Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-03-11
PRINTERS At ANNUAL BANQUET
Existing Conditions COntrasted
with Those of 20 Years Ago.
Of Burlington Typographical
Union and Guests Talk shop after
Enjoying an Appetizing Menu
at The Sherwood.

given Saturday evening at the
an unqualified success, covers being
laid for 30 members Of the union and the''
guests. The pleasure of the evening Will
for a long time be looked back upon By
those who were fortunate enough to at
tend, it being composed of the good fel-
lowship not easily forgotten. The post
prandial exercises which followed TN"
banquet CAV food for serious thought as
well as furnishing much sharp Wit ana
humor and no toast collided with tho quo
tation of Benja min Franklin which head
ed the page. HE that talks much talks In
vain Thomas l.. Howley presided "a
POSTMASTER. The printers came together
for an evening Of pleasure which was en-
joyed to the init.
Shortly after nine o'clock the boys
repaired to the grill room. where the ban
uuet was served. Gilmond's full orches-
ira furnished music as they entered and
throughout the evening. The one long
table extending the length Of the spacious
grill presented n handsome appearance"
in the shaded candle light. Much was
added to its attractiveness by the hand
YIN l'iiu 'dIhS' IN Nv
printers standpoint, the acme of perfee
ton. On a cover Of blue, embossed IN a
gold pa mel. were the three initials AMI
number OF the union IN a unique design.
the date on which and the place
at which the banquet was held.
The inside sheet was attached to thu
cover by a silk cord of gold color. Besides
the menu 1t contained a roster of the
members and apprentice members OF tn
union. names of those responding T.
toasts, and several quotations. The ban
ruet was an elaborate one and was
served in excellent manner by the man
agement of the house.
After the cigars had been lighted the
b%anqueters were called to order by the
president of the union, Arthur Provost,
| Mr.. Provost said that the locals through
out the country had been holding get-tu-
gether meetings Of various kinds and that
the Burlington local union had conceived
the idea Of the banquet for a like reason.
He then introduced the of
the evening. Mr.. Howley. he said. had
probably spent more time and energy in
the interests of the labor movement than
any other member of the union n wa
the first union man elected to tho Yer
mont State Legislature, where he became
the father Of the factory inspection law,
Mr.. Howley presided over the en-
ercises in a happy manner and in intro
ducing the various speakers kept all IN
good humor by his witticisms. Joseph j
Dallas, representative Of the Inter.
national Typographical Union, was un'
able to be present and sent u telegram
at the last moment. f.. e. Greemort
Of W1nooski took his place and gave ar
address Of much interest upon the progress
and benefits Of the labor union. H
said that the growth of the union hat
been necessarily slow but it was here
now to stay. 1t has met many dIsappoint
ments and been leveled and resurrectet
many times. With each resurrection il
has grown stronger, 1t is the purpose
Of the union to advance by EVOLUTION
rather than by revolution, and Its worf
is carried on in a judicial and peaceful
way. A law Is the result of the powel
of conviction and Is not a creator OF {
power of conviction. 1t is organization!
and not individuals which advocate meas
ures for the benefit of the whole huma
family. In Vermont there are IL, 900 mem
bers on the roll of the American Fedora
ton OF Labor out of thirty or thirty-hv,
thousand industrial workers in the STATE
This third OF the workers in It's organized
efforts obtains benefits for all. He CLOSED
by making an appeal for all to joil
hands In an effort to get all of tn,
workers into the fold Of unionism.
The POSTMASTER then arose to say tina
the Introduction OF the next speaker CAV
more pleasure than any during the even
ing. He said that when he first worke'
on the Free Press Mr.. Duhamel wa
foreman and that during his time in tha
capacity he had seen hundreds %
printers. good. bad and Indifferent, com
and go. He had seen Mr.. Duhamel a b
under all OF the trials Of the composini
room but had never seen him differ fror
day to day. A%lphonse Duhamel had bee,
q printer for ~ years.
Mr.. Duhamel said in part; Before III
period of the last twenty years a
printers We're working from ~ to 10 hour
a day on hand composition and SIS wa
considered to be IA good weeks pay. A
the time when the linotype machin
came In they We're dreaded by all. 10
1t was said that each would take tn
place Of five men. When they did come
however, work was found for all an
the hours Of a mans work each da
was cut SO that he worked from eigf
to nine hours, with an increase in salar
Il few years later. At the present tim
printers who work nights work seve
and one-half hours and have all OF tn
rest of the day to themselves. San!tar
conditions in the shops rave been in
proved and where then one towel di
for six days, there are six towels II
each day now, with bubbling fountain
and many other improvements. II tn
same progress Is made in the next twent
years as In the past twenty the trad
will be equal to a bankers job. Viii
the printers Of to-day may not all
prohibitionists. they are temperate men.
, Editor Myron W Wilson OF the Brist
, Herald was next called upon. MIR. Wilson
= who recently presented to the Burlingto
!, Typographical union the charter OF I'll
, printers union formed I'm 1874, spoke A.,
I the men who were in the business
years ago. The list included compositor
pressmen, editors, managers and propr'
tors. The printer at that time was a
all-round man. able to set up a job. p,
1t on the press and. II necessary. kick
y Off. To-day linotype and other machin,
do the work, The operators do not hay
to possess the general knowledge Of Il
2 business as did the old timers, but the
are experts In their line of wor'
Progress demands specialists and Il
a change has made 1t possible to do moi
work. In less time. yet a feeling OF sat
: ness 10 ever present with the old time
who can now content themselves on
with the memory of the good old times al