The Carpenters And Joiners Meeting

Secretary D. G. McGuire, of I ïelphia, who is the general secretavy of ' :lie national brotherhood of carpen ters , and joiners,addressed a large meeting of the local unión and many ottiers interBsted in labor problema at Firemeos' hall last Saturdp.y evening. He proved one of the cleanest cut, logical and entertaining speakers who has been heard here in a long time. He arrived Saturday afternoon, was eseorted by a commitcee to the residence of John Colgrove, where supper was had and later was escorted to the hall. A complete carpenter's outfit was arranged in one part of the hall and labeled $2 a day. Iu front of the speaker's stand was another outfit, such as a 51 .75 a day man uses. It consisted only of a hammer, a hatchet, a saw and a square The meeting was presided over by John Colgrove. Af ter the mayor, by invitation, had spoken a word or two, J. J. McGuire was introduced as the peaker of the evening. He sai? in efect: The tendeucy of the times is more and more toward the concentration of captal. In the oldeu times, the carpenter worked in winter as well as in suminer. L'hen, in winter he worked in nis owu shop tnrning out doors, sash,&c. Now all this work is done by machiuery. In olden times, apprentices were boys earning their trade in the shops. Today tliey are full grown men drawn rom other avocations,cutting down the wages of carpeuters. The pay of labor s generally regiuated by the pay given ,he laborers by greac corporations. Iustead of the shoeraakers and hatters as n the olden times, the trade now congrégate iu large faetones, which make t possible to hire unskilled labor instead of skilled labor. The tendency is ;o bring in a larger atnouni of compe;itive labor. Invention cannot be stop)ed or improvements checked. In this country over forty different rusts have been organized simply to raise the pronts and stop competition imong manufacturers. These trusts ïave raised the price of tin and buildng material in many cases. The emloyers are thus organizing. The number of persons going in business for themselves does not increase in Droportion to the population. While ;he population of New England increased 160,000, the number of farmers owning their own farms had decreased 23,000 and the number of farm laborers increased 23,000. At the same time we ünd by Lïradstreet that from nine to eleven thousand business men Cailevery year. l'hetelegraph companies are being swallowed up by one great compauy and the tendencv is strongly towards the concentration of railroads. In manufactunug the increase of the laborers does not keep pace with the amount of capital invested. According to the census of 1880, the wealth produced in this country annually was $7,000,000,000. üf this $1,250,000,000 went to the seven-tenth of the population who constitute the producing classes and the three-tenth got the balance. The seven-tenth consume more largely than the three-tenth and the majorityof theproductions reeeived by the three-tenth must be put abroad or laid upon the sbelf. This over production makes wages lower and thus cuts down the power of consumption of a porlion of the population. Meu who work ten hours a day work only a portion of the time for themselves and the balance to produce this over-production. What is $2 a day for the carpentejr. Ile caunot work every day. If he makes eigbt or eight and a half months work in a year, he does fairly well. If he makes nine months work at $2 a day, he only gets $432 a year. One quarter of this goes lor house rent. He Uien has $325 to liye ou 365 days and to buy tools with. Wuat room is there forsiekness? What chance is there to lay aside money for ola age'? The great trouble with workingmeu is that they undermine each other. lt is necessary to organizo in order to protect the standard of living, of those who want to live peaceably and not by tearing downsome one else's living. There are emplovers who dispute the right of workingmen tu organizo. Yet they have organizatious of boards of traile, chambers of commerce, trusts, etc. Siicli a man as Hutchinson for inst;tnce was enabled recently to ïuake 1, 000,000 without one useful hour of labor. Organize,so that amanlike "old Iluten ' would haveno more consideration in law or moráis than the comnionest thief. The workingman has as rnuch right to organizo to lix the price of his labor as has an associaüon the right to rix the price of a keg of nails. What hits the workingman to sell but his labor? W' hen we go to sell our labor, we have as good a right to put a piice upon it ashasthemerchaut to put a pnce on his goods. Employers have been for ages so acctistomed to fixing the price of labor that they think it impudent for the laborer to attempt to have anytning to say about it. Trades uuions are not a new thing. They were advocated bv Senator Ettward Everitt, of Massachuseit in Faniel hall. lifty-six years ago. The movement in 1832 resulted in the adoption of the ten hours system in 1840. We find as a rule that those who work the longest get the shortest pay. For instance in Chicago, in 1879, carpenters got$2 and ten hours work a day was the rule. Now for eight hours work they get $3 a day. Who are the losers by itï No one after all. To-day, fewer liours of work are required upon a house than formerly. After all man in this world is not bom only to driidge and toil all through the day. The people want to live well and ought to have time"to read and to devote to their families. Foverty is oftener the cause of crime and iutemperauce than many t Ti i n k . The brotherhood of carpenters and oiners was fornaed in 1881, with 12 unions and 2,000 members. Now it has 503 unions and 53,000 members in good standing, lthaspaid out over $400,Ü00 in benelits and has a reserve of over $600,000. VVe don't believe in provoking strikes. They ought to be the last resort. Oigamzations prevent strikes, because where there is an organization, the cooler heads can control the hot heads. The brotherhood has reduced the hours of labor so that in twenty-six of the leading cities eight hours was the rule. In cities ;hke Ann Arbor they were striviug for the nine hours a day rule. In 116 cities nine hours is now the rule There are now over 200 cities where the rule is to quit by five o'clock saturday. They also broke down the practice of piece work and have practically raised vvages in JPhiladelphia where men, who 1882 received $1.75 a day, now get 52.7.3. In 268, the ïncreased wáges ovring to the unions is equal to $4,200,000 every ve;ir. That is the wav to put money in circulation, give ernployment to store, keepers and to others in manufactunng. Mr. McGuire next devoted liis attention to the tarilï, claimiwg that it was not tariff hut organization that raised wages. The puddler in the iron works of Western Pennsvlvania received $5.50 a ton, while in Eastern l'ennsylvania he received $4 a ton. There was the same tariff and the iron entered iuto competition in the same market. In New Jersey, the glas workers receive Sïlaweeic. InOhio theyget$15a week. The tariff protects the glass works of Ohio as well as the glass works of New Jersey, [n the one case labor is orgamzed and in the other it is not. The same is true of cigars. In some places journeymen get Sll to $15 a week. In others jnaking the same, grade of cigars and selling for the same piice only $8 or $9 is paid. If it were not for organization, tariff would protect the proüts while the wages of labor would not be protected at all . ltichard Trevillick, of Detroit, who was in the audience, was called upon for a speech and responding with a short one, stating that as his family now resided in this city, he would be at the service of the organization at some other time should they want a speech. His apostrophe to labor in the cause of his remarks was very eloquent and caanot be put on paper save by a short hand man.