The labor world. [volume], February 12, 1910, Image 4

About The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
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THE LABOR WORLD
Published Bvtrr tat»d«r.
Established In 1898 by 8*brl* O. Akin.
Bulnci* OfllMi
604-7 Manhattan Bid*., Duluth. Minn.
Zenith Phone •&.
SUBSCRIPTIONS!
One Tear. In advance...? 91.
Sis months. In a**ance.'»
Three months. In advane* .«
Single Copies. 5 Cents.
Advertising Rates Made Known on Ap­
plication.
Kntered at the Postofflce at Duluth.
Minn., as second class matter.
WILLIAM E. McEWEN,
Publisher.
HAKRY H. TURNER, Editor.
-iSAH
STAND-AND-DELIVER MEN
DON'T WEAR PISTOLS NOW
Somewhere between the office
of a stock broking firm at 42
Broadway, New York, and the
home of 17-year-old Benson Lang,
the firm's messenger boy, a ten
.v
thousand dollar bill is lying
around lost. The messenger
dropped it from his pocket while
on the way to the bank, he says.
And somewhere between Wall
street and the humble homes of
the producers of the country's
wealili thousands of ten-thousand
dollar bills have gone astray.
But there's a difference!
All the power of the police force
of New York is being directed to­
wards recovering the bill the stock
gamblers lost through a messenger
boy's carelessness.
But all the power of the coun­
try's lawmakers and of the coun­
try's judiciary is being devoted to
covering up traces of the thou­
sands of yellowbacks filched on
their way from the producer to
the consumer by the Big Inter­
ests, acting as middlemen.
The time is fast approaching
when the ghosts of the worst pir­
ates and brigands history has ever
recorded will be ashamed to b'
caught on the same side of the
street with the middleman.
The term "middleman" is fast
becoming a reproach.
IS NEILL'S CASE ONE
OF CAPUT ORANDIOSUS?
There is a strong suspicion in
the minds of many in the ranks of
organized labor that Charles P,
Neill, Uncle Sam's labor commis­
sioner, having through the influ­
ence of labor leaders reached a
top notch in the way of fat sal­
aried positions, seeks now to kick
down the ladder which helped him
to his big estate.
A letter printed the past week
in an eastern labor journal and
signed by "one of the poor devils
who must submit to the wild boy­
ish methods of Neill" charges
that Neill is adopting oppressive
measures toward his subordinates
in the national bureau of labor.
From other sources comes the
same kick until one is compelled
to believe that there must be some
substantial reason for so general
a complaint. Mr. Neill must not
lose sight of the fact that the
hand which caresses and boosts
can also chasten and behead, if
necessary.
Below is appended the letter
from one of the accused man's
subordinates:
Mr. M. D. L. Shrope, Editor, Gaston
Journal, Easton, Pa.,
My Dear Sir: I have read your
comment on Doctor Charles P. Neill
In Sam Pe Nedrey's paper. I want
to thank you both for myself ahd
all the other employes in the Labor
Bureau.
We poor servile chumps, Just like
most other government employees,
don't dare to say that our soul 13
our own.
This man Neill was working for a
miserly salary when John Mitchell got
behind him and with others induced
Roosevelt to appoint him at the head
of/the labor bureau. Since he has
been holding the job he has made it
a point to concoct plans for cutting
down expenses and in that connection
he has, as all employers usually do,
hu at the weakest element, labor. The
men and women of the Labor Bureau
have never been subjected to such
humiliation before.
Most of the men who were reduced
in salary by Neill are old and good
labor unionists. It is a shame that
they must submit to this will.
Dr. Neill gets $2,500 per year a3
umpire for the Coal Strike Commit
sion, $2,500 per year while ^acting as
a member of the Immigration Com-
v"
i^i £\$
mlsslon^nd 95,000 as Commissioner
of L&bor, all told $10,000 per year.
Quite a big difference between this
and the $900 per year he got from
the Catholic university.
I certainly hope that you and Sam
De Nedrey and other: labor leaders
will keep at this man Neill until you
force the president to Are him.
