The Labor Champion from Topeka, Kansas • 1

A A i Labor Champion 4 OFFICIAL PAPER TRADES AND LAB OR COUNCIL, BUILDING TRADES COUNCIL AND LAWRENCE CENTRAL ABOR UNION. VOLUME IV. NO. 52 TOPEKA, KANSAS, FllIDAY, JANUARY 5. 1906.

THE NEW REGISTRATION LAW. PRINTERS STRIKE BEGINS. If You Desire to Vote, Be Sure You Are Registered. Three thousand two hundred and sixty voters of Topeka stand a good chance Fund Assessed for a Year Back Regarded As Potent Weapon. I Membership ot international Typographical Union, 48,000.

Number of local unions, 688. Locals of printers (English), 634. they can not recognize the union. Meantime the people of Troy have shown great sympathy with the strikers; many merchants have given money. The mayor of the city, members of the chamber of commerce, and of the civic league and many citizens have urged the employers' association to bring about arbitration, thus exhibiting a degree of sympathy with the strikers.

The strike is upheld by the international shirt, waist and laundry workers' union, the American Federation of Labor and the Central Federation of Labor in Troy. Nearly $18,000 in money has been sent to the strikers since May. They are sticking by each other with great tenacity; t'ney have been courageous and uncomplaining but determined, and above all, they non-union shops then unionized their plants, granting the demands of the union, "Every one of our 1,200 members, with the exception of twenty-five, answered to the eight-hour day rolleall today," was the joint report given out from the three union meetings. "Every Typothe-tae shop lost some of its strike-breakers, who have joined us, answering tonight's rolleall. The twenty-five names missing from our list are of twenty-one men who stayed in the Typothetae offices when the Typothetae declared its lockout and of four men who deserted in the first two weeks.

"There has not been a single desertion in our ranks in the last eight weeks. The situation is better than expected, and, as the result of conferences to be held on Monday and Tuesday, we expect on Wednesday to have victory assured beyond doubt." of losing their right to vote unless they register within the 'next few months. The effect of the new registration law will becnviie for the first time apparent. Registration is no longer on the basis "ivhich ruled at the previous elections of 1905 and the first election in 11)06 the municipal election, in which six council-men will be elected will bring the voters to a realizing sense of this fact. The old law required annual registration, the new makes it possible for continuous registration provided that the voter has not change his place of residence or failed to vote at all tb'j subsequent elections held after registering.

The registration remains intait if these conditions of the new law, are complied with and it is unnecessary for the voter to register. "I would like to call the attention of the voters of the city to the status of the present registration," said C. H. Titus, commissioner of elections. "Under the new law, all voters who registered Locals of printers (German-American), 21.

Locals of mailers, 21. Locals, newspaper writers, 7. Locals, typefounders, 3. Cities working eight hours, 318. Cities where strikes were on December 31, 54.

Cities where agreements expired December 31, 239. Cities where agreements run over, 3. Estimated income from last assessment, per week, $60,000. Estimated number on strike, 10,000. are perfectly quiet and undemonstrating, but their resolution has not waned, and they say that they will never in the future accept unreasonable conditions of work or discourteous treatment.

Wilmington Printers to Strike. Wilmington, Dec. 31. All the union printers of the city, with the exception of those employed in newspaper offices, will go on strike tomorrow under the order of the Typographical Union. Nearly every shop in the city will be affected.

The printers expect to win their demands for an eight-hour day because local wages are lower than those paid in other places, and there is little likelihood of strike-breakers coining to this city. i -inrW the year 1906 and voted at the rT heldxpr; 4th cf said year when i 1" javor Davis am- the other city officers VIGILANCE OF LABOR UNIONS. Has Forced Unfair Employers to Give Better Conditions to the Toiler. Ever since the corporations got hold of the coal fields the practice of working boys without regard to 'health, education or morals has been in vogue. After a number of years of agitation and legislation, the curse is being wiped out in some of the more progressive states.

