SESSIONS OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL UNIONS. When and where held. President. 1850, New York.... J. W. Peregoy... 1851, Baltimore.... J. L. Gibbons 1852, Cincinnati*.. J. S. Nafew.. 1853, Pittsburg.... Gerard Stith... Lewis Graham... 1865, Philadelphia Robert E. Craig.. 1866, Chicago.. John H. Oberly... 1867, Memphis.. John H. Oberly... 1868, Washington. Rob't McKechnie. 1869, Albany†.. Isaac D. George.. 1870, Cincinnati W. J. Hammond 1871, Baltimore.. W. J. Hammond 1872, Richmond. W. J. Hammond 1873, Montreal. W. R. McLean.. 1874, St. Louis‡.. Wm. H. Bod well. 1875, Boston.. Walter W. Bell... 1876, Philadelphia John McVicar. 1877, Louisville D. R. Streeter 1878, Detroit John Armstrong.. 1879, Washington Sam'l Haldeman. 1880, Chicago.. Wm. P. Atkinson 1881, Toronto George Clark.. 1882, St. Louis. George Clark. 1883, Cincinnati. M. L. Crawford 1884, New Orleans. M. R. H. Witter.. 1885, New York §.. M. R. H. Witter.. 1886, Pittsburg... William Aimison. 1887, Buffalo William Aimison. 1888, Kansas City E. T. Plank.. 1889, Denver. E. T. Plank. 1890, Atlanta. 1891, Boston.... E. T. Plank.. W. B. Prescott.. Vice-Presidents. George Green, M. C. Brown.... SW. C. Figner, George Wadham.. J. R. Lewellen, W. G. Williams.. G. E. Green, F. G. Foster..... A. McCoubrey, F. A. Albaugh. C. Dusenbury, Charles F. Town.. F. C. Still, A. Donnelly B. C. Sanford, T. F. Hedges.. M. C. Misener, E. H. Munday W. R. Skelton, M. Dempsey M. Barrett, G. W. Colby. William Madigan, S. P. Bassett. W. A. Montgomery, J. H. Walker. G. McK. Luken, J. A. Spencer. W. L. Fairchild, C. B. Smith. W. Knollin, H. J. Duborow James Risk, J. E. Davis D. C. Morris..... Gerard Stith, G. W. McDonald.. P. A. Crosby, W. R. Goodnough. T. Willard, John H. O'Donnell.. M. R. Walsh, J. A. Cushley. E. C. Crump, R. G. Sleater. William Kennedy, W. G. Johnson.. Henry White, W. D. Redfield.... James Harper, C. F. Sheldon. H. Z. Osborne, William P. Atkinson... Ed Fitzgeorge. ** O. P. Martin, T. J. Vaughan.. H. J. Loser, J. Von Buettner, P. J. Weldon.. James McKenna, J. Von Buettner, P. J. Weldon.. 1892, Philadelphia W. B. Prescott....J. A. J. Hanifin, H. C. McFarland, P. J. 1893, Chicago...... W. B. Prescott.... 1894, Louisville W. B. Prescott.... 1896, Colorado W. B. Prescott.... Springs... 1898, Syracuse.... W. B. Prescott. 1899, Detroit***.... S. B. Donnelly... 1900, Milwaukee... S. B. Donnelly.... 1901, Birmingham. James M. Lynch. Weldon. J. W. Hopkins, H. C. McFarland, W. B. Lewis. Theo. Perry, G. W. Williams, Hugo Miller, (C. E. Hawkes, Hugo Miller, T. J. Canary, (C. E. Hawkes, Hugo Miller, J. J. Mulcahy, Secretary and Treasurer. F. J. Ottarson. J. Hartman. H. A. Guild. M. F. Conway, Sec. John Collins. W. S. McClevey. W. S. McClevey. A. G. Wines. J. W. Bramwood. J. W. Bramwood. J. W. Bramwood. J. W. Bram wood. J. W. Bramwood. J. W. Bramwood. J. W. Bramwood. J. W. Bramwood. J. W. Bram wood. J. W. Bramwood. (C. E. Hawkes, Hugo Miller, J. J. Mulcahy, * National Typographical Union formally organized on third day of session. Name changed to Inter national Typographical Union. Term of officers extended to close of session. § Office of corresponding secretary abolished. Officers elected for two years. **Name ordered stricken from the roll for ratting. *** Officers first elected by popular vote in 1898 for term of two years. The Typographical Journal J. W. HAYS, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA ENTERED AT THE POSTOFFICE, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, AS SECOND CLASS MATTER VOLUME XXXV September, 1909 NUMBER THREE REPORT OF PRESIDENT To the Membership of the International Typographical Union: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-In submitting herewith my annual report, it is with pleasure and gratification that I point to the record of the fiscal year just closed. We have indeed progressed, and the International Typographical Union is stronger at every point than it was one year ago. Our policies are gradually claiming the attention and receiving the commendation of all who are interested in the trade union movement, and even the hostile employers are reluctantly compelled to admit that the International Typographical Union is rapidly becoming a model organization. In the During the year our members have been quite generally employed, owing to the steady increase in patronage of union offices, although the contrary has been true as to the non-union offices. main I attribute this prosperity of the union office and permanency of employment for our membership to the aggressiveness of the label campaign, so persistently conducted from International headquarters, and so loyally assisted and furthered by local unions, acting through their local label committees. The pension assessment shows that our membership has earned during the fiscal year about $40,500,000, and this is indisputable proof of the quite general employment of the union printers and the permanency