The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-08-24
IN RECEPTION HALL.
Officers Of the International Boot
and Shoe Workers Union,
Explain Its object and Its Benefits to
the Portland Shoemakers.

In Reception Hall last evening, an audi
ence consisting of many of the boot and
shoe workers of the city. gathered to listen
to an address by B. c. Rollins. of Gardiner,
vice president of the Shoe Workers Union,
on the needs and benefits of organization.
1t may seem out of place" said the speaker,
'to say that organizations have any needs.
1t is not out of place for those who work to
receive fair compensation for their work,
and that is one of the needs of the organiza-
ton. The first need of organization is
strong membership. Not big list Of men,
bers, but body of interested workers who
have sympathy for their brother workers,
who are not so well paid as the shoe workers
are in Portland. AS an illustration of the
needs of organization, take the case of a
man who went out from a shoe center, built
a shop and advertised for help. They came
in from the country and went to work. They
had never worked before and had no idea
what their work was worth. On that &C
count the manufacturer could pay. what he
pleased. If they were organized they could
send to other unions for their price-lists, and
could demand the sBme pay, and could get
it, for the union would back them up. In
course of time the green hands would be-
would see that they were worth more, and
not being able to get it at the country shop,
they would pack up, and coming to the city,
would cut some good man out of O job, be-
cause not being union men themselves, they
could get in on any wages they chose to ask
SO long as they were lower than those al
ready paid.
After the needs of the organization, the
benefits are to be considered. The benefits
are not to he seen in day. or year. Sc
| long as there is no trouble they may never
| be seen, but when something goes wrong the
union workers will be treated respectfully
Manufacturers respect the unions and treat
| the union men and women as though they
were human beings as well as themselves
| The second benefit is a pecuniary one
and this money goes to shoe workers IL
their time of need. 1t is net scattered
| broadcast, nor is it locked up in a cast lr0I
treasury, but when strike comes the money
| is used to relieve suffering. Another benefit
| is illustrated by what occurred in Richmond
when Caldwell & Libby shut down. The
union men took their union cards and wen
| out to other shoe towns, where they foun(
work. Some were caught by the shut down
without money. The union paid their way
to other places and found them work. Jndg
| ing by the example OF the manufacturers
| said Mr.. Rollins In conclusion, it can but bt
for the interest of their employees to, organ
| iZe also. ~ -i
Mr.. Rollins was followed by Mr.. II. c
Moulton of Haverhill, Mass, who said h,
had come to talk business. He said tina
labor organizations could not be run OF
sentiment as the public was we'll aware. LIE
us suppose, he said, that yon are making fiv
cases of shoes per diem. There comes al
order cutting you down five cents case, 2
cents a day, $1.50 a week, $50 year. Tina
$50 is practically what you pay for tn
privilege of being non-union man, for the,
| do not treat union men that way, The an
nual expense of belonging to a union TO
men Is $500, for women $3.50 the first yeal
with So reduction for the second. TIL
force of these figures may be seen when it /
| known that there have been 1000 reduction
in Few England during the past year. On
thing that stands in the way Of the Inter
national Boot & Shoe Works Union is tn
record of the part organizations, tn
Sons of st. Crispin and the knight
of Labor. The trouble with bot
of these was that they meddled too much /
politics The shoeworkers union confine
itself to the wage question" Mr.. Moulto
said that he did not intend to antagonize tn
manufacturers 1t was perfectly natura
he said. for a man to get his work done a
cheap as he could, and so long as there wer
non-uniOn men who would work for starva
tion wages, the union men must submit
cuts in order that their employers could con
pete with the employers whose hands too
was to enroll every man and woman who ha
anything to do with snoemaking, and to fix
| uniform priceliSt, and in this the manufact
urers stood ready to help.
Mr.. Mark Courant OF the Central LabC
Union presided, and at the close of M
Moulton's remarks expressed the hope ths
his wishes would be fulfilled and that ever
shoeworker in Portland would soon be el
rolled in the International Boot and She
Workers Union. e ss