The labor advocate. [volume], April 21, 1917, Image 1

About The labor advocate. [volume] (Cincinnati, Ohio) 1912-1937

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INDEPENDENT
NONPARTISAN
3W?
Property and Official Organ of the Building Trades Council of Cincinnati and Vicinity
Vol. V. No. I
CINCINNATI, OHIO, APRIL 21, 1917
One Dollar a Year
ten.
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Bigelow Makes Complete Answer
To the Executive Board of the Ohio State Federation of Labor. He
Believes That the People, Next November, Should Instruct the Legis
lature to Pass an Old Age Pension Law, Which Would Not Inter
fere With the Report of the Governor's Commission.
Stop the Court House Strike!
Make the McCaul Company Start Work at Once, If They
Cannot Get Labor Here, Let Them Get It Elsewhere.
The Court House Commission Should Do Their Duty
If They Have the Courage, and Save the County Money
The Executive Board of the Ohio Fed
eration of Labor refuses to co-operate
with the Old Arc Pension League.
The officers of the labor federation
take the stand that nothing should be
done in view of the fact that a law has
already been passed creating a legislative
commission to investigate old age pen
sions and report to the Legislature of
1019.
The Pension League believes that the
officers of the Federation hae made a
mistake and that the result of their ad
vice, if it were to prcail, would be to
needlessly postpone, for several jears,
the enactment of a satisfactory old age
pension system.
In January, 101!), the Ohio Legislature
will receive the report of the investi
gating committee. JJut the members
of the Legislature will not have to
act on the report. The Legislature of
massiiciiuseus anu Wisconsin nave nan i
investigations of old age pensions, but '
the matter has been permitted to die in
both legislatures.
The Pension League contends that
it is well to have the report, but
that it is also well to pass a consti
tutional amendment this year which
will hnve the effect of compelling
the Legislature in 1919 to act on
the report and pass an old age pen
sion law.
Suppose the amendment said nothing
more "jrnhis.: ."Tbr- 1 7'k 'tV
jtafuisli'aiupiq age pelirton sviuni
cjc5. ,u amendment would at least
insure someaction. The amendment
which i !;" purged ny the Pension
League says irrtorc. however. It sdys',
net. only tint the Legislature must pass
an old age pension law, but that the
pension c?n not be less than twenty dol
lars a month, and that the payment must
begin as earlv, at least, as the sixtv-fiftn
.year?- Under this amendment the Lcgis-,
luiuiu i:uuiu uc us muni mure nucrai a&
it liked.
The Legislature now has the power,
without an amendment, to pass an old
age pension law, But it also has the
power not to do it. If the amendment
is adopted the power not to do it will
be taken from the Legislature
The Pension League believes that the
Legislature will never establish a satis
factory old age pension system unless.
it is compelled to do so by a direct vote
ot the people. We are certain in ad
vance that the Legislature of 1919 will
refuse to pass anything worthy of the
name. Why then Wait?
For the sake of the needy old people
of the state and for the sake of the
younger people who are unjustly, bur
dened with the care pi dependent old
folks, the Pension League will proceed
to place its amendment upon the ballot.
Not all trades unionists will withhold
their co-operation. The executive of the
Ohio miners, for instance, has not only
promised to help the Pension League
but- have guaranteed the necessary sig
natures in twenty counties of the state.
Some may infer that llie Federation
officers object to the nature of the pro
posed amendment, or to the fact that
they did not have a hand in drafting it.
Tl'-r,is not the case, for even after the
on petitions were put in circula
v f an offer was made to withdraw
1 yn ?.nd to circulate petitions for an
i jr- amendment if the Federation ofli
ffitfU would draft one. Wo were will
ing1, to do anything for harmony cv-i-epl
to do nothing.
jii view, of this offer to support an
-nntdndment to be drafted by the Federa
tion officials, and in view of the im
portance of forcing the Legislature to
action by the adoption of some amend
ment, it is hard to avoid the impression
that the real reasons for the attitude of
the Federation officials have not been
stated. It would be a pity if any per
sonal or political reasons were permitted
to delay this cause for years and to send
thousands of needy old people to their
graves tvitliom a pension.