of that employment. Our pension venture has worked out better than the most optimistic pension supporter had hoped for. Our technical education proposition is rapidly ingratiating itself in the esteem and support of the membership. The Union Printers Home at Colorado Springs is in good condition, and, aside from its value as a refuge for our aged and incapacitated members and those suffering from disease, its advertising value for the organization can not be exaggerated. Our organization work goes on with gratifying results. In this respect we go neither too fast nor too slow. Sanitary conditions in composing rooms have steadily improved. We obtained a high place in the general campaign against the great white plague. We have been associated with all movements having for their object a betterment of the condition of the toilers of the country. The label campaign has been auspiciously inaugurated, and contains promise of much greater results as it is gradually developed and its possibilities unfold. At the convention of the American Federation of Labor in November of last year the International Typographical Union was one of the few organizations showing a gain in membership, notwithstanding the panic conditions. The average membership for the year is 44,921. We paid per capita tax to the American Federation of Labor for the month of March on 48,246 members; April, 45,636 members; May, 46,966 The total membership taken from the quarterly reports on April 3 was 47,174. members. Our finances are in a good condition, and we hope during the coming year to make a gain in this respect, as we do not anticipate that the calls from local unions will be near as heavy as they have been for the past two or three years. All in all, we can congratulate ourselves on the history of the fiscal year just closed, and can look forward to another year with the hope and conviction that success will attend all our legitimate efforts. A Condition That Conserves. As set forth, the pension assessment shows that our membership has earned during the fiscal year ending with May 31, about forty million five hundred thousand dollars, or nearly nine hundred dollars average for every member of the organization. When the members on the pension roll and those domiciled in the Union Printers Home are taken from the average membership, and further deductions are made for those members who continue their active association with the union but who are not employed at the trade, and the basis of calculation is thus reduced to the members who are actively working at the trade for a livelihood, it is believed that the average wage will be considerably more than nine hundred dollars per year, and that it will closely approach one thousand dollars per year. The total amount earned, as shown by the pension assessment, proves that our membership has been quite generally employed during a year which has been severe on artizans in other industries. The wide control of the union in the more important composing rooms, the fact that the union membership embraces the most skilled artizans, and the additional condition that industrial peace has prevailed throughout the International jurisdiction, are some of the subdivisions of the story told by the immense sum earned by the union printers of the country. It may be that in some cases wages have not been advanced to as great a degree as the members affected believed was justified, but throughout the jurisdiction the figures will show that the general advance in wages and betterment of conditions have been most satisfactory. It is submitted that a condition such as is set forth by the earning power of the membership is one that must be conserved, and, if indus trial peace brings such large returns both in a financial way and through steady employment to our members, then it should be our aim to perpetuate industrial peace in every honorable way. I am opposed to strikes. I have always opposed the strike, and I have sought a settlement in every instance where trouble did occur through every channel that offered, before the strike was resorted to. But I am not one of those who would abandon the strike as the last weapon in the hands of organized labor. Where the employers, through their associations, are fair; where they indicate a desire to enter into agreements under which indus trial disputes can be adjusted in a manner that gives both the employer and employe equal opportunities in the settlement, then I am for that policy of conciliation, arbitration, or adjustment. On the other hand, where associations of employers evince the disposition and manifest the tactics that were so conspicuously indicated by the typothetæ when in the full enjoyment of its greatest power, when all overtures toward peace were rejected, then I am for battle, and a battle to a successful end for the union, despite the sacrifices that may be called for and the treasure that may be expended. Without