Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-07-26
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The mayor OF Boston has notified the
Electrical Workers Union that the men
employed In the fire alarm department
will be put on the eight-hour basis.
1t has been figured that the strike of
the Wall street messenger boys cost the
street S1,o0O,000, and that 100000
would have paid the increase demanded
for 101 years.
The latest union formation is the Ma
rine Drivers and Tenders Union, re-
Gently organized at Cleveland Branches
are to be established in other port cities
on the lakes and the seaboard.
The Boot and Shoe Workers National
Union, headquarters at Boston, has up
wards of 100000 in its International
treasury and has within the past few
| years expended 100000 in sick and
| death benefits.
Many German concerns own dwelling
houses and rent them to workmeu at act
ual cost. They provide restaurants and
| meals at actual cost; furnish fuel at
actual cost, and give transportation in
whole or part.
Differences between the Master Paint
ers' Association of Pittsburg, Pa, and
| the unions of the brotherhood of Paint
ers over the payment of car fare have
| eliminated in the declaration by the mas
| ter painCers of a general lockout against
| their employees.
New York, New Haven and Hartford
| machinists, about 80 in number, have
been granted an increase in wages averag-
ing about one cent an hour. The negotia-
| Nv la pf
| district lodge of the unions. Within
| three years the district lodge has secured
the nine-hour day and wage increases
which in the aggregate make the present
wages about per cent more than was
paid for the 1G-hour day three years ago.
John Burns as president of the Local
| Government Board in England, says that
the government will take up the old age
pensions question when the report of the
| Poor Law Commission has been receiv-
| ed. Personally he considers that it would
| be the best, simplest and fairest, in in
augurating an old age pension scheme, TO
| give everyone a pension of five shillings
| per week on reaching the age of 50, mill
tary, naval, civil and municipal pension
| ers to be excluded.
The Commercial Telegraphers' Union
of America has decided TO establish mu-
tual benefit department. This will begin
doing business Oct. l A mortuary fund
will be maintained similar to those of the
railroad brotherhoods, from which death
claims will be paid. The officers of the
organization believe that the insurance de-
partment will prove an attractive feature
to non-members, as they can procure
cheaper insurance through it than they
| could in any of the cld-line companies.
Details of the settlement of the Ohio
coal miners strike have reached Wash
| ington. In the settlement the miners re-
ceive better than the 1908 scale despite
the declaration that no increase would
be granted This increase amounts to
5.SS per cent. On their part, the miners
themselves make concessions in matters OF
detail. The district meetings held re-
Gently to consider the Columbus agree
ment have uniformly indorsed it, and it
is stated that all the striking miners will
be back at work soon
Organized labor in New York took adj
vantage of the drift of popular sentiment
the other day in a novel way. At Coey-
Gotham, there has been intermittent war
fare for twenty years between the EN-
ployers and the unions with the unions a
poor second. Recently the employers APP
pealed to the International Brick, Tile
and Terra Gotta Workers, who, in turn,
engaged former State Senator Cantor TO
prosecute the brick manufacturers for
violations of the antitrust laws, whe re-
| IL
agreement with the union and discontin-
ued the alleged illegal practices.
During the first quarter of this year the
| average earnings of 333,000 workmen in
New York State, according to the bulle-
tin of the labor department, were $2.333 a
day, or S212 for the quarter. No women
or miners are included in this statement.
The average wage for this period was So,
as compared with S2.SS for the same pc
Rod last year. The extraordinary demand
for labor is not confined to the building
industry, where it is most marked, but is
felt in all lines. The membership in labor
unions now aggregates 394,270, an in
crease of 1O34 in the half year The
estimated cost of new buildings in New
York City alone during the first quarter
| WIS Doo,OuO,OOO.
Reports from officers Of international
unions of the American Federation of
Labor, made to President Gompers, show
favorable conditions for the bill posters,
bSscksmiths, carriage and cement work
| ers, elevator constructors (the latter hay
| ing secured a new agreement in Pitts
| burgl and the trades generally. In Ala
| bara the printers demand for an eight
| hour day was won without strike; car
penters have received an increase in wages
in Hot Springs Little Rock, New Ha-
ven, Danville, GaIesburg Granite City
and Tamaroa, H.. Portland Me-, and
other points. Increases in wages are also
reported in the other building trades, a
| generally higher rate paid everywhere to
union than non-union labor and plenty Of
employment. -~.--e-~--.----r-->. y
The United Cloth, Hat and Cap Max
ers' of America have placed per capita
tax of 10 cents per year for support of
the tuberculosis sanitorium conducted by
| the organization al Denver, Colo, for the
benefit of its members.
The cotton manufacturers Of Fall Riv-
er, Mass, put into effect Monday the
| wage scale of 1904 which was cut. 1914
L
| per cent in July of that year. The in
crease concerns 10000 mill operatives,
and it is said that the mill owners hope
this will bring back the families of skilled
operators who migrated to Rhode Island,
New Hampshire and Canada in 1904.
The western farmers are not the only
people 10 suffer from a scarcity of labor
this summer. According to the Iron Age,
1
great difficulty to find men enough to meet
| the demands of consumers. Many of the
| iron workers are inclined TO insist upon
| a vacat on period at this season. In the
| meantime orders for the heavier class of
| finished materials continue to roll in.
| N. Pollard, OF Paris, not satisfied
with the usual grating Of f1oricultur-
ictS has ct rfn IN frausforp,