Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-16

$4,000. The new material and the replac-
ing Of that saved should therefore cost
100000 at wages and prices prevailing be-
fore the Are. The lowest bid for 1t was
S167, ,0O0-an increase of 81 per cent. There
Il as much marble as ever. The freight
rates are unchanged. What IL the cause
of this advance Of 81 per cent in cost? 1t
is either in labor or in contractors profits,
and contractors insist that not only are
they making no more money than formerly,
but that they hardly dare take contracts
at any price, not knowing what prices they
may have to pay for labor. Some contrac-
tors are refusing to do business except at
owners risk Of higher labor prices.
A>serfous situation.
We might as well look the situation
squarely In the face. San Francisco will
not be permanently rebuilt while labor
conditions remain as they A-e. because
tenants cannot pay the rents which will be
required. There will be no trouble about
our jobbing trade and foreign commerce,
for that business can be done in shacks,
but our activity within the city must Ceass
with the completion of the temporary
work. Industries certainly will not locate
here to be in continual warfare with their
employees or else make the cost Uf their
product too high to enable 1t TO be sold in
competition with other manufacturing CEN
ters. The people of this city. and espe-
cially the labor unions, must look the sit
uation in the face, and do it now. Plans
for a great number OF class buildings
are in preparation. Some have advanced
TO the contracting point, but the contracts
are not being let One large property
owner, d. o. Mills, who has cash in
a..
city, says that he can employ his money
in the east to far better advantage than
to reconstruct his buildings here at pres
ent prices, and that is what he is doing.
A great number of leases have already
been made. because the owners them
selves were too proud to put up shaclSs,
or did not care to bother with them.
Shacks can pay good ground rents but
contribute little to the labor market-and
nothing to the appearance OF the city.
Before the fire wages in this city were
higher than In any other commercial city
In the world and living was cheaper thar
In any other city in the United States II
was the paradise of labor. and yet the
city wns prosperous Recognizing that
fact, the Building Trades Council made
a public pledge that wages in the building
trades should not be increased. So far as
we know, that pledge still stands, and
stands unredeemed. The Building Trades
Council, IL we have correctly kept the run
Of it's action. stands committed to the
wage scale as it existed before the fire
and many. and perhaps most OF its COM
ponent unions, stand officially committed
TO a higher scale. Who is authorized tc
speak for the unions? Is anybody so au-
thorized? What assurance has a contrac-
tor or owner that after he has started q
building. to cost 10000. there will not be
a raise In materials and labor, which will
make It cost s15OOOo or more? Those
things must be settled before permanent
building will begin on any important scale
and so settled that there can be no mis-
understanding. OF course. labor is not the
only factor in the rise, but II is the mos'
important for all material, except the
natural products OF the earth, is labor
There are those in control Of materials
however, who are seeking to unduly
profit at our expense. and they also mus
understand that their prices will not Iona
be paid"