Like every move to get the galling yoke of capitalistic greed off the neck of downtrodden and defenseless labor, this agitation for the abolishing of child labor had its inception in the trades union. Most of the stock of the big corporations is held by heartless parasites who despise labor, and some of the institutions are controlled by men who would tear the puny babe from the skinny breast of a half-starved mother and force it into the mine, the factory and the sweatshop to slave its life away for a pittance in order to pile up profits for stockholders and interest for bondholders. Nearly every state in the union has been compelled to enact stringent laws to protect its children. The enactment of these laws could not have been secured, so bitterly were they opposed by greedy capitalists, had it not been for the heroic effort of organized labor. Disband the trades unions today and tomorrow every one of these labor laws would become a dead letter.

The introduction of steam power and labor saving machinery into England, at the beginning of the past century resulted in the most inhuman abuses of t'ne working people by the capitalist class. The adult workers were displaced, ami. in the language of an able historian, "The bodies and souls of tender infancy of children were snatched from the cradle to become cogs and wheels for a few months in some huge building and then thrown away, worn out and useless. It was the conversion of the blood of babes into capital, as the spider converts the hapless insects caught in its web into a power that enables it to spin other nets; or, as the tiger, by its feast of flesh, gathers strength for new forays." It was this brutality on the part of capital that brought into existence the modern trades union. For 500 years prior to this the right of workmen to combine for the purpose of obtaining higher wages or shortening hours was denied in England by stringent laws.

To form a union was a crime. It would be a crime in America today if the lords of capital could write the codes, and they $25,000 PER YEAR SAVED. were elected aiu uave iivi muw from their registered street and house number, are legally registerd voters at this time and aP voters who registered subsequent to April 4, 1905, and have not since changed their place of residence since registering are also legally registered without further registration at this time. "The present registration law does not require voters to register annually as heretofore but under its provisions which permit a contiguous registration provided its specific requirements are fully complied with upon the part of the registered- voter. "The average voter is likely to be placed in doubt as to the status of his registration and he may possibly be confronted by the refusal of his vote at any stated election held subsequent to his non-compliance with the law which would compel the cancellation of his registration without personal notice.

It is therefore Highly important that the year, would be a good time to commence a reform at the primaries and there are enough voters in Topeka opposed to the old method of doing business to push the fixers away from the crib for a while at least. The following article, which appeared in last Saturday's Kansas City Journal, shows how the Bosses say Republicans of this county have decided to distribute their favors. As a good Republican voter and a taxpayer, how much did you have, (or will you have) to say about the matter? The Kansas City Journal article follows: Shawnee county Republicans have ironed out their troubles and will present only one candidate for state office at the state convention Tom McNeal, for state printer. The matter was fixed up during Congressman Curtis' visit home this week. For a while Shawnee county had a surplus of candidates; McNeal for state printer, "Doc" Newman for auditor, and Judge J.

S. West for attorney general. 'In addition, Charley Curtis is a candidate for re-election as congressman in the First district, and also a candidate for United States senator. If the places on the state ticket are distributed equitably, each congressional district will get two nominees on the state ticket. There are eight districts, and sixteen places to fill.

The jobs are: Four judges of the supreme court, three railroad commissioners, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, attorney general, superintendent of schools, superintendent of insurance and state printer. Some of the districts will ask for only one place on the ticket, which will give some of the rest three places. The Third feels certain of getting three of the candidates, treasurer, auditor and railroad commissioner. Until recently Shawnee county had three candidates, as stated, in the field, one more than the entire FMrst district is entitled to under an equitable distribution. Other counties in the First also have some aspirantts.

