Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1904-02-26

per cent in the wages of the men and
the men are not willing to stand 1t.
No agreement has been signed yet"
The latest reports from Great Brit
ain indicate that trade is not good for
many classes of wage-workers. In
Lancashire $4,000 textile workers are
either idle or employed on half time.
In Glasgow 1000 unskilled workers
are idle, and Scotch steel workers
have had their wages reduced 8 per
cent. Belfast reports that 1900 ship
builders and linen workers are out Of
work.
The trainmen of the Santa Fe have
sent grievance committee to Topeka
to confer with General Manager Nudge
regarding an increase in the wage
schedule better hours and the like
The success of the firemen at their
recent conference with Mr. Nudge has
encouraged the trainmen in the hope
that they may get something as
result of the complaint they are now
making.
The internal fight which has been
goin-; on for some months within the
ranks of the Brotherhood of Boiler
makers and Iron Shipbuilders has
been settled through the friendly in
tervention of Samuel Campers. Forty
two local unions which seeded from
the parent organization and formed a
dual body have been reinstated. The
settlement was brought about at a
conference in Baltimore.
AS result of the new wage scale
at the Joliet plant of the Illinois Steel
Company, put into effect in all de
partments, a number of the union
bricklayers have quit. The reduction
was from IS cents an hour to AN
cents an hour. 1t was also reported by
the men that the company had asked
them to work ten hours instead OF
eight This is denied by the mill Of
ficials, who say the eight-hour day is
still in force.
A great exodus of whites from
South Africa is inevitable. according
to Lord Miner, unless the present
labor situation changes. This is con-
yeyed in blue book on South Africa
which contains a pessimistic dispatch
from Lord Miner, who is British high
commissioner in South Africa. to the
colonial Office, dated Jan. %, in which
he refers to the Transvaal legisla
lures approval of the introduction OF
Chinese labor.
The conference between the Balti'
more and Ohio telegraphers and AS.
sistant General Manager Haas in re
gard to an agreement which would in.
crease the wages and lessen the hours
of the telegraphers has ended without
settlement having been reached.
The telegraphers have made report
to the chief OF the Brotherhood of
photographers and the matter is now
in the hands of the grand officers OF
the brotherhood
The 200 nonunion coal miners en-
ployed at the four mines of the Ellis
worth Coal Company at Ellsworth,
Pa, who were notified of cut in
wages, have refused to work, and all
are now out A branch of the United
Mineworkers of America was formed
and the officials of the organization
claim a majority of the men have join.
ed. The Ellsworth Coal Company Is
the second largest Independent con.
Germ in the district. 1t has always
been operated with nonunion men.
BY an agreement entered into gen.
eral managers of the ST. Paul (Minn.)
lines bind themselves to refuse the
pending requests for increases in
the wage scale. During the last year
machinists and shop boiler makers
have received two substantial in
creases in the scale. The managers
assert that the lines cannot afford to
grant further advances. The agree
ment is binding upon all the lines hav-
ing railway shops in the northwest and
affects several thousand employees.
A paper car wheel will run 100000
miles before it wears out, and even
then a new tire will make 1t as good
as good as ever. This distance is
equal to going twelve times around
the world. These car wheels are made
by pasting about 160 sheets of straw
paper together ard pressing them in
a hydraulic press, When they are
finished they are over five inches
thick and tougher than seasoned hick-
DRY. The hub and the tire are made
of iron forced on by hydraulic press.
Telegraphers are discussing the
question of minimum wage of SIS a
month. One telegrapher writes to the
official journal: Every telegrhpher
is worth twenty-five cents an hour. He
will get it when he has the good
sense to work for strong union. :,
About fifty employees of the various
traction lines that center in Indian
apolis have organized a union. The
organization is not complete, but the
organizers think it will grow rapidly.
1t is contemplated to organize the
employees of the Indianapolis street
railway system and probably those of
ether cities.
]. G. Butler, chairman of the Bes-
semer Pig Iron association, states that
Feb. l., 1904, there were ninety-nine
furnaces running, with daily capac-
IA, 80 An EO0 topc apd ciytU. FIR.