Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-07
HIS HANDS ARE TIED.
Charles L. Davis Declares He Has
Nothing to Do With the
MEN EMPLOYED AT HIS THEATER.
His Contractors Hold Him to His Bonds,
and He Can't Cut Loose.
ALREADY THREATENED WITH SUITS

Charles L. Davis, calvin Joslyn," Is a
much worried man; so is his architect and
his contractor-and, in fact, so is every per-
son concerned In the erection of the Alvin
| Theater, on Sixth street. 1t is all owing to
the strike. Mr.. Davis is worried be-
cause he can't get his building erected
more rapidly; because he is charged with
being inimical to union men, whereas he has,
from the commencement, expressed his SYM
pathy and declared his preference for or
ganized workmen; aNd because he has al
ready been served with notice by Howe %
Hummel, the New York lawyers, acting on
behalf Of the managers of two companies,
that they will hold him to his contract to
play in his house during the month Of Sep
tember. W. E. Reed, the architect, is wor-
ried because everybody else is, and Douglas
Hickman, of r. G. Ballinger & Co., who
have the general contract, is very wroth be-
cause he is falsely accused of seeking to en-
ploy non-union workmen and because he will
be either sued or have to sue himself if he
does not get his work finished on date
He e'Has No Show to Dictate.
Was ever anything more preposterous,"
exclaimed Mr.. Davis yesterday afternoon,
as he glanced around his unfinished theater,
''than the accusation brought against me
that don't want to employ union Iaborl
Why, I have no more to do with employing
men on this building than the man in the
moon, and have as much to say as to who
shall or who shall not work here as the
policeman on the corner has. have de-
6ared at the start, and reiterate 1t now, that
I wish union men to get the preference
of all work on this job. But I
have nothing whatever to do with
their employment. In this matter I am
tied hand and foot Mr.. Hickman here"
indicating that gentleman who was by,
"has entered into bonds with me for the
fulflment of this contract, and I don't sup
pose he is prepared to allow me to interfere
with him. In fact, he has told me he will
not suffer me to depart from my agreement
with him under penalty of suit for dam
ages for breach thereof"
ST told Mr.. Davis" Mr.. Hickman inter-
posed, "that would not allow him to inter-
fere in any way with the progress of the
work, and in point of fact as long as we are
executing the work to the satisfaction of his
architect he has no business here at all We
want to employ union men, and none but
union men, and are working to-day with
none but men who are thoroughly union,
and when we failed to get men in Pittsburg
McCandless 8 Kinser, the sub-eontractors
for the brick work, brought on dozen men
belonging to the Bricklayers' Union in
Philadelphia, but they were stolen from Us
when they arrived.
Paying Nothing for Non-Union Men.
1.-THE strikers charge that we sought to
bring non-union men here, but that is false
hood We have not paid a cent toward
bringing any men to the town, and we don't
propose to. The Builders Exchange has
guaranteed to see us through this job, and
we lock- 70 that body to find us union men
to do the work They say they-esn do it,
want no other. We have 40 men
working here now, and they are
all Pittsburgers, excepting the foreman.
Of these 16 are boss brieklayers, and if a
master bricklayer employing union Journey
men is not counted in as a union man, 7
want to know who is. When the leaders Of
the men on strike came to me about this Job
I told them that if they would assume the
contracts and give bonds for the due per-
formance of the work would take the
job from the Builders Exchange and give it
to them"
srWhat did they say?"
'gThey said they couldn't furnish the
bonds, and so we continued to carry on the
work under the guarantee of the Exchange.
This is purely matter of business Mr..
Davis is bound to us and we to him, and
we expect he will hold US to our contract
Just as we propose to hold him to his. We
shall make every effort to get the work done
on time"
Between Satan and the Deep Sea.
"And meanwhile" said Mr.. Davis, '1ook
at the position am placed in. lam charged
with keeping union men out of the job and
employing scabs, when L have absolutely no
power one way or the other 1 come into
the town, buy a lot, put up theater at q
cost Of $50, 900, the savings Of lifetime,
which will give employment to 81 people
and benefit the city just so much, and yet
am blackguarded and spoken of as if had
perpetrated a crime. want union men to
do the work, and to do it at once, because if
I don't open on the 1st of September
I shall have to face suits for breaches of
contract with managers. I have already
been served with two notices by Howe g
Hummel that they will hold me to dates for
the first weeks in September. 1 consulted
my lawyers as to the possibility of taking
the contract away from BalGnger & Co.,
but they advised me that if I did / would
leave myself open to big suit for damages.
So what have to do?"
The Builders Exchange has pledged
itself to see that the Alvin theater is
erected on time, and the appearances are
that it will
Mr.. Swartz, of the Strike Committee, re-
ported yesterday that all the unions repre-
sented in the Carpenters Council had voted
On the question of continuing the strike.
Over 800 men, Mr.. Swartz says, voted, and
hey were all practically unanimous for con-
inuing it.