St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-02
GRANITE AND SOFT STONE.
Some Facts Relative to Each
From the Granite Cutters.


The granite cutters are not to be put
down by their rivals. the soft stone cut
tiers, in the controversy over the con-
struction of the new court house.
The granite cutters feel that the other
fellows have made needless reflections
upon the m, and being convinced that
they have been made to stand in an uu-
favorable light before the public, they
seek to set themselves right. Three of
the leading granite cutters, with this
object in view, called at the GLOBE
Office Yesterday, and made the following
statement of what they assert to be in
conference.-the facts:
1.-The soft stone cutters have been hit
ting US pretty hard in one way and an
other since this court house question
came up. We want to say few words
in reply. The soft stone cutters have
spoken of us almost as tramps. They
have talked about our not getting as
big wages as they do. They have said
that the granite cutters are mostly all
foreigners. Here are some figures OH
that. There are in the granite cutters
union in this city Seventy-Seven men.
There are fOrty-five men in the soft
stone cutters union. At least 80 per
cent of our men are citizens of this
country. Not over 40 per cent of their
number are citizens. They call us
tramps, very nearly. OF course we GO
where there is work for us to do. but
nearly all of us have families, and we
are anything but tramps.
''The soft stone cutters say that gran
lite won't stand fire-that it will fly
all to pieces when heated. If
granite won't stand fire, why is it put
into the foundations of the best fire
proof buildings? 1t is in the founda-
tons of the Guaranty Loan building,
the postoffice building and lots of
others. When builders haven't capital
enough to put up an all-granite build
lite. Would they Go that if granite were
not freproof, and leave their walls
without anything to stand upon when
| the granite falls to pieces in a fire?
| The idea is foolish. They have made
| great point about fine court house
| built of soft stone in Milwaukee. That
| building was built of inferior stone, in
which there were sand pockets, and
| the stone was condemned for its inferior
| quality. Now, some of the best build
| ings in the country are granite. For
example, there are the board of trade of
Chicago; the state, war and navy
department building, the public
library and the congressional lib
rary, now under construction, at
| Washington, the New York custom
| house and postoffice, the Boston postof-
| flee and custom house, the Philadelphia
| postoffice and custom house, the Boston
board of trade. court house and Equita-
BILE building. Those are only few of
| the granite buildings and we are proud
of them. The soft stone cutters have
made point of some of the granite
buildings being replaced by soft stone
| after the Boston fire. That was because
| the owners had too little money to re-
| build of granite. We want to remind
them, too, that the fire stopped at the
postoffice, granite building. The
| Minnesota state house was condemned
shortly after it was built. 1t was not
granite. The Austin. Tex, state house
had to be abandoned and rebuilt. 1t
was soft stone building. We want no
such mess left after us, and we never
have it, either.
1.-THE granite cutters of Minneapolis
want to play no freeze out game. We
don't want to build barbed wire fence
around the city. We make our scale so
that Minneapolis contractors can COM
| pete with outside contractors. The soft
stone contractors have trust in this city
in which all the work is divided up. But
| they can't go outside the city and figure
on contracts, because they can't afford
it. The more competition there is in
this business, as in any other, the better
for the city. The soft StonecutterS
howl about convict labor having been
used On the West hotel and the Boston
block. That was because the stone
cutters at that time were striking every
| day. and no contractor could get bonds
men. They were afraid of more strikes.
Our motto is live and let live,
and when the soft stone cutters say we
can't learn to cut soft stone, we say,
sThank God there is enough granite for
US to work on
"Now. if stone from Bedford, Ind, is
used in the new court house, IS per
cent Of the money paid for the work on
it will go outside of the city. as the
stone will be landed here ready dressed
except for little fitting. II granite is
used. IS per cent of the money paid for
the work will stay in Minneapolis, and
the other Is per cent will go to Orion
vile, inside the state. That is the diff
ference between the two. Moreover,
we want to say that many of our num-
Der have worked in all parts of the
country, and we never saw better gran
lite for building purposes than Orion
vile granite. Furthermore. the granite
cutters ask the privilege of the soft
stone cutters of stayi ng in the city until
after the exposition. We sign this as
granite cutters, not as taxpayers"
P. Fl. CoOGAN,
K. III. CoPLEY.
/ III