ORGANIZER BAKER.

To the Officers and Members of the International Typographical Union:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-Another year and its accomplishments have been added to the history of the International Typographical Union of North America. The strife and turmoil attendant upon the universal eight-hour day movement has disappeared, and the organization is operating under a steady, healthful growth. Peaceful conditions generally prevail throughout the jurisdiction, and our membership is now enjoying the fruits of a splendid, honorable victory. New and substantial benefits to accrue from membership in the organization are yearly being added, attracting the attention of the non-unionist to a greater degree than ever before.

The

President Lynch has inaugurated, and is now vigorously pursuing, a campaign of education intended to reach the non-unionist and the printers in unorganized towns through the liberal distribution of literature of the most attractive sort. literature, which is being distributed by direction of President Lynch, in my opinion, is the very best we have ever offered, and splendid results have already been accomplished through its use. Local secretaries, and members generally, can greatly aid the president by furnishing him with the names and addresses of printers in any locality to whom they would like to have the literature sent. President Lynch is untiring and progressive, and his administration of the affairs of our great organization has been one of progress; and to assist him in the accomplishment of the splendid results which he hopes to attain should be our greatest pleasure.

In my own district satisfactory conditions prevail. In fact, I have made but one official visit away from home in the past year, when I visited Butte, Mont., at the request of the Butte local. The trouble there, however, proved to be of minor importance and was easily adjusted.

New locals are springing up and the demand for the label is constantly increasing. Within the next few months I anticipate the formation of sev eral new locals.

In concluding my brief report I wish to thank President Lynch and Secretaries Bramwood and Hays for courtesies extended during the past year, and in particular for the promptness and businesslike manner in which the affairs of their offices have been conducted.

With best wishes, I beg to remain,
Fraternally,
Helena, Mont.

JOHN BAKER.

ORGANIZER BIRDSALL.

To the Officers and Members of the International Typographical Union:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-The year just closing finds conditions in this jurisdiction very much the same as at the time of my last report. None of

the local unions has had occasion to call for my services, with the possible exception of Grand Junction No. 292, where a new scale went into effect on January 1, 1909, which provided for an increase of something over When 10 per cent. the new scale was presented, two of the offices, the Sentinel and Herald, the former a daily and the latter a weekly, refused to agree to the increase, and considerable correspondence was had with the officers regarding the matter. The members of No. 292 were not to be defeated in their attempt to secure an increase to which they were justly entitled on account of the steady rise in the necessities of life, and with a persistency that was commendable finally saw their efforts crowned with success, all the papers signing the new scale, together with the job offices, and a communication from Secretary Cole informed me that everything was running smoothly and the members were well pleased with the increase. These good results were accomplished without the presence of the organizer, and with very little expense to the local union and none to the International Typograph ical Union.

There is still one town in the state where there are enough printers to organize a local, and several attempts have been made to get the boys together, but without success. I refer to Boulder, where there are two daily papers, one or two weeklies and a like number of job offices, with about twenty men in town, most of whom are members of the International Typographical Union. A progressive spirit, however, does not prevail, and if the men themselves are perfectly satisfied with conditions and are content to work at a rate of pay much less than prevails in towns similarly located, I see no reason why others should interest themselves in their behalf. Particularly so when,

as stated above, a majority of them are members of the union. What is needed is a few active workers in the town, and then the desired results might be accomplished.

In the other organized towns throughout this section nothing has transpired to mar the relations existing between the employers and the members of the union, Outside of Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Leadville, Trinidad and Grand Junction and possibly Durango, the scales are ridiculously low, and it behooves the members of the unions to give this subject earnest consideration, as the cost of living is ever on the upward

move.

It is to be regretted that the average member pays little attention and devotes less time to the label agitation, and were it not for the persistent efforts of the few this line of work would be entirely neglected. The allied printing trades council in this city would do well to devote more of its energies to the work of advertising the label and less to internal bickerings and questions of jurisdiction, which have about reached the limit during the past eighteen months.

Early in the season I sent communications to

all the summer amusement resorts, as well as the local theaters, urging the use of the label on all printed matter. With these communications I inclosed the blotters furnished by the International Typographical Union and a list of union printing offices. I believe the results have been satisfactory, for, with the exception of the tickets, prac tically all the work is the product of union employes.

