The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1907-09-13
c Cigarmakers Set Mr..
Whitten, Secretary, Right

Office of the Secretary, Cigarmak-
ers' Union, No. 143, Lincoln, Neb.-To
Secretary Whitten, of the Lincoln
Commercial Club.-Dear Sir: 1t has
come to the notice of this organiza-
ton that for some time past you have
seen fit to charge us, the union cigar
makers of Lincoln, with having pre-
vented you from securing for Lincoln
another cigar factory that would en-
ploy from twenty to thirty or more
men. It is further understood that
you have, directly or indirectly,
charged that our organization was
acting on the behest of the local man
Ifacturers, who are quoted as being
opposed to bringing any more cigar
them.
We desire to state the exact facts
to the public, and having stated them,
we court the fullest investigation and
are willing to abide by the results.
/ The factory to which you refer is
the Pepperburg factory at Platts-
mouth. Instead of employing from
twenty to thirty men the year around,
as you report, Pepperburg had three
men at work the day he conferred
with a committee from this local, to-
gether with yourself, at the CONNER
cial Club. We venture the assertion
that Pepperburg does not employ an
average of seven men the year around
But that is neither here nor there.
You charge that because we would
not make Pepperburg concession we
thereby prevented him from locating
il Lincoln, and you declare that this
refusal was at the instigation of the
employers. and that we acted in an
arbitrary and selfish manner
We deny both your assertions, and
We cheerfully submit the proof that
| you have been, and still are, doing us
All injustice by your false assertions
and reports.
The leading cigar made by Pepper
burg is the Bud" This cigar is an
odd size, being 45s inches long. He
insisted that our local consent to a
change in our scale that would per-
NIT him to have this cigar made for
$40 a thousand. Lincoln employers
are now paying us $11 for a clear seed
mouldwork cigar of the same length.
1t we gave Pepperburg the concession
it would simply mean that we would
have to consent to reduction of 81
a thousand for making cigars of all
classes contemplated in our schedule,
and below the 41a-inch limit. In other
words. we were expected to be pa
triotic enough to consent to practical
reduction of $3.50 week in our wages
in order to secure another cigar fac
tory for Lincoln. And because we de-
clined to carry our civic pride and
our local patriotism to that extent
SIS a year for each mantle secre-
tary of the Commercial Club criticizes
us most severely.
We insist that according to our
wages and our opportunities we are
doing just as much for the upbuilding
of Lincoln as the secretary of the
Commercial Club, or any member
thereof. If the Commercial Club is
in earnest nits desire to increase
in earnest in it's desire to increase
in Lincoln it can do so without going
to the trouble of trying to induce an
other manufacturer to locate here. 1t
can accomplish the object by indulg-
Lincoln" and "patronizing home in
dustry," and doing whole lot less of
preaching about it. The Commercial
Club, which is always crying for
ample to us cigarmakers The Com
mercial Club sells cigars for the ac-
commodation of it's members, all of
whom are supposed to be boosters for
home industries. And yet, among the
twelve or fifteen brands Of cigars sold
at the Commercial Club only one is
manufactured in Lincoln. The others
are all manufactured in the east,
either by the tobacco trust or by
sweat shop employers who have their
perfumed and doctored cigars made
, in filthy tenements.
Here are the prices we charge for
making "clear seed, hand mould"
cigars, the kind Pepperburg wants to
make in Lincoln:
. Az inches or less, per M. ......$ 500