Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1886 — SHORTER WORKING HOURS. [ARTICLE]

SHORTER WORKING HOURS.

Progress of the Great Movement in the Cities Looking Toward That End. Some Manufacturers Accede to the Demand, Others Refuse, and Others Are Waiting. Outside of the city of Chicago the movement by the trades-unions for the adoption of a rule making eight hours a day’s labor was not as general as had been expected. There appeared to be no concert of action among the workingmen, and in only one city—Milwaukee—did the movement reach any magnitude. In that city the demands of the brewery | employes were refused, and 3,000 of them struck. This number included the drivers, and the breweries can deliver no beer. The men in E. P. Allis & Co.’s machine shops went out, and enough men in various other trades to swell the number of strikers in the Cream City to, nearly 5,000. It is reported that an equai number of men are forced into idleness in consequence. In St. Louis, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Akron, 0., Boston, Pittsburg, and a numbor cf smaller cities demands were made by but few of the trades. In some cases the reduced hours were granted by the employers, in many mere answer was deferred, and in others strikes ensued. There is no report of demands being made by railroad employes. In New York the movement was confined to the carpenters and joiners. There was a monster demonstration in Union Square, at wbicliiiO.OOO people listened to addresses by friends of the short-time] movement. It was free from disorder or Communism. In Chicago thousands of men from the lumber-yards and planing mills paraded the streets with red flags and listened to incendiary speeches in foreign tongues. The most notable strike at Chicago was with the railroads, all of the twenty-five in Chicago being ailected, with the lone exception of the Baltimore and Ohio.

Tile Situation in Chicago. The labor and industrial situation at Chicago on Monday, the 3d inst., was thus outlined by special dispatches trom that city of that date : It was estimated last night that 40,000 of the 225,000 wage-workers of Chicago have already profited by the eight-hour movement. About 65,000 are supposed to bo out on strike this morning. In many instances, where large bodies of men are solidified under a trade movement, long strikes are threatened if the present attitude of the employers is maintained. The movement has not yet been attended by any violence, though in some quarters the socialistic element has caused seeming bickering and disquiet. This is particularly true of the lumber region and North Side furniture district. The report received that the Milwaukee & St. Paul Company was sending 400 men into the city to take the places of the striking freight handlers caused no little uneasiness in railroad quarters. The strikers decided to resist any attempt of the imported men to handle the freight. Previous to Saturday 1,000 brewers, as many bakers, 800 furniture workers, 1,600 clothing cutters, and 100 tuck pointers had socured a reduction of their working hours. According to the reports received up to midnight by Mr. George A. Schilling, chairman of the eight-hour committee, the demands of the following have been satisfied: Eight hundred tobacco handlers, 700 street-car employes, all the members of the Cigar-Makers’ Union, 300 beer-barrel makers, 950 dry-goods and notion store employes, 8,500 packers, and a large number of workmen employed in smaller industries. Besides, the following unions have adopted the eight-hour standard: Brick-Layers’, Stone-Masons’, HodCarriers’, Plasterers’, and Lathers’. Out of the thirty-seven establishments wherein iron-molders are employed, twenty-three sheps have won, five of the firms are resisting the movement, and the remainder are negotiating. The Machinists and Blacksmiths’ Assembly, which is striking for oight hours, with the ten-hours wages scaled, reports general success. The upholsterers are being resisted in nearly every instance. Thirty-three hundrod brickmakers are striking for eight hours’ work at ten hours’ pay. About one-half of the 650 butchers in the city have secured reductions from sixteen to ten hours. The Shoemakers’ Assembly has modified its demands to eight hours’ pay for eight hours' work, and expects to gain this concession. The Clerks’ Union will be satisfied with ten hours. Four hundred wagonrmikers begin work to-day under the eight-hour reform. The marble-workers have also won under the eight-hourß’ pay agreement. The Coopers’ Assembly is still standing out for nine hours’ pay. The larger iron and brass works are closed to await events. Only one planing-mili was in operation yesterday. The laborers of the Equitable Gas Company struck for eight hours’ work and full pay. The agitation in Chicago has thus far resulted in no acts of violence. Eollowing is a summary of tho workers in the leading trades of Chicago: Fifty packing houses, 15,000 to 20,000; twenty-two breweries, 1,500; fifty wholesale bakeries, 1,100 ; three gas companies, 1,200; four street railways, 4,500; railroads, 15,060; one hundrod cigar factories, 1,300; five express companies, 1,200; telegraph and telephone companies, 1,800; sixty-seven boot and forty wholesale clothing manufactories, 5,000; twelve dry-goods dealers, 8,000; twenty brass foundries, 1,000; twenty tanneries, 1,300; eightyseven foundries, iron-works, and rolling-mills, 8,000; 100 carriage and wagon factories, 1,500; 140 furniture and upholstry, 6,000 ; forty planingmills and box factorios, 2,500 ; 200 lumber yards, 7,000 ; 20,000 men are employed in the building trade as carpenters, paper-hangers, lathers, painters, stone and brick workers, stone-cutters, plumbers and gas-fitters, roofers and slaters.

Tlie Situation Elsewhere. The most of tho furniture factories at Grand Fvapids, Mich, were closed on the 3d inst., preparatory to the inauguration of the eight-hour movement. At Cincinnati the factories, employing about twelve thousand men, were closed, and will so remain until terms can ho made. With the other trades there was considerable commotion, hut in many instances the troubles were compromised. At St. Louis a great many workmen in the various branches of trade quit hecauso their employers refused to grant their demands for an increase of pay. At Pittsburgh the trouble was confined to tho building trades, and in most instances whero the demands were not granted a strike was ordered, in which the carpenters and furni-ture-workers will lead. At Buffalo there was no trouble worth mentioning, though the socialists were trying to foment strife. In Washington there was no troublo, but, on the other hand, rejoicing among the street-car men', whose working time was, in accordance with an agreement made some months ago, reduced to twelve hours. The trades, however, were expected to strike for eight hours. In New York the piano-makers demanded eight hours work, and threatened to quit if they did not get it. From Ohio, where the eight-hour law went into effect, great depression of business was reported. Where employers were unable to get their men to work ten hours, they either dismissed them or hired them by the hour. At Indianapolis all demands were refused and a few of the factories closed. At Boston tho trades united in a demand for eight hours with ten hours’ pay, and will strike if their demands are not acceded to. At Milwaukee the employes in the breweries quit work because their demand for an increase of wages was not granted. The other workmen joined in a street demonstration, and along the docks there was considerable trouble on account of tho interference of the strikers with the men at work. At Detroit tho employes of most of the breweries quit w< rk because the employers refused to discharge non-union men, increase wages, and decrease the house of work. Tho coal operators at Pittsburgh granted an increase to the miners, and everything was quiet, but in tho Monongahela district the advance was refused, and the men were at work. The advance was also refused at Youngstown, Ohio. Tho strikers at the New York sugar refineries were paid off, and most of them asked to return to work at the old scale of wages. The stone-cut-ters of Pittsburgh have generally Eeeured nine hours, but nearly overy furniture factory is closed. Two hundred plumbers quit werk in St. Louis and five hundred furniture men in Cincinnati. Five thousand carpenters of Boston threatened to strike for eight hours. About two thousand journeymen carpenters of Baltimore struck for eight hours’ work and pay. The bosses were ready to concede ton hours’ wages for nino hours' labor. The proprietors of all the planing-mills at Evansville, Indiana, agreed to ppen their doors to employes at eight hours’ work and pay, or close for an indefinite period.