During the year I have received several applications for membership from unorganized towns, and in all cases have given the matter prompt attention. Some of these new members have been attached to No. 49, others have been furnished certificates of membership from the International Typographical Union. This is evidence that the spirit of unionism is abroad in the land, and wherever we have a member his influence is usually of a productive nature.

As an instance of the above I am reminded of the organization of the union in Sheridan, Wyo., sometime last July or August. A former member of No. 49 took the matter in hand, and from a town where every one made his own scale Sheridan has developed into one of the best small cities in the western country. To begin with the pay for handwork was placed at $21 a week for one year, after that $24 per week. Operators $25 per week; machinist-operator, where only one machine is operated, $27 per week and $1.50 per week for each additional machine cared for.

In conclusion permit me to extend to the officers and delegates to the forthcoming convention at St. Joseph my best wishes, with the hope that the many and varied questions which will present themselves for consideration may be met and disposed of for the benefit of the membership at large and for the best interests of the parent organization. Fraternally yours,

In my report to the membership a year ago I gave quite a detailed report of the situation as regards the book and job branch of the trade in Kansas City, the causes leading to the placing of the great majority of the book and job shops in this city on a strictly union shop, eight-hour basis, etc. Since that time the work in Kansas City has been continued by the officers of the local and the International Typographical Union, and I have assisted during the time I was not occupied with work in other localities. The situation here has needed, and has had, constant attention for the reason that there still exist three or four nonunion concerns that are at all times using every effort to induce those employers who have

ments

agree

with the union and are operating union

shops, to violate these agreements. We are pleased to report, however, that in this they have failed, and that we have during the past year secured contracts with several additional shops, and thereby substantially increased the membership of Typographical Union No. 80.

An aggressive label campaign has been kept up, which has resulted in great good in the way of diverting a vast amount of printing from the nonunion shops to the union shops, thus giving employment to our members. Work in the union shops has been good all year, while the few remaining non-union shops in the city have many times during the year been compelled to lay off part of their force on account of no business. This label work will be continued.

Under the provisions of the contract entered into with the book and job employers October 1, 1907, the wage scale was, on the 1st of January, 1909, to be increased $1 per week, making it $18 for eight hours, and the overtime rate to be price and one-half per hour for all time worked in excess of eight hours a day. On the date mentioned this increase went into effect in all the offices under contract. The agreement further provides that the wage scale shall again be taken up on January 1, 1910, and we are of the opinion that at that time another increase will be granted to the members of No. 80 employed in the book and job shops.

One or two of the non-union employers have reduced their working hours from nine to about eight and one-half hours per day, and they are also paying about the scale provided for by the union. They have done this in order to hold what few good printers they have in their employ. Even by pursuing this course they are not securing the results they desire in their composing rooms, and we feel confident they are gradually being edu cated to the fact that they must sooner or later unionize their plants in order to secure these results. At the present time we have negotiations on with one of the largest non-union concerns to unionize, and every indication points that we will have a contract with this shop within a few months. Frequent interviews are had with the other non-union employers, and from their conversation we gather that they are giving the matter of unionizing much serious consideration. The organization work among the remaining non-union book and job printers is being quietly carried on and much good is resulting therefrom. In this connection we can state that there are now in Kansas City but few non-union book and job print. ers who could be considered competent mechanics as against about 225 employed in the union shops. On October 1, 1907, there were more than 150 non-union book and job printers employed in the city.

During the year one concern, the AckermanQuigley Company, broke its contract with No. 80, and is now operating on a non-union basis. This concern is a show and ticket printing house, and at the time of the breaking of its contract it employed six journeymen. An aggressive fight is be ing conducted against it by the union, and at

the present time it is employing only two or three men. This concern has never catered to commercial printing in the local or any other field, and consequently has no bearing on the local situation other than the loss of the shop. We are in possession of information which leads us to believe that discord in the management of the concern led to the breaking of its agreement, and that within a few months changes will be made in the management, and the shop will again be operated on a union basis.

