The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1910-09-02
UNI0NLAB0R WINS
Bucks Stove and Range Com
pany Abandons Fight.
SHOPS TO Be uNIoNIzED.
Controversy Of Four Years Standing
Results In Great Victory For Or
sanized Labor = Contempt Cases
Not Affected.

Results In Great Victory For Or
sanized Labor = Contempt Cases
Not Affected.
After making. strenuous war on Or
ganized labor for four years. and in
voking the aid of the federal courts in
Its efforts to overthrow the move
ment through the writ of injunction
and prison sentences against some of
the chief officials Of the movement
the Bucks Stove and Range company
of St. Louis has made a complete sur
render to the unions, and declared it's
purpose to grant their demands in fu-
ture. The plant Of the company. I'M
der the agreement which has been
reached. will be thoroughly unionized.
and all causes Of contention will be
Immediately removed.
The agreement between labor repre-
sentatives and the company was reach
ed in the Cincinnati Office Of the In
ternational Molders' union a short
time ago and was signed by William
81. Cribben and Thomas * Hogan of
Chicago. representing the Bucks Stove
and Range company and the Stove
Founders National Defense associa-
ton. and by the officers of the several
unions involved.
This battle between employer and
employee. which has now passed into
history, began in the fall Of 1906 in the
esto yorye, af ~
and Range company in st. Louis. The
metal polishers demanded nine hour
day instead of the ten hour day which
they then had. President Van Cleave
refused to listen to the polishers. and
the stove concern was placed on the
unfair list in the. publications Of or
ganized labor throughout the country
President Van Cleave took the matter
into the courts On the ground that the
American federation'S unfair" list
constituted boycott and secured the
decision.
in the meantime Mr.. Van Cleave
was elected to the presidency of the
National Association of Manufacture
ers. an organization whose chief pur-
pose is resistance to the demands Of
labor. Then in the Christmas holidays
of 1908 came the decision of Judge d.
Thew Wright. formerly of Cincinnati.
Which sentenced Samuel Gompers to
Jail for one year. John Mitchell. vice
president of the federation. for nine
months and Frank Morrison. its secre-
tary, for six months. The sentence
was pronounced because the federation
officials had not needed the judges in
junction to cease naming the Bucks
company in the unfair list. The labor
officials Immediately appealed to the
supreme court. which will render it's
decision in October.
The appeal from the contempt pro-
ceedings and the Jail sentences pend
ing in the supreme court of the Unit
ed States will not be affected by the
agreement. except to the extent that
the attorneys for the Bucks Stove
and Range company will no longer
figure in the case. That has become
government case and its manage
ment is in the hands of the attorney
general of the United States.
The agreement which has ended this
controversy is of the greatest import
ance to organized labor. The contro-
versy itself. in its nature. the persist
ency with which it was carried on and
the consequences involved. was the
most considerable and far reaching the
labor movement has ever engaged in.
And its adjustment on the terms de-
manded by the adherents of that move
ment is the most signal and significant
triumph they have ever won. In eff
feet. it proclaims and emphasizes the
fact that. after exhausting all it's re-
sources in an unholy crusade against
the toilers of the land. and securing
many temporary advantages through
the aid of subservient and biased
judiciary. the Bucks Stove and Range
company. with the National Associa-
ton of Manufacturers behind it. has
been compelled to confess itself beaten
and accede to everything it has been
| fighting against. The outcome is an
other striking proof that the claims Of
organized labor are righteous. and that
the American people acknowledge they
are. when left to consider them apart
from personal interests and embittered
partisan feelings. Score one, and a
large one, for justice. freedom and
equal rights!-Minnesota Union Advo-
cate.