The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

PAGE 4 - PLAINDEALER-FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, mi Sugar Coated Darling, this cake is delicious. Did you buy it yourself? 1 -Gosport. And Desire Great minds have pur­ poses; others have wishes. -Grit. " ' ( I I I THE MCHENRT PLAINDEALER • I ! I 1 I I I I I I I fcstabhshed 1875 3812 WMt Elm Strwt Phone 3850170 McHenry, Olinoit 60050 Publi(h«d Every Wednesday & Friday at McHenry. Illinois Second Clan Postage Paid at McHenry, Illinois By McHCNRY PUBLISHING COMPANY Subscriber* are requested to provide immediate notice ot change of address to The McHenry Plaindealer. 3112 W Elm St., McHenry, IL 40050 A deduction ot one month from the expiration of a subscription will be made »vt>ere a change of address is provided through the Post office Department. HERE AND THERE IN BUSINESS Federal Excise Tax Down For Fifth Year Jan. 1 will make the fifth straight year the federal excise tax on telephone bills will drop. The excise tax will go from 6 percent to 5 percent, and will continue to be applied to monthly service and long distance calls. Illinois Bell is simply the tax collector for the federal government, under the federal excise tax law. The company collects the excise tax on most telephone services and turns it over to the federal government. In 1975, Illinois Bell's total tax bill was $443.1 million, or $60.79 per telephone. Of this, federal excise tax totalled $98.2 million. Larry E. Lund -• Publisher Adale Froehlich •• Editor i UMBER NATIONAL NEWSPAPER UiiCUfitN rmM ins i UMBER Frtt Prill tiir H s: NNA SUSTAINING MEMBER-1971 \ NEWSPAPER / Frtt Prill tiir H s: NNA SUSTAINING MEMBER-1971 SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 Year................$10.50 i Year •••••••••••••••a $15.00 In McHenry and Lake Outside McHenry and County Lake County MEDICAID TERMINATIONS Six eye-care providers and one clinical laboratory, all in Chicago, have been terminated from the state's Medicaid program by the Department of Public Aid. The action was taken because of alleged irregularities discovered by state investigators. It will forbid the health care providers from participating in the Medicaid program. Labor And Unions In Northern Illinois (Seventeenth in a regional history series by Virginia Differding and Walter Wallace, prepared as a Bicentennial contribution from Northern Illinois University. -- Ed.) Consider all the things the nation and worti would not have if suddenly the industries of northern Illip^is stopped producing. ^ From the mines, mills, factories and assembly plants across our region come raw materials and finished products that make the area one of the world's most' im­ portant industrial hubs. ' This could not be, of course, without the manual laborers, s k i l l e d c r a f t s p e o p l e , technicians and other workers attracted here by job op­ portunities. Banding together for mutual aid, workers organized into labor unions which became an important factor in the region's historical development, much of the action taking place in Chicago. Some events, in fact, had national impact, such as the Great Upheaval of 1877, the 1886 movement foi^an eight- INGS TOME- hour work day and the famed Pqjfcnan Strike in 1894. National unions such as the Industrial Workers of the World, Amalgamated Meat Cutters, Journeyman Butchers and United Steel Workers all have important chapters in their own histories linked with Chicago. Union history in northern Illinois is detailed and complex but the movement's roots stretch deep into western history, from the late Middle Ages through the 19th century guild associations in Europe and England, which regulated work and craft standards even before wage relationships developed between employers and employees in small workshops and cottage in­ dustries. Though guilds were tran­ splanted from England to the American colonies, they did not flourish here. Instead, they were replaced by various kinds of mechanic associations, similar in structure and pur­ pose to the guilds but without the long traditions and strict, hierarchical structure. Mechanics (the word referred to craftsmen or ar- tisans) associations became i m p o r t a n t p o l i t i c a l organizations during the American Revolution and so it was no accident that the Declaration of Independence was signed at Philadelphia's Carpenter's hall in Philadelphia. Such associations were vitally important for drawing working people into the revolutionary coalition along with merchants, farmers and the urban poor. New technologies developed during the 70 years after the Revolution dramatically changed the relationship between the worker and the product, however, with fac­ tories putting ownership of tools and raw materials into the hands of wealthy craftsmen who hired less skilled, younger workers to produce the finished products. "When a workman is un­ ceasingly and exclusively engaged in the fabrication of one thing, he ultimately does his work with a singular dex­ terity," the French statesman Alexis de Tocqueville observed in 1831 as he traveled through America, "but at the same time he loses the general faculty of applying his mind to the direction of the work." As workers increasingly became alienated from their work, the gap between wealthy trade masters and journeymen or apprentices grew even more pronounced with the in­ troduction of machines to regulate and actually perform the work. W h i l e i n d u s t r i a l reorganization of American society progressed throughout the 19th century, the response by members of new working classes varied. . "By the ...system we have no time for mental cultivation," complained a cotton mill worker in 1835. "That is the policy of the big bugs -- they endeavor to keep people ignorant by keeping them always at work." "How can we be free while we have no control over the only commodity we have to dispose of, our labor?" asked journeymen cord winders in 1836. "Let us be determined," wrote a labor organizer among textile workers, "no longer to be deceived by the cry of those who produce nothing and who enjoy all and who insultingly claim our homage for