The Cairo bulletin., 1911-06-18

dCCcucu W lilS ucluaiFiS VI biC " ~
graphical union for a wage increas
on May first last, when the old seal
expired"
AS u matter of fact "the manage
ment of the Citizen" acceeied to tn
demands of its employees only afte
hours of "bully-ragging" during whicl
Mr.. Fischer had diverse and sundr,
fits of rage, cursing the men in HI
heart and with his mouth denouncini
them as a pack OF unfair, unreason
able anarchists and socialists" Mr.
Fisher signed the scale" only at thu
last moment latter having called III
the Bulletin to learn what 1t woult
do and receiving no response)--ant
when the men were in the act of put
ting on their coats to leave the
office.
A man may claim it as virtue
that when, under threat of being hit
over the head with a club. he gave
up his purse. But when afterward
he pretends that he did It voluntarily
cut of compassion for the robber, he
presumes rather too much upon the
credulity of his auditors; and when,
Ia addition to this, he poses as a
hero and fishes for favors in recogni-
ton OF his pretended nobility of soul,
he deserves pity for reasons that win
readily suggest themselves to the
mind Of average calibre.
The Citizen says:
Although forty-eight hours have
constituted a weeks work. the men
on the seven day paper have worked
fifty.slx hours without extra compen-
sation for overtime, nor has the Cairo
scale required extra compensation for
night work, as is the case In many
places. In these respects the morn
ing paper has been especially favored.
Seven days a week is too much for
any man to work, and 1t may be be-
cause of these long hours that some
of the members of the union were
SO insistent upon receiving the extra
compensation for more than forty
eight hours"
In so far as the foregoing relates
to the wages paid by the Bulletin Co.
to its employees 1t is absolutely untrue
The Bulletins men were paid for
seven days work, not for six. They
were paid an extra days wages for
the seventh day, at the same rate as
was paid for the six week days. They
were paid in accordance with union
rules which prevail in all cities in
the country where seven-day papers
are published. The Bulletin Co. re-
ceived no favors from the Cairo union
In this respect.
1t may be that "the men were tired
of seven-day work. In other cities
"subs" are available and are put on
for Sundays, and subs" are not al
ways available in Cairo. This ques-
lion was not raised in the negotia.
lions between the men and the Bulle-
tin Co. over the new scale; but il
influenced the men to be
of consequences; to take
the bit in their teeth" so to speak,
and leave the office-without pre-
vious warning and three days before
their written contract with the Bulle.
tin Co. expired. (This latter fact
that the men broke their contract
with The Bulletin Co.--the esteemed
contemporary studiously avoids men,
tioning; yet 1t Is the one fact which
stands forth prominently, overshad-
owing all others in this contro-
versy, and which takes away from
Cairo Typographical Union No. 46l
the last vestige of ground upon
which it might stand to claim recog.
milton and respect from fair.minded
men anywhere, whether they be union
men or mott.
The Bulletin has passed through
the mill and still lives. 1t has Sc.
cured a new force of people to operate
Its mechanical department. That
they are independent workers, be-
lieying in the right OF every Ameri.
can citizen, on his own account, to
make living by honest toll, Is not
to their discredit; that they are COM
petent to do the work assigned to
them is apparent from the paper
itself; that they are self-respecting
men and women and good citizens Is
not open to question.
the Bulletin expects to live in
Cairo at least another 40 years; 1t
expects to live in spite of the false.
moods uttered against 1t by its con-
temporary and by others whose will.
ling and inscriptions mouthplece 1t
mas become; 1t expects to live in