Jefferson has Oscar Raines for attorney general; Lea worth has F'rank Ryan for secrr' state and John Cory for tre" 1 son is thinking some of Broderick in the racfiED biucx sum, ,0111 onrW Eighth Mfr. supreme court, aiuand Bidewaik brick. while had a ivicin-s vmHauj-yi- auditor fiat he will finally decide to do is lot settled. Under these circumstance Shawnee could not expect to land all of its candidates and to attempt to do so would lay it open to the charge of trying to hog things, which might make it go hard with Curtis later on in his candidacy for United States senator. To back three candidates from this county would not only create discord in the F'irst congressional district, but would create a prejudice against Shawnee candidates in the state at large.

The local leaders realized this. District Attorney Harry J. Bone help- fi ed to relieve the situation when he named Judge J. S. West as his assistant.

In accepting the place West served notice of his retirement from the race for attorney general. This left two candidates in the race for state office Newman and McNeal still one too many, so a conference was held while Curtis was at home, and Newman was eliminated as a candidate for auditor. Newman is county clerk of Shawnee, and one of Curtis' campaign managers, lie has a strong political hold locally, and would not run from a fight. He was also promised strong support in other counties. But he has all along given it out flat that if his candidacy in any way interfered with the candidacy of Curtis for senator he would gladly pull out oA.th The New State Printer Law Shuts Off a Big Graft.

State Printer McNeal has completed his report showing the cost of operating the state printing plant for the quarter ending December 31. The cost of the work turned out compared with the amount which the printer would have received under the old fee system shows that the fee printer would have made $6,673.84 during the past three months, or at the rate of more than $25,000 per year. The total cost of the work turned out aggregated $7,743,64, The value of it to the printer under the old fee system would have been $14,317.48. The state printer spent $11,528.98 during the quarter, but the difference be-tuccn liiai Mini dud tire actual tool uf the work is represented by stock still on hand and work unfinished. The expense for rent and maintenance for the three months aggregated labor, paper and other stock, $1,148.56.

Total, $11,528.93. During the quarter the printer com The Japanese and Korean Exclusion League. The following resolutions have been unanimously endorsed by the American Federation of Labor, the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League and many fraternal and civic organizations representing the Pacific coast and eastern states, numbering more than 1.000,000 wage earners. RESOLUTION. Whereas, The menace of Chinese labor, greatly allayed by the passage and enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act, has been succeeded by an evil similar in general character, but much more threatening in its possibilities to-wit: The immigration to the United States and its insular territory of large and increasing numbers of Japanese and Korean laborers, and Whereas, American public sentiment against the immigration of Chinese labor as expressed and crystallized in the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act, finds still stronger justification in demanding prompt and adequate measures of protection against the immigration of Japanese and Korean labor, on the grounds (1) that the wage and living standard of such labor are dangerous to, and must if granted recognition in the United States prove destructive of the American standards in these essential respects; (2) that a racial incompatibility as between the peoples of the Orient and the United States, presents a problem of race preservation which it is our imperative duty to solve in our own favor, and which can only be thus solved by a policy of exclusion: and Whereas.

The systematic colonization of these Oriental races to our insular territory in the Pacific, and the threatened and partly accomplished extension of that system to the Pacific coast and other western localities of the United States constitutes a standing danger, not only to the domestic peace, but to the continuance of friendly relations between the nations concerned; therefore be it Resolved, That the terms of the Chinese Exclusion Act should be enlarged and extended so as to permanently exclude from the United States and its insular territory all classes of Japanese and Koreans other than those exempted by the present terms of that Act; further Resolved. That these resolutions be submitted through the proper avenues to the congress of the United States with a request for favorable consideration and action by that body. A Chicago special to last Monday's St. Louis Globe-Democrat said: "Fifteen hundred union printers crowded Brandt's hall this afternoon in one of the most enthusiastic meetings ever held in the history of typographical union, No. 10.