question, our agreement with the American Newspaper Publishers' Association, under which industrial peace in the great newspaper composing rooms of the country has been the rule for the past eight years, has contributed materially to the earning power of our members employed in the newspaper branch. The general peace that has characterized employment in the book and job industry since the great eight-hour strike has also contributed to the financial prosperity of that portion of the membership. In brief, under our policy of conciliation and harmony, we have established a very favorable condition, and one that should be fostered and conserved through fairness and diplomatic negotiation. INSURANCE. There will be submitted to the convention by the executive council, acting under instructions from the Boston convention, a report on the insurance idea. But it is well that the International presi dent should at this time express himself at some length as to the value and practicability of an insurance or mortuary fund. If our organization is strong enough, and if its past career and future prospects are reassuring enough to guarantee an insurance or mortuary benefit in a reasonable amount, then it is asserted that it goes without question that such a mortuary benefit or insurance benefit, or whatever term may be applied to it, will knit together our membership and make of the International Typographical Union a much stronger organization, notwithstanding that its present strength and stability are at once the admiration and encouragement of the trade union world. It has been asserted as an argument against insurance or mortuary benefit that it would have to be arbitrary, that is, that it would have to be made to apply to all the membership, and that this would mean the elimination of a medical examination. Thus, we would be furnishing insurance to a class of risks that would not be accepted by ordinary insurance companies, and it is put forth that this feature alone would be a vital flaw in any insurance scheme we might launch. The railroad brotherhoods furnish insurance for the very reason that the regular insurance ventures will not accept this class of risks. Given say 50,000 ordinary adult citizens, and it is believed that any insurance company can afford to accept these 50,000 adult risks regardless of medical examinations, and that the death rate of these 50,000 ordinary adult citizens will not be any greater per thousand than the death rate of any old line insurance company per thousand today. An ordinary insurance company does not accept risks without medical examination for the reason that the undesirable or extraordi nary risk would undoubtedly predominate in the applications for insurance; but with a membership such as the International Typographical Union has, a membership made up of the ordinary citizens such as is described, and constantly recruited with new and young members, it is believed that all could be accepted with proper restrictions as to length of membership, and that the death rate would not be any greater than the ordinary death rate with the regular insurance company. Another statement made in order to negative the insurance proposition is that a large percentage of the membership now has insurance in an old line or mutual company or fraternal society. That this is true, and that it will undoubtedly work a hardship for the time being to the members who are carrying all the insurance they can now afford, is not combated. On the other hand, if the insurance idea is a good one, a start should be made and gradually the injustice which, it is submitted, is more fancied than real, will adjust itself and the members affected will so regulate the insurance ventures that they carry that their financial in come will meet their financial responsibilities. It is asserted, and contradiction of the statement is challenged, that insurance furnished by the International Typographical Union will be more stable, more certain, and in the end a greater benefaction than a large proportion of the membership now comprehend. It must be remembered that in any insurance or death benefit ventures that we set afloat there will be no expensive offices to maintain, no agents, no lobby at the national and state capitals, no high salaried officers, no advertising, and no expense for lawyers and courts in combatting claims. Inasmuch as the executive council will touch on the insurance feature and make some certain recommendations, it is not necessary that it be covered further in this report at this time, except to say that the delegates to the convention should investigate the insurance idea from every viewpoint, and should then come to the convention with their minds open for the argument that will undoubtedly be forthcoming, and in a position to act for the best interests of the membership, whether that means the establishment of an insurance feature in connection with our policies or