The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-05-20
MAY DAY MANIFESTATIONS
The Eight Hour Fight Begu1
in America and Europe.
New York and Brooklyn Workmeu
Parade and Have Meetings.

Labor claimed the attention Of the world
on May Day. In this country there wers
labor demonstrations at various points. In
Europe it was general holiday for work
ingmen. A review Of the days doings IN
America and Europe Is subtended.
The fight by the labor unions Of the oouu-
try who are desirous of bettering their con-
dition either by shortening their hours OF
labor or increasing their rate OF wages bor
gan on May Day in New York City by an
almost total suspension Of building opera
tons.
The great eight-hour movement commenced
with strike Of $500 housesmiths, or arcm
tectural iron workers, and 1000 frnmers, and
big public demonstration Of Is, 900 work.
men who belong to organizations tached %
the Central Labor Federation.
The demonstrations Of the Socialist unions
in honor Of the agitation took the shape Of Q
parade and a mass-meeting In New York
City. The. parade was under the aus
pices Of the United Hebrew Trades
and about 1890 men were In Line.
About twenty unions took part. A feature
Of the parade was band Of 100 boys between
eight and fourteen years old, who carried o
banner inscribed on one side: "We are com
PEELED to slave for miserable existense"
and on the reverse, 1--WE appeal to the State
HaC1OrY lnSpeCGOIS
The r1ass meeting In the evening IN UntoH
Square was under the auspices Of the Social
ist Labor party and the Central Labor Fed
Grafton. About Is, 900 persons were present.
Lucien Saniel presided, and there were many
speakers.
The Brooklyn end of the eight-hour demon
stratio1 was rather quiet. About ll00 house
smiths refused to work because their demand
for eight hours was not complied with. Ths
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eight hours. The demonstration OF the Cen
trail Labor Federation and the Socialists -
Fort Greene was the principal event OF tho
day. About 1000 men crowded around tia
platform and listened to speeches
At Fttsburg 5000 carpenters, LOO brick
layers, 400 stone masons, 200 skaters wero
idle on account Of the strike. The other
trades continue at work. -
Labor Day was celebrated in Chicago bya
grand parade Of fifty or more labor organ
izations and monster mass-meeting on the
! lake front. The demonstration was fully
the equal of former years.
Contrary 70 expectation. the Execuove
Board Of United Mine Workers OF the iowa
district ordered all its members to strike Tor
the eight-hour work-day and to remain out
until further notice. All the miners In tnas
vicinity are idle. About 10, 600 miners are
affected In the State. In the Ottumwa o1s-
|
Mystic, Forster, Hitemap, Avery, AIDA
Diamond, Phillips and Centreville went out
For some time there has been trouble IN
the lumber docks Of Woods jenks & Co.
Cleveland, Ohio, between union and non
union "lumber showers" The firm declined
to refuse to give non-union men employ
ment and no vessels have been unloaded 70
GENTLY because Of the trouble that was
sure to follow. At noon May Day, how
ever, 1t was decided to begin work again.
and squad of seventy policemen was sent
to the docks to protect those men who de-
sired to 20 to work. Before the police ar
rived the strikers assaulted Ralph Gray, .
partner In Woods, jerks & Co.; n: l.
Fisher, President Of the Fisher Wilson
Lumber Company; Wilbur Fisher, foreman
for the latter firm, and non-unon
man whose name Is unknown. All wera
seriously injured. They were hit on the
head with clubs. Ambulances were called
and the injured men taken to the hospitals
There were half dozen policemen on the
docks at the time, and when they charged
and clubs. Meanwhile the squad OF seventy
officers marched up to the docks and fhe
strikers retreated:
Between hve and six thousand miners Of
the Pittsburg district struck In the Dn
Ouoin Gll.j district 1900 coal miners
struck. In Indiana 5000 0miners stopped work:
At Duluth, Mimi, all the plumbers struck
for eight hours. All the painters OF st. Paul
Union returned to work, their demand TOR
eight hours having been complied with
At Louisville, Kentucky, there was the
largest parade ever seen IN tnsa
city, the manufacturers having mace maae
the day general rlon h9lsay caIyoeDteas paint
90 and boiler nas=ls A-.' an o0' ~ ~.
hours and an increase Of wages. In L..s
quit work because of the failure Of the opera-
tors to sign the scale. The Mason Builders
Association and Stone Masons Union, Of
Boston, reached an agreement as to wages
and nine-hour day. At Brockton, MassL,
200 union carpenters struck for an increase
of fifty cents day in wages.
kilograms from all parts Of the European
continent show that while there was gen
eral ferment among workingmen during
there were no illegal manifestations.
The enotable exceptions occurred in Lyons,
Fourniers, Rome and Florence, where there
was serious rioting. The Anarchists eagerly
seized the chance to air their doctrines with
the added zest Of q possible scuffle with tho
authorities, and the outbreaks recorded wers
invariably due to their efforts, and doubtless
would have been more effectual but for the
admirable police and military preparations
TIE predictions Of a universal strike have
not been fulfilled. On the contrary, though
numbers of workmen took holiday, even on
the pain Of dismissal, in order to join pro-
cessions, the strikes were few and were main
" confined to miners the natural leaders in
the eight-hour movement.
The English workers did pot strike. Tee
London carpenters and joiners began q
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