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Show :j Strides Wbich Hava Been m !bt the United Brotherhood j e 0f Carpenters. U0SE ia ADYANOE IN WA&ES. k Era Jas Been Increased in 413 Cities tte Union By the Blotter--. . . - Its a!1. :-' ' ' of i r; BUbmitted by Secretary P, fates. r totne biennial convention Motherhood of Carpenters and met in Chicago Aug. 4-13, con-' J A 4 satisfactory and cheering m- 'a. Those who watch the prog-. he labor movement have, during 1 I , two years, been at times as-01 as-01 i f I at the great strides the carpen-; " lfflaiing under intelligent direc-Sen direc-Sen A the official statements hero- 'sented will be read with gret i , b by every workingman: ; n a in 1881. while a resident of St. 'dlC sio., your general secretary be- '.v'i'nred of the absolute necessity ju , - Ips , JS MA of organizing a society so-ciety of journeymen journey-men carpenters and joiners, thoroughly thor-oughly American in character and as broad as the land in which we live, embracing all men of the trade regardless j of race, creed, color or politics. 1 I . The call went J I J. M'GCTRE. forth from gt. 1 1 land after pionths of work waa; ted by a convention of delegates 1 I twelve formerly scattered and I I unions. They met : in this city I 3i isei, and from that day to this I I e been making a new history for I Ivntrodden mechanics in our once I ll craft. H Iigh nine years old as an organiza- II Kliis convention will make the sixth 1 1 1 11 convention we have held. The Ivo years we met annually in con- In. ' First in 1881 at Chicago, and S j In 1893 at Philadelphia. ' Then we 'an' I d tine system of biennial con ven- JWril land since then have met, in 1884 Icinuati; in 1886 at Buffalo, and in I It Detroit. I I number of local anions now under Irisdiction is 097 in good standing, I f,m enrolled - members and a A llficent roster of 53,709 beneficial' I Iters, being a net gain in the past I tears of 209 new unions and 25,853 I (members, a gain of 39 per cent, in I Imions and 30 per, cent, in rnember- I I This places the United Brother- I I in the front rank of labor organiza- - j I It is now the lange'st and most S Irful organization, numerically, of I Ipecial trade in the whole civilized I p. And its growth is unparalleled, I p time, by any trade union on earth. I lhat now remains is to perfect its I lial resources to : be equal to -any Is lion, and the United Brotherhood f) I bo as invulnerable as it is mas- I Ithe past two years we have expend-I expend-I 157,842.40 for death and disability I Kits, fully one-half of all ever paid I Iv tis for that purpose. This makes I II the sum nf $111,517.65 paid out in if IStsfrom our general office in the jll I) years the system has been in I jation. Over $235,000 moro was I I ont for sick benenta in the same I I by the local unions. I Is past year we expended $71,327.43 I lupport of trade movements, in , I I s and against lockouts, where we "'I It only $-1,170 tho year previous. J I year we won 144 strikes, involving "1 m carpenters, union and non-union I I, and lost 8 strikes, involving about I K carpenters. Last year we won 78 I les out of 82 we engaged in. The I It eight hour movement on May 1, I I year, was the cause of the many I les we had this season. And the re-J re-J I after all are very gratifying, for 4 lagk this wo have gained a largo ; I fcber of new unions and thousands of I I members, and advanced the wages I I reduced the hours of labor in numer-I numer-I leases. I I four years we have advanced the I pes of carpenters in 413 cities twenty- II I to seventh-five cents per day, which, J Ithe union and non-union men intei--I Id, amounts to five and a half million I pire per year more -wages to the car-I car-I Iters in those places. I f -sides that we have reduced the hours I labor to eight bourse per day in 31 fs.'.an to nine hours per day in ' pities, not to count 260 cities which I' have the rule of eight or nine hours fy on Saturdays. This reduction in I honrs of labor alone has given em-RTnent em-RTnent to 7,300 more carpenters, who, I it not been for this movement made lour organization, would be on the Ns idle and penniless. These figures l volumes in favor of the United p'-herhood and its work, and are in paselves a powerful argument in favor trad3 unions. fuics our convention two years ago at p'Oit an immense work has been W-t FP'ished. We have spread the gospel I organization among the carpenters levery town and hamlet; we have ptered priritd leaflets and labor future far and wide; we have placed f rg speakers out on tke,road, and fe inspired a spirit of noble and sturdy f shood among the carpenters which pone vili brook none of the irnposi-N irnposi-N and wrongs of old. ra Bcores of towns we have advanced f?es and reduced the' hours of labor, p-'e with a fraternal hand as trade pa men we have taken care of our II tod distressed , members, and by p"y cid we have helped to lift the -gloom of death from the widowed p1 atborless of our deceased brothers. H the front rank of industrial battle h year our members have stood with p Runted courage as pioneers in the f-'Wd wide movement for shorter hours I oor. And though defeatd in a P stances, the grand army of vic-I.ies vic-I.ies wn will be an inspiration for the l e, and the few defeats of this sea-r,are sea-r,are satisfied next year will be f" sd into cheering success. I w the 697 local unions, 21 are located lUcaJa, 47 are on tho Pacific coast, rare in tho southern states (17 of are composed entirely of colored rj"- 85 are located in the New England t 2&8 in tho middle states, and 228 ft western states, " ' |