Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-01-08


claufe as to the employment of home labor
by the Company and contractors, this
amendment being offered in the interests Of
the Committee of the Ohio Valley Trades
and Labor Assembly.
The ordinance will probably come mp
again this evening, in Council, for final
action.
-.
WHEELING, January 8, 1889.
DIR. r. W. Hazldt, Chairman Special Com
matee Chamber of Commerce, Wheeling,
w. Va:
lCopyl
SIR:-The ordinance substantially as APP
proved by your committee and the KALI
road Committee of the City Council, unani'
mously passed Second Branch with an
amendment az TO local labor, AID that
amendment was stricken out last night IN
Fist Branch and another substituted,
which You will find written in its proper
Mace in the printed ordinance, which l
have the honor 20 enclose here with.
The amendment, inserted as it is, leaves
the sense somewhat obscure, yet 1t seems
too seriously Objectionable to leave 1t sale
for us to attempt further progress until
our status ia settled. Under skilful and
unfriendly manipulation it may indefinite
" delay and increase the cost Of construc-
tion, contingency TO which we feel we do
not deserve to be exposed.
We believe no company has shown dis
position to treat the public more openly
and fairly than we, and We kpow Of no
company proposing to occupy so small
portion of public property than we, whose
operations are so limited and hedged as
ours will be by ths proposed and existing
ordinance.
We ebeerfully accepted former condi-
tions, many of which were sue gested by us
in our original draft of the ordinance, be-
cause they seemed fair and such as the pub
lie. 10 its own Interests, ehOuld demand
from railroads asking right to use public
grounds.
But here is an amendment involving we
know not what, putting us at the mercy
Of we know not whom, and threatening
forfeitures We know not how far reaching,
nor when, nor whence they will come.
IL introduces to the contract between
the City and the Company new element,
which 10 no way relates to public property
or grants; and which was not in the former
ordnance under the faith CT which the
work was begun and is progressing, and 1t
is improbable tha6 this company will risk
its entire future under any such grant.
Idonb. whether any company anywhere,
has been exposed to or has assumed such
hGmperiDg conditions and forieitures.
We desire and aim to favor home labor
The correspondence between the Secretary
of the Labor Assembly and mytelf was, on
my part, in good faith, and there it should
rest as sufficiently binding upon us all,
leaving this Company both power and in
clinstion TO Carly on the work snd favor
honest home labor.
No committee or man has given this
company the name or instance of any
worthy or unworthy man having been re-
fused CT discharged from work, while /
have bt en advised that hundreds have been
employed who in a few hours ceased work
becau.e they disliked or were unaccus-
toned TO such work, and not because Of
inadequate pay.
The amendment would be extremely in
iurioul il not ruinous to the enterprise,
and it is not calculated to aid the best and
most respectable labor element in the
least, but will operate to irjure 1t aud pat
on equal terms with honest labor every
Lazy, shiftless and irresponsible party who
NAV present himself. To say that home
labor and none other shall be employed
when the same can be had, ia to
say tina. the company shall conine
itsslf exclusively to Wheeling labor,
without regard to its quality
Was there ever time when alleged labor
did not ostensibly offer itself on all our
street corners? So long as such labor could
reach foreman al the work and buster
iDgly demand employment, 80 long would
the contractors be obliged under his
amendment, if it has any force, to delay
the assistance Of competent labor from
other quarters. And il is patent to sll that
il would be easier to remove mountains and
cast them into the sea, than to excsvaie
our tunntls, build our bridge and do
much other work with only the unem-
ploye cd men in Wheeling. Ii would be
as reasonable to invite the proprietOrs Of
a watch factory to establish them
selves here and after building was half
done pass On ordinance forb'dding them,
under penslties and forfeitures, from en-
ploying any bat Wheeling labor, Would
q company be induced to come or remain
under such conditions?
When labor strikes, what becomes Of the
ruling rate, and when, by whom and how
often shall the quantity and quality of
work aud the rate be fixed
If we are permitted to proceed it is as
sumed that some fifteen hundred men will
be employed on this work this seasOn in
this city and Martins Ferry. Under the
proposed ordinance inDumerable methods
may be adopted to make a case, to crafty
a restless spirit or csptious within, under
which the relation between the city and
company may be disturbed and both ex-
posed to litigation.
Suppose squad of alleged Wheeling
men appear and demand work, resulting
in dischsrging others and employing them;
in few hours or days they quit, the 9th
ers are gone; in a day or two the same
squad or others apply again to the fame or
other foreman, aud so on indefinitely, with
like and repeated results. Under such
state OF things time and money could not
be found to complete the work, and l
doubt whether the records of all the efforts
made TO push unqualified labor to the
front will disclose anything more unrea-
sonable than this; and under all this for
eign capital is asked 10 assume all risks,
the city none.
What company would undertake the
work thus encumberedP
If this amendment is the crystslizsd
public sentiment of this community, it is
better to know it now than incur much
more risk.
Ii seems due TO your committee and to
the honorable body you represent, to thus
advise you Of the situation, because you
have given earnest consideration to the Or
dinance as it was presented to Council,
and the Chamber of Commerce has taken a
deep interest in this enterprise from the
beginning, and the present exigency is one
Of serious public concern.
Very respectfully,
K. II. COCHRAN,
Pres't W. & II Ry. Co.
This letter, upon reaching the Commit
tee of the Chamber of Commerce, brought
forth the following self-txplanstoIy reply