Arizona republican., 1890-09-04
THE LOS ANGELES PRINTERS.

The Tucson Citizen in lengthy article on the printers strike at Los Angeles does injustice to the men in many ways, and principally because it's statements are erroneous. In the first place the price of composition on morning papers in Los Angeles is 90 cents per thousand ems, and not 55 cents as given by the Citi,en.
 Second the various publishers did not request reduction until such time as they could return to the old scale, but came to the Union with an imperative demand that it sign scale fixed by the proprietors for period of one year. This was on Sunday, August 1, and the Union was to have until o'clock the next afternoon in which to give an answer. At two o'clock com positors working in the Times office found themselves locked out, and they were told to take whatever they had in the composing room belonging to them and get out with it. This was reported to the Union and that body feeling from this that general lockout was intended presented demand to the publishers that the latter sign an agreement to stand by the present scale one year. This was done as a matter of sef-protec- ton, merely, the Union feeling that prompt action was necessary to prevent the importation of a lot of frat" printers. As evidence that the Union was ready to act fair is the fact that on August 6 it receded from demand for written agreement, and also granted concessions upon price-and-a-half matter. The Tribune and Express considered this fair and invited the men to return towork
 As to the charge that wages now in Los Angeles are equal to what they were in boom days, it is not true. Nominally the scale is the same, but every man at all acquainted with work in that city knows that composition has been so cut in every office that the wages of the men are only about two-thirds and in some cases scarcely more than one-half what they were three years ago.
 The pre ent attitude of the Times and Herald who are paying unfair men" the same scale the Union asked, shows that it is simply a fight with them against Union labor.
 The assertion that the men they now employ belong to an organization similar to the Typographical Union is absurd. There is no similarity whatever. The Typographical Union prescribes rules of apprenticeship and regulations as to workmanship and no man can become a member who does not fulfill the proper requirements. It provides penalties for false counting of strings or any attempt to deiraud proprietor. The chief or ganizer of the Printers Protective society was expelled from the Union for viola tion of these principles and was "fred out" of the office of the Kansas City Times, as foreman, for false counting on strings and robbing the office of over S2O0 week.
 The writer is an old Union printer and an honorary member of Los Angeles Union today. He was present in that city from August 6 to and is conversant with the features of the strike. He firmly believes the Union was right and will not sit idly by when he sees it attacked on unjust grounds. The neat typographical appearance of his own paper shows the high standard of work manship of Union printers. No other paper in Arizona can compare with it, and the reason is mainly because the others employ incompetent and unfair workmen instead of skilled artizans at Union wages.