Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-08-01

Their right to do so 10 iHcontestioie.
Merchants form Boards of Trade for mu-
tual advantage and the lettering Of the
class they represent; capitalists have
their agreements in associations for mutual
protection; bankers unite against imposi-
ton and dishonorable practices and to reg
ulate the matters private to the business !;
spectators and traders of q score of classes
have their "Unions !" farmers, producers
generally, manufacturers and dealers have
strong and exacting organizations, some of
which are not defenaible as to their objects
and the methods employed to attain them !;
shippers and commercial magnstes are
especially prominent in the matter OF or
panization for mutual advantage, As all
such associations are capable of doing
good and benefting mankind, 50, like
all other human institutions, theyiare ca.
pable Of misuse and evil. They may be
said to be dangerous when they are used
to secure special advantages at the cost of
the general community, as Prof. Amos
puts it tersely. But, as he adds, the
actual result of these unions is to raise the
character of the workingman to make
him more prudent, less anxious and more
self,respectful Association, in the most
advanced condition of the State, remarks
the same political economist. becomes the
NEURAL form into which all commercial,
social, philanthropic, religious and political
energy throws itself. The one problem
has been, how far TO recognize and how
far to restrict it. 1t appears 20 us that
the workingmen's requests made in the
San Francisco printing offices might well
have been complied with, since they were
made in line with policy that
betters the printing art. Certainly
the demands would not have
tended to the injury of the business Of the
employers, nor have worked inconvenience
to the public, had they been granted. The
nan were in offices where the right to or
ganiza had for some years been practically
denied by the preference of pon-Union
men over Union men. These complain that
regulations were enforced TO which they
could not, as conscientious craftsmen, SUBJ
nit, and that there was reason to believe
that sll craftsmen who exercised the per-
sonal right of uniting with the Union
would be discharged sooner or later. Bat,
whatever she issue as to these matters,
their right to refuse TO work unless the
Union was recognized remains, as slao the
right of the publishers to refuse acquies-
ence to their requests. The offer was
made to permit the non-Union printers in
the offices to unite then and there
with the printers Union, and thus
take away all cause of complaint on
the part of the strikers, but this was not
availed of, and thus the non-Union men
became, in fact, the opponents of a system
for which the claim is made that it is in
aid of the best interests Of the craft, and
intended to secure efficiency in the trade
and the exclusion of incompetency. The
Union men appear to have gone utquietly
and in an orderly manner In their action
we do not find cause for condemnation.
They exercised undoubted rights and pre-
ferred reasonable requests, and will receive
the support and sympathy of all who do
not deny absolutely the right of working
men to form associations for the promotion
of their own interests and the bettering of
their trades. The prescribing by capital
of the laborer who exercises this right
tends to 'antagonize interests that should
! have common cause. Printing and tele-
graphy, of all the trades or arts, have
suffered most in recent years at the hands of
amateurs and dabblers, So great have been
the encroachments of the unskilled, that
the faithful workman, with pride in his
craft and disposition to develop its high
est possibilities, has experienced difficulty
in securing recognition and the where.
withal to support family. The public ia
the gamer whenever an effort ia made to
elevate the standard of excellence in the
mechanic arts, and whenever the artisans
aim TO do this they should receive the en-
enlargement of the psople. The printers
who went out at San Francisco on Monday
and yesterday did so in the interests of
labor and skilled workmanship, and in de-
fence of the right of workingmen to COM
bine their efforts for the common advance
ment and weil.being. They are to be COM
mended for theirsaorifce and their ooarage,
and viii have the public sympathy.
In this connection it is fitting to record
anew the fact that some years ago printers
on dsily papers in Sacramento and San
Francisco received so cents per l 900 ems
of composition. The San Francisco Ciron-
| icle, which has assumed the thin disguise
of the friend of labor while being its secret
bitter enemy, reduced the rate in its Office
| to so cents. The reduction was frally
forced upon other offices, but the RECORD.
UNION was the last paper upon the coast
to yield. Fifty cents then became the
standard rate, and is SO recognized by the
Typographical Union to, day. But
the Chronicle, bIoated with Unsuitable
greed, and only anxious for the
opportunity to reduce printers to the most
meager compensation possible to be at
tanned, inaugurated movement for re.
duction to 45 cents. It succeeded in
carrying It out in its own Office, and thus
| for years paid ten per cent, less wages for
skilled labor than any of its city contem-
porsries. This ilohing from toll its honest
earnings continued until recently, when the
printers, by q well.ordered strike, forced
the canting sheet TO recede from It's starva-
ton rate. In the light Of this bit of his-
tory the sincerity of that loud. voiced organ
of self may be duly estimated when it de.
claims upon the rights OF labor and the
eytortiOns of CAPITAL