bined efforts of the workers strug-
gling to present the needs, the wants,
the ideals of human beings in order
thai the world may know the value
of every individual, however humble
his position. These efforts to uplift
humanity have taken various forms,
but all have added to the joy of life.
Some of them aim at material ends,
but they have a deeper significance
than the immediate purpose. Just as
the, dedication of a great structure
devoted to a great ideal has a deeper
significance than the mere ceremony,
so the organized labor movement has
a deeper significance than is con-
tained in a mere superficial concep-
tion of an effort to increase wages
and shorten the workday. Its sig-
nificance is as wide and as deep as
the misery and hopeless drudgery
from which it saves men, and as great
and as bright as the paths it opens
to better living and greater happi-
ness.
The early pioneers in this great
humanizing movement of labor were
men who suffered and sacrificed and
died, whose graves have been un-
noticed and whose work has been un-
sung, the rank and file of the men of
labor in the early days who dared to
think and to do in this great uplift
work for common humanity.
The men who have been foremost
In this labor movement are men who
realized present conditions but who
saw beyond the present into hope-
filled future. They have been men
of courage and conviction who led the
way upward and onward. But the
people followed—neither can succeed
without the other. So it is fitting that
America's workers and ull America's
citizens shall do honor to the mem-
ory of the workers of other years,
whose labor and whose ideals have
given substance and spirit to our civ-
ilization.
So honor to the noble dead who
gave the best of their lives that oth-
ers might thereby be benefited. Our
reverential heart-yearning goes out
for the spirit of the departed, the
spirit which lives and spurs on all to
still greater effort in the common
cause of labor, justice, and humanity.
"THERE'S A REASON."
C. W. Post, arch foe of union labor.
is no more. He died by his own hand
in California where he had gone in
an attempt to regain his broken
health. "There's a reason'' for the
rash act which resulted in divorcing I and would be followed by every im-
his body from his soul. If American j possibilist and malcontent in our own
workingmen hated Mr. Post he forced i organizations?
An article by Eugene V. Debs ad-
dressed to the membership of the
United Mine Workers of America and
the Western Federation of Miners,
in which he advises these organiza-
tions to jcease (aillliatlon with the
American Federation of Labor, sug-
gesting a convention to launch what
he has already named, the American
Industrial Union, has appeared in a
number of Socialist papers through-
out the country. Debs uses the usual
stereotyped argument of Haywood
and other leaders of the "I Won't
Works," states that the Federation
has reached the point of senility in
its development, and that the pro-
gressive elements in it should with-
draw and build up a powerful indus-
trial organization with which to fight
capitalism.
In answer to the article by Debs
the United Mine Workers Journal,
while strictly in favor of industrial
unionism, advises affiliation with sis-
ter organizations, and takes the noted
Socialist to task by saying that se-
cession is not the way to unity. The
Journal disagree with his principles
because of the fact that the program
he proposes would retard instead of
advance the evolution of craft unions
into industrial unions.
Says the Journal:
"Where can an industrial unionist
best propogate his advanced idexs?
"In our opinion, in the union of Mis
own particular craft, advocating affili-
ation, amalgamation with other crart
unions in the same industry, then
further affiliation until the object be
seeks is accomplished.
"Slow! We realize that also. But
evolution will not be hurried.
"What if we followed Mr. Debs's
advice? If we seceded from the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor; called a
meeting or convention of all who fa-
vored the program outlined;
The Oklahoma Labor Unit:
As a rule we have little of interest
to the labor world to write from here.
