Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1913-01-16
Assembly President
Makes Annual Report

\ Following is the report in full SUBJ
mitted TO the Assembly Sunday by
President LaF1am:
To the Officers and Delegates to the
Ohio Valley Trades and Labor As
sembly,
Greeting: AS president of this hon
orable body during the year 1912. l
wish to submit the following report:
d will not dwell upon the various
matters in detail, that do not need any
recommendations, but will go in upon
matters. that l, in my humble opin-
ion, deserve some thought and action
and which will do the most good for
the Assembly and all members Of the
various locals affiliated Herewith.
In the beginning of the year We
were confronted with several things,
that each member of the Assembly
knew would take all our wit and work
to maintain our standing of old, the
principal one of which was the mat
ter of the Auditorium. will say that
in that case whena4the, time arrived
for the crisis the Assembly was, on
the job in the beginning and Staid on
it to the finish, with the result Of per-
fecting the greatest victory for labor
that was ever won here. 1t made a
closed shop for the Carpenters, a
thing that they had been struggling
for for over four years.. The victory
also, in my opinion, was instrumental
in bringing about decided change
in the policy. of this body, since the
affair of the Auditorium we have be-
come recognized body, more respect
ed and have. been consulted in, and
have taken part in. all the important
events in which all our members as
citizens, have been interested.
This change is all for the good and
believe by. a continuance OF this
policy we will be able to obtain many
things for labor that We have not
been able to secure in past years. My
belief for this comes from the fact
that on our Workmen's Compensation
Bill that is to be presented at this
session of Legislature will not, as
heretofore, come from labor alone but
will be presented by combination OF
citizens of this state of every walk
of life, and for that reason, we elimi-
nate that obstacle that has ever been
before us-namely, the other people,
who we have always claimed had the
power to have laws, enacted for them
selves, and ; like power to stop any
| Legislation. for labor. This advantage
is Just as plain in other ways, for in
, stance in the matter of new charter
to govern us as citizens Of Wheeling.
Il was not formed and then presented
to the Assembly to see if it met with
our approval or not as J. understood
former charters were, but We were
called upon to appoint committee to
help draft it, and will say now that
our committee was instrumental ID
| having many things embodied in the
charter that would not be there, Il
some one else had drafted and We
merely approve or not, and each one
was for the benefit OF Labor.
zI.could go1on for a long while along
| the possibilities that will come from
q continuance Of a like policy, but viii
not take the time.
i / want to say before closing on. THU
subject that we must nofF lose tract
II of this, that we cannot get the Wors1
Il of any action e0f this kind. As sooI
as we find it to our detriment,s WI
can always 60 back to where we be
gan. Therefore, / would urge . con
tinuance of this policy until we hav'
II given il fair trial and believe VI
via find it more profitable to ouI
selves. This Of course is not to ID
| construed to mean that we viii q
| any time do anything that Is not i
accord with true trades union prin
sfVIlcr