Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-02-19
BIG PACKER DECLARES THERE is
NO BUYING AGREEMENT IN
EXISTENCE.
SAYS BIG FIVE DOES
NOT OWN STOCK YARDS
Holds That Eighth Day Should
Not Apply to Employees Labor
Leader Makes Plea For Shorter
Hours For PIahs-Dscrepancy in
Wages Shown by Other Witnesses.


president of the Armour & Co.. and
n Victor A. Olander. secretary and treas
urer Of the Illinois State Federation OF
Labor, vice president Of the Interna-
tional Seamen's Union, secretary OF the
Lake Seamen's Union, and member OF
the Illinois state council Of defense.
were the principal witnesses Monday in
the stockyards wage arbitration pro-
ceedings.
Mr.. Armour denied that the five big
packing companies own the various
stockyards or that they had combin-
alton agreement in the purchasing of
live stock. In discussing the labor
question, he said he favored equal pay
for women performing the same work
as men and understood that this plan
was already followed by Armour & Co.
He said he believed I'm the Justice Of
the demand that men should rest on
Sunday, Christmas and other holidays
and agreed with tho representatives OF
organized labor that when it Is neces-
Rary for employees to work on these
days. they should be allowed additional
compensation.
Mr.. Armour expressed the opinion
that the eight hour day applied to the
meat packing industry Is a debatable
subject, but said that he was perfectly
willing to consider it.
OIander Testifies.
Victor A. Olander, who was on the
witness stand nearly all afternoon
made an eloquent plea for the adop-
ton of the eight-hour day by the pack
ers and read from voluminous reports
from the United States department OF
labor bulletins and statements from
employers in the coal, steel. shoe, auto
mobile and other lines of business that
a shorter work day had proved sue
cessful wherever tried.
The witness read extracts from
speeches Of President Wilson and other
men, in public life endorsing the prin-
cIple Of the eight-hour work day.
1.-THE packers may be nearer the
adoption Of the eight-hour day than
they think" said the witness. 1.-THE war
department Is broadly interpreting the
federal statute requiring eight-hour
work days on all military contracts,
with time and q half where overtime
IS necessary to speed up production
and II the packers have government
contracts, and believe they have, the
government may insist upon an eight
hour day In their plants"
Reads Illinois Law.
Mr. Olander read the eight-hour law
passed by the Illinois legislature In
1867 and expressed the view that the
packers were violating the spirit II not
the letter Of that statute.
"In practically all walks Of life the
eight hour day Is now recognized as
the proper standard Of days work,
said the witness. 'Tt is no longer an
experiment. It has been tried in prac-
ticahy every country and found to be
successru" The witness quoted sta
tistcs to show that infant mortality
was the smallest in countries where
the work day was the shortest. He
read from the Chicago school census of
1916 as proof OF the statement that the
district known as the back of the
yards" where the Chicago stockyards
workers live, furnishes the greatest
percentayv of child labor ard makes
the largest demands from both public
and private charity organizations. He
argued that this demonstrated that the
packing industry did not properly sup
port It's workers.
II am not blaming any individual for
this. but simply point to the condi-
tion and insist that 1t should be RENEE
died" said the witness.
He said the adoption Of the shorter
day by the packers would prove a good
business investment. patriotic, and a
humane act.
Attorney Walsh introduced tlocu-
mentary evidence showing that the
/. Armour Grain Company paid station