Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-09
RAPHICAl UNION
Interesting Testimony in Regard to 1t Given
the Industrial Commission.
Effect of the Introduction of Type
setting Machines Now Being
Overcome.

The industrial commission met today and
continued the hearing of testimony. Repre-
sentative Often of Wisconsin. a member
of the commission. arrived In the city to-
day and was in attendance on the meeting.
Mr.. Samuel B. Donnelly of Indianapolis
Ind. president of the International Typo
graphical Union. was the first witness be-
fore the commission. Representative
Farquhar of the commission is the oldest
living president of the typographical union,
having been its president forty years ago.
MIR. Donnelly stated that the membership
of the union of which he is president IS
- 900. and in March, 1899, between 81, 600
and :.3,OO0 of these members paid their
per capita tax. Formerly this union in
Guided pressmen and bookbinders but these
two branches of the trade had been given
permission in 1895 to form Independent in
ternatonal unions, the bookbinders now
having 5000 members and the pressmen
1900 The typographical union was or
ganized i'll 1852, and in 1863 it made
International to include Canada, and also
the Hawaiian Islands before their annexa-
ton by the United States. The typOgraph-
typerS, photographers, maliers. photo-en-
sraFerS ana newspaper writers.
Growth of the Referendum.
The referendum is used extensively by
the union and is growing in popularity. 1t
mad grown in interest to the members 50
that while at first about one-quarter of
them voted when it was inaugurated now
ever oRe-half of all the members take this
means of influencing the work of the union
Al the last election of officers of the union
by means of the referendum IS per cent of
All the members cast their votes The only
disadvantage of this system was in the de-
lay incident to it in certain cases as it
takes about thirty-fiVe days to take vote
The union has defense fund of SpDUA
which amount, considering the condition of
the trade he thought was sufficient
Mr.. Donnelly described the procedure
Whlt hi0 been followed by the union for
ten years previous to the ordering of
strike This action is regulated by law
and must be followed in every detail before
strike is ordered. Employers are consult
ed by officers of the union and all means of
Cancellation are used. But where a man is
regarded as IN enemy to organized la Dor
and to established scales of wages he is
trea ted arbitrarily by the union but in all
cases where an employer is regarded as
friendly the opposite course is taken
The Chicago Stereotypers' strike.
The strike of the stereotypers employed
on Chicago newspapers during the recent
war was described. That strike had not
been sanctioned by the international union
and failed. not being supported by the
union the Bookbir ders' Union. If the
difficulty had been referred to the national
organization, he said, for settlement, there
would have been no strike
Strikes are becoming very rare in the
union. he said. In the last seven months
there had been very few strikes.
The agreement of the International Typo
graphical Union with the National Employ
ers' Association in favor of a nine-hour
day in the book and job trade had been vio-
lated by twenty-five members of that assO-
citation, who continued to work their men
ten hours.
The National Employers Association had
not disciplined its members, and they did
not keep their agreements as did the Ty-
biographical Union.
Included in the union he said are four
unions of newspaper writers organized in
Boston, New York, Dayton and Denver.
They have five or six hundred members,
and the result of their organization was
such that he had confidence that such
unions would grow They had been estab-
IlShed in the last six years. These unions
had fixed d minimum price for such writer's.
L am hopeful said Mr.. Donnelly, that
there will be an increase in these unions
and an increase in membership of all trade
organizations and their extension into all
callings and professions"
The union, ne said. had a large field for
improving the condition of its members.
The Typesettine Machine.
The Mergenthaler typesetting machine
had displaced many compOsitors, but the
effect of these machines has been to so III
crease the quantity Of work done that by
next year he thought as many printers
would be employed were employed on
the day the machine was introduced. There
are 400 machines in use today and they
had displaced ten or twelve thousand men.
Newspapers that put in the MergenthaIer
machines few years ago had reduced
their expense on that account 30 per cent,
but they had been forced to enlarge their
amount of composition SO that today they
are spending as much formerly.
He did not favor the incorporation of
labor unions under the present condition,
but when the government looks with more
favor on such unions and fosters them by
law the condition would be different.
There is some interest,", he said. and
the banking system seems to permeate
everything; not only legislators move in the
direction they indicate. but the courts must
do the same thing"
He was afraid the injunction might tie
up the funds Of labor organizations if they
were Incorporated.
The union has home for incaDacitated
printers in Colorado in which there are
niLety-siX inmates. The inmates are chief
ly consumptives. The union supports this
home by a tax on all it's members of ten
cent sa month. 1t has a building at this
nome WhlCn cost S1tD,tD and a hospital
that cost $4,000.
FavOrs Government TeIegraphs.
After n recess of an hour Mr.. Donnelly re-
sumed his testimony. He explained the use
Of labels by the union, and, speaking of
cases that had been tested in the courts.
said there lad been a strong suspicion that
some of their lawyers had not dealt fairly
with them in the prosecution Of their cases
because of the influence of their opponents.
He advocated the government ownership
Of the telegraph because it would be to the
advantage Of the Typographical Union and
of citizens generally. Government owner
ship he said. would ! ermit any newspaper
securing d news s".v vice. He wanted more
papers, that there would be d demand
for more printers.
DATE SET FOR TRIAL
Hearing of Ex-Poiiceman Horton ON