Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-12-22
INDUSTRIAL SITUATION.

Interviews With the Leading aHAnufae-
 turers of waterbury-Better Tlmea
 Are Expected With the New Year.
 Reports Received From All Parts of
 the state.
 A representative of the DEMOCRAT waited upon number of the leading man. ufacturers of the city to-day and made careful inquiry in regard to the industrial situation. He was courteously received, and most of those interviewed cheerfully gave the desired information.
 Treasurer Edward l.. Frisbie. Jr, of Ben edict X Burnhams said: "0ur pay roll this month is sixty per cent of what it was year ago this month, and 1t has been steadily gaining since the latter part of September, when it was less than fifty per cent of September 1892" Speaking of the immediate future Mir Frisbie said: ''we have had more business the past two weeks than at any time since the depres- sion commenced. Within that time we have taken back about thirty or forty of our old hands and this is more than we have taken in the same limit of time since We commenced laying them of. As far as can judge the indications of to-day point to better times after January. We are working eight hours a day and six days a week and shall continue to do so until we get back all our help. believing that it IS better to give all eight hours a day than run full time with reduced forces"
 "In some departments we are running eight hours day and six days a week. in others eight hours a day and five days a week. said representative of the Holmes, Booth X Haydens Co. Every depart ment is running with reduced forces. Our pay roll for this month is fifty or sixty per cent of what it was in the corresponding month last year. During the summer months it was less than this, say between forty and fifty per cent. It would be diffi- cult to say what changes may come with the new year, and we should prefer wait ing for few weeks before expressing our opinion on the subject. Generally things are dull about this time in the factories, repairs and such things necessitating the closing of shops for a few days"
 President Atwood, of the Plume < At wood Co, said 'We are running eight hours a day with greatly increased forces. Our pay roll for this month is about fifty or sixty per cent less than for the month of December of last year. I do not regard the outlook as encouraging. The more read and the more think the more firmly am convinced that betterment must come slowly. If congress would pass a vote as- suring us that the tariff would not be meddled with for two or three years, busi- ness would be all right in short time The outlook is gloomy"
 ''We are running eight hours a day and five days week" said Superintendent Lamb of the Farrell Foundry < Machine Co.," The number of men on our pay roll in December of last year was 300. The number of men on the pay roll to-day is POO. Revival will come slowly, but I dc not wish to discuss the subject lest youi readers should think was trying to make political hobby out of the present situa. ton of things. I wish times were so thai We could see our way to putting all oul | help at work. It would be much more | agreeable for us than to know that they are out of employment"
 George H. Gloves of Randolph S Gloves | said: Our pay roll is sixty per cent less than it was in this month a year ago About one-half of the help are at work The first six months of this year We did 6 larger business Tn pounds, dollars and | cents than in any six months since We en | gagged in business. This, however, was due to contracts made last year. Since the first of July our business has been gradually falling of from month to month Immediately after the passage of the bill | looking towards the repeal of the silver law. business became quite active and things in general were encouraging. The delay, however in passing the bill, and the long fight in the senate, brought a re- action in regard to increasing the volume of business and although the bill was ulti. mately passed by both houses, the long de- lay in bringing it about has simply knocked things into a cooked hat. I dc not look for better business until the tariff question is decided and settled. As soon as this is done merchants and manufactur- CTS will adapt themselves to the new order of things and If the bill passed be wise one it will prove itself by an increase of business throughout the country, and ulti- mately our factories will be running on full time, with their full complement of help. do not anticipate any duller times in the future than we have had for the past six months, and as merchants and manufacturers have during the past six or eight months been hquidating which has resulted in reduced stock, not only in the houses of the manufacturers, but on the shelves of the merchants, also any change must be for the better. All We want is a speedy action of congress in regard to the settlement of the tariff question. Although business has fallen off within the last half year, equal in volume only to one-half of the first six months of the year, yet the total business for the year in pounds. dollars and cents value, is greater than AIN eur SlnCe We commenced DQSlneSS, and double that of any year when under the management of Brown X Brother. " Mir Cloves said the factory would close about the 27th and then only for a few days, for inventory.
 At the Waterbury Brass company Treas urer Steele said: If our pay roll suffered in proportion to our business it would now be about one-half of what it was a year ago. do not think that business will be much better until the ttriff question is settled. Our new factory is now com pleted, one department of which, the wire mill, has already been started, and we ex- pect to start the large rolling mill after the first of January. if business warrants. We shall close Saturday night until Janu- ary for inventory" Mir Steele informed the reporter that the new rolling mill is the finest in America, and perhaps the largest and best equipped building of the kind in the world.
 Said Benjamin l.. Coe, secretary of the Steele X Johnson Manufacturing company: II do not look for much improvement at present. If the tariff question was settled one way or another We should know what to do. There is such an uncertainty as to how the bill will stand when it is passed that manufacturers and business men can not go ahead and do business on the same basis as they might if the bill was in oper- ation. When the bill is passed we can face it and govern ourselves accordingly. Our pay roll is about seventy per cent of what it was at this time last year. We are averaging about forty-eight hours a week.
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