Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-07

AS it stands now 1t may be said that the
eight-hour day has been established in the
composing rooms throughout the country
and 1t looks as If it would extend to all
other departments within a short time. The
printers have borne the brunt OF the battle
alone and II the shorter workday L. COM
pietely tnahgurated within the next six
months. they alone are entitled to the
credit.
The strike OF jewelry workers for an
e1ght-hour day has been declared off So far
as outward appearances go IT was a failure
for the workers for they returned to their
posts without having gained any conces-
sions They, however. refuse to regard
the strike as a failure. They assert that
1t was the means of bringing the morgan
lied men into the union and that the Or
ganlzatlon is in a stronger position today
than ever before. All the men who de-
sired their former places were reinstated,
as the employers secured practically no
non-union men during the strike. 1t was
the jewelry workers first experiment in the
way of a strike, so that IL they have gaind
nothing else. they have no doubt learned q
lesson by experience that will prove valu-
able to them in the future. The employers
have also learned little. so that the next
time the workers make a request for re-
duction In hours 1t will probably receive
more attention than it did last time
The American Federation of Labor Is
about to conduct an Investigation of a
number of problems confronting the wage
earners of the country. President Gompers
has appointed committee of three men in
number of cities to investigate
i. The apprentice question.
z. Displacement of labor by the machine,
= 3. Ins1dious child labor.
4. Graduates of the trade school, manual
training schools and schools OF technology.
o. lnsanitary conditions in hone and
shop.
The committee appointed by President
Gompers to investigate the subjects men,
on 10 nnrr NCad Of
w. Perkins president of the Cigarmakers'
International Union; e. N. Nockles, secre-
tary of the Chicago Federation of Labor,
and Luke Grant of the Chicago Record
Herald. The committee Will hold its first
meeting during the week and outline a plan
for making an investigation that will prove
instructive
Delegates representing the American So
ciety OF Equity, an organization of farm
ers, extending over twenty-four states will
appear at the coming convention of the
American Federation Of Labor for the
avowed purpose of establishing relations
between the two bodies.
1t is proposed to brand all farm truck
with the society of equity label, and the
unions agree not to buy any products
which do not bear such label Receiving
stations are to be built in the various cities
where union farmers will place their pro-
duce on sale.
In return for the protection which the
unions promise the farmers, the latter agree
not to buy any but union made goods, and
promise not to take the places of union
men in case OF strikes.
The farmers are we'll organized, MAIN
tanning Office at Chicago, ard appear
to be working upon well-defined plan.
Their determination to openly seek direct
aff1liation with labor unions was made
known on the same day in twelve widely
scattered cities in the United States
In the southern states there are sixteen
carpenters unions of colored men. The
brotherhood claims Jurisdiction jour-
neymen carpenters or toiners, planning mill
bench hands. cabinetmakers or men rum
ming woodworking machinery. But their
claims to this extensive jurisdiction have
not been undisputed. The Amalgamated
Society OF Carpenters, an English organiza-
ton, and the-Amalgamated Woodworkers
have both contested 1t before conventions
of the American Federation of Labor.
The enmity of the brotherhood and the
amalgamated society was one of the main
causes of the New York building trades
strike in 1903. The American Federation
has not yet decided the jurisdiction dispute,
but both sides are now working a.nicaSly
under a compromise The Amalgamated
Woodworkers dispute the authority of the
brotherhood over men running Woodworking
machinery.