New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-04-15
THE STRIKE AT QUAKER BRIDGE.

The strike and threatened violence at the new
Croton River dam at Quaker Bridge seem
strangely out of place In the always turbulent
whirl and rush and roar of q great city, or
amid the throbbing clangor Of vast factories,
such contests might well be deemed the off
spring of the genius of the place. But 1t is not
so among the woods and hills Of Westchester.
In that secluded and romantic spot on the bor-
der line between idyllic beauty and rugged
grandeur, with an ample touch Of both, the
peace of Arcadia should prevail, disturbed by
al least no harsher note than that OF the river
as ii PUSHES down the deep ravine which forms
its bed. Yet those sylvan solitudes have been
invaded by the needs of the great city. Titanic
works Of engineering there in progress. And
now oppression and violence and the grim men
ace of wholesale slaughter fill the scene Hor-
ace was right; it is their skes-their land, their
scenesL men change who travel, not their minds
The self-same passions all masterful amid
the picturesque Westchester hills as ever amid
the glowing furnaces of Homestead or In the
crowded sweatshops OF Manhattans teeming
slums.
The practical aspects of the case are of direct
interest TO this city, though not at present
alarming. The present water supply is not
affected. nor. we may assume. menaced. The
scene of the strife is not at Croton DAM the
head of the aqueduct but near Quaker Bridge,
a couple of miles down stream. There should
certainly be no difficulty in preventing an eX-
tension of the disorder to Croton DAM nor In
protecting the latter from possible mischief.
The chief detriment to New-York from the
strike will be further delaying of the compile
ton of the new dam. That is of course de-
plorable, for the new dam and the improve
ment it will effect in the water supply are much
xl0l l.
actual or probable present needs 1t Is true but
il leaves only small margin of safety, and it
involves such a constant drainage of the reser-
vors as gives little opportunity for Qualification
Of the water. When the new dam is done there
will be such volume OF water impounded that
a whole year of absolute drought would not
produce famine, and the quality of the supply
will be much improved. Delay in completing
the dam is also to be regretted because of the
opportunity it gives 10 such conspirators as the
Ramapo ring to promote and TO gain some
color of iustifica ton for their pernicious de-
signs upon the city's treasury
The moral and ethical questions involved may
be left for other consideration. We are not now
discussing wheth ar the strikers have been under
paid not. Nominally the city is not RESPONSE
bic for it If they have been underpaid, because
the work is being done by contract. When the
city itself employs men ii must pay 1.-The prevail
ing rate of wages which, as interpreted. seems
to mean the extreme maximum rate. But when
it has work done by contract the contractors
may pay such wages as they please. What the
city has right to expect, however is that the
contractors, or. failing them, the civil authori-
ties, will see to it that a work of so vast i'm
portance proceeds with no unnecessary delay.
If the contractors are at fault, that fault should
be remedied in a hurry If the strikers are in
the wrong-which seems to be indicated by the
fact that plenty of other men are ready and
eager to do the work, but prevented by the
armed strikers, who will neither work let
others work-then it rests with the Sheriff of
Westchester County, and, in extreme need, with
the Governor of the State of New-York. to see
that that wrong is righted at the earliest pos
sbe moment