Oklahoma Labor Unit (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 38, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 13, 1915 Page: 1 of 4
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' OKLAHOMA LABOR UNIT
DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE OF OKLAHOMA
VOL. VII.
banks protested.
One cause of the defeat of the Glasco
usury bill In the lower house, it has
been discovered, was the strenuous
campaign made by the banks of the
state. Few legislators that did not
receive protests from the banks with
the request that they vote against the
measure and the campaign seems to
have had the desired effect. One let-
ter which came to the attention of the
writer contained a paragraph as fol-
lows: "We also desire to call your
attention to another fact which will
result from such a law, that Is, if the
banks refrain, which they will do,
rom loaning the class of farmers to
hlch we have called your attention,
will force them to get their supplies
,,)m the merchants and to be carried
Ballots for the election of officers o them and in turn the banks will
the Oklahoma State Federation 011 £ ry the merchants, but do not lose
Labor are being mailed in sufficient ©•-* it of the fact that the merchant
quantities to the membership of all .S add from twenty-flve to fifty per
affiliated unions this week. Balloting,' % o additional profit on the supplies
under the laws of the Federation, is' £ * shed which will ultimately re-
UNIONS
TO VOTE
BALLOTS FOR FEDERATION
ELECTION BEING MAILED
THIS WEEK.
MANY CANDIDATES
Likely to Be Second Ballot for All t
fices in the Federation Except
That of President.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, SATURDAY, MARCH 13. 1915
State Federation of Labor
NO. 38.
(By OUle S. Wilson.)
The eight hour law for women (that
is, what was the eight hour law) has
at last passed both houses and is up
to the Governor for hiB signature. The
law as passed provides a straight nine
hour day and exempts all cities of five
thousand and less population. It also
exempts stenographers, and allows all
hotel and restaurant employees to
work a minimum of ten hours, when
agreed to by the employee and when
paid price and one-half for the extra
hour. The law as passed is not what
was desired by the representatives of
the Federation but i suppose that it is
a little better than no law at all.
allowed to start on March 15 and all
ballots, with return sheets, must be
in the hands of the chairman of the
election board by April 15. The pres-
ent ballot is really in the nature of an
elimination contest. Any candidate,
to be elected on the first ballot must
receive a majority of all votes cast,
otherwise the two candidates receiv-
ing the highest number of votes must
make the second race on a ballot to be
mailed out on May 1 and returned to
the election board on or before June 1.
Candidates for office that have been
nominated and have accepted the
nomination and whose names will ap-
pear on the official ballot in the order
named are as follows:
President
Edgar Fenton, Miner, Lehigh.
Mike Tasso, Miner, Krebs.
First Vice President
8am Atkins, Carman, Shawnee.
Stuart Ronalds, Miner, Coalgate.
D. E. Baker, Miner, Dewar.
T. E. Carter, Machinist, Enid.
Chas. Oglesby, Miner, Henryetta.
Floyd Ott, Boiler Maker, Shawnee
W. E. Tims, Miner, Catale.
L. C. Watson, Carman, Shawnee.
Second Vice President
Tom Harvey, Carpenter, Oklahoma
City.
L. V. Long, Carpenter, Chickasha.
Camil Massaro, Miner, Krebs.
P. A. Newman, Miner, Coalgate.
Third Vice President
John Kirk, Miner, Coalgate.
Sam Dawley, Miner, Coalgate.
Joe Orr, Miner, Witteville.
Fourth Vice President
L. P. Core, Miner, Alderson.
Bert List, Barber, Chickasha.
P. B. Parr, Plumber, Tulsa.
Robert Rosso, Miner, Coalgate.
J. P. Roy, Miner, Hartshorne.
Arch Wilson, Carpenter, Pawhuska.
Fifth Vice President
D. N. Ferguson. Carpenter, Ardmore.
D. C. Elliott, Stage Employee, Okla-
homa City.
Ray E. Whittaker, Carman, Chick-
asha.
Secretary-Treasurer
Ollie S. Wilson, Printer, Oklahoma
City.
J. Q. Maloney, Carpenter, Henryetta.
Oliver C. Broking, Miner, Bokoshe.
B. G. Poston, Miner, Coalgate.
Joe Ritchie, Miner, Krebs.
Joe Shanetsky, Miner, Hartshorne.
•« u 1 to the detriment of this class
i?. :>ple, as the difference between
tue interest the bank might charge is
not nearly as great as the additional
profit the merchant will place upon
supplies furnished to such farmers."
