Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-26

getting % cents an hour for day and IS
cents an hour for night work, and they de-
mand 40 cents an hour for day and 60
cents for night work, with double pay for
Sundays and holidays. They were put up
to this strike by Irishmen, many of whom
still belong to the Longshoremen's Union,
ano the strike is directed by an Irishman
named Corners. There are various theo-
ries as to the motives of the men who are
behind the. strike, but none of them seem
to be reasonable.
Italian dock labor. like Italian railroad
labor, is handled by padrones or con-
tractors. who make contracts with the
steamship companies, they are in the
habit of making them with the railroad
companies. to furnish them with so many
laborers at a certain price per day These
contractors receive their money in lump,
and pay their gangs according to their
private understanding. deducting commits
sion or squeeze" This is the regular
practice everywhere with newly arrived
Italian labor, but as the men become more
intelligent and better informed as to labor
conditions and customs in this country
they become dissatisfied with this padrone
system and, sooner or later, secure release
from it. In the present strike this DISPOSE
ton is illustra ted. The Italian longshore-
men have defied their padrones and are
following an Irish leader. The padrones
are powerless. They are under contract to
furnish men at fixed price to do the
work, but they are not able to control their
men. Most of them are loyal to the steam
ship companies. and have brought in more
than a thousand Observation-Disclosures
Italians-from different parts of the coun-
try. Out of a total of $4,000 longshoremen,
about 10000 are now out and idle. Their
work is being done by from 1000 to 500
strikebreakers. The exact number is I'M
known, because they sleep and are fed on
the docks, and are not allowed to leave
them: while the gateways are guarded by
policemen to prevent interference from the
strikers.
Handling the Freight.
The strikebreakers have been assisted in
handling the freight by sailors. stokers and
even stewards of the different steamships,
who are paid double wages for doing this
unusual work, and some of the steamship
companies have increased their crews to
three or four times the necessary quota in
order to have a sufficient number of men
to discharge and take on cargoes. The
leaders of the strike have found this OUT
and are making an investigation. II they
find a case that will come under the con-
tract labor law they will be able to make
the erring owners of the steamship great
deal of trouble, and IL 1t Is true. as re-
ported that several steamers are bringing
aangs of dock-wallopers over from Europe
to handle their freight, they will regret 1t.
Thus far the truckmen hauling freight to
and from the docks have refused to go
out although the longshoremen have tried
to persuade them to indulge in "sympa-
thetic strike ever since the trouble began.
But they have no complaints of their own,
and they refuse to become responsible for
the longshoremen unless strikebreakers are
brought over from Europe, when they will
refuse to haul goods that have been ham
died by foreign scabs.' If that should oc-