The Syracuse Journal, Volume 20, Number 18, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 1 September 1927 — Page 2

Labor Dau, J »

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By ELMO SCOTT WATSON

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ABOR DAY this year has a special significance, if we accept the statement of John R. and his associates in the book “The History of Labor In t,he United States” In which they say **We place the beginning of the American labor ytovement In the year 1827 at Philadelphia. In that year and America wage earners for the first time joined together as a class regardless of trade lines In a contest with employers."

The contest referred to was a strike of building trade workers for a ten-hour day and other improvements In thel- working conditions; a strike which ended successfully for the workers. So Labor Day this year may be regarded as the high spot in a centennial year for organised labor and tor that reason has more than passing interest. The day itself has a much shorter history, for it goes back only 45 years at the most. The idea of a Labor Day celeb ration was first suggested in 1882: it was first officially proclaimed by the American Federation of Labor in 1884. but it was not until 1894 that it was first made a legal holiday and that only In the District of Columbia and the territories. The first suggestion of a Labor Day holiday was made In New York City Central Labor union in May. 1882. Its officers held that, although the country had other holidays symbolical of the military, civil and religious spirit, there was none which represented the spirit of the workingman. Accordingly it suggested the observance of the first Monday in September as a festival day with parades, picnics and speeches and staged such a celebration that year with great success. Two years later the American Federation « Labor officiary recognized the suggestion by proclaiming the first Monday in September as Day and urged all laborers to observe It. State legislatures were asked to make this day a legal holiday and eventually 32 of them did enact laws making It such. Labor Day |s also an appropriate tih»e for reviewing some of the history of the labor movement in thia country and for considering some of the forces which have contributed to the establishment of organised labor tn Its present important position in the social structure of this country. That these force* began to operate as far back as 1607 La shown in the brilliant essay With which Prof. Ralph Henry Gabriel of Yale university introduces Malcolm Kelt’s pictorial and verbal story of "The Epic of industry" in the "Pageant of America” series which the Yale University Prtes to now bringing out. In this essay he tells of that historic movement wheto “In the Seventeenth century on the wooded banks of the James river a busy group of Englishmen unloaded from three small ship* a quantity of axes and adses. hoes and firearms; Including some small cannon. Soon after a redskin, trained to hunt with bow and arrow, bore to the Indian village up the river the news of the coming of the whites. The age of Iron had come suddenly into contact with the age of stone.** He then traces and interprets the successive stages of industrialism in the United States down through SOO years to the present age which he [summarizes as follows: By th* lime th*'Tw*ntleth century opened, industrialism had b*com* a factor of first importance In American life. Th* passing of th* frontier and th* completion of th* greater part of th* national network of railroads freed capital for Industrial development. and in America this capital was gath- . *red Into th* greatest financial combinations th* world has *v*r known. . L*r<*-***J*| production and the bringing ot a succession of manufacturing steps under a single control, resulted! tn an »M\ clency which mad* possible American ! competition with foreign producers who paid lower wages to their laborers. Scientific investigation, was accalarated a* laboratories becam* a part of the equipment of many industrial establishment* Natur* waa ransacked in a systematic manner foe every element and every source of energy that might be turned to the amelioration of human life. In th* processes of industry, th* Iron man steadily replaced the human hand. Th* automatic machine controlled by the giant corporation la th* triumph of th* age of industry. But all too frequently It reduces th* worker to a mere automaton who Spends th* years of his lit* feeding a senseless monster. • . & Labor baa prospered with industry. y*t the wag* earner has had many a difficult problem to solve. Th* growth of manufacturing put vpat *conomio power into th* hand* of a successful f*w. Many st the iron dnk*a ver* predatory. Th* employe* fought at times for better working condition* and f*r wage* which measured his standard of living. Fba two centuries and a half most Americana had owned a farm or a busin***; a relatively small part es th* population had worked for hire Industrialtom brought to America a growing group of men and women whose sol* dependence was a Job, And a job was not like a piece of land or a stock of la a store, it might vanish when time* gr*w hard Md no on* know why It had gone To protect hlmsedf against th* viciesitud** ot his *conomU po .lt lon. th* wag. earner sought! to organise. In the seventies and •*ightl*s he d«v*loped th* soectneuiar Knight* of Labor whicto after ctaimSTa membership of a million, foil suddenly Into oollar**. Other organisation! hav* followed and ££ JatoM power far beyond that of th* Knights

