The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1906-11-30

'|
Der.
Las Angeles. Cal.-Rumors of n gen.
eral increase in wages on the South
ern Pacific, Sante 'Fe. and Salt Lake
railroads were verified to some eX.
tent by President Il, p, Ripley Of the
Sante Fe. There will he some in
crease in wages on all t~ranSconti'
mental railroads." said President Rip
ley, but the various unions will not
get all they ask for
Observation-Disclosures the action
Of the directors Of the Pennsylvania
railroad company, the directors OF the
Northern Central railway, the West
Jersey and Seashore railroad, and the
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washing
ton railroad, which are controlled by
the Pennsylvania, authorized an in
crease of ten per cent in the wages
of all permanent employees receiving
less than $500 a month,
Lima, GA 1--WE and ten per cent,
advance In the wages of all employees
Of the refining branch of the Standard
OIL company was announced here.
The advance affects Immediately 800
employees of the Solar refinery in this
city, and the army of employees at
Welker. Wood county, o.; in OIL City,
Pa; Whiting, Ind; Bayonne, N. j.;
| Denver, Col, and Charleston, S, G. No
notice of like advance has been re-
celved by the pipeline department,
but rumor has It that the voluntary
advance will extend to every branch
of the company.
Minneapolist-In his speech at the
convention Of the American Fedora.
tion OF Labor President Gompers de.
clared the printers had Won their bat
tie for an eight hour day, saying:
The International Typographical
union has practically enforced the
eight hour work day in that trade.
1t has been involved In a strike of Its
members since Sept. i,l90b. Since
that time at least 200 of our local
unions have had trouble on this ac-
| count. Some of them were out for
| only a day or two. We have had about
10000 men upon the strike roll from
the first OF the year. Or the
200 or more unions involved In the
eight hour difficulty at least 100 were
completely successful. We
therefore have 5000 on strike, 1000
working under %unexpired contracts,
and over $4,000 enjoying the eight
hour day"
New York.~-The New York, New
Haven & Hartford and the New York
| Central railroads came to an agree
ment with committees representing
the fremen of the two roads affecting
the status of the men on the new
electric locomotives, and the adjust
mont committee of the Erie locomo-
tive engineers announced 1t had
reached an understanding with the of
fclals of that system. The firemcn's
committee will confer further with the
New York Central and the New York,
New Haven & Hartford officials con,
corning the questions Of Increased
wages and shorter hours. IL was
| stated at the Erie Offices that there
will be no trouble In reaching an
agreement with the flremen, as Presi.
dent U~nderwood's letter to Chief Han
nahan was not a refusal to grant con
cessions, but simply a request to hold
off until settlements could be made
with yardmen, s%wltchmen, brakemen
and other employees of the company.
1t was said that when these adjust
ments have been made the demands
of the tiremep will be taken up. Those
considered reasonable will be grant.
ed.
Boston.--The annual convention Of
the National Metal Trades association
composed of manufacturers Of the
principal cities Of the country, will be
held here beginning March 20. The
association has nearly doubled Its
membership since the convention of
last year.
Chicago.-Switchmen on the rail-
roads of the country will profit to the
amount of nearly SO, 1000, 900 annually
through a settlement reached. Under
the new schedule of wages which
went into effect on November Is every
yard service employe will receive an
u addition to his wages of four cents an
hour. The roads probably Will put the
new wage schedule into effect for all
Of the $4,000 switchmen in the United
States. This was intimated to be the
plan by an official who attended the
conferences in Chicago. To each
switchman the increase means $40
more a week, or approximately s125
more annually. The advance is the
largest granted by the railroads to
any class of employees during the last
20 years. 1t amounts to about ~ per
cent, or two per cent. more than has
been given the employees of several
eastern railroads recently.
London.--The threatened strike OF
iron molders in the engineering
trade In Lancashire, England, has
been aVerteu. Inc stTlke, a II taken
place, would have been one of huge
proportions.
Providence, II. Lowing to general
prosperity in all sections of this state,
the United States Rubber company,
which owns large factories in Bristol
and Woonsocket, has issued orders
that all employees be placed on a nine
hour working day basis in lieu Of the
previous ten hour basis. This came
unsolicited. Operatives will receive
the same salary and wage.
San Antonio, Cal.--The Typograph.
ical union has organized a stock com.
pany, 1t Is said, with the intention OF
operating a printing plant In compe-
| tffinp With tim stnftap ehnnur af that