Morning journal and courier., 1890-05-21
rnE mAsors, STRIKE.

Talk Among the Mason Builders
 ana Among she JouRneymen -
 The Situation as Present.Hew the !
 Case is Regarded from she DiRerent sSsandpoinss.
 The masons' strike still continues with unabated vigor on both aides. The boss masons are strenuously holding out against xecedinR to forty-6ve cents an hour, main- taining that their oompromiss offer of forty- three was fair and equitable. While regret4f ting the strike and suffering much inconveni- encs from the delay to their business and their contracts, they hold that they can yield no further without permanent detrimsnt and injury to their business interests. They hold, however, that it was mutually agreed be- tween the Master Nasons' association and the Bricklayers and Plasterers' union that notice of demand for an increase of wages should be given the master mssons prior to Febru- sry 1, and that contrary to the agree. mens, notice was not received until March II. They maintain that in view of this state of the case their offer of forty. three cents was magnanimous and as much as could reasonably be asked. The Master Masons' association is sub organization of the Master Builders exchange, and with the masons stand the building trades and, to some extent. the material men. The latter have been to some extent furnishing the supplies to the master masons who are not in the strike, and who are paying the forty.fvs cents an hour, but the Master Masons' asso- ciation is casting the weight of its powerful influence in the ecale in this matter. The results SO far of the late developments con- neoted with the strike have, as far as the builders exchange is concerned, strengthened hak nr0 ayfv and aCtad aa fr, brace up some who were weak members or indifferent or arathetio. "One difficulty met with in this strike and in all strikes" said Mystic builder yesterday, ''is the i'm possibility of trades union fixing uniform price for day labor that shall not work an injustice to the employer. It Is well- known to every employer in whatever trade or avocation, that some of their workmen are worth more than others. One man may be we'll worth four dollars . day, while an other is not worth three dollars. One man may, by his superior alertness or capacity for turning off work, do thirty per cent. more work in day than another man who, per- haps, works by his side, yet the union fixes an ine1orsble price, paying s.s the swift work
 s msn the us same % pay. This is mani
 fsstly unjust and inequitable. All men who
 follow certain trade can never, in the na-
 ture of things, be equally expert at it, and
 until they are will never be worth the same
 pay. This ia illustrated in the carpenters trade right here in this city. David H. Brown and Hubbell, Merwin & Co. and other prominent firms pay some of their men | $3 a day; others they pay the regulation price, @ 70 day of nine hours. But the subject needs no illustration. It is patent to all that some people work faster and quicker | than others and % earn more pay than oth-
 CTS. A fixed rate for general use is, of course, necessary and we believe that the
 employment of union men, where the union | is properly managed, Ia the best for all con- cefned."
 The journeyman masons were much disap' pointed ct the failure of the master masons | to come to their terms Monday night. They l had strong hopes that the matter would be
 settled by the conference of that night. Now l they say they are in the fight to stay and will not yield except through the direst
 necessity. They claim that forty-6ve cents an hour, or $2S week, is not at all an s1- orbitant figure, for the reason that they lose l so much time in the course of a year. "Ful- | ly one-third of the year," said mason last night, "we are out of employment, so that the average pay at forty-fys cents an hour Look at the number of freezing cold days, snowy days and rainy days that wo have in a | year in which VIC cannot work. Our family expenses go on just tho same. We don't pan out at the end of the year more than $225 or $2.50 day even when it
 has been good year for bus-
 iness. Some years when business is poor we don't pan out more than q. 75 or 8 day on | the average, and if we lose time by sickness | then we are so much more out of pocket. | But we are talking of actual work and actual working time. We don't know how long this strike is to continue, but we do know that lots of our masons are leaving the city,
 having gone to work elsewhere. Twelve of
 our New Haven masons are working now on
 the Brooklyn sewer and getting $5 day.
 They leave here Monday morning and come
 back Saturday night, and mako $80 a week,
 less two oar fares on the Con.
 solidated road and few cents for
 transportation to and from Brooklyn. Major
 Msher ot this city Is paying his masons the | full price, forty-fve cents an hour, end Car michael and Coffee are doing the same. Car michael is building places on Mansfield street and has job in Newhallville and one on the Hill. Coffee Is building the new
 house on Chapel street opposite the Demaresl
 carriage factory and another on Wallace
 street near its junction with State street.
 We will be all broke up and scattered, hsw.
 ever, If the strike continues Q few weeks | lop0er.n