Show THE LABOR TROUBLES There is any amount of trouble in the near future for the employers and for the laboring classes of the country We take it that the latter mean business to employ em-ploy a popular and forceful expression in the fight upon which they are about to enter They regard their request as reasonable reason-able and fair and having given timely notice of what they will do they cannot be reproached with having taken an unfair advantage Contractors have had ample warning and cannot plead that they did not know what was coming The labor organizations it is said have also been preparing for the battle by husbanding husband-ing their means and increasing their material resources The unions all say they are better prepared pre-pared them ever before for making a fight In a circular letter addressed ad-dressed to the wage workers and sympathizers sym-pathizers with the progress of America issued on the 22nd instant president GOM PEns of the American Federation of Labor La-bor refers to the timely notice which we gave of our intended movement for an eight hour day and expresses surprise that reduction is not to Le generally conceded conced-ed He says We are confrontedhovvever with an evident determination on the part of the employing builders to antagonize by every means in their power the introduction introduc-tion of this most absolutely necessary reduction re-duction of the hours of labor We call upon you to witness the hostile attitude of the boss builders of Chicago and Indianapolis as evidence of what opposition op-position and treatment we may expect ex-pect when the general demand is made May 1 It appears that the wealth power and influenco of the employing em-ploying and corporate classes of the country are to be concentrated to defeat the movement which seeks not only to improve im-prove the condition of the employed but which will find employment and consequently conse-quently save from poverty degradation and despair the hundreds of thousands of our idle fellow men and women But hois not disheartened On the con trary he is hopeful We will have to conquer con-quer he says by force of numbers organizatIon determination and discipline what is not only our just and reasonable right but even the slightest concession to ameliorate the condition of the toiling masses It will be a stubborn an ugly and we fear a bloody fight for there are evidences that both sides are desperate and determined deter-mined and that neither will yield this side of compulsion But what we want to say this morning is to express the hope that the contest will not be brought into this city to suggest to employers and workingmen that it will be better for both classes if they will be governed gov-erned by reason instead of by passion Whatever differences may exist can be better smoothed over if both parties will permit themselves to realize that there are right and wrong sides to every question We are entering upon a season which promises to be prosperous for the community in general and for the employing and employee classes in particular There will be work for all and there should be fair pay for the laborer and reasonable profit for the contractor Let us not madly destroy the promising and satisfactory condition of things if it can be avoided As a rule local employers have been fair and just they have shown that they possessed hearts It may also be said of the working people that they have not been unreasonable in their demands being content with what was fair and disposed dis-posed to a deliberate conservative course when differences have arisen If both classes will continue to be guided by wisdom wis-dom Salt Lake will escape the trouble and disasters which are coming upon other communities the city will make rapid < strides during the year and the wage earners and the employers will have occasion occa-sion to congratulate themselves on having steered clear of the rocks upon which laborers and employers elsewhere are madly rushing |