The Labor enquirer., 1886-08-14

| W0T6 NJ 6cd, duuiIlOudi WOIk WAS lIQ
posed, and work which in the precedin,
ships had been done by sailors. AS
result exhaustion followed, and state
ment from eight of the men that the,
were physically unable to do some extr,
work demanded, led to their beini
triced up without food or water for eigh
hours and their arrest and subsection tc
vlndictive prosecution on their return tt
San Francisco.
| ATTEMPTED ARBITRATION.
While the rial was pending the fire
men requested to be allowed three more
men, and our Arbitration Committee en-
deavored to secure them.
The committee was purposely DELAYED
pending the conclusion of the trial. A
conviction would have resulted il tn,
request being granted, but it happened
otherwise, and as result it was denied
We, believing that it was unsafe for mer
to work for a company who prosecuted
men for be;ng made of the ordinary ma
terial of humanity instead of iron, and
for being subject to fatigue, ordered all
men under our Jurisdiction to leave
their employ till we could effect settle
ment. Their places have been filled by
Chinese, thirty-six being employed to
do what at first eighteen, then twenty
one G ucasians had done. The whole
subject of dispute would have entailed
an expense of but $135 per month for
each of two steamers and when it is
considered thai the company demanded
that each fireman should fire six fires,
when no other company In the world re-
quires more than four, and our demand
would have averaged four and one-half,
we ask if our demands were excessive
Our mechanics have refused to work on
their vessels, and they are now runni ng
them, one IN particular, out of repair
and unsafe, with crews who are incom-
petent and unused to seafaring life and
of a nationality who are proverbial for
their selfshness and uncont :olable ma :
ture in times of danger. We ask the
travelling public If it safe to trust your
lives and property in these steamers {?
What would be your fate in case of ship
wreck or ocean fire with these crews {?
Your duty ls clear in this instance not
to travel on them. The contest has but
just begun9 We ask careful perusal of
the foregoing statemen and challenge
refutation. We ask wageworkers to as
slst US. We do not desire to win for the
sake of winning. Our demands are sim
pie and reasonable-merely twelve coal
passers and twelve 6remen in the MAR
lposa" and Alameda" and we ask all to
refuse 10 patronlze company that re-
fuses to patronize and discriminates
against It's own race. Our men have
been injured and abused, and their
grievance Is the concern of all. We
wage this contest in the interest of hu.
manity and justice, and on the ground
that man has the right to exist without
unnecessary suffering and pain. and the
inalienable right to resist oppression.
FOR COMMON HUMANITY's SAKE.
AS stated before, as soon as the deter
mination of Spreckles that the men
should be driven to death in his hell
holes was known, and it was thoroughly
settled that the iremen could not do the
work required, the Federated Trades, in
the name of common humanity, inter-
fered Notwithstanding the other con-
tests for right which they had on hand
and whic! we're taxing their abilities to
a large extent, they understood that this
was case where honor, decency and
public sentiment compelled their inter-
ference.
The position was stated to the other
trades, and their men ordered out of all
of the vessels owned by creatures who
trampled upon every instinct of human
ity for tie purpose of petty gain. The
stewards, cooks, walters, sailors, deck
hands, fremen, water-tender5, coal-passi
ers and oilers, responded at once, and
left their labor to support the cause of
their fellows.
THE ENGINEERS.
The Marine Engineers associa ton was
the only recalcitrant; it alone refused
alone of all the workers preferred pal.
try dollar to Lrlnciple, preferred to re-
ceive the price Of their brothers blood
to the honor of having vindicated their
right to live. And This was the more
despicable, the more shameful, when one
considers the facts in the case. Tne en-
giLeers are perfectly organized, their
consent is absolutely necessary to the
running of the vessels, 1t IS lmpossl Bile
to procure scabs in their places. All
they had to do was simply to say that
they would strike if Justice were not
done, and the Spreckles firm must have
yielded. Further, previous to this trou
BILE of the fremen, less than a year ago,
the engineers were in trouble; there was
to be reduction of wages on one of
their ships, preparatory to general re-
duction. They came crying to the fire.
men and asked them to assist them.
The fremen unanimously decided to
sustain the engineers, and swore to leave
the ships with them. The owners we're
defeated and the engineers saved. And