In Cincinnati, O., June 1.— I am very much pleased to find that you are advocating a national organization of carpenters and joiners. I am satisfied that if a national union is organized and properly carried on and supported, that all local unions will be benefited thereby. It will be to the unions what unions are to individuals. It will give strength and confidence to the various unions in their struggle against capital. During strikes, the men are often discouraged, and the strike frequently lost because members of the craft come from other cities and take the places of the strikers. This would be stopped, in a great measure, by the organization of a strong central union. We had very few interlopers, however, during our strike, for the simple reason that we were not getting or asking as much as the men were receiving in other places. The subject of a national union will be brought up at our next meeting.
Our strike, which began on the first Monday in April, was uniformly successful, the men receiving the wages— $2.50 per day — demanded by the union. We did not insist on making our terms with the employers through the committees, and for that reason we shall probably have to fight the battle over again next spring. We have a very strong organization at present, numbering about eight hundred men, with about one thousand carpenters in the city. All but three shops in the city are controlled by union men. 