The San Francisco call., 1896-08-25
The Pacific Coast Union Secre.
tary Denies the State
ment.
NO STRIKE IN AMERICAN PORTS
Mr.. Furuseth Claims That the Move.
ment Will Surely Take Place
in Europe.

A telegraphic dispatch yesterday morn
Ing from New York stated that prepara-
tlons had been made for strike OF seamen
and longshoremen all over the world for
better wages and better treatment in deep
water ships. 1t was also stated that An
drew Furuseth, secretary of the Pacific
Coast Seamen's Union, had been in con-
sultation with the secretaries OF the
Atlantic and European seamen's and
longshoremen's unions, and universal
strike the first of next year was agreed
upon.
Mr.. Furuseth, when interviewed yester-
day by CALL reporter, stated that the
dispatches were incorrect as far as the
United States was concerned, but great
movement of that character was contem-
plated in Great Britain and in Continental
maritime countries.
mot that Jack is any better off or more
satisfied with his lot in this country" said
tho secretary, ''but there are other things
to be attempted first before the men of
American ships join universal strike.
we are trying legislation, and l think
much will be done in Congress for the
sailor, and his condition made less unbear-
able"
Are european seamen worse rreated?'
was asked Mr.. Furuseth.
mo; but American vessels have the
monopoly OF Delaying pin soup, boot
heel stew and handspike liniment for
bruises. The British and Continental
ships overwork and starve their crews,
but they do not club them to death
with the frequency of the Yankee ship.
In regard to the robbing of sailors
by captains, crimps, boarding m asters anu
shipping asters, the crime goes on just
the same in every port on earth. In the
knocked out the advance system, but they
manage to get around the poor sailor all
the same"
Should the movement in Europe be
successful will it not spread to this coun-
try?"
general strike here. You see there are
so few American ships compared TO the
great fleets OF Great Britain and the Conti-
nent Every English. German or French
vessel is manned by natives, and they sail
IN and out OF the same port for years
They belong TO their home unions and gen.
orally keep up their membership with the
institution. On the other hahd, every
body sails in our ships, and in such cos
mopnlitan crowd there can be no union
nor agreement. | refer to the deep
water people, not the coasters. If
the bucko American first mate
could be suppressed and some Of the
crimps choked out of existence so that the
sailor could have a fighting chance for
life more Americans would go to sea, and
then We would have different class of
men aboard our vessels.
"a sailor strike under any conditions is
safe proposition, because if it succeeds
Jacks chances are little improved, and
If 1t fails he can't be any worse off. He
won't be robbed any more ashore nor
abused any more at sea for his blunders.
Well, universal strike is not far out of
the bounds of possibility. The sailor is
par taking of the advancement of the ages
and, notwithstanding his hard, brutaliz-
ing and unfavorable surroundings, he is
gaining little knowledge and beginning
to contrast his wretched life with the
better conditions of other toilers. The
crushed worm is commencing to turn. A
great strike would tie many ship up
at the dock or at her anchor. Ship-own-
ers might man their vessels with coolies
and creatures low down in the scale of
humanity. They do it now when the
sailor proper asks for living wages; but
what ii the longshoremen all over the
globe would strike? Take Liverpool,
where the great merchant fleets go in
and out. Suppose the dock people there
should refuse to touch pound of cargo.
Such may soon be the case there, for the
British seamen are coming 10 that point.
Their principal grievance is the system
OF robbery practiced by the shipping COM
missioners and English Consuls on the
Continent, by whom thousands and thou
sands of English seamen are worked out
of their vessels annually that cheaper men
may be shipped in their places. In the
Seamen's Chronicle, the principal mari
ners journal published in Great Britain.
L recently saw the statement that Ant
werp has three shipping masters who
make from f3000 to $4,000 yearly apiece in
fees. At Rotterdam there are four who
earn the same. In Hamburg there are
two shipping-masters who charge from 10
shilllngs to fl each for shipping man in
an English vessel. and as 10000 sailors are
engaged IN that port yearly 1T is left Tor
the reader to calculate how enormous are
the sums squeezed out OF poor Jack. The
same journal openly accuses the English
Consuls on the Continent of assisting IN
the plundering of their countrymen.
"The result is that the unions are grow
ing IN membership every day, and the day
may not be far distant when an inter
national union of seamen will be in ex-
lStence and in activity all over the world.
The deep-Water sailor in Great Britain
must have more than $14 per month as
wages for his hard and dangerous calling,
anu MS uIoluer IN America must nave
more than SIT 90. Legislation must step
IN and protect him from the banditti of
the water front or the fleets of the world
Will rust at their anchors.
How did this all come about? Once
men from all classes went to sea. 1t was an
honorable calling. 1t was so regarded by
men ashore, and boys sought 1t as means
OF adventure or travel and of promotion
sought 1t and were proud of it. The laws
that governed the seamen sat lightly on
them; the harsh features of the law were
seldom called into execution and existed
more In tradition than in reality. The
crew and officers hailed from the same
town or village, and, being equal at home,
there was discipline without cruelty and
obedience without fear. As the profits
grew smaller through competition it was
found that the existing law lent itself
easily to lowering the standard of living,
and to extract from the sailor the largest
portion OF his wages as he had contracted
Tor, either by compelling him to become
deserter or by overcharges on goods
needed by the men and kept by thrifty
masters for sale on board. AS natives OBJ
lected and refused to accept the lower
standard, the crimping system camo into
operation. Some obliging lodging or
boarding-house keeper undertook to fur
nish men for outgoing vessels on condi-