Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1903-07-10


Clerks in the pawnshops of Chi
cagO are forming a union for the bet.
terment of their condition. They
|, complain that at present they are re-
CURED to work excessively long hours
and do not receive compensation COM
mensurate to the usual 10 per cent
month charged customers"
Radical action has been taken by
Chicago trade unions to check con-
tract breaking by labor organizations.
The national team drivers union and
the blacksmiths' international sus-
pended 700 Chicago members for
failing to live up to agreements Sign
ed in supposed good faith with their
employers.
The latest in the way Of boycotts
comes from San Francisco, where the
Central Labor Council of that city has
declared boycott against a GENE.
terry. The cab drivers have refused to
drive corpse to the cemetery and the
undertakers have refused to prepare
any body for burial in the prescribed
burial grounds.
At the recent convention of the In
ternational Association of Machinists
a resolution was adopted, claiming ju.
risdiction over all helpers and others
around a machine shop. This conflicts
with both the Allied Metal Mechan-
les Association and the United Metal
Workers Union, and will likely result
in another internal war
A new union of railway clerks was
organized in Milwaukee with about
200 members. Over sixty applica-
tions were received by the national
organizers before the meeting was ar.
ranged. Daniel Richmond, the inter-
national president, organized the
body, and was accompanied by Will
lam Hanson, president Of the Metal
Polishers' Union.
Cheap labor means cheap cOnsump-
ton and less production. Take any
cheap labor nation and compare it
with high-wage nation, and what a
difference in favor of the latter! Those
nations which pay the highest wages
are better educated, have better NOR
ais and more wealth. Cheap labor
!. e., low wages-are a detriment to
the whole population.
Delegates who have returned from
the convention of the United Order
of Boxmakers and Sawyers Of Amer
lea held in Milwaukee report that it
was the most successful convention
held in the history of the organiza'
tion. The convention decided to es.
tablish permanent headquarters in
Chicago, and made its secretary-treas-
urer a salaried official.
A Cancellation branch of the Ma
tional Civic Federation has been
formed in New York city. The pur-
poses of this organization will be to-
bring about joint meetings Of labor
unions and employers to avoid strikes
and lockouts. Louis Nixon, the ship
builder, is chairman, and Samuel DON
nelly, member of the New York Typo
graphical union, is secretary.
President Williams, of Blacksmiths'
District Council No. /, of Chicago, an.
nounced the other day that the strike
of the blacksmiths on the Union Pa.
cific Road had been amicably adjusted
by President Slocum of the Interna-
tional Union, the union gaining conces-
sions. The strike was called on July
of last year and involved about 400
blacksmiths and as many helpers.
There is a Federation of Labor in
Japan embracing 100000 members.
This organization has been strug-
Cling for improved conditions for the
working class in Japan, and it's efforts
are being rewarded by the enactment
of q factory law regulating hours Of
labor, age of workers, ETC., and COM
polling employers to be considerable OF
the health and safety Of their en-
ployes.
President John Shearn Of st. Louis
Pipe Coverers' Union No. announces
that as a result of correspondence
with local unions Of the craft in about
forty cities a convention has been
called for July next in st. Louis to
organize a National Pipe Coverers'
Union. The cities at present interested
and to be represented are New York,
Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati
and st. Louis.
The formation Of employers associa-
tons or unions" is of almost daily
occurrence, and the labor press is de-
voting much of it's news columns to
this step. All take the stand that
when such organizations of employers
are formed for the purpose of bring
ing about better understanding be-
tween labor and capital, the trades
unionist as such has no reason to OBJ
ject to their formation.
A strike which may spread to all
plants of the American Shipbuilding
company was declared in Detroit by
the Brotherhood of Ironworkers and
In Detroit all boiler
shops are affected, including that of
he Detroit Shipbuilding company.
The shipbuilders at Detroit and Wyan-
lotte have been asked to join in
sympathy. The men demand recog-
nition of their union. Seven hundred
nay go out.
Tho labor nress of the far West fs