Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-07
Labor Situation in Windy City Has
National Significance.
POLITICAL PHASE OF THE SITUATION
Prediction That a Settlement Will
Be Effected Soon.
THE LOSSES INVOL WE'D

CHICAGO, May 8, 1900.
The labor situation in this city is Of ma
tiona1 interest. 1t is complex, far-reaching
in it's effects and involves certain princi-
Piles over which controversy has ragged from
the time labor and capital first organized
to resist the imposition of one upon the
other. There are today in Chicago 10000
skilled workmen who are idle as a conse-
quence of the present difficulty, which is a
combination of strike and lockout. In hard
ly an instance is there a question of wages
at issue. 1t is estimated that the average
daily wage of these men, were they at
work, would be at least So. Men who are
idle are those concerned with the building
trades and as result of their refusing to
work less than half million dollars worth
of building is now in progress, and that
under police protection, while, on the other
hand between fifty and sixty million dol
lars worth has been suspended. 1t is now
too late In the season to commence large
buildings. so there can be no resumption
of operation until next spring, even if an
agreement was reached by the interests at
war This means great hardship for many
people next winter, and in this question is
involved the living of perhaps 2,o09 families.
Broadly speaking, there four parties
to this controversy, the workmen the con-
tractors, supply men and the citizens. The
workmen are represented by the Building
Trades Council, the contractors by the
Building Contractors Council, the supply
men by another council and the citizens by
individual 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 who
idle is the very best. The laborer proper is
not involved, it is the carpenter, the ma
son. the plumber and the filter who are
waging the war. AS a rule these men are
intelligent. fairly well educated and full of
pluck and resource. They are mostly of
American. German Scandinavian parent
age and do not include the so-ca.led dam
gerouS or anarchistfc element always pres
ent in a big city like Chicago.
Casnnlties in the Labor War.
In the past eight months five men have
been killed and no assaulted on account Of
labor difficulties. The stories Of intimida-
ton are largely exaggerated were shown
by the peace which prevailed during the
Dewey celebration, despite the sensational
stories sent out to the press from Chicago
in which all kinds Of trouble was predicted
for the occasion of his visit. The war has
been and still is largely a question of
durance. The workmen in the building
trades organized into unions, all of
which unions are represented as body by
the Trades Council, and through this coun-
Gil all action has been taken.
The principal demands Of the union, upon
which has hinged nearly every strike or
lockout, have been: First, that the union
should have the right to limit the amount
of work to be done in a 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 a days work, or a plumber make so
many Joints, no matter how short a time
this may take 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 right to
transfer wOrkmen from one job to another
implied the power of the walking delegate
to go to a job at. say, 3 o'clock in the
afternoon and order a man who was work
ing on that job to pick up his tools and go
to some other employer upon whose work
the delegate desired to put more men.
These demands were resisted by the con-
tractors and form the real basis of most of
the trouble. The contractor, on the other
hand. has a grievance against the supply
men who have d successful trust for the
sale of all building material sold inside the
city limits of Chicago. No contractor was
allowed to use any material bought outside
of the city and prices were kept up above
their natural level. Materials were sold for
use outside of Chicago cheaper than they
could be bought for use inside. The
who wanted bricks to in Elgin. ILL.,,
could buy them 81 thousand cheaper in
Chicago than he could if they were to be
used in the city. The citizen who desires
to put up building thus had a grievance
against all concerned.
Dilemma of the Contractors