Nature Has a Way of Spreading Species

One of the problems that confront the naturalist Is that of accounting fbr tiie distribution of Identical forms . of Ute through widely separated localftiea. Investigation frequently that thia has been accomplished ta many ways that appear quite simple when eoce discovered. although etoe would hardly hare thought of therm Sone Interesting tacts *«*®**F® concerning the dispersion of *

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C&ZASC&t. in th* heyday of thetr greatness. Yet. in America labor organizations lag In their growth behind those of England. Perhaps one of th* reason* may be found In th* character of the American wage earning group. Th* rapid exploitation of the natural resources within the United States brought abyut one of the world’s Important population movements. Millions of European* crossed th* ocean to share in th* opportunities which America lavishly offered. They built railroads, dug min**, and tended the machine* in clattering factorlea They brought with them prejudice* and inherited national hatreds. Their first problem waa to learn th* ways of a new natipn and to adjust themselves to a new environment. As a group, this polyglot mas* did not posses* common idealism and th* workers that passed through th* factory gat* a* the whistle blew spok* a multitude of languages. Th* organisation of such * group presented at times insuperable dilficultta*. It has never been fully accomplished. Again and again th* natural leaders of the wag* earners have risen out of the group to become manager* Opportunity ha* not failed genuin* ability. But organisation has come, and ha* aided in improving th* lot of th* laborer. Co-operation <• also between employer and employe* has increased a* th* chaotic early year* of Industrialism have passed and as the custom* and ideals of the new indulstrial civilisation hav* taken shape. Meanwhile the United States, passing th* middle point of the second century of it* national history, has become the industrial colossus of the world. How that organization of the laboring man cam* about and the various steps taken in Its development to traced: in the chapter on “Organised Labor in Industry” which contains this Introduction to the main theme of the illustrated narrative in that chapter: In 1930. out of our population of one hundred fiv* millions. tb*r* wer* forty-one million wag* earn- 1 er* Whatever concern* labor I* vital to the wellbeing of th* nation. Industry ha* advanced from th* small-scale local Individual enterprise to th* gigantic corporation whose business and plant* ar* spread over the nation and even th* globe, and various corporations hav* g unit*d in on* way or another for economic or political purpose* in Ilk* manner labor ha* forsaken individual bargaining with an employer and ha* united into great organisations for group negotiation* concerning wages, hour* or working conditions with aggregations of employers Th* hostler once might haggle with th* hav* beenwPto*d to organise a brotherhood to deal with the raiir>ad executive* of th* country Labor organisation has paced evenly with industrial organisation. -, The history of labor show* that organisation develop* under four conditions. (11 The worker must be separatrd from the ownership of the tools or th* means of production. <3) Laborers in th* same trade must be able to come into close contact with one another. (3) Opportunity for especially gifted workmen to rise abov* their class must be •hut off. with th* result that these men. denied individual advancement, become leaders tn th* erforts for th* Improvement of their class (4) Th* condition under which work Is don* must burdensome *o that the men engaged in th* work feel that a common grievance. These conditions were not satisfied until after 1830. and then only partially until after th* Civil war. Ther* could b* no effective labor organisation* in the United Stat** tn th* earlier yehr* of It* industrial development Th* early artisans in general each carried on hi* own business. The shoemaker - owned his tool* and hi* shop, bought hi* leather and sold hi* finished product. With the coming of the first factories employ*** wer* gathered together under th* ***** roof and worked for wa<*« with thw tools and material* of other men. Under the industrial conditions that prevailed before th* Civil war labor union* sprang up from tim* to time but non* were abl* to maintain an *xlst*nc* over a period of year*. Th* rapid growth of th* nation ♦hat was still undeveloped gave opportunities ot many kind*. Industry itself was growing and disgruntled employ*** might g*t batter Job* in new enterprise* Citle* were expanding and the laborer might set up for himself a small commercial enterprise. The frontier, always beckoned those who preferred being their own master* to working for hir*. The abler member* of the tabor group were always finding opportunities 'to improv* their condition. ■ . Following the Civil war th* great labor organisatlon* of th* United States have developed. Many forces hav* operated to bring them about. Their Influenc* ha* increased in the development of industry. They ar* an inevitable and an Important

fresh water mollusks, accounting for their -appearance In remote and isolated ponds. Water fowl play an important part In this work. Ducks have been known to carry mussels attached to their feet a hundred miles or more. Bivalve mollusks not infrequently ding to the toes of wading birds and are thus transported for considerable distances. Even aquatic insects have been known to carry smaU fresh-

water mollusks attached to their legs. » —Washington Star. r Blind Man Good Boxer Captain Lowry, who was the first i- officer to be blinded In the World war, » Is not only successful as an osteopath i in London. but Is also a good athlete l He boxes, swims, dives, runs, dances, y plays bridge and does several other d things that are not accomplished by e man; with perfect sight. He boxes, e he wys. by using his sense of space, b which tells him when a person is la

