Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-20
COMEDY OF THE PRINTERS
STRIKE.
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.
Especial Correspondence of The Argr

New York Oct. 1S.-You know, of course.
| that there will be no issues next month of most
magazines unless thousands OF striking com
positors, pressmen and other employees Of the
printing plants here can be induced to return
to their work within the next few days; or
unless the publishers ship their material
and have it published in other cities.
At the time this article is written there is
not much hope that there will be any Novem-
Der literature at all. The printing employers
and the printing employees are at a deadlock,
while several of the largest publishers are
stocally preparing to lose millions OF dollars.
few have shipped their equipment to Chicago,
which they may make their permanent head
quarters, II they like it, but they make no
promises or threats AS one OF them declared
yesterday:
Who can tell in these troublous times OF
radicslism? AS soon we get comfortably
established in the middle west, the same thing
may occur there, and then will have to
move back to New York again
New York has been the victim OF many
peculiar strikes. but none more peculiar than
this rebellion of the printing trades, which.
although technically not a strike, is one in ef-
feet 1t all depends upon whom you are talk
ing to. If it happens to be printing employer,
you have no hesitancy in calling it strike,
but if you are talking to printing employee
and value your life. you speak of it as lock
out The most discreet thing TO do is not TO
talk at all. but to let each side pour out its
grievances to you.
In the first place be il understood that the
printing OF the numerous books and magazines
that pass through your hands every year is
not done by the people who publish them, but
by many job printing establishments, some 2o0
OF which are affected by the present rebellion.
The publishers in this case are an interested
but helpless third party. Perhaps that &C
counts for the fact that, while losing tremen-
dous sums of money through the holdup Of
their publications. many of them view the
whole dispute with amazing impartiallty.
Nothing is safe with all this bolsheviki
propaganda going about" declared the bust
ness manager of a large trade magazine which
will not go TO press this month. ON the other
hand. I suppose the working people find it hard
to keep up with the high cost of living. The
nerve Of it, thoUgh-to disregard the orders
of their own unions
The New York printing trades have been
showing evidence of discomfort for some time,
so that the walkout of thousands OF typeset-
ters, press feeders and pressmen on Oct. did
not come as a bolt out OF the blue to their
employers. The employers were ready for
them-or thought they were But as It turned
out they we're not at all prepared for what
actually happened
The first threats of a strike were heard last
year when the various local printing unions
demanded certain reforms in their working
conditions on the penalty of shutting off the
greatest print shops in America. At that time
the nation at war. and print was extremely
important. Any interference with it meant the
checking of valuable war propaganda. So the
matter was brought before the war labor
board. which allowed the printing trade an in
crease of Sc a week in wages. and admonished
it TO be content with that and nothing more
until the agreement expired on Oct. l, 1919.
But special clause was added to the agree
ment which provided that the case might be
reopened May l, 1919 With the war over,
the printers began to consider the advisabiltty
OF taking advantage of this clause. They would
not ask for an increase in wages, then, they
decided, but for shortening Of their 48-hour
working week TO "A hours. On April 4, the
at, aaI Fa1F
in a conference between their organization,
known as the League of Printing Employers
and the leaders of the local printers unions.
This meeting was quite peaceable. The
employers agreed to consider the matter, and
they did. but not favOrably.
The employers took glance over the coun-
try discovered that the printing trades of other
cities we're apparently amiable and happy, and
decided that they would not make any further
concessions. This decision was backed by the
officers of the International Typographical
union-with which local printers unions all
over the country are afiliated-who met a
committee of the employers in Chicago. and
agreed that the 44-hour week to be post
poned until 1921
When the news Of this meeting reached
New York il was like a bomb thrown into the
ranks of the printing trades. Mass meetings
were held; speeches for the 44-hour week
were made to groups of men during the noon
hour; the international was denounced. and
finally it became known that in addition to the
44-hour week. the printers would also demand
$14 a week increase in wages.
Naturally. the employers were aware Of
these proceedings They scented a strike, so
instead of waiting for it to come they decided
to meet it. In the third week in September
shortly before the war labor board contract ex-
pired. they began getting rid of the chief agi-
tators in their plants by the-simple method OF
firing them. When the mems unions protested
the employers informed them that they could
no longer do business with them. because they
were not members of the International union.
The union retaliated by calling out all of their
men