The Butler County press. [volume], June 25, 1926, Image 1

About The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946

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VOL. XXVI. No. 11
By International Labor News Service.
Chicago.—By a vote of better than
two to one—2,509 to 1,195—members
of Chicago Typographical Union No.
16, in a referendum election, rejected
a proposed new scale of wages offer
ed by employing printers, through
the Franklin Association, and adopted
a counter proposition submitted joint
ly by the executive council of the
International Typographical Union
and the job scale committee of Typo
graphical Union No. 16.
The result of this referendum elec
tion may mean that the 4,500 union
job printers of Chicago are to be in
volved in a strike, with the resources
of the International Typographical
Union back of them. No. 1G has been
levying a special 5 per cent assess
ment on the earnings of its members
to meet the present emergency for the
last three months, with the result
that there is now about $250,000 in
the war chest of the local union.
Bosses Expected to Grant Demands
A strike of any considerable pro
portions is not considered probable,
however,
Efs
£12
Chicago Printers Reject
Employers' Proposition
May Result In Strike
it is believed that the
bosses will accede to the demands of
the union, as they are fully aware that
the International Typographical
Union, headed by President James M.
Lynch, will back the Chicago job
printers in the present controversy.
The ballot, which was prepared by
the executive council of the Inter
national Union, contains a clause
which President William J. Hedger, cf
No. 16, considers as tantamount to
a pledge by the international officers
that they will go the limit in backing
the local union.
The clause referred to reads* as fol
lows:
"If the second proposition is adopt
ed it will be accepted by the executive
council as a request for sanction to
take a strike vote, provided the Fi-ank
'ftssociattoft declines' to accept the
proposition."
The proposition of the Franklin As
sociation was an offer of a raise in
wages of $5 a week spread over a
period of five years. There would be
an immediate raise of $3 a week and
another raise of $2 a week on June
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FLAG POLES FLAG HOLDERS
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Phone 1611, 230 Sycamore St.
HAMILTON, OHIO
FLAGS FLAGS
Golden "B" Blend
COFFEE
39c lb.
3lbs. for $1.10 Special
ONLY AT
Graf's Grocery
17 Journal Square Phone 4858
16, 1929, the contract to terminate
June 15,1931.
Union Asks Better Contract
The proposition presented by the
executive council of the international
organization and the job scale com
mittee of the local union, and which
has been adopted in the referendum
election, calls for an immediate raise
of $3 a week and a two-year contract,
44 hours to constitute a week's work
for day forces, and 40 hours a week
for night forces, or five nights of
eight hours each for the night shifts.
The big bone of contention is the
40-hour week for night shifts. Chi
cago job printers have been striving
for this goal for several years, but
the' bosses have strenuously opposed
the innovation. New York city job
printers have had the five-night week
for five years.
There also is strong opposition in
the union against the idea of a five
year contract.
BROOKHART ADVO
CATES ROCHDALE
CO-OPERATIVES
Mason City, Iowa.—The Rochdale
system of co-operative enterprises
and co-operative banks were empha
sized as necessary institutions for the
protection and advancement of the
farmers and workers by Smith W.
Brookhart in an address before the
annual convention of the Iowa State
Federation of Labor.
Mr. Brookhart pointed out that un
der the Rochdale system the voting
stockholders have but one vote ra
gardless of the number of shares own
ed and that earnings on capital in
Rochdale enterprises are limited to 5
per cent.
The Rochdale system of co-opera
tion has been approved by the Amer
ican Federation of Labor and is part
of its policy for the protection of the
workers.
PLASTERERS RAISE WAGES
Toledo, Ohio. Union plasterers
have \^on their strike for increased
wages. By the new agreement the
employers will pay $12.50 for eight
hours' work up to November, 1929,
and .$13 up to May, 1927.
