MAGAZINE Entered as second class matter January 16, 1907, at the postoffice at Indianapolis, Indiana, under act of Congress of March 3, 1879 VOL. XVI INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JANUARY, 1916 No. 1 The Psalm of Labor For centuries I have served mankind. For ages I have borne the burdens of the world. I have stirred the earth. I have made it to bring forth increase. I have caused the desert to blossom and changed the wilderness into a garden. I have garnered the grain. I have gathered the fruit. I have fed the world. I have provided food for all the people. I have tamed wild beasts and made them the servants of man. I have woven fibers into cloth and fashioned garments. I have clothed the people. I have hewn down mountains and transformed the rock into human habitation. I have felled the giants of the forest and made them furnish comfort and protection to man. I have gone down into the bowels of the earth and forced her to give up her treasure. I have wrought in the glare of the furnace, undaunted by the hissing I have enriched the nations. I have produced the wealth of the world. I did not see that the wealth I had created was mine nor that the But the scales are falling from my eyes. I am beginning to see. I will arise in my strength. I will break my chains. I will bring comfort and abundance to all. I will bring peace and All mankind will be blessed, all the inhabitants of the earth made glad. I am LABOR. -Ada M. Stimson, Holly, Colo. Report of President J. E. McClory. INDIANAPOLIS, December 14, 1915. Editor Bridgemen's Magazine: As I only recently returned from the Pacific Coast, and I expect to be called away most any hour or day to New York on account of the investigation of the status of our granting a charter to Local Union No. 177, Pile Drivers and Dock Builders of New York, I will take advantage of this opportunity of reporting my trip from San Francisco after the conclusion of the Building Trades Department Convention, where I remained until November 29th, leaving there the evening of that date for El Paso, Texas, at the request of Second Vice-President McCain, who desired that I stop off there while en route to headquarters and take up some matters in reference to conditions confronting Local Union No. 174. I arrived at El Paso on the evening of December 1st, where I met Brother McCain and Brother Fellows of Local Union No 174, and learned from them just what they had in view. The following day I called with Second Vice-President McCain to see officials of a contracting firm at El Paso, whose names I refrain from mentioning at this time for obvious reasons. As the meeting had already been arranged by Brother McCain, we had a very lengthy and interesting discussion with these two gentlemen, and I believe paved the way for the establishment of friendly relations with the firm that these men represent, and while no definite agreement was reached at this conference, the results of our discussion and the proposed terms of employment that were offered, and which we agreed to submit to the members of Local Union No. 174 for their approval, were gone over at some length and were presented and discussed at the meeting of Local Union No. 174 the same evening and accepted, and undoubtedly will be put into practical operation just as soon as the large job this firm has starts, which is expected to be some time in January. I was pleased to observe that Local Union No. 174, while yet young, was composed of earnest and enthusiastic men, and there is no doubt from what I could learn concerning the future prospects of work in our line around El Paso and vicinity, that this local will become one of the best of the hustling young locals in our International within the next few years. El Paso itself has attained considerable growth since my last visit there eight years ago and has erected some very substantial buildings, and the future of the city looks to be a bright one. Myself and Brother McCain left El Paso for Houston, Texas, on the evening of the 2d, and upon arrival there met Business Agent W. P. Martin of Local Union No. 84, who informed us as to what the conditions were at Houston, there being very little work in our line going on in the city proper, but the members who were employed were working outside of Houston, and the prospects for work for the winter, while not any too bright, has one good-sized job coming up that will undoubtedly keep the majority of the members, if not all of the members of No. 84, employed the greater part of the winter. Brother McCain did not tarry long at Houston, as he had to go to Dallas, Texas, on some business that required him to be there, and upon his request I agreed to remain in Houston over night and go to Galveston the following day and view some work being done there in the erection of metal forms for a new freight pier that is being built of reinforced concrete, and as the forms were being set up by members of the sheet metal workers' union in New Orleans and are reinforced by very heavy angles, this led Brother McCain to believe the work of setting same should be done by members of No. 135 instead of sheet metal workers. He had informed me that he had already come to that conclusion and had complained to the officers of the Sheet Metal Workers' International Union at Kansas City about their members violating the agreement between both organizations, but with no satisfactory results from the sheet metal workers, they claiming that it was made of metal lighter than 10-gauge and came within their jurisdiction. Accompanied by Business Agent Martin of Local No. 84, I went to Galveston the following morning and visited the job in question, where I found members of Local Union No. 135 laying the reinforced rod work and that a few sheet metal workers were putting the metal forms in, with the assistance of a few laborers and a few negroes. I talked with the man in charge of the work, who said he belonged to the Sheet Metal Workers' Local Union of New Orleans, and had worked for the firm in that city who manufactured and installed this class of work and, of course, naturally couldn't see where we had any right to lay claim to the installation of these forms. I pointed out to him where we had an agreement with his International Union on such work where the angles exceeded in weight the sheet metal portion of the work and that I was convinced that the erection of same should be done by our members, but was informed by this man that he could not