Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1904-07-28
wouldn't be robbed of its individualism
either Ii would still be me.n

4
AFRAID OF THE UNION.
All the city over found the rank and
file of professional musicians equally FL
led with the little fear; All their fail
ings as well as their virtues are laid at
the door of 1.-The union" 1t is the spirit
of submission which angers me, not the
work the union does in keeping up the
wage scale so that mediocre musicians
receive as much pay as artists.
To the union | went for the rest of
the story--the other side. The East
Van Buren, street headquarters are now
in the Omaha building. 1t is not neces-
sary to use the elevator to go up. A big
sign hand points the way up some stairs.
Federation of Musicians" is what it
says. Up the stairs went, into an i'm
mense hall with several hundred chairs
piled up in rows In the forward end of
the room were some large tables. Around
| these crowd Of men were seated play
ing cards The floor is dirty. 1t could
not be anything else. Hundreds of mu.
sicians Tor shall We call them tradesmen)
gather here every day. They always
come for the same purpose-to see If
there is any work to be had. They find
out on the bulletin board where wants
are set forth. The holy of holies is the
inner office, where the officers are and
the dues are paid. Musicians. as a rule,
care little how they dress. That after
noon, did not see one who looked more
than tradesman. The whole air saw
ors as much of commercialism as it does
in any store in the city. Cigarette and
cigar and pipe smoke fills the air. In
the midst Of twenty men one sees, per-
hapS, one girl standing. She, too, has
come down to see if there is any work
1t is all a race after money money
money; earned tonight and spent tomor-
row.
Behind his desk-which, to be sure, is
of plain oak: none of the furnishings in
these inner offices are luxurious-si sits the
secretary. One never sees him without
pile Of greenbacks before him. They
are the tithes the "union" levies on his
right TO labor Dues" is what they are
called in the union. | use the word
labor advisedly. insist that it is prop
erly used. Music is labor nowadays
| for bread and butter.
went into the office and talked over
some things with the officers.
HAS BECOME MONSTER.
Many things | found had been mis-
represented. That should not be, 1t is
not the fault of men in office that there
is musical union. but of the age. For
all that, it is fast growing into a mon
ster, and it needs now and then to be
told so.
| First asked about the benefit at the
Sherman house for the fire sufferers
when the manager of a certain orchestra
seemed to have been refused permission
TO play. Everyone who is not a must
clan says the report is true. Up at the
union they made denials of the story.
1--WE never even heard that the or
chestra wanted to play. We give per-
mission all the time for benefits. The
story is wrong somewhere"
'"Then if the services were donated
you did not refuse them permission
Certainly not We have certain reg
ulations and must abide by them. The
thing the orchestra would not be allow
ed to do would be to play for less than
schedule wages. They must either re-
ceive full pay or give their services"
told him the story of the girl. The
president of the executive board at that
instant came in. at was not put to me
that way" he said Il was told that
they wanted TO augment their orchestra
and that the girl wanted to play for the
experience. We can't have that The
man they play for gets more than he
pays. Nobody must be allowed to play
for experience.
mot even if a whole orchestra con-
sents?'
st would cause trouble Trickery
would creep in. In little while many
orchestras would be filed up with young
people who We're playing for little
money and gaining experience at the
same time. Ii would never do. Ii a
substitute is desired it must be from the
union"
We talked things over pro and con-
AS union the Chicago Federation Of
Musicians is not different from any 9TH
er powerful organization of labor. 1t is
a tyrant.
The ghostly fact which remains is
that music has become a gross trade,
and that fear is over all the members.
A useless fear it is oftentimes, but for
1 all that fear.
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$40 10 for the round trip, from Chi
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