The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-12
The WORK BEGUN,
Commissary Stores
VIII Be Rigidly
Investigated.
SOIL STRIPPING CONTRACT.
Forty Miles ofNarrow Gauge
Railroad viii Have To
Be Built.
SOIL STRIPPING CONTRACT.

Clinton, July 11-Thomas Dawson
tate will begin his investigation into
the story told by Frank Decesare, to-
morrow. Mr.. Tate did some preliminary
work today. He is hopeful that he will
oe able TO lay quantity of material
before the Business Mems association
bearing directly upon the commissary
eFil. Inc ramifications of the system are
extensive and can only be exposed in
par5, but Mr.. Tate hopes to make his
report reasonably comprehensive.
The meeting of the association last
? might was exceedingly lively. OPPOSE
tlon to the investigation of the story
told by the laborers, through Decesare,
came from an unexpected quarter.
!. When Mr.. Tate read the incident to the
members, from a clipping cut from The
Spy, he said that in his opinion the case
demanded investigation
Joseph E. Harrity took the floor,
and strenuoGsly demanded that the
that the matter be laid upon the table.
He displayed the greatest anxiety to
nave the entire matter dropped. He said
that his reason for wishing the matter
tabled was that there was no truth in
J the story told by the laborers, that in
/ Festigation would be fruitless, and that
the thing might as well be dropped
then as any time
The argument between Mr.. Tate and
Mr.. Harrity waNed warmer as it pro-
ceeded, At one time t''o lie WAS all but
( passed. Mr.. Tate had related some per-
I fectly well known facts about the COM
1 missary system, as it is conducted on
I the reservoir, when Mr.. Harrity inter-
posed sharply:
so.'' -
Mr.. Tate responded as warmly, and
there is no telling to what point the
feeling might have been carried, if
others had not interposed with more
I pacific line Of thought.
P. F. Cannon, the real estate dealer,
and secretary of the Ancient Order of
Hibernians in the state, said he be-
1ieved the matter should be investigat-
ed. Other leading members of the asso-
citation gave the same opinion. Herman
Dietzman who was in the chair, APP
pointed Mr.. Tate committee to inves
tigate. Tie members passed a motion
giving him ample power, and now Mr..
Tate proposes to 60 at 1t in earnest.
Mr.. Harrity's position has astonished
all his friends. He is one of the most
conscientious men in Clinton, and
never takes a position, his friends. say,
ullltSS ne lHlIlkS 1t is ItSnl. 1uGiS 10
no subject before the laboring men Of
Clinton which touches them more
closely than the method of employing
labor in vogue under the government
of the metropolitan water board. 1t
has been bone of contention from the
beginning that citizens of Clinton have
no show to get work on the reservoir.
They are not willing to live in shan
ties, and buy pittanees of food from the
nTrx hnC Of nj m a
Consequently the contractors will not
employ them. The law under which
the work is done provides that prefer
@nce shall be given to citizens of Mas
sachusetts, and then to citizens of the
United States. 1t is VIGOROUSLY true
that preference is not given to citizens
of the commonwealth, nor to citizens of
the United States.
On the contrary, the larger number
of the employees are men who speak
nothing but the Italian language, who
are so ignorant that they are victims
Of the padrones and all but chattel
slaves. They cannot for the most part
get a job except through the padrone,
they are at his mercy, because the con-
tractor supports the padrone They
must buy their food where the shanty
boss wills, and at the shanty boss
price. While these things are true, it
is quite another matter to prove them
true, as a matter of positive evidence,
such as would be admitted in a court
of law. A contractor may discharge
man for thousand reasons. When the
real season is that the man has ex-
hibited free will to the extent of sleep
ing where he pleases, and buying his
food where he is, it is easy enough to
assign some other.
Now Mr.. Tate is one of the few men
in town who have fought the padrone
and demanded that the law be lived up
to from the first. He has urged his
case with so much zeal that the Bush
ness men have addressed petitions to
the water board, calling the attention
of the members to the law, and have
appealed to the board to see that the
law is lived up to.
1t has been hitherto supposed that
Mr.. Harrity is in full sympathy with
every effort to give the citizens of Mas
sachusetts and of Clinton chance to
work on the reservoir, and the mer-
chants of the town a chance at the
trade that should result from the pres
ence of so many laborers in the town.
His opposition to the investigation of
the Decesare story came like thumb
erbolt to his supporters. Mr.. Harrity is
credited with being the most popular
democrat in Clinton. His support
comes almost entirely from the work
ing people. ne mas always supported
their interests above every other mem
Der of the party.
Mr.. Tate said this afternoon:
IT do not feel like talking about the
events of last nights meeting. ] will
not admit that Mr.. Harrity was opposed
to motion to investigate the story
which / took from The Spy, to the eff
feet that Frank Decesare says that
three or four Italians were discharged
for refusing to buy supplies of the
shanty boss tsays it as Interpreter for
them, ! mean. ! will make my in
vestigation as exhaustive as possible"
Chief Bates has received a letter from
a woman who signs herself Mrs. ]. A.
Tattersall, Sherman, Tex" asking for
Information of her husband. She says