The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-10
|HURL,S DEFI AT THE UNIONS Must Not Dictate Terms
 to Contractors. WORK AT FAIR GROUNDS Cook and Laurie Give Ultimatrm
 to Labor Leader. Having Contract For Buildings, Mont- gomery Firm Declares It VII Employ whom It Pieases.
 Progress at Park.

ines of the big State Fair, to be held in Montgomery, October 22 to ", na. refused to be dictated in the work py
 Moved by threats which have been conveyed indirectly to the firm from union delegate who has been In tnis city during the last weeR, .ne ,,t put1a f,ativ with the declaration that they VII l enter into no agreement with the pulla- | ings trades union filling the state far contract. and will admit Of no inter | ference on the part of organized labor | with their plans. l Not only have the builders come out | thus flatly with this statement or their | position, but, it Is said. that consui. = | hold with them to discuss the question. was refused by J. IF. Cook, the senior | member of the firm It is the under standing that in case or any oppos,i,,, | be erected entirely by non-union men. Labor Agent Here.
 | The entrance of tho labor question | into the work of erecting the Fap I buildings at vandiver Park. waA an- nounced a day or two ago by Henry | Streaisler, special agent representing l the Structural Alliance, an organization which embraces workmen in all the labor agent. whose temporary .headauar- | ters arc in Selma, remained in the | city one day. held a number of con- l sultations with different leaders of l trades labor unions, and made a prop osition to officers of the Alabama Ag- ricultural Association.
 Calling upon Secretary J. c. Adams. Agent Streaisler requested that the as- sociation use its influence to persuade Cook and Laurie to make an agreement with the building trades unions In Montgomery before undertaking the work of erecting the Fair buildings Unless there was some such under standing between the unions and the contractors, he said, there surely would be trouble before the completion of the work The union men of the city, he declared, would. as a man. refuse tc work with non-union men. If an at tempt was made to employ men not be- longing to the unions in the erection oi the buildings, the work would be inter- fered with.
 Threatens to Defy Law.
 | Speaking in the presence of an Ad' , lvertiser reporter, Mrs. Streisler said: Labor unions In this part of tht . South have been making no attemp to obtain control of building opera. tions thus far. Our members have been working side by side with non union men because we have not beer suficiently strong. heretofore, to come Tout and take a stand. Recently. w have been organizing in Montgomery There are, I believe. In the neighbor hod of 250 carpenters unionized in th' city.
 ; According to my recollection. there arr about 100 plumbers organized. our or ganization includes the carpenters ? other allied building trades If tn contractors attempt to work non unioI men on the fair buildings. they will
 surely have trouble: We wish to avoit
 unless union men are employed exclu
 sively. If the fair structures are built
 by non-union labor. we will boycott tn! post the fair. among the other labor
 members in the State"
 Tn reply to the labor agent. officers oi the Fair Association have taken the stand that they have no right to sug' gest to the contractors the kind of la
 bor which Is to be employed. The con | tracts have been let, they say, and tn; authority of the Association does no in any sense empower them to dictate to the contractors how the building' are to be built. beyond the ground GOV cred In the specifications
 President yandiyer Talks.
 We do not feel" said President w
 F. Vandiver last night. that we have the contractors and their relations with
 the unions. We have let the contracts on time limits and Cook Laurie have
 agreed to erect the buildings accord. ing to our requirements. Beyond that we have no part in any disputes the
 builder and his men may have"
 ofEs SsssT Eaar Mf GGsk tSs s of building firm. were in the city last night. When MT Cook was told of the threats af Agent streisler the other day, however, he declared most em- phatically he would not be dictated to 1 by building unions.
 According to report current yester- day. representative of the Structural Alliance has been In Montgomery dur ing the last week, enlisting workmen into the building trades unions, in the the event of a strike of any nature later in the summer. Agent Streisler will make another visit to Montgomery from Selma tomorrow, to look over
 Notwithstanding the rumors of war the preparations for the erection of the fair buildings hays been going yesterday on the excavations for the Structures, and within & few days the materials for. the. buildings will com. mence to arrive in Montgomery They will be forwarded immediately to van- diver Park over the Western Railroad of Alabama, which has run spur purpose The near approach of the dates set for the big exposition makes haste in the work imperative If all the for the fair. aand from now until the completion of the work, the contractors say, there will be no cessation In the work.
 Grading for Race Track.
 Work in the grading of the, mile race track will begin sometime during the present week S oh The NsSe weeds s in htse sae apparatus of the J. NJ. Sullivan Con. tracting Company, which has been at work at Newman, Ga, Is being transfer red to Montgomery. Although the grading will require the handling of an immense amount of earth, the con thing ready for the Fair opening. The plans show a four foot fill on the back stretch. These conditions will require the scooping out of almost the entire infield on the side of the nome stretch the earth from which will be conveyed to the other side for filling purposes IThe grandstand, when the work Is com pleted, will stand on an elevation or some six feet above the level or the track
 Plans for the building in which are to be placed the exhibits of the Tus- kegee Normal Institute, and other ne gro schools of the State. were presented to President W. F. Vandiver for in spection yesterday by Booker Wash the Association official for that purpose. The plans were approved. and Presi- dent Vandiver appointed the head of the Tuskegee Institution to take charge lof the exhibits of negroes from all parts of the State.
 to allot a space 13o feet front with depth of 200 feet. for these exhibits. The building which will be erected will be 75 feet by50 feet In dimensions; In it will be placed the exhibits, and at one end of the building, will be To- cated a cafe or restaurant for negroes. Work on this structure will begin within the next few weeka