Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-06-04
NATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL
UNION.
THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL
SESSION.
About Fifty delegates Present.
First Days Proceedings.

The fifteenth annual session Of the
National Typographical Union com.
R1enced its sittings &C the rooms Of the
chamber Of commerce yesterday morn
ing Al ten o'clock. The delegates, taken
collectively, are a fine looking body OF
men, chiefly young men who are all
alive to business, while here and there
may be noticed the bald bald or yenera
bic grey hairs aud flowing beard Of those
who have borne the heat and burden OF
the day, coming up to counsel, advise and
vote with their younger brethren to
maintain the dignity of labor and better
to further the interests of the craft. The
convention was called 70 order by the
president, Jno. II. Oberly, Esq, of Cairo,
who spoke as follows:
1t Is my duty, as President Of the Ma
tional Typographical Union, to call to
order this annual session of the Union (;
and / low proceed to the performance Of
the duty. The Union will come TO order.
Representatives Of the suhordinate ~Typograph-
lea Unions:
You have assembled together for the
purpose Of legislating in the interests Of
the members Of the trade to which you
belong and I think I only do justice to
the motives that induced You to attend
this session Of the National Union, when
1 assert my belief, that youhave no other
object in view than the laudable one Of
desiring to improve your own condition,
and that of your fellOw-workmen.
In pursuing this object, you must en-
deavor first, TO establish rules which will
regulate the intercourse OF the members
of the Union with each other and,
secondly, to harmonic the relations that
must, necessarily, exist between those
who buy and those who sell the labor
which Is employed in the printing office.
Nothing need be said about your duty
ia reference to the first proposition and
/ will only glance ut q few considerations
which should influence you when you
come to consider the relatioDsO of employer
and employee.
r II there is among you a man who has
] given too much weight 20 b assertion
| 50 often made, by either ignorant or de-
signing men, that capital and labor are
now engaged in life and death struggle
in which one or the other must 60 down,
/ regret the fact, since a man, who can
not rise above the spir5 Of selhshness
which teaches that U Cyn a~ggrandiZe-
ment is to be sought at he expense Of
the men to whom the l-lor we own Is
/ sold for wages, ought to have a seat in
this Union. All our legislation should
be based upon the broad principle, that
to be true to ourselves we must not be
unjust to any q
Permit me 10 briefly speak Of capital
and labor. Capital is not synonymous
with money, but is the accumulated
stock of the produce Of labor, and its
function is, in the language Of John
| Stuart Mil, "to afford the shelter, pro-
lection, tools and material the work re-
uuires, and to feed and otherwise main
tain the lab0rers during the process"
Whatever things are destined to supply
productive labor with these prerequi-
sites are capital. Using a cOmprehen-
sive expression, ! assert that TO employ
labor in a trade is toiuVest capital in the
trade. This being true, [ conclude that,
while We seek to seen the rights Of
labor, we should carefully guard against
attacking the rights of capital and 1
feel justified in adding, there can be no
| doubt, in any well regulated mind, that
an infringement Of the rights Of capital
is a blow at the interests on lahOF, since
/ If 1 may use a figure OF speech capital
IS the goose which lays the golden egg
that enriches labor.
While this is true, il is also an III
doubted fact, that there are capitalists
who have no regard for the rights Of
labor and, when arguments and expos
I tuIatious fail Z obtain for Us justice from
/ these men, w&aunet do otherwise than
dec are against them U~ureientiug war.
/ Capitalists Of this kind, while protesting
to recognize as Of binding force the law
| O f-supbly and demand, seek TO keep
wages below the rate which the law re-
quires. They are petty tyrants, and
wduld use mechanics like slaves, order
ing them to take, without question, this
and that rate Of wages. To defeat capi-
/ talists Of this kind, who are engaged in
the printing business, Is the purpose and
/ determination Of the typographical or
[ ganiZatiOu.
Union printers recognize the law Of
| supply and demand, and they are asso-
ciated together so that, by consultation,
they may be enabled to determine what
rate of wages supply and demand will
Justify them in requiring in this and
that market. I rec0llect q passage 10
| Mills Principles Of Political Econ
! omy,r which expresses my opinion on
this subjset far better than I can. De-
mand and supply" be says, " are not
physical agencies which thrust g given
amount OF wages into a laboreT's hand
without the participation of his W viii
! AuA dEAn o Inc LAAAAEAA a. Is EgL AAEA
for mini by some selEactin% instrument.
but is .the-rasult Of bargaining between
human beiugs-of what Adam Smith
calls the higgling Of the market; those
who do net higgle' viii long continue to
pay, even over a counter, more than the
market price for their purchases. Still
more might pOoc labOrers, who have to
do with itch employers, remain long with
out the amount of wages which the de-
mand for their labor would Justify, IN
less in the veru 4cuiar phrase, they stood
out for il and how al they stand out
/ for Terms without organized concert 2'
How could a workman know whether
the state Of the market admitted of i
rise or required a deetease of wages, ex-
| cept by consultation with his fellows
naturally leading TO concerted action ?
For consultation Of this kind-fOr the
purpose Of determining what amount Of
wages demand j~ustifes them in requir-
ing, the members of the Typographical
| Unions have associated together, and the
National Union should devise ways and
means to make effective their demands,
TO enable printers to "higgle " % some
purpose with employers who are unwill-
ing to give the amount of wages iusti-
led by the condition Of the market in
which the labor Of printers Is bought and
sold.
When the National Union has finished
this work, and, in a proper manner, has
regulated the business intercourse of one
Union printer with another, its mission
will have been accomplished.
hope that what I have said viii have
a tendency to induce you to approach the
business Of the present session intelli-
gently and 10 a proper spirit. II it does
I will have reason to congratulate my
self and 1 viii look forward to the time
as not far distant in the future, when
the capitalists and labOrers in the.
printing business viii not be enemies,
but friends, anxious to do justice TO
each other. When the dawn Of this
day comes, we viii then recognize as
present the spring-time of our golden
year, the summer Of which will ripeD q
harvest of blessings for the printers Of
America, In that ausDicious time we
may not find, IS Sterne did, while trav-
cling through the B~OurbonnOis, the
sweetest part of France, that "music
beats time to labor, and all her children
are rejoicing as they carry home their
clusters" but we will find happiness
where the types click and the press
clanks, and cOntentmept viii abide by
Lle ufesla6 OF Ile pIluAeES nome.
With full confidence IN your DISPOSE
ton and ability to wisely act upon the
questions that viii be discussed by you,
/ now announce the fifteenth Annual
session OF the National Typographical
Union properly organized for the trans
action Of business.
Mr.. David c. Morris, president of the
Memphis Union, welcomed the dele
gates, making the following remarks:
Mr. President and Members Of the National
/ Union
Gentlemen: It is made my pleasing
duty, in behalf Of Memphis Union No.
II, to greet you and tender you a vel
| come to Memphis. It is a source Of graf
u~lation, gentlemen, to see, at the
fifteenth annual session, SO large an
attendance. 1t is evidence Of the
strength and prosperity of our sister
| Unions. Though political and other
differences have existed among our peo-
pie, we can point with pride to this
bond-the National Union-which binds
our craft together, and say we are
united. Each succeeding year we are
gathering additional strength. Socie-
ties in the Canadian provinces, the
old and honored Columbia Typo.
graphical Society, and many others,
have been added to the sisterhoOd.
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