The morning call., 1894-08-02
NO OTHERS HAD THE CHANCE
Some Idea of the Money in the
Deal.
BEssELL's ORDERS NOT GIVEN UP
Postmaster Backus Thinks if He Did
SO 1t Would Be Regarded
as Bad Taste.

Fechheimer Bros. & Co. of Cincinnati,
who are being fattened into a monopoly
by Postmaster-General Bissell, have a
good thing The clothiers of San Francisco.
who have examined the uniforms fur
Dished by that firm to San Francisco
letter-carriers and figured on the cost of
production, say that there is good profit
in S14 80 a suit such a profit as any one
of the big firms here would be glad to
make under present conditions on he uni
forms for the San Francisco Office alone.
not to speak of the contract for the entire
service.
One representative Of a well-known
local firm goes further. Taking the con-
tract for the entire country, he states en-
phatcally that there is big money in S13
suit.
That being the case. and the present
prices asked for clothing in this city prove
it, somebody is getting left 1t isn't Fech
heimer Bros. & Co. of Cincinnati; and it
isn't Postmaster-General Bissell. 1t must
be the carriers who purchase the uniforms,
the clothiers in the various cities in the
country, and the journeymen tailOrs in
their employ who would be glad Of the
work and to whom it rightfully belongs.
lu6So dIO luO poOplo WIN BolGiuk lC4ts
and have a right to and are objecting to
the unusual methods being pursued by the
administration in this matter.
And there is no telling, either, how much
more than the difference between S13
suit and S14 95 charged by Fechheimer
Bros. s. Co. of Cincinnati that firm is
making. San Francisco merchants could
make q profit at the lesser figure manu-
featuring the goods in this city, where
there are no ''sweatshops." Should Feeh-
heimer Bros. & Co. of Cincinnati take ad-
vantage of the poverty everywhere around
them in the East, where the hOpelessly
poor and starving are compelled to stitch
and sweat their miserable lives out for
what the grinding manufacturers may
choose to pay, their profit would be more
There is probably nothing in the under
standing, or contract, or whatever it may
be the firm has with Postmaster-General
Bssell to prevent the hiring Of any class
of labor deemed fit.
Suppose they are doing this; what then?
1t follows as day does the night that the
Postmaster-General is demanding of the
letteI-carriers of the United States that
they shall aid in the perpetuation of the
most abominable and degrading system of
labor known to the world, where starving
refugees from Russia and Poland, glad to
get money enough to keep body and soul
together, work in overcrowded. fetid gar
rets. starving. filthy. fostering to their
graves.
1t is hardly possible that the letter
carriers of any community, much less
those of San Francisco could view such
ctafn Of foi 1r0la
cency. 1t is certain that they would resist.
if their attention was called to 1t, the
efforts of even the Postm aster- Gener al,
which open the way to it.
Ii the uniforms, then, low being fur
nished the letter carriers of the country
by Fechheimer Bros. & Co. are made in
Sweat Shops" there is no saying but
what half Of the S14 90 charged is profit,
mayhap more. Half Of S14 90, roughly, is
81 AZ. There will be made by the firm. If
the drumming of Postmaster General Bis
sell is not stopped. about $4,000 suits
year. This would be profit of S179,280
year. Pretty fair for one line of goods.
even for the largest kind of clothing
house-proft mind. not business.
Now. everybody is anxious to find out
just what influenced the Postmaster-Gen-
eral in taking such deep and abiding in
terest in the Cincinnati firm; what made
him order the carriers of the country to
get their uniforms from Fechhemer Bros.
& Co., and what made him follow up the
first order with a complaining telegram
and another complaining order? There
is no known explanation of it. Had he
been only desirOus Of beneftlng the let
ter carriers and of harmonizing the uni
forms, he would not have found it neces-
sarV to 60 about it as he has done. The
obvious method would have been for him
to have advertised for bids from clothiers
all over the country, asking their lowest
figures for their most satisfactory uniform.
When he got the lowest and best he might
have made a quasi-cOntract-he has power
to do no more-that his figure should rule
for every carrier in the service. His in
terest in the matter would have ended
there. 1t would then have become the
business of the manufacturer to have
notified the letter-carriers of the country
that he was prepared. indoIsed by the
Postmaster-General,t to make well-ftting,
durable uniforms at such and such 8 figure.
Nothing of the kind was done. No
San Francisco clothier ever received
notice of any such proposal for bids. None
was ever made. Fechheimer Bros. & Co.
had to enter into no competition. For
ONE reason best known to the Postmas-
ter-General and the firm they not only re-
ceived his Endorsement, but he used his
official position as lever on those under
him to draw trade for the firm of his
choice. He went further-he took the
matte of advertising into his hands and
Fechheimer Bros. & Co. received returns
without the expenditure of a dollar,
which otherwise would have cost them
thousands. The Government paid the
bills.
The orders and the telegram, the first