But recently the agitation of the un-
ion label question, and especially the
statement that there is only one fac-
tory in the United States that makes
iollars bearing the union label, caused
discussions. This factory employs
for a better circulation for the UNIT but a Bmau number of girls at Al-
ls very gratifying, the per cent of ,,unyi N y We decided to ask our
Union's who have not yet responded merchants here to order union made
is large, and th6 Board Is very anx- (.()fiars from this firm. We found
lou8 that every organization in the iij08e we visited willing to order and
state get in line on this proposition, handle these collars hereafter,
as they will soon commence the pub- \ye then decided to run a slide at
lication of their legislative demands, moving picture show here, re-
and explanation of their bills and questing all to demand the union la-
want every voter to understand them j)e| on their collars. That only one
as well as those who will be elected
factory in the United States made
to the legislature. The better you t|iem, giving name and address of
understand the demands the better factor> an(j the names of the merch-
you will be able to impress upon >our ant8 ^at proposed to handle them
representative what we will require jiere
of him in the event he is elected. ' ,
We run this slide on week—six
There still exists a lack of interest '"ghts then changed " to the follow-
on the part of local unions to furnish ' «• ^hy you should demand the
the news from their locality. If there unl°n labe1' ™e goods are made by
is no news story from your union in <™P'°yes earning a living wage, work-
ing reasonable hours and under sani
tary conditions.
We run this one week then changed
it to read: Why you should demand
the union label. So nonunion labor
may be allowed to organized thereby
protecting them from sweatshop mis-
ery. Will you help? Why not?
When this runs six days we will
change again and try to make each
following slide give some convincing
reason for requiring the union label
on all purchases. Another we have
in line is—Demand the Union Label—
Why Organization brings protec
tion, a living wage, reasonable hours,
humane treatment and sanitary con
ditions. /
These slides must be short neces
this issue, make a motion at your
next meeting that a correspondent be
elected and that he be instructed to
furnish the news^regularly.
Let your brother unionist know that
you are alive and doing something
for the cause of unionism, by send-
ing in the happenings from your local-
ity. Not a thing that happens to one
of your members, or a change in mem-
bership, but what would be read with
interest by some union man in some
other locality.
Now that your union lias subscribed
for the Unit and your members are
reading it, let it be a medium for ex-
change of thought between you and
the other members of organized labor sar^y therefore, we will carry them
in Oklahoma by contributing an ar- ^ we present our argument in fa
tide on some subject of interest to vor l&bel.
aU j Our fight is not against the labor-
ing masses outside the pale of our un
. . .. . _ . ,, , ions but rather against the conditions
More patriotism is being displayed m under wh,ch toU an(J
by some of the citizens of Oklahoma suffep have n0 protection, no
this year than was ever known in the meanB of improving their condition
history of he s ate. Eight different of advanc, their cau9e> n0 redress
men are willing to sacrifice their time
and business to serve the "deer peo-
ple" as their Governor, and a number
of them are spending a lot of money
to get the chance.
LETTERS FROM OUR READERS
Have your Laundry Done
The Velvet Way
Towler's Laundry
Phone Walnut 6730
16-18 N. Lee St. Oklahoma City
Mr. Laboring Man:
We Will Sell You $100.00 Worth of
Furniture—$10.00 Down
$10.00 a Month
COMF'LCTE HjOUSF. FiURNJSHCRs.
It *o4 IS M.b StTMi—Eaft .1 LM-Hnckltt, Hot.l — Oklahoma City
RETRACTION DEMNADED.
The following letter was addressed
to Fred Warren by the officers of Min-
ers Union No. 1026 at Coalgate. Okla.
and was sent to us for reproduction,
which we do through courtesy to local
No. 1026:
Mr. Fred Warren, Editor Appeal to
Reason.
My Dear Sir:
There appeared in the columns of
your paper a few weeks ago an article
from your Oklahoma correspondent,
J. Lu<her .Langston, against Pete
Hanraty, ex-mayor of McAlester. The
article was absolutely false in every
particular, there never was a convict
employed in the city of McAlester.
The coal operators have always
fought Pete Hanraty as he was the
man who forced them to recognize the
miners union in the Southwest.
