New-York tribune., 1907-07-23
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
PROSPERITY THE CAUSE.
More Worh; than Good Men Every
schere. Says Erpert.
IFrom The Tribune Bureau. ]


Washington July 22-"There is a scarcity of
labor all over the world. The fact is. widespread
prosperity and the unparalleled enterprise of the
age have led to the undertaking Of more great
projects than can possibly be completed within
a reasonable time" This IS the opinion OF one
Of the greatest labor experts in the government
service. whose attention had been attracted by
the recent discussion of New York's farm labor
problem in The Tribune.
The labor supply Is my hobby" he continued,
and l have been deyoting all my spare time to
the subject, while my daily work consists Of
securing labor for great enterprises.
Good labor at reasonable prices Is no longer
to be had. The worlds labor market Is wholly
unable to supply the demand nor is this sur
prising when the number of great projects now
under way is taken into consideration. rake
first the Panama Canal That requires Steauy
force of forty thousand laborers. That means
that the supply must be constantly maintained
because every day who have worked on tle
Job and saved their earnings throw down theF
tools and sail away to sunny Italy 10 optLIii OF
to Greece with the profits OF their toll AneIe
should be q constant influx OF not less thah
seven hundred laborers week 10 MAINTAIN INC
necessary working force.
TO the north of us there is a tremendous IN
crease in railway construction. mo ITrahu
Trunk Pacific and the Great Northern fai'"ay >
IN Canada are beginning the construction ol
limos which will aggregate six thousand miles,
II will cost saw 5000 a mile-perhaps more
1yhat means a. total OF $30O00.o0O, a very large
snare OF which will be spent for LABOR AS d
consequence, the contractors are prepareU "
nev for the transportation of laborerS from an
narts OF the world TO the place of employment
They vant sixty thousand laborers right away
and will doubtless need more as the work pro-
gresses" -, .
What wages do those laborers receive! was
asked.
"I don't know" was the reply. but should
imagine not less than So % a day. Then there
is the Cape to Cairo Railway. have no heures
at hand but that work will call for thousands
and thousands OF laborers, and they must an
come out OF tho worlds available labor supply
Another great project is the double tracking
~ the Transslberian road The Russian govern
rnent has tust decided 70 double track that road
at least as far as Lake Baikal Think OF the
thousands Of men who will be required TO per-
form that great task
How many men do you suppose the New YORK
subways and tunnels and terminals are EN-
ployinsr' T.
immense. New York. too has just decided on
the great AdirondaCks water supply system
That Will cost untold millions. have never
sean any reliable estimate OF the aggregate COST
II will require an almost incalculable supply OF
labor and cannot where II is all to come
from.
Right here IN the United States there Is Il
great deal Of railroad construction going on,
I haven't figured it out exactly, but should
estimate that within FIVE years ten thousaho
miles Of new track. including sidings' switches
and terminals must be laid. or an average OF
two thousand miles year.
And already II is impossible 70 secure salts
factory labor l was recently looking over some
railway construction down in Tennessee, ana |
asked every foreman II he had enough labor
Every one told the same story. Too hte LABOR
wages 50 23 a day and very unsatisfactory re-
turns at that. The contractors are go snort
every man knows that II he is laid OF he can
walk up or down the road a mile or two and
get a fob. Consequently they simply won't do a
full days work In some instances they tell me
the labor is Just tbree-fourths as effective as II
was two years ago.
At have enumerated some OF the largest enter
prises recently undertaken. all OF them calling
for great forces OF laborers, but there are thou-
sands OF others each smaller IN Itself but aggre-
eating an immense demand for labor. Nhere
the supply IS al coming from 1 cannot inquire
ont nor do I see much prospect for increasing
the supply OF farm labor so long as TINS condl-
ton OF the labor market continues