The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-12-28
LABOR SHORTAGE
GROWS SERIOUS
Railroads Entering Salt Lake
Are in Urgent Need of
Workmen.
OTHER LINES AFFECTED
SPRING BUILDING WILL BRINL
ACUTE SITUATION.

~
The railroads want Iaborers and tn,
shortage amounts almost to a famine. A
Network OF new roads has been planned
tor the intermountain region. and unless
| tne shortage in the labor market is i'm
some way remedied, It may mean the
holding lip of the development of nrom-
islng territory for considerable period
Inc situation is becoming critical from
commercial and Industrial standpoint
and prompt measures are needed IN brtn,
ABOUT change before the damage has
At present Salt Lake contractors and
puiiuefs report that they have little trou
PIE IA securing workmen not because
:; te TEL. IS an oyer-sqDply but because there
are IN different position. They ara
rushed with work and the suDDIv Of
Workmen is utterly inadequate The CON
tractors realize that when active con
struction work begins about March Is
they VIII be in the same position as the
railroads are now.
Much Work Being Done.
Never before have the railroads in this
sectlOn or the west been doing so much
construction work. With eight roads now
peinS QUILT IN Nevada, the St Pants de-
clSlOn to push towards the coast and the
western Paclflc running a line from Salt
Lake to the Pacific there is work for
thousands or men who cannot be found
Inc marvellous industrial awakening OF
the west during the past few years and
the failure of the influx from the east to
Keep pace with the upbuiIding of this
for the shortage.
A conservative estimate of the number
OF men needed IN the west oy new rail
roads IS 19e00. The Western Pacific ad-
Vertlsed some months ago for 10000 men
70 hurry its line 10 completion Scarcely
o,VO nave been secured. Of these ? 800
are working on the Salt Lake track end
In the neighborhood of 500 miles of road
bed is yet ungraded. and a vast army of
men is needed to carry this work ahead.
Contracts for 800 miles of track in Ne
Vada have not been let because the corn-
pany has felt that il would be useless as
Ions as the construction companies cannot
secure half the iaborers needed
Men Wanted Everywhere.
There is also a gscat demand for labor
ers IN Nevada and the adjoining states
where other roads are building extern
sions. The Burlington is running three
extensions into Wyoming, the Chicago 4
Northwestern is building near Lander in
that state. the Oregon Short Line wants
men for its ST. Anthony extension near
the Yellowstone. park and branches now
under construction in Idaho. This COM
pany has in the neighbOrhOOd of 200 men
at work on its improvements in Salt Lake,
but could use more.
roads in this immediate vicinity are not
suffering from the shortage as they will
be when spring comes. The Oregon Short
Line will need at least 5000 men at thar
time to build it's new depot and carry out
its other contemplated Improvements
The Rio Grande will also commence its
depot in the spring and this means work
for several hundred more. The Rio
Grande will need at least 1900 men to
carry on the work on it's new shops and
terminal buildings at Church farm.
A 10. L. a-No tod HI i A.
is no shortage of labor al present, simply
because there is no constructive work OF
any considerable Importance being car
ried on. The contractors and builders
prospects of securing labor when the
spring rush comes The army of men
needed by the railroads, the ever-incress-
ing number of men employed at the
smelters. mines and factories, and the
large demand for farm help threaten -
sweep the labor market clean and leave
few skilled or common laborers for the
local employers.
Farms Claim Their Share.
The wonderful development in the beet
sugar industry in the state has also been
a cause for the alarming scarcity of la
Dor. During the summer months it is
timated that 5000 men are employed OH
the farms of Utah alone, caring for and
harvesting the beets. A large number Of
these labOrers are Japanese, who have
been brought from the coast. Formerly
it was easy to secure the Japs for con-
structiOn work when other labOrerS failed,
but now il is almost impossible. as the
Japs prefer farms to working in railroad
camps and engaging'in other construction
work.
In speaking Of the expected shortage
Of labor in the spring, p j. Moran, who
probably employs more labor than any
other one Salt Lake man, said yestZday:
What p. ]. Moran Says.
"AII contractors and builders expect that
when the spring work commences they
will have great difficulty in securing
help. 1t was so last spring. but will be
more so next year, as the railroads.
shelters, farms and manufacturing es-
"a Adjustments are absorbing the supply as
last as it arrives. OF late there has been
l large importation of Greeks and other
southern European nationalities into this
section of the country. The railroads are
alone able to do this on a large scale,
md once they are here they are swal-
owed up like coal in a smelter furnace
md the local employers can scarcely find
me of them. A railroad will ship 1900 OF
hese fellows along its lines and no one
yer hears anything about them again. /
uppose that the shortage will make
wages high and building more expensive
,ut the prosperity band wagon cant
wait
very section of the country can look to
7tah and the neighbOring states for
teady employment at good wages during
ion of western railroads to reach new ter
itOries assures a full dinner pail' and
York for all that will work.
Eugene B. Palmer of the firm of Stowe
, Palmer predicts that Salt Lake City
nd adjacent territory will be able to as
initiate 10000 families within the next
lree years
NEW BANK FOR ELY.
Especial to The Herald)