New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1918-03-13

Last Tuesday afternoon about %
men employed in the New Ulm Brick
& Tile Yards laid down their tools ard;
made a demand for raise in wages.
Mr.. AufderEeide told them that he
wanted "a hours within which to give
their demands due consideration and
suggested to them that they go back
to work at the old scale until the matter
had been settled and disposed of but this
the men were not willing to do. They
returned, however, the next morning
and renewed their demands for higher
wages. They were told to resume
work and that by Saturday evening the
firm would be able to tell them what the
new, scale would be. y
Want Longer Day
Up to the time they struck for higher
wages, that class of workers received
pay at the rate of twenty-five cents
per hour for nine hour day and their
demand was for twenty-five cents an
hour and they expressed a desire to
work 10 hours so that their daily wage
would be $3.50.
Trouble Threatened
Wednesday morning it looked as tho
there might be trouble and the police
was notified but their help was not
required, as there was no disturbance.
Wednesday afternoon, four placards
were put up on the lamp posts in the
city at the following cores: Brown
County Bank, Fair Store, Farmers and
Merchants State Bank and Mrs.
B. Follman's Millinery Store. These
placards bore the following inscriptions:
$50 men, Mexicans, WANDET New
Ulm Brick and Tile Yards. $3.50 a
day. Aufderheide. e.
John Hirschbeck who was caught
' doing this work was taken into custody
by the police and lodged in jail but was
later released and no further attempts
have been made to prefer charges against
him. Four of the strikers returned to
work Thursday and by Monday all of
the strikers were back at work except
such as the Aufderheide's did not care
to reinstate.
Increase Granted
The employers granted the wages
asked for, raise from twenty-five cents
to twenty-five cents an hour. At present
they are working nine hours day but
it is expected that in a week or two
there will be enuf work so that they can
be employed 10 hours day. /.
The Aufderheides say that they were
not forced to close down their plant at
all but were able to keep the work going
in all the branches as tho nothing had
happened. They also state that they
had been contemplating making this
increase in wages before any demand
was made upon them and that the only
thing they did not like about it was
the fact that no request was made for
raise before the men walked out.
They felt that if petition had been
pre- ented there would have been no
strike at all as they would have been
able to make satisfactory arrangements
with the men. They also say that there
is no lack of men and that within the
past month, at least 80 have applied for
work who were willing to work for the
wages that were current at that time. -
Boy Sweepers Quit
At the Eagle Mill there was a small
ripple on the surface of affairs when a
number of boy sweepers asked to have
their wages raised to $500 day. The
boys were getting $1.85 and as all Of
them were under twenty years of age
it. would seem that the wage was a fair
one. However, they did not think so
and said they would quit if they did not
get more. As the mill had been consid-
ering replacing them with men in order
ITO get better service, they were told
that they might go. Later the parents
of two OF them asked that their sons be
re-instated and men have been secured
to Go the work of the others.
In a personal letter to a member O.
the Review force, Tony Stiemann, who
visited New Ulm last August, sends
greetings to all his old schoolmates and
friends. He is now in France. Says
tie winter has been mild and it now is
spring there. Wishes he might hear
from some friends here and says he's
getting fat and weighs 195 lbs. Tonvts