employ our men and would not if he could. As the work was so far advanced that it would be unwise for our men who were doing the rod work to make any demonstration or sympathetic strike, I advised them to continue on the rod work and that I would protest to the Sheet Metal Workers' International officials, which I have already done. While in Galveston, for the few hours I was privileged to stay there, I met quite a few of the members of Local No. 135, all of whom are working, and I regretted that time would not permit me to remain over and attend one of their meetings, owing to my anxiety to get back to headquarters as soon as possible, so I returned to Houston the same afternoon and left there that night for New Orleans, the evening of the 5th. I arrived at New Orleans the following morning, and on the same day met Organizer Ingram, who had been detailed to look after some work at New Orleans. Through Brother Ingram, I arranged for a meeting with the members of Local No. 41, Pile Drivers, for that same evening, and as the time for getting them together was rather short, Brother Ingram only succeeded in getting some twenty members at the meeting, to whom I talked at some length and advised that No. 41 co-operate and work in closer harmony with No. 58 than they have been doing in the past, and pointed out to them the necessity of friendly relations existing between both locals in order to secure any favorable results from their organized efforts. All of the members of No. 41 were employed, but I learned that there is a large number of nonunion pile drivers and dock builders in and around New Orleans that should be organized, and I agreed that Brother Ingram should spend some time in New Orleans working on these men in hope of bringing these nonunion men into Local No. 41. And if the members of that local will but co-operate and assist Brother Ingram, there is no doubt he will secure some recruits for that local. At the request of Bro. J. W. Meyer of Lo Members of Local No. 22, Indianapolis, on the New York Street Bridge, Indianapolis, Ind. cal No. 58, I agreed to remain over until the evening of the 6th and attend the meeting of Local No. 58, which I did, and regret to say that I learned that No. 58 has had some tough sledding during the last few years. This owing to the fact that there has been a scarcity of work in that district, together with the fact that it has been the abiding place, especially during the winter months, of a large number of nonunion men. This, coupled with the fact that the movement itself in New Orleans has been up against the strong opposition of the organized open shop employers of that city, has had a depressing effect, but the union men of New Orleans managed to keep their small organizations intact and secured whatever work they could get under union conditions. I offered what advice I could to the members of Local No. 58 and pointed out the necessity of the members of that local co-operating and working in harmony with the members of Local No. 41. And unless they do, it is a foregone conclusion that neither local union will be able to secure any improved conditions or increased membership. I visited with Brother Ingram a few contractors in New Orleans and listened to their grievances, which I promised we would endeavor to remedy as speedily as possible, if it is possible to do so. I left New Orleans on the morning of the 8th for headquarters, where I arrived on the morning of the 10th inst., after an absence of over three months, and am glad to get back here again. With best wishes and kindest regards for our membership, and wishing one and all a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year, I remain Fraternally yours, J. E. MCCLORY. Report of First Vice-President Johnston. DECEMBER 30, 1915. Editor Bridgemen's Magazine: I herewith submit a brief report of what I have been doing since the adjournment of our last convention. I attended the meeting of the newly-elected Executive Board, and disposed of all matters that were referred to us by the convention, leaving San Francisco along with Brother Osborn and Secretary Jones. Stopped off at Portland, Ore., and attend ed the meeting of the Building Trades Council of that city. We were well received by this body, and both Secretary Jones and myself gave a brief talk on conditions in the eastern section of the country, Brother Jones leaving the same night. I stayed over for the regular meeting of Local No. 29, which was well attended. There not being much work in and around this section of the country, a number of the members were trying to do the best that could be done around Portland at this time. Also stopped off to the meeting of Local No. 114, along with Third Vice-President Osborn, as they were about to have some trouble, to try and line up some work that was about to be erected in that city. I spent a few days with Brother Osborn on this work, leaving there for Seattle, Wash., and arrived in time to attend the meeting of Local No. 86. I tried in my humble way to explain the conditions that existed in the East to those that did not know just what some of the eastern locals had to combat with in trying to get conditions for the members. I spent the following day with Bro. Scotty Hofeditz looking over some of his jurisdiction, but only some of it, as you all know that Scotty has a big chunk of this world to look after, and from what I have been able to observe he has it in good shape for the local that he represents. I also listened to a number of his famous sermons about the wonderful country and weather conditions that happen to be there all the year, and I might have become a convert to his way of thinking if I had had more time to stay around with him. Nevertheless he has a wonderful way of finding some of the work that is put up in this section of the world. To find it after one leaves Seattle you must be able to smell the job, and Scotty has that sense of smell that he is able to get jobs located and have the members of Local No. 29 do them. I left Seattle for Vancouver, B. C., early Sunday morning. I was instructed to go there and, if possible, find out if there was anything to do in this city. I tried every possible way that I could to locate some of the members of this local, but was unable to do so. I was informed that what was left of them were working out of town, but they were very few, as the war has hit this section of the country bad, and practically killed all building operations for the time |