DONT HAVE UNCUS SAM
DO YOUR DIRTY WORK
Last week a Judgment for $17.85
and costs against Fred Rouse of Ten
hassen and in favor of the Sentinel
Publishing Co., was enter upon the
court records here. After reading the
Sentinel a^ dozen years Mr. Rouse re­
fused to pay the obligation and we re­
sorted to the only means this law of­
fers in such cases. Sortie people have
the idea that a newspaper will not
bring suit to recover obligations on
subscription accounts. There may be
such papers but the Sentinel is not
one of them.—Fairmont Sentinel.
While hardly a matter for edit
erial reference the above touches
on a question of vital importance
to newspaper publishers and the
rights accorded t6em by the laws
of the state.
There are too many men of the
caliber of the person sued by the
Fairmont paper who willingly
read your paper until a bill is
mailed them and then order it re­
fused at the postoffice.
There are types of this genus
in Duluth who may be called on
very shortly to join the Fairmont
Sentinel's subscriber on the
mourner's bench.
If the paper is not worth read­
ing pay your bill and order it dis­
continued like a man.
You will have a better opinion
of yourself and we will of you if
you step up ta the captain's desk
and settle instead of hiding be­
hind the skirts of Uncle Sam's
postal officials.
Don't tell them to do what you
are afraid to do for yourself.
LABOR EDITORS NEED
HUNGER NO MORE NOW
The American Federation of La­
bor at the Toronto convention
adopted some very pleapiiig res­
olutions concerning the labor
press, and trades unionists
throughout the country can now
settle themselves back comfort-'
ably with the satisfaction of know-:
ing that the labor editors have
been provided for, for another
year at least.
There is nothing in the 'world
that distends an editor's stomach
and swells his bank balance like
a nicely worded resolution.
When a union man is asked to
subscribe' for his home paper all
he need do is to spring a copy of
these resolutions and the editor
slinks awav abashed and ashamed.
I
When the printer hangs around
the desk on Saturday afternoon
waiting for. his envelope, all the
editor need do is to read him the
text of the latest resolutions and
the printer man goes away with­
out his money and with a smile of
ecstatic joy on his face
Even the Boston "Tea Party"
Violated the Boycott Ukase
The right of labor organizations, to abstain from purchasing the
products of establishments deemed unfair to them was called into ques­
tion when the Buck Stove and Range company instituted a suit to compel
the American Federation of Labor to cease the publication' of the prod­
ucts of the company in question in its "We Don't Patroni^ List." The
principle involved in this case is whether or not the organizations of
labor have the legal right by concerted" action to purchase or not to
purchase, for a reason or for no reason, the products of any estab­
lishment.
The first boycott in American ^history was that instituted by the
Colonies againsit the manufactured products cf Great Britain upon the
passage by the English parliament of the first stamp act. The boy­
cott resulted in a repeal of the act. A second act, however, a little
different in form, caused the Colonies to again place a boycott upon the
products of British manufacturers, subscriptions and bonds being signed
by a large majority of the merchants to carry to a successful conclusion
the boycott.
Conspicuous among the champions of this boycott were George
Washington, Peyton Randolph, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee and
Thomas Jefferson. George Washington, in a letter to his friend,. Mr.
Mason, urged that the boycott bev prosecuted with vigor, even to the
point of refusing to purchase any of the wares of any merchant vho
insisted upon buying the tabooed articles from British manufacturers.
This latter constitutes what is termed the secondary boycott.
The right to boycott has become an interesting question, inasmuch
as the public in general, as well as the newspapers, has emphatically de­
clared its belief in it.
The Kansas City Post pertinently' summarizes the present anti-meat
eating agitation in its relation to the attitude maintained by labor unions
for the right to boycott, as follows:
"One of the very interesting features of the antitrust crusade has
been overlooked, namely the quick and excellent generalship of the
labor unions in seizing an opportunity of decisive benefit to their cause.
It will be remembered that the issue in the celebrated Wash­
ington case, in which national labor leaders were held to be in contempt
of court, rested upon t-lie relation of free press and free speech to carry­
ing on a boycott. If a boycott, when carried on by organiza­
tions, contravened' the^ Sherman anti-trust law, and the publicity of this
boycott by printed and spoken word proved the existence of conspiracy
in restraint of, trade, then, in principle at least, the support of the pres­
ent meat boycott by organizations, is contravention of law and presto!
the entire American newspaper press is found fomenting the very act
for which the labor leaders' were held to be in contempt of court.
