The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-03

to save themselves for. the rest of the day, Now they put in only four hours in the morning, and after the noon rest go In and work for the remainder of the day. The employers are now interested in seeing that the men have better tools. and that the cheaper or rougher work is done by helpers. At any rate they have systematized matters so that the product Is as great or greater during an eight-hour day than 1t was in the nine hour day of the past. One of the largest employers at Barre. Vt. where about :.5o0 of our men have regular work. re- gently told me that not only had his out put been greater under the eight-hour day. but that the character of the work was finer"
 DO you think the time will ever come when the eight-hour day will be the rule for all classes of our mechanics7"
 ''I do." replied James Duncan Tt Is so now in many of the trades. and 1t will be more so as time goes on."
 What It Costs to Be a Union Man.
 What does 1t cost to belong 10 the granite cutters?" I asked,
 "The initiatin fee is from s2 to s50.' re- piled Secretary Duncan. "A difference Is made in accordance with the standing of the applicant toward organized labor h the past If a man has been fighting Us and asks to join he might be punished for the past by high imitation, fee, but the ordinary fee Is under s5. Appendices pay only $1."
 What are your dues7'
 They are now 70 cents month."
 How do you spend the money?"
 '"The most of 1t goes to support our people In case of strikes and lockouts. We pay our men when they are out of work no usx1 mi Wa ha olQO Q death benefit of s125. One of our mem- bers who died recently had joined the union only three weeks before. His old mother was Immedia tely paid the $125 to which his daath entitled her. As to our strike and lockout funds, we paid out an enormous amount during the lockout O. 1892. At that time we used up all the money we had in the treasury and then issued promissory notes to those who still held out, agreeing to pay them out of the first money that came into the treasury. Those notes amounted to more than $2500oo It took us live years to pay them. but we did it."
 The Union as an Investment.
 Do you think. Mir. Duncan. that the members of your union get the worth of their money?"
 q certainly do." replied Secretary Dun. can. There, Is no investment in the world that has paid better than that of our members fin the National Union of Granite Cutters. Take New England. for instance. In that part of the country VIC are strongest and there about one third of our members live. For easy figuring we will suppose there are 5000 granite cutters there. Now let me show you what those 5000 men have gotten out of the union in the fifteen years from 1885 to 1900. During that time the aver age increase of wages has been equal to T5 cents per day. This on 5.oOO men means a gain of S3.750 per day and hgur- ing 30O working days t9 the wear of $l.- i25 o00 a year. Multiply that by the fif- teen years -ud you have gross gain of $isS5.0A
 .sJow take the expenses The dues paid during that time were only 60 cents a month per man, which in the fifteen wears made a total of sS40.O0o for the 5000 men. Subtract that and you have net gain of ns.s75.0OO and all that from an investment of a little more than salf a million dollars.
 "In other words, we have made our ssiN Oo0 investment pay us 3200 per cent and have received s275.000 to boot, or more than half of all we have put in. I venture that very few of the big trusts can show as profitable returns.
 "In addition to this.'' concluded Mir. Du,can we have reduced our working fine two hours per day. we have estab- Ushed cash payments, we have abolished | cor,nany stores and we have provided tbat our pav days shall be regular. Yes. ! ' think we may say that the granite cut 1 ters have more than gotten the worth of their money franA v. Saipelees'.