The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-13
UNION LABOR SrUANGLNG CITY
san FRANCISCO IN MERCILESs
GRASP OF AGITATORS.
City Lying I'm HUNS ~ Fire Left II for Lack
Of Men to.Clear Away Debris and RE-
bund hc business Dtstrict-wages
Pushed 10 Unprecedented Figures.

NHhsN NV ShP
SAN FBANcIsco, Nov. l2.-This city finds
itself in a situation unparalleled in the
history Of American municipalities.
Struggling to regain its feet after, utter.
prostration by the greatest calamity. OF
modern times. IL finds that it's govern
ment is in the hands Of the most unblushing
and high handed set Of crooks that ever
plundered any community; that graft and
blackmail arc triumphant in practically
every department; that the very officials.
who should be leading the work sf recon-
struction and sncoura ging the faint hearted
and the stricken, are devoting their talents
exclusively and with unfaltering zeal to
lining their own pockets at the expense Of
the helpless community.
But worse than all these things, so far
as tho rehabilitation OF San Francisco is
concerned, Is the condition OF affairs among
the worknen. Organized labor Ii at the
City's throat.
For some years San Francisco has been
a closed shop. 1t 10 now not only closed
but bottled and barred as we'll. Union
labor has long governed this town. Ones
that government was in name. at least,
a democracy. IL is now au Oligarchio
despotlsm.
ON the head Of union labor rests tn
responsibility for the present government tai
conditions. The oficeholders who have
been plundering the city wers elected by
union labor. Union labor keeps tbsm in
onloe. Union labor is doing its best to
stand between them and the justice Of this
outraged community.
In industrial affairs union labor has
embarked upon a career thai all who love
the city must hope viii prove suicidal.
Observe the conditions; there Is a society
OF labor here that has put back the re-
building Of the city to ar incalcdlabls Ok
tent Many and many a contractor cannot
get labor at any price. Scores OF plans
for new buildings in the burned district
lie idle and Enacted upon because the
lAborers 10 execute them are u~nobtainable.
Acres OF ruins are still untouched beoauss
the 70 are not laborers enough TO clear
the IN up.
And yet IN the face Of these facts. which
any man may see W it'll his own Eyes in two
minutes walk through the streets. union
labor in making every effort 10 prevent inn
portation of mechanics and laborers.
, At its m' citing last week the Building
Trades Council. one u the two central
labor organizations OF the city received
nearly $50 letters from skilled mechanics in
various parts of the country asking what
were the conditions of labor here. what
the demands, wages, living &eGomiDoha-
tons and so on.
The council instructed its secretary to
write in every case that the supply Of labor
now here exceeded the demand. and that
living accommodations we're few and high
in price.
great fire the Building Trades Council
experienced a wave Of brotherly love and
public spirit. IL went so far as to pledge
itself by formal vote that IN no case should
wages be increased or working conditions
altered until the city was well on its way
to rehabilitation.
This promise has not been kept In a
majority Of the skilled trades: Wages
are from 10 to- 50 per cent, higher than
they were before the fire. st,, >, u,,. rr,o,.
has gone gayly on. Even the Greeks and
Italians who handle pick and shovel on the
street railways have been rounded up by
the agitators. They are. now the Street
Railway Workers Union o.
1t is q fact that no nonIlnion workman
in any Of the trades necessary for the build
ing of San Francisco could get a job in this
city and keep IL twenty-four hours. Not
a building contractor in the city would dare
to face the demand for a non-lnion work.
man 3 dismissal that would certainly be
made.
Thoughtful citizens see no way out OF
this terrorism OF union labor except the or
ganizstion of a gigantic league of capitalists
and builders with the avowed object OF
fighting union labor until the city is re-
leased from It's tram hold.
There has already been talk OF such an
organization, TO includ in its membership
men who n under way plans for the
construction of about $50, 0O0, 600 of new
buildings. The plan would include the
importation OF enough non union labor
to do the work proposed, the supplying
OF living accommodations Tor the men, and
above all. their protection.
This last specification would be the most
troublesome. as is generally agreed. Union
labor has been supreme here so long that
il would not give up without a struggle.
The proportions TO which this struggle
might mount, and the disorder that would
accompany it, is what give pause TO the
projectors OF the plan. But that such a
move is contemplated Is certain.
Some contractors are not blameless
in their dealings with union labor. In
many cases contractors have come TO work
in the morning only TO fnd all the ir men
OF yesterday gone. Inquiry would show
that they had been hired by some other
contractor who won them away by paying
higher wages.
The temptation to do this is often con-
siderable. When a contractor sees a job
that he has contracted 20 complete in a
given time falling behind its schedule every
day for Laok Of labor, the notion OF getting
some other contra ctor's men suggests
itself.
The consequence OF this uncertainty about
labor is paralyzing in its effect. When a
contractor binds himself to finish a job
by a certain time and for a certain amount.
he is compelled to make his bid very high 10
allow himself a safe margin. Owners OF
real estate are thus compelled to pay ex-
orbitant prices or let their property stand
as il is, unimproved. covered with runs and
debris, just as the big fire left 1t.
IL would not be fair TO blame all union
men for these pitiable conditions. Many
of them are decent, honest citizens who see
the evils Of the system and regret them.
But the machinery of the union has in every
case fallen into theh hands OF the professional
agitators and grafters. h decent men
pay their dues, take the benefits OF the
union, stay away from the meetings and
let the agitators WELD the entire influence
Of the respective organizations, political
and industrial.
Under the leadership Of Harrison Grey
Otis, Los Angeles has fought the union
until their influence Is confined TO its legiti-
mate limits. President David Starr Jordan
Of Leland Stanford University say that
Los Angeles ought TO erect a monument 20