Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-27
THE HEEIGHT-HOURLAW
Constant Danger the Excuse for Its
Violation. .
THE TRIAL OF CONTRACTOR KVAUGH
Old Government Printing Office
Designated as a Death Trap.
T E STIM ONY TO-DAY

Assistant District Attorney Mullowny. in
the Police Court, today presented to Judge
Miller for trial the case of Frank NJ. Nc
Waugh. against whom charge of violating
the eight-hour law was filed some days ago.
The case attracted a number of working
men to the court, a. it was the first case
under the law brought to the attention OF
the Police Court. Some time ago there was
case presented to the grand jury, but no
Indictment was returned.
AS heretofore published in The Star, Mr..
McVaugh has been in charge Of the iron
work on the government printing office an
mex, the original contract having been
awarded to the Phoenix Company of Phila-
delphia.
William H. Linthicum, one of the iron-
workers. and the man who made the orig
iral complaint, swore to the informat ton
against Mr.. McVaugh, which charges THAT
Frank NJ. McVaugh. being then and there
subcontractor of, and whose duty 1t was
to employ, direct and control the services
of certain laborers and mechanics upon a
certain public work of the United States, to
wit, the construction of an addition to The
government printing office, a public build
ing owned by the United States and located
and in course of construction in the Dis
trict of Columbia, did then and there unlaw-
fully require and permit William H. Lin
the said Frank NJ. McVaugh, and under the
direction and control of him, the said Frank
NJ. McVaugh. upon the said puolic work.
to work more than eight hours in a calen-
dar day of the 11th day of September, In
the year 1895, there being then and there
no extraordinary emergency requiring more
than eight hours work in the said calendar
day from the said William H. Linthicum by
the said Frank NJ. McVaugh.'
The Governments Side.
he bad received from Lieut.. John Stephen
Sewell. who is acting in the absence Of
Col. John NJ. Wilson. This letter. which
gives the governments side>of the case, is
SEPTEMBER 2G, 1895.
Hon. A. A. Birney, U. S. A. District At
Sir: In the absence of Col John NJ. Will
son, corps of engineers, U.S.A., commits
sioner of public buildings and grounds, I
lave the honor to invite your attention to
the following facts and circumstances: A
new fife-proof building Is In course OF cree.
ton at the government printing office. 1t
is under the supervision of Col Wilson.
and am responsible for all structural de-
tails, and have immediate supervision OF
the work of erection. My function is that
of resident engineer"
The building herein referred to has been
brought into notice in your Office through
the arrest of one Frank McVaugh, fore
man of erection for the Phoenix Iron Com
rany of Philadelphia, Pa, ON the charge Of
violating the statute known as the eight
hour law. Under the circumstances, l con-
sider 1t my duty to set forth certain facts
for your consideration.
When the appropriation for this build.
ing was made, and the work was assigned
to Col. Wilson, he at first determined to
execute it by contract, as is usual with
government work. But the joint committee
on public printing so urgently pressed the
necessity Of an early completion of tho
building that it was decided to eliminate
the delays incident to contract work and
erect the building by days labor, as far
as possible. Contracts were made for the
steel frame and for materials; dates OF
beginning and Of completion of various con-
tracts were SO fixed and determined that.
had all been on time, the building could
have been practically finished by the mid
die of the coming winter without necessi-
tating any work over eight hours per day.
But, owing to unforeseen contingencies.
the contract for the steel frame is seri-
ously delayed; the work is only fairly be-
gun, though the date fixed for the compile
ton Of the contract is long past Septem-
ber 16, 1855. If the steel contractors are
confined to eight hours per day. it will be
impossible to finish the fran. in time for
the United States to get the building fin
ished before freezing time; indeed, the de-
lay has become so serious that, even IL
the steel frame is completed at the earliest
practicable moment. the United States
will be compelled to work its own men
mere than eight hours day in order to
get the building covered in before freezing
weather; If such weather finds the build
ing open, all operations will have to stop
until the next building season opens. which
will not be until late in the spring. Under
these circumstances the building could not
be made ready for occupancy until the
latter part OF the summer Oh 1885, OF tne
early autumn.
Reasons for Haste.
Now, there are many reasons why the
building should be completed at the earliest
practicable moment. The first of these is
the consideration of the old buildings now
occupied by the printing office. notably tho
H street wing. This wing and the North
Capitol street wing are constructed Of
bricks and timber. The timber is dry and
old, but quite full Of grease from ink.
lubricating oil. etc. In my Judgment fire
in either of these wings would gut the
buildings with appalling rapdity, and the
loss of life would make the event almost
means remote
'Structurally, these two buildings, but
especially the H street wing, have many
defects The walls of the latter building are
entirely too light for SO large structure:
they are of very poor brick work. and there
is good reason to believe that the long-con-
t.nued vibrations from the machinery have
destroyed in a large measure the adhesion
between the bricks and mortar. The tim
ber lintels over the window openings have
shrunk, and caused ugly cracks to appear
in the walls; the lntels themselves are in
many cases affected with dry rot, and the
time will come when they will crush to
powder let down the brick work they sup
port, and with it portions Of the floors.
Liable to Collapse.
.sThe interior construction Is entirely unfit
to resist vibrations or horizontal forces Of
any sort. 1t resembles child's block
house. Against vertical forces the floors
on the whole have sufficient strength. under
the present loading, but their strength is
far from uniform, and loads that can be
carried safely in one spot would be danger