It is, of course, impossible to prosecute tens and hundreds *of
thousands of persons and their sympathizers and thus the meat boycott
appears to sustain, in the broad sense, at least, the contention of the
labor unions. If an act is not unlawful on a large scale,
how can men be held in contempt of court for doing the same thing
on a smaller scale? Contempt of court cannot—in the final
sense—be an agency to penalize acts not wrong in themselves.
And thus, by a general public impulse, the lawfulness of the boycott is
now being established."
•'V-*
the coal man will filt the Cellar to
the muzzle and. one copy modestly
framed will stock the pantry from
thfe grocer's for at least a year.
Resolutions are a great thing and
When seasoned with an occasional
knock and two or three well timed
kicks about anything at all, make
the average editor so happy he
wants to go out and steal some
thinij*.
He dofa't need money and
shouldn't be trusted with it and
if he can't run a paper to~ suit
everybody just for the fun of the
thing, he ain't a good union man
and ought to get out of the busi­
ness.
LEADERSHIP OF LYNCH
FRAUGHT WITH PROGRESS
James M. Lynch of Syracuse,
N. Y.j" for ten years iresidept of
the {International Typographical
Union, is again a candidate for
president of that body.
Personally, Mr. Lynch is a gen­
ial, companionable soul, and offi­
cially he has no superior as either
a presiding officer or an executive.
Whether the advancement of
the International Typographical
Union during the past ten years
has been due to the push and go
of the body as a body, or to the
/natural course of events and pro­
gression, or to Mr. Lynch's ability
no maij can say, there being no
way |6r comparison, but this much
is due to him.
Stagnation nor retrogression
has had any place in the history
of that body, though numerous
opportunities showed themselves
in ihe history of our country,, and
of industrialism, where a quick
mind, a firm hand and a conse'r
vatively aggressive policy .were
the keynotes- to progress. Mr.
Lynch displayed all these, and to­
day the place of the union he
guides is far advanced on the
road of industrial progress.
NO vENTHUSIASM IS TOO
HEFTY FOR LABOR UNION
We are told that before water
generates steam, it must register
two hundred and/twelve degrees
of heat. Two hundred degrees wiJl
not do it two hundred and ten
will not do it.
A lukewarm union member will
not do. Unionism demands en*
tliusiasm. It demands a high reg­
ister of enthusiasm.
Labor is a struggle. It has
much' against it. It requires toree
tc move it onward and upward.
The working man who Is will­
ing to "let well 'enough alone,"
will never get aiopg very well.1
Indeed, labor is ever very far
$rom the "well enough" stage.
The worker who can see no need
iORWORtM
of effort OJIKIS part is as blindly
selfish as the fich man who does
not see his duty to mankind.
Millions in this country are out
of work. Isn't there something
in this fact to enlist the attention
of the more fortunate who labor
for a living? ,.
Millions are hungry in this land
of pleuty. Can the man who has
a job that keeps the wolf from
the door be aware of the fact and
satisfy himself with the uiotto,
"Leave well enough alone?"
Millioi^ are working for 'ess
than enough to secure the bare
necessaries of life. These cannot
fight the battle for existence alone.
They cannot look for relief to
their employers, or to the well
to-do business men, or to the men
of capital. If the worker does
not help, then they are hopelessly
helpless.
The strength of the union lies
in its aggressiveness. It has no
place for the featherbed soldier.
The union member must- be a
live one. He must be at least at
the steam generating point. He
must be eternally vigilant, ever
agitating his principles.
He is living in the midst of a
labyrinth of adversities. Ills ad­
vancement is extensively ob
stacled.
pearly every great influence of
society is against him. Political
machines are not designated for
his advantage. Industrial institu­
tions are instruments of opposi­
tion. The money power is en­
listed to oppress him. The courts
are operated to prevent him from
securing His rights. Even the
churcli*1k-none too friendly.
There* is much against him and
little for him. He has~ little to
stand for him if he does not stand
for himself.
There's no intelligent enthu­
siasm too strong fora place in the
labor union.