We hope that no central body or local
union will turn down the old age pen
sion amendment without appointing a
committee of investigation. And the
representatives of the Pension League
are willing to appear, with the officials
of the Federation Board, before any
,surh committee anywhere in the state.
Hfrbf.rt S. Bicfxow.
The Storm Is Coming!
HELP!
By JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG Of the Vigilantes
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What's the matter with the Court House job?
Have the liuilding Commissioners done their full duty in the matter?
Have they been lair, or hae they favored the McCaul Construction
Company, or either one of the crafts contending for the work?
What right lias the McCaul Construction Company to refuse to go
ahead itii tin construction of the County Court House?
Why does the Commission not order them to complete the work
in the specified time and lefusc to give them any more money until
they start the work again?
The Commission pretends to he vitally interested in the fact that the
county is losing money by the strike; if such is the case, why do they
allow the McCaul Company to postpone the work indefinitely because
certain unions can not agree as to the erection of certain kind of work?
The .McCaul Company agreed to hnve the work completed within thirty
months li-om the day they stinted.
IF A STIMKK OCCUItlttil), TIIKV SHOULD UK GIVEN A ItEASOX
AIIL1C TI.MK TO SKTTLK IT Oil GKT LAIIOIt KLSKWJIEKE. THE
KEASOXAHM' TIME HAS EXIMitEI) LOXG AGO AXI) THE COMMIS
SION' IS GKAXTIXG THEM AX UXUEASOXAHLE LEXGTH OP TIME,
SO TIIKV CAN MAKE A XATION'AL FIGHT FOlt THE OAIU'KXTER
AT THE EXPENSE OF HAMILTON' COUXTV.
The duty of the liuilding Commission is plain: they should ordei
McCaiil to start the work at once; if the carpenters' union refuses to
furnish carpenters, they should get them elsewhere, and if the building
trades crafts refuse to furnish men, they should get them elsewhere, for
the. work should begin at once.
IF THE McCAUL COMPAXV REFUSES TO START THE WORK,
THE COUXTV COMMISSION' SHOULD GO INTO COURT IMMEDIATELY -AXI)
MAKE THEM LIVE UP TO THEIR CONTRACT, AXI) XOT ALLO' 9
THEM TO BK GIVEN GRACE OX A COXD1TIOX THAT THEV THE.
i.
.ll.i .-m 'r n m B V -wV ! mil T W T T W I All h fTI fWlTW.t fFFfl3
JCMl, a, fAWX' iUVV XllKl HUIU nuu abjih ur -ix inx- j.iiiic. y
MR. COMMISSIOXER, IF THERE IS XO POLITICS IX THIS MAT-f
TER, AXI) IF THE FACT THAT .MR. J. H. POTTS, OF TIE OAJt- -r
l'FJXTERS' UXIOX, IS A MEMBER OF THE REPUBLICAN STATE '
COMMITTEE, HAVE XO BEARING ON YOUR ACTION, THEN WO
YOUR PLAIN DUTY MAKE THE McCAUL COMPANY START THAT
WORK, .YXDJF THEY CAX NOT GET MEN HERE, LET THEM GET
THEM SOMEWHERE kE JJUT .MAKE THEM START TO WORK.
LliU "7
CHE. j
Willie Dohson
The
'Moses" of the Bricklayers, Starts Trouble In Our
Dear City, But Blows Up In the Finish.
i
VU " "'"Y"
Fall In!
By Amolio Josephine Burr of the Vigllanteyj.
Not In the (lush. of u bnrreu .thrill
E thOii'Jlit Hint reason had mas
tered 'men,
That pence, of the world was
lord,
That never the rqll of the drum again
Should quicken the thhsty sword
Dut our bubble bioUe with u sudden
blow.
