The sun., 1904-08-27
The Department store" Builders.

To THE EDITOR on THE srS-Sir: Your
editorial, who is Rich Enough to Build a
House. shows that you grasp the building sit
/ uaton In New York city perfectly. as far as
the owners end Of the problem is concerned.
One erroneous conclusion can be drawn from
your article. however. and that Is that the
capitalistic end of this combination is revel-
| ling In the proceeds OF the robbery that has
been perpetrated on the public.
Such conclusion, though natural. Ia not
correct. II Is very rarely that you will 1nd
any OF the capitalists" In this combination
| making more than his salt. New York OF all
cities In the United States. is the most ridden
by this class Of combination, and one would
naturally assume that the profits are the
greatest: but New York is different only in
degree from San Francisco, another COM
bination ridden town: and there statistics
show that 10 per cent. of the employers In the
building business have been driven into bank
ruptcy.
There is no doubt that the public gets it,
and gets 1t good and plenty: but, owing TO "un-
fortunate" conditions that prevail among
the employers in the building fraternity. 1t is
very rarely that any one Of them walks OF
with any appreciable slice Of the rake-off
Whether the mechanics. whose wages are In
dollars and cents from three to six times as
much those Of the beef packers who are strk-
ing in Chicago, walk of with much more of
eh0 piuuucI IeH1htub W Ue etci. IL pIODdDIy
goes into the tills of the saloons and helps
business along in that way.
Tho combination Of which you speak has
been going on since the days of the guilds in
old England. and the fighting now Is really
caused by the appearance in the field Of a
third party in the shape Of what have been
called tho department store" builders. This
third party proposes to employ the same
mechanics. and it proposes to eliminate the
ten to thirty "go-betweens" who are now
employed In the construction Of a house
This third party Is working out It's sordid
schemes. because ii recognizes. or thinks 1t
recognizes. q way to effect great economies
and incidentally to develop a new line Of
profitable business. The position of the me-
chancs or employees in the two-sided COM
bination to which you refer ia rather an en-
viable one. as the employers in that combina- |
tion have been counting them most assiduously !
for the past three or four years with view to |
keeping them away from the department |
store" people. Hardly any concession that |
the mechanics ask in the way either Of high !
wages, short hours. or restricted output. is
too great for these distracted employers to
grant, II the employees will only agree to
refuse to work for the department store"
The result has been a great increase of
power In the hands OF walking delegates, but
there has been no benefit to the employers.
Their efforts are IA futile as would be the
attempt to make water flow UP hill. In the
the abuses have grown sc bad
hat the employers themselves could not
II and them: and In their struggle to resist
hem. while still cllnging to their combina-
ion idea. they have "let the cat out Of the
bag" The owners have had to pay for it all.
In the meantime the department store"
dea Ia being pushed by the people who believe
n it. II Is the Only refuge of the public, and it
will prevail Just as surely as it has prevailed
n the world of merchandising The survival
" the old guild relations ,ss now appearing in
he agreements between the employers and
he mechanics in the several trades, has made
he reforms much harder OF accomplishment
han they were in the case Of the real depart
nent store. but the very grossness of the
buses under the present system will compel
he adoption of O new system in which the
conspiracy viii have no part. Those who ,
re engaged In the work Of establishing the
store" Of the building business ,
re firmly convinced that only through il can ,
eace In the building business be established. ,
INV YORK. Aug. 20. BUILDER. ]