The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-26
CITY PRINTING AND UNION nABEL'
Hearing Last Night on Typographical
 Union's Petition.

Hearing Last Night on Typographical
 Union's Petition.
 The ordinance committee last night held another hearing on the petition of the New Haven Typographical union to have the union label placed on all official city printing, Frederick c. Washburn, president of the local Ty geographical union; J. J. Reilly, E. T. O'Brien and Anthony Carroll appeared ill favor of the petition. MT, Wash burn said that the union wages for not believe that it would cost the city any more than at present if the union label was adopted. He said that the local union had seventy-five members, and he thought there were sixty print CTS in the city who do not belong to the union. He said that the reason why these latter were not members was be- cause of the antagonism of their em- ployers to the union.
 In response to a question by MT. Cooley of the committee he said that he did not think that the schedule of the union prices would be raised and there by make city printing cost more if the label was adopted. He also said that four master printers in the city used the union label, and that in case the label was adopted those not using the label could not do city printing. Asked If some printers were not debarred from joining the union, he said that only those notoriously opposed to the prin- ciples of the union were so debarred.
 c. S. Warehouse of Futile, Morehouse & Taylor and Wilson H. Lee of the Price & Lee company appeared in op position to the petition. MT. Morehouse said that the impression that the union men tried to give, that all employers were antagonistic to the union, was all wrong. He said that in his office there had never been any discrimination be- tween union and non-union men, and that there no union men could force non-union men out, nor could the lat ter force out union men. He said: "These men tell you that union prices are uniform; that is the weak point of the union. They know that there are many printers who can earn $15 per week. and they also know that there are many who can't. They make no distinction between the two classes of men. know of case where a union printer went to his employer and said that he thought he should get more than $15 a week. He was good man and he used the argument that because a man who worked next to him and was not nearly so efficient received $15 a week, he because he was better workman, should get more than $15. The employer told him that because he was a union man he must refuse the advance asked for. He said that the union made him pay the less efficient man, who did not earn that amount, $15 per week, and that therefore other union men, who could earn more than $15 per week, must help stand the sal ary Of Si5 per week paid under union rules to men who did not earn that much The character and ability of men as workmen should be made the criterion of price, and when the union does that the employers will encourage men to join the union. In my employ are men who get far more than your union schedule and they don't belong to the union, and you can't get them into it until the proper kind of a scale is adopted. We will not put the union la- bel on any printing done in our office. and I wish to call the attention of the committee to the limited number of printing houses in the city where city printing could be done if the union la- bel was adopted"
 Wilson H. Lee said that it would be just as fair for the Typothetae, an or- ganization of employing master print CTS, to ask to have their trademark on city printing as for the Typographical union to ask to have theirs. He said that if city printing was confined to those who use the union label it would drive large amount of work out of the city, because of the fact that few union offices have facilities to do many of the large jobs of city printing. He charac- terized the putting of union label on city printing as un-American and said that if the petition was granted it would open the doors for other trades to petition for similar favors.
 The committee decided upon no rec ornmendatfon in regard to the matter last night, but will do So at a meeting to be held next Friday night