The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1908-10-17
A BOOK FOR woRk,NemEN.
Letters From a WorI<ingman" Worthy
Of Every Mans PerusaI.


Of Every Mans PerusaI.
One of the best books on labor
| topics that has ever come to the at
tention of The Wageworker is en-
titled Letters From a Workingman-
| The author conceals his identity un-
| der the non de plume of An Ameri-
can Mechanic" and it takes but a mo-
ment's perusal to realize that the man
VINO wrote it is mechanic. an
American and union man. The book
deals with topics that are of ever pres
ent interest to the wage-earners of the
United States, and appears as collec-
ton of letters written by a machinist
| named Sam" to friend named
jim. Some idea of the topics dis
cussed may be had from the chapter
headings: THE Workingman and the
Church," Labor and the Saloon"
Human Nature In the Shop" Spies
in the Shop;r "A Living Wage; East
Side Crowds and Foreign Missions"
i These letters are written in a breezy
| chatty way. but every line breathes a
tice in the daily life if the present day
labor problems ever are solved. In
discussing the apprenticeship problem
| Sam" says:
| Trade schools have been startoe:
| for the purpose of teaching boys to be
como all round mechanics. 1t is sup
posed that this will help, and 1 guess
il will to some extent. Employers as,
sociations are strongly backing these
enterprises, but in most cases the
schools become recruiting stations for
scabs when strike is on
| And in that one brief statement
Sam" punctuates the whole theory
of trades schools as outlined by the
employers and sought to be foisted up
on the people as part of the public
school system. Speaking of -The
Workingman and the Church the
writer says:
The fellows in the shop tell of
preacher who put on a pair of overalIs
and attended a number of churches to
see how genuine workingman would
be welcomed. They felt quite lndig-
nant about it, because. they said no
self-respec:ing workingman wcnid &c
to church that way. He'd pull OFF his
overalls, put on the best clothes :.e
had, and go to church like any other
man.
This is sly, but deserved slap at
a large percentage of preachers. who
know just about that much of the
workingman and how to reach him
SAM" in the chapter on Trades
Union Principles" says:
But about this whole business Of
judging unions-why does everybody
gauge us by our worst points, whereas
they themselves expect to be judged
by their best? Folks don't treat any
organization as they do ours. in thiss
respect
We could fill columns with extracts
from the book without exhausting it's
many good points. But the book must
be read to be appreciated. Several Of
the letters appeared in the Outlook"
the Independent" and "The Christian
Endeavor World" They are certain to
have a. far.reaching effect for good in
the discussion of the great industrial
problems that confront us.
Settlement ofsthe Iowa Central rail-.
way shopmen's strike at Marshall
town, Ia, which has been on since
April %, was effected last week, after
two days conference. The men will
return to work Monday. The shops
remain union. A general advance of
one cent is granted over the amount
received when the strike was declared
but the advance is several cents
der the demand of the men at the
time of the strike