The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1906-11-02
NEWS OF TRADE AND LABOR
General information Concerning Those Who Are Doing
the Work of the World.

dollars TO $5.5O a day, with a reduc-
ton in weekly hour from SO to A.
Operative plasterers' union v
ton at Toronto decided that q refer
endum vote should be taken by the
membership on the question of afhliat-
ing with the A. +. of l.. The leaders
believe that it will be decided in ia
yor.
An all-roInd increase of so cents a
day has been secured by the Wood
Carvers' union in New York city, and
is to remain In force until the middle
of 1908. The members work eight
hours a day and a half day on Sat
urday.
At Las Vegas, N. NJ, the COW and
sheep herders have organized a union,
the scale of pay being $40 a month
and found" in the sage brush or else
where. The sheep herders are ar
ranged in eight hour shifts with Sun
days off.
East Liverpool, O., with a popula-
ton of $4,000, is one of the most
strongly organized cities in the Unit
ed States. Its trades council Is noted
far and wide as being most progress
sive and up to date in its handling of
all questions dealing with labor.
Rhode Island state bureau of indus
trial statistics issued its annual re-
port for 1905. 1t shows that the num-
Der of wage earners has increased
nearly 10 pei, cent. over 1904, with 49,
43S as against 53,189 the previous
year. In the same period the total
wages paid increased more than IL
per cent, from $22, 63O,536 to s25,126,-
300. An even greater increase is
shown in the value Of products with
a gain of $685. 4O, 252 in 1905, as com
pared with $109, 140,753 in 1904.
The fight between the National
Founders association and the Iron
Molders' union, which started last
May continues to drag along with lit
tie change in the conditions. Chicago
manufacturers say that their output
is almost normal, while the striking
molders assert that they are perfect
iy satisfied with the situation. The
number of men on the strike pay roll
has been reduced to 10 for the past
week, the rest of the 5000 members
of the union being at work under the
new conditions.
Judge Taylor in the United States
court at Toledo, o., granted a tenn
porary injunction restraining striking
u,n,1,n,nn nj tho pnpa Motion Nar
works for picketing the plant or in
n way interfering with the non
union men at work. The injunction
involves between $50 and 800 striking
machinists, and is n OF the most
sweeping ever granted by a court in
Toledo. The strike has been in prog.
ress at the Pope plant for more thar
a month, and the men were replaced
by imported machinists from eastern
cities.
The French trades union congress
at its closing session defeated, by $50
to eight votes, a motion to enter into
permanent relations with the social
lists, and adopted a resolution to hold
aloof from politics and devote the en-
ergies of the trades unions for the
present to the amelioration of the con
dition of the workmen, a reduction OF
the hours Of labor, and the Increase
of wages. The resolution reasserts
the adherence of the congress to the
principle of a general strike for the
accomplishment of the final object OF
the trades unionists, namely, the ex-
preparation of capital and social reor-
ganization on a basis by which the
unions would ultimately become pro-
ducers and distributors.
Unique in the history of Chicago's
industrial disputes is the strike of
jewelry workers. There is no picket
ing of shops, as is the case in nearly
all strikes, and %nonunion men are out
and standing solidly with their union
fellow workmen. Neither side to the
dispute is calling the other side hard
names, and the usual complaint Of
hard taskmakers and intolerable
working conditions is never heard. 1t
is the first strike the jewelry workers
have engaged in since the local union
was organized, about five years ago.
Michigan supreme court recently
gave the following decision of impor-
lance to all trade unions: Working
men have the right to fix a price upon
their labor and to refuse work unless
that price is obtained. Singly or in
combination, they have this right.
They may use persuasion to induce
men to join their organization or re-
fuse to work except for an establish
ed wage. They may present their
cause to the public in newspapers or
circulars, In a peaceable way and
with no attempt at coercion. II the
effect in such a case is ruin to the
employer it is damnum absque injuria,
for they have only exercised their le-
gal rights"
An industry in Marking, China,
which is said to employ 10000 or TO-
900 OF the inhabitants is that of paper
fan making. The paper for the fans
is imported, and Is cut, pasted and
folded in Marking, the result appear
ing In the export table as fan pa
pers."
In France the transport trades
have the largest number of unions,
but the engineering, metal, mining
and textile trades have the largest
membership. The building trades
have also o large number of unions.
The total number of unions Is said to
be 4,625, and the membership 7sl,344.
It has long beeh admitted that Mas
sachusetts takes the lead in the en-
actment Of laws for the protection OF