Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-05-06
EIGHT HOURS WORK.
The May Day Strike at the Principal
Labor Centers.

The May Day Strike at the Principal
Labor Centers.
Nearly all tho Employers Refuse the
Demand and General strike
Results.
Dispatches from the principal labor centers
detail the movement on May LIST for eight
hours work as day; the demand being gener-
ally refused by employers. The result is nu-
merous strikes. In Chicago Ave hundred
striking railroad freight handlers met at Har-
rson street vaduct, near the West Sile Union
passenger depot at s In the morning Speeches
were made by two or three leaders declaring
that il was the duty OF the freight handlers OF
all the Bhicago roads 10 enforce their demands
now for shorter hours while workingmen In
all departments were doing so, and upon sug-
gsstion of some one the crowd of men started
tor the Wabash freight yards TO urge she men
| employed there TO stop work. The crowd in
| creased in size IS they moved. As they enter.
! ed the Wabash yards tho men there at once be-
gan quitting work. Complete cessation Of
work at those yards seemed possible.
fifty men unloading vessels at the Rock
Island and Lake shore railroad docks on the
river struck for eight hours and stopped work
The officials In the Rock Island and Lake
shore yards were clearing up all freight In cx-
pectation OF a strike among the men there.
The freight house men OF the Fort Wayne
road made demand for eight hours,
The drivers and conductors OF the Blue Is
land avenue lines Of the West Division car
company demanded reduction In their trips
from seven to six, confnIng the working days
10 eleven hours without a decrease In pay. The
company acc9dcd to their demands without
parleying. Two hundred men employed by
tue West Division Street Car company In the
| extension Of their lines, struck for eight hours.
rae company allowed the men to 60.
The freight handlers In the Wabash yards
| all stopped work and joined the procession
which proceeded TO the Rock Island yards and
induced all the men employed In the freight
houses TO abandon possession. New recruits
then joined the column which next visited the
Louisville, New Albany, and Chicago railway
where they were all successful in their efforts
with the freight handlers. Tho procession
| which numbered some two thousand, were cir
ouating around the different railways. There
A crowd of some three or four hundred mon
we're marching in the ne!ghhorhOod Of the Nc
Cormick works on the southwestern outskirts
Of the city with a red dag at the head OF their
column. The works are idle the men having
been given holiday.
The men employed In Kinks soap factory,
numbering seven hundred, just stopped work,
| and the procession headed by II band of music
is visiting other factories situated on the north
side which they will also endeayor TO shut
down.
The column Of railroad strikers and follow
crs reached the Lake Shore yards about eleven
o'clock, and the main body of men stopped
work. The officials OF the Lake Shore road
are preparing to close all freight houses.
In New York city twelve thousand people
with banners, flags and transpareacies, Assem-.
bled In Union Square that evening, and lifted
up their voices in no gentle manner in behalf
Of the eight hour movement. They were work.
ingmen from the factories, shops and ware
houses Of the city, summoned out by their re-
spective trades organizations. The good-na-
tured crowd Of 900 policemen had but little to
10. The men hurrahed good deal, in fact
shouted themselves hoaIse, applauding tho
sentiments expressed by the speakers, and
that was all. There seemed TO be no end to
the number Of organizations which came pour
ing into the square at s O'Clock. All sorts Of
transparencles were borne In the procession.
In st. Louis all the plumbers Of the city,
200 in NUMBER quit work, their demand for
the eight hour system not being met. The em-
ployes Of the Glendale zinc works struck for
no al - In n
more equal scale OF wages. Two hundred aud
fifty men are out. The employees of the Glen
dale zinc works, Immediately after striking,
were approached by Edgar, proprietor of the
works, and requested TO return TO work and
finish up the contracts now on hand, after
| which he said their demand for an increase Of
wages would be considered. The men COM
piled with the request and returned TO work
The employees OF numerous planning mills
throughout the city made demand that the
eight hour system be adopted, and notices
we're posted in the mills that those who desire
to work eight hours for eight hours pay could
do so. But the machinery must be kept In
motion for ten hours, enabling those who
wished TO work q longer time TO do So The
men declined to accept the proposition and de-
termlned TO strike.
In Boston the Trades Union Of Carpenters,
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Of
America, and the Amalgamated Society Of
Joiners and the Plumbers Union, five thous-
and men In all, resolved TO demand eight
hours The Master Builders Association, two
hundred strong, unanimously condemn the
action Of the workmen, laying the blame on
the labor unions, and declaring that the de-
mands cannot be complied with, without dis
aster TO the business and men both
In Baltimore two thousand house carpenters
notified their employers that they would not
return to work until they we're guaranteed 81
per kay for eight hours work until August LIST,
and $3.50 per day thereafter. Builders say
their contracts won't admit Of this and have
offered TO compromise at nine hours and from
g.. 25 per day up, according TO the skill of the
workmen, but the men refused TO compro-
mise.
In Plttsburg nearly every furniture factory
in the city and Allegheny is closed. The fur
nlture manufacturers declined To grant the en-
ployes the reduction of the hours Of labor
| from eight TO ten hours. Over six hundred
| men are idle.
In Cincinnati five hundred employees Of the
| furniture factories and about one hundred EN-
ployes OF the Brunswick and Bake billiard ia
| BILE manufacturers are out by consequence OF a
refusal to grant ten hours pay for eight hours
work.
In Detroit iourneymen brewers, numbering
between $50 and 800, struck the demand for
nine hours per day at ten hours pay being re-
fused by all the brewers, except five, who
granted the demands.
THE EDUCATIONAL BILL.
The house committee on labor, after q
long and very animated session, decided,
by vote OF to 8, to report to the house
n substitute for the Blair educational bill.
The measure, in substance, provides that