Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-19
IN LABOR CIRCLES
O.

Washington workingmen are watching de-
velopments among certain associations of
| employers in the building trades in some of
| the states which are said to be tending
toward plans for the inauguration of the
open shop at the beginning Of the building
season next spring. In this connection Luke
| Grant. a Chicago labor writer, says that
efforts have been made to organize the
building contractors In a number OF cities
to make a stand for the open shop on
national scale" He adds that Walter Drew,
who is commissioner of the National Erec-
tors Association. has been working to that
end. his object being to form national
associa ton OF building contractors and have
himself elected commissioner of it. The
National Erectors Association as 1t now
stands is practically owned and controlled
| by the American Bridge Company so that
Mr.. Drew believes in widening his sphere
OF influence He has been in conference
with q number of Chicago contractors re-
Gently, but the latter assert that they gave
him no encouragement in his plans and
that they do not intend to do The de-
velopments of the last week would indi-
cate, however. that some Of the Chicago
contractors have given more consideration
| to Mr.. Drew's scheme than they care to
admit at this time.
Apropos Of the increase in wages given
the building laborers in Chicago last spring
Herman Liien. president of the organiza-
tton, tells good story of the secession
| movement among the laborers. The plas-
tererS laborers were under an agreement
which had two years to run and their wages
were 3611 cents hour. Lilien got them
| an increase to 40 cents an hour. but agreed
with the employers that the advance should
not go into effect until July 8, In order to
allow of contracts ON hand being completed.
The agreement was made previous to April
l, and number Of the hodcarriers seeded
| did not go into effect at once. They de-
| clared they had been sold out" They
started a story that Lilien agreed with
Oscar Ruhm. president of the Employing
Plasterers' Association to roll three games
of ten pins to decide whether the increase
| should take effect April or July 8. the man
who won two out of the three games to set
| the date. According to the story Lilien lost
| in the bowling contest and the men were
kept out of the increase for three months.
That's fact" said Lilien the other day
| IN discussing the secession movement
| They started that story and 1t spread like
| widfire. with the result that a number Of
them seeded l wouldn't mind SO much
| them saying 1 sold them out, but to insinu-
ate that Oscar Ruhm could beat me at
| bowling Is too much. However, they all
want to get back again and we propose to
make them pay for their foolishness. They
! got an increase that they were not actually
entitled to under their agreement and they
couldn't appreciate it,
Down in Dixie organized workingmen are
seeking to mix labor matters and women's
| suffrage in sort of public porridge. 1t Is
! said to be the belief of some of the leaders
| Of the labor hosts in the south that the
solving Of labor problems, past present and
] future, will come when their wives moth
| ers sisters and daughters are given by law
| the privilege of voting in affairs state and
national In furtherance of these views
John I. Pugh. Georgia labor advocate and
writer. has this to say on the subject:
Notwithstanding the fact that woman is
| the source of life; that she rocks the cradle
and watts the last tribute of love to each
| traveller as he launches upon Charons fer
| ry boat there are many who say, in sub
| stance, If not in words, that she unsexes
| herself when she demands the right to ex-
| ercise voice in affairs governmental
Men tell her she is the queen of the
| home; she may teach the young idea; she
| may establish city missions; she may estab-
| fish homes for the incurap Ies; she may es-
| tablish homes for the friendless, Saliva ton
Army camps, Florence Crittenton homes
and do ali the work her physical being will
permit; but when in the course of her ex-
perience she learns that mans greed, mans
| inhumanity, mans lack of brotherhood will
| ever continue to produce subjects for char
liable ministrations, and that her work, as
the 'proverb goes, is never DONE Is it any
| wonder that she throws up her hands in
| dismay and beseeches man to let her assist
| In bearing the burdens of governing So
ciety?
Every man and woman naturally desires
| to see some result of his and her work.
but when the harvest of vice continues to
increase. when more human lives are lost
in times of peace than in times of war
there is nothing strange in the fact that
woman's sympathies should go out to man
in his belabored evolution and ask that she
be permitted to have share in the work
of molding the laws, customs and precepts
for the young, who will, all too soon, take
our places.
Many f1tppant writer's and ignorant pla-
gtarists make light of this great movement.
but their very egotism and yellow tinted
philosophy are doing more to convince
Ia men wv VINO are really anxious to
the country governed by good women and
good men would bring about a condition
very desirable to earnest believers in the
brotherhood Of man and the Fatherhood of
God.
I'm Colorado, where woman suffrage pre-
walls, more is being done to cure the dis
the union.
Her public schools are improving faster
than ever before; she has taken hold of the
good roads movement with a vim. and
many other public improvements are dai;y
launched behind which woman's brain is
the propeller. There are many who believe
with me that the woman suffrage move
ment wild bring about the proverbal mil
| lennium.''
Two of the women delegates at the recent
convention of the American Federation of
Labor who attracted attention by their able
advocacy of the rights of working women
are MISS mary r.. Mcdowell Of the UniVer-
sity of Chicago Settlement and Mrs Mary
kenney O Sullivan of Boston. Both women
We're much interested in the passage of
resolution advocating universal peace be-
tween nations, while a the same time thew
fought on the floor for greater considera-
ton on the part of union men for working
women and girls. They We're accordingly
styled by delegate the fighting Marys
who advocate universal peace"
Mrs. o Sullivan has attended every con-
vention of the American Federatio of
Labor for years. Her husband. before his
death few years ago. was a well-known
writer on labor and economic subjects ana
Mrs. OSullivan supports her family now
by her pen. Miss Mcdowell is a later re-
cruit in the field of labor but the work she
has accomplished head of the settle
ment In the stock yards district in Chicago
has made her known throughout the coun-
try. They are among the few women who
are taken seriously by labor leaders as the
general tendency is to regard such workers
as faddists. Both are much interested in
the measure now before Congress calling
for thorough investigation Of the condi-
ton of women and girls in industry, with a
view to securing remedial legislation.
According to a decision rendered by
judge in Hamilton, Ont, a man who hires
out to an employer without making any
ARA npameDt regardinp pac 10 entitled