"For more than eighteen months the compositors in t'ne jurisdiction of the International Typographical Union have looked forward to January 1, 1906, as the beginning of a new era in the printing industry. For twelve months they have assessed themselves to raise a fund with which to prosecute the fight, and when a telegram from the national 'Headquarters was read in the local meeting, showing that the latest assessment of 10 per cent of the gross earnings throughout the jurisdiction was carried by majority, the meeting broke out in a great cheer. "Reports were read showing that the snorter work day had already been established in more than 300 cities throughout the country. In fifty-four cities strikes are now in progress, with a possibility of strikes in 239 cities by Tuesday morning. 'The question of whether the men shall insist on a straight eight hour day or divide the week to suit the employer, provided that not more than forty-eight hours arc worked in a week, was left for each chapel to deal with.

"Three cities that are now working under contracts which do not expire at this time are Boston, Kansas City and Milwaukee, so the printers in those cities will not lie affected; but they will pay the 10 per cent assessment, the same as the others." Referring to the St. Louis situation, the Globe-Democrat said: "At a meeting held by Typographical union Xo. 8, in Hibernian hall, Finney avenue near Grand, yesterday afternoon, the auditorium was packed with printers, anxious to learn of the progress made in the fight for a shorter work day. A provision adopted by the International Typographical Union at its session during the world's fair, provides that an eight-hour day shall rule among job printers on and after January 1, 1906. In September the local printers and the employers disagreed on the proposition.

At yesterday's meeting the executive committee was authorized to submit a definite proposition to the em "tolblic under. -land what the law requires of voters to secure and maintain a legal continuous registration instead of regis- terii annuiilly. Having learned this all Voters ho expect to exercise the right flrf suffrage should first see that thev ren5-? learn from the commissioner of elections the status of their last resistration was uiade dur-in" the year Ah(1 then keep in pleted unlinislied work ot the previous quarter at a cost of $4,572.89. He has about that amount of unfinished work for the last quarter still in the shop to remembrance tlu fad that a failure to vote at anv f'lection held subsequent to their resristenmg alu' a change of their do this quarter. Some idea of the profits to a state registered ho)use number under removal of their resi'lenoe w'll disquality them votin unlessthey reregister.

printer under the old system can be gleaned by comparison on one item. The state labor commissioner has just issued his biennial report. It was printed dur in; the quarter just closed. It cost the would write them were it not for the grand army of trades unionists standing in solid phalanx between capitalist greed and poverty slavery. Modern capitalism is but sprout from the old tree of greed, avarice and debauchery that flourished in the old Roman empire, when every man, woman and child who worked was an abject slave, bought and sold as cattle, penned up like hogs, scourged with whips, and, in many instances, when grown old and useless, turned into the arena with wild beasts to be torn to pieces for the pleasure of the dastardly parasites, who laughed, ate, drank, jested and had a jolly good time, and when the scene was over, left those poor unfortunate producers of wealth in the gaping wounds and dying agony without so much as one pitying glance or remorseless thought.

Every page of history is blotted with the woes of those who toil, and those woes are always inflicted by those who state $1,787.49. Under the old fee system it would have cost the state "As near as I can figure now," said State Printer McNeal, "the job of printer under the old system was worth about $25,000 a year. The last quarter is regarded as the light quarter of the biennial period. Still it showed a profit of over $6,000. Where the printer made his big haul was in printing legislative stuff.

When the legislature abolished do not toil, yet live in splendor. A lazy, its enrolling force and transferred that work to the state printer, it allowed him $3 a page besides the printing. This made it cost the state $3.50 a page. I should say that $3 of it was profit. Taking all of the legislative printing, 1 figure that there was at least 100 per cent profit in it.

This takes into account the extra cost of labor at night, too." The allotment of printing funds to the Eight Hour Law Absolute. Relative to the eight hour law as it applies to persons engaged in mining, Attorney General lladley gave the following opinion to J. W. Marsteller, secretary of the state bureau of mines and mining, in which a new feature is pointed out. In answer to your inquiry as to the construction that has been given by the supreme court of Missouri and the supreme court of the United States to the act of 1901, making it unlawful for any ploying printers, providing for an eight-hour work day at per week.