Some argument that, yet the poor
farmer gets it going and coming, asj
usual.
ECONOMIC POWER
NOW OUR DEFENSE
NEED NO LAW FOR PROTECTION
WHERE UNIONS ARE
STRONGLY ORGANIZED.
"TAYLOR SYSTEM-
DEALT HARD BLOW
CONGRESS REFUSES TO VOTE
ANY MONEY—ORGANIZED
LABOA WINS FIGHT.
Congress has ordered that no mon-
eys in the army or the naval appro-
priation bills shall be used on behalf
of "Taylor" or other alleged "effi-
ciency" schemes, and the stop watch
method of production has received its
hardest blow since its advocates con-
ceived the idea that government sanc-
tion would increase their prestige.
The House had included in the army
and naval appropriations bills provi-
sions that no part of these money:
could be used to further "Taylor" stop-
watch or premium systems. The Sen-
ate rejected these provisions and the
bills went to conference. The House
conferees were unyielding in their de-
mand that the provisions be retained.
All other differences were adjusted,
but the House stuck for its anti-
"Taylor" system Bection. It was nec-
essary to pass the bills, which provid-
ed for millions of dollars for the army
and navy the coming fiscal yoar. 1 he
clock ticked seconds that marked the
time when this Congress would pass
into history, and other Important legis-
lation needed attention.
Finally the Senate conferees yielded,
and organized labor won another im-
portant victory.
Report from Sulphur is to the effect
that Carpenters Union No. 1944 ha°
suspended its charter ou account o
the lack of work and tho small mem
bership.
In The American Federationist, cur-
rent, issue, President Gompers dis-
cusses the United States Supreme
court decision which voided the Kan-
sas law making it illegal to discharge
a worker because he belonged to a
trade union. The A. F. of L. executive
closes as follows:
"Members of well organized, aggres-
sive unions have no difficulty in enjoy-
ing their legal right to membership in
their trade organizations and in secur-
ing the right to collective bargaining
through which real equity of contract
is assured.
"Prepare yourselves, workers of
America, for the fight for freedom and
protection. Secure for yourselves that
which you ought to have, that which
you must have, in order to protect
your industrial rights. As you build up
strong organizations In all lines of in-
dustry, keep in your hands control over
the policies, the operation of your or-
ganizations. Do not surrender the key
to industrial liberty for any temporary
gain. With a zeal made keener by the
realization that your welfare lies in
your own hands, keep up the work of
education, agitation and organization."
The United Mine Workers' Journal,
official magazine of the United Mine
Workers of America, expresses this
view on the United States Supreme
court's decision invalidating the Kan-
sas anti-discriminating law:
"As to the effect of the last decision,
nullifying the anti-discriminating laws,
it has been our experience that the
only way we ever succeeded in pro-
tecting union men from discrimination
was by our own solidarity.
"Whera the workers are organized
solidly, or show enough force to com-
mand respect, such law is not needed
to prevent discrimination on account
of union affiliations.
"Where the workers are not organ-
ized in numbers to command respect,
the law, and every law for that matter,
has been a dead letter; witness the
mining camps of Colorado, in which'
state similar law as that of Kansas
has long been on the statute books,
only to be openly violated, with every
other law intended to safeguard the
workers."
Workmen's Compensation (Hous^
Bill No. 106) has at last been reported
out of the Senate Committee with the
recommendation that it do pass. The
bill as it passed the lower house has
been amended, however, and the state
insurance feature stricken from the
bill. The trouble now is the limited
time that will be had for its considera-
tion in the Senate as it is expected at
this time that the legislature will ad-
journ the coming week. If the bill
passes the Senate as amended it will
then have to be agreed to by the
House and this will take quick action
if there is any real or serious intention
of enacting the measure into law at
this session. Even as the bill is now
amended by the Senate Committees it
is known that the manufacturers' rep-
resentatives will have many further
amendments introduced in the commit-
tee of the whole in the Senate and
when the bill comes up for final pass-
age. These amendments have already
been prepared and furnished to an em-
ployee of the Senate who has instruc-
tions to deliver them to a certain sen-
ator for introduction at the proper
time.
the measures in the committee of the
whole. Representative Peery intro-
duced numerous amendments, but the
most important ones were voted
down. The miners of the state, through
the various unions, have emphatically
gone on record against changing the
mining code, as these bills tend to do,
but they have received scant consider-
ation from Nesbitt and other members
of the lower house. Representatives
Halle of Pittsburg, Moore of Ottawa,
and Durant of Bryan, led the fight for
the bills. It is hoped that the mem-
bers of the Senate will remember form-
er mining legislation when a great
hardship was thrown upon the shoul-
ders of the working miners and that
if these bills do pass the lower house
that they will be killed in the Senate.
in industry; every anti-child labor law,
minimum wage and maximum hour law
for womens and minors.