SAWDUST DIET BOOSTED.
C. W. Post of Battle Creek,
Mich., has issued no scream
against the boycott on the beef
trusfe. The •Michigan vender of
mysterious fodder knows a good
thing when he sees* it, and has
"said nothing, but sawed wood."
The boycott on beef has given
Post an opportunity to get rid of
a large quantity of his specially
prepared "what is it?" and Post
is' praying with a vengeance that
the boycott, on beef may be eter­
nal, in order that the cereal trust
may bask in the sunlight of
boundless prosperity.
On his New York, ChicagOj Bos­
ton and Los Angeles papers W. R.
Hearst employs 770 union print­
ers. Neither he nor his mother,
Phoebe Hearst, are at presant em­
ploying any union miners at the
Homestake mine at Lead, S. D.
Wherever the steel trust has
established an "open shop" the
wages have been reduced from-25
to 50 per cent by piece work and
petty gouging. Even the strike­
breakers have struck in its mills
repeatedly.
"Much will be accomplished by
this* session of congress," says
Speaker Cannon. Shades of All
Baba, John D. Rockefeller and
the other forty thieves, what's to
be done to the common people
now? :7
LABOR *BBST BUGABOO
WAS ROUTED LONG AGO
President Kirby, of the Nation­
al Manufacturers' association, will
have a tough time of it making
the people of thi& country believe
that labor unions are responsible
in any degree for the' increased
cost of living.
If it were not for the protection
given to all labor by labor unions
conditions would be worse than
they are, and the working classes
would be much nearer abject and
helpless slavery. ,,
In every branch of industry ihe
organization of employers Kas pro­
gressed more rapidly than the or­
ganization of employes. And the
stronger the organization of em­
ployers grew, the fiercer their
fight to destroy organizations of
WoAingmen,
myth. The1 capitalistic trust is
something real. The latter is not
only a menace to all labor, btit to,
the small dealer and the average
consumer.. And these are just be^
ginning to find out that they were
greatly mistaken when they got
the idea into their heads that they
had no interest in labor's fight for
better conditions.
If Kirby/ could prove that a
general increase In wages pre
ceeded the 'increase in the cost of
living, and that the latter corre­
sponded with the former, he might
have some premises on which to
base his conclusions. But every­
body knows that there was no re­
lation between the two.
There is no water in labor,
while the stock of corporations
employing labor is loaded to the
guards with it. And the price of
nearly everything the people con­
sume has been advanced to pay
dividends on the watered stock of
trusts.
Hundreds upon hundreds of
thousands of free American eiti-.
zens have been voting for a pro­
tective tariff for years, because
they had been led to belieye that
they were protecting iifant Amer­
ican industries and free and in­
dependent American workingmen
But they are now waking up.
They begin to see that the bigger
the infant becomes the more pro­
tection he demands and gets, and
that this protection enables the
infant to soak the American pub­
lic ^for higher prices, and to or­
ganize into trusts that would de­
stroy labor organizations and act­
ually reduce all wages and salar­
ies by increasing the prices of all
things that wages and salaries will
buy.
The average man is beginning
to find out that he is in the same
boat with the member of a labor
union. He begins to see that or­
ganized capital, by getting control
of the banks, trust companies and
insurance companies, is using the
savings of the people with which
to secure control of all industry
and all means of transportation.
It is the savings of the millions
who toil that is used by the Mor­
gans to buy up the railroads and
food trusts, and when they- con­
trol these they dictate the price
the producer will get for his pro­
duce, fix the freight rate and/then
fix the price the consumer has to
pay, so as to pay dividends on
watered stock.
Organized labor doesn't fix the
price Standard Oil will pay" for
crude petroleum, the freight rate
on oil or the retail price of kero­
sene, naptha, gasoline, and the
Stockholders' Annual Meeting
OF THE
Sparta Lumber Co.
TAKE NOTICE!
That the annual election of the
stockholders of the Sparta Lumber
Company will be held In the office
of the secretary at No. 303 Court
House Building, Duluth, on Satur­
day, February 10th, 1910, at 4 p. m.
JOHN H. NORTON, Secretary.
Jan. 29 Feb. 5-12-19.
