The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1910-11-17

and all of the other accessories BY a
| Dog in the Manager" real estate owner
l mean one that owns a quantity of the
best vacant property in the city and
absolutely refuses to improve 1t or sell
it at anything like reasonable price
to some one that will. He discourages
every capitalist you try to get to come
to town to build homes for your people
by putting upon his vacant property
an entirely impossible price. and if you
cannot build the homes for the people
to live in, you cannot get additional
factories, so your town development
wagon is stalled. You will have your
work cut out for you to unload this bit
of dead weight.
And now 1 come to what I consider
the worst, the business agent. He is
the supposed representative of union
labor in your city and in my mind he
, is a trouble maker; he is the man that
spends his entire time tending to the
business of other people; he is the man
!; who in ninety cases out of hundred is
responsible for the idiotic rules and
regulations of the labor unions; he is
} the man that every union man hates
| and fears, and every business and pro-
fessional man and manufacturer in your
town heartily despises, he is the man
who walks the streets OF your town,
t and brands this man that man as
unfair or this politician or that politi-
clan unfriendly to organized labor and
! DULLES everybody SO far as possible into
| catering to his demands and under
: those conditions we cannot expect help
from the politician, because politicians
7 have come to believe that no man can
! be elected to any Office unles he
swallows union labor bodily. He dare
take no exception to any rule which the
2 unions may promulgate nor deny them
a single demand; IL he does, he is un-
l friendly, unfair and marked for the
slaughter. Relief from this end must
come through the commercial organiza-
lions OF the country; must come
| through the business and manufacture
ing interest.
: / do not believe that there is a fair
minded man in the country who is OPP
iposed to the organization of labor for
: its protection in the matter of securing
adequate wages and proper conditions
under which to work. On the other
hand. do not believe that there is a
fair thinking man in the country be he
in or out Of a union that does not
: strenuously object to the absolutely
childish and foolish rules and regula-
|
6 In view of the fact that we have some
o very strong organizations in Hammond
a where they practice their unionism in
n its most exaggerated form. 1 am going
to cite you TO just a few of the un-
reasonable demands that l know per-
i sonally have been made during the las
II season in our town.
: Just a few weeks ago one of ou
e large property owners desired to pain
e an old brick building and when thu
h painters came to work he said h
a would like to have some OF the oil
holes in the walls filled with putty a.
- they went along. The painters prompt
v ~ informed him that their organization
v had recently passed solution to tn
l. effect that such work was not up t
l. them and it would be necessary for hin
o to hire some one else to putty up tn
l. holes. The man was willing to do thi
: and so informed them, and said h
re would send some one right up to
e the work. He was Immediately in
l. formed by the painters that the ma
r doing the putty work could not worl
a on the same scaffold with them, as tina
ic was also contrary to the rules of thei
le organization
E. This nonsensical rule of this unto
n no doubt originated in the brain @
ot some irresponsible business agent O
q walking delegate. and put this proper
ty owner of our city to the expense Q
ID putting up an additional scaffold upo
Is which the man doing the puttyin
Is might work. and adding materially t
OF the cost and annoyance of the improve
,e ment he was trying to make and add
st ed absolutely nothing to the benefit
S, derived from the painters upon the jol
a he ms
lie to take such a stand this. that d
c. not see how they can possibly expee
to benefit their position.
in This summer the owner of one of GU
A. buildings under construction found
,e plumber in the middle of the afternoo
lr sound asleep in the building. Upon hi
es waking him and inquiring why he wa
~ not at work at that time OF the da.
III he informed the owner that he ha
n completed all of the work he was a
- lowed to do in one day and IL he di
VI, more than his allotment he would
"a subject to fine. Here was a case
i, a man seeking to improve the town b
70 the Investment of his money in build
- ing proposition, paying a man rs cent
! an hour for sleeping. Wholly due
: the absolutely insane rule of unto
= that claims to be merely seeking tt
N protection of honest laboring men.
~ We had another case where the owT
err of a building under construction ha
- his janitor connect radiator or some
thing equally simple and every steam
: filter and plumber on the job immed
atelv walked out. This is only one
=, a hundred similar examples of n
same man, and he swore that II he ha
as much money as John d. Rorkefellt
- and the best corner in town he Won
- never attempt the erection of apoths
80 building so long as present condition
exist with organized labor.
~ Not long ago 1 wanted a sign pain
ed upon a window and. all of the sig
~ painters in town being extremely bus
10 and none of them could promise to
no the work for week or ten days e,
~ cept one fellow, who said he though
hg he could do it Sunday morning. Whe
u / arrived at my office Monday mornir
81 the work had not been done. BY wa
I'M of explanation the sign painter sa
ry he could not find the business agel
IT. on Sunday in order to get permit