Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-10
AMERICAN EQUAL WAGE UNION
supreme Council Issues nm Address 10
Wage Workers stating object
of Organization.

KANSAS CITY Nov. 9-The supreme
council OF the American Equal Wage union,
recently incorporated under the laws of
Missouri, with headquarters in Kansas city.
today issued an address to the wagework
ers Of the United States. The union was
founded on the belief that to eradicate the
practice OF paying lower wages to women
for the same work performed by men means
a revolution in the sociological conditions
Of the country. Its main object is to So
cure justice to women who work for wages,
to protect children from unnecessary indus
trial servitude, and to discourage strikes
and accomplish it's work by means of edu-
cation, agitation and moral suasion. Ex-
ccrpts from the address follow:
"ln an industrial nation like this, where
vast majority of the people are wage
workers, the value of days work bears
an intimate relation to the prosperity of
the country, and, for that reason, becomes
a matter of supreme concern to all.
when wages are UP, times are prosper.
Gus. 1t is a common mistake to regard in
creasing dividends and activity in stocks
as reliable indicators Of good times. The
prosperity that llumines the cottage and
the tenement and diffuses its blessings
among the poor is the only genuine pros
perity.
THE heartless discrimination practiced by
large employers of labor in almost every
department of the industrial world, are
prolific sources of discomfort among work
ing classes. All manner of iniquitous
schemes are deliberately employed to reduce
the wage schedule. The American laborer
is required to submit to the unfair compe-
tition of men who hold no hope in life above
mere existence and the enslavement Of wo-
men and children is encouraged, that there
by the demands of men for fair wages might
be ignored. AS consequence, the laborer
is paid according to his necessity or his
defenselessness, and not according to the
work he performs. The importation of
pauper labor, or the pauperization of our
own labor are equally to be condemned.
"The wages of labor should bear some
equitable relation to the amount Of brain
and muscle expended in its performance,
without regard to the age, SEX creed, color
or nativity of the laborer.
Tho current theory of the relations of
capital and labor must give place to one
that shall secure to the laborer fair, if
not full. compensation for his toll. And
the methods of labor and capital with re-
gard to the enforcement of their respective
rights and demands must be reformed and
made to fit higher ideals and a nobler
standard of justice and civilization.
"The unnatural and indefensible conflict
between labor and capital must cease. In
stead Of assailng each other, a purer pur-
pose and a better civilization will direct
a united attack against the condition which
now binds the employer as we'll as the en-
ployed. Labor should know and capital
should learn that the highest mission of
mankind is to make the world happy.
''Self-preservation being the first law of
nature, the American laborer is justified in
demanding compensation for his toll suf-
ficient in amount TO provide for him at
least common necessaries
1T is not only his right, but it is his
duty, to protest against the unbearable con-
ditions imposed upon him and no one shall
justly question his patriotism because he
interposes defense against an Invasion of
his rights.
THE American Equal Wage union sub
mits its principles to the considerate judg-
ment of the country and earnestly appeals
to the sincere and lawabiding of all classes
to enlist under its standard"
The address is signed by E. Richard Kath-
rens, president of the union; former State
Senator Arthur S. Lyman, secretary, and
seven other men, members of the supreme
council.