The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-08-01
FIELD OF THE W0RKlNGMAN.

Hawaii has 49, 600 Japanese.
London has 1864 policemen.
New York contains 233.00o unionists.
New Hampshire has 1900 shoemakers.
Indianapolis has GEO union carpenters.
Chicago has ninety-eight steam 1ire-en-
g.neS.
The Amnlgamatet1 Carpenters treas
ury contains $1.0c5. 600.
Not the least important of the pronounce
nent of the Red Wing convention of
the Minnesota State. Federation of Labor
was that for the rigorous enforcement Of
the compulsory education law. This action
and the able arguments which led UP to 1t
showed that the worldngmen of the State
were fully alive to the Importance of
education as 4 factor In lettering the So
cial. moral and financial condition of The
toilers. Labor Commissioner McHa!e's
remarks were also along the educational
line. though meant to apply more especial
ly TO technical education, for the purpose
of raising the average of skill in mechani-
cal handcraft. He recommended courses
of lectures for the benefit of workingmen
and that measures be taken to insure
wider knowledge of mechanical appllan-
ces and labor-saving neutrality-suspicious.
~ electrical. He intimated that his forth
coming report wouii, be an important one
and said that the law in relation to child
labor was being regarded pretty general
~ with gratifying results. The conven-
ton showed Enthusiastically that the agita-
ton for an eight-hour day for all workers
is growing In favor. The Legislature, at
its next session. will be asked to provide
that eight hours shall constitute days
work. and that adequate penalties be pro-
vided for noncompliance. A suggestion
that the logical solution of the convict la
Dor question would be found In the en-
ploy1nent of convic:s to construct public
roads and cycle paths met with approval
II labor organizations were 10 dlsband
today, in less than a decade every nd
vance they have made would be lost The
labor-saving machines that are now being
operated but eight hours would be rum
ming ten and twelve per day. Wages would
become less and less: in some trades the
decline would be rnpd. in others slower
Employers all have good intentions but
business retrenches along the line OF least
resistance. Where industries are thoroush-
w organized strikes do not occur. Inc
panic through which we. have recently
passed was weathered. without serious dis
turhances in one Industry. There was no
reiiuct on in prices, nor any cutting down
of wages in the stove factoreS Inc
stove moulders. Inounters and other trndes
were we'll organized. as were the employ
hers Of the stove Founders National De-
tense Association. When the mutterinss
predicting the industrial depression began
70 he heard in 1892, when wages were being
on. right and left and business firms We're
forced to the wall. the representatives of
the Iron Moulders' Union of North
America and the Stove Founders Eationnl
Defense Association met and talked over
affairs, each side respecting the organiza-
ton of the other. The question Of wages
was considered. the output. prices and ali
that bore upon the stove business. It was
finally resolved not to luke any action
further than to ourtail the product to meet
the demand. Wages remained the same
per hour. but the hours were reduced. In
some instances TO six per day; other fac
tories worked but three days a week or
two weeks each month. The balance of
supply and demand was maintained and
wages and the prices of the finished pro-
duct remained the same. There were no
failures among the manufacturers and no
paupers among the workers. These two
organizations have been settling the diff
ferences between cap!tnl and labor so far
as they are concerned by annual confer
ences for the past fourteen years. and
year by yenr both parties express in.
creased satisfaction at the pan.-Toledo
Bee.