And we hoard like the trumpet's din
i That loeled the walls of Jericho
The old stern cry "Full in!
Do we. conic to our deed nt '-jst.
We hae weighed our wfll, wo rauat do
our will.
For the doubting time Is past.
W'p hnve faced our souls in the sleep
less nights.
And what shall we fenr but sin?
Not for lovo of the fight, but for love
of the right.
In tin imine of our God "Fall Inl"
BUILDING TRADES COUNCIL
Tranacts
a Volume of
Business.
Routine
The regular meeting of the Building
Trades Council was called to order by
President Cullen.
The m' ujes of the previous meeting
were read and adopted.
The minutes of the Board of Business
agents were read and concurred in.
The report of the Business Agents
was read and adopted.
All trades reported business excel
lent. There being no further business, the
Council adjourned.
BIGEIiOW TURNED DOWN.
Labor Council Refuses To Act on
Old Age Pension Plan.
"Willie" Dohson, president of the Bricklayers and Stono Masons'
International Union and self-appointed "Moses," came here to lead bet
ter union men than himself out of the wilderness of Cincinnati. He
came in "like a thousand brick" and "riz up" in his mighty way and
villilled the Building Trades Council and every one connected with.lt,
piuticuhirly Jos. Cullen; he thought wc should all be put in jail for
striking. He promised to settle the controversy before he left theclty.
and stated that he would have the building trades hack on the joh the
net day. His tirade lasted nearly an hour.
'But Mr. Cullen submarined him in clever fashion; what. Cullen
told "Willie" was a-plenty; among other things, Cullen wanted"-to know,
was how he became to be so loyal to the Building Trades bepartment,
stilting that the bricklayers w ere .organized in 1865 byvt'only afllliatcd
with the Building Trades Department last XovenibeivAvhen Cullen was
A
through, "Willie"
was sorry he tinned, as lie uhiw
Central Labor Council last Tuesday
night refused to take any action upon a
request from Herbert S. Bigelow that a
committee be appointed to investigate the
proposed old age pension amendment
of the Old Age Pension Committee to
the state constitution. Mr. Bigelow
made an address on the proposed amend
ment before making his request. The
Council recently decided to be guided by
the Ohio State Federation of Labor in
anv action itt takes in thematter of an
old age pension.
A ....to1 ,.c 1... iHil.jft.
lw.i.uon ilk,, nil uiiid-liiiimiers whom the liolnv'tns endowed with
n pretty .good gift of gab and a licad that tjaiipriwthere for no other
reason -tH.m to hold his hat, fniledkto inuke.fgj&.'d'nud sneaked away in
the dead of night. The next day, nvheii hcvjvns to do all these things,
lie failed to show up at the meeting of t)ie Court House Commission
and was reported among the missing. All the other international oill-'
cers, consisting of John II. Donlin, Washington, D. C, president of the
Building Trades Department, A. F. of Jj.; George Hcndrlck, Chicago,
president of the liiternutlopnl Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators;
II. H. Stewart, Chicago, representing the Sheet Metal AVorkcrs' Inter
national Union; William Hutchinson. Indianapolis, president of the Car
penters' International Union; Joseph .Mi-Glory, Indianapolis, president
of the Iron Workers Union; William McSorlcy, Indianapolis, represent
ing the Lathers' International Union, were gentlemen of long experience
in the general labor movement and have been eminently fair in their
efforts to settle the controversy between the sheet inetid workers and
tho carpenters, hut "Wijlic" Dohson, tho C?iir of the Bricklayers and
Sone .Masons' Interni.tionnl Union, who compelled his own men in tho
Cleveland local towork with sfh laborers when all other building crafts
refused to do sir.
Dohson is'more suited by nature to be an oilieer In the Pennsylvania
State Constabulary than n labor organization, and his idea of discipline
for the Building Trades Council is the same as tho Pennsylvania Con
stabulary used to make the miners go to work nt the point of the bayonet.
We wonder if he Is really a good bricklayer?
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