The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1897-05-29
HOSTILE SPANIARDS
Preferred by the Norttefc Steam
ship Company to Competent
American Citizens.
Jim Hills He'll HOleS-UniOn rien
Slandered Because NOn.PrO-
feSSiOnaIs Can't Stand
Heat.


"The steamer Northern King of
the Northern Steamship company
cleared this port Friday night with
freight and passengers for Duluth. :
The passengers are Spaniards from
Spain and Cuba and will fill "a po-
sitions on the North West and
North Land, and will offciate in the
capacity of fremen. These men, it
is alleged, are not citizens of the
United States, and, therefore, have
no legal right to be employed on
these vessels by contract"
In connection with the above
quotation from the Buffalo Times
of recent date, there are two ques-
tions. Why this discrimination
against American firemen'? and
Where are the officials whose duty
it is 10 enforce the alien contract
labor laws? sz,. IL.
In regard to the latter subject,
the Times says that it was asserted
by man connected with the
stea 4 ship company, that these
men were brought from foreign re-
gions because they are better quail
fled for the work, better able to
stand the heat and more docile in
disposition. And when asked
about the ability of American fire..
men he said:
:"They are a quarelsome lot, and
will never stay on board ship,
over two days. We had constant
trouble with them last year and we
decided to abate the nuisance this
season. They would get aboard Al
boat and work awhile and then all
of sudden demand pay for their
labor, get money, go ashore, be-
come intoxicated and fail to return;s
or if they did, be unaLl lie to work for
several days. s .s.:3 SIS.
I,.s connection with the Tim E s.
clipping from which these quota
tions are extracted, we are in re-
ceipt of a. communication from
Michael Casey, secretary of the
Buffalo Marine Firemen's Benevo-
lent Association, in which he says,
in reply to the charges against
American fremen:
"These statements are great false
hoods, as the great majority of
lake firemen who sail from Buffalo
fit out steamer in the spring, stay
all season and lay up the same
boat in the fall. These are certified
facts, which can easily be verified
by corresponding with any of the
lake lines that belong to this port.
The trouble with the North West
and North Land has been that they
have hired no regular marine fremen for
the past two seasons. They have
shipped anything that looked like
a man, with the consequence that
their employees could not stand the
hard work attached to marine
fireman's lot, and jumped off at the.
first opportunity. Then the blame
was thrown on the, regular marine
firemen who follow the lakes for a.
livelihood
Why, then, are foreigners inn
ported to do this work? Let the
Northern Steamship company.
make further answer through the
representative above referred to, as
further quoted by the Times:
They can endure more than our
lake firemen, because they are
many days out on the sea, and can,
fire the largest boiler ever put in a
vessel. They are accustomed to.
tropical climates and can stand the
heat better than our men,"
One doesn't need to have been
long familiar with the Spanish
character to know that the state
ments above are untrue. It is con-
trary to the experience of every
man who has had opportunity to
compare the two races in any
quarter of the globe. While the
upper classes are hot headed, these
men, if from sufficiently low So
cial grade, will stand the abuse to
which the Northern boats subject
their employees. And this together
with the meagre wages they will
work for, is their desirable qualifi-
cation; for that they are more COM
petent or possess more endurance
is out of the question.
On the other hand Mr.. Casey
says: "The marine fremen of the
lakes, that is, the men who are fire.
men, can stand as much heat ae
any other living man." He says
furt1 the Labor World