Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-04-01

sno .s y. No',. 20 u'
, eonniry, anu u they hau the power 70 20
sney snonin ehnrhYor 70 Eel CONGRESS-
legisl'lte Ior an lhersuse ol uuVy hnn ah Y, Y,
Provenent IN regard 70 tnese goous' NJ
NolWell tneh sueBested q conterehce'
ploposeu ~ tnsh lroui the horocco q
cnange anu ~ from tne morocco worke
70 see II anytblng could be done toWaI
geVe,ng " inc,ease Oh outy on ln,s tanne
slook; MI coiweii eorroporateo this sthL'
menti
mr.. Baker-mWhere does this price Iii
emhna1e Iromg
Mr. ratten5 lne men VINO are workln
~ you n,aue IL up anu asked US 10 presel
y 70 you
Mr.. Baker-"Who fixed 1t up"
mr.. Patten.lt was made by each OF Tn
local assemblies, eaci oi which took actio
on lt and then requested us TO present 1t .
yon.Y
Mr.. Jamisen explained-"our organiza
tlon Is composed OF general assembl,
whieh mas jurisdiction over the Unltet
states Canada, England and France; Mex
we have district assemblies which take In
radius of not. more than 20 miles. TheI
| some s9i, me LOCAL assemblies. In the trade o
wilmington the tanners ana beamsmen, tht
shayers and sewers, and the fnishers arr
organized INTO three separate assemblies
rms plh was adopted BY each assembly IL
tnls city. They thought II proper to give
the list TO this executive board, which i
composed OF nye members, with thepresid'
| ing officer OF this city as an ex-offlcio mem.
ber am morocco shaver"
Mr. Baker-"I AM morocco flnisher my
sell; belonged to an association myself.
we had to keep balance wheel on each
other. notice that the ladies are modest,
as usual, in their demands"
Mr.. Johnson-"i am open to suggestions
Tor an increase in that respect. | think
myself the price IS neagre."
Mr.. Baker-"Ihe sewers In my shop make
from $40 to Sl2 week"
Mr.. Johnson-"One OF the principles OF
my order is that women and men should be
paid equally"
Gen. Postles-"0f course we can't be sup
posed 70 know anything about the organiza-
tion OF the knights of Labor. Wa under
stand better now how this thing was
adopted than we did before. ask whether
this is the usal mode ofproeedure. Whether
Dill OF wages Is usually submitted from
the district board to the local assembly or
from the local assembly to the district
boardp,
MIR. Johnson-"l would say that the
usual procedure is this: II party feels
aggrfeved they have shop committee.
They present their grievance to their en-
ployer. II they do not get satisfactory
reasons why 1t is not complied with they
can appeal to their assembly or district
assembly to take action In the matter. In
this case they concluded 1t would be more
wise to give 1t to the district board, and
there is no law prohibiting such action"
General Postles-''I had been under the
impression from reports coming from the
Knights OF Labor that 1t was the usual
practice In these cases that where there was
o grievance In n shop 1t would be stated to
the employer by the shop committee. II
they failed to adjust the question among
themselves they could appeal to a higher
authority In the order, who could then come
In and adjust and settle the conflict OF
opinion between the two interests, think
that conception will account for the position
we have found ourselves In with regard to
each other. So when we received a COM
munieation not specifying a purpose, but
merely summoning the manufacturers to
meet them, there being no demand or
grievance from any shop committee, we
knew of no reason or pretext for meeting
with you. Now, In the absence OF knowl-
edge of your organization, and in consider
alton of the statement of Mr.. Colwell
In the case Of grievance with an employer
in this city which led us to suppose that
| that action would be permanent. under
those circumstances / think 1t was not
| strange that we did not come to meet you
| in response to your demand. make these
remarks In order to make our position clear
| to You. Referring to our interview with
Mr.. Colwell, he said that your organization
| took cognizanee of matters not merely to
| the interest of employees, but to the good OF
/ the entire trade, and that 1t was not
/ primarily or merely to discuss n bill OF
wages that this conference was desired, but
| to discuss matters of a broader and wider
scope that were for the benefit of the manu-
| facturers as well as the men. and wa came
here expecting to receive communications
on such other subjects; that this was not
=, ouoI,, o., r., :, :. .as.4f,,,, A. " astt !
prices. You could have presented that days
| ago"
Mr.. Colwell-''I did not say tho discus
sion would not be primarily of wages. 1
said 1t would be better to discuss the aues-
| tion before the board than 1t would be with
local body, because IL covered Whining
ton and Philadelphia both"
regret If after we have met here we should
separate without having entered upon any
such subjects. You must know that one
side of this question can not be settled arbi-
trarily without considering the other. Fix
| ing the wages question from the beam house
up without considering the India tans is
almost impossible. You know that over
600, 900 dozen of India tan goods come into
this market annually. You know how that
cuts into the manufacturers lower grades OF
goods. Without that he has good market
for his goods. But whenever the lower
grades Of tanned goods reach q certain
| price the India tans come in and crowd
| them out. Then there are over 800 900
dozen OF French kid that come In and that
cut us off from a market for our higher
grades at profitable price. The result is
| that we have no place where we can make
profitable average
Mr.. Colwell-''Don't you compete In the
same market as the Philadelphia manu-
| facturers?"
n.,, DnatIao tfvaa
Mr.. Colwell-"That's all I want to know"
Gen. Postles-"rhese two questions are
so intimately connected. II we could,
| through the assistance of the Knights OF
Labor, or through our own efforts, get
away from the competition of India tans we
| could get profitable market. had hoped
there would be comprehensive discussion
of these questions before we should CON
slider the price list. Now, as to Mr.. Col
wells question, He asks il we don't have
| to compete with the Philadelphia manufac-
| turers. Take Wilmington, situated to itself.
| Any man associated with the morocco bust
ness knows that 1t is like drawing eye teeth
| to get any man to Wilmington to look at
| goods. Men go to PHILADELPHIA five times
/ who don't come to Wilmington once.
Dealers, wholesalers, jobbers, are the men
who come to Wilmington to buy. They buy
in large quantities, and, consequently
expect II low price and u small margin
| Wilmington Is peculiarly jobbing market
The manufacturers of Philadelphia have d
constant market at their very door; theil
wheelbnrrow trade is big lift. That is 9
big factor In our ability to pay, or to have
our goods cost as much as they do in Phil,t
\ delphia. You know that bricklayers aud
other tradesmen get more In Philadelphia
than they do here. AMI still more In New
York. They live cheaper in Philadelphit
than In New York, still cheaper here, ant
cheaper yet In the smaller towns and vii
lagos. II you make uniform rate of wages