Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1901 — UNION OF FARM HANDS. [ARTICLE]

UNION OF FARM HANDS.

Indiana Tiller* of the Soil Are Sac-, ceaaful la Their Organization. “Farm Laborers’ Union, No. 9247, branch of the American Federation of Labor,” the only organisation of its kind in Indiana, although only a month old, is already returning benefits and becoming so popular among farm laborers that the officers say it will soon spread over Knox and adjoining counties. Originally formed among the farm hands of W. H. Brevoort, Knox County, the union is being run on a basis to secure to membership laborers from auy farm, and twentyseven farms are already represented among the list of members. Their wives nnd daughters especially are appreciating and encouraging the union, and take pride in announcing that they now have shorter hours of work and more time for recreation, rest and study, a desideratum not obtainable heretofore with 10 and 11 o'clock suppers and 3 and 4 o’clock breakfasts. The leader and perhaps the most enthusiastic woman among them is Mrs. Thomas Murray, wife of one of Brevoort's tenants. The union holds enthusiastic meetings twice a week in the open, in the district school house or the church on the Brevoort farm, or in their hall in Vincennes —just as suits their convenience. Better wages and shorter hours, fair and uniform treatment and improved modes of living, secured through the arbitration method, usually receive thorough discussion at these meetings, followed by a short hout* of social enjoyment.