The wageworker., 1906-10-12
The Song of the Blouse.

In a SQualld room IN q SQu9ilu street,
The blouse which another will wear:
Or. with weary effort to try and keep
Body and soul together,
i VIII rise from sleep, at the first gray peep
OF dawn, in the wintriest weather.
The hum of the bees and the breath of
the cows,
The hedgerows all fragrant and green
Are for others-ler lot is the cult OF the
blouse
And the song of the sewing machine
No time to laugh and no time to weep
With her-none to trouble how fares it
For the blouse cheap, and the stairs
too steep
To climb, says the woman who wears it.
All the day long the rattle and click
In the heat and the glare and the dust,
Till body and brain and heart are sick
(On cup of tea and a crusD;
,S'or there's rent to be earned ana, you
may be sure,
Little to spare when she's paid it
/ Oh, the difference sore 'twixt the woman
The blouse and the woman who made it
An effort is being made to estab-
fish closer relations between the
Canadian eastern labor unoins and
those on the Pacific coast.
President Samuel ]. Small of the In
ternational Union of Commercial
Telegraphers is in Chicago to take
charge of the trouble between the
operators and the Postal Telegraph
Cable company.
A referendum vote is being taken by
he members of the international
Brotherhood of Shovel and Dredge-
men on a proposition to increase the
death benefit to $1,000 on yearly
premium of $40.
After an all days session, the Broth
erhood of Locomotive Firemen
changed the name of the order by
practically unanimous vote to the
! Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen
and Engineers. The reasons leading
up to this change are that fully 25
per cent. OF the members of the order
are engineers.
The Columbia Typographical union,
of Washington, voted to expel 10
members who refused to continue the
payment of the assessment levied for
- strike benefits, on account of the
strike against employing printers in
the District of Columbia, which has
been on since last January. The
4 members dismissed from the union
are all employed at the government
] printing office, and it is said that
the number to be expelled may reach
, ESQ before the matter ends.
Engineers on the Chicago, Burling-
4 ton e Quincy railroad, who are pro-
testing against the recent order ex-
4 Guiding men who have to wear eye
4 glasses from running passenger en-
gines, from the suburban service and
4 from freight locomotives at congested
I terminals have refused to submit the
l question to the interstate commerce
commission. Officials of the COM
4 pany suggested that as the safety of
I the travelling public was concerned
4 the interstate commerce commission
6 should be allowed to pass on the rule
About 1000 workmen engaged in
rehabilitating the street railways of
San Francisco and changing the cable
roads into electric systems, went on a
d strike. The United railways started
the trouble by discharging workmen
because of their affiliation with the
union, and the strike was called to en-
force the reinstatement of the men at
an increase in wages, and the demand
for an eight-hour day. A great mum
ber of the men belonging to the union
are foreigners brought over by the
United railways.
The zone armed mems union was
founded at Chicago. Its principles
essentially are humanitarian, it being
devised with special lsregard for the
1900 MANNED, legless, or armless
switchtenders, fagmen and crossing
men employed by the railroads in and
near Chicago.
F. w. Wilson, representative of the
International Association of Machin
lists, has returned to Milwaukee from
Chicago, where he attended the con
vention of the Metal Trades associa
ton. The result of the meeting may
- be the amalgamation of all the metal
trade workers in the country, an or
ganization which, if perfected, will be
one of the strongest labor bodies in
| the world, having a membership OF
nearly $4,000 workmen. The crafts
represented were the pattern-makers
association, machinists, iron molders
blacksmiths and helpers, boiler max
ers, iron ship builders, metal polish
ers, buffers and platers, electric work
ers, stationary firemen, and steam en-
gineers. The executive boards of all
of these organizations have been peti
toned and it is probable that refer
endum vote will be taken on the sub
ject of amalgamation by each organ
| ization.
The cigarmakers of New Ha ven
Conn, adopted novel method of win
ming their fight against their EN-
ployers In most instances, the things
- struck against are usually boycotted
. by the strikers, but not so in this
case. Instead, they demanded nothing
, but cigar made in one of the fac
q tories struck against. This was done
= for the purpose of exhausting the sup
] ply of stock as quickly as posi- lie
! and then to leave the manufactr s.rs