The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-26
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 90, 1870.
STOPPAGE or WORK AT THE NA w
YARDS


BIZ q special despatch from Washington,
printed in another column, IL will be seen
that the Secretary of the Navy has issued an
order for the discharge of the workmen in
all the navy yards of the country employed
by the Bureaus of Construction and Repair
and Steam Engineering. These bureaus employ
a very large majority of the men in the yards,
and the effect of the order, which will go into
effect after the 31st inst, will be to throw
about eleven thousand persons out of employ
ment, in the middle of winter and without
warning. The Secretary's reason for this
action is certainly satisfactory SO far as it
goes, although it shows that there is screw
loose somewhere. The appropriations for
the bureaus named have been exhausted, and
having no money to pay its workmen, the
Navy Department had no alternative but to
discharge them. 1t is impossible to estimate
the suffering that will be caused by this order.
These eleven thousand workmen represent
besides themselves very many women and
children who are dependent upon their labors
for O subsistence, and for this immense num-
Der of persons to be deprived of their means
of living in the middle of the winter, and
when trade of every kind is dull and employ
ment is hard to obtain, is most distressing
circumstance, which certainly demands prompt
action on the part of Congress.
The question in which the public are in
terested is, Who is responsible for the dis
charge of these men at this time? The ex-
penditure of the public money by the Navy
Department has been sharply criticized in
more than one quarter lately; and ex-Secre-
tary Welles, in his letter to Secretary Robe
son which we published a short time ago,
charged in very explicit terms that many of
the boosted improvements of the present ad-
ministration have been made by an extrava-
giant use of the public funds such as he never
dared to attempt. 1t has been said that the
of Mr.. Welles. Can he reply to them
If the stoppage of work at the
navy yards is owing to want of foresight
and proper economy of the means at the
disposal of the department, Congress and
the public have a right to know all the cir
cumstances of the case, and we hope that
measures will be taken to investigate the
matter thoroughly, in order to fasten the
responsibility on the proper parties Any
reader of MIR. Welles' letter will easily per-
ceive that its criticiims are directed not so
much at the Secretary, as at his chief adviser,
who, in the popular estimation at least, is to
blame for all the bad management that has
made the Navy Department SO unpopular of
late; and it certainly seems as if Vice-Admiral
Porter had done mischief enough for any one
man, and that it was high time he was re-
lieved from his position of prompter to the
Secretary.
With regard to the workmen Congress GER
tainly ought do something Immediately to
relieve them from the impending calamity,
and to prevent such a number of persons
from being thrown on the cold charity of the
world at this inclement season of the year.
If it is imperatively necessary that all or any
of the men should be discharged, there
should be longer notice given, so that they
may have time to look about them aud secure
other employment if any is to be had.