The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-14
ALL QUIET ALONG THE LEVEE.


stevedores that II we should send our
committee 10 his house he would dictate
the terms under which We should go back
TO work 50 contemptuous a reply We re-
sented, and then we determined that we
should enter the field against the steve
dores as rivals for the business of load
ing vessels at this port and we made our
offer direct TO the steamship agents II
has been repeatedly charged in the public
press by commercial bodies and by ship
agents that the heavy charges at this port
were driving commerce away. and that
the screwmen were largely responsible
for these excessive charges. Being con-
WINGED to the contrary. our proposition
was made to the ship owners in contem-
platiOn of doing away with the middle
mantle stevedOTe-tO a certain extent,
knowing, as we did. that the salaries of
stevedores helped to make the charges eN-
cessive. Since that proposition was made
We have loaded ships and made some
contracts. but we have found very stub
born resistance to our plan in the ship
agents who have insisted on the employ
ment of stevedores.
"And what is the reason for that?
Simply that the stevedores pay rebate
to the ship agents which the agents
would not enjoy if they were TO accept
our proposition.
1T IL currently reported on the streets
that the ship agents have been willing
TO give work to the white scrcwmen, but
the white screwmen have declined TO
consent to the employment Of stevedores.
The proposition made to us is 10 take
sub-contracts from the stevedores and
that we have emphatically declined to
accede to. for the reason that we would
be the losers and the stevedores the
gamers. and the object we had i'm reducing
out charges. that is. of reducing the port
charges, would be defeated. Under such
a plan the stevedores would still continue
to charge as much, or pretty nearly as
much as they are now charging for the
performance of duties that are tax
on the commerce of the city The steve
dores have simply been in business to
profit by the labor of the screwmen. Their
work is chiefly confined to getting key
berths for their ships. Key berths means
berths next to the wharf, which have the
effect of reducing the expenses Of the
! stevedores somewhat in loading vessels.
1t happens frequently that stevedore
is not seen one entire hour aboard
ship that he is loading. His presence is
| unnecessary.
would you be willing to make contracts
with the ship agents for loading at 35c
and consent to a stevedore overseeing the
work." was asked
I'VE should prefer not to have steve
| dores oversee our work. but we are dis
! tinctly willing to have the ship agents ap-
I point a representative 10 ONtfStt-lOA 10
| interfere with our work. The agents may
send any expert they choose to superin-
tend the work. provided they pay such ex-
| pert service out of their own pocket. And
when we say that we protest against steve
dores, do not mean to convey the impress
! sion that such objection is vital. We
should be willing to waive it, If we get di-
rect contracts with the ship agents or ship
owners or ship masters. SO far as our
work is concerned. we are prepared to give
| solvent bond for it's faithful and satisfac-
| tory performance, and we are willing to
make yearly contracts. No laborers can
! perform the work of loading cotton in a
manner superior to that of the men in the
/ White Screwmens Association.
"Since our proposition, we have loaded,
or are loading. the Rose Alegrade, the
/ schooner Henry Lawrence, the Marimar,
! the SlIabar the Geroni, the Hos and the
Heinrich. The contracts for some Of
! these ships were made with the masters,
through Knoop, Frerichs g. Co. Here is a
certificate from the captain of the ship
Marimar, testifying to the character OF
the work"
The certificate read: This is to certify
that the Screwmens Benevolent Asso-
citation has slowed 1864 bales of cotton
on board the Marimar to my entire salts
faction"
I'VE have similar certificates from other
masters"
Have you made a direct proposition
to the owners of the vessels?'
Eyes, sir. We cabled last night to the
leading ship owners in Shields. Liverpool
and London, making explicit offers to do
the work of cotton loading at 35 cents on
contracts with bond for satisfactory work.
We are hopeful of getting replies shortly
to our kilograms"
why have you made so large a cut in
your rates?"
Because we did not want to have to
make second cut. When we made the
cut we realized that we were going into
a bitter fight, because of the stevedores
opposition, and we determined to make
our rate so low that it could not be
met"
''And is there profit in it?"
"At 50 cents, doing the work ourselves
we can pay our men between IS and st
a day, have a surplus for the replac-
ing of broken tools take care of our
sick, our widows and orphans and be-
sides declare dividends"
How many men are there in the white
organization
I'm round figures there are a thous-
and"
And are they sufficient TO do the work?'
Yes. by proper distribution of the men,
which is not done now under the steve
dores. 1t frequently happens that there
are men getting in each others way now
on some ships, and not enough to do the
work on others. We should avoid all
such hindrances to rapid work. And be-
sides that, we should be willing to work
seven days, in seasons when there is a
rush. without any extra charge to the
ship agents, our contracts standing at 81
cents. 1t is. not our purpose in this to
| shut out negro labor. There are con-
siderable number of skilled negro screw
men, and in carrying out our contracts
we should employ them. But we will not
undertake to employ men incompetent to
| do the work. We believe that when these
facts are properly placed before the ship
owners and submitted to the public, the
conclusion will be inevitable that our
proposition affords no ground whatever
for opposition