Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-16
IN LABOR CIRCLES
asse

fact getting an important line on the condi-
ton of the workingmen there and planting
the seed for large acquisitions to the fed
GRAFTON.
1t Is known that one of the principal
crafts in Cuba is that of cigar making, and
as President Gompers is himself cigar
maker, he is said to have been lat home"
In his consultations with the men who make
the Habana perfectos and other brands of
like flavor. According to the local dealer
1t is proba BILE that when the A. F. l.. meets
| again in annual session there may be dele
gates present from Cuba.
President Gompers' interest in the well
fare of the working classes in Porto Rico
Is Well known. 1t is remarked that he may
display an equal interest in the toilers in
Cuba.
The national convention of the United
Mine Workers of America began its ses-
sions yesterday at Indianapolis. Speaking
of the convention, F. s. McCullough a
member Of the national executive board,
who has been located in Maryland for some
months, said that the national officers had
no opposition for reelection, but that the
case was different with the district officials
as in a number of the states there was
keen competition for the positions Mr..
Mccullough said that he believed this was
true on account of the growing interest
that all the individual members were TAX
ing in the organization and because the
union was now in a position to pay the Off
Gals salary and give them a position that
was worth striving for. There was a time,
it is said, when it was very hard to get
man to accept even the high offices in the
district
Mr.. Mccullough said that there We're no
vital questions such the making of
new scale, to come up before the conven-
ton which would be of such importance
that no time or thought could be given to
anything that did not materially affect the
y n or fEay antf fr,oa
For this reason more time will be given to
the finer points and questions that affect
the organization and yet are not vital to its
present existence. Such matters as child
labor will be taken w.
The president has suggested the appoint
ment of committee to investigate the con-
dition of women and children employed in
the mines. The conditions under which for
eigners are forced to labor will also be dis
cussed. This same question was brought
up before the district convention during
the week by Secretary William Dodds, who
stated that 1t had often been said the mem
bers of the United Mine Workers of Amer
lea were opposed to having foreigners join
the organization. This, he said, was not
true, but that they were opposed to having
foreigners work in the mines who were not
miners and knew so little about their occu-
patton that they endangered the lives of
the men with whom they worked
Next year a great effort will be made in
the direction of organizing it is said as at
the end of the present year 1t Will be neces-
sary to renew the bituminous wage scale
and the men want to be prepared for that
occasion. Portions of West Virginia and
Pennsylvania are badly in need of being
reorganiZed. leaders declare. There are
about $4,000 miners working in the United
States and about 215OO0 of these are or
ganiZed.
The Carriage and Wagon Workers, Wash
ington Local. No. y, has adopted resoiu
tons of coincidence and respect to the
memory of the late Edward l.. Jordan.
They are signed by John H.Brinkman, chair
man of the strike committee, and Henry
c. Stein, secretary, and recite that Organ
lied labor has lost one of it's oldest and
ablest champions in the person of Edward
l.. Jordan, whose splendid abilities were
ever eXerted to further the interests of the
Carriage and Wagon Workers Local
No. 70
Brother Jordan gave cheerfulr to the
trade union movement the best that was
in him, and was a lifelong worker for the
establishment of better conditions for all
classes of Workmen.
1t was resolved, THAT this local
union, by a rising vote, expresses its deep
sense of gratitude for the noble work per
formed by our departed brother and its
sorrow for the loss sustained by the labor
movement in his death, and that the secre-
tary of this body be instructed to convey
to the family of our deceased brother the
heartfelt sympathy and sorrow of this local
union, and that a copy of these resolutions
be spread upon the minutes and copies sent
to the Plate Printers Union and the ess."
A labor writer in Pittsburg. Pa, says:
1.-The race question is coming up in the
labor organizations and becoming more
urgent every day. The colored men are
learning trades and at the present time
very few of them are employed as common
day laborers compared to the numbers that
used to earn their livelihood in that man.
ner. According to the constitution of the
unions any man employed in the same
trade can become a member of the
ganiza ton. The members of the unions
are striving for freedom and fair treat
ment themselves. and it does not seem fair
to them to shut out the negroes by clause
in the constitution of the organization.
AN officer of the elevator constructors
union smiled when he asked if any
negroes We're members of his organiZa-
ton, and said: The negroes are allowed
far as the constitution goes to belong
to our organization. but only one or two
of them have ever attempted it. Some of
them start to learn the trade but they
grow disguised before they have learned
AN officer of the stationary firemens
union, in speaking Of the matter said: 1t
makes me tired the way the members talk
about the colored men employed at the
same trade and by the way they treat
them so as to exclude them from the or
ganiza ton. Then when they act as seabs
non-union men they pitch into the poor
colored people as if it was their fault in
stead of being the fault of the very men
as far as work goes are just as good Is
white men, and labor organization is not
gotten up for social purposes / do not
see why they are excluded.
What would seem to be a solution of
the matter and a scheme that has been
carried out in the hosting engineers trade
might be carried out in all unions sue
cessfully. The colored men employed as
hoistng engineers formed a union of their
own and they have a wage scale and
agreement with the employers. Their wage
scale is not exactly the same as that of
the other union in the same trade and they
are not affiliated with the international
union. So far the two unions have gotten
along peaceably. The union formed of white
men is much larger than the other. 1t is
the general opinion among the other or
CARNATIONS that If the two unions had
the same wage scale and the union COM
posed of colored men was affiliated with
the international union 1t would be better
for both ORGANIZATIONS
Various officers of trade unions in talk
ing over the matter usually refer to the
Association of Iron, Steel
and Tin Workers as one of the organiZa-
tons where the negroes are entirely eX-
cluded. Assistant Secretary Tighe, in re-
ferring to the matter. said that if this was
SO that it was not the fault of the officers
of the organization, in the strike carried
on by the organization in 1901 there were
a number of locals composed of negroes
ha viz of Whom the