The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 7, 1918, Page 9

1] PRESSMEN’S This is a picture of the Pressmen's home, Tennessee, owned and operated by and for a trade union. instructed in finer branches of their craft, without tuition fee. HOME IN Building to the left is the trade school, where members are All conventions of the union.are held in the hall on the second floor. Cost of conventions reduced 40 per cent by keeping them here. Building in foreground is bath house, with big swimming pool. In background is home for superannuated. Power plant is seen at the right. = \ What Conperation Did For A Union ~ Pressmen’s Orgamzatlon Has Establisheda Unique Institution in the Northeast ~ ~ Washington Bureau, Nonpartisan Leader EORGE L. BERRY, a mountain.boy from the extreme northeast section of Tennessee, broke away from home very early in' life and learned the-printing pressman’s trade. Then he got to be an officer in his union, out in San Francisco. After a short ‘time—he is still a young ~ man—he was made plesident of the international union. But all the while he wanted to get back to the country. He thought about it until he developed a great scheme. And the picture of some of the buildings at pressmen’s home, Tenn., is evidence that he has made .his dream come' true. This pressmen’s home i€ the property of the Inter- national Pressmen and Assistants union. It includes 1032 acres of wooded and farming land in the ex- treme northeastern sectien of, Tennessee—the neigh- borhood from which Berry broke away when a boy. It is the headquarters of an organization of over 40,000 skilled men, gnd it combines permanent of- fices, a meeting plf:: for all their conventions, a home for 200 of their aged and superannuated mem- bers, and a sanitarium for 60 tubercular patients from améng the men in their union. Twenty of the patients thus far sent there have returned to work, cured. ¥ The meadow in the foreground of the picture is a symbol of the sound business sense\“tbgt has made a success of this enterprise. For the pressmen-have supplied their big colony at the home, from its own land, with every bit of milk, every egg, every pound of flour, butter and meat, every pint of jelly and fruit preserves, and every quart of canned goads . that has been consumed there in the past two years. STARTED IT BY COLLECTING ‘ONE DAY'S PAY FROM EACH MAN “We have cut out unnecessary middlemen, and . have made the producer and the consumer meet in one organization,” Berry explained, while he was attending the labor convention recently at Buffalo. “Your organized farmers in the Northwest are try- ing to get rid of useless middlemen. They would _like to deal direct with the consumer, so that there- . may be no waste of benefits from productive work. We have done it. We deal with ourselves. “We started in 1910, our program embodying the establishment of a trade school, & home for super- _annuates and a sanitarium for tubercular, to-be supported with all the utilitie 5 necessary—water- Section of Tennessee works, electricity, heating plant, farm activities. and so forth. - “The initial funds were secured by collecting from each of our members one day’s pay, and from each new member coming in, one day’s pay. We levied also a maintenance fee-of 10 cents per month per member for the home and sanitarium; and six cents for the school. “We are located 38 miles by airline from Ashe- ville, N. C, in a section known to be extremely favorable for the rest and cure of tubercular pa- tients. The institutions were completed in the main, in 1912 We have already given post-graduate courses in press work to over 500 men of our craft. We have 60 patients.in the sanitarium, and 20 have been cured. ‘‘The success of the institution is due largely to the facilities that we have provided in connection with the work.. Our experience convinces us that no institution operated by trade unions or others can be successfully and economically maintained except by farming activities and the control of the . ordinary utilities such as serve a city. WHAT THE PRESSMEN DID OTHER GROUPS CAN DO “We make our own electricity. We have our own waterworks, our. own telephone system, our steam plant, our own flour mill, sawmill, - dairy, creamery, canning factory, ice: plant, soap-making department, laundries, poultry yard, and -so forth. . We do not purchase any vegetables or fruit, and we .grind in our own mill the wheat and corn from our own farm for flour and meal for our own tables. We have been able to produce 40 pounds of flour in: this way for 38 cents. This year iwe have canned over 25,000 gallons of vegetables, fruit and jellies. . In this way we elimjnate the: profits of middlemen and ~we also-have the satisfaction of knowlng the value and quality ’ot our food. “Now, what we have done can be done by other groups. It does not take a trade unien to run a farm in' combination with a group of institutions, such as the school and the home. Farmers and trade unionists could just as easily combine to elim- ° inate the middleman, and build up .and maintain . properties of this kind all over the country. "If they did, it would be the salvation of the working people of America. There is no more vital problem before “them today, and it is time that’ r.he solution were recognlzed "s,.v PA(}E NINE : The Buffalo convention has appealed to every local , trade union in' America to-contribute one dollar to help finance the co-operative movement, to which it now commits itself. Berry believes the idea of mere co-operative buying is too narrow; the co-operators should produce the stuff and sell and buy, using their own utilities, and shoving the profiteer always far- ther out of the picture. OTHERS DON'’T CARE Itis pointed out that the apple growers of Idaho are’ turning eagerly to the Nonpartisan league. Why shouldn’t they? The League may not be able to solve at once the eternal problem of car shortage and distribution but it promises to try— & and that is more than any other organization has done or is doing.—LAMOURE COUNTY CHRON- ICLE." BEWARE OF PROFITEER PRESS The people must not permit the lying subsi- dized press to array them against labor and farmer organizations. It must be kept in mind at all times that the present campaign against the Non- pprfisan league and other common people organiz- ations is a part of the well laid plan of profiteers * to control government and poison the minds of the people.—GOOD GOVERNMENT, Peoria, Ill. FARMERS “8-HOUR DAY” This story which is not fictlon, shows how the farm population works. This was a family of five on an Indiana farm. In addition to operating 160 acres, doing most of the work himself, the husband helped with the garden and the heavier part of the housework. The wife managed the house, doing all of her cooking, sewing'and washing, raised 125 pure bred chickens and put up canned goods as follows: 141 quarts of fruit, 84 jars of jams and jellies, 126 quarts of relish, 72 quarts of vegetables. An abundant winter supply of potatoes, squash, cab- bage, beets, turnips, popcorn and apples was also stored away. i This work was the result of an agricultural 8<” . hour day, eight hours in the forenoon and eight in the afternoon. When the last battle has been fought and the stars and stripes come home: vic- torious, great praise will be due those who have fought the battles in the kitchen and in the truck. mtfll S