The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-02-22

eight? We state the case at this
length to show the utter absurdity of
the printers claim.
But the poor oppressed printers!
Says the Dodger:
We are compelled to be az the
newspaper offices II, and often Il,
hours per day. SiG, and often eight
Of these hours are after s o clock at
night, our days labor being usually
completed at 2 O. CLOCK in the morn
ing, often not until 3 o'clock, and
sometimes not before 4 and o'clock,
and on Sunday night our work COM
mences an hour earlier-7 P. Nj. For
this unremittiDg toll Of II or Il
hours, performed chiefly when other
labOrers are at rest, and nature de-
manGs sleep, cur average earnings
are $50 per week, an amount less
than many craftsmen receive for 10
hours daylight work, and not over g
more than the craftsmen Of nearly all
trades earn for s or 10 hours daylight
work.
The Journal OF yesterday morning
was, cur readers must have observed,
an average Monday morning paper.
With such force as we could pick up,
ell the type was sec previous to II
o'clock or midnight. AS TO the char
acter Of the wages received by the
men, We copy from our pay rolls the
amount paid some Of the principal
strikers:
FRANK BLISS for thirty two days
work received Sal 81, or an average
Of 81 AZ. per day. or $26 80 per week.
Mr.. Bliss was the advertising COM
poster and the only one aggrieved by
the foreman correcting the steamboat
advertisements.
G. Ii. STULL for twenty five days
work received sIO9 AZ, an average OF
81 36 per. day, or s26 p per week.
FL. NJ. FAIRCHILD for thirty-seven
days work received s127 so. an aver
age Of 50 81 per day or s21 So per
week.
r. S. WALTERS for thirty-seven
days work received 1852 IS, an aver
age Of 81 II per day or $24 " per
week.
This sufficient answer to the cry
of oppression. We think the public
will regard the wog5s as not iDsignif-
cant Certainly they do not sustain
the allegation OF the "Dodger" that
compositors were working from twelve
to fourteen hours per day for $50 per
week. In one paragraph the bod
ger" asserts that our compositors were
compelled to wait one or two hours
every night for copy, and in another
paragraph that VIC furnished so much
copy that live advertisements were
crowded out Of the paper. Still an
other paragraph asserts:
Gradually the screw of oppression
| has been turned down upon us; little
by little our earnings have been cut
| down, and our working hours increas-
ed; slowly, but continually, for the
! past year, has the work of reducing
| our pay and increasing the salaries In
other departments gone on, making us
lures In the other rooms, till at last
We mustresist or be compelled to work
night and day for but little more than
a bare living.
There is not one word of truth in
this paragraph. The price of oompo-
sition has not been diminished in the
slightest during tue past year, nor
have the working hours been in
creased. The statement is false from
beginning to end, and the man knew
it was false when he wrote it. The
author Of the Dodger-ALBERT l..
WoRDEN--is one of those shoe fly "
kind of men who mistake buzzing for
Importance, and was personally SO Of
fensivo to a majority of the compost
tors il our news room that we were
repeatedly asked to supply his
place with man who would conGne
his attention to his own business.
These arc the only points at issue,
and we have noticed them as briefly
as possible.
We understand that the recusant
printers propose 10 start a paper on
the cooperative principle. That
is right. IF they were dissatisfied with
the wages and management of the
JOURNAL office. why didn't they
start their paper without resortiDg to
q strike? We would have been con-
tent. We think that few weeks
experience as proprietors in an enter
prise of this character will give them
new ideas on the subject. Of course,
they will start out With the principles
laid down by the Dodger, of giving
the advertising composition one quar-
ter Of all the mo ncy received for the
advertisements set by him. We rec
comend to some shrewd man to ap-
ply at once for the advertising sit, if
he has unlimited confidence in the
man who takes charge of the fnan-
oial department.
9===@.auu.aazlE@@-1@-=@
%