New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-08-28
MIKES DEVERY MOURN.
Steam ShoUeI Does the Work of SEQ
eraI Hundred Men.

II IT will take six great steam shovels and eight
thousand men twenty-five months to excavate
the site OF the proposed Pennsylvania Railroad
terminal In this city. how many would be
required to perform the gigantic task in the
same length of time were no steam shovels usedf
That looks on the face of things like a pure
ly mathematical problem. but the stir it has
occasioned in the ranks OF the Manhattan De-
mocracy indicates that it is also a considerable
political problem The trouble all came about
because John j. Murphy. president of the New
York Contracting and Trucking Company. which
has the big contract, is a. brother of Charles F.
Murphy. the leader of Tammany Hall. Among
those aware OF this circumstance is William s
Devery. ex-Chief of Police. whose heart is nearly
beaten TO pulp throbbing for the interests OF
the workingman-
Would any man or any concern with the best
interests of the workingman at heart employ
steam shoves on job like that. and take ths
bread and butter from the mouths Of poor labor
ers?' asks Devery.
Nor Is Devery alone in the position he takes
Other Democratic politicians entertain similar
and fully as strong views on the subject, and
lose no chance to demonstrate to the laboring
man that if Tammany Hall were really their
friend, the big shovels would be sent away and
only manual labor be used in the work.
But the contractors in charge OF the Pennsyi-
vania terminal job wasting no sympathy
over the laboring man. They working the
two big steam shovels they have on hand to the
full capacity and anxiously awaiting the arrival
OF four more. for they realize that to fulfil the
letter of the contract within the fixed time limit
OF twenty-five months there must be some hust-
ling done.
The enormity OF the task OF excavating for
the new railroad station can hardly be appre-
Ctatel " m no 70
with engineering problems. Those persons with
good imaginatious who can picture to themselves
huge block OF earth standing sixteen hundred
feet high. four hundred feet wide and ffty-fve
feet thick have fairly good idea Of the way
the soil being taken out of the new depot site
would look If reared one end.
There IS absolutely nothing IN This city to
serve as comparison with such q slab OF
earth. The F1atiror Building a convenient
standard Of measureme mt nowadays dwarfs into
insisnidcance beside it. There need be no dis
pute over the towers on the Park Row Building
when comparing it with this big piece OF ground
Allowing the total height OF that structure to
be 3S2 feet from the ground 10 the top OF the
towers. and accepting the building as the high
est in the city. four such buildings might Be
piled one above the other and they would stiu
fall seveuty-two feet short OF the height OF the
pile OF earth
The contract Is said to be the largest Of It's
kind ever undertaken in this country. Work
was begun under II on July IL 1t includes pro-
vision. not only for the removal OF 100000
cubic yards of earth and 100000 cubic yards Of
rock. but also for the construction of $1,000
yards OF concrete wall
The contractors laugh over the arguments ad-
vanced against the use OF the big steam shovels
Without them they would be several years ar
the Job. they say. II Is estimated by them that
one shovel does the work of twelve hundred men