Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-05-02
THE LABOR SITUATION.
Chicago In the Throes of a Serious Com.
plicatiOn.

pltcatlOn.
The labor situation Is growing moro
complex every hour. What with the strikes
that are on hand and the ones that are
threatened labor leaders do not hesitate to
predict q condition of affairs even more
formidable than the stirring times of 1886.
There is no telling as yet how many trades
Will be drawn into the new eight-hour
movement. There is so much disorgani-
cation and 80 little leadership that every
thing will depend on the outcome of the
biglabor parade that will take place May
L. The action of the American Federation
OF Labor in designating Chicago as the
theater OF the struggle for eight hours has
mad the effect of arousing a spirit of dis
content among certain trades that were be-
Heved to be entirely neutral. The ulti-
mate effect can hardly be anything else
than a strike of extraordinary proportions,
which may include over 100, 900 men. Ac,
cording to well-known labor leaders, who
are receiving returns, or rather bulletins,
from FESTIVE organizations, the movement
VIII be even more sweeping than it was i'll
1886. The strike fever is spreading with
marvellous rapidity. Organizations that
tour years ago made an utter failure Of
their efforts to secure a reduction of work.
ing hours are in the field again more de-
termined than ever. The attitude Of the
general body of the federated trades has az
much to do with this singular condition Of
affairs as any other reason. The men who
are contemplated striking believe they will
have material and moral support without
stint.
Down at the stock yards, for example,
upward of $4,000 men are ready to
desert their benches and stalls at a
moments notice. United as they
are in an organization that is styled
the Stock Yards Laborers' union, and
supported by the laborers of every packing
house in the west, they are quite confident
OF the result of a general fight. President
ONell has already served notice on the
packers that the men are willing to submit
their grievances to arbitration, but with few
exceptions he has received no answers, and
he is afraid that a strike will nave to be re-
sorted to. Eight hours q day is not all
we want" he said yesterday afternoon. 1T
Is only one of the things we are bound to
to have. We want to abolish the present
system OF holding out ten days pay; we
want to establish a uniformity of working
hours and we will fix it so that men will
be treated a little better than if they were
dogs. Why, there are hundreds of honest
fellows who have been permitted to earn
only bare living during the past
winter. Some of them averaged
less than 20 cents a day, and
when you consider that these same men
had to deposit ten days wages-at regular
rates-with the packers you can guess that
they had some difficulty in earning enough
to live. The decentralization that followed
the strikes of 1886 has chung to us ever
since. We have had no chance whatever
to escape from it. The men have been
rather chary about talking of strikes,
owing to the contracts they signed, which
will forfeit their deposits to the packers
unless they give q two weeks notice of
their intention to quit. Now, those con-
tracts are not worth the paper they are
written on. They are utterly valueless
and there would be no trouble in collect
ing every cent that is OF deposit. The men
know this now and they are thoroughly
prepared to fight. 1 have no doubt that
they will better their condition before thew
get through. They certainly cannot make
it any worse"
What are the gievances of which they
complaint" Mr.. ONeil was asked.
President O'Neil has almost abandoned
hope of bringing about a compromise by
arbitration. The silence of a majority Of
the packers on the subject has satisfied
him that they do not intend to make any
concessions except when forced to do so.
Well, one is that a great many men are
scarcely allowed to live. One part of the
forces of certain houses goes on duty at I
O'Clock. 1t is relieved at 6 o'clock with in
structions to call around again at 8. Per-
haps at the latter hour there is no work to
do, and the men are sent away until noon.
If there is still nothing to do at noon they
are dismissed for the day, and there is a
bare chance that when they report in the
morning they will again be sent home.
Now, isn't that a nice condition of a%ffairs?"
Another organization that is likely to
jump into the fight is the union of lumber
yard laborors, which was largely response
BILE for the bloody riots on the Black
Road" four years ago. The freight hand
lers are also growing FESTIVE; SO are thu
shop t%ailors, the machine woodworkers and
many others. The b%ricklayers are practi-
cally as idle as if they were on a strike, az
are the plasterers, hod carriers and stone
masons, owing to the row of the carpen-
ters. The bricklayers who are at work are
getting FESTIVE. They are beginning to de-
mand hat the carpenters troubles be adj
justed at once, and they are dropping hints
every day that unless something is lone
they will decline to do any more work.
George E. Detwiler, in speaking of the
situation admitted that 1t looked quite the
contrary of rosy. 4Ihave no doubt, he
said, that it will be even more serious
than it was four years ago. The number
Of men who will be engaged will be larger.
They are better organized, too, and more
competent to carry on an active fight, such
as they have a right to anticipate. OF
course there will be bodies of men in the
movement that are not fully organized, and
these will have a good deal to do with the
general result. They are the ones that are
liable to precipitate rioting and
bloodshed. The strike fever is spreading.
The eiohf .honr mOvemanf haa mat With