Every person knows it was the coal
operators that hired men to get up
the petition and spent the motley to
who, I have him recalled because he would
when petty foremen heap burdens oj
them, no relief wlien their employers
deprive them of their meager earn-
ings by arbitrary rulings and fines.
Their only hope is in the success of
organized labor.
If the people are educated into the
necessity of demanding only union
made goods the cause of labor will
be advanced.
Let us demand the union label and
give all workers of this great country
a living wage, reasonable hours, hu-
mane treatment and sanitary condi-
tions.
JOHN WRIGHT.
Oklahoma City Trades Council
think you, would answer such call?
"We have in mind 1906; when, with
just such a program in view, the new-
ly launched I. W. W. brought to-
gether every freak and bug in the la
bor movement; even many crooks and
labor disruptions, and Mr. Debs will
confess that he was forced to repu-
diate the "Frankenstein monster" he
had aided to rals^.
Vice-president Samples presided in
the absence of President Stanton.
Communications from the congres-
sional delegation of Oklahoma at
Washington, in answer to this coun-
cil's demand for support of the J. W.
Bryon bill for governorment owner-
ship of mines in Colorado, showed
Senator Owen and Representative
Thompson in favor of such a solution
of the terrible situation in that state.
Representatives Murray, Morgan, Fer-
ris, McGuire and Weaver show by
their letters that they are non com-
mittal on the subject of government
ownership as proposed by the Bryan
bill.
A committee appointed some weeks
ago, to investigate the record of a can-
didate for office with regard to "gun
totin'" during the street car strike,
reported that the charges were un-
founded. The report of this commit-
tee was accepted and the ccmmittee
discharged.
The committee that has had in
The Workers Are Winning
Minton, Oklahoma
Break the Chains of Capitalistic Bondage and Own
Your Job. Live in a Community Where
the Sun Shines for a Workingman
The Milton Co-Operative Colony
Is solving the problems of co-operative industrialism in Oklahoma.
Here is a wonderful
Chance for Men of Small Means
The history of this Colony is a story of progress. Milton is an
old tribal trading point in the Choctaw Nation, in LeFlore County, on
the Fort Smith & Western railroad, 32 miles west of Fort Smith, Ark.,
in the heart of a rich agricultural section, surrounded by the pine and
hardwood timber lands and the segregated coal lands of the Choctaws,
soon to be sdld.
A year ago the Colony acquired the townsite of 168 acres, an 80-
antliracite coal in the United States, and has built a steam saw-mill
acre farm, 20 acres of land carrying a 7-foot vein of the best semi-
and opened one of the finest coal mines in Oklahoma. An adjacent
160 acres of 7-foot coal land is being added to these holdings. The
market demand for this coal is greater than the present output.
The Colony's management has been thoroughly re-organized. H.
C. Waller is no longer connected with the community.
An Investment of Fifty Dollars
Will buy a lot for a home in Milton. This gives the purchaser the
right to get for cash or labor a $75 share of Colony stock, making him
a joint owner of all the Colony's property. No member may own
more than one share of stock. The coal alone is worth thousands of
dollars. It is The thickest and biggest vein in Oklahoma.
The Milton country is being drilled for oil and gas. The devel-
opment is just beginning. Inexhaustible quantities of gas have been
struck. The United States Geological Survey has mapped Milton as
the center of an anticline. Wells are going down in all directions in
this virgin field. Here is the place to
Own Your Job and Your Home
Reliable, trustworthy men are devoting themselves to the wel-
fare of Milton. For full information address
H. H. Reynolds
General Manager Milton Townsite Company
P, 0. BOZ 99 GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA
them to it. That hatred, however.'
did not follow him to the sick chain-!
be* or to the grave, to which he went
unloved, unhonored and alone.
Mr. Post lived a life of hate. It is
true that he suffered physical pain,
but he could have borne it until the
end, as thousands of others have done.
It was not the physical pain which
forced him to take his own life. It
was the mental anguish, the lone-
sonaeness, that cornea to a friendlesa
mah, after spending his life in fight-
ing. the great humanitarian movement
of labor.
