The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-09-28
Possible Disastrous Effect
Upon Men Now En-
ployed in Big Shop.
SEVERE TEST IMPENDING
Danger to Be Apprehended
Is Introduction of Labor
Saving Machinery.

Perturbation exists In the Government
Printing ONCE, provoked by the fire.
quency with which threatening rumors
pute was dragged before the public as a
possible political issue in the next ma
tional campaign. Labor leaders fear the
effect OF hasty inquiry into the affairs
of the big print shop, and il such an in
vestigation is ordered will make pre-
parations TO combat any evil result A
thoughtful leader. and one who is friend
ly to the Administration. discussed the
situation this morning with great frank
ness. He said
When. through what ardent friends of
organized labor consider asinine stu
pidity. OF studied treachery. the dis
missal of w. A. Miller was turned into
scourge- to fog organized labor, many
believed the ensuing storm would die
out az a result Of Miller's discharge on
charges plainly an afterthought IN
stead, the whole subject OF the attitude
of the Government toward organized la
Dor, and vice versa. has been brought
into the limelight and men in the ranks
OF organized labor feel dubious as to the
outcome.
THE Government Printing once has
always been considered the most thor
oughly organized institution of magni-
trde in the country. not so much because
it has been the policy OF any one admin
istration or any one Congressional
Printer or Public Printer to have IL so.
as because of the conservatism Of Co
lumbia Typographicai Union. the key
stone OF the union fabric in the once
Diplomacy of the Union. r..
Time and again have men obnoxious
to the different unions been appointed
10 the once through political influence.
or. later. through the Civil Service Com
mission. and been thereafter separated
from the service. They were not elected
because they did not belong to the
union, but rather under that blanket
phrase. the good of the service
Nor was haste exercised. Notably
was this the case in the incumbency of
Mr.. Rounds. A Kansas Senator ordered
the appointment Of man who would not
Join the union. The hot-heads in the
typographical union were then for sum-
mary action. but wiser counsels pre-
vailed. and 1t was six months before IN
opportunity was found TO dispense with
the services OF the disturber.
Under the operations OF the civil
service laws many non-union men and
women have been appointed to positions
IN the cf1ce. These have been absorbed
by the union or their services have been
dispensed with for the good of the ser
vice
But now there is a feeling that how
ever the Miller case may result-and few
are sanguine that he will be discharged
"a severer test is at hand may, indeed
come at any moment. Whether OF not
such test will be met with the dip
lomatic methods OF the past is the ques-
tion- II not. no power in the world can
prevent the question of the open shop be-
ing injected into the next campaign.
This would be deplored by Democrats as
well as Republicans. by all parties save
the Socialist Democrats, OF whom there
are few IN the printing trades.
No Danger of Transfer.
But the question OF a maintenance of
the supremacy OF trades union exclu-
siyeress I'm the great establishment is
not the only vexatious factor in tho
equation The question OF the transfer
OF the ONCE to the Bureau OF Commerce
and labor does not worry the thought
full Congressional human nature is like
all other human nature. Having acquired
power, those who acquire 1t rarely give
it up voluntarily. The Government
Printing Office Is practically under the
Continued on Tenth Pagc.)