Evening star., 1899-04-18
Business Transacted at Meeting Of
Central Union.
CONFIDENCE IN EVENING STAR CO.
Reasons for Lack of Small Notes
in Business Circles.
OTHER MATTERS DISCUSSED

The Central Labor Union of the Dis
trict of Columbia, composed of repre-
sentative organizations, held meeting
last night for the transaction of regular
business. Among other proceedings was
the filing of the report of a committee ap
pointed at a previous meeting to call on
Commissioner Wight in reference to the al
legged discrimination against the cab driv
ers at the Baltimore and Potomac railroad
station. The committee reported that the
duty had been performed. and that the
Commissioner informed them the cab driv
ers of the railroad company were subject to
the same regulations as the other cabmen,
and if at any time these regulations were
violated the offender could be arrested and
punished. Acting upon this advice. the dele
gate from the Cabmen's Association said
the cabmen of the company would be arrest
ed in every instance where there was an
infraction of the rules of the police depart
ment on the subject.
The report was adopted and the Central
Labor Union, by unanimous vote, decided
TO support the members of the Cabmen's
Association.
A delegate from the Cigar Makers Union
reported that a committee from the Soft
Stone Cutters Association called upon his
organization at its last meeting and re-
queSted that the cigar, makers place them
ting of the stone for the new Star build
ing be done in this city. but that no action
was taken. as no grievance against the
Evening Star Publishing Company had been
reported to the Central Labor Union. and
that body regarded The Star company as
fair to organized labor In connection with
this report a delegate from the Amaiga-
mated Society of Carpenters also stated
that the same committee had called on his
Organization at it's meeting last evening
do ipnilo
ters' organization it was stated, refused to
comply with the request, and decided to not
sustain the stone cutters in their demand.
Feature of the Meeting.
The feature of last evenings meeting Of
the union was the adoption of a preamble,
resolution and statement in reference to
the alleged prevailing scarcity of small
notes, 81 and 50 especially.
This document sets forth that there has
recently appeared a statement to the effect
that the scarcity of notes of small denomi
nations was in a large measure due to the
fact that Congress has forbidden the use of
steam power presses in the printing of pa
per money and internal revenue stamps
and. in the opinion of the union, the
statement was undoubtedly inspired by Mr..
Charles NJ. johnson, director of the bureau
of engraving and printing; therefore, the
Central Labor Union makes the following
statement to the public in behalf of Plate
Printers Union, No. =. affiliated with this
organization and the American Federation
of Labor:
Mr.. Johnson's career in the bureau has
demonstrated that he is hostile to organ
lied labor. His main purpose in attempt
ing TO install the electric presses in that
bureau was to crush out the Plate Print
erS Union. When that union authorized
its president to appeal to Congress for the
enactment of a law to forbid the use of
such presses in the manufacture of paper
money and internal revenue stamps that
gentleman applied for leave of absence for
that purpose. The director refused the re-
quest and when the president obeyed the
mandate of his union and went before Con-
gress Mr.. johnson procured his discharge
Congress Approves.
Congress paced the seal of its approval
on the request Of the Plate Printers
Union, preferred by the president of that
body, by enacting a law at the second ses-
sion of the Fifty-fifth Congress prohibiting
the use of the steam presses in printing
notes, checks and bonds. Because of the
extraordinary demands upon the bureau in
consequence of the Spanish-American war
the plate printers patriotically acquiesced
in the request of their friends in Congress
that they refrain from urging that the law
be made to apply to internal revenue print
ing. After this action had been taken by
Congress MIR. Johnson, yielding to great
pressure, permitted the president of the
union to go back to work as a chance
man. The war having been terminated
the union ordered its president to ask Con-
Sress to complete the work begun at the
previous session. Mr.. johnson suspended
him, and he is still out of employment
Congress, however, adopted an amendment
to the Sundry civil bill prohibiting the use
of the steam presses in printing internal
revenue stamps
This action of the lawmaking power.
approved by the President was gall and
Wormwood to Mr.. Johnson, and he is going
deilberately about it to dscredit the act
OF Congress. He is determined to embar-
rass the Treasury Department and the peo-
pie IN the hope that he may force Congress-
to permit him to use the electric presses
On the 9Th of March he ordered that a
new floor be laid in the main press room
Much time was occupied in this work To
permit 1t to be done he laid off from eieb-
teen to twenty men daily for period of six
weeks The work was unnecessary. as the
old floor was of concrete and in excellent
condition II necessary, the work could
nave been done in the night time Those
Idle printers might just as well have been
employed in printing the paper money for
which the people are ciamoring.
Another Alleged Scheme.
Another one of his schemes Is to Law
on many printers daily because they have
no assistants. This could be obviated by
appointing some of the 800 girls who are
now on the eligible list of the civil service
commission. The director could put up six
teen hand presses in the space now occu-
pied by the idle electric presses, but this
he stubbornly refuses to do. There is
much more room in the bureau for hand
presses If he had any desire to get out the
work by the system approved by Congress.
The printers work but six and six and a
half hours daily. If they are permitted to
work hours, as allowed by law, they
could increase the output at least 10 per
cent. He impedes the work by furnishing
the printers inferior printing materials
If the materials were first-class, thew could
get out all the work required, even in six
and a half hours
The demands upon the plate printers
during the late war We're unprecedented
and are not likely to be eaualed in many
years. The work was got out promptly and
satisfactorily. Their record at that time is
all that is necessary to discredit Mr. John
SON pretenses in the present.
1T is also a fact that up to March. '9S
there We're in operation in the bureau 33S
hand plate presses, but on the installation
OF the power plate presses the number was
reduced to 296 hand presses, reduction of
forty-two hand presses. There are usua. .ly
about forty Chance men, which was in
creased to between fifty and sixty-fiye by
the forced idleness of regular men during
the laying of the floor"