Conditions over the state with the
various crafts is normal at the pres-
ent time with the building trades or-
ganizations, especially, looking for-
ward to Bprlng with hopes of better
conditions.
PRESSMEN WILL DANCE.
The poll tax bill by Garner, making
the payment of poll tax an equivalent
of the right of suffrage, similar to the
Texas law, was killed in the lower
house Wednesday by the decisive vote
of 85 to 4. Representatives Reigner
and Harrison of Seminole made bitter
speeches against the measure on final
roll call.
TO MEET
OK. CITY
twelfth annual convention
to be held here
next august.
Tulsa Printing Pressmen's Union
No. 226 announce their annual ball to
be held In Fraternal Hall, Tulsa, on
the evening of St. Patrick's Day, Wed-
nesday. March 17. In a letter received
from Jas. A. Dodd, chairman of the
committee having the ball In charge',
it is stated that the Pressmen have
tho support of other unions In Tulsa,
and that the money derived will be
used In putting on an aggressive label
campaign.
"SOME BIZ."
Ed RUthven, secretary of the Okla-
homa City Bookbinders, Is authority
for the statement that there is "some
biz" in the book binding line at present
and that the members of his union aro
pretty generally employed.
BIG TIME ASSURED
The mining bills, Nos. 497, 498, and
499, at this writing have just been re-
ported out of the committee of the
whole in the lower house. These bills
are by Nesbitt of Pittsburg, and it is
expected by the time that this state-
ment appears in print that they will
have been upon final passage and roll
call and on their way to the Senate for
action, as Representative Nesbit had
little trouble in getting action upon
We have heaid much of the benevo-
lent intentions of employers; of the
great improvement in the living and
working conditions of their employees
they intend to bring about, some time
in the future, if only they are not In-
terfered with by the "agitators of la-
bor," but ever, when laws are proposed
in the legislature for safeguards
against accidents or occupational dis-
eases, there you will find the repre-
sentatives of these employers, oppos-
ing, through every Influence they are
able to wield, by threat, cajolery
promises, and sometimes bribery, the
passage of such a law; and there, also
will be found the much-maligned rep-
resentatives of organized labor, urging
the passage of every law that may
safeguard life and health. There is not
a law on the statute bookB of state or
nation Intended to conserve the health
or life of those who toil but was first
proposed in the halls of the labor un
i<n; was fought for, and won, in spite
of the opposition of the employers, by
representatives of organized labor.
And the same applies to every law for
the protection of women and children
PLUMBERS MEASURE
REQUIRES PLUMBERS TO PASS EX-
AMINATION AND CITIES OVER
2,000 TO HAVE INSPECTOR.
Committee Already Appointed to Pre-
pare Entertainment for the
Delegates.
The twelfth annual convention of
the Oklahoma State Federation of
Labor will be held in Oklahoma City,
commencing on Monday, August 16,
having been changed to this city upon
request of the Coalgate unions and by
a unanimous vote of the executive
board of the Federation.
At the last convention held in Henry-
etta the delegates from this city re-
quested that the convention this year
be held In Oklahoma City and guaran-
teed entertainment that would far sur-
pass that given at any previous con-
vention. However, the Coalgate dele-
gates succeeded in winning the honors
uy a decisive vote under the leader-
ship of Vice Presidents Kirk and Phil-
lips and Delegate Ed ltyan. Since that
time the mines have been closed down
In the city of Coalgate, many of tho
members have been forced to seek
work elsewhere, and this has left tho
unions there small In numbers and
their treasuries low. For this reason.
Vice Presidents Kirk and Phillips and
Mr. Ryan, with the sanction of the
membership in Coalgate have made
The Plumbers Bill (by Hudson, of
Tulsa) being An Act to Create a Hoard
of Examiners and Inspectors of Plumb-
ing in Cities and Towns of Over Two
Thousand Inhabitants and Compensa- the request that the convention be
tlon Provided for Said Board," has I changed.
passed both houses and is sure to be
igned by the Governor. This is a bill
Lets Not Become Hysterical
But Get at Root oj the Evil
And now the people of Oklahoma City are just beginning to
learn just how bad their city is.
