Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-05
Six Ditchmen at New Post Office
Strike.
OMINOUS OUTLOOK FOR A TIME
The Danger Met and Work Goes
Merily On.
FIFTY-ONE MEN TO-DAY

If the Burst of Energy that has struck
the new post office building keeps up at it's
present rate The Stars calculation will
have to be hauled up on a dock for repairs
Today there are fifty-one men at work. and
at this rate the structure would be finished
along about election day, 1S9S. or four years
hence. But there is SO evidently something
wrong with this date. which Is too near to
be possibly true, that there must be a
structural weakness in the ratio that has
been established between the number of
men employed and the amount of work yet
to be done.
Fffty-One mt Work.
But there really were fifty-one men at
work today. so far as the counting reporter
could see. Just here it may as we'll be said
that this operation of counting the men.
which is conducted every morning as soon
as there Is light enough for the reporter
to see. is carried on under great difficulties
1t Is necessary to divide off the great
square into sections, triangulate 1t as it
were, and then to pass quickly from one
TO the other in order to prevent the escape
OF one man from his legitimate section to
one adjoining. 1t is to be hoped that ere
long the reporter will be so familiar with
the faces of the workmen-and 1t is not to
be doubted, for he has several years sure
before him-that he cannot possibly count a
man twice. That would be unjust to the
citizens. There was dreadful suspicion
crossed his mind this morning when the
totals of the sections began to loom up to
the half-hundred mark that possibly the
men had been sliding around him so clever
ly that perhaps he had duplicated some of
them There Is a vast amount of movement
just now at the post office and such a
thing Is really possible.
MyHtePfOus III Inn nnu~.r~u.a
There is sorrow at the site. The water
boy has disappeared. He was not on hand
today, SO far as the reporter could ascer-
tain. and he must confess that yesterday
his presence was sort of taken for grant
ed, for he was not actually visible when the
visitation was made. But there was no use
splitting hairs, and SO the boy was run in
But now the suspicion has become too ter
rfble to be longer smothered The boy has
gone. 1t may be that he has been abduct-
ed by the saloon interests. or he may have
been cut OF to reduce expenses At all
events there were piteous cries for water
10 De heard on all sides today. The men at
work in the rear of the building, where
the sun Is hottest, told the reporter as he
passed that they were very dry. One re-
marked that he had not seen the aqueous
Lad for two days. and he was getting
thirsty. Another thought he may have been
put to work painting the iron work in place
OF the unfortunate Quill, owing to his ten
But there Is clrcumstantial evidence that
the public has been befogged, in this con-
nection. 1t has come to the knowledge Of
The Star that representative of the con-
tractors has boasted that there was no wa
ter boy employed on the work. which Is a
sufficient cause for an Investigation by the
Humane Society.
Narrow Escape.
Nor is this the only woe that there is at
the works. There was a strike yesterday
afternoon. Six of the colored men digging
in the trench that is being cut around the
basement wall on the north side conceived
that they we're not getting enough of the
worlds wealth in return for their Drawn.
The market rate huctuates for this sort of
talent between a dollar and a dollar and a
quarter day. The men were being paid at
dollar. and they alleged and averred that
they were worth dollar and a quarter.
So they asked for a dollar and a quarter
and did not get il. Then they arose in
their might and walked out of the trench
For a time all was confusion on the site.
1t was piteouS to witness the distress that
prevailed. 1t was feared for a while that
the building would not be completed in time
for the next Columbian exposition that is to
be held in Washington. and there was much
tearing OF hair and rending of garments.
By extraordinary efforts, however, six men
were found in the city who were willing to
soil their hands and shoes for a dollar a
day. and they went bravely into the trench
and took up the abandoned picks and
shovels
The great strike was over and the country
was saved.
1t is not certain Just how long the strike
lasted. and SO the calculation for yesterday
cannot be said to be wholly reliable, for the
services of these six men bore an important
Tart In the estimate. The work that is be-
Ing done In the trench is very interesting
but unfortunately IT is all below ground and
SO 1t does not show to gladden. the eyes of
the passing citizens. The walls laid
bare to depth of about six feet, or until
the foundation stones are reached, and then
the main wall is pasted with cement to a
thickness of about two inches. This is next
covered by what Superintendent Steinmetz
the representative of the contractor here.
calls "four-inch retaining wall" This is
of brick The trench is still open from the
beginning, and some more things may be
put into 1t before it is closed. 1t is intended
to keep the cellar dry.
Glad Tidings.
There is a rumor that the first of the
schoorers bearing the stone for the second
story from Fox Island has been heard from
in the Potomac river, and may soon be ex-
pected at the wharves. This is glad It'd
inss. for it means that pretty soon some of
front JAthe structure will be hidden by the
walls. The men who have been told off to
handle the iron have been modified on the
north front, perhaps as a retaliatOry meas
ing from business sense, but scarcely
from an artistic point Of view The missing
columns for the northeast section have both
been found among a lot of other materials,
and nave been put in place, and the men
are today putting UP the rest of this struct-
ure with a refreshing agility.
WORD has drtfted down to the site from
the department that men have been started
at work on the plans for the next iron con-
tract This Is glad tidings. for 1t shows
that the ofhcials are at last realizing the
Importance of dallyins with Father Times
bangs. Perhaps the Burst of Energy has
spread even 10 the department and has af-
fected the officials. That would be glad
some, indeed. 1t is certain that IL there had
been a Burst of Energy when the present
iron contracts were awarded it would have
been given out in time to have had that
work all done by now.
But then there might have been a DELAY
with the stone, and so there would have
still been trouble.
Really, the affair is terribly complicated.
Many Thousand Days.
To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
Thanks for Information that thirty-eight
real men are at work on the post Office
covering O block. This gives one man to
how much space? Hope to hear from you
every day till the post Office is finished