Evening star., 1901-05-18
ALLEGED DANGER POINTS
INFLUENCE OF SAN FRANCISCO AND
CINCINNATI ON STRIKE.
Opposition Combination Said to Have
Been Formed in First
Named City.

San francisco and Cincinnati continue to
be the danger points in the strike situation
| of the machnists. Advices received by
President O'Connell at the national head
quarters of the association from the Pacific
coast today indicate that settlement Will
be reached in all cities except San Fran
cisco. There the Union iron works, the Ris-
don iron works and the Fulton engineering
and shpbuilding works seem to have
| formed combination to oppose the nine
| hour movement of the men. A comblna-
| ton of all the employees organiZa lions in
| the metal trades in San Francisco has also
been made to enforce the demand. For this
reason Mr., O'Connen says the men were
| very anxious that no postponement be made
| in the launching of the battle ship Ohio. Is
| there was no desire on the part of the men
! to disarrange the presidential program by a
| strike.
The Cincinnati situation will be directly
under the observation of President Gompers
of the Federation of Labor. who starts for
that city today. Six more firms signed the
nlne-hour agreement yesterday in Phila-
delphia, making fifteen firms in all. The
Levy Shipbulding Company was one
of the firms signing yesterday. Confer
ences are being held there today wit the
BALDWIN locomotive works and also with
the Brooks locomotive works at Dunkirk,
n. Y. All of the firms in Jacksonville ILL.,,
and IN Des MolneS, Iowa, signed yesterday.
Conferences still being held by the
executive board of the organization in this
city, although it was announced today that
there was nothing pending before the board
other than tentative plans relative to the
outcome of Monday, when the strike order
is to be enforced against all firms in the
United States Hawaii. Canada and Mexico
which refuse to grant the nine-hour day
together with the increase Of 12l2 per cent
In pay.
Address to the Craft.
AS a result of the meeting of the execu-
tive board of the International Associa-
tions of Machinists yesterday the follow
ing address was issued to the craft last
night:
ITO the Machinists' Craft, Greeting:
From time immemoral the great goal
to which united labor has struggled, and
to which 1t has given it's best effort, has
been in the direction of a shorter working
day. In the majority of crafts, both skilled
and the so-called unskilled, this effort has
been uniformly successful, and they have
fo1 number of years enjoyed the pleas
ures that come with greater leisure. Ma
chinists, owing to the fact of their isola-
tlon IN the past from the labor movement,
have not enjoyed this right and privilege
until now, after decade of education,
they have concluded that the time has
arrived when they, too, should share in
the same enJoyments. In reaching this
conclusion and in seeking similar favors
they know they are not stretching their
demands beyond the bounds of reason or
seeking something to which they have no
valid claim.
More than a quarter of a century ago
our brother craftsmen in Great Britain
secured nne-hour day, and it is con-
ceded by all manufacturing machinists
VINO nave given the question the least
study that the American machinist pro-
duces more per diem, even on an eight
hour day basis, than does his brother
craftsmen in that country. Such being the
case, it is eminently proper and strictly in
of hn fjv,oaS
machinists of the United States Canada
and Mexico should make a concerted
movement in the same direction. The time
has come, the moment is rDe and the de-
mand is now made
ITO the uninitiated a few words explana-
tory of the position the machinst occu-
pies in the domain of productive labor and
In connection with a shorter workday NAV
not be out of place. Owing to the peculiar
nature of our trade and the great inroads
into 1t by the Introduction of more perfect
machinery, great deal more is now pro-
duced than ever. This increase in machin-
cry continues with the succeeding wears
but in spite of this no material or perma-
nent increase in wages has been secured
py the man who manipulates the machine.
He produces more, but receives no more
than he did formerly. Now the demand is
made for a fairer share of what we pro-
duce by shortening the workday by one
hour without any decrease in pay.
Warning Given.
Ills Oeliidllu Is not MADE without due
warning. Twelve months ago notice was
served on the manufacturers of the United
States that on Monday, May 20. 1901, the
international Association of Machinists
would demand nine-hour day, and that if
the demand was not granted its members
and those in sympathy with them would
suspend labor until the demand was
granted.
Eve do not advocate a strike with all
the attendant mistakes of the past but
merely a peaceful cessation of labor until
we can start work on a nine-hour dav
basis
I'VE appeal to our fellow craftsmen to
rally with us in this effort to elevate our
manhood; to improve our minds; to purify
our bodies and our lives; to make of us
exemplary citizens; to make our homes
more homelike with our presence and to
show the world that We, too, have aspira-
tions a little higher than the brutes and
scarcely lower than the angels Signed
by James O'Connell, president; D. Doug
las Wilson, vice president, and George
Preston, secretary-treasurer of the Inter
national Association of Machinists Inrh