On January 1, 1910, the newspaper contracts again expire in Kansas City and new agreements will be negotiated with the publishers. There are no non-union newspapers in the jurisdiction of No. 80, and there is no likelihood of there being any, as the relations with all of the publishers are of the most friendly nature. The present scale is $4 for eight hours on both morning and afternoon papers, and price and one-half for all overtime. When the last contract with the publishers was entered into in May, 1907, the overtime rate was single price for overtime, and there were other undesirable conditions under which our members worked. The overtime rate at that time was increased to price and one-half and the undesirable conditions eliminated, which made the contract aside from the price per day a very desirable one. When the new contracts are entered into there is every reason to believe that a very substantial increase will be provided for in the wage scale, which will make Kansas City one of the best points in the jurisdiction for newspaper printers.

Almost continuously for the past year No. 80 has had a local representative in the field to look after the work in detail in its behalf, and this action certainly has been a good investment for it.

Careful attention has been and is being given to the promises made those employers who accepted our contract some two years ago, that we would at all times supply them with the best printers possible to obtain, and that we would at all times work to the best interests of those employers as against those who refuse to employ our members, and this policy is proving of great value to the welfare of the local. Also the fact that the local maintains an up-to-date business office and is keeping on the job all the time demonstrates to the few remaining non-union book and job employers that Kansas City is getting better all the time from the standpoint of the union printer, and that the time is not far distant when they will find it wise to conduct their composing rooms under agreement with the typographical union, and that No. 80 can say it has not a non-union shop of any consequence in its jurisdiction. Certain it is now that the local union is in better shape than at any time in its history.

Oliver P. Weakley, the local representative assisting in the work, reports that agreements have recently been made and contracts signed with the following printing concerns which have in the past been conducted as non-union establishments: The Order of Railway Stationmen Publishing Company, the Electric Printing Company. the Hobson-Noah Printing Company, the Decker

Ramsey Printing Company, the Cobb Printing Company. There are two other shops with which we are negotiating, both of which are important. We have received a large number of applications for membership in the union, and at the June meeting of No. 80 there were twenty-two applications reported, and of this number sixteen were initiated. This is an indication of the work being done along the lines of organization.

A new show printing house is to be established here this fall, and it will be one of large capital, and managed by men experienced in the business. When this is done it will have a depressing influence with the non-union plant of Ackerman-Quigley, if that shop is not again unionized by that time.

Two or three violations of the use of the label have been detected. These violations have been duly attended to and are at the present time in the hands of attorneys, with instructions to prosecute the offending parties.

During the year the publication of the Central Christian Advocate, a periodical controlled by the Methodist church, was taken away from the unfair shop of the Hudson Publishing Company and placed in a union office. This contract amounts to about $25,000 a year.

Much other work of like importance has been accomplished during the year, and the work will be continued along the same lines.

LITTLE ROCK, ARK..

In August, 1907, nearly all the book and job offices in Little Rock were being operated on a non-union basis, this condition having resulted from their refusal to grant the eight-hour day when asked for by the local union. At the time above mentioned I was instructed by President Lynch to go to Little Rock and assist the local in its effort to again establish union conditions in the various shops. Upon arriving there the situation was gone over carefully with the committee in charge of the work, and a plan of campaign outlined. The result was that within a year contracts had been secured with all the non-union shops in the city with the exception of the Pugh Printing Company and the Democrat Printing and

Lithographing Company. The Pugh company is a small concern, employing only two or three men, but the Democrat company is one of the largest book and job printing concerns in the south, having five linotype machines, two monotypes, and employing from thirty to forty printers during its busy times.

The local committee kept up its fight against these two remaining unfair shops, and devoted a great part of its efforts to a vigorous label campaign, which resulted in taking away from them a large volume of printing, which, of course, went to the fair offices. Organization work was also kept up, and most of the competent printers the Democrat company was able to secure were convinced by the committee that they would have better opportunities working at the printing trade by becoming members of the typographical union, and this plan greatly handicapped the Democrat

company in turning out the work in its composing room.