THE SYRACrSE JOURNAL

part of the new industrial order. At first these unions directed attention to the betterment of the economic condition of the workers and this aim still remains foremost. But of later some unions have been paying particular to gaining some kind of partnership tn industry and may next reach out for a measure of political control. The complete story of the rise of organised labor in the United States as given in this chapter. is an Interesting one. It goes back somewhat farther than the beginning established by Commons and his associates, to the time soon after the Revolutionary war when the and printers on several occasions organised to protest and strike against the abandonment of the apprentice system which brought a depression wages. As a result they were haled into court on charges of conspiracy and these cases checked the growth of unionism In its inception. The year 1814 saw the fiist wage agreement entered into by the bricklayers of Cinncinnati And this marked a definite trend in the labor movement. Social reform was one of the first efforts of American labor and so in the ’thirties we have the romantic history of the Utopian New Harmony (Ind.) experiment with which are associated the names of Robert Dale Own. “Fanny” Wright and her newspaper, the Free Enquirer; the Brook Farm experiment and Albert Brisbane and a similar community enterprise at Red Bank. N. J.. fill of which ended in failure. In the Twenties the first of the agrarian reformers came to the fore with Thomas Skidmore as principal leader, and in the ’forties George Henry Evans promised a scheme similar to Skidmore’s. /Vj As early as 1828 labor entered <®litics the first workingmen's i>arty in this Cbuntry/was organized by mechanics in Philadelphia, but labor as a separate party has never been able to figure decisively in national electi<ms. “After tlsto •nineties, organized labor did not officially enter politics as a separate party except in 1924.“ says Keir. “Instead, it has adopted the policy of ‘Vote for friends, defeat our enemies? This means that labor studies candidates and their political records and then, regardless of party, votes ftot the individuals who seem to lean most favorably toward labor’s desires. This policy has brought organized labor rich reward in the form of desired legislation.” Among the first at these was the creation of a separate Department of I-abor in li»13 and the placing of a labor representative In the President’s cabinet. The first secretary of labor was William B. Wilson, an ex-efficer of the United Mine Workers’ union, who became a member of President Wilson’s cabinet The present secretary of Labor. Janies J. Davis, was once an Iron worker in Pennsylvania and a steel worker In Indiana. labor’s participation in the national councils and its commanding position in America today have been due to organization. One of the first attempts at this was the formation of the National Labor union immediately after the Civil war. The first convention was held in 1866 and its principal effort was to bring about a shorter work-day program and to secure an eight-bpur day for labor. By the time the second convention was held in 1867, It was apparent that this union was going to depend upon political power to attain its ends, and as a result It soon lost ground. Although the Knights of Labor, founded by Uriah Smith Steph- j ens in Philadelphia in 1869, once rose to a membership of a million members, ife> power in the *seven ties and ’eighties soon began to wane and it gave way eventually to a young craft union, later famous as the American Federation of Labor. One of the founders of the organization in 1881 was Sampel Gomi>ers. of whom It has been said. "Gompers gave the American labor movement a brain, a soul and a clenched fist He must be ranked t among the great executives of his time.” It was during his presidency that labor rose to its greatness, the greatness which Labor Day celebrates. a ■■■— in I ■■ 'l' —

front of him. Then he hits out, and often with telling effect. He can “read’ his partner’s spine In a single fox trot, it is said. Current At flood times the velocity of the current of the Mississippi varies from five feet per second to about ten feet per second, depending upon the cross section of the river and the slope. At low water the speed of the current varies from three feet to five feet per second

Ocotal Battlefield and Its Two Heroes

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Here Is an air view of Ocotal, Nicaragua, where a smalt force of American marines and native constabulary “put to rout the rebel band of General Sandino in a seventeen-hour battle, after a squadron of bombing planes came to their rescue. Inserted are, left.Capt.G. D. Hatfield, commander of the marines; right. Maj. Ross EL Rowell, commander of the bombing squadron. Both of them have been cited for the Distinguished Service medal.