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By Staff Correspondent, International
Labor News Service
Philadelphia.—Coal operating inter
ests in the Eastern states, particularly
those centering in Philadelphia and
New York, are seeking to shape mat
ters in the soft coal industry for a
reduction of approximately 33 per
cent in the wages of union miners
with the expiration of the Jackson
ville agreement March 31,1927. The
public mind is already being educat
ed to discount the costs and gravity
of a bituminous strike by circulation
of reports that three-fourths of the
bituminous supply of the nation is be
ing produced in non-union fields.
The operators have no intention of
renewing the present wage contract
if it can be avoided. Boston financial
interest in the last three years have
become the largest investors in the
non-union coal fields of West Virginia,
Virginia and Kentucky, and the belief
among operators is that the Boston
contingent can exert sufficient politi
cal pressure on the federal authorities
to prevent interference or interven
tion in a suspension of work with the
failure to renew the agreement.
Non-Union Coal Makes Inroads
Great non-union interests in West
Virginia, with the aid of pressure ex
erted on industries by banking and in
vestment interests, are pushing their
way into the New England territory
to an increasing extent. They are
also seeking to concentrate all of the
lake cargo business on the non-union
fields. About 26,000,000 tons of coal
will move across the Great Lakes in
the next six months, and with the
present expectation on the part of in
vestors that fully 80 per cent of this
tonnage will come from the non
union fields.
"The Miners' Union is too weak now
to resist a wage cut next spring,"
said one coal operator in Philadel
phia recently.
Nation to Lay in Coal Stocks
"The nation has ample warning of
the approahing expiration of the
Jacksonville agreement, and will stock
up large supplies of reserve coal from
the non-union fields, so that when the
strike comes the country will be pre
pared to meet any temporary emer
gency."
In the last twelve months the in
vestments of New England financial
interests in the non-union fields of
West Virginia have more than dou
bled. Capital has been invited into
these fields on the representation that
the federal government would not
sanction any effort on the part of the
United Mine* Workers of America to
unionize these fields.
The non-interference of the federal
government in the anthracite sus
pension last winter has been pointed
to as a criterion of the policy which
may be looked for in the event of a
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS.
Magnates Begin to Prepare
Public For Strike In 1927
Bituminous Interests Don't Intend to Renew
Wage Scale and Count on Policy of Non
interference by Government to Help Them in
Desperate Effort to Smash Union.
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1926
Summer Arrives
Coal Operators Plan Big Wage Cut
As Jacksonville Agreeement Expires
suspension of coal mining in union
ized fields next spring, and enabling
non-union fields to reap a harvest in
profits through long term contracts
forced upon consuming interests.
Chaos in Coal Production Seen
More sane-minded people see in this
condition the prospect of utter and
complete chaos in coal production and
throughout the industry.
"The coal industry of this coun
try is drifting into a situation com
parable to the one which has just
upset Great Britain," says the com
mittee on coal and giant powder, at
70 Fifth avenue, New York city.
"The struggle between our union and
non-union soft coal fields has brought
about a condition where a wage cut
will benefit neither union nor non
union operators or miners, but will
be insisted upon because the present
situation is almost as impossible as
the British situation. At the expira
tion of the Jacksonville agreement
next March the nation may expect
one of the most serious disturbances
in its industrial history."
The rumblings of the approaching
conflict will be heard in Atlantic City
when the interstate commerce com
mission reopens the lake cargo rate
case, and begins the taking of fresh
testimony.
Freight Rate Changes Sought
In this case the operators of the
Pennsylvania and Ohio coal fields
seek to have a readjustment of the
freight rates applying on their coal to
the lake ports for movement into the
northwest as compared with similar
MELLON JOINS
CRUSADE AGAINST
FARM RELIEF
Washington. Secretary of the
Treasury Mellon denounces the Haugen
farm relief bill as a "menace." He
says it would raise prices.
On the same day that Mellon issued
his anti-price-raising manifesto the
commercial press carried the an
nouncement from Pittsburgh that the
Bethlehem Steel Company, the Car
negie Steel Company and the Jones &
Laughlin Steel Company had all rais
ed the price of structural steel $2
a ton.