I made several visits to Little Rock and talked with Mr. Mitchell, manager of the Democrat company, but did not receive much encouragement until, in discussing the situation with him in June, 1908, I said: "Mr. Mitchell, you understand the circumstances and the conditions leading up to the differences that exist between your concern and the typographical union. Possibly there have been some features connected with this fight between us during the past two or three years that may have engendered personalities on your part, and may have caused some personal feeling on the part of some of our members, but I believe as a business man you are too broad-minded to let these personalities interfere with the entering into of a contract where the matter is based on the question of dollars and cents and the securing of better results in your composing room. Last March I had several talks with you concerning this matter, and you stated at that time that you would be in a position to further discuss it about June 1. The International Typographical Union has again sent me here to take this matter up with you, and I am going to ask you if you expect now or at any time in the future to again place your composing room on an eight-hour, union shop basis. swering this question, if you desire to do so, I can assure you it will be strictly confidential with the committee and myself." Mr. Mitchell, in reply, said: "Mr. Brady, I am going to say to you that it is absolutely impossible for us to further discuss the unionizing of my composing room at this time, for the reason that I have given my word to the typothetæ that I will not enter into any agreement with the typographical union, even if I desire to do so, until after the meeting of the national typothetæ in September. I believe that the conservative element of the typothetæ is trying to find a way to bring about a better feeling between the United Typothetæ and the International Typographical Union. My firm will be represented either by myself or my brother at the typothetæ convention. About the first week in October I will again take this matter up with you. Until that time there is no use to further discuss it."

In an

In October I wrote Mr. Mitchell. He replied saying that he was not yet ready to enter into a contract with us. The local committee in the meantime continued its plan of campaign and the label work continued to bring results. About the first of April this year, while in Houston, Texas, on official business, I received a telegram from the chairman of the local committee informing me that Mr. Mitchell was ready to negotiate a contract, and that he desired that I come to Little Rock and assist in the negotiations. Ten days later I arrived in Little Rock, and after several conferences with the representatives of the Democrat company a contract was agreed upon and signed. The Pugh company was also represented at the conferences, and it also accepted the contract. The contract is for a period of five years, and provides for a minimum scale of $18 per week for hand men, with price and one-half

for all time worked in excess of eight hours each day. The machine scale is $4 for day work, and $4.80 for night work, with price and one-half for all over eight hours' work in any one day. The contract provided for a preliminary agreement giving the office ninety days in which to make the necessary changes in the composing room. A superintendent and foreman, both members of the union, were immediately put in charge. The offi cers and members of the executive committee of Little Rock Typographical Union are to be highly commended for their untiring efforts which resulted in again making Little Rock a good town for union printers. In a letter published in the June issue of THE JOURNAL, J. E. Purkins, one of the executive committee who assisted in the work, comments on the unionizing of the Democrat company and the Pugh company as follows:

"The old adage, 'All things come to him who waits,' has proved true again. After a struggle for supremacy between Typographical Union No. 92 and the Democrat Printing and Lithographing Company of this city, which began in October, 1905, the union has won the game. On April 22 last a preliminary agreement was signed between the officers of No. 92 and the Democrat company, which will result in that printing company, one of the largest in the southwest, becoming on July 20, 1909, a strictly union office. And as the H. G. Pugh Printing Company took advantage of the opportunity to get back into the union on the same conditions as the Democrat, this will result in a 'closed town' once more in the City of Roses, when it can once more be truthfully said that there is not a non-union printer employed in Little Rock, nor a non-union concern to give him employment. There is much gratitude expressed at this condition. It means much to the local situation and is expected to have much weight in signing up other large printing offices in the southwest. The contract between the Democrat Lithographing Company and the H. G. Pugh company and the union will run for five years from July 20, 1909, and it is a closed-shop, eight-hour agree ment in every particular, containing provision for Saturday half-holiday and providing, further, that all differences between the union and the offices are to be settled by a board of arbitration com. posed of three members, one to be selected by each party interested and the two so chosen to select the third one, who is to be chairman. Taken all in all, the membership believes it has secured a splendid contract and feels grateful to Organizer Brady of Kansas City. We are proud that the town is once more on a solid union basis and to know that for five years at least the possibility of trouble is very remote.

"To the membership of No. 92: While we have a closed town, some may grow careless and relax their vigilance. Remember the label is a safeguard as well as a remedy. Let us boost our own label at all times and patronize those of the affiliated crafts whenever possible. Almost every article of wearing apparel can be had in Little Rock with the label attached. Then why not call for label goods? By this method we maintain our

strength, and when trouble comes again we will be prepared to meet it. Give the label a lift when you can. It won't hurt you and will help the other fellow."

