Evening star., 1939-12-17

History Made
By Union
Leaders
Employees of Star
Office Factors
In Labor Union
By John Claeetf Proctor.

In Labor Union
By John Claeetf Proctor.
On Sunday evening, January Z,
while the holiday season is still
being observed, the members Of
Columbia Typographical Union, No.
10l, will celebrate the 125th ami
versary Of this well-known labor
organization, one Of the oldest In
continuous service In this country,
with banquet at the Willard Hotel,
and 1t is needless to say that If
half Of the 5000 or more members
In this city attend, the Willard will
have a capacity crowd.
The date upon which this dinner
will be held is the one generally
celebrated, since on January Z, 1915,
the first regular meeting Of the
Columbia Typographical Society was
held.
A preliminary meeting Of this
body was held on December 10, 1914,
pursuant to a public notice prepared
by Jacob Gideon, jr., which gave the
place OF meeting as H. C. Lewis
Tavern, sign of the Press and Eagle,
Pennsylvania avenue, two doors west
of the Presidents square," Lewis,
it would seem, had gone into this
business probably after having failed
as newspaper publisher, for it was
in April, 1911, that he began pub
fishing a weekly literary paper called
the Hive, or Repository of Litera-
ture. which died soon afterward. BY
the indefinite description Of the site
OF meeting place mentioned, one
could only guess at the location of
the tavern referred to, which, of
course, is just too bad, for it is
quite probable that the first regular
meeting Of the society, as well as
other early meetings, were held
there. Indeed, one Of the first off,
cial acts Of the organization was the
passage OF a resolution authorizing
the treasurer to pay H. c. Lewis
the sum of 81 monthly as a COM
pensation for room and accommo.
dation for the Columbia Typograph-
ical Society,""
AT the preliminary meeting of De-
cember 10, Andrew Tate was called
to the chair, and William Duncan
was appointed secretary. The OBJ
tect of the meeting was said to be
the formation of a Typographical
Society, and following this, Messrs.
Lewis. Coyle, Gideon, Soutee and
Suter were appointed q committee
to draft a constitution for the pro-
posed society and to report at an
adjourned meeting, which happened
to be set for December II, Just a
century and a quarter ago today.
Constitution Adopted.
At the adjourned meeting the
constitution OF the society was
adopted, the preamble of which fol-
lows:
Whereas. experience having
proven that the association of in
d1viduals and the formation Of So
cieties, for the express purpose Of
benevolence, have seldom, if ever,
failed to meet the sanction of both
God and man, we, therefore, with
these ends In view, and by this in
controvertible truth, strongly i'm
pressed with the hope that our en-
deavor will, in like manner merit
the commentator of all good men
and draw down upon all our
undertakings the benign influence
Of our Creator, do unite and form
ourselves as one body for the mu-
tual benefit of each, binding our
selves one to the other in the man
ner following"
The initiation fee was fixed at 50
and the monthly contribution at Is
cents. Alimony was authorized to
"sickly or distressed members" their
widows and children, as the society
might determine, the amount not
to exceed SO per week, and funeral
benefit of SIS was provided. The
prices for work were $40 q week
during the sessions of Congress and
50 during the recess. For piecework,
brewer type and larger sizes were
rated at % cents q thousand ems;
type smaller than BREWER, such as
minion and nonpareil, 27h cents q
thousand ems.
It was also required that every
member provide himself with a
badge consisting of a silver rule,
the name of the member to be en-
graved on one side and a press on
the other, to be worn at all process
sions of the society.
In writing on this subject in 1899
p. j. Haltigan, a member of the
local printers union, and IN more
recent years reading clerk of the
United States House of Representa-
tives, has this to say regarding the
preliminary meetings and first regu-
lar meeting of the society:
During the following week the
committee had several meetings at
the Office of Messrs. Way, on the
corner of Ninth street and Penn
sylvania avenue, where, on the old
imposing stone still in possession OF
Columbia Typographical Union, was
drafted the first constitution of the
society, which was adopted at an
adjourned meeting held on Satur-
day evening, December II, 1914, and
signed by the following persons
Alexander Graham, Andrew Tate
Francis Burke, Jacob Gideon, jr.;
F. Coyle. Peter c. Konkle, H. c
Lewis, Henry Martin, John H Wade
David McKenna, Christopher Byrne
William Fighter, John Allen, Robert
Allen. w. T. Nowlands, John Hine
James Pettigrew, John Erskine
John Morrison, Alexander I. Law.
renee, William Dougherty, H. G
Foster, James B. Carter, Robert
Dodson, Augustin P. Soaring, D
Tuttle, P. Force, T. Byrne and w
S. D. GruSko.
ORGANIZATION OF THE
SOCIETY.
1.-The next meeting of the journey