The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-05-11
and highly reputable jour

"A n
and highly reputable jour
nalst, for the Washington star pre-
sents many features of interest, some
of them not previously understood.
The public is aware that for several
weeks the organized labor in the build
ing trades in Chicago. to the number
of 10000 men. has been at lOggerheads
with the organized contractors. in
which period of deadlock it has been
estimated that lab& has lost $4,000, 900
in wages, to say nothing o. the gem
eral loss incident to a whole seasons
suspension of building operations in a
community as large as Chicago; but
there mas not been a clear understand
ing of all the points at issue.
Broadly speaking, there are, accord
ing to Mr. Whclpley, four parties to
this controversy, the workmen, the
contractors, supply men and the ciu-
zens. The workmcn are represented
by the Building Trades council, the
contractors by.the Building Contrac-
tors council. the supply men by an
other council and the citizens by indi-
vidual grievance against the others.
While it is true that some violence has
been done during the past eight
months of labor trouble the class of
men who are idle, says Mr.. Whelpley,
is the very best. The labOrer proper is
not involved. il is the carpenter, the
mason, the plumber anu the filter who
tl. IL
men are intelligent, fairly well educat-
ed and full of pluck and resource. They
are mostly of American. German or
Scandinavian parentage and do not in
clude the so-called dangerous or an
archistic element always present in a
big city like Chicago. In the past eight
months five men have been killed and
10 assaulted on account of labor diff
iicuties, but the stories of intimida-
ton are largely exaggerated. The war
has been and still is largely a question
of endurance.
The principal demands of the union,
upon which has hinged nearly every
strike or lock- out, have been: First,
that the union should have the right
to limit the amount of work to be done
in day; second. that the walking
| delegates of the union should have the
right to transfer a man from one Job
to another at will regardless of the
wishes of the employers; that is to say
they demanded the working system
which prevails in England whereby a
| steam filter can cut only a certain
number of threads for days work, or
a plumber make so many joints, NJ
matter how short time this may take
or how much more he could do for his
employer in the eight hours if he was
allowed to proceed the same idea hold
ing good in all the trades. The righ
to transfer workmen from one job tC
another implied the power of the walk
ing delegate to go on to a job at, say
3 o'clock in the afternoon and order q
man who was working on that job tC
pick up his tools and go to some othel
employer upon whose work the dele
gate desired to put more men. Thes,
demands were resisted by the contrac
tors and form the real basis of most Of
the trouble. The contractor on tn,
other hand, has a grievance agains
the supply men who have a successful
trust for the sale of all building mater
ial sold inside the city limits of Chi
cago. No contractor was allowed (,
use any material bought outside o
the city and prices were kept up abov
their natural level Materials wer
sold for use outside of Chicago cheape
than they could be bought for use in
side. The man who wanted bricks L
use in Elgin, Ill.,, could buy them 81
thousand cheaper in Chicago than h
could If they were to be used in tn
city The citizen who desires to pu
up building thus had a grievanc
against all concerned.
The workmen demand high wages
with control of their own time an
movements The contractor can Civ
no guarantee OF satisfaction; the SUP
ply trust charges him what it please
for his material. The result is that
is not only expensive to build, but, 4