them­ selves as the higher orders ... while the Declaration of In­ dependence asserts that 'all men are created equal.' " Localized but effective strikes, work slowdowns and machine breaking became common tactics among workers who banned together in journeyman or apprentice associations to protest changes in work organization and in­ troduction of machinery. Thousands of such actions in fact dot the historical land­ scape of the 1800's. It was not until the 1870's though, that large scale, mass unionization took place, with violence of such force that the U.S. Army seems to have been Many Happy Returns... £ 00 I 000 0 500 W $4 i In keeping with the spirit of giving, we're happy to announce that during the year of 1976 we paid out over $4,500,000.00 in interest to our savers. If you're thinking that's a lot of money... you're right. And the reason we can deliver such a healthy return is that we pay our depositors the highest interest rates a savings and loan is allowed to pay by law. Another reason is that we're a Mutual Association which means there are no stockholders to pay. Our net income dur­ ing each year is distributed to our savers in the form of in­ terest, which all adds up to more money for you. ' trie funds remaining after operating expenses and savers hgttfr bfcen paid goes into building up our already strong re­ serves, which helps us to serve you better. In addition, every ollar you deposit with us is protected up to?$40,000 by an gency of the federal government. Best of all this money is distributed to residents of the McHenry county area, which in turn helps us keep a sturdy economic flow of money within our own community. So if you've been looking for a good place to invest your money, save where your friends do, save with us. We're the place where many happy returns happen all year round. KSI1D ll»i"ti In--iH I. M0.000 e and loan association 200 K VST UR.WT HICHW\ • M\RKM»0, ILLI VMS 60152 • (815) 568-7258 4*00 W KST HOI I'K 120 • \1<HKNK> , ILLINOIS 60050 • (815) .Ol-IVOO 118 CASS STHKKT • WOODSTOCK. ILLINOIS 600V8 • <815) .118-2900 called out more often to put down domestic insurrection among workers than to protect the country from foreign in­ cursions. During the century since then, a large and complex working class has developed in the industrialized parts of northern Illinois. From 1870 through the 1920s, waves of immigrants from Poland, Russia, Germany, Italy, the Balkans and Adriatic coast countries swept into the region's mines, stockyards and factories. Others came from rural American towns and farms and thousands of blacks came north from Jim Crow and share cropping, particularly during the first two decades of this century. Whether from Roland, Germany, Mississippi or rural areas of Illinois, they moved here .in hopes of new op­ portunities, new riches and a new way of life. All too often, they instead found only crowded and un­ sanitary living conditions, unsafe working practices, 16 hour work days, seven day work weeks and racial prejudices in ethnically divided, ghetto-like neigh­ borhoods, often with crime and alcoholism rampant. Settlement houses like Hull House in Chicago, movements such as the Salvation Army and the Women's Christian Tem­ perance Union and numerous charities strove to provide relief, but overall their efforts were insufficient to deal with the problems and working people themselves had to bring about the changes needed to better their lives. NEXT: Blacks in Northern Illinois. Keepin' Healthy Each season of the year has its own brand of enjoyment, and to many people the snows of winter bring with them the fun of building snowmen, sledding and tobogganing. Participating in snow sports can cause injury, however, if you're not careful. Each year, nearly 40,000 Americans are treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries associated with sledding. In order to help you avoid serious injury, the^ Illinois Department of Health has compiled at tips for safe sledding. When choosing a sled, toboggan or snow disk: 1., Check for sturdy con­ struction. Avoid split or splintered wood and metal parts that are bent out of shape. 2. Avoid equipment with sharp, jagged edges and protruding rivets. 3. Choose a sled that has a protective guard or bumper over the metal front bar to prevent cuts and other injuries in a collision. 4. Check sleds for easy steering without jamming. 5. Avoid sleds that end in sharp-edged hooks. 6. Look for secure handholds and a place to tie on a rope. When using your sled: 1. Walk over your sliding territory before using it. Look for bumps, tree stumps, boulders, ice and bare spots. If you can't remove or repair these spots, avoid that part of the slope. 2. Supervise children who are ' inexperienced in using this kind of snow equipment. Make sure their first sliding is done on short, gradual slopes that are not cluttered with debris or bumps. 3. Warn children not to push, shove or otherwise roughhouse while riding sleds, toboggans or snow disks. 4. Figure out ahead of time how you will stop the sled or get off safely in an emergency. Learn how to roll sideways off sleds to lessen injury in case of a collision. 5. Don't slide through traffic intersections or across streets, even if there are no cars in sight. They can appear sud­ denly "out of nowhere". 6. Hold or tie ropes on the top of your sled or snow disk to keep the ropes from slipping underneath and causing an abrupt stop. 7. Don't slide until the slope is clear of nearby sliders. 8. Move off busy slopes quickly when you reach the bottom, to prevent collision with other sliders. 9. Walk back up the slope along a side path out of the way of those coming down. 10. Never tie your sled to the back of a car. When the automobile stops, the moving sled can easily slide under the car, causing serious injury to the person riding the sled. If you want more information about sleds, toboggans or snow disks, contact your local health department, or write to Illinois Department of Public Health, Consumer Product Safety, 535 West Jefferson, Springfield, IL, 62761. Hopeless No matter how much you nurse a grudge, it won't get better. -Journal, Petersburg.