The San Francisco call., 1904-11-13


crease of interest. the decline in value
Of securities and the paralysis in bust
ness generally, the condition of the
building industry in this city apd coun-
~ owing to the lack of organization
vas in chaotic state, and such that
employer and employe endeavoring TO
conduct their business in a legitimate
manner realized the necessity of bring
ing about an organization. to the end
that it might in the future be managed
in a manner indicative of success to
the owner, the architect, the builder
and the workman alike.
There was no established system for
the conduct Of building operations, no
stability as to the status of contractor
or journeyman, no fixed rules so neces-
sary for the protection of the owner,
contractor or workman. Prices of labor
and materials were of a shifting char
acter and subject to so much change
that contracts were menaced and the
contractor and wOrkmen were involved
in continual doubt as to ultimate re-
suits of anything undertaken. Work
men were underwriting workmen; con-
and basing their competition upon di-
minished prices for labor. These cir
cumstances invited to the building in
dustry INSCRIPTIONS persons, who
would undertake anything and every
thing in competition with well-known
and established contractors and rely
upon the open market for materials and
labor, taking chances upon success or
failure, as fortune might determine.
In this manner the building industry
of this city had received, because of
the manner in which il was conducted,
a severe and serious setback. Property
owners and investors, feeling in meas
ure disgusted with the unsatisfactory
and unstable condition of things OBJ
tanning, ceased building in a measure
alarming within itself.
At this time the artisans engaged in
the building business, who were prin-
cipally old residents and property own
ers of the city, who were dissatisfied
with the changeable conditions, orga-
nized the Building Trades Council of
San Francisco. Beginning with a few
unions. they drafted a constitution and
bylaws setting forth the aims and OBJ
jects of the organization. Immediately.
industry who obtained a livelihood from
the same. was the influence of such an
institution recognized. and that so
clearly that the Building Trades Coun-
ell grew both in influence and strength
numerically. until it is to-day one of
the greatest and most successful CEN
trail bodies engaged in the building in
dustry in the world, bringing to the
1Inrs n low,
alike assurances of stability of charac-
ter witnessed in no other part Of the
world.
The constitution and bylaws of the
Building Trades Council originally
adopted have. undergone many
changes. said changes being necessary
70 the government of a body continu-
ally expanding and increasing in prom
inence and Importance, as well as to
the further stability IF the industry.
the management of which. from the
journeymen's side or interest, required
protection
In framing the constitution and by
laws and in making the amendments
necessitated and suggested by its
growth and expansion, the Building
Trades Council has used every endeav-
the law: respecting the constitutional
rights of all persons; frowning upon
the encroachment of personal right
and security; and steadfastly and de-
ternlinedly asserting the legal rights
of its constituent members and organ
izations.
The effectiveness, reasonableness and
practicability of the organic law of the
Building Trades Council and the sys-
TEN by which its business is conducted
under that law are best evidenced by
fits unqualified and enduring success.
The Building Trades Council is made
UP Of delegates according to proper
tional representation. The executive
board Of the council is also made up
on the lines of proportional represen-
tation. Through the council and it's
executive board, to the exclusion of
other systems in vogue throughout
the country, such as boards of business
agents and otherwise, is the business
OF the Building Trades Council done,
every matter, regardless of how triv-
ial 1t may be. having to be first attend
ed to by the Council, its executive
board or its executive officers, before
being finally decided upon, and then
ations, dealt with IN accordance with
instructions by the representatives of
the Building Trades Council, known as
Its business agents.
The work Of the council in relation to
its affiliated membership and with the
employer has been conducted with a
view to extending to all strict justice
consistently with the rights of owner.
contractor and journeyman The prin-
cipal aim OF the council is now and al
ways has been to establish a fixed and
Interchangeable system in the building
business tending to the absolute secur-
ity Of the contracts. integrity of inter-
course and stability Of conduct for the
mutual protection of all concerned, to
the end that the owner feels absolutely
safe in improving his property, the
contractor is protected against changes
after a contract is signed, and the
jcurneyman is guaranteed his hours
and wages and the responsibility of his
emnloveF