The Portland daily press., 1886-02-10
THE LIME BURNERS TROUBLE
A Press Reporter Gives Both Sides
of the Story.

A correspondent of the PRESS has been
looking into affairs in Knox county ana
writes as follows:
January goth the following circular was is
sued to the lime manufacturers in Rockland; 1;
Sanctuary Of Eqstern Star assembly, 1927
RocKLAND, Maine January IA, 1886.
Dear Sir:-We have been delegated by Eastern
Star Assembly 1927, of Rockland, to inform you
in regard to action Of said Assembly in which you
have an interest and in which your assistance and
cooperation are desired. AS preliminary to and
in explanation of making such statement, we will
say that the Order to which we have the honor to
belong and to which the Assembly is attached, is
organized for purposes set forth concsely but full
lY In rs Declaration OF PRINCIPLES, copy OF
which we beg to enclose, and venture to hope that
you may endorse and approve. A large majority
of the men employed about the kllns IN TINS CITY
in the manufacture OF lime are now meiipers tP Oh
the Order and at their earnest request the AS
sembly has undertaken to aid them IN Detterlng
their condition as workngmen and cltlZenS. IN
Of this me daeS Fgd e1
which the men work, have Deen inquired lhtO anu
deliberately considered: Much WORK mas Deeh
done by committees ana Onlcers u Tue q 1assellDryi
the inquiry extending over a space OF seVeral
months All the facts having been gatnereu tnat
it was possible to obtain, these were placed IN the
hands of a committee. who, after holdlng several
meetings and considering the matter carefully,
made certain recommendations, wnlch were SUD
mitted. Every detail of these recommendatlohs
considered anu QlSCuSScu Ill <AooCniOlys
several meetings being devoted almost wholly TO
the matter and the result was vote OF tne As
sembly as follows: -,
{ That all a,ae1, about the lime kilns, sheds and
1bGTres IN this eity should receige SIC per day,
erceptillg rOclbredkers 1Cj0 should Tecetoe Slz'oo
per 1Oeek (of SeUen days lDor6,( 400 -.
That on all kitIIS producing Tess man 9OO CASKS
per tCeek three men should be ept0yed; ana on
all kjLlas producing that amount or more Jour
Tbnt ali men erspl0ited as abore stated should
be paid there aCdges in full 1Ueehty and IN cash
mat the aboUe arrangements shouIdgo into e.
The committee would say that the Assembly
has endeavored to communicate with the Lime
Manufacturers Association with view OF deal
ing with the manufacturers in a BODY Win fe1er-
ence to this matter with the object OF having any
arrangement that might be decided on maue UNI
form through the country but no response ma mas
been made to communication sent to the asso
ciauion. so that it has become necessary 10 zeal
with each firm individually.
We would request response to the above COM
munication at as early time as possible.
Hoping this may be received by you III tne
same friendly spirit in which it is sent, and that "
NAV secure YOUR approval and be the means OF
arriving at the arrangement that will be mutual
satisfactory and advantageous to Dotn employers
and employed, as well as beneficial to the lime
burners Of the city we sgSsefPH
OLIVER OTIS,
o. s. TRUssELL,
p j. BURNS,
Committee of Eastern Star Assembly 1927, X
of P.
After mature deliberation in regard to the
above circular the lime manufacturers OF
Rockland, ThomaStOn, Rockport and Cam
den adopted the following, and since Febru-
ary 1st all work has been suspended:
At meeting of the lime manufacturers held at
Rockland January 29th, the following PROPOSE
tions were voted upon and passed;
FirSt-TO cease quarrylpg rock.
Second-To cease hauling rock.
Third-TO cease making casks.
Fourth-To cease buying casks after proper
Fifth~To earnestly invite the cooperation Of
manufacturers of Camden and ThomaSton III
maintaining the four propositions ABOVE re1erred
Sixth-The above arrangements are not to be
construed so as to affect sales or shipments OF
lime on hand at present or that may be on hand
when this arrangement goes into effect
Propositions l, 2, 3 and are to take erect Feb
ruary /, and to remain in effect until rescinded by
a tVo-thirdS vote of the lime manufacturers, and
when said vote shall be taken each manufacturer
shall be entitled to one vote irrespective OF the
number of kilns controlled by him.
The above is unanimously approved by the eX-
ecutiye committee of the Knox County Lime Asso-
citation. U. A. GAY, secretary.
The employees claim they were not receiv-
ing enough for their labor and that they
should receive $500 per day, their pay at
the time being $1.75 per day for work on
lime kilns, sheds and wharves. Rockbreakers
claimed $12.00 per week where they were
receiving 5000 to $1,000. They also claimed
that where three men are now employed
there should be four and that they should
be paid in cash. This is as gather from
representative men of the X. of L., one side
of the question.
The other side is the lime manufacturers
as stated to me by prominent men in the
business At the present price of lime
they could not pay any more wages, nor EN-
ploy any more men than they did at their
kilns, and to protect themselves they must
quit manufacturing and accordingly issued
the above circular. The question of paying
cash. weekly, they were all willing to accede
to. AT this time of the year the kilns are
not all running usually, and in the following
estimate we only state the average business
at this season. There are out of employ al
the present time on account OF the labor
question in Rockland, Thomaston, Rockport
and Camden 100 vessels employing 600 men
and seven hundred men who formerly work
ed in the kilns and Quarries, not speaking al
all in this number of the men who make
casks and haul them or wood cutters. The
amount of money those employees would
receive, were they at work, would be at leasl
three thousand dollars per day.
The lime manufacturers claim to have on
hand a stock of lime to furnish their Gus
toners for two months, and that 1t is better
to burn no more than to do so at loss. Thai
there were fifty thousand barrels of lime
shipped to this country from the Province:
this year, and the price they have been pay
ing is as much as any manufacturers in the
business can pay and compete with those
outside parties. G. II. III.