The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-08-28

The following letter was received yes.
terday morning by John II. Phillips,
president OF the local branch of the
Letter Carriers association, from Ma
tional President John NJ. Parsons:
Mr. John II. Phillips, Scranton, Pa.
Dear Sir and Brother: A very strong
committee from the building trades of
this city have appealed to the letter car
riers of New York, asking that your con,-
mittee at Scranton do whatever is pOssl-
BILE to prevent the arches being built by
non-union labor. Therefore, In behalf of
your associates here, l appeal to you to
stand by organized labor in your city in
the interest of fair play. This complaint
made against your committees action, If
not recthed, will cause serious trouble
among our men here, If not disrupt the
whole parade. ! am. advised by Mr..
Hammes of the Stone Cutters union,
that the building trades of your city will
not consider the question of expense I'm
having your work done by union men. In
view of these facts | hope you will act
at once and save our whole Organiza-
tion the disgrace which they will justly
deserve should any part of your work be
done by any but union men of their
trade without regard to afiiliation with
any national organization of labor.
in the principles of organization to take
any part in what has been provided by
those who have no use for us. Show TINS
letter to whoever you please, but act.
Fraternally,
John NJ. Parsons.
The above communication practically
explains itself and shows that there Is
n sentiment fermentinE among the New
York carriers against the work done on
the arches on Washington avenue by
nOn-union men and that they may re-
fuse to march under the arch near the
reviewing stand on Washington ave-
nue..
President Phillips, after due deliber-
alton. decided that the best course to
pursue would be to have a personal
conference with Mr.. Parsons and eX-
plain to him the committees position
in the premises. He accordingly left
the city late last evening for New
York. where he will confer with Mr..
Parsons today.
Before leaving. Mr.. Phillips spoke at
some length to a Tribune man and
thoroughly explained the trouble from
the standpoint of the general commit
tee and the letter carriers.
MIR. PHILLIPS STATEMENT.
He said, in part: THE letter car
riers of this city are as good union men
as can be found in the city. AS an in
| stance of this strong union feeling
among the carriers, we will not wear
uniform which has not the union
label upon il. While / sincerely regret
this unfortunate incident, yet l do not
see how the general committee or the
letter carriers themselves can be held
to blame.
"In the first place, the committee had
a certain sum to eXpend and they de-
sired to get the worth of their money,
Mr.. Richards, the electrician, put in
| the lowest bid and he was awarded the
! contract for the arch work. The main
| portion of this work being electrical,
the question of carpenter work was
| never given thought. Had l, myself,
! or any of the carriers on the commit
| tee thought of this matter we would
| most certainly have used our influence
to see that only union carpenters were
| employed. But the matter was over
! looked and can honestly be put down
as nothing short of an oversight.
When the committee discovered that
| Mr. Richards had sub-let the contract
| to Frank Meyer, of the Builders En-
| change they were, of course, power
| less to prevent it, as the contract with
| Richards was already signed. When
! the matter was agitated by the Car
! penters' union and the Central Labor
union it was decided by them to re-
! quest the general committee to have
| all future work done by union labor.
! This request has been received by the
committee and will he complied with.
! The work on the reviewing stand has
been let to a firm recognized by the
! carpenters as a fair" firm.
WILL. EXPLAIN TO PARSONS.
"I am warm personal friend of Mr.
| Parsons and I feel confident that when
| he learns both sides Of the matter he
| will understand that there has been
| no favor shown non-uniOn labor and
that the whole affair was due to an
oversight"
Copies of the letter We're also re-
| ceived by some of the labor leaders on
Saturday evening and were printed in
yesterdays papers, before Mr.. Phillips
| received the communication.
President Phillips took with him tC
of the Electricians union of this city
| stating that Contractor Richards has
always employed union electrician:
| and that he iavors union labor Ht
also has a letter from Mr. Richards
| to President Parsons i'm which the
| former states that at the time the
contract for the woodwork was award
ed that he was not aware that tn,
members Of the carpenters unions wer,
taking work themselves and that non,
Of them called on him tc bid on thu
work. lie further states that the worl