Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1904-04-22

the ueIenSe Iunu $fb,31O.55. Inc nS
ures are taken from Secretary Nor
rison's report.
At New Orleans, La, John B. Honor
G. Co., stevedores. secured judgment
against the Longshoremen's union for
damages in the sum of $4,000 for vio-
lation of contract. This is the first
decision of the kind ever given in the
far south and will have decisive eff
feet on other labor union troubles that
are pending.
''If l were a mechanic would Ger.
tainly be a member of a union of my
craft" said President David r. Fran
els of the st. Louis worlds fair I'VE
are all laborers. labor. While
cannot show the horny hands of toll.
I often think that would prefer the
labor that produces them to the labor
which | am engaged in"
President Gompers of the American
Federation of Labor, reporting his OBJ
servations while in Porto Rico, says:
1T is noticeable that the working
people have insufficient food, and that
their quarters are cramped and I'M
sanitary, which, together with the
continuous warm climatic conditions,
have contributed much to physically
enfeeble the people,"
AS result of the recent labor strike
at the Quincy and Copper Range Con-
solidated copper mines, miners unions
have been quietly organized in the
south range and Calumet districts
through the efforts of representative
of the Western Federation of Miners
from Cripple Creek, Col. They are
the first ever formed in the history of
the Lake Superior copper region.
The recent convention of the state
labor federation of Tennessee, held at
Knoxville, passed a resolution asking
Congress to pass a law granting a
pension Of $12 meath to every
workingman who shall have reached
the age of 60 years and have earned
less than $1,000 year. The law is
to be modelled along the lines of the
New Zealand pension law for laborers.
In recent speech to union glove
workers, President Samuel Gompers
of the American Federation of Labor,
said: 81 say this: | have invariably
stood for an agreement with employ
ers. l regard it as sacred, but if a
man binds me hand and foot and ex-
tracts from me a promise under du-
ress, do not regard that promise as
binding upon me when | am libef.
ated."
After a weeks stubborn fight the
operators and miners agreed upon the
scale to be paid in the central Penn
sylvania field for one year. beginning
April /. The basis of the settlement
is for 62 cents for the gross pick
mined ton, which proposition was Of
fered by the miners union of the joint
of COS per cent from last years rate
of &C cents for gross ton.
The Clerks union of Melbourne,
has asked the Secretary of
State to have legislation introduced
fixing the hours of employment and
establishing a minimum wage for
clerks. The spokesman of the union
said that Australia was the worst
country in the world for retail clerks,
that wages did not exceed from A to
s. a week and many of the girl clerks
worked for as little as SIPS week.
John Mcneil president of the
90 Moi 4
Iron Shipbuilders, has sent out a i
warning, accompanied by advice
against strikes this spring. He re-
ports that information has been re-
ceived of a movement of employers
to disrupt organized labor wherever
possible. Strikes will not be sane.
toned except to resist reduction in
wages or the introduction of longer
hours.
The two organizations of window
glass workers, numbering 1900 men,
have been replaced by the Window
Glass Workers of America, which will
take in the membership Of the two
former organizations and will have
headquarters at Cleveland. There will
be president and four vice presi-
dents. The vice presidents will look |
after the following territory: Altoona,
Pa, and east of that city; between
Cleveland and Pittsburg, West Vir
ginia and part Of Ohio, Indiana and
Illinois.
The child labor law passed in Mis-
provides that no child under
IL years of age shall be employed in
any factory. that no child under IA
shall be employed to do night work.
and that no minor can be employed |
without an affidavit as to his age and |
the written consent of his parents.
The mill manager who violates this
law is liable to fine of $500 and i'm
in the county Jail for six
months or both. There are very few
mills in the state to be interested in
this matter, but it is stated that those
few will be seriously Inconvenience
for a while.
The new headquarters of the Cen
raj Labor Union of Lafayette, Ind,
rave been thrown open to the men,
,ers and the new temple is consid-