Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1921-06-24
SURE rAlNc--lNvlTE
The PUBLIC TO SIT w
WHEN MAKING PRicEe
Invite In the Public


Referring To the appointment OF
Judge I.andis an an arbitrator Of the
building trades wages controversy,
the Chicago Tribune points out that
~ Ia well for the parties 10 the ar.
bitration 10 keep In mind that II docs
not lie with either or both Of them to
end the paralysis In building. u Hes
with party not included Ia this ar.
hitration. the party who hires both
contractor and empioye. the owner of
the property to be built.
All OF this IL little more than re.
statement of tho point the Courier
has been emphasizing for several
years, that the real parties interested
In any labor controversy are the pub.
lic and the employed. and that the EN-.
ployer In merely go.hetween. who
passes on to the Anal purchaser Or
nser whatever form Of cost Il sAddied
|ensto - prednct ~ tAoee - ~ ~
roll.
A labor union official would havs
you believe that strike Ia against .
hard.hearted employer. who refuses
to grant iabor's just demands. ptfrie
The strike In against the public. no
matter In what guise II II sprung. nor
what kind OF cloak or mask II wears
The printers strike for n hours work
for 4S hours pay is strike primarily
against the public. although every
printer In town will tell you that Il
IL against certain employers. II that
strike wins Il Ii the public that will
pay, not the employers. and II the
strike falls To win II In the buyers OF
printing who win be ahead. not the
men who are responsible for the pay.
roll each Saturday.
Up till now the public has not been
especially vocal In demanding II be
consulted about carpenters rules.
printers regulations. masons' Gus.
toms, plumbers practices, and the
like. but Il ID prieking up Its ears,
and showing signs OF unaasiness and
disenchantment,
The sensible thing to do would be
TO nip this growing discomfort In the
bud, by removing It's principal or most
irritating causes What clever thing
Il would be n the local federation OF
labor would adopt policy OF inviting
Representatives OF the public to sit as
every conference involving future ia-
Dor agreement for the Twin Cities.
That would. in our judgment. be the
wisest stroke OF policy ever adopted
by labor union. and II such pro-
cedure became common the country
over, the high way to perpetual indus.
trial peace and square dealing would
be achieved In practically one bound.
Some such solution Ii bound to
come any how some day. and II fs
surely better for the unions TO sug.
gest IL, rather than have II forced
upon them.
The above Ii the caption and ex-
tracts from an editorial appearing In
an issue one day last week In the
Urbana Courier We trust the Courier
IL sincere and willing to urge upon
others such az master printers asBo-
Citations, ETC. 10 do likewise and I'm
yite In the public" when they have a
session to set fixed rate for print
ing and give the public equal powers
in setting that price.
OF course In that editorial labor ID
blamed for Il all. AS In the printing
business, how big an increase viii the
public besforced 10 pay should the To-
cal employers decide to live up TO
their agreements with the Typograph-
ical Union and Printing Pressmen's
Union.
The scale for printers for ls hours
work In the Twin Cities is s3s. or rs
cents per hour. Should the employ
ers grant a 44-hour week. as they
agreed, and not reduce the wages the
printers scale would be trifie less
than SO cents per hour, or an average
Increase OF 8 per cent. Now let US
see how much of that should the buy
ing Public OF printing be forced to pay.
The employing printers OF the Twin
Cities have a uniform minimum price
liat on printing and set price on all
kinds of work. As an Illustration OF
costs and charges Of printing. take
for instance The xxx No. 6ik envei-
ope, which now costs wholesale to the
printers about s2.20 per thousand.
The average printer can set up, lock
up and distribute the type On 80 eu-