The Oskaloosa herald., 1908-10-22
IONA HAS 47,O0O
UNION LABOR men
ACCORDING TO REPORT OF COM
MISSIONER BRIGHAM.
STRIKES ARE GROWING FEWER
Wages Show Good Increase During
the Year, and Remarkable Ad-
vance Since Hard Times
Preceding 1906.

4
Preceding 1906.
| Des Moines. Ia, Oct. 21.--State La
Dor Commissioner Brigham's report,
which is about ready for lie press,
shows that with reference to about
47,0O0 organized laboring men in
Iowa the minimum scale of wages
paid union men has increased S.Sl
per cent during the last two years
over the year 1905, and the wages OF
the maximum scale have increased
| 7.64 per cent. The maximum refers
to the highest wages paid to the work.
ers in the various trades unions and
the minimum to the lowest. The
minimum, therefore, has increased
more rapidly than the maximum show
ing that the wage scale of the state
is becoming more equalized.
The startling feature of the report,
however, is the decrease in the num-
Der of strikes. During the two year
period just past there were only 20
strikes reported in all the branches
of organized labor and in but one in
/ obdhSC W do NHClS ludu UHC
in any one union, during the period.
| Compared with the six year period
from 1894 to 1900 when there were
S31 strikes among organized laborers
in Iowa, or an average of about 12S
year, the figures will reveal an extra
ordinary peaceful condition in Iowa
organized union labor circles. While
| hr 60 of IT.
prior to 1900 was 12S, the average of
each of the last two years was only
141a.
! The lesson of these figures is the
wonderful growth of organized labor
in the state. With their ranks more
firmly welded together and more po-
| tent for better wages and better con-
ditions, organized labor has been able
to accomplish its purposes peacefully.
where formerly the industrial world
!, was continually rent with dissensions,
effecting every section
1t is not only the figures which show
the chaotic condition of union labor
in the COS. The preface to the Iowa
labor report for 1897 says. During the
! tAlIeIlSly tlDlto VI the past lew
years, the labor organizations through
| out the state suffered to a very great
| extent, both from a numerical and
i financial standpoint. Some found it
necessary to absolutely disband, 9TH
i ers 10 curtail expenses in various
ways and to amend their laws to the
existing conditions" The returning
| ftxr Oh, ya1 49,
things in sight and renewed deter
mination on the part of organized
labor to profit by the sufferings of the
hard times years and guide their
steps accordingly.
j The present prosperous condition
of the labor unions presents to the
membership forcibly the necessity of
maintaining the principles which haye
insured the opportunity of their grow
tn during the past ten years. The
great increase in the wealth of the
country, and the demand for labor has
given them an opportunity to perfect
and strengthen their organization and
secure more equal distribution OF
wealth.
They have been aided in their eff
forts by republican national and state
administrations. Not the least potent
in the preparation of labor statistics
and in bringing to the public atten-
ton the necessity of strong labor or
CARNATIONS, have been the labor bur-
eaus of state and nation. In the Uni
ted States government the head of the
labor bureau has been made mem
Der of the presidents cabinet. Laws
have been passed aiding labor organ
izations in some of their most vital
struggles, for instance the eight hour
labor law, the government setting the
example for other employers by de-
claring that none of its employees shall
be required to work longer than eight
hours a day, and that no contractors
or sub-contractors shall require their
employees to so labor
In its fight for the children of the
land, to keep them from the sweat
shops and factories, the government
has gone as far as it could under the
y constitution and enacted model
child labor law for the District of Col
4 umbia, which comes under its i'm
4 mediate supervision. M
II 1t has reversed the legal status OF
!. centuries, by enacting an employers
II liability law, making 1t no bar, in u
federal court, to the recovery OF dam
ages, because fellow employee has
been negligent, or because the em-
ploye himself has been but partly at
n fault The constitution does not al
RI low the United States government to
be sued, but recognizing the justice OF
the claim that the government should
reimurse its employees IL they are IN
o jured in line OF duty, congress has
/. provided the government liability
I'll Law. Those are only a few OF he
measures which have helped organic