Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-09-30


entire net revenues Of the newspapers OF
the city to the workmen employed upon
them-a thing so unreasonable as to be I'M
worthy ola moments consideration by men
in the full possession of their mental
faculties, and yet, at Tuesday evening
meeting at the Capitol Rink, it was soberly
by Labor Agitator ]. H. Burtt,
that the owners of the newspapers OF the
city should leave the offices, surrender
their salaries and the profits of their invest
ments to the printers, and seek liveli-
hood ut
SOME OTHER OCCUPATION.
This sentiment, and others as surprising
coming from men popularity supposed 10 De
and reasonable beings, struck
the citizens of Wheeling with amazement,
when set forth in yesterdays issues OF the
morning papers, and among all classes OF
manufacturers, business men and
was during the day gen.
eral expression of indignation and horror
at the cold-blOoded propositions advanced
and the outrageous falsehoods sOtreely ut
tered, and often was the question pro-
pounded: "What next will be demanded
by these men?" and where Is this sort OF
thing going to end?" All feelings oil
Justice and all sense of right seems to have
been cast to the merry winds, and the one
idea uppermost in the minds of thestrikers
and the small cOtierie of cOnspirators who
are urging them on, seem to be that the
demand made upon the newspapers must
be enforced at whatever cost OF decency,
or reputation.
The sole object of the speakers at the
rink meeting seems to have been to
MIsLEAD THEIR HEARERS
as to the real facts in the existing difficult
ty. and so carefully was the fabrication OF
falsehOod carried along from one speaker TO
another that the idea Immediately comes
uppermost that there was some pre-arranged
programme for the evening. Take W. ,.
Meek, first called upon by the Chairman
of the meeting. This oratOrical artist re-
vived the well-knOwn fIlsehOod about the
newspapers having cut and dried ar
ranoement with the Protective AsSoGia=
ton, whereby new printers were installed
in the offices as soon as the old men walked
out, in the face of the assertion so often
made to the contrary, and in view OF the
fact that the kilograms sent out by the
morning papers are on file i'll the West
ern Union and B. & o. Offices, showing
not only the dates but the language OF the
calls for help. With this as beginning,
Meek asserted that the publishers had con-
coded the demands of the printers to be
Just; that the proprietors had determined TO
DESTROY THE TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION,
and wound up with cOwardly and I'M
pious threat against the one man OF the
Union who had the courage to stand up
against the unwarranted and indeienslble
action of the majority. As further proof
of the malicious falsity of the speaker
statements, let us say that of the present
force of hands, some fifteen in all, but
three belong to the Protective Union,
the remainder being our apprentice boys
and printers born and raised in our own
and adjoining States.
The talk OF Mr. J. II. Burt, who fol-
lowed Meek, was fully as inaccurate as
that above quoted, while in addition 1t
had foolish vein running through it, and
was decidedly communistic rs whole.
Mr.. Burt virtually acknowledged the
newspapers could not pay the new scale,
but he grayely proposed that all but one
proprietor in each office surrender up his
interest, his profits and his salary, and
seek some other walk iii life, in order that
the demand might be met This modest
and cool proposition was followed by the
assertion that ''the printers do not get
enough to maintain themselves and their
families" They probably don't at present
but before the strike no body of men were
more prosperous. In the Register office,
for instance, three employees had recently
bought or built houses, and several Others,
of saving turn, had snug balances IN the
building associations, besides dressing well
and living well. Others not thus iHclin-
ed, found surplus enough after paying
their living expenses to keep reasonably
full during their leisure hours, and still
Others "blew i'm good deal Of money at
poke and kindred amusementS, all unit
ing, meanwhile in keeping several subSti-
tutes at work while they were taking holt
DAYS, privilege which they had. So
much for this falsehOOd, uttered by Mr..
Burtt..
The next statement calling for criticism
came from Michael Owens the chairman.
Mr.. Owens was a bOycOtter, and he an
nounced, in blatant tones, that he was in
favor of crushing the newspaper
men, even if the course re-
suited in the downfall of the COM
munity. He would 30 to any extreme IN
pushing the boycott, even il it were tyran-
zeal and un-American. His assertion that
the papers were endeavOring to stamp out
the union was evidently cue taken from
Meek.
In this connection it can be tTuthfully
said there was no external indications that
the small company present, outside OF the
interested claquers, took any stock in the
cOmmunistic utterances of the speakers.
They mostly appeared dazed with aston
ishment at the doctrines enunciated.
These utterances of the speakers have
aroused public sentiment to q sense Of the
injustice of the demands Ofthe Union, and
to realization of the fact that nothing,
however, rash or malicious, will be left I'M
done to carry the warfare TO successful
issue, and everywhere the speakers and
their cause are denounced in the most I'M
measured terms.
Said one gentleman, himself an en-
example of financial success achieved
through the hardest kind of manual labor,
extending over a period of twenty-five
years: in the whole course Of my eXper-
fence with labor troubles, and / have seen
much ofthat sort of thing, l have never
known worse feeling displayed on the
part of the strikers than is shown by the
printers. They are popularity supposed
to be the most intelligent
class of wage workers, but
they have failed most signally to prove
it by thieg course. Even during the
whole extent of the nail
trouble, by which many hundreds
of men were affected and where much
larger pecuniary interest was at stake,
there was less I'll feeling between the two
parties to the difficulty than has been
stirred up in week by few dozen COM
pOSitors. During the nailers' strike the
men were generally on the best of terms
with the mill owners, they would meet on
the street and chat pleasantly, there was
marked absence of personal animOSity, and
when the men were defeated and went
back to work the relations We're rs cordial