Advanced prices of «tructural steel
utlimately reach the occupiers of
every building in the United States
and thus hit the workers for not only
the $2 per ton but many times $2
in multiplied profits.
The evident psychology of Mellon
is that price raises are a menace or
not according to whose prices are
raised. V
The Pittsburgh steel manufacturers
—Pittsburgh is Mellon's home—con
tributed hundreds of thousands of
dollars to the recent Pennsylvania
primary slush fund.
J?*
0
*8
coal produced in West Virginia and
Kentucky.
Last year the commission refused
to change the rates, although a read
justment was recommended by the
commission's examiner in his findings
on the evidence. Insistent demands,
however, on the part of Pittsburgh
and Ohio operators has resulted in
the case being reopened.
Low Rates Help Non-Union Fields
The non-union fields have always
enjoyed unduly favorable rates. Op
ened up many years ago without a
normal market, and with great rail
road interests as the principal inves
tors in coal-producing properties,
the
non-union fields have been developed
through low rates which notwith
standing their greater distance from
normal markets, admitted these conk
on a basis of rate equality with
coals produced in the nearer unionized
fields.
By the process of keeping these
fields on a non-union basis, and grant
ing them unduly favorable rates, tin
non-union coals have been forced into
every market in the Central West and
East, where, under an equitable con
dition of freight rates, the unionized
fields would enjoy an advantage.
INJURED WORKERS
REHABILITATED
Washington. The rehabilitation
division of the federal board for v
cation education is gratified with
tin-
results of the workers' training coi
ference held in Chattanooga, Tenn..
for the southern states.
Rehabilitation of civilians injured
in industry or commerce was origin
ally favored by the American Federa
tion of Labor. The federal vocational
rehabilitation bill was enacted irm
law in 1920 with a large appropria
tion to be allotted to the states.
carrying out the provisions of
act.
Figure Your
Floor Costs
The
federal board for vocational educa
tion co-operates with the states
in
the
One building superintendent
kept accurate records of the
cost in janitor hire, scrub
women, and materials of keep
ing five floors in good condition.
The money he paid out in a
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Then he put linoleum on all
five floors. He saved enough
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KREBS
"Business Floors a Specialty"
V '.l
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By International Labor News Service.
New York City.—Forced to the wall
by a bitter strike which spoiled the
spring season and was about to ruin
the busy summer season, the fur man
ufacturers of New York have been
compelled to yield.
After a 17-week struggle, during
which numerous attempts to settle had
failed, one of the leading factors in
the raw fur industry brought the
contending leaders together.
The result is the fur workers are
to get the much-desired 40-hour week
for eight months in the year. In the
rush season for the fall trade they
are to work 44-hours as heretofore at
straight time.
The partial establishment of the
40-hour week is the result of the
union's determination since 1920 when
for 31 weeks the fur workers strui?
^led to obtain it only to be crippled
financially and be denied their goal.
The struggle this year cost the in
dustry $29,000,00.
Among the gains for the workers
in addition to the shorter work week
are a 10 per cent increase in minimum
wage scales. They yield three holi-
FAMILY ALLOWANCE WAGES
Washington.—Family allowances to
supplement basic wages for workers
with dependents is the subject mat
ter of a bulletin issued by the U. S.
bureau of labor statistics.
The family allowance experiment is
largely limited to European count
tries, the bulletin says and covers
"some millions of manual and non
manual workers/'
SMOKED CALA
HAMS
tlir
New York City Fur Workers
Win Strike by Compromise
Based on Forty-Hour Week
Saturday Specials
FRESH SHOULDER RIBS
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HOUSE FURNISHING DEPT.-Second Floor
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ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
days with pay of the ten which they
had before. A joint unemployment
insurance fund is set up.
The basis for the 40-hour week de
mand is that the work is injurious,
only young men and women being able
to stand the harmful effects of chem
icals and fur hair settling on the
lungs. The chronic unemployment in
the industry also led to the demand
for a 40-hour week.
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