Where the exigencies of the business demand it, the men may be kept at work nine or more hours when paid 40 cents extra for the first hour of overtime and 50 cents per hour for each additional hour. This is the minimum scale which will be offered to the employing printers and is in line with the so-called Memphis agreement. It is said that there are very few printers now out of work in this city, not more than eighty. As today is a holiday, with nearly, if not all, of the shops closed, it is not expected that there will be any developments of importance until tomorrow." various departments by the printing The Strike the Collar Starchers. It is i cur'0U8 that strikes, be thev never stS much in earnest, that are conducted sobriety and quietude as far as deiri(Ystrations go, receive but scant attention; it is only when a revolt is chaiaeflfriBed by noisy meetings, parades with fanners, and long letters to the press, t'at the public is roused to the point of iecognizing the signs of discontent.

The strike of the women employes of the effjar 1 shirt making factories of Troy. V- has been on for eight months and over. and they are still waiting for they employers to accede to what they consider rightful demands. The situation is this: Eight firms in Troy, composing the Employers' association, with' several initVl'endent firms turning out high-prkd products, furnish about 90 per cent 1,1 collars and cuffs worn in tW country. Sow in i hese factorial, some 22,000 persons, of them 'women, are employed, 1,000 ol the woimin i.i laundries as starch-1ers "The trouble began in the C'luett, Veabody Co.

factories, where starching machines 'J then introduced which would double thj, perlber of collars each girl could stare! Xatu kr'VPT1 ilme- 1 lle starchers used machines for nine months, before us t'ing any comment, though they foL, Ahat the work was not at all light ued by the use of the machines, and the collars required nearly as much hand labor to render them acceptable as before the use of the machines, while their wages were reduced, and they were obliged to work harder than before. It is impossible to expect the starchers to be iatisfied under those conditions. Lower vvages and increased labor will never appeal to any grade of workers. "The girl sent a committee to wait on the superintendent and ask an interview with the employers. The request was curtly refused, and the girls given the alternative of going back to work or leaving.

waiting two race. He would rather help to hy kc Curtis senator than to lie state ami jr himself. So he has quit. He is still a young man and has plenty of time to realize his ambitions. It is understood that Curtis will name Newman as assistant postmaster of Topeka when a change is made the next time.

Judge John Guthrie is now serving his second term as postmaster. A. K. Rodgers, his assistant, is slated to succeed him, and Newman will go in as Rodgers' assistant. As arranged, McNeal is to name all the Shawnee delegates to the state con greedy horde of inhuman wretches have always feasted while the workers famished.

We have an element in the millionaire circles today who are just as bad at heart as were the senators and soldiers at Rome. They have no more regard for a person who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow than they have for a common cur, and they live sumptuously without a thought of pity for those who struggle and die in poverty and misery. Reader, are you doing your whole duty, your utmost, to obtain and advance the interests of toiling humanity through organization and education? If not, why not? Labor Leader. person or corporation engaged in mining to work their hands or employes longer than eight hours a day. I beg to advise commission has had the effect of curtailing in a measure the printing work for the state.

Several of the departments are practicing economy. They are not getting niggardly, but are cutting out the superfluous stuff. There is no object now in their throwing jobs to the printer to help him out financially. And the printer isn't around soliciting work. He gets his salary just the same whether there is any work to do or not.

He doesn't get any more pay when work is brisk than when it is slack. you that the question of a violation of this law does not depend upon whether vention but eight. The other fellows are to name these eight, but they must be satisfactory to McNeal. In return. IT IS ALL FIXED NOW.

