Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1886 — SHORTER WORKING HOURS. [ARTICLE]

SHORTER WORKING HOURS.

ProffritM Of the Great Movement in Y 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 movomont by the trades-unions for the adoption 0f a rule making eight hours a day's labor was not as general os had been expected. There appeared to be no concert of action among the workingmen, and in only one city—Mtlwaukee-i-’did the movement reach any’ magnitude. In that city tho demands of tho browery |am ploy os were refused, and 3,000,0 f them -Greek. This number included the drivers, and the breweries can deliver no beer. The,men in E. p. Allis Sc. Co.’s machine shops went out, and enough men in various other trades to sWotl tho number of-striker* in the Cream City to nearly l . 5,000. it is reported that an equal number of men aro forced into idleness in consaquencf. In ft, Louis, ft. l'aul, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Akron, 0., Boston, Pittsburg, and a number of smaller cities dehu nJs wire made by but sow of the trades. In Homo cases the reduced hours were granted by tho employers, in many more answer was ilofonod. and in others strikes ensurd. There is no report of demands being made by railroad employes. In Now York the movement was confined to the carpenters and joiners. There was a monster demonstration in Union Square, at which 20,000 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 tho streets with red flogs and listened to incendiary speeches in foreign tongues. The most notable strike r. t Chicago wo* with the railroads, all of the twenty-five in Chicago being affected, with the lone exception of thu Baltimore and Ohio. ’’ The Situation In Chicago. The labor and industrial situation at Chicago on Monday, the 3d inst., was thus outlined by special dispatches troni that city of that date : It was estimated last night that 40,000 of the 225,00.) wage-workers of Chicago have already profited by the eight-hour movement. About 05,000 are' supiiosed to bo out on strike this morning. In many instances, where large bodies of men are solidified under a trade move, ment, long strikes are threatened if the present attitude of tho employers is maintained. The movement has not yet been attended by any violence, though in Borne 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 Sc 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, 1,000 clothing cutters, and 100 tuck pointers had secured a-re-duction of tbeir working hours. According to the reports received up to midnight by Mr. George A. Schilling, chairman of tho eight-hour committee, the demands of the following have been satisfied: Eight hundred tobacco handlers, 700 street-car employes, all the members of tho Cigar-Makers' Union, 300 beer-barrel makers, 950 dry-goods and notion store employes, 8,500 paickers, and a large number of workmen employed in smaller industries. Besides, the following unions havo adopted tho eight-hour standard: .Brick-Layers’, Stone-Masons',- Hod- - Carriers’, Plasterers', and Lathers'. Out of the thirty-seven establishments wherein iron-molders are employed, twenty-three shops have won, five of the firms are resisting the movement, and the remainder are negotiating. The Machinists and Blacksmiths’ Assembly, which is striking for eight hours, with the ten-hours wages scaled, reports general success. The upholsterers are being' resisted in nearly every Instance. Thirty-three hundred brickmakera are striking for eight hours’ work at ten hours’ pay. About one-half of the 650 butchers in the city have secured reductions frSm sixteen to ten hours. The Shoemakers’ Assembly has modified its demands to eight hours’ pay for eight hours' work, and exSects to gain -this concession. The Clerks’ hion will be satisfied with ten hours. Four hundred wagonmukers begin work to-day under the eight-hour reform. The marble-workers have also woin under the eight-hours' 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-mill was in operation yesterday. The laborers of the Equitable Gas Company struck for eight hours’ work and full pay. The agitation in Chicago has thns far resulted in no acts of Violence. Following is a summary of the workers in the leading trades of Chicago: Fifty packing houseß, 15,000 tO29,000; twenty-two breweries, 1,500; fifty wholesale bakeries, 1,100; three gas companies, 1,200; four street railways, 4,500; railroads, 15,000; one hundred cigar factortes, l,300; five express companies, 1,200; telegraph and telephone companies, 1,800;-sixty-seven boot and shoeJnanufactones, 2,500; 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 planingroills and box factories, 2,500 ; 200 lumber yards, 7,000 ; 20,600 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.

The Situation Elsewhere. The most of the furniture factories at Orand Rapids, Mich, were closed on the 3d inst.. prenarutor.y 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 Ire- made. With- the ether trades thero was considerable commotion, but in many instances the troubles were compromised. At 'St. Louis a great many workmen in the various branches of trade quit because their employers ~ refused to grant thoir demands for an increase of pay. At Pittsburgh tho trouble was confined to the building trades, and in most instanoes where the demands were not granted a strike was ordered, in which the carpenters and ture-workera will lead. At Buffalo there was" no trouble worth mentioning, though the socialists were trying to foment strife. In Washington there was no trouble, but, on the other hand, rejoicing among tho 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 oight 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 honrs, 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 the 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 tho 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 the interference of the strikers with the men at work. At Detroit tho employes of most of the breweries quit- work because the employers refused to discharge non-union men, increase wages, and decrease the house of work. The coal operators at Pittsburgh granted an increase to the miners, and everything was quiet, but in the Monougahela district the advance was refused, and the men were at work. The advance was also refnsed at Y'oungstown, Ohio. The 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 secured nine hours, but nearly every -furniture factory is closed. Two hundred plumbers quit work 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 ten honrs’ wages for nine hours’ labor. The proprietors of all the planing-mills at Evansville, Indiana, agreed to open their doors to employes at eight hours’ work and pay, or close for an indefinite period. *fl. O. D.,” which has become incorporated into mercantile phraseology, was invented in Boston a quarter of a century ago by Henry Damon, who gqld many boots and shoes subject to payment upon delivery. The express order, “collect on delivery,” was then thus abbreviated. v - f ' _ Eli Cbozieb, who recently died at Wilmington, Del., was noted for his eccentricity. For the past forty years he had worn the same white hat, which he onoe vowed he would wear until Henry Clay was elected President. When Lincoln was assassinated, he put a bliltk band on the hat.