the entire rejection of the insurance idea. PENSION LAW POLICY. The Hot Springs convention submitted an old age pension plan to the referendum which was ratified by a vote of 17,177 for to 9,194 against, a majority for the proposition of 7,983. This plan provided for an assessment of one-half of per cent on earnings, and became effective upon the discontinuance of the eight-hour assessment. The payment of pensions became effective five months after the discontinuance of the eight-hour assessment, March, 1908. The pension assessment was made effective March, 1908. Disbursement of pensions began last August. In the administration of the pension fund we have been more successful than we anticipated. The liabilities against the fund have not been as large as it was thought they would be, and the collections for the fund have exceeded the original estimates. As a result, we have a very comfortable balance in the pension fund. This balance has caused much discussion and a reduction in the pension assessment has been advocated, also an increase in the amount of pension per week per member. I am opposed to both of these propositions. I repeat herewith that portion of my report to the Boston convention touching on this phase of the pension feature of our policy: "I take this occasion to utter a word of caution to the delegates who will make up the Boston convention against any amendment that will increase the expenses incident to the pension plan, other than as outlined in this section of the report. As far as your president is aware, no other great labor organization has put into effect a pension plan from an International standpoint. We must, for the protection of our older members, and for the honor of the International Typographical Union, make this pension plan proposition a success. One year from now, after payments have been made and the bulk of the applications is practically all in, we will be in a better position to judge what further amendments may be necessary and what additional expense the revenue to the fund can stand. To overload the proposition at the present time with liberality and sentiment may mean its failure, and that is an eventuality that every delegate and member of the International Typographical Union desires to avoid." Burdens Will Become Greater. The liabilities against the pension fund are continually increasing, and will continue to increase. While the balance in the pension fund appears to be large, that impression is more apparent than real. In any event, the pension policy should be guaranteed by a fairly large balance in the pen. sion fund. A modification of the twenty-year continuous membership rule has been urged, but to my mind that would weaken one of the best features of the pension policy, the value that it gives to continuous membership in the International Typographical Union. Some of our members believe that the required number of years of membership should be accumulative, that is, that twenty years' membership in the International Typographical Union, even though not continuous, should be sufficient for the endorsement of a pension application. This modification would of necessity apply to the past, and it is submitted that as a matter of fact the International Typographical Union is under no obligation to pay a pension to members who have been such for five years, ten years, fifteen years or twenty years, who have reached the age of sixty years. These members have not contributed in any great degree to the establishment of the fund for pension purposes. From many points of view, it is good policy to pay pensions to our older members, but, it is submitted, it is no hardship on these older members, no violation of any obligation that is due them, when the twenty-year continuous membership feature is insisted upon. Those who are becoming members today, those who have been members for five, ten or fifteen years, will see to it that their membership is continuous, and when they become eligible for a pension they will have contributed something toward the maintenance of the pension policy. To limit the continuous membership to five or ten or fifteen years, to make the membership accumulative instead of continuous, will be to open the pension fund to other inroads of a like nature, and will speedily dissipate the balance that now appears so large and yet that can be most expeditiously distributed if the utmost care and vigilance are not exercised in the preservation of the main features of the law as it stands today. An increase in the amount of the pension paid per member would be another imprudent step, imprudent not only for the organization itself, but toward the individual member. It was never intended that a pension should be so large as to guarantee a good livelihood to any recipient, and certainly it should not be so augmented as to discourage thrift and industry in the working years of the individual. As I understand it, the pension |