All Out in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Public ledger of last Monday said: Union printers in this country begin their strike for an eight-hour day this morning. In this city the shorter workday was granted on Saturday by twentytfour firms before their employes left their shops to report at the three strike headquarters. All of the union men reported at headquarters in Odd Fellows' Temple or at 232 North Ninth street and 30 North McNeal will endeavor to name delegates Republican Bosses Have Already Dis satisfactory to the other leaders. It is to be a case of mutual sutisfnetinn A BUND MEETING IN NEW YORK.

tributed Shawnee County Pie. The Shawnee count political pie for Some of the local leaders bucked at first next year has already been cut and the the employe works for a longer period than eight hours willingly or unwillingly. The law is designed to protect the life and health of those engaged in mining industries. Its enforcement requires that no person should work for a longer period than eight hours in an underground mine, even though they might desire to work for a longer period for additional compensation, The law, however, would not prohibit persons working for a period in excess of eight hours in a day of twenty-four in eases involving immediate danger to life or property. With this exception the provisions of the law are absolute.

on the proposition and threatened ty) several pieces distributed, and the call make a hirht. W. K. Sterne. ex-United Its Members Decide Not to Take the Place of Strikers.

New York, Jan. 2. The ninth annual conference of the Jewish bund adjourned tor the convention has not vet been made! A few davs alio a half dozen no- States marshal and at present a county commissioner, seemed to be the leader of the threatened revolt. The inauro-pnta lit ical bosses of the county got together last night after a session of two days, which was attended by delegates from all parts of the country. Morris Hal- doled out the several nieces of nio thought they saw in the deal a scheme and the only thing necessary now is to Ninth street.

The shop chairmen then reported the replies from their employers to the union's Ultimatum of Friday. Besides the twenty-four firms who sent favorable replies, several other firms sent request! for a conference today and tomorrow with the union officials. In every printing office the heads of the firms addressed their men before they left, and in many Instances increased wages and lifelong positions were offered to nieii as inducements for abandoning the eight-hour day fight. None of the twenty-four firms which agreed to the eight-hour day nre Typothetae shops. Six of them were strictly non-union shops until three months ago, when their employes left them to days the dismissed st archers were paid off and treated in a manner greatly resented by them.

The rest of the starchers thereupon struck." 1 i. German Strikers Lose. The strike of the textile workers in the Thurinigan province! of Germany has terminated in the crushing defeat of the strikers. The textile workers resumed work on the terms dictated bv the manufacturers. The trades union which organized the strike is utterly bankrupt and ruined, pern of Chicago presided.

Moses delegate from Russia, was an Interesting member of the convention, lie said last night that $25,000 had been raised in this country to aid the revolutionists in Russia. A telegram from Wilna, Russia, wns read. It said that a daily Socialistic organ had been started in that city, and that a weekly paper of the same stamp was to be started in St Petersburg. The bund decided that in case of strikes in this country none of its members would take the places of the strikers. This is particularly intended for possible strikes of the garment mnkers.

to senu a solid iioch delegation to the state convention from Shawnee county. They don't like Hoch and want to give some other candidate for governor, if there is one, a few votes from Shawnee. For the purpose only of carrying Shawnee county, the insurgents planned to run County Attorney Otis Hungnte for attorney general. They didn't figure that he would get very fnr in the state convention, but that didn't matter. He might enable them to carry the county.

But since they have slept on the proposition for a few nights, they have abandoned their scheme and will submit to the programme as arranged, to let McNeal name the delegation, hold the primaries and let the voters go to the polls and elect the machine delegates to the convention, as they have always done in the past, and the bosses will finish the job Commenced last week. All political thievery and robbery commences at the primaries and that is where the public can put 11 stop to it quickest. Why do taxpayers and work-ingmen let a few politicians fix up a slate of delegates for them to vote for at the primary, and then go to the polls and elect it for them? ft is just as easy for Republican workingmen to put up a list of candidates for delegates as for the Bosses and Boodlcrs to do it. This tBUCn is pile siau'iiicin umuc nnciu Childe Dorr, chairman of the industrial of the geneiral federation of omen's clubs, after a visit at Troy last My, interviews with strikers and citing of the city. The lockout still con- I vees: the "employers" association still erf The average girl thinks she is not a success unless she succeeds in making it hot for at least one man.

jCs to arbitrate, the grounds that work in the Typothetne shops Jt will): locked out their union men. The I rikers have and that ioIb I i i.