The wageworker., 1908-10-10
Wage Farmers of Lincoln
Will Demand Recognition

7AAAAA14
Moines, or some other city with a
view to investigating the commission
plan, and
Whereas, The president of the Com
mercial club has seen fit to name upon
this committee one retail merchant.
one physician who is an ofiicehofder,
one newspaper man and one bank
cashier, and has utterly failed to rec
ognize or give representation to that
class which makes up by far the larg-
est proportion of Lincoln's citizenship.
the wage earners, who have contribut-
ed more to the upbuilding Of Lincoln.
industrially, commercially and morally.
than any or all other classes, therefore
be it
Resolved, By typographical Union
No. 2O9, that we, the union printers
labor and serve notice here and now
that we will seek the cooperation of
our fellow wage earners in a move
ment having for it's object the secur-
ing of the management of city affairs
by those whose toll and sacrifices have
made Lincoln of commanding import
ance in the municipal life of the mid
die west.
Resolved, That the skilled wage
earners of the city, regardless of union
or non-union affiliations, be requested
to cooperate with the members of this
organization and other organizations
to the end that the time may soon
come when those who honestly seek
to secure better things for our city will
realize the necessity of recognizing the
largest and most useful element in the
municipality-the wage earners.
Resolved, That Lincoln Typographi-
cal Union No. 209, majority of whose
| membership are men of family and
home owners, that we emphatically
protest against these continued sights
put upon the wage earners. and that
| no opportunity be lost in future to
impress upon the minds of all that
| we will in future resent them"
| The resolutions as read were adopt
ed amidst applause. Similar resolu-
tions should be adopted by every
| trades union in the city, and the re-
| quest of the printers for cooperation
should be complied with by the union
lists of the city.
1t seems that there are people who
hold the opinion that because a man
works for wages at some trade he is
untitled to take part in municipal gov
ernment, or too ignorant or careless
to take any interest therein. The men
who work for wages form the largest
! element in Lincoln's citizenship, and
a great many of them are home own
ers, heads of families and deeply inter-
ested in everything calculated to con-
tribute to the betterment of Lincoln.
Just why this element Of Lincoln So
ciety is persistently ignored every
| time something like this commission
plan comes up is mystery. But If
it continues the fault will lie with the
workingmen themselves.
No one can find anything to criticize
in the gentlemen appointed by Presf-
dent Hardy upon this committee. But
the mere fact that they are men who
have been successful in their business
is no sign that they are any better
fitted to manage the affairs of the
municipality than the men who have
succeeded in making good as printers,
as electrical workers, as carpenters, as
bricklayers or any other branch Of
the skilled trades Neither does it sig
nifty that they are any better fitted to
investigate the workings of the COM
missioner system than a hundred or
more skilled mechanics in Lincoln, or
any more interested in any plan caIcu-
lated to better the municipal govern
ment
The Wageworker suggests that the
Central Labor Union appoint a COM
mittee to investigate the commission
plan and formulate some ideas for
presentation to the skilled mechanics
of Lincoln. It might come to pass
that the wage-earners of the city took
such interest that they formulated a
plan of their own, secured the adop-
tiOn and then furnished the men to
put it into practical working effect.
They certainly could do it if they were
so minded.
At any rate, it is a matter well wor-
thy the attention of the mechanics of
Lincoln.