The New York herald., 1878-01-16
RAPID TRANSIT.
Complaints of Elevated Railway
Laborers Investigated.
p A S Il DU E w AGE S
The President Indignant and Or
ders the Remedy.

The following iotter, which is only specimen Of q
great many others OF similar tenor, was received
by the HERALD yesterday;--
To THE EDITOR OF THE nkRALp:-
rs nsrs no o red @ for honest na have been
asenargod ; from the samei now propose to ,e yoS
road discharged teu days ago there
% NO or no s ss out sn % @
on January 70 help the poor over The holidays got
sisA presented ssI. .ssss 'as' a the s
it, but 10 paS S1y e ~AG &
Insisted on my getting paa This very polite
Gnest police woria for daring TO demand my honest
Who %ore ss on the 81
s0ad Who with his wife lie and child dGwn e paid
his he would eject him the next aay, There
he ushered out Of the office under the
@ i ha.s ss M hsr % @
time said there was large surplus fund hand
vantage Il paying It's help. '''' ~
D aIYss vi. GSss sa
the workingman, especially tne The, wrynged ones
No. aiHHas siS Ea., tlSSEas&ras; lSi1sissS street.
THE FACTS iNvEsrIaATED
As the complaints OF the workngmen employed
upon the Elevated Railway on Third avenue had been
very numerous and emphatic In their statement that
they had received NO payment yet for work done in
December, the writer sent down to the Office OF
investigate the facts. large crowd of discharged
and laborers beseged the building the
entrance 10 which guarded by officer No. PA. The
men were evidently very impatient get their money
effect entrance into the office, but wero
rudely repused by the oicor who pitched them down
the stairs and drove them of tho sidewalk in the most
determined fashion. The men, upon inquiry, stated
that they there waiting for their pay aud that
they had already been TO tue Office tor several days
without being able to obtain their scant wages They
exhibited classes OF tickets-yellow tickets Tor
work done between December 15 and 81, and whito
tickets for labor performed In January The laoorers
paid 81 25 per day for full days work OF nine
hours and halls but when not working whole day
the rate 12h cents per hour. On each tckot was
marked the number OF hours the man had worked
on each day. Thus, for instance, man liv
ing in HON street. who came down TO the
Bowery TO work upon the foundations, aud who.
OWING 70 the ram, prevented from working more
than Two hours that day would only receive twenty
1--WE cents tor that day's labor.
that most Of the men had received their
wages for january, while their pay lor the
latter halt Of December was stu owing 10
them. Some OF them told u pitilul story. They
had been told TO get their December pay last Friday,
had wasted Friday, Saturday and Monday, and wore
still without their One lived iu 1l0th street
aud Madison avenue, another came from Seventy
filth street, between Second and Third avenues, aud
nearly all declared that their families wore suffering
Tor tho want Of the necessares oi e, while they had
thus wasted nearly week in the vain attempt to get
their wages. There were no accommodations tor the
mon to wait, and yet from tho only place that was
open 10 them, the sidewalk they roughly driven
by the officer on guard on the plea that thoy were OBJ
structpg the sidewalk
A woRKISaxAN's REBuKE
'You treat us Us though We were lot oil beggars,"
one man indignantly crnea; oSt S iwan, you TO nn
Another 0I tho discharged aborers gave his opinion
loudly the elect inat the reason why the disourss
mcnI oil the December wagos was delayed was be-
cause ''theso monopoists wanted 10 pocket tho In
,erest on the money and therefore, keep as long as
possible"
large number OF tho clamorers showed thor De.
cenber tickets TO tho writer but they all declined to
give names ior publication, fearing that they
did SO they could not procure work again upon The
road
RED TAPE.
While the officer kept pitcning and driving his luck
less fellow citizens about as though they were herd
OF cattle the writer entered the companys Office 10
ask for explanation oi THIS extraordnar state OF
things. Neither Mr. Cowing, the Secretary, nor
Colonel Pclton the president could DC seen, but
hoy" The pay roll, and that II had taksn
all boy's spare time 10 perfect the rolls Tor
latter halt OF December The pay rolls then had
to verified by Colouel Peon and other formalitics
gone through, and they were, therefore, unable
TO get ready for payment before now, but were
at pre- eseut engaged paying them oil as fast pos
slbe. The reason why discharged men had received
tnelr pay tor January beoro the regular men on the
nav roll mai got theirs tor December was that eds
charge" ticket was casned Immediately, while the
holders OF regular pay ticket still on the pay roll
could not be paid until all tho complicated pay roll
formalities had been perfected
THE PRESIDENT INDIGNANT.
Mr. Cyrus W. Field the PRESIDENT was now visited
at ofIce No. las Broadway. Mr.. Field read tho
above olter carefully and was ut first ncreduous 10
believe tnat the matter could. be as represented He
finally. when informed oi the above facts, grew IN
tenseiy indignant. declaring that he had been out
ragGously deceived by some Of the officers OF the
pauy IN Inis matter. When the first complaint ap-
pcured IN the HERALD he Immediately sent down 10
the general oiice, at No. Broadway, and asked
II II true that any man had not been
paid. lie received IN return the solemn assur-
AM hat IA IA lu-
mept," and ON the strength OF this assurance re-
peated tho statement 10 that effect IN an interview
published IN the HERALD some time ugo. He was
deeply incensea Ut having thus been put ~ such
a false position, ana declared that he would have The
employees oi the company responsible Tor THIS State
OF inings removed, whoever they be- With This he
Immediately ordered The Ensnccr-iL-Chei, Mr.
Katie, ana another 0ical to be called before Dim in
TO x tho responsibility upon the guilty party
and wne Mr. Katie could not DC iound tho ast named
gentleman received, III presence OF tue hERALDs rep
rescntative, scathing reprimand, which Will proba-
bly, greatly accelerate Inc payment OF the poor
laDorera
TIE MEN TO BE
''rhore Is no reason why these men should not have
been PAID on the I'd or 3i OF the MONTH" Mr. Field
declared, ompnaticaIiy, "and what annoys me
the most Is that l should have beel 50
grossly deceived. Every man should have
his pay when II IS Que. would
allow sucn state oil things. and there sn earthly
need ior it, VIC had cash surplus oil $500 QUO IN
500 900 the Central Trust Company ut three and
hall per cent simply because We don't know what 10
do with Inc money. am very gad now that the
HERALD has brought this matter TO my attention, Tor
II has secured the romedy. The men shall now bo
pad On Us rapidly as possible, even II twenty clerks
lave assist the master, aud shall sec TO 1t that
No such dcny occurs again" And in conclusion,
Mr. Field, whose feelings had been manesty greatly
upon by the gross deception practised upon
him by his subordnate, and VINO indeed spoke 10 the
delinquent Official III tone OF great anger, expressed
his thanks for having had tho matter brought TO his
notice
THE FIRST ENCOUNTER.