Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 90, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1903 — LABOR NOTES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LABOR NOTES

In Paris 250,000 occupy but one room each. Minneapolis mill owners will fight the carpenters’ union. Japan’s shipyards turned out forty-one steamers last year. Toronto labor unions will elect labor candidates for city offices. in New York City have more than 300 telephones each. Cincinnati has raised horse shoeing prices from $1.75 to $2 per set. New York union plasterers will receive $5.50 a day. The wages of the laborers at the Bethlehem Steel Company’s plant hr.ve been increased from $4.75 to $5 a ton. About 3,000,000 wage earners will be represented by the American Federation of Labor-convention at Boston in November. ' , The railroad telegraphers’ union* report shows that the organization increased from 10,339 to 25,234 members in the year ended April 30. Louisville master barbers have decided that they will try to close all the shops on Sunday, and the journeymen are believed to be in fuvor of the move. International Longshoremen and Transport Workers’ Union is now the third largest organization of labor in the country, having 152,000 members. What is said to be'a unique strike settlement irt New Orleans labor history put an end to the rawmill troubles at Luteher, La., when the strikers went back to* work with their demand for a ten-hour day granted upon the express condition that no union be formed. The Porto Itico FederaHon of Labor has formally requested (iov. Hunt to investigate the condition of labor on certain large sugar plantations of the island. The Federation claims that pov-erty-stricken laborers, averaging 40 cents a day, are compelled to accept “chips” instead of money, and to trade at plantation stores, where inferior and often injurious goods are soltl at uu exorbitant, price. The Western Federation of Miners, which recently held its aunual convention in Denver, is said to be the richest labor organization in the world. It hns been in existence but twelve years, and lias 200 affiliated local unious with about 75,000 members and $3,000,000 in its trensnry. - It hns secured au eight-hour day for all of its older unions among the miners and smeltermen in the western country.. The Order of Railroad through n committee, is investigating several sites nenr Chatta’nooga, Tenn., for a home for disabled members of that organization. If a suitable location is found, the organization will purchase the ground and build a $25,000 borne. '(he unions of butchers at the stock yards have donated $1,300 to members in Kansas City who suffered losnes through the recent floods. An additional sum of SSOO hiss been sent by the international organization, and more will be contributed as rapidly as it can be distributed. '