Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-05-29
G0SP0RT MAYNARD.
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE MATTER OF
WORK THERE.
Very Few Men Employsd-The Deserted
Appearance Of the Place-Enlist-
cd Een-Personal.
rcorrespOndsnce Of tho Richmond Dispatch.I

Correspondence Of tho Richmond Dispaich.l
NORFOLK, May %. 1883.
II isa mistake to suppose that much work
Is going on at this navy-yaTd. There has
been no work here for months op ship Of
tie navy aud hardly dozen sbip>csrpcuters
are nov in the YARD. No men have ever been
tfken IN 10 work properly on the new battle
ship Texas, for the moulds are Just being
laid and the plans are not all ready, and the
tools have not been sent here to be put up
for the work. Outside OF the bosses, clerks,
writers, and apprentices comparatively few
men are employed by the Government Ohe
new dry.dOck being In the hands OF con-
trsciors), or have been for a long time. AT
the New York yard they have new dry
dock building and work IA rushing ahead on
the new battle-ship Maine. and they have the
Chicago. Boston, and other ships, and twelve
or fifteen hundred men are said 10 be Tegu-
larry employed there.
The employment here OF bali that number
would be a godSeDd, and instead OF the
general discomfort among the many idle
workngmen OF Portsmouth, the barred
doors OF the workshops, and the uniaVors-
Bile criticism OF the daily visitors n the yard
on the deserted appearance OF the place
there would be cheerfuness aud enthusiasm
for the Administration, and the coming OF
Secretary OF the Navy here would be
hailed and rtioiced over as a hopeful sign OF
relief for the families OF mechanics who are
suffering to an extent because OF the long alb
sence Of employment. Under former Demo
cratic Administrations 900 and 1000 work
ipgmeu found regular employment In Cos
port nayy-yard.
Much Of the employment that the navy
yard wOrkmen formerly received IL now cut
off from them by the enlisted men on board
OF the war ships being compelled to repair
and put up rigging, mend sails, paint the
shin, scrape the mssts, spars, boats, &c. As
CONSEQUENCE the men who enlisted as sea-
men find the work aboard ship so laborious
and exacling that they refuse 10 stand the
hard usage and desertions from the navy ere
regular and numerous. am told that twenty
FIVE enlisted men have deserted from the
United states steamer Swatara, now In port,
since the 1st Of ApIil.
This morning the United States steamer
Swaisra went into the drY-dock 10 have her
bottom scraped and examined before pro-
ceeding 10 the South Atlantic station, where
she takes the place Of the United States
steamer Alliance as flagship. Her orders
were changed from the Pacific sitter her ar
rival in Hampton Roads. Several Of her OIL
GERS reside In Norfolk and Portsmouth.
The quarantine steamer Woodwork IS up
for coal and supplies for the Cape Charles
station. The officers state that large num-
Der OF vessels have been boarded, but 80 far
no serious sickness has been discovered.
Rev. DR.. j. J.. Burrows addressed the
Young Mems Christian ASSOCIATION yester-
day afternoon, and Rev. Mr.. Lloyd The Be
neyOlent and Protective Order OF Elks OF
Norfolk and Portsmouth al ST. Luke's church
last night.
The freshets are very high in the Meherrin
and BackwateT rivers, interfering with
trains on the Meherrin-V Valley railroad.
W. A. HuntoD. OF the COored Young
Mems Christian Association, OF this city,
has gone 10 Grand Rapids, Mich, TO attend
the annual General Secretaries Conference.
G.,