Willmar tribune., 1909-07-07

The union printers of the United
States and Canada, point with pride
to the Union Printers Home at Colo
rado Springs as one of their most no.
table achievements. This model home
and sanitarium has the unique distinc-
ton Of being the only institution of
the kind maintained by labor organi-
cation in this country.
One minute Of his working time ev-
cry day is what every union printer in
North America gives as his mite to-
ward the maintenance of the Union
Printers Home at Colorado Springs,
Col. Every month every one of the
$4,000 members of the International
Typographical Union pays an assess
ment of Is cents-half a cent a day,
or less than the amount the average
printer will earn il a minutes work
ing time. 1t is Email sacrifice, but
1t is this small sacrifice, coming from
every man, working in cooperation
with his fellow laborers, which gives
the home an annual fund of $4,000
for maintenance and improvements.
The printers have built an main
tanned the home themselves they
are proud of the fact. 1t is their
home; every man has an equal share
in it, an equal right to partake of it's
bounty If the time should come when
old age or illness should make it nec-
essary for him to retreat to the shell
ter in the rearing and maintaining
OF which he has done his small part.
In the beginning George w. Childs
and A. J. Drexel, proprietors of The
Philadelphia Ledger, made a gift of
$4,000 to the International Typo
graphical Union. With this as the
nucleus, the home fund was started
Since the foundation for the main
building were laid in 1891 nearly
100000 has been spent in buildings,
furnishings, improvements and main.
tenance. Every cent of this, with the
exception Of the Childs-Drexel gift
and the income from the Julia A. Ladd
endowment Of $1,000, has been con-
tributed by the printers themselves.
Not only has the Union Printers
Home proven to the world a splendid
example of what can be accomplished
by harmonious cooperation, but it has
been to other labor unions and fra
ternal organizations an inspiration be-
cause of it's humanitarian features. It
has been the pioneer institution in its
field and has become the model from
which others copy ideas and methods.
Figures may tell part of the story
of the Union Printers Home. But it
is not sufficient to know that the prop
erty, which stands on a commanding
eminence east Of Colorado Springs, is
to-day valued at $1,00O,000 when 20
years ago this tract was barren prairie
land which could have been bought for
a few dollars an acre; or to learn that
there are now six buildings on the
grounds, the main building, the tuber-
culosis sanitarium, the superintend.
ent's cottage, the laundry. heating
plant and barns, besides the $50, 900
addition, the beginning of which has
just been authorized by the trustees.
IL is not enough to know how these
80 acres have been reclaimed from
barren waste until they form one of
the garden spots of the continent; nor
to be told that in all more than 1000
men have been admitted to residence
since 1892, that the average number
at any one time is 145, and that the
average cost, per resident, is $33 a
month, this sum covering all ordinary
expenses in connection with the prop
erty.
1t is far more significant to learn
how this home has been so managed
that it has become indeed a sanitari-
um where the sick may sojourn for a
time to build up, in Colorado's health
giving climate, their broken constitu-
tons and restore lost strength and vi