The San Francisco call., 1898-06-19
Claim That They Are
 Being Held Up.
FIGHT CREMATORY CHARGES
STEPS TO HAVE AN ALLEGED
 WRONG RIGHTED.
The Owners of the Reduction Works Assert That They Are Right, and Both Prepare for
 Litigation.

string of garbage wagons extend Ing for the distance of a mile gave the impression that yesterday was a very busy day with the Reduction Works on Eighth street, but the real reason for the blockade was trouble between he Scavengers' Union and the proprie- tors of the Crematory. The former claimed that they were being charged too much for the privilege of dumping their loads at the works, and the latter asserted that the garbage gatherers were bringing In loads of garbage which had been stamped down until the wagon contained double the amount called for by it's survey The differ ence of opinion, which has been in evil dence for some time, reached a climax yesterday, and while each of the par ties to the controversy was getting ev- idence for future litigation the string of wagons was held in a blockade. spreading their disagreeable odors throughout the Mission marshes.
 The Scavengers' Union has contended for long while that the Reduction Works have been holding the garbage men up and yesterday a concerted ac-
 
 be remedied. It is the claim of the union that there is a scale on each wagon, placed there by the county sur Veyor, which indicates the number of cubic yards the wagon contains The Reduction Works people have been dis regarding this scale and have charged as high as double the amount the wagon was supposed to contain The union demonstrated with the crema- tory people about the injustice of the thing, but receiving no satisfaction re- solved to bring matters to a head. Yesterday morning, early, representa- tives of the union were on hand and as each wagon came up to the crema- tory it's number and the amount of gar bage indicated by the scale was taken. When the wagon had been dumped the driver reported to the union members the price he had been charged by the Reduction Works people. A record of each wagon was kept throughout the day and the claim of the scavengers is that, on an average, each wagon was charged for two-thirds more garbage than the scale indicated it to contain.
 L. R. Ellert, the president of the com pany, learned of the plan and in order to have some figures of his own began to measure the contents of each wagon as 1t came in. This took time and hy noon the wagons extended for a dis tance of six blocks and the line kept Increasing in length until it was a mile long, MT. Ellert in his statement agrees to certain extent with the gar bage men. He admits that he will not take the measurements as indicated bv the scales on the wagons, as he claims they are incorrect and in no sense of the word official. His figures taken yesterday agree with those of the un- ion men in that the ratio of increase over the scale indication Is about two thirds.
 We have given them the best of if right through" said MT. Ellert, but they are aly. avs dissatisfied and are constantly disgruntled about something. The charge is 20 cents a cubic yard for dumping the garbage and is a great deal cheaper than they could do 1t be- fore we built the works. We don't measure the wagons as general rule. but as we have had eight months ex perience in estimating the amount a wagon contains we are very nearly ac curate in our judgment. When we found that the union was taking figures yesterday we also began to keep a record. The man at the gate would es- timate the amount in each wagon and then when it was dumped 1t would be measured in box we have for the pur-