Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-05-11

Things are practically at a stand still in the strike situation, so far as saving of Jtimbers, carrying the bod and laying bricks are concerned, but both sides are doing lot of thinking and 1t is likely that by next Tuesday night some plan of settlement will have been evolved which will result in the resumption of operations and then things will hum until the snow flies. Delegate Thornton of Boston, who is here in the interest of the bricklayers and masons, had a long chat with John w. Gaffney and Will liam Chatf1eld this forenoon, and while they agreed upon nothing definite the opinions exchanged will go a good ways towards bringing about a better understanding between the men and the bosses. The hodcarriers hold the key to the situation and notwfthstand- ing all that has been said with refer ence to their proposition. it looks as if somebody has blundered.
 T see you had the hodcarriers' yer sion of their contract in the paper said one of the contractors to Demo crat reporter today That's all right but I suppose you are aware that there are two sides to every story and 1t may do no harm to state ours They say that they are not asking any thing this year that they did not have last year. If they mean that some body is deceiving them. All their own contract called for was simply a recognition of the union, that nobody but union men would be hired to tend to masons and bricklayers. Pm not aware of any disposition on the part of the builders to find fault with that, but the new contract is much more far reaching. It spreads itself over the entire building and denies a con- tractor the right to employ a man to do anything about job that does not belong to some craft. If we signed that and teamster came along to- carry away load of ashes or a com mon laborer should be taken on for day or so to roll a few stones out of cellar and clean up a little, the hod- carriers would have a case against us The trouble in this case is that they are demanding something for others as well as for themselves and want us to agree not to allow man to turn hand at anything unless he can show union card. Probably this would be all right if every man who works for a living was a member of some union. You'll find that such is not the case. think all carpenters, ma sons, bricklayers, plumbers and other skilled workmen belong to the unions, but the common laborers do not Car ryinp the bod has been recognized as trade for some time past and those who work at it have a union of their own. Well, then let them ask for what pertains to their own craft and trust to others to take care of them selves. If the hodcarriers have no grievance about wages, hours or un- ions why should they object to some poor devil getting a chance to earn dollar who has no particular calling and does not earn enough in the rounds of the year to square himself with his grocer and the man who owns the house he lives in I'm not authorized to speak for the bosses, but l have no knowledge of any feeling against un- ions provided they keep within the bounds of reason l don't believe that wages are any too high, consider ing the cost of living, so that this is not a question of wages but refusal on the part of the contractors to sign agreements that could not be lived up to without endless contentious which would not be beneficial to employer or employe"
 Some of the masons are working and several new men are wrestling with hods. They take hold rather awkwardly, but if they keep at 1t af- ter a few weeks they will be able to trot up and down a ladder with a hod- full of bricks or mortar with as little concern as if they were digging in a sandbanz and the boss a mile away. It is understood that nothing will be done towards bridging the difference with the men until after next Tuesday night, when the bosses will have an- other session. So far no effort has | been made to bring in hon-union men.
 About 15O Waterbury carpenters are