Business friends patted Post on the
hack every time he gave the working-
man's union one of his characteristic
raps, but they were not the friends
that count in a man's life. They were
cold and cheerless, and were only
not spend the city's money to pump
water from out of their abandoned
mines and give to the people and be-
cause when he was chief mine in-
spector he had the coal companies ar-
rested and prosecuted when they vio-
lated the laws, something that has
never been done before or since.
Because he would not allow gun
men to guard scabs during the car ^ ^
"Again, if we set the example of 1 repairers strike on the M. K. & T c}iarge the matter of giving publicity
seceding from the established labor railroad, because he was a labor union t0 tjje exploitation of girls in a shoe
movement because our ideas do not public official they could not buy or shinig "parlor" in Oklahoma reported
meet with the approbation of the ma-j ()wn. the proprietor still continues his
Joritv represented there, would we rot | All of the Miners Unions of Coal I "business."
stablish a precedent that could be, | gate have unanimously endorsed him Correspondence concerning the lin-
for chief mine inspector. He is now fajr attitude of the Swift Packing Co.,
in Colorado risking his life and lib toward organized labor in Oklahoma
erty for the cause of humanity. City, showed that a large number of
We demand a retraction of tile central bodies are giving the matter
statement made against him. their careful attention.
The Appeal to Reason cannot af An interesting talk by brother Mc-
ford to line up with the coai trust Dill, president of the Typographical
against a man who they cannot own. enlivened the "good and welfare" or-
Local Union No. 1026, Coalgate, Okla. der of the evening's proceedings.
P. A. NEWMAN, President. A good attendance and the transac-
WM. DOWNS, Secretary. tion of much routine business were
We fear we woulfi only leafl up to
a series of divisions and sub-divisions
that could only end in the utter anni-
hilation of organized labor.
"Industrial unionism will cfme;
must come through education; pos
sibly through much adversity, many
defeats suffered by isolated crafts.
"The man who advocates industrial
unionism in his craft organizations,
providing he does not secede, will
eventually be recognized as the true
prophet.
"If he deserts his fellow workers
who now do not see the necessity cf
industrialism, their failures and ad-
versities will be laid at his door. And
to an extent, Justifiably so.
"The United Mine Workers is an in-
dustrial organization; by advice ..nd
u i W/m
features of the session.
Oklahoma City, May 20, 1914. |
Editor Labor Unit,
Oklahoma City, Okla.
Dear Sir:
J. O. W.
Teamsters Go on Strike.
Newark, N. J., May 22.—Teamsters
I am very glad to note the attitude 1 employed by a large contractor in this
of organized labor in Oklahoma City city are on strike for $16 a week, pay
toward the employment of girls as for overtime and a working day to
bootblacks. Union labor has always end at 5 o'clock. The men say they
fought the degradation of womanhopd have been receiving $13 and $13.50 a
in America and this action of the week and the refusal of their em-
Trades Council is wholly consistent ployer to answer their request forced
example we hope "to point out to our with labor's record in the past. them to strike.
"This
Storm Proves
What a Blessing My Telephone Is"
"Do you know, Phoebe, I've done a whole morn-
ing's 'running around' in those few minutes at the tele-
phone. Ugh! I shiver at the thought of going out.
"And without the telephone I would have had to
go to market and to shop, for it would have been a
shame to miss those bargains advertised for this morn-
ing. Why, you know, I bought ten yards ."
Are your wife and household thus weather-
proofed? Residence rates are low enough for you to
afford a home telephone.
Call the Business Office to-day.
!
Pioneer Telephone
y v and Telegraph Company ^
&////////////////i///iiiiii^
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Zeigler, C. C. Oklahoma Labor Unit (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 49, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 23, 1914, newspaper, May 23, 1914; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc157201/m1/4/: accessed March 29, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.