The badness has been published to the world through the col-
umns of the daily press; not that the press has seen lit to do this on
its own volition but that some of the ministers and even the mayor
have assumed the right to hold up apparent faults to the gaze of the
world, without qualifying their statements or attempting to get at
one of the roots of the great evil.
After a most careful analysis of the conditions as they exist, it is
deduced that Oklahoma City, a city of 60,000 inhabitants, a more
cosmopolitan city than any of her size and age in the United Mates,
has an ulcer here and there.
It would be real interesting to have some of these critical gentle-
men find the perfect man, the perfect woman or the perfect mumci-
PalU\nd it would also be real interesting to have these gentlemen,
who occasionally find these ulcers, to harmonize their actions with
reference to their feelings toward Organized Labor and the humane
laws for which labor stands sponsor. . ,
Where were they when the Woman's Eight Hour Law was be-
fore the present legislature; and where were they when a bill wa^
presentd that provided a minimum wage scale for working women, a
law that would go much farther toward eradicating the sores o
which they speak than all the newspaper talk that could be smeared
or smattered? . ,.
Since Organized Labor has ever believed that just laws eradicate
evils on the body politic, it would be interesting to find out what
great moral pressure these gentlemen, and even the club women,
have brought to bear upon themselves and their parishioners and
friends to ameliorate some of the conditions for which Organized La-
bor has fought for years. .
For decades Organized Labor has been fighting for humanity,
not by villification or by maligning the employers or society as a
whole, but by action and deeds.
There is hardlv one law on the statute books of the various
LgobyTh'e" Okl=Vit; T™d"e'rand states for the benefit of humanity as a whole and Poking toward the
Labor Council is proving to be a great amelioration of such conditions as have been described in the ,
uress that Organized Labor has not originated and put through.
v tV i™l^;„rr aftpr the welfare of humanitv l
that Is desired by the plumbers as well
as the master plumbers and has been
before every legislature since state-
hood. The bill in full is as follows:
Be it Enacted by the People of the
State of Oklahoma:
Section 1. That any person now or
hereafter engaging or working at the
business of Plumbing in cities or towns
of two thousand or more inhabitants,
in this state, either as Master Plumber
or as Journeyman Plumber, shall first
receive a certificate thereof in accord-
ance with the provisions of this act
The Oklahoma City Trades Council
at its last meeting, when the matter
was presented, through resolutions
from the Coalgate unions and the re-
quest of the executive board, unani-
mously agreed to accept the honor of
entertaining the meeting, and the Fed-
eration officers have been notified that
all possible will be done to make the
entertainment as great as the local del-
egates promised on the floor of the
last convention.
A preparatory committee Jias al-
ready been appointed to devise plans
and other committees will be appoint-
ed as necessity requires. It is hoped
BUSINESS AGENT PAYS
The plan of keeping a business agent
in the field as adopted several months
Section Any person desiring to by the Trades Coune.I of this city to
engage or work at the business of, make the twelfth annual convention
plumbing, either as a Master Plumber j one of the greatest from point of at
or Employing Plumber or as a Journey- tendance, work accomplished and en-
man I'lumber, in cities having a popu- tertainment features afforded of any
lation of two thousand or more and a previous convention of the federation
system of water supply or sewerage, in the history of Oklahoma.
shall make application to a Board of j It is requested that all unions in the
Examiners hereinafter provided for, state begin making plans to have a full
and shall at such limes and places as quota of delegates at the convention
said Board may designate, be compell- and preparation w 11 be made to take
ed to pass such examination as to his | care of all. both delegates and visitors,
qualifications as said Board may direct. From time to time as the committees
Said examination may be made in | proceed with their work announcement
whole or In part in writing, and shall, will be made through the columns of
be of a practical and elementary char-1 this paper and by mail to the various
acter, but sufficiently strict to test the | unions throughout the state,
qualifications of the applicant.
Section 3. Thai there shall be in
every city of two thousand inhabitants
or more a Board of Examiners of
Plumbers, consisting of three members
one of which shall be Chairman of the !
