Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1883-12-06
A CARD.
The Base Range Typographical Union
Troubled With "Rat.n

WG, ~ "a OeSS eA6
cal Union, No. 17s. desire to lay before the
public generally, and before all Labor Unions
of this State and the whole country, . state.
ment of our grievances which, while local in
one sense are, in another, universal. The
great mass Of men are isborers who get their
bread by manual toll. They must protect
themselves against the encroachments Of the
few who are rich. While conceding to capital
all its lawful rights. we feel bound to protect
ourselves by upholding the dignity of skilled
labor. Our demands are honorable and legal.
and founded In those immutable principles of
justice and right that ought to prevail among
men. The public, of which We as laborers
belong to the great majority, recognize the
force and virtue of these principles. Those
who do not are enemies Of the working classes
in our free country, unfair. and disposed. for
the sake of the paltry dollar, to degrade honest
labor, and make slaves Of men who claim
full equality with those temporarily In the
ascendency, except, perhaps. in the matter of
coin-those who. in our technical parlance, are
.~rats"-whether for plumber or for any other
pose whatever.
But to be palmer and more specific. We Will
state what our trouble Is. The explanation
that we are required to make in order to set
the matter forth clearly may be > little long,
but 1t is necessarily so, and we request the
friends OF the laboring man in Eureka and
wherever else this card may appear to read it
and consider it calmly and impartially. We
ask the public for only that confederation and
sympathy which we are entitled to receive.
In the first place. presuming that there is no
question Of our right and duty to protect our
selves BY UNFOLDING certain principles adopted
for the protection Of ourselves against under
handed attempts to cut in on ito 'rat'1 the
prices of type-sstting thst have hitherto been
considered only reasonable and fair in this
community, we will quote the following
~acceptedly wholesome provisions from our
Bylaws:
ARTICLE 1, SEC. 5. The objects of this
Onion shall be the maintenance of . fair rate
Of wages. the burial Of INDECENT members, the
encouragement of good workmen, the prompt
payment Of their earnings, aud the proven
ton of all subterfuges whatever by persons
employed ct the printing business, IS journey
men or joint-stock proprietors. In working I'M
der any arrangement whereby less than the
established rates arepaid."
Also, - to apprentices:
ARTICLE v, sKcrIoN /. Apprentices shall
be considered boys who are put to work at
case. and they shall be Allowed In ofaces &C
cording to the following apportionment only !:
journeymen, or less, shail be allowed one ap-
prentice; Offices employing over seven and
under fifteen joufneymen permanently, shall
be allowed two apprentices. and one appren-
tice for each additional i've journeymen."
All printers within the Jurisdiction of this
Union but those who are "rats" have "struck"
on the Eureka Evening Leader and the Ruby
Hill Mining News. The repeated violations
Of these two provisions Of our Law have In
of our action, We shall have to go back to the
source Of our complaint. some three or four
months since. Then the Mining News was
published on Ruby Hill in its own ONES.
Members Of this Union reported that 1t was not
being run in accsrdance with Union laws-as il
employed one apprentice permanently and :
regular printer for only one or two days in
the week. The manages OF the News was duly
Informed Of our laws. and he complied with
them - soon ~ possible. employing one
printer permanently. Unfortunately for all
parties concerned. about one week after the
error was rectined. . nre on Ruby Hill de-
stroyed the News once. The publication Of
the News was resumed immediately. however.
in the Leader ofacs. the Union granting IL the
favor Ton account Of its misfortune) Of borrow.
ng matter from he Leader (Which 10 nsvsr.