Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-04-06
GENERAL ORGANIZER OF CIGAR
MAKERS UNION TELLS OF
uNloNIsM.
SANITARY CONDITIONS
ARE GREATLY IMPROVED
Mr.. French Cites Unions Successful
Effort in Reducing Death Rate
Among Cigar makers From Tuber-
cuIosis-Dr. A. &. kepford, Tuber-
cuIosis Lecturer, Speaker Tonight.

One of the very best addresses de-
livered during the trades unionists' re-
vival was that of Tuesday evening in
the east court room by George r.
French, of Louisville, KY, general or
ganizer of the Cigarmakers' Interna
tional Union. There was a fair sized
audience, which gave the closest at
tention thruout the talk Of more than
an hour
| Mr.. French began with the statement
| that there is nothing new in the labor
| movement, that the strifes for those
! ehings which rightfully belong to the
| Workingnen are as old as the race, and
that they are actuated by the same
aims and aspirations as in the begin
ming, but that the proposition is more
! serious and complicated today than
heretofore.
| The movement means business, he
said. Its purpose is 10 help mankind
along in the strus gle for better things,
and declared there is a difference be-
| tween the man who merely belongs to
a union and the real union man. The
union is Of more Importance to the
ever before the wages and conditions
contended for being both humane and
| just
| Reviewing the history of the cigar
makers union, the speaker said the
| eight-hour day was adopted in 1885,
! that prior to that time the mortality
among members from tuberculosis was
Al per cent and that the death rate
now from the same cause is but 41a
per cent; also that the average life of
the cigarmaker has been increased
fifteen years; all as a result Of i'm
proved sanitary and general condi-
lions.
Mr. French said he noticed after
coming to the city too much evidence
of the child of the trust, and that ev-
cry time a union man purchases a scab
article he becomes an employer him
self and encourages the trusts. He adj
vised a continuous fight against prison
and tenement made cigars and the
great tobacco trust He said the cigar
makers union has membership of
$4,000 in the United States, Canada and
Porto Rico, and a sinking fund of
$3.50 900. We don't want strikes, he
declared, knowing how disastrous they
are, but desire arbitration of differ
ences. However, some men need fight
We put our money against their"
said the speaker, and go into win. 1t
takes money. sympathy without relief
is empty and worthless
According to Mr. trench's statement
the cigarmakers We're authors of the
union label, and spent more money in
advertising it than all the other or
CARNATIONS combined; that they had
not held convention in fourteen years
and that the executive officers have
! never yet met in conference, their sys-
tenn being such that there is no neces-
sity for It.
Passing to the trades union cause in
general, Mr.. French said there was no
obstacle the workingmen could not
surmount if they exercised the power
Of their organization and unity, that
they could not exert their present in
iluence in sha ping legislation without
this recognized power. Education and
I organization, tenets of the trades I'M
ions, means civilization and civiliza-
ton means advancement in everything,
ne asserted. He thought all members
should be organizers, missionaries, so
10 speak, in their own homes and
communities, and said that the labor
movement is the unionists' meal ticket,
MS bread and butter He said the fell
low who doesn't attend the trades I'M
ion meetings is the worst crank and
kicker and braggart in the town, and
that the place to kick is in the assem-
bly, room not on the street or in the
saloon; that it isn't generalship to blab
your grievances over a saloon bar, as
the bosses don't do that. He thought
there were too many scab goods in
Marshalltown, and said that if the I'M
/ ions do their best to throttle the trusts
and prevent child labor the merchants
will soon be selling union made goods
or moving out "All we ever ask of
the employer" he asserted, g is to tote
| fair, to give us what we deserve and
ment is a great mission, the religion
of all religious, not selfish or tryranni-
Ilcal or obnoxious, but humane and for
giving, and closed with the assertion
that there is no such thing as an open
or a closed shop. 1t is either union
or scab shop.
Dr.. kepford Tonight.
DR.. A. z. Mepford, state lecturer on
| tuberculosis in the employ of the board
cf contrn1 will he the sneaker tonight
at the east court room. Dr. Kepford
has message of interest to every per-
| son, and too much importance can not
be placed in the subject Of tubercu-
| losis and the measures that may be
| white plague
To the Public.