lordan Nomads Refuse Progress

— « Land Where John the Baptist Preached Still Primitive. Washington.—“ All Christendom can visualize the location of the recent earthquake that shook Bethlehem. Jerusalem and Jericho in Palestine, >ut Transjordania.' across the Jordan river, is a new and less familiar Arab state,” says a bulletin from the National Geographic stwiety. “Transjordania did not exist until , the league of nations, about seven years ago, decided to establish a state j east of the Jordan. A correspondent who visited the new state in 1923 described its creation as ‘an act of the Versailles pastrymakers, who. like so many cooks, had some dough left over after the molds were filled, and this was one of the odd Tookies.’ Dull, Dreary Desert. "Transjordania is a desert. Shaped like an ax head, with the blade pointing southward toward the Red sea, the state lies on the northern fringe of the Arabian desert and includes the eastern shores of the Dead sea. But much of the region, particularly that lying near the Jordan, is steppe land, supporting some flocks and occasional crops. “Many of the half million inhabitants are nomads who wander about the area, pitching their tents where and as they please. This accounts for the slow developmtmt of the region. Even the ruler, his highness, the Emir Abdullah Ibu Hussein, is virtually a desert prince and nomad chieftain. Until recently he held his ‘court.’ not tn a palatial palace, but ! n a group of tents, “Amman, Transjordania’s capital, is ibout a five-hour automobile ride icross the hot and dusty plains of Jericho and through the sizzling valey of the Jordan river. Amman, unler various names, has been the capi:al of this area for ages. It was .•ailed Rabbath Amman, chief city of the Ammonites, almost from the days jf Lot. from whom the Ammonites are said to have sprung. In the I Third century Ptolemy Philadeiphus jecame the new lord and called the tapital Philadelphia, the city of irotherly love. Once Prosperous Center. < “No one visiting Transjordania toja>x«ould suspect, at first glance, that this land was once the center of ftreek and Roman prosperity. Greek culture flourished in the East after MexaWer’s eastern conquest and durng the reign of Ptolemy Philadel>hus. When Ptolemy took the reins >f government one of his first acts 1 .vas Xo build a magnificent acropolis it Amman. “The main street of Amman winds

| Millionaire Bars Women in Business | Capetown. —Sir Abe Bailey. § > one of South Africa’s multi-mil- u | lionalres, attributes much of his § > success to the fact that he has O 3 never employed women to con- g > duct any of his business. “1 ob- g > Ject to women in business,” he A * said. “They work for lower g 5 pay, thus shutting men out of o ? positions in which the latter g 5 would be developed for better q * things. This is a handicap to g > business, for our youths do not g | get the training they should § > have. I have never employed g 3 women and never will.” f

WOMEN’S ORGANIZATION GETS DATA ON HOME EQUIPMENT

Makes Exhaustive Survey of Nearly 8,000.000 Urban and 40,000 Farm Residences. * Washington.—A home-maker’s mansal to which the American housewife and her business partner, the American husband, can turn for unbiased in- ; formation on the question of home equipment fundamentals and how to acquire them, is being prepared by the General Federation of Women's Clubs and will be ready for distribution in the early falL The survey of nearly 8.000,000 urI ban and 40,000 farm homes to ascertain accurate information on their equipment, which the General Federation recently completed, yielded the fact that two-thirds of the farm homes and 16 per cent of the urban homes of America are without even the sanitary essential of running water at the kitchen sink. Follow-up

— • around a high hill upon which the Greek citadel once stood. Hard by are the ruins of a Roman theater and the broken stone benches of a Roman amphitheater which probably seated 7.000 spectators. “Abdullah has cleared away the debris .from the ruins. Now the columns and stones are frequently lined with the- 1 village loungers and herds of goats browse among the ancient foundations. Everywhere in Transjordan ia the mounted Arab is seen wearing his flowing native garb. His hat is perhaps the oldest form of headgear. It is a large square piece of cloth called the kaffeyeh. One who is familiar with the coif can tell readily from what region the wearer comes.” Indian Won’t Give Up His Shack for Riches Tittle Neck, Y.—Another of the many last stands of the Red man in the United States was discovered here and. as usual, it was a losing struggle for the Indians. In a poison ivy patch directly In the path of a road-widening project here lie a score or more graves. They contain the bodies of Nurragansett Indians who came to Long Island when it was wild and untilled. Their last remaining representative here Is Jim Waters, known as Wild Pigeon, and his two sisters. Over the protests of Waters the road-making work goes on. Over the protests of real estate agents in this part of Long Island the Waters continue to live in a squalid shack across the street from their graveyard. The shack and its surrounding plot of ground would sell for $175,000. or thereabouts, it was estimated here. There are buyers. Jim Waters won’t sanction the sale, and without his sanction Jim's sisters will not sell. Jim believes others should help him protect the graveyard. He says that white persons are buried there, too. If so. the names and circumstances of the dead long have been forgotten. Even the Inscriptions have been worn away from meet of the headstones. For Waters and his sisters there is no temptation in the prospect of plenty and comfort in exchange for poverty and discomfort. It would be an easy matter to achieve the transformation by selling the Waters’ homestead. The graveyard must be sold, anyway, to meet demands of road makers. But Jim Waters and his sisters, who take In washing for their livelihood, won t sell. ■ —— World Is Just Gray to Color-Blind Cats ! Lincoln, Neb.—This colorful world of green grass and trees, red meat, brownish-gray miye and yellow dogs is all just gray to cats. At least so says Prof. F. M. Gregg of Nebraska Wesleyan university, who has been experimenting with the color sense of night-prowling animals. Dogs and ra« coons also lack color perception, be I finds. I In .his experiments »be animals I were taught to recognize various color combinations. They learned that when certain colors were shown they could come up and expect to be fed. When shades of gray corresponding in brightness to the different colors were substituted for the brilliant rainbow hues the animals apparently noted no change in the dinner signals The dog. a fox terrier, was quickest to learn, the cat next and the raccoon the slowest of all.

