Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-24
The Federation Discusses Many
Subjects Of Interest.
WORK AND WAGESON PUBLICBUILDINGS
Some Statements Concerning The
Star Proved Untrue.
A NEW PRESS COMMITTEE

It will be long time probably before
any one who was present at the meeting
last night of the Fedora ton of Labor will
forget the interesting proceedings which
there took place. The meeting was unu-
sually well attended, thirty-one societies
being represented. President McHugh was
in the chair. After much other business,
to which reference Is made below, was
transacted a delegate arose and stated
that for some weeks past the most persist
paper and also in weekly paper which Is
published in the interests Of labor to create
the impression that The Star is not friend
to the cause of organized labor. The name
of no paper was, he said, mentioned In
these articles, reference by inuendo being
the means employed: but no one who read
the articles could avoid the impression that
The Star was the paper referred to. The
principal alleged ground OF complaint was,
he said. that piece of news had been
taken by some labor men to The Star Of
flee and that the latter had refused to pub
lish 1t unless 1t was paid for at advertising
rates.
IT am in favor of dealing with all the
papers of Washington impartially." con-
tinued the delegate. land I would like to
know il there is a single man here who
can say that the charge made in the pa
pers referred to is true"
There was not a single response In the
affirmative, and the gentleman, resuming
his remarks, said: Then I am forced to
conclude there is 70 actual foundation for
the statement, and that the whole matter
was based on a rumor which itself had
nothing to stand upcn."
Working More Than Eight Hours.
The committee having charge of the
matter reported that 1t having been stated
to them that some men working at Fort
Monroe on a government contract were
putting in ten hours a day instead Of
eight they had written a letter to the Sec
| rotary of War in reference to the matter
and reply was read from that official
| stating that he had no control whatever
| over the contractor mentioned. com
| mittee was appointed to ascertain all the
facts in the case. 1t was the sentiment of
| the Federation that the matter should
be brought to the attention of the United
States court in Virginia having iurisdic-
| ton with the view of prosecuting the con-
| tractor for his violation of the eight-hour
| law.
An Appeal Not Granted.
long debate took place relative to a
circular letter which had been received
and read from the proprietor of a morning
paper. asking the Federation to pledge its
| undivided support to his journal The COM
munication, among other things, stated
That an offer had been made to him to pur-
chase his paper, but that he intended to
continue to publish it III the future, as he
has done in the past. The communication
| for organized labor. because its owner is
| favorable to the cause, and, il conclusion,
asked that the Federation give the paper
Its undivided support.
The debate which followed the reading of
the letter was earnest. and at times the
writer was criticised severely for the ut
terances the communication contained.
Some of the speakers said that they
| thought the author of the letter had no
business to send such a Communication to
| the Federation, and the writer was consid-
erably censured for his treatment on one
| occasion of pressman In his employ. This
man, 1t was stated. belonged to the Press
mems Association which is affiliated with
| the Federation, and 1t was stated that the
| gentleman who Is now anxious to show
his regard for the members of the societies
| Of organized labor exhibited anything else
| than a friendly feeling toward his employee
1t was also stated that the course Of the
| not been In accord with the expressed SEN
| timent of the great majority Of working
| men, and therefore the paper was not con-
sistent in claiming to be the especial cham
| pion of the labor element. One delegate de-
| c1ared that he was unwilling to have the
| labor cause identified with a newspaper,
| which had. he said. in the case of Ella MIL
| Ter. made a slanderous and indecent at
| tack upon dead woman, and advertised a
house Of Ill fame.
| Finding that it was impossible to get the
Federation to say that 1t would give to the
paper its undivided support, thus discrimi-
mating against the other Washington news
papers, a friend of the writer of the COM
| munication referred to. asked leave to SUBJ
stitute the word earnest for undivided"
| and in this form the request was granted.
Press Committee.
| Following the disposition of this ques-
ton a resolution was passed to appoint a
press committee and President McHugh
selected Secretary ]. K. Potter and Messrs.
f. ]. Rea and c. ]. Clements as the mem
bers thereof.
| Mr. Milford Spohn said he desired to ask
the chair If it was to be the bounden duty
of the press committee to give the report
| ers of all the papers who shall call for the
| purpose of getting the information the
news. fully, truthfully and impartially.
| President McHugh replied, Certainly"
Messrs. Rea and Clements then immedi-
ately rendered their designations as mem
| bers Of the committee, stating. as the cause
of their action that they would not give
| any Information to the reporters of any
| paper other than the one they are financial
| ~ interested in.
The designations were accepted, and
Messrs. Milford spohn and Oscar Keep
were appointed to fill the vacancies.
Street Railway Matters.
The delegates from the Protective Street
| Railway Union reported that all the diff
culties between the union and the Ana
| ably adjusted. and the boycott previously
| ordered by the Federation was raised The
| same delegates also reported that after a
| careful investigation of the matter which
had been referred to them in reference to a
| boycott Of the Washington and George
town Railroad Company, they had arrived
| at the conclusion that at this time. at
least, 1t would be unwise and inadvisabIe
| to either place a boycott on the Washing
ton and Georgetown road or to interfere In
! any manner with the operations of the
company. as nothing Of good could be &C.
complished thereby.
Wages on District Work.
The committee appointed to visit the
District building, to ask the Commissioners
| to have the public work on District build
| irgs performed at maximum wages, made
| report, and that portion Of the report which
| stated that the committee had requested
that no person not a resident of the Dis
| trict of Columbia be given employment on
the proposed work was criticised by some
delegates, who thought the course of the
committee in this regard might hamper, II
not defeat. the object for which the fedora.
ton is contending. In regard to the re-
| quest Of the committee to embody in the
contracts to be given out a clause such as
would meet the desires Of the federation
the committee reported that the Commits.
sioners had referred the matter to their at.