The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-05-30
their only chance of Improvement

l. their only chance Of Improvement.
for given enough strike breakers the
employers can at all times impose up
on their workers long hours Of toll, low
wages and conditions Of, employment
which though nominally free, are some-
times worsc than those suffered by the
slaves Of old. II Ia a well.known fact
that human greed IA callous, that II can
only be checked BY stern aud united 70.
slstancc.
Lot MS come down 10 matters OF the
present, familiar to all observers
When the automatic coupler was In.
vented, the railroad managers refused
to put Il on the cars because Il meant
the expenditure Of some money, The
trades unions Of this country, through
the voting power Of their members,
compelled congress to pass q law re'
qulring the placing on every car II
such couplers, These couplers now
yearly save thousands Of lives Of rail-
road employees. With plenty Of strike
breakers In the land that could be de-
pended upon 70 break up our unions,
the numbering and manning ot these
railroad workers would continue,
There are now many railroad acci.
dents. cansine great loss Of life. What
Il the cause of these accidents In many
II not the majority Of casesi Senator
la Toilette VI Wisconsin, recently
proved II on the floor of the U. 8, Sen.
ate, when his bill, limiting the work Of
train crews TO 10 hours In every "a,
was up for discussion, that a large mum.
Der Of disastrous train wrecks we're
caused by train wrecks were caused by
trainmcn being compelled to work more
than 10 hours per day. This bill,
against the protest and hllbusterIng Of
senators with railroad collars AROUND
their necks, became law because the
railroad hrutherhoods, backed by other
labor unions. insisted on its passage.
With "heros strike breakers and no
railrpad brotherhoods In consequence,
railroad engineers could still be COM
pelled to continuously work 20 or more
hours, until exhausted nature could
stand the strain no longer and q sleep
ing engineer. with the throttle In bis
hand, along with q score Of passengers,
would be hurled to death.
Take for instance the strike Of the
carmen at San Francisco In that city
since the earth quake, rent and general
living expenses have enormously in.
creased. Likewise traffic conditions, on
account Of congestion caused by the 70.
building of the city, are so crowded In
certain limits that tho carmen have 10
perform during the day almost twice
the amount Of work they did before the
earthquake. They ask that they be
paid SO for an s.hour day. The United
Railroads. street railroad trust which
never hesitates for the sake OF selfish
gain, TO corrupt city officials, though
it may cost over half million dollars
as II did in San Francisco, proclaims
II cannot afford to pay these wages to
the employees and imports gun fighters
from Kentucky and from the slums Of
New York, Chicago, Boston and other
large cities to temporarily run It's cars,
paying these gun fighters $3.50 per day
and giving them free lodging and food.
viii this corporation continue 10 pay
these wages when the strike Is brokeny
Certainly not. 1t viii discharge these
men who win live In idleness until an.
other call comes from some other city
to act as strike breakers, as "heroes."
Another instance in point. There are
2000 laundry workers now on strike in
San Francisco. Six years ago, when
they were not united, these laundry
workers, about 1900 women and 400
men, worked from 10 to lB hours per-
day. And what work in steam laun.
dry on a hot day means, only those
who have been through ono, under
stand. For this work the men were
paid from $40 to $40 per week and the
women from "a TO ~. In some Of these
there were bunk houses where
from 50 to 200 women were housed and
fed by the companies on food that
would nauseate dog One half Of
their weekly earnings usually went for
such food and lodging. Disease and
under such conditions were
inevitable eoncomitants. Since organ.
ization these men and women have in
creased their wages to q decent living
standard, have abolished the bunk.
house system reduced the hours Of To-
Dor to nine and are now striking for
the s-hour day. The strike breaking
"heroess should they succeed IN do.