Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-05-22
MAY DAY MANIFESTATIONS.
The Eight Hour Fight Begun
in America and Europe.
New York and Brooklyn Workmen
Parade and Have Meetings.


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 coun-
try who are DESTROYS of lettering their con-
dltlon either by shortening their hours of
labor or increasing their rate of wages be.
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 400 housesmiths. or archi-
tectural iron workers. and 1000 trainers, and
big public demonstration Of 1900 work
men who belong 20 organizations attached TO
the Central Labor Federation.
The demonstrations of the Socialist unions
in honor Of the agitation took the shape Of
parade and a mass-meeting in New York
City. The parade was under the aus
pices of the United Hebrew Trades,
and about 1900 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 a
banner inscribed on one side: Owe are COM
PEELED to slave for a miserable existence"
and on the reverse, I'VE appeal to the State
Factory Inspectors for justice"
The mass meeting in the evening In Union
Square was under the auspices of the Social
ist Labor party and the Central Labor Fed
eraton.s About Is, 900 persons were present.
Lucien SanieI presided, and there were many
speakers.
The Brooklyn.end of the eight-hour demon
stration was rather quiet. About 100 house
smiths refused to work because their demand
for eight hours was not complied with. The
trainers in the Eastern District struck for
eight hours. The demonstration of the Cen
trail Labor Federation and the Socialists at
Fort Greene was the principal event of the
day. About 1000 men crowded around the
DlatfOrm and listened to SO3eChoS
At Pittsburg 5000 carpenters 1900 brick
layers, 400 stone maSons, 200 skaters were
idle ON account of the strike. The other
trades continue at work.
Labor Day was celebrated In Chicago by
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 TO expectation. the Executive
Board Of United Mine Workers Of the Iowa
district ordered all its members to strike for
the eight-hour work-day and to remain out
until further notice. All the miners in that
vicinity are idle. About 10, 600 miners are
affected in the State In the Ottumwa dis
trict westward to Charlton 1000 miners at
Mystic, Forster, Hiteman, Avery, Abba,
Diamond, Phillips and Centreville went out.
For some time there has been trouble in
the lumber docks Of Woods, jerks & Co..
Cleveland, Ohio, between union and non
union Lumber showers" The firm declined
ment. and no vessels have been unloaded re-
Gently because of the trouble that was
sure to follow. At noon May Day, how
ever, it was decided to begin work again,
and a squad Of seventy policemen was sent
to the docks to protect those men who de-
sired to go 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-unlon
man whose name is unknown All were
seriously injured. They were hit on the
head with clubs. Ambulances were called
and the I'M ured men taken to the hospitals.
There were a 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 the
strikers retreated.
Between five and six thousand miners of
the Pittsburg district struck. In the Du
Quoin QllD district 1900 coal miners
struck In Indiana 1000 miners stopped work.
At Duluth, Mimi, all the plumbers struck
for eight hours. All the painters of st. Paul
Union returned to work, their demand for
eight hours having been complied with.
At Louisville, Kentucky, there was the
largest parade ever seen IN that
city, the manufacturers having made
the day a general holiday. At Chat
tanooga, Tenn, the union carpenters, paint
ers and boiler makers went out for nine
hours and AN increase OF wages. In the
vicinity of Wheeling, w. Va, 1000 miners
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, Mass,
200 union carpenters struck for an increase
of fifty cents day in wages.
Telegrams from all parts of the European
a W fharQ n
eral ferment among workingmen during
May Day, except in half dozen instances,
there were no illegal manifestations.
The notable 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 scuff1e with the
invariably due to their efforts, and doubtless
would have been more effectual but for the
admirable police and military preparations.
The predictions of 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
ly confined to miners, the natural leaders IN
the eight-hour movement.
The English workers did not strike. The
London carpenters and joiners began
strike. Germany has beel very quiet.
Meetings were sparsely attended. Those
men who remained at work received days
pay from the general strike fund
In Austria and Hungary the day was taken
ND with merely holiday diversions. At Bekes
the military were called upon TO queu
Socialist riot, and several persons were
wounded.
In Holland there was no cessation of work
In Brussels, at O'Clock in the evening. ten
thousand men marched in procession from
the Bourse through the town, to the strains