, 1879-04-20
THE STONE WAR.

| The Corporation Counsel has not yet given IN
! opinion rs regards the complaint made by the
! stonecutters that Tomlinson d Reed had Vlo'
laten. their contract By doing the City-Hall work
at Bedford instead Of 10 tfIis city. The ease for
the two parties is pretty fairly set out in afda-
Wits, Of which the following are abstracts:
JOHN powDLB,
in behalf Of the stonecutters, sWears that in
May, 1875, he commenced work for Tomlinson
Il Reed, cutting stone for the new City-Hall,
and worked until December; that about sixty
five men were employed, and they all worked
eight hours a dny, which had been the custom
for the last twelve years; that the firm in ques-
tion, In advance Of rcsutning work this spring,
advertised for stopecutters in Canada and the
East, which was the first intimation that af1ant
or the stonecutters had that work was
to be resumed; That all Of the stone
on the Clty-Hall are. persons brought
from distance; that Tomlinson s. Reed re-
fused to employ the stoneeutters OF this city,
but in. defiance OF their contract are having,
and for some time have had, the stone cut at
strike here on the part Of the stonecuttcrs, or
anT combination being made against them, but
TO the contrary, that To1nlinson Il Reed have
combined and consplred to injure the stone
cutters by refusing to employ them; aud that
ncttherssE Edwin Walker nor any other person has
anythtng to do with the conduct Of the stone
cutters in the matter, etc.
EEED.
To the above David Reed, OF the firm of Tom
1inson H Reed, replies by affidavit. He af6rms
That IN January three stonccuttcrs waited upon
his firn and notified them that OF and
demanded; that the firm, after dcliberation,
aud assuming thatithey had the right to control
their business concluded to pay $3.50 for ten
hours work; thar they Offered to employ men
TN these terms, aud employed six on the start; :;
ti,nt the Stone cutters Association hired these
men to quit work, aa,i thes. quit ".vtcreupon
me we're auEartI5cd fof;0n tie outside, that
thereafter the Association advertised. in The
TRIBUNE and other paDers adYisingf. stone
cutters to keep away from the yard dt:6i the
athant, and placed a WATCH around atlantis
premises, and attempted By bribery and intimt-
dation to keep all men from entering the FIRMS
employment. making 1t necessary for atilant to
call in policemen to protect their workmeu;
aud have been since they commenced work;
and that John Dowdle could have OBJ
tained work for $3.50 per day Of ten
hours . if he had applied, etc., that the
have e. the work done here, and that it WAS taken
to Bedford only as . last resort, and in ronsc-
quencc OF the refusal Of the Association to al
10" stonecuttcrs to work for the firm in this
city; that men lad wanted to work for them on
their terms, but stated they were afraid OF the
the men they wanted but Tor the influence OF the
Association, which has been eycr:cd dgainst said
firm; that it is not true that eight hours il or
ever has been established as da::'s work in Chi
cago, but the largest stonecutting firm iu the
city has always worked ten hours, and has tven-
ty-iTe men employed iu their yard at this time.
CHARLES 4. K1sIBALL
also joins in the affidavit business. He says he
is Treasurer and Superintendent of the Singer
d ralcott Stone Company Of Chicago, and that
SOMA three weeks ago his Company commenced
dressing some Bedford stone Tor Tomlinspn
q Reed for the City-Hall; that the
most Of the work was done by machinery, but
it was necessary to do some by hand; that sey-
eral stonecusters were directed to TO that work,
some OF them being their Oldest and ssealiest
hands; that they repeatedly refused to work be-
cause they we're afraid, saying they had been
told by stonccutters loaiing around the street
not to work on Bedford stone; that they were
told they would have to obey orders or quit, and
they y;qnit; that they came back and wanted to
90 to work eight hours, etc; that Singer g. Tai
:ot: do an extensive business and cut more lime
stone than any three yards in the city; and that
hey employ as many as thirty stonecuttcrs at
! time in addition TO their machinery, and that
Ten hours is and always has been days work;
Ind they have never had any trouble getting ali
Lhe 1neQ they want.