« ; ————■ —— campaigns calculated to raise the standard of home equipment are being inaugurated in a dozen states. The handbook is a feature of this work. The handbook in no sense replaces the commercial catalogue, as it furnishes only non-competitive information on technical, economic and planning problems relative to the acquisition of household essentials. The book begins with the simplest working units and leads up progressively and with a thought to avoiding uneconomic replacements until complete lighting, heating, cooking, sanitary and labor-saving plants have been discussed. In the matter of running water, the kitchen drain or sin k is first discussed; then the water source, pump or well; next the windmill, motor or engine; the piping of the h|pse and the running of water to the kitchen sink, and

Girl Wins International License to Pilot Plane Santa Ana. Calif.—The distinction of being the only woman to have won a license to fly from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in the past two years in the United States is claimed by Sacha “Peggy” Hall, intrepid Santa Ana aviatrix who is the first woman pilot to learn to Uy at the student school conducted at the Eddie Martin airport, south Santa Ana. According to information from the National Aeronautical association, a branch of the F*. A. 1.. Miss Hail is the fifteenth girl in as many years to qualify for flying. Her desire is to become a war ace. In case war ever occurs between the United States and other countries, Peggy insists that she will volunteer for service. Peggy at present is training to take tests for the government limited com- 4, mercial license. Only one other worn- ' an in the United States at present has met the requirements. She has learned to stunt and each week-end site engages in thrilling exhibition maneuvers at the Martin Hying field, above gaping crowds. Kansas City Man Builds a Tornado-Proof Room Kansas City, Mo.—C. Edwin Overly . has been expecting a tornado more than 40 years. Now he. has built a storm-proof bedroom and bath in one section of his basement. The walls and ceilings are of eight-inch concrete, reinforced with half-inch Iron bars. A ten-foot passage, also of reinforced concrete, connects with a tornado cellar, 10 by 10 feet and 7% feet high, also of reinforced concrete. Mr. Overly intends to keep a sledge hammer and shovel in the cave so that he can knock out some concrete in one wall and dig his way to the surface if he needs. Wild Goose Dies After 21-Years’ Domestic Life Woodland, Cal. —Twenty-one years ago Ben Draeger, local blacksmith, wounded a wild goose while hunting. He brought it home and with ik,another that refused to leave the Injured bird. Recently, one of the two birds died at an~age declared by local hunters to be “almost unbelievable.” Hunters pointed out that wild geese are difficult to keep at best, and that even in their wild state they do not live more than five to eight years.

BOB’S ON THE JOB

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Bob, Son of Battle, is a regular soldier, and he also acted as official guide to the Coolidge collies over the Black Hills. He is fthe mascot of Troop C, E'ourth United States cavalrjr. the President’s guard troop at the summer White House.

lastly in turn, the flush toilet, the bathtub, the wash bowl, the laundry tub and the water heater. In each step suggestions are made preparing for the next advance without replacement of original equipment. , An idea of costs, high, low and average, is given on each necessary piece of equipment. The heating problem is similarly treated. Dustless, odorless units that heat the whole house uniformly either from the basement or the main floor are encouraged od account of their sanitary advantages and their convenience One < «« ter is devoted to lighting and modi a equipment' The tendency of the campaign is toward the use of gas or electricity from commercial plants and stations or from home units. The simplest working installations for home plants are described and the subject Is developed up co and Including the “tying-up" of the home with commercial service. The use of electric current for power-driv-en home labor-saving devices is discussed and demonstrated.