New-York tribune., 1908-03-30
FEAR A COLLAPSE.
Tunnel Workmen's Strike En-
= dancers Place de la ConcOrde.

- dlngerS race 0c ia COHCOfut.
Paris March L.
For the last eight months the navvies en-
ployed on the construction Of the tube line.
which at some distant future date is to connect
the opera quarter Of Paris with the suburb OF
AuteuiI have been strike. They claim
franc extra an hour for work which Is car
red out in the water underground and tney
refuse to to understanding with their
employers unless the latter consent to pay this
additional sum for the three months preceding
the outbreak of the strike. The chief cause OF
the deadlock is that the employers consider that
the city of Paris with whom their original con-
tract was signed ought to bear all or portion
of this extra expense. The city OF Paris dec1nes
to do so and threatens to cancel its contracts
with the present holders unless the Work Is
executed within the scheduled time
Lawsuits are thus looming UP on all SIDES
and i'm the mean while the inhabitants of Paris
are deprived of the easy and rapid means OF
1ocomotion which have been promised to them
for so many years and for which they nave
waited with such exemplary patience great
additional danger, moreover is now hanging
over their heads. This is neither more nor less
than the possible collapse Of the Place de la
Concorde. with the towering Egyptian obeiisk
which stands in the centre of ii, and the vast
mass of buildings belonging to the Ministry OF
Marine which fills UP its northeast corner The
navvies went on strike before they had properly
shored up with brickwork the tunnels they had
constructed beneath the Place de la Concoroe
and the ground over which countless carriages
heavy tramwavs and numberless foot passen-
gers still daily pass is parts thin that, ac-
cording to the city architects, it is miracle
that there has not been very serious faiilng IN
Both in the Place itself and in the immediate
neiehborhood of the Ministry of Marine portions
of the ground have already subsided. and de-
pressions and gaping holes are showing 'hern-
selves on all sides The Prefect of Police has
now closed a portion of the Place de la con-
corde to general traffic. One Paris newspaper
offered to pay half the extra amount demanded
bv the navvies if the employers would pay the
other half. but it appears that the contract Oh
the latter with the municipal authorities pre-
cludes this solution of the difficulty. IN the
mean while the Minister of Labor, NJ Viviani' Is
endeavoring to persuade the navvies' union TO
ACCEPT some arrangement pending the decision
of the courts as to whether the increased wages
are to be paid by the city or the masters.
Another class of Parisians is seriously az
fected in its interests by this deadlock IL Is
that OF the shopkeepers OF the streets. notably
the Avenue de la Motto Picquet through which
the tunnelIing operations will be carried in the
corde to AuteuiI. The centres Of these thorough
fares and large portion Of their sidewalks have
been palisaded off that the shops are almost
hidden from view and approach to them has
been rendered awkward. BY degrees the Gus
toners have deserted these shops, the owners OF
which are now on the verge Of bankruptcy and
in most cases unable to pay their taxes. In
reply to petition which they sent to the Pre-
feet of the Seine. that functionary promised that
their taxes should be reduced in view Of their
unfortunate situation. but this promise has ap-
parently not been kept. Indeed. the shopkeepers
complain that their taxes are now considerably
higher than they ever were.
Their last move has been to erect large crosses
such as are placed at the heads Of graves in the
deserted excavations which yawn in front of
their shops and to fnscribe on them the names OF
those OