the use of the union label." The president then continues: The "Not only have our efforts against the nonunion printing of theatrical attractions been rewarded, but we have been successful beyond expectation in the campaign against the non-union printed matter of individuals and concerns. results of the label campaign have been stupendous and will never fully be realized. Managers of summer amusement parks have signified their intentions, when interviewed by label committees, of having future orders for printing placed with union concerns. Theater managers, at the suggestion and request of committees, have placed their programs in offices having the use of the union label. Retail grocers' associations and ministerial unions have taken up the question of having the union label appear on all their printed matter. Baseball associations have passed resolutions making the use of the union label compulsory on the part of the different clubs affiliated. Insurance companies have realized that it is easier to talk protection when their printing bears the union label. Much work has been accomplished during the past year, but much remains to be done. The label campaign is yet in its infancy, and when developed will prove of incalculable worth in diverting orders for printing to union offices, thus giving employment to our members when non-union printers are looking in vain for work." The assistance of the members in the label campaign is much to be desired, and our president emphasizes this in the following language: "If each member could be interested in the label campaign, and could be induced to contribute individually toward making it a success, the volume of effort would be replete with results. As we can, we are trying to interest more and more members. This must be proceeded with carefully and slowly, as is true of all union ventures, on the theory that it is better to gradually absorb the attention and interest of the individual rather than overburden him with union requests and thus paralyze or render apathetic his union interest. What is most desired is that our members will call to our attention printed matter of general circulaion that is produced in non-union offices. Many publications containing the names and addresses of firms engaged in some particular line of industry and using large amounts of printed matter are issued, and if copies of these publications were sent to us they would be of great aid in the label campaign. This is also true of many other pamphlets, leaflets, booklets, etc., and a moment's thought on the part of the member when these printed volumes come to his attention will show whether the label campaign could be advanced by sending copies to headquarters. If in doubt, send the copies to us and we will determine. Every piece of printed matter diverted from a non-union to a union office means additional employment for union men at fair wages, under fair hours, and to this end surely we can all exert ourselves." The endorsement of the label by the Farmers' Co-Operative Union and the organization of a label department by the American Federation of Labor are set forth. The president's address before the publishers' convention is given, and scale betterments during the year are set forth in brief paragraphs. "The Union Printers Home continues to improve with the passing of each year," says President Lynch. "It is confidently believed that the Home has been taken out of union politics, and that the institution is now looked upon as essentially a business proposition and not to be made the sport of candidates for office or to further the political ambitions or plans of those who may be interested in overthrowing an administration or placing new men in power." There are some other matters which are emphasized in the report. As to applications for admission to the Home, the president has this to say: "The number of applications for admission to the Union Printers Home do not diminish. At the time of the inauguration of the old age pension it was believed that the volume of applications from the older members would considerably lessen, and that the number of residents in the main building of the institution would gradually grow smaller. But the experience thus far is that the applications continue at the usual average per month, and that the main building is generally close to capacity as to inmates. Of course, if the number of residents diminished in any material degree, the expense would also become less. However, the expense has kept pace with the growth of the institution and is now about eighty thousand dollars per year. The tuberculosis sanatorium is, of course, an expensive part of the institution, but if we can restore our members who come to the Home afflicted with tuberculosis to a physical condition that will permit their working at the trade, then the expense is fully justified. Perhaps even as a haven of refuge for the tuberculosis sufferer, the expense is justified, anyway. crease. "If the number of residents increases to capacity, or if in the immediate future additional accommodations are provided by the completion of the new addition to the permanent roof, then the expense of conducting the Home will also materially inIt may be that it will be well to consider, either at the present time or at some future convention, the consolidation of the pension and Home funds under some appropriate name, and conduct the Home and the pension feature from the combined receipts. Under such a plan the executive council could be authorized to make such appropriations for the board of trustees from the joint fund as might be necessary in order to properly finance the Union Printers Home. "Another development that has caused some apprehension on the part of the board of trustees during recent years is the number of applications received from members who are below the age of sixty, and who state that they are unable to earn a livelihood at the trade, or at any other avocation. As is pointed out in this report, the board has endeavored to lay down a rule which applies to applicants under sixty years of age, but in a majority of instances these applicants secure admission, as the claim that is set up that they are unable to secure a livelihood at the printing trade or at any other calling is difficult to disprove, and indeed it is questionable if a member unable to work as a compositor is not by reason of that fact entitled to admission to the Union Printers Home." The progress made in constructing the Home addition is set forth, as is also the value of the Home as an advertising asset. The health campaign conducted by the International Typographical Union receives considerable attention in the report of the president. As to the tuberculosis exhibits which we maintain, this explanation is made: "Since the exhibition at Washington, two additional model tents have been manufactured, together with the necessary appurtenances for a tuberculosis exhibit by the International Typographical Union. One of these exhibits is in use in the east, traveling from city to city, as requests are received from local unions, and under direction of the International President. The third exhibit is at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. This exhibit was arranged for by the International president under instructions from the executive council, Superintendent Deacon of the Union Printers' Home attending to the manufacture of the model tent and the assembling of the appurtenances. The exhibit was installed at the AlaskaYukon-Pacific Exposition by Superintendent Deacon, under leave of absence granted by the Board of Trustees of the Union Printers' Home and subsequent direct authorization from the executive council of the International Typographical Union. Our exhibit at the Seattle Exposition is attracting marked attention, and, aside from its ethical value in the war against the white plague, it has a very large advertising value for the International Typographical Union and is one of those features which we are continually exploiting and which aids in securing favorable opinion for the International Typographical Union, such as is quite general among the great public, whose support means so much for the aims and aspirations of trade unionism. "The exhibit that is traveling from city to city in the east is also well fulfilling its mission. At local tuberculosis exhibits it has been one of the star attractions and has received praiseworthy comment in the daily press. It is now at one of three great summer resorts, Asbury Park, Ocean Grove and Atlantic City, and will also be exhibited at the other two, and will be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. The model tent and appurtenances that were used at Washington and are now part of the exhibit of the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis have been pictured in several weeklies and in the monthly magazines. Our active association with the national campaign against tuberculosis has not only been of assistance in that campaign, but has been of tremendous value to our international organization as such." Composing rooms, little better than pestholes from a sanitary viewpoint, receive a severe arraignment at the hands of the president. But he hopes for better conditions, and has a plan under which he asserts they can be obtained, to-wit: If "We are gradually creating a healthy sentiment that is reaching the employer and is causing him to remodel and rearrange his composing room, and when constructing a new composing room to see that it is sanitary and well arranged, according to the latest and most approved standards. we can not bring the employer to this way of thinking and acting in any other manner, we can impress on him that it is to his financial interest to supply commodious and well-arranged working quarters. If the employer will not even then take an interest, and will not eliminate features of his composing room that rival the worst conditions in military prisons established in war time-conditions so horrible to contemplate and so terrible in their effect that they constitute a crime against humanity then our unions will be justified in making particular scales for these exceptionally unhealthful composing rooms-scales materially higher than those that apply to the modern, healthful and up-to-date composing room. If the employer can not be reached through a sense of decency, through a sense of conservation of his own best interests, through the impress on him of the duty that he owes his workmen, because he believes the financial outlay can be avoided and that his men can be driven to produce results notwithstanding their surroundings, then this type of master printer can be affected in the way describedthrough an increased scale to apply to his composing room alone, or to all composing rooms in like class. Our membership can then rest assured that there will shortly be speedy betterment. As I have said in several reports, and repeatedly in addresses to our local unions, 'What profit is it to the membership that they have high scales, if the conditions under which they work produce disease and early death?'" Copyright legislation is covered in the president's report. Postoffice department affairs are touched As to organizers and their work, the president says, among other things: upon. "As has been frequently pointed out, the term 'organizer' is considerable of a misnomer. The organizer does very little organizing. Ninetynine per cent of his work embraces the negotiation of new scales, or the effort to reclaim nonunion offices. It might be much better, and certainly much less misleading, if the term 'organizer' were changed to 'representative,' or some other equally appropriate designation. Typographical unions to a large extent are organized by card men working in unorganized localities, or, when the time is ripe, through that desire that springs up in the human breast for closer association through organization in the effort to better trade conditions. At times the services of an organizer are necessary in order to give force and direction to this new-born desire, and when opportunity occurs of this character the organizer is promptly furnished. It remains true, nevertheless, that this work is only a small part of that allotted to the organizer, and that his main duties consist in the negotiation of new scales, the smoothing out of threatened difficulties and the straightening up of non-union offices. The delegates are requested to read the reports made by these painstaking and loyal officials. "It has been the aim of the International president to retain the experienced organizers, believing that in this line of activity, as is true with almost every other avenue of human effort, experience educates the organizers, that the International Typographical Union pays for this education, and that it is part of a business proposition to retain the skilled and highly trained organizers just so long as their services give satisfaction." Organization work in Cuba and the southeast also receive attention. Under the caption "Finances," the president says we are in good shape, and the amount of money in our treasury is far in excess of that usually on hand during normal times. He then continues: "When the executive council terminated the eighthour assessment it was estimated that the amount eight-hour assessment, and while, of course, where abolished these dues have been restored, yet in some cases where dues were reduced they have not been again placed at a figure necessary for local purposes. The very fact that there has been during the past two years between one and two hundred thousand dollars in the International treasury seems to have been sufficient warrant on the part of some of our local unions to shoulder their financial responsibilities on the International organization. "In many applications the council has refused to assume these financial burdens, on the ground that the local unions should provide for them, but the demand has been persistent and repeated on the part of the unions, and in most all the cases the council has been compelled to yield in the end, in order that local dissatisfaction and discouragement might not ensue. In instances where the council has refused special appropriations, the local officers have then placed the refusal before the local union and have pointed to the International treasury as the only and chief argument against the council's position. It may be that a centralized treasury would be a good thing for our International organization. However, that is a point that is not up for discussion at this time. If the executive council, acting for the International Typographical Union, is expected in the future to assume financial responsibilities, such as outlined in this section of the report, then the membership must provide a fund adequate for the increased demands that will be made upon it. At the present time local unions are entitled, in case of dif ficulty, to the regular strike benefits, and that is all. The other moneys that come to the International headquarters are intended for organization work, publicity campaign, maintenance of headquarters, publication of THE JOURNAL and such other features as may be deemed necessary to keep our organization well in the forefront of the progress that is being made by like combinations on the industrial field. It will be a distinct menace and calamity if the amount in the International treasury is permitted to drop very much below one hundred thousand dollars. Indeed, it would be the better part of wisdom if provision should be made for automatically replenishing the treasury when it falls below the one-hundred-thousand-dollar mark. With sinews of war in the war chest, hostile employers will hesitate before they risk a contest with our International Union. But, it is submitted that the sinews of war can not remain in the war chest if local unions are encouraged or warranted in shouldering their chief finan cial burdens, aside from the ordinary running expenditures, on the treasury of the International Typographical Union. A pronouncement made by the convention would be of aid, and it will be for the benefit of the local unions if their position toward the International treasury is distinctly and emphatically outlined at this time, so that the council may know just what it is expected to do and to what local unions are by right entitled. It is not meant by this recommendation that the hands of the council shall be tied in any way from a finan the treasury would permit the council to carry the contests then on hand and to finance campaigns for the reclamation of unfair offices, until the local unions were in a position to assume these financial burdens. The condition of the treasury today fully justifies the position of the executive council at the time of the elimination of the assessment. We have been enabled to assist local unions in a monetary way, gradually reducing the amount of this special assistance until, in the opinion of the council, and, in many instances, in the opinion of the local unions affected, these locals were able to proceed without further aid. Of course, many of the non-union offices have been reclaimed, as the official magazine has shown from month to month, and the general condition is gratifying and reassuring. There is another phase of the financial proposition, however, that should have careful attention at this time. During the pendency of the eight-hour assessment, local unions with eight-hour difficulties exhausted their local treasuries and then were compelled to depend entirely on the International for such money as was needed to finance local contests. It was impossible for these unions in the great majority of cases to raise money by assessment for the reason that the International assessment was so high that the bur den was all the membership could stand, and for the further reason that the usual local dues were inadequate to the emergency. where found necessary, the executive council reIn every instance, sponded when called upon, and there was no diminution in the intensity of the conduct of any local contest, so far as the financial features of these contests were concerned. But this very policy has brought about a condition under which local unions, or many of them, still depend to a great extent upon the International treasury and have in many instances failed to make adequate provision for sufficient money with which to properly conduct local business. In some places local dues were reduced, or altogether abolished, during the cial standpoint. It will be much better to leave the executive council free to act and to make appropriations whenever an emergency may arise. But an intimation to our local unions that they themselves must prepare for emergencies before they can expect their sister unions to come to their rescue, will be of value. We have had instances of local unions clamoring for permission to strike when we knew from their financial statements that their treasuries were empty and no preparation had been made. It is better that this condition be uncovered at this time, so that a word to the membership may be sufficient to again impress upon them that eternal vigilance is the price of the retention of those betterments and that progress which dur ing the past five years have been secured at such a great outlay of money and such a tremendous amount of personal sacrifice." There is a summary of some of the work of the president's office. This brief statement gives only a bare outline of the work performed. The im mense amount of research, care and labor involved in the task must be left to the imagination. Neither does it take into account the president's work in traveling throughout the jurisdiction, services on the National Board of Arbitration and Joint Conference Board, attendance at various conventions and gatherings of interest to organized labor, duties involved in membership on the executive council, and many other features that go with the position and are attended to day after day. The American Federation of Labor convention, souvenir postcards and pictures of the Union Printers Home, the redemption of Pittsburg, conservation of natural resources and Joint Conference Board affairs all receive attention. Then the president has this to say of supplemental trade education: "Our movement for the better education of journeymen and apprentices in our trade has been quite successful. The report of the commission having this subject in charge goes into detail. Movements of this character are necessarily of slow growth. That the journeyman or apprentice can be taught the art of good printing through a correspondence course at first does not appeal to the average man or boy. Gradually we are overcoming this prejudice, and our commission has demonstrated that its correspondence course meets all of the requirements. There should be a much larger number of students than we have, but notwithstanding we are doing very well, indeed, and it is hoped that as the membership of the International Typographical Union gets a better idea of the object the commission has in mind and as our graduated students demonstrate their greater efficiency in following their trade, that, the increased knowledge and ocular demonstration will prove a much more potent lesson than the circu lars sent out by the commission. The secretary of the commission has addressed several local unions and with good results. There is another feature to this work that should be touched upon. Our technical education proposition has attracted attention from the press, daily, weekly and month ly publications frequently mentioning the course in laudatory terms. Its advertising value must be taken into consideration, 'and without question this venture has aided in raising the International Typographical Union to a high place in the esti mation of the general public. The attention of the delegates and of the entire membership is invited to the report of the commission covering its work for the fiscal year." The suggestion for a monument to our unknown dead, to be erected in the Home burial plot at Colorado Springs, is repeated. The loan to the United Hatters of North America is touched upon. The labor press is commended. Continuance of the publicity campaign, which has "aided in keeping the International Typographical Union to the forefront of the struggle for recognition as a factor in the prosecution of the world's work," is urged. Non-limitation of membership rights is explained. The Los Angeles Times and Philadelphia Inquirer contests are briefly mentioned. The demand of our allies for joint ownership and joint registration of the allied label is set forth. Affairs of national scope receive attention. Permanent headquarters and a convention city are urged. THE TYPOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL is lauded, and then the president concludes his report thusly: "It is with feelings of profound gratitude that I acknowledge the support accorded me during the fiscal year by the officers and members of the International Typographical Union. This support has made possible a distinctly successful year, and I trust that I may have a continuance of this loyal and helpful co-operation. "To the delegates to the fifty-fifth convention, I express the hope that they will have a profitable gathering, and a pleasant and enjoyable convention trip." FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT. During the year there was a change in the office of first vice-president, George A. Tracy being appointed to fill out the unexpired term of J. W. Hays, who in turn succeeded J. W. Bramwood, resigned, as secretary-treasurer, this change occuring on February 1, 1909. Vice-President Tracy, in his report, asserts that the most essential thing, to his mind, that confronts our membership is the question of efficiency in workmanship. He thinks the great work now being performed by our International correspondence school should be encour aged and assisted in every practical way. The first vice-president touches on the pension system, a proposed life insurance scheme, and other matters which are now engaging the attention of the membership. Mr. Hays tells of the work performed by him as first vice-president during the period preceding his resignation. At the beginning of the fiscal year he was located at Hartford, Conn., visiting points in the New England states as his duties required. He visited Boston in September, at the time of the convention of the United Typothetæ, and in his report comments on what he believes to be a gradual change in the attitude of that organization toward the International Typographical Union. During November Mr. Hays attended the dedication of the new plant of the Phelps Publishing Company, at Springfield, Mass., which has been non-union since the inauguration of the eight-hour movement. A short time afterward the shorter workday was granted, but the concern has not as yet been unionized. He was called to headquarters in October to take charge of the label campaign which is being conducted from Indianapolis, and continued in this capacity until he took charge of the secretary-treasurer's office, with the exception of a trip in which he successfully negotiated increased wage scales at Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa, late in December. SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT. The Vice-President Miller regrets to be compelled to state that business in the German printing trade of the country continues stagnant, another daily newspaper, the Volksfreund, of Cincinnati, Ohio, being compelled to suspend during the year. German Typographia now collecting 1 per cent on the wages of its members for the old age pension, adding $2 per week to the International pension of $4. During the year the New York wage scale was renewed for a period of two years; at Detroit the handmen received an increase of 25 cents a day; at Winnipeg the machine scale was advanced from $20 to $22 per week, and a revised scale was pending at Milwaukee at the time of closing the report. THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT. Charles N. Smith, president of the Mailers' Trade District Union and third vice-president of the International Typographical Union, reports on conditions as he has found them in the mailing branch since assuming office on November 1, 1908. A controversy which existed in Boston Mailers' Union is fully covered, as are also some strikes which occurred in the jurisdiction of New York Mailers' Union. Several new mailers' unions have been organized during the last few months, and prospects for better conditions in the trade are declared to be bright by Vice-President Smith. THE SECRETARY-TREASURER. As has been the custom in previous reports, Secretary-Treasurer Hays begins with a summary of the receipts and expenditures for the fiscal year, which were as follows: 1908 EXPENDITURES-June 1, 1908, to May 31, 1909. Executive council-Strike benefits, special assistance, traveling expenses of officers and organizers, telegrams and expenses of committees, etc... Burial benefits. Printers Home fund-Cash transferred to J. W. Hays, secretarytreasurer.. Cummings Memorial fund-Cash Old age pension fund-Pensions, etc. Per capita tax and assessment to tClerk hire, auditors' services, office Organizing literature and stationery for organizers.. Stationery for headquarters and vice-presidents. +Miscellaneous printing. Postage and expressage. + Postal cards and stamped envelopes used at headquarters... Printing and distributing 41,000 copies convention proceedings.... Printing and distributing 30,000 copies constitution and by-laws... Printing and mailing officers' reports Daily proceedings and other convention expenses.. $161,544 45 38,175 00 86,518 31 13,203 43 69,550 35 32,448 89 4,675 00 4,031 01 468 80 20,123 21 910 85 1,232 05 1,405 65 1,044 12 1,473 50 3,462 82 1,198 05 898 49 5,299 45 915 90 395 22 13,328 72 Label registration. 71 90 Premiums on bonds secretary-treas 26,377 18 urer and office employes.. 343 75 Membership fees returned Supplies purchased for resale.. 18.00 6,758 75 $205,520 60 4,128 40 5,333 75 George P. Nichols, agent, expenses 258 10 report Organizer Parsons on New Orleans case 517 68 RECEIPTS-June 1, 1908, to May 31, 1909. June 1. Balance regular funds.. 1909 Balance Cummings Memo rial fund. Balance old age pension fund...... May 31. Per capita tax from typo graphical unions and in- Per capita tax from German- Per capita tax from mailers' Expenses of delegates to American Federation of Labor... |