The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-09-03

its agreement with the union, that the
employees have wantonly broken their
voluntary agreement, that the time for
making such request was before they
had refused to work and had tried to do
the Office an injury.
The Argus replies to that part of the
unions article in the Telegram in which
it is accused Of working its employees long
hours tor small pay is not considered
part of the case in hand, which it
regards as violation of contract.
In this connection the Argus explains
that before publishing its daily on Tues
day evening the compositors did work
late to get the weekly ready for publica-
ton Wednesday morning, but were given
a full days rest thereafter, and short day
on Saturday. Since the publication of the
daily was begun, the newspaper compost
ors have begun work ats o'clock, excepting
on Tuesday when they begun at I 80, and
/ have quit at o'clock. In the matter of
wages it shows that four of the company's
compositors have been earning from SO
to Sl2 week. working about nine hours
day, and that these earnings are greater
than under the union scale.
To the Argus statement of its side of
the difficulty the union has made re-
! joinder which has been so widely dis
! tributed that it is not deemed necessary
to make synopsis.
THE MASS MEETING
a mass meeting had been called in the
! Armory for Wednesday evening to con-
slider the interests of labor in general and
the trouble at the Argus office in partic-
ular, The Montpelier Military Band was
in attendance, and an audience OF some
700 or 500 aboring men from this city and
Barre, with sprinkling of citizens, bust
ness men and curiosity-seekers assembled
| The meeting was called to order by w.
I. Jones of the Painters Union, who said
in part
1t is common and regular thing
for all organizations who wish to i'm
press fact upon the public to call a
mass meeting, to call the people to-
gether, with band of music, in order
to impress some important fact upon
the mind of the people, and we as
workmen, have thought it proper to
follow the pattern thus set for us
There is an element in human ma
tu-e that we all possess more or, less
which works for our veal or woe,
which we are taught to avoid but
which still exists, that is named sus-
picion. l believe that it is the out
growth of certain nervous conditions
of the mind that leads to it, and if
you were to charge us with having
some suspicion connected with our ac-
tn lion thus calling you together here
this evening we should have to plead
guilty to the charge. At the same time
we have felt that we were warranted
at this time in this feeling of suspic-
ion from the forces that seemed to be
operating to produce it $50 s,,-..
In looking over our land we find
that in many places there is trouble
between capital and labor, and it
has seemed to us that it is a plan on
the part of the employers of labor to
test the strength of organized labor,
thinking to find its weakest link, and
it has seemed to us that this feeling
had drifted over here into our bust
ness; and this suspicion, combined
with the rumors we have heard, has
led US to believe that there is a col
fusion on the part of the printing or
CARNATIONS in this town to test what
they thought was the weakest link
in the chain that formed the organi-
cation of labor here, and in that way
to test the strength of the chain.
Our reasons for it are these Last
May, you remember, after several of
! the manufacturers granted to their
men nine hour day, and after the
city in its municipal election had
, granted it to the city employees, still
the press, which is supposed to be the
element of strength and to report to us
| lC ~
adopt that principle that nine hours
when their employees went to them
and asked them to adopt the same
principle of labor they gave them only
the cold shoulder
The employees then sent commit
tee to wait upon these different man
ayers and they were turned down.
They then sent for a gentleman who
is with us tonight to come up here
and ask for this principle and he sue
coded in securing from the different
concerns here the promise that the
first of July they would recognize
the nine hour day.
You know that two of these print
ing offices have double work. They
have the addition of a newspaper as
we'll as job work. Those who were
doing this had III their employ COM
positors, ladies who were working by
the piece and the benefit they got in
the matter of the nine hours was
nothing. They made the reqest that
the same scale be given them here that
was given in Barre but they were re-
fused, and in order to bring aboutIa set
Element of the trouble as soon as they
could they waived their own rights
because of their loyalty to the union
After that things continued as they
where until the type setting ma
chimes were put in. In all other
places where these instruments have
been put in the printers or compost
tors have been allowed the first
chance to work, but this was denied
to them, unless upon certain condi-
tions, and they were replaced by other
help.
A notice was served upon them Sat