UNIVERSAL
a:
wvV*'^-
other numerous by-products.
Irab or "doesn't fix the-price jthe
beef trus|t will pay the cattle rais
er on j&o^hes for cattle
on tfee hoof, the freight or
what you'pay the butcher for the
mea^ that goes on your table.
Labor doesn't control cold stor­
age, the price the food trusts pay
the farmer for butter and eggs or
the price the housewife pays to
the grocer.
It isn't a labor trust that pays
the farmer what it pleases for
what he has to sell and then fixes
the price the consumer has to pay.
No labor trust fixes the price of
sugar, wool, cotton, hides, shoes,
clothing, gas, electricity, electric
and steam transportation, grain,
flour, and all the other things that
enter into the eost of living.
Youshelp pay dividends on wat­
ered stock every time you ride on
a steam or electric railroad or
burn gas or electricity, or buy
coal, ice, meat* flour, sugar, shoes,
clothing, oil, rubber, tobacco and
most of the' necessaries of life that
consume wages.
Do you know of a single mil­
lionaire who made his millions as
a stockholder in a labor trust?
Kirby represents the class that
would enslave all labor to enrich
its own members. And that class
can't enslave labor without en­
slaving all men who actually work
for a Jiving, whether they are in
or out of the ranks of labor or­
ganizations.
.dMtaiBif /i.
(Trad* Mar*)
A SACK OF
UNIVERSAL FLOUI£
Will make more bread than {my o£h$r floor on the market. It will
make baking a GRAND SUCCESS in yonr home.
A HOME -PRODUCT
The memory ot quality remain*'long after/ tiie price is forgotten^:!
DULUTH UNIVERSAL^ MILLING CO.
®HE FLOUR THE BEST X)OKS USE.
c. c.
YOM'U DO
Better at Kellifs
THE DOMES OF SILENCE, OR
PATENT INVISIBLE CASTORS
on the contrary, may be fitted in an instant to any
kind of furniture. They are most delightfully com­
fortable when used on all chairs and tables, and are
most marvellously effective, for
Cabinets and heavy Wardrobes.
Have no wheels and need no screws
or nails. The lady of the house can
apply them herself to light furni­
ture, with a gentle touch of the
am r.'
heavy furniture,
if placed under­
neath, the weight
alone fixeis them
permanently:
position.
They are so sim­
ple it is a marvel
they were not
thought of be­
fore. They can­
not get out of or­
der, save all strain
on furniture legs,
a matter of ut­
most Importance
where valuable
furniture Is con­
cerned, and obvi­
a a a
and tear on the
carpets. The cost
is a a
nominal. The fit­
ting may be done
1
in a few moments and the delightful sense of ease and quiet comfort they
bring to a home is a real revelatipn'to those who try them for the first time
Try a Set on Your Own Dlnins, Room Chair.'
Prioe Only 15c Cents per Set of Four
We Furnish Your Home Complete on Easy Payments
-V"
sfi5&
AMERICA'S GREATEST
CLOTHING SPECIALISTS
^Are Now Only]
AT THE
3 WINNERS
High rent stores ask 120 to $30 for
goods like these. £ome here before
you buy your suit or overcoat and
see the wonderful clothes we are
giving for only, $10.
Men's Trousers, worth
$4.50, here now .only...
Men's Trousers north |5
and here now only.
$2.50
*3.60
ALL GOODS BOVGHT HERE
ARE KEPT PRESSED AITD RE­
PAIRED FREE OF CHARtSE.
CLOTHING CO., (be.)
llfi Eut Sujrerlor Street.
STAACKE.
OPTICIAN
106 West Superior Street
Open Wednesday and Saturday
evenings.
Here It Is At Last
The Domes of Silence, or patent Invisible Cas­
tors, are bright little Steel Domes which enable
tP i'LY SILENTLY and
SMOOTHLY over carpets or any kind of flooring.
They are quite different from the old, unsat­
isfactory wheel castors,v which, as a rule, are
only used for heavy arm chairs and sofas.
Marshaul-Welis
Cot
WHOLE-
WARE
Dtjivuth.
KSwantM
MANLEY'
t*
m* &&S
AGBNCV
Gener&l Insurance
^Surct/Bondst
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