Board of Health of said city, who shall
be ex-offlcio chairman of Baid Hoard of
Examiners; a second member, who
shall be a Master Plumber, and a third
member, shall be a Journeyman Plumb-;
er. Said second and third members
shall be appointed by the Mayor and
approved by the Council or City Com-
missloners, as the case may be. of said |
cities within three months after the
passage of this Act, Tor a term of one
year, and shall be paid from the trea-
sury of said city, the same as other
officers, In such sums as the authorities
may designate, provided, that in no
event shall such sums paid second
and third members exceed the amount
CARPENTERS HAVE
BOUNTIEUL FEAST
NOTES OF INTEREST REGARDING
SEVERAL CRAFTS IN CITY
OF TULSA.
(By W. T. Maxwell )
Tulsa, Okla., March 11.—For several
months past the Tulsa Trades and La-
bor Council has been meeting every
week instead of twice per month as it
had previously been doing. The
change has effected an increase in at-
tendance and greater Interest in the
meetings and the busines of the Cen-
benefit, especially to the building
trades crafts, and tangible results are
shown in the reports as made at each
meeting of the Council.
That real benefits to all crafts can
be derived by keeping a man steadily
employed and on watch for unfair
work has been aptly demonstrated and
with spring coming on when work in
the building trades lines will greatly
Improve, the benefits should be greater
lhan they have during the winter
months.
Yet there are so many looking after the welfare of humanity
the next world that no time can be devoted toward making this a
better world to live in.
What has been the treatment accorded to millions of men ana
women who have been striving for better living conditions—and
this means a great moral question—in the past.
Working under unsanitary conditions, for low wages, l« iig
hours working to the end that body and soul might have an oppor-
tn have the God-triven right of a few moments in bod s sun-
paid for certificates as provided for in tral body.
U,e succeeding section. The Boiler Makers have recen ly af-
Section IV. Said Board of Exam filiated with us. They are a valuable
Iners shall within ten days after their, addition to the organization, as their
appointments, meet, and shall then! members are
faithful in attendance
tunity to have the God-given right
S ""striving toward a goal of eight hours for work, eight hours for
sleep and eight hours for recreation, the minimum wage, and other
laws that mean the lessening of crime and fewer girls in the bawdy
h°USThe Labor Unit has no quarrel with any man or set of men
whose shibboleth is a bettering of the conditions of humanity but
wherein he was charged with a short- . ar£ many ways to cure the sores outside of newspaper grana-
i-l — 1- —t "adily see the faults in
DECISION WITHHELD.
The decision In the trial of a mem-
ber of Federal Labor Union No. 14706
designate the times and places for ex and among our most active workers,
amination of all applicants desiring to! The Council has sent resolutions t<
amination of all applicants '-i me wuum " "*•— lo
engage in work at the business of our representatives at Oklahoma City
plumbing within their respective Juris and Washington, informing them of
diction Said Board Bhall examine said 0ur attitude on several important leg-
.. , 1 i8latlve questions, and requesting them
to support same in our behalf.
The Stage Workers are having some
trouble with the manager of the Lyrio
Theater, but through the efforts of a
cant authorizing him to engage in or special committee from the Centra!
work at the business of plumbing. Body, the points of contention have
either as a Master Plumber or Employ-
applicants as to their practical knowl-
edge of plumbing, house drainage and
ventilation, and if satisfied of the com-
petency of such applicants, shall there-
upon Issue a sertlficate to such appli-
age in the union funds, has been with- There are many people who can readi
held temporarily by Justice of the , 0VerlOok the faults in themselves.
Peace Maupln, before whom the case othe£ome tQ the 1(p]ate„ wjth a clean clubf gentlemen, and then,
and then only, will your sincerity be undoubted.
was tried.
f>3.60.
The amount involved Is
euner as a - - - - , verbally agreed upon, and it is
Ine Plumber or Journeyman Plumber ,.Xpected that a formal agreement will
The fee for a certificate for Master be entered into and a new contract
Plumber or Employing Plumber shall signed within the next few days,
be five dollars; for Journeyman Plum Last Tuesday night the carpenters
ber It shall be one dollar. Said certlfi „f Local 943 were given a bountiful
cate shall be valid and have force feast, which will long be remembered
throughout the state, and all fees re- hy those who were so fortunate as to
celved for said certificate shall be paid he present. The viands were prepared
into the treasury of the city where by the wives of the husky wood butch-
such certificates are issued. ers. There was a fair attendance of
(Continued on Page 1) j (Continued on rage 3)
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Oklahoma Labor Unit (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 38, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 13, 1915, newspaper, March 13, 1915; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc157241/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.