Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1880-10-15
BOsIH.
A Pair of "Friends'' 20 the work.
fngmen.


ingmen.
From the head center down to the small
est ofice-seeker in the Republican ranks,
they are now all the ''workingman's
friend" 1t is less than three years ago,
when the writer Of this article remembers
dor he was working in the Enterprise Of
fee at the time) that r. M. Daggett-now
the self-avowed "friend" of the working
men-was first and foremost to compel a
reduction Of the printers wages on the
Comstock. He succeeded in q measure,
and fattened his W pocket thereby, for it
benefited no one else, and hurt his m
ployes about so cents per day. That is the
kind Of "friend' he is to printers and the
Typographical Union.
The following is another sample Of how
much of a 'friend" the Republican candi-
date for President is to the working men,
and every word Of it is susceptible Of proof.
In fact, the printers at Washington caused
Deacon Garfeld's record in this matter to
be published in pamphlet form, and when
he ran again in his old district, the result
was that his majority was reduced from
$4,000 to about 1000 votes. This is the
form Of the circular now issued to printers
and working men all over the Coast by the
Printers Hancock Club in San Francisco /:
To Our Fellow Mechanics-We desire to
call your attention to the following taken
from the Congressional Record. We ask
you to read carefully and then decide: Can
you, in justice to yourself and fellow me-
chanics, vote to place in the Presidential
chair q man who has, as a member Of Con-
gress, done all in his power to lower wages
and degrade labor?
As Chairman of the House Committee
on Appropriations, James A. Garfield, the
Republican candidate for President, re-
ported an amendment, June IL, 1874, to
the Civil Appropriation bill, to reduce the
wages OF printers and binders employed
in the Government printing Office in Wash
ington. The report Of the proceedings is
given in the Congressional Record, Forty
third Congress- first session, volume V,
pages 4,S78-79-80. Mr.. Garfield said:
81 simply desire the House to under
stand the merits of this question, as we'll
as | can state them. There is a Union
here, known as the Printers Union, and
another corresponding Union, known as
the Binders Union, and nj Of their rules
is that they shall control the number Of
apprentices allowed to learn their trade,
and after the limit fixed by them is
reached no one in the United States can
be permitted to learn that particular trade,
and any employer who employs a greater
number of apprentices than they allow is
thrown out Of relations with the Union.
I'm the next place, it is a rule of the
Printers Union that any chapter of the
Union may fix the rates of pay within the
city where the chapter is located. 1t so
happens that in the city of Washington a
majority of all the printers and binders
belonging to the Unions are employed at
the Government Printing Office. There
fore, when these employees Of the govern
ment vote for any particular figure or rate
OF pay, that governs not only the pay in
the Government Printing Office, where
they are employed, but the pay for all
printing, public or private, done in this
city.
"Is it fair to the whole class Of persons
who are compelled to employ this class OF
working men, and to have printing done
and pay for it's it fair that the Govern
uicut IIiutluB OUlce blOulQ eStaDllSu rdteS
OF pay, OR ALLOW THESE ATE TO BE Es-
TABLIsHED, independent of its own will,
and have those rates govern all the print
ing and binding done in this city, outside
of the government printing establish
ment?"
General Butler responded on behalf Of
the printers and binders, and asked Gen
eral Garfield if the printers and binders
did not have a right to organize for the pro-
lection of their trade interests?
General Garfield rejoined 1.-THE print
ers and binders have a perfect right to
organize, and we have a perfect right, for
our W part, to pay what wages we
please"
General Butler showed that, as board
and living and rents in Washington were
higher than in other cities, it was simply
b that the printers and binders should
receive higher wages. The amendment
was lost, and Garield's efforts to reduce
the rates were frustrated.
General Garfield thinks it monstrous
that mechanics should have a voice in
fixing their own wages; yet he voted him.
self 7" back pay" for work he never per-
formed, and took a S., 900 fee for services
to the De Golyer Pavement Company
which he had no right to render.