Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1886 — MISCELLANEOUS. [ARTICLE]

MISCELLANEOUS.

Before the Curtin Labor Investigating Committee at St. Louis several employes of the Missouri Pacific Railroad shops testified that not only had the March (1885) agreement been broken but its provisions had in several instances not even been put into effect Father O’Leary, editor of the Catholic World, testified that he knew many strikers who were good honest men and church members. He saw that the company was doing its utmost to crush the Knights of Labor, using unscrupulous means to accompli'll its ends. The cause of the strike he had studied, and thought he knew. The Knights were a society formed to teach its members justice and equity, but looking at the entire railway system, he thought it was carried on by trickery and unfairness, from Mr. Gould down to the lowest subordinate.- He said that the employes of the road who were not Knights of Labor were afraid to speak to members of that organization for fear of being discharged. Labor notes: Several of the new freight-handlers on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Road at Chicago became ill from the change of water and diet. They were doctored up with whisky and ginger, and nearly all the rest of the gang, on discovering what sort of medicine was being given out, became violently afflicted with cramps. One Seidell, a boycotter, was fined $25 and costs at Milwaukee by Justice Mallory, who denounced the boycotting business as an outrage. About eleven hundred carpenters at Allegheny City have struck for nine hours’ work at full pay. The Chicago steam-fitters and their helpers have struck for more pay and less hours. The switchmen’s strike at Indianapolis has proved a failure. The Pittsburgh ice companies have granted the demands of their striking employes for an advance in wages of $2 per week, and all have returned to work. There were 17,500 lumber shovers on a strike in Chicago last Thursday. The strikers at the Standard Coke Works at Mount Pleasant, Pa., have returned to work, a compromise having been effected. Nearly all the boot and shoe manufacturers of Chicago, having tried the eighthour system for two weeks, met and resolved to return to the ten-hour schedule, and not to knowingly employ an anarchist or socialist. The cutting departments of all the wholesale clothing houses in Chicago closed for an indefinite period on account of a strike of male and female tailors for better pay. The bakers and the ice men of Pittsburgh obtained their demands, and have returned to work. The washerwomen of Pittsburgh have organized a close union, and will hereafter demand $1 a day for six hours’ work. The Erie Railroad Company has organized the Erie Express, which will take the place of the United States Express on all the lines and branches of the road.