Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1886-05-06
THE LABOR SITUATION.
The Great Movement of Wage
Workers for Shorter Hours
of Labor.
The Situation Just on the Eve Of the Great
Battle History of the Eight
Hour Agitation.

From the mass Of telegraphic dispatches
of the 1st of May We CLEAN the following
summary of the industrial aud labor situ-
alton at that date: At Chicago the eight
hour agitation had resulted in closing all
the furniture and box factories and in the
suspension of work at most of the iron and
brass shops. The great army of meat-pack-
ers threatened to strike for shorter hours.
Workmen in the lumber yards de-
demanded the eight-hour concession and
double pay for extra work. Freight han
dlers at the Chicago, Burlington and
Quincy and Chicago and Alton freight
houses struck work in consequence of q re-
fusal of the companies to adopt the eight
hour system. The workmen in different
manufacturing establishments had either
struck or were threatening strikes ON the
same ground. The demands made by la
borers were not uniform, nor were the an
swers of employers to the propositions of
the employees. The Furniture Manufacturers
Association at Grand Rapids, Mich, de-
cided to refuse the demand for reduction
of hours of labor 10 eight accompanied by q
10 per cent. advance in wages. 1t was de-
cided TO treat with employees only as indi-
viduals. The WOODBURY. Sarken Wheel
Company, of Indianapolis, the largest
establishment oft kind in the country, re
fuses to pay ten hours wages for eight
hours work. The 5000 miners and labor
ers in the Clearfeld( Pa. region were ordered
to stop work if the scale adopted by the Co.
lumbus (Ohio) convention was not signed.
The army of idle men at Milwaukee has
created apprehensions lest an outbreak
should result, and arrangements had been
made to swear IN several hundred special
policemen. A New York dispatch of the
1st inst. says:
An extended inquiry by Brddstreets as to the
details of the agitation by labor unions gener-
ally to secure the adoption of the eight-houI
day shows that the unions have already gained
some ground and that the members will strike
if neces 3ary in large numbers to enforce
the desired rule The 5000 anthracite
miners in Eastern Pennsylvania demand the
eight-hour rule and threaten to strike. They
would do so to-day were they sure of the Lu
zerne and Lackawanna region men, where the
organization is not as perfect as elsewhere
to the end that the demand may
he enforced. From Chicago word comes
members of various trades who will strike
II the demand for eight hours is not granted
including $1,000 packing-yards employees. AS
sociated foundrymen and metal-workers in New
Use trouble il nine hours are not granted them
as n full days wCrS. At Baltimore, Milwaukee
Chicago, and Detroit there is promised very
general demand for the eight-hour day. and in
the event of its refusal strikes will follow. II
is noticeable that the furniture, wood workers
and building trades unions nre those most
prominent, n class in the demand for fewer
hours of work per day. At st. Louis Louisville
and Philadelphia concessions have been made
by manufacturers, and in number of instances
daily at ten hours wages. In most all direc
tions it is reported that many manufacturers
will make concessions il IL comes TO the ques
tion Of n strike. There were to-day over siX
thousand men striking for eight hours per day
two-thirds Of whom were at Chicago and Mil
waukee. There are records OF the eight-houi
| day having been granted to at least thirty-twC
| thousand workmen. two-thirds of the total EeinG
| Mt Chicago, and one-half Of the remainder al
Louisville and Philadelphia. There are also
! twenty-five thousand workmen ut Chicago who
| have asked for eight hours per day. without as
| yet thre eatening strike, fifteen thousand a
| New York City, and ten thousand scattering
| Excluding the six thousand men now striking
! for eight hours, there are reported to be one
! hundred IN five thousand men, exclusive o.
many at Baltimore and Milwaukee not enumer
not granted. This total includes the $500
] anthracite miners, the 80, 900 mentioned at Chi
! cago, and 6.000 ut New York, but does not covel
the 10000 metal-workers in the vicinity OF New
| York who demand nine hours. At least IL, 90,
! skilled workmen throughout the smaller indus
| trial cities in Pennsylvania have asked for eigh
| hours, and Will compromise on nine hours pei
! day. At many points the subject has not be
come actively prominent, notably at Pittsburgh
| where so much Of the work is piece-work, no
dependent on hours Of labor, and at Wheelingl
| w. Va In such lines at Pittsburgh the de
mand has been made, there has been a com
| promise Of nine hours. There is apparently
very general demand for reduced hours
! of daily labor among trades unions. i
| is probable that the larger proportion o.
| the employees demands will be settled by
compromise or mutual concessions. In others
to n significant degree, the demand for egh
hours with ten hours wages will be pressed
with strikes. The nine-hour compromises have
| generally been passed on ten hours wages
amounting to an advance OF 10per cent in pay
| Active resistance is promised by many manu-
facturers to pay 20 per cent advanced wages, On
! ten hours pay for eight hours work. In
| brief BrddStreets reports 105.000 men who
will strike-S5 900 for eight hours and 10000 TO
| nine hours-GO00 men now on strike for oigh
hours and that eight hours have been grantec
| $1,000 employees at various Points There ar
additionally 75 900 men who have asked for tn,
eight-hOur rule, but who have not stated the,
| will strike. At leading centers alono it is prob
| able that over 225, 900 industrial employees or,
| actively interest in the movement.
History of the Eight-Hour Movement.
1t is difficult to fix an exact time at whicl