Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-06
n LABOR CIRCLES
azs

L
| question of child labor, as expressed in his
message to Congress. has already been the
| subject of much favorable comment in Ia
Dor circles When the full force of his
recommendations and utterances on this
| most important problem is understood and
appreciated, It is said, results will follow.
Extracts from his message will, it is be-
Heyed, be used as the shibboleth Of the
Child labor committee of the American
Federation Of Labor In It's warfare this
winter against the Ubiquitous system. One
| OF the extracts which will have weight with
| Congress, labor leaders believe Is this:
| Moreover, there should be proper factory
laws to prevent all abuses in the employ
ment of women and children in the Dis
| trict. These will be useful chiefly as OBJ
| 5ect lessons, but even this limited amount
of usefulness would be of real national
| value"
| In another part of his message the Presi-
dent carries joy into the hearts of those
| who have been fighting against child labor
when he says:
| II renew the recommendation ] made in
my last annual message for an inveStiga-
ton by the Department of Commerce and
| Labor of general labor conditions, espe-
cial attention to be paid to the conditions
of child labor and child-iabor legislation
| in the several states. Such an investigation
| should take into account the various prob
| lens with which the question of child labor
|
| lens can be actually met in most cases
| only by the states themselves, but 1t would
| be well for the nation to endeavor to Sc
| cure and publish comprehensive informa-
| ton to the conditions of the abor of
children in the different states. so as to
| spur up those that are behindhand and to
secure approximately uniform legislation
| of high character among the several
states In such a republic as ours the one
| thing that we cannot afford to neglect
| is the problem of turning out decent citi-
Mo f,,f,, tln dana .Js
upon the citizenship Of the generations TO
| come; the children of today are those who
| tomorrow VIII shape the destiny of our
| land, and we cannot afford to neglect
| them
| 1t is the hope of labor leaders that the
utterances of President Roosevelt will re-
suit in an awakening to the perils OF child
labor throughout the country, and that the
several states Will promptly enact restr!c-
i've measures.
| interest in the labor world is centered on
| the great contest the printers are prepared
to make for the eight-hour work day.
President Samuel Gompers of the American
Federation of Labor believes the Interna-
| tional Typographical Union will WIN. he
says, in effect, that the printers are the ao-
vance guard in the general movement
which is to be made in all the other crafts
for shorter work day
The man who first made the declaration
for eight hours of toll, eight hours of rec
printer. as we'll as philosopher, phllan-
thropiSt and Statesman-BenJdmln FRANK
| Inland leading typos declare 1t Is by a
coincidence that 1t falls to the lot OF the
craftsmen of that venerable sage at the
beginning of the twentieth century TO lead
the van in the fight for the principles he
enunciated SO many years ago.
i great defense fund mas Deen anassed
by the printers, and the lines of their
unions have been strengthened along Their
entire lengths, it is sald and the aawnlns
of the year 1906 will witness titanic strus
gle between empIoyes ana employers
throughout this broad land, from the At
lantic to the Pacific, wherever there is
~ biographical union.
Delegates from the Steam Engineers
Union, NO a. of this city, have presented
their credentials to the Central LABOR
Union as follows: John w. Stockton, A H.
Kansome John w. Ross, Greenwood johns
and John McIlvaine. These delegates were
seated.
The special committee of the Central La
hor Union to whom was referred the case
of the railway express messengers as
charged from. the Southern Express Com
pany, apparently on account or joining the
Railway Express Messengers Union, re-
ported that they had been denied an audi
ence with the representatives OF the South
ern Express Company. The committee WAS
discharged.
next spring." said Fraternal Delegate Gil
mour of the British Trade Union Congress,
1.-The employers OF your country may IA
well make up their minds thai we VIII not
assist them to break the strike, and not
a ton of English coal will be sent across me
pond If we can prevent 1t, and we peAeFe
we can.
signed to American ports we Will either
strike at the mines or call upon the trans
port WorlierS-the lockers and Seamen-uo
refuse TO handle thes fuel for shipment.
There is no market for British coal over
here at present and we decline to be used
temporarily as str1kebreakers Ii our
brother miners over here are attempting TO
better their conditions.
Mr. Gilmour is an officer in the British
miners unions and speaks with authority
for the 100000 organized men In that trade.
President Roosevelt's objections to the
general continuation OF women as factors
in the field of labor, because OF the ten
dency such continuation has toward race
suicide are not shared by labor leaders
and writers. Luke Grant recently wrote:
1.-The American Federation or Labor, IN
convention at Pittsburg, has adopted reso-
Iutions urging Congress to make an appro-
priation for a thorough Investigation OF the
status of women in American industry. The
old idea that the sphere Of woman is In the
home is being exploded by conditions which
the workingmen have been all too SLOW to
recognize.
Not only is woman a factor in industry,
but she Is destined to become still greater
factor. She is being used not only to sup
plant men in many branches of industry,
but new fields are being opened up where
she is surely gaining control.
Miss Mary E. Mcdowell and Miss Ger
trude Barnum, who have been in Pittsburg
In the interests of women wage workers.
are too well known and their motives are
too well understood to require any defense
against charge of being faddsts. They
are earnest and sincere and are really do
ing a great deal more in the interest of wo-
men wageearners than some who are ready |
to shout their unionism from the housetops.
Samuel Gompers, president of the Ameri-
can Fedora ton of Labor, has personally
given the women all the encouragement he
could but even then their work Is not I'M
derstood and appreciated it should be by
the hundreds of organizers throughout the
country
ION this subject President Gompers says.
in his annual report:
"'You will be much gratffied to know
that during the past year there was formed
an international league for the organiza-
ton of women into trade unions, and that
It's work has been attended with consider
able success It has been not only my
l%,,to ,,Jaoe 10 n