The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-28
LABOR'S CAUSE AT OGDEN.
PAST AND PRESENT CONDITION OF
THE UNIONS.
Union and Non-Union Men-The A.
r.. q. Strike-Strilxes the Last Re-
sort-The Industrial Army Epi-
xOde.

was no labor organization here except
the typographical union. OF course there
were railroad organizations, but, with
| exception of the American Railway union
| (Which was not in existence at that time)
they can hardly be called labor unions.
In the summer and fall of 1889 unionism
had a genuine boom, and almost every
trade was organized. This was accomp-
Ished without serious trouble, and was
of great benefit to the workingmen. 4
central union was established in 1890.
This was composed of delegates from the
different unions, and was of vast good TO
! the several trades represented, aha to the
| workers in general.
During the existence of the Central
union no trouble ever arose that was not
! settled to the satisfaction and advantage
OF The unions. AT the time of the organI-
cation of the unions all worked ten hours
day, Saturday excepted. which was by
nlne-hour day, with an eight-hour Satur-
cay, was demanded by the unions, and
was conceded by all except the boss
painters and boss carpenters. These
made, fight but soon gave it up, and the
nlne-hour rule became general. The
stone cutters. plasterers and bricklayers
got an eight-hour day in 1891. Some of
the unions embraced every man in the
city or that particular trade. Others,
notably the carpenters, had many non
union men to contend with. Many OF
/
Some had one excuse, some another, but
all were willing to share the benefits de-
rived from organization. They all want
ed the shorter hours and increased pay
after they had been won by the unions,
but they Were not willing to aid in secur-
ing these better conditions. Nay, more,
they helped the contractors in their eff
forts to defeat the unions. On this ques-
ton l have very decided opinions, and TO
some they may seem rather strong.
There are in every community men who
them a
unions, men who are always swift TO take
the places of men out on strike; they
do all they can to make the strike fail
ure; but if the strike is won, and the
unions get an increase in pay, these non
union men want that increase just
the same as men who made made sac,
are dishonest. They can pirate as
much as they like about personal
liberty, about working for what they like
or when they please, they are not honest
men when they accept the better condl-
tons brought about by labor unions.
Things have changed much in the last
two years. Work has become scarce, and
many men have left town. This has left
many of the unions weak in numbers,
some without enough members to make
quorum, and these have had to suspend.
do, and believe they wild Ogden will
come to the front again as an all-Wool
and yard-wide union town.
OF strikes, Ogden has had few, but
none of these were in the building trades
except one, and it did not amount TO
much.
The great strike of the a. R. L., last
year deserves more than passing notice.
The union had been organized in Ogden
about one year when the strike came on
1t had in its membership some OF the
Oldest and best known railroad men in
Ogden, and was in good condition. The
officers were, with the exception OF the
president, intelligent, honest and conser-
vative men. The president was, however,
not the man for the position,
When the order came to quit the men
all, obeyed. There was very little dis
order at first, and not great deal at any
time. The talk that the trains could not
run is all nonsense. There was not
day that the companies could not have
taken out their trains if they had had
third of July there was an attempt to
take out a train that failed. There were
plenty, of officers to protect the train
crowd or did not care to get the train
out. The crowd was about four-hfths
people from up town, with women very
on July Fourth the Saltair excursion
was stopped. Here again the officers
made no attempt TO get out the tram.
About 10 a. m. l heard some yelling at
the Union depot and went down to see
what was up. East of the depot l saw
several deputy marshals sitting in the
saw perhaps a dozen more sitting around.
some of them looked very much as
though they were asleep. Out on the
platform there was great crowd, yell
ling, pushing, surg1ng to and fro. Prob
ably one half were women. A train stood
on the side track all ready to pull out for
Saltair. The men were declaring It |
should not CO. and it didn't. Not a single
effort was made to get out the train by
the officers. After this there was no
more trouble. The companies did not try
was run over the Southern Pacific. In all
this time not one intelligent, determined
effort was made to run on this road:
There was not more need of the United
States troops here than there would be |
at a Sunday school picnic.
The end every one knows. Nearly all |
the strikers lost their jobs and have been
unable to obtain work on any road in the |
country. They say they are blackliSted, |
and the evidence bears out the allegation. |
Quite a few men here lost good homes |
place in a vain hunt for work, penniless, |
homeless, headleSs and without hope for |
the morrow. Victims of soulless corpora |
tons, their only sin was an effort to aid |
their oppressed fellowmen.
Strikes are bad; so are wars. AS war |
is the last argument of nations, the |
men. When everything else fails. nations |
appeal 10 the god of battle. When every
thing else fails workingmen appeal to the |
strike. Before anyone lyon oS condemns noe the
have been the conditions of the wage |
workers today if the strike had never
been. WOrklngmen nave Deen engaged /
in long, incessant and relentless strug-
gle for existence. Without organization /
they could not have made the strug-
gle with that degree of success that has
been attained. Without strikes the or
could not have existed. Mary
men who are today living in comparative
comfort owe il all to the relentless and
struggle of the labor unions;
and small thanks they give the unions.
Had it not been for the labor unions of
this country the American workingman
today than were the Russian serfs in the
lays of Alexander II.
l am we'll aware of the fact that am
counter to a certain set of politi-
cal economists, who would have us be-
ieve that the working people are indebt-
I'd TO a protective tariff for what little
hey enjoy today. / shall not discuss the
merits or dement's of the protective tariff
farther than to say it has no more effect
paving would have on the man in the
noon and 1 challenge the world to prove
lifferent.
without some mention of the industrial
lrnny affairs of last year. Mr.. Editor,
fear am already beyond the limit But
will be brief as can.
When the news came over the wires
hat Kelley was coming with one thou
york to raise food to feed them. Plenty
vas raised, and the army would have
,een fed and passed on in peace, but it
vas not so to be. The governor in his
wisdom thought best TO send up a gat-
ing gun, few innocent boys armed with
ifies, and this aggregation accompanied
y another aggregation Of swashbuck