The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-04-20
THE LABOR WORLD.
President Gompers' Views on the
Situation.
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE
On the Needs of the Working Classes-He
Will Appoint Committee in Every DID,
cese, Headed by Bishop.
Especial to THE HERALD-Examiner Dispatch

Especial to THE HERALD-Examiner Dispatch
NEW YORK, April 10. - BrGdStreets to-day
contains the following: Within less than a
fortnight the American Federation of Labor a
body claiming about six hundred and thirty
thousand members, promises to begin it's cam
paign'' to establish the eight-hour day. The
following official letter explains the plans of the
federation and how it proposes to carry it on
President Gompers' letter says: Sufficient
notice having been given to all contractors and
other parties interested that on and after the
LIST of May, 1890, the wage-workers affiliated
with the Federation of Labor would adopt the
elght-hour day as the limit OF days work, it is
now the duty of the executive officers to secure
the desired result with the least out
lay Of time and money. The his
tory of the industrial development of
this country shows that the eight-hour day
cannot be much longer deferred. The campaign
Is on; the hosts have been marshalled and
drilled; ammunition has been and is being pro-
vlded, and the public sympathy and SEN
nment have been aroused and the grand army
OF labor Is ready for the battle. Meetings will
be held in the great centers of population from
Maine TO California, and cities where manufac
lures are established will feel the influence OF
local speakers who have been trained 10 The
work. Each local union is citadel of power.
| an armory OF intellectual drill, and diStrbut-
Ing agency for eght-hour literature; each inter
national and national union is grand division
under able commanders. The Brother
hood OF Carpenters and Joiners, which
organization has been selected to lead is
Iull OF the enthusiasm OF past victories. Re
| crults are joining the ranks by hundreds and
| thousands, and places that were unorganized
are rapidly coming under the shield of that or
ganlZatlon. The men in shops and factories,
and in all branches of labor will contribute to
| the success of the movement and nearly
| million of organized men and millions of others
| in sympathy are centering their hopes and their
| int aicrht bnI
me instincts OF the people are with us, and
many eminent thinkers sustain US. The plan
OF the campaign Is to quicken this sentiment, so
| that when the hour of action comes we shall be
| found prepared. The union that has been
! selected to begin this contest has thousands
working under the eight-hour rule and thou
SANDS under the nine-hour system. In fact, the
battle lines have been drawn and if the en-
ployers in any large cities of the country refuse
| to adopt the eight-hour day, the car
penterS will strike and will receive the
| support of the federation TO the fullest
| extent OF It's funds and other trades will
open their treasures TO sustain them. Many of
| the employers are ready TO grant the conces-
sions but are held back by the power of their
| organizations, and other large employers
| privately declare that they are holding back to
| see II the men mean business. The prospects
| OF the building trades are that they will 90 on
and men of brains and money will not long per-
SlSt in fighting the inevitable. The building
| contractors base their hope of success upon
| their ability to secure q sufficient number of
1 =,
| the ranks OF the union men. That they will
fail in this is evident for two reasons
J. "l-That non-union men in this instance will
manifest their sympathy with union men; and,
2.-BecauSe non-union men have learned
| that they endanger their own position when
| they become 'scabs.' The union men of other
| trades will not work on jobs which 'ScabS' are
| employed. The American Federation of Labor
will not scatter its forces, but will center upon
the lines laid down: trade by trade, city by city,
| town by town; it will move along over the whole
| A nrnVa6 hair
patriotism so the strike for eight hours will
| arouse all the latent enthusiasm of the union
men. Those not in sympathy will be held
| back, not by physical force, but by the over
| whelmlng influence of the union sentiment. In
some of the cities the employers have forced the
| issue by locking out some Of the craftsmen of
| the building trades with the hope of defeating
| some of the unions and thus Gripping the move
ment. The result has proved their unwisdom
for unions out OF the federation are seeking adj
mission, and unions that have had but little in
tereSt IN the elght-hour movement are now
among the most prompt in sending in their con-
tributions to the eight-hour strike fund
| III the building interests are paraly zed be
| cause OF the demands of the wage-worker the
| employer will be responsible. The man who has
his labor to sell has the right to fix the amount
he will sell and the price for which he will sell
it, and having this right, he select his agent
| to market the sale for him. The demand for
| eight hours has held prominent place in the
platform OF organized labor for over a quarter
| of a century, and some of the trades have en-
l
sity of theories advanced for the solution of the
! labor problem the eight-hour movementhas held
Its place as the measure nearest the heart of the
| laborlng man. Every reduction in the number
| of hours that should constitute days work has
| been the result of the most persistent
agitation, and almost without exception
| has been resisted with the same argI1-
ments that are advanced to-day against
| the eight-hour day. The complaint that
| builders and contractors cannot afford the re-
duction is confession that they ought not to
| ThpU have aTA1a fiY,,a -
| for the 1st of May, 1890, and they must have
known that their refusal to concur with the
worlzmen would precipitate STRIKE and they
| also know that strikes are expensive. The loss
of time caused by strike even if it lasts but one
month will cost the employers more than they
would lose by the adoption of the eight-hour
day on May l. If it were possible to stacve the
men into submission the product would not be
much greater, If even as great, as the product
under eight hours cheerfully given Men are
stimulated to activity more from hope and
| cheer than from despair and fear
| For the employers to involve all the in
dustrial enterprises of the year by stubborn
resistance would be the most stupid folly and
| the starving of men of one class into s,ibmiS-
repetition of the contest The American FEEDER
alton of Labor has voiced the will of an intelli-
gent organized constituency, and until the eight
hour day is gained, no other question will
divide or distract its attention from the main
| ISSUE (Slgned) SAMUEL GOMPERS'
AS the 1st of May approaches the industrial
| SlludblOu JeuuS 70 DcCOlue more ana more
troubled. That this uneasiness is not local is
amply shown by the number and characters of
! the disturbances reported in Europe as well as
in the United States, there is discernable a
general tendency on the part OF industrial en-
/ ployeeS TO secure reimbursement OF conditions
and hours of labor and of compensation there
for. In this country the building trades un-
6oubtedly monopoliZe attention. Already the
movement has taken actual shape at Chicago,
| Indianapolis and other smaller centers Chi
cago thus far is apparently the center of the
great disturbance. So far this month seven
| teen days, there have been severity five strikes
reported TO Br0dStreet, involving 81 ,542 strikers
whereas last year the total number of the entire
month was sixty-one, and the number of men in
volved l2, 1873. Since January l the total num-
Der OF strikes reported is 253, involving 50 33l
men, whereas last year from January to MAY.
there we're only 221 strikes and As, 924 men af-
i fIant. al