Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-26


Mr.. Gompers says he deprecates strikes,
the wage worker finds his best protection
in the knowledge that he can strike and
will strike If occasion demands. He does
not expect to see ideal conditions estab-
lished within this generation or the next
but 1T is the part of each generation of
working people to do what they can to i'm
prove and advance the condition of it's
class, to make sure that the children COM
ing after them shall live and work under
happier and better conditions than the pres
ent.
In the local field of labor the outlook is
said to be as cheerful sunny May day.
Extensive building operations are soon TO
be inaugurated, it is said, and the MEM
bers OF the building trades are looking for
ward to busy spring and summer. Pros
perity is in the very air. is the way a
brlcklayer referred to coming conditions.
He added that a building boom was already
in sight, with the public and private struc-
lures that will be erected here before the
snow flies again in bleak December.
The announcement has already been made
that the carpenters will receive an adj
vance in their pay from $3.50 to 81 day,
beginning on July !, and it is reported
that an advance will be asked for by the
brieklayers, paperhangers and other trades
A Labor Temple.
matter of much moment to the labor
bodies of Washington Is the proposed cree
ton here of a labor temple. This project is
in the hands of a representative committee
of the Central Labor Union. The committee
is headed by Mr.. Milford Spohn veteran
leader of the organized labor forces of the
District, who is endearingly referred to as
1.-The father of the Central Labor Union"
which body was formed largely through his
efforts, it is said. Associated with him on
the labor temple committee are men of the
several trades, who it is believed will bring
the project to early fruition.
1t is proposed that the several labor bodies
in Washington shall hold their business
meetings and social functions in halls in
the temple, and in addition there shall be
store rooms on the first floor to be rented
to business firms, while the headquarters of
the central body and the allied building
trades section shall be located in the build
ing. Already several preliminary steps to-
ward the erection of the temple have been
taken, and the friends of Chairman Spohn
declare he will not let the grass grow I'M
der his feet when the time arrives to begin
operations
Another matter in this connection which
has not yet taken definite shape, however
is a project which has been advanced by
several of the local labor leaders to estab-
lish in the District an amusement or ath-
letic park, for the use of the workingmen's
associations. The proposition is to employ
the park for amateur base ball games, ath-
letic tournaments, picnicS and the like, the
park to be provided with a pavilion for
dancing and the usual attractions to be
found at similar resorts. The younger
members of the several unions are enthu-
siastic over the proposition.
Seeking Harmony.
The tendency of the Washington leaders
is toward harmony, and the statement is
made that steps will soon be taken to bring
about a change in the present nharmonious
relations which are said to exist in the
building trades organizations owing to the
existence here of so-called rival councils.
Recent innovations in the local labor field
were the inauguration of popular Sunday
evening concerts for workingmen and their
families and the free lectures. There is one
house of worship in Washington that is
known as 1.-THE printers church." from the
fact that its membership is largely made
up of typos and their families, and there is
said to be decided religious tendency de-
veloping among the wage workers of the
city, who, as a venerable carpenter ex-
pressed it, ARE showing a tendency to take
God into their councils
Some of the labor bodies here are already
looking ahead to the summer amusements
and tentative plans are being formed for
events of greater or less magnitude under
the auspices of the various unions and the
auxiliary bodies.