Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-12-23
OFFICERS ELECTED
TRADES AND LABOR ASSEMBLY
HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING.
Plans Made for Annual Banquet to Be
Given in February and Labor Day
Celebration of Next Year-Meeting
Was Most Successful.
From Mondays Daily.

From Mondays Daily.
The semi-annual business meeting
of the Ottumwa trades and labor as
sembly was held Sunday afternoon at
Labor hail. The hall was packed with
delegates and one of the most inter-
esting meetings in the history of the
assembly was held. The annual ban
quet of the assembly will be held in
February, the date not having been
set. 1t was decided at yesterdays
meeting that hereafter the annual ban
quet will be held the second meeting
night in January. The Labor day
day committees reported favorably
at the meeting and further plans
were made for the big celebration to
be given in this city on that day next
year. President c. A. Hagberg read
the annual report in which he told of
the work which had been accomplish
ed in the past year. The following
officers were elected for the ensuing
year:
President-C. A. Hagberg.
Vice president-George Pickett.
Secretary. F. Byrne.
Assistant secretary Mayme Doyle.
Sergeant at arms-J. F. Bradley.
Trustees-F. P. Baer, E. B. Jones,
and J. c. Hale.
President Hagbers's Report.
President Hagberg's report is as
| follows:
/ Again it is my privilege to report
| the completion of another years
| work. A year full of promise and sat
isfaction and yet a year with some
disappointments. A year that has
shown a wonderful growth and yet
| year that could have shown more adj
vancement had all our members done
their full share to bring about all that
trade unionism stands for. For with
all it's hopes and achievements, all it's
blunders and mistakes, all it's ups and
downs, all its kicks and cuffs from en-
emies without the rank and enemies
within, l am more firmly convinced
| than ever that the trade union move
ment is the only hope for the working
people of our nation.
while this has been year full of
strikes and turmoil in the labor world,
we have been comparatively free from
| trouble and what we have had, have
| been of short duration. The street
car strike and linemen's strike were
the only disturbances in the even ten
or of our way that amounted to much
and they were of short duration. While
not everything was gained in these
struggles that might have been hoped
or desired yet the results were in the
main satisfactory.
''The great struggle in the anthra-
cite fields of the east have been
watched with interest and anxiety by
us and think great majority of us
have helped our brothers in a mate
rial way. Let us hope that our broth
ers will get all that they have stood
so nobly and manfully for. That the
rights of organization shall and must
be granted them we believe, for no
student of economic conditions can for
one moment truthfully say that an in
dividual could or would get justice
from such corporations as these in
| the anthracite fields. | believe all
right thinking people will after care
full study and investigation say that
organization is the best thing fol CAPT
tai as we'll as labor, for it places all
on an equal footing and compels the
unfair and unjust capitalists or corpo-
ration to treat their employees fairly
and it assists the one who is only too
glad and willing to do right, but who
is prevented by unfair competition
from doing it. The anthracite strike
has been one of the greatest educators
of the great middle class of our coun-
try who have in the past rather held
themselves apart from the toilers and
have through lack of knowledge of
the needs and conditions of the mass
es withheld their sympathy and sup
port. This alone is worth much to
the toiler and will insure in future
struggles a patient hearing and inves-
tigation that has been too often de-
MED us in the past.
several new organizations have
been added to our list the past year
and some old ones reorganized on a
| firmer basis, yet there is much work
to do in this line, more life, spirit and
enthusiasm should characterize some
Of our meetings and be instilled in