Denver labor bulletin., 1918-08-24

oocianst party. ne Will ProDapiy De
gone from home several months.
In the meantime, the headquarters
! will be in new hands. Sexton will be
| trying to prevent labor conscription
and anti-strike legislation from get
ting started in Congress. Wright will
seek to make the official journal re-
fleet the policy of Mr. Gompers to-
ward passing events. Secretary Nor
risoR-will carry the main burden, as
the details Of all the Federation bus
mess are known only to himself and
the head Of the Federation.
Mr.. Sexton has had some expert
ence as a legislative agent for the
Cigarmakers from time to time, and
he is anxious to make a record at the
capital. His first job will be to or
ganize the Senate in opposition to
the Thomas amendment to the draft
law, which would cancel the exemption
of war workers who went on strike.
History of the Federation
w. c. Roberts, veteran labor re-
porter for the Chicago Examiner, and
reporter of labor conventions for the
Hearst papers, has taken a six months
leave of absence to edit the A. F. of
l.. history, which the past two con-
ventions have ordered the executive
council to publish. Roberts has come
to headquarters here to handle the
job. and is now getting under way for
a book Of possibly 1000 pages. II
will. he says, be a complete history of
the Federation. and will show the folly
of all those men in the movement who
have demanded that labor should or
ganize its own political party.
This political controversy, and va
rious other differences Of view. Rob
erts finds in the very earliest docu-
ments relating 20 the conferences
which led 10 the convention Of 1881,
when the Federation was organized.
From that day down to the present.
some individuals have held to one set
Of principles, and other individuals to
another set. One set has been tri-
umphant in America; another set. de-
feated here, has been the rule of the
majority in France and generally in
II the forthcoming book is as en-
tertainingly written as its material
was originally spoken, it will be very
much worth while. Even the Social
lists, who will be confounded from page
to page and roasted from chapter to
chapter, may find in its pages the his
tory of struggles that made the Amer
lean labor movement the virile thing
it is.
w ~ kbO8I0 otheb GAkuCf w WakC-
Poverty is not going to pinch the
faces Of the employees of the Sloss-
Sheffield Steel q Iron Company quite
so hard, from now on. The national
war labor board has ordered that the
corporation shall pay ut least $500 for
ten-hour day to the men working
in its iron mines in the Russellville,
Ala. district, and in its iron furnaces
there. The wages have run from
81 .S5 to $425 day. with the bulk
Of the men getting from 50 to So n
day. The highest wage allowed in the
award is $3.50 day for lathe men in
the machine shop.
The men went on strike in May,
when the head of the company. at that
time serving in Washington as a dol
lar-a-year man. refused to deal with
the union or to consider the griev-
ances of the miners.
All the employees get an increase in
wages under this award. The COM
pany is ordered to stop taking 20
per cent discount when 1t cashed ad-
Vance pay checks. The right of the
workers to organize and bargain col
lectively is upheld. Wage readjust-
ments are to be made every six
quiring men to show permit" from
their last employer in the district be-
fore getting new job, is condemned.
Finally, the board sends an examiner
from its own staff to superintend the
carrying out of the award.
The testimony also developed"
says the report of the board upon its
investigation in this case, "that the
company operates n store from which
the workers procure virtually all of
the necessities of life. and that many
Of the workers received less than
dollar in their pay envelopes every
two weeks by reason of the deduc-
tions for these necessaries and other
charges made upon. them"
Four Here to One There
We are sending an army of 1000. 900
men to France to end the war next
year. For every man at the front, or
in the army and navy, four workers
must be employed in war industries.
Women are going to have to take their
places in war industries ,or in indus
tries from which men are being drawn
into the war work. There will be more
than million women newly employed
at wages, within n year
Facing this situation. the national
war labor board is going to organize
a special staff Of women who know
the industrial problem of women, and
who can best help to save women's
strength while getting the work done.
The war labor administration has al
ready announced that a special coun-
Gil Of women connected with the va
.rious labor services and branches Of
the labor administration has been
formed, TO deal with administrative
problems concerning women in indus
try;