Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-07-24
REPORTS FOR WORK
W. A. Miller Appears at the
Government Printing Office.
TO RETURN TOMORROW
BooKBINDERs' COMMITTEE SEES
CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION.
Question of Strike to Be Settled at
the Meeting Of the Local
Union Tonight.
TO RETURN TOMORROW

|
quently reinstated by order of President
Roosevelt, appeared at the office this morn
ing and applied for work. Public Printer
! Palmer received him in his private office
| and had a talk of twenty minutes with
him. Nothing for publication would be
given of that interview. but the public
printer said that Miller would return to the
Office tomorrow morning and would imme-
| diatcly be put to work in his old place.
In the meantime a communication that
| had been received by the civil service COM
| mission from the public printer had been
| acted on. This a request for the GER
tification of the reinstated assistant fore
| man and the request was complied with by
| the commission in the following words:
"A certificate in accordance with an ex-
| ecutive order of July 13. 1903, and the de-
| ciSion of the commission cOmmunica ted
| to the public printer In its letter of July q
| is hereby issued for the reinstatement as
| assistant foreman of the bindery at the
government printing office of William A.
'"'''e' u JOHN R. PRocTER,
The certificate was sent by special mes
! senger. and reached Public Printer Palmer
| a few minutes before noon. 1t Is the rule
of the office that no one shall be put to
! work In the middle Of the day, and in this
case the rule was adhered to. Miller Will
go tO WORK lOUlOIToW Iloi IliHS
Committee Sees the Commission.
AS soon as the obnoxious assistant fore
man appeared at the office he was seen by
several scouts of the Bookbinders' Union
who were stationed across the street at the
place where their committee of arbitration
has been holding its meetings. and imme-
diately there was a lively time in that To-
cality. They proceeded to the Federation
| of Labor. where they had drawn up in
| typewriting duplicate of the protest that
has already been placed in the hands of the
public printer and the Secretary of Com
merce. This was for the information of the
civil service commission, with which body the
bookbinderS intend to protest against the
| recertificatfon OF Miller. The members of
| the committee went in a body to the offices
OF the commission, and were received by
Commissioners Proctor and Greene, to
! whom they presented the protest.
Commissioner Proctor said to reporter
| for The Evening Star. upon being told that
| the committee on it's way to him,
that it was a useless action on the part of
| the men. They had, he said, already pro-
ceeded about the matter in the correct way
| by filing with the public printer their pro-
test. and the matter out of the
hands of the civil service commission. The
commission could not interfere in the case
any more than if it concerned private
employer and his factory, but the members
of the committee were listened to respect
| fully when they came.
AS matter of fact the certiflcatiOn Of
Miller had left the office of the civil serv-
| ice commission a few minutes before the
committee arrived there and was presented
to Mr.. Palmer at about the same time as
| the protest received by the commits
| sion.
| The public printer said that he had not
yet read the protest. or petition, of the
bookbinders, but that he woud do so at
his leisure. and that in the meantime he
intended to comply with the order of the
President and put Miller to work as soon
as he was certified and presented himself
at the office. That the assistant foreman
| will return in the morning and go to work
at his old place Is not doubted by any who
| know him and when he does the critical
point in the controversy will be reached.
Important Meeting Tonight.
A meeting of the local union of the
Brotherhood of Bookbinders has been called
for tonight at Odd Fellows Hall at 8
o'clock to vote on a strike If Miller goes to
work, and it is the unanimous feeling
of the committee that the vote will
tain the constitution of the order that no
member may work with a person who has
been expelled from the union. At the same
time they feel that there will be some rem
edy found to prevent such a deplorable re-
suit of the contention, and that Public
Printer Palmer has just such card ready
to play at the proper time What this is
none of the men was ready to divulge, and
| the fact that Mr.. Palmer had plainly said
that Miller would be put to work was
strong evidence that the wish was father
| to the thought
Both labor and governmental circles APP
preciate the gravity of the situation and
realize the far-rea ching consequences of
strike at the government printing Office
Feeney's Statement Criticised.
The statement made yesterday to the
| Evening Star by former President ]. l..
Feeney Of the local union of bookbinders
hoo tod wideSDread and
criticisms are made that this statement
plainly announces that where the laws Of
the land conflict with the rules of labor
organizations the former must be amended
to suit the latter This is not denied by the
employees interested in the present con-
troversy, but they significantly reply that
they are bound to respect their own con-
stitution and that organized labor holds the
reins of power at the government printing
office and has done for years because
the justice of their rules was admitted by
the national lawmakers
In every instance where an appointment
to that Office has been made by the civil
service commission the appOintee was COM
PEELED to fill the requirements of the union
or lose his place. There was alterna-
tive. One point taken by friends of labor
but opponents of their system is the rule
of the Bookbinders' Union that no man
shall be eligible for membership unless he
has served at least four years apprentice
commission disregard this rule any ap-
pointee would be compelled to resign or be
dismissed, the rules of the union being at
variance with those of the civil service.
This rule, former President Feeney says,
was amended by the commission at the in
stance of the union in the case of man
who had served but three years at the
trade of bookbinding and was therefore
ineligible to membership in the union.
Control Of the Office
A public official, in discussing the matter
today, said:
I'm the circumstances denial of the con-
troll of the Office by the unions is useless.
They admit that they are thoroughly or
ganized and that the public printer, an act
i've member of the Typographical Union, is
IN hearty accord with them. r This being the
case. and the rules of the labor organiza-
tion being held to be more important than
the laws OF the country, 1t follows that the