The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-20
TROUBLE IN SEAMEN'S UNION
NEGROES ARE THINNING or
BREAKING AWAY FROM Ut.
There Are Many OF Them In the Organiza-
tion, but They Say They Get No Jobs
VntIl All the whites Are Employed
Talk OF Forming Rival shipping once

Talk OF Forming Rival shipping once
The Seamen's Union, sometimes accused
by the big shippers Of having held up AZ
many a. ten ships in a single week for lack
Of men. has some trouble Of its own to con-
tend with Negroes. who make up good
part of the union, have lately shown dis
position TO he dissatisfied with the way they
have been treated.
For a long time ill feeling between the
white and black members has been growing.
The negroes assert that they haven't been
treated right at the shipping office. In one
branch alone the cooks and stewards branch
Of the Seamens Union, every white member.
sixty-seven in all, has found a berth, while
not a single negro member was shipped.
When members hold up their hands in the
union rooms to volunteer TO ship on ves-
sell the negroes say the whites are invariably
chosen
The fire which has been smouldering in
the union broke out in small blaze on
Tuesday afternoon. 1t came about in
West street branch. where Daniel Allen,
West Indian black, went to claim his ship
wreck fee, having been wrecked on the
schooner Nellie T. Moore. He spoke Eng
lish imperfectly and could not make the
agent understand his claim. although he
showed his union credentials. When he
say that he wouldn't get his money he let
out a string of West Indian curses at the
agent, who promptly made for him.
According to the negroes, the agent
tried to throw Allen downstairs. while
several white members Of the union joined
the agent and raned blows on the negro's
head Az a rule, the white members fire.
quent the rooms OF the union while the
negroes remain in the saloon below. When
The negro contingent heard Aliens cries
for help, they rushed upstairs to HIS as
sistance. As they outnumbered their OPP
ponents two TO one. the whites scattered.
The whites fled to the street, leaving the
negro members in control upstairs. There
they formed war dance, stamping on the
floor and hurting imprecations and chal.,
lenges to The whites below, They quoted
down before the police got there. NO
arrests were made.
Now the split in the Seamen's Union
has appeared 1t has long been observed
that the negroes in tho independent snip,
ping offices have been the bodest and
most outspoken against the union, and their
brothers in the union are beginning "a
sympat hize with them in their persecution
Broad hints have gone out that the negro
element might form union OF it's own
Fields s. Pendleton, ship owner. WIN
Offices at 1870 Pearl street. who has IN con
temptation Seameus League, has this 70
say on the subject:
There are 500 to 1000 negro seamer
alona this coast. As a whole. they make
good sailors and American vessel owners
would prefer to hire their own country
men, even if black, than employ forei9r
element that is always making, or trying
| to make, disturbances.
AT present the union discrlmlnates
against the blacks by refusing to give their
employment. Notwithstanding the fact that
| they are members of the union. The mar
! reaaon Ia that the larger part OF the agent,
and walking delegates are made up OF
| the foreign element that cater to the mer
! who come from their own country. There
fore, the American-born negro gets the
worst of it
At the Office of the Atlantic Coast Sea
mons Union, at AZ Water street, yesterday
no one would say anything on the subject
! On the sidewalk were a number OF Negro
sailors who had heard about the outbreal
on Tuesday, but each declared that ne wa
not in it. While none Of them had anything
to say regarding union Of their own. the,
all agreed that it was almost impossible
| for them to get berth while white mai
| was around who would take the place.