Fergus County argus., 1902-04-23
LEwIsrowN LABOR UNION.
A Communication Sent In by the Local
Organization.


Organization.
The fact that the Austrian stone
masons have been placed on the un-
fair list perhaps demands some expla-
nation. II is the object of organized
labor to better the condition Of the
worker; to do SO It is necessary to
shorten the hours of labor and to Sc
cure a reasonable compensation for
the work done. Lewistown Union,
some two months ago commenced ac-
tive work to shorten the working day
to nine hours; a committee from the
Union waited on the Austrians and
submitted the proposed scale OF wages
for stonemasons. stoncutters, etc.
to them and asked them their opinion
on same.
Peter Tuss. acting as spokesman for
the rest. expressed himself as thor
oughly satisfied with the scale and
said: Mine hours is long enough for
any man to work. and further that a
man who would not do a fair days
work In nine hours would not do II
at all" Tuss was asked to explain
the proposition to any OF the men
who could not understand the Eng
lish language and after further dis
cussion. during which all the Aus
trians expressed themselves as salts
fed with the Union proposition. the
following Austrians signed saidscale:
Peter Tuss, Pete breach and John
Stanack. They were the contractors
amongst the Austrians and by sign
ing the scale accepted the Union rate.
Some few days afterwards we learn
ed that they had changed their minds.
saying that the town was too small
to maintain a nine hour day." There
was small contract to be let and as
1t would not be let to anyone but
friends of labor. Peter Tuss and Pete
breach sent in their applications to
be elected members of the Union and
again expressed their intention of act
ing fair by labor. They were so elect
ed and allowed to make and finish the
contract, but when it was completed
they said: mo, we won't have any
thing to do with unionism," and said
further: Their homes were all the
union they wanted"
All the other contractors In Lewis
town having accepted the scale, the
Austrians were again waited upon al
though they promised to act fair at
first, finally refused. They stated that
they did not wish to join union of
unskilled laborers but would join a
stonemasons union. They were Offer
ed a charter to organize such a union
as they expressed desire to join
free of charge; driven to their last
excuse they finally declared them
selves as hostile to unionism. Moth
| ing was now left to the Lewistown
Labor Union but to place them on
the unfair list, which has been done.
Before the Bennett contract was let,
the business agents of the Union WIS.,
tied Mr.. Bennett and informed him of
the standing of the Austrians. Two
of the bids submitted were the same;
one of those was the bid of the Aus
trian contractors; Bennett told them
how the matter stood and in order
to get the job the Austrians cut their
bid 10 cents per perch. Mr.. Bennett
thereby purposely favored the Aus
trians and cannot expect organized la
Dor to favor him. Union men will not
work with or on building where the
Austrians do any work.
The laboring man of Lewistown on
ly asks fair show in this his own
country. We, the members of the
Lewistown Labor Union, spend our
money freely among the business men
of this city, but II the latter have any
work to do they lose no time in fer
reting out some new arrival from the
European continent. To put the mat
ter in the right light We ask you TO
consider this question: Does the
business man gain more from the Aus
trian colony of Lewistown than from
the Union laborer? If so we would
advise the business men of the city
to stay with the Austrians. 1t would
be an easy matter to have some bust
ness man locate here who would
think It worth his while to assist an
American to earn his aaily bread in
stead of snatching away his hard
earned crust.
| (Signed). j. H. Bailey, j. w.
Hughes, John McGinn and A. H. Van
lderstein. Business Agents of Lewis
town Labor Union.