OMAHA, NEB.

During the past year I have put in considerable time in Omaha assisting the officers and committee in charge of the work in that city. In my report of a year ago stated that the Business Men's Association of Omaha had been assisting the nonunion employing printers in every way to prevent the typographical union from establishing the eight-hour day and union shop conditions. The employers of the three large non-union shops, the Omaha Printing Company, the Rees Printing Company, and the Klopp & Bartlett Company, boasted of the fact that the Business Men's Association was behind them, and that just so long as this was the case they could not be compelled to conduct union shops or grant the eight-hour day. They said the business men and manufacturers of the city who composed this organization would continue to give their patronage to them just as long as they cared to continue their fight against the union.

Believing that the great majority of the business men in Omaha had been misinformed as to the principles of the typographical union, and also that they could be convinced that the union was right in its effort to establish the eight-hour workday, it was decided to seek personal interviews with them and explain our side of the case. Consequently a local representative was placed in the field with this object in view, and in almost every instance he was given a hearing and succeeded in interesting all he talked with. The result was that many of the business men expressed themselves as being in sympathy with our cause, and they pledged themselves to give at least part of their work to those shops employing members of the typographical union. In many cases they placed all their printing in union shops. In connection with this work a vigorous label campaign was inaugurated and is being kept up. Prizes were given for the greatest number of pieces of printed matter not bearing the label returned to this and returned to the parties sending it out to the public. Thousands of pieces of this printing were returned during the first two or three contests, and the result has been that there is very little printed matter now distributed in Omaha that does not bear the label. Many of the business men have also expressed their further sympathy for the cause of the union by personally asking the non-union employers to enter into a contract with the union and thereby establish industrial peace as far as the printing trades were concerned. This work is having its effect, and in the interviews had with the unfair employers recently they have shown a disposition to give more consideration to the proposition of the union, although as yet they have not stated positively that they will unionize their composing rooms.

Several months ago it was decided at a special meeting of No. 190 to place the work of trying to unionize the unfair shops in the hands of the

representative of the International Typographical Union, and at the same meeting a committee composed of twenty-two members of the local was selected to assist in the work. This committee was divided into three sub-committees, one in charge of the label work, one in charge of the work of keeping in touch with the non-union printers employed in the unfair shops, and the other committee to conduct negotiations with the nonunion employers looking toward a settlement. All three sub-committees have kept constantly on the job, and their work is bringing good results. Within the past few months several interviews have been had with the employers, and they have discussed with the committee the possibility of unionizing their composing rooms within the next few months. These conferences have been somewhat of a confidential nature, one or two of the employers so requesting it, but the committee has every reason to feel greatly encouraged over the prospects for a settlement, and feels safe in saying that it believes the shops now being conducted on a non-union basis in Omaha will have reached an agreement with the local at some time not far distant.

The struggle for the establishment of the eighthour day in Omaha has been a long one, and the conditions under which the officers and committee have had to work have indeed been hard, but they are keeping everlastingly at it, and success will be their reward.

At the present time the membership of No. 190 is about the same as it was at the beginning of the eight-hour strike, and all its members are employed. All the union shops have been and are now busy and the prospects are that they will continue to be. On the other hand, the non-union shops have been laying off men at frequent intervals, and one or two of them have reduced the hours from nine to about eight and a half, with a corresponding reduction in pay for the nonunionists. It is also a well-known fact that the non-union concerns have lost thousands of dollars' worth of business during the time they have been conducting non-union shops.

During the past few months the committee has been able to secure an agreement with one or two of the smaller non-union shops, and now has negotiations on with others with the almost positive assurance that contracts will be forthcoming within a very short time.

The work, as at present being conducted in Omaha, will be continued aggressively; a local representative will be kept in the field all the time it is considered necessary by the committee, and there will be no question about the final outcome.

Several months ago the newspaper scale in Omaha again came up for consideration. Some eighteen months ago the newspaper scale in Omaha was arbitrated, the union at that time asking for an increase of 50 cents a day for all members employed on newspapers. Owing to the financial panic which came on about that time, the decision of the arbitration board was against the union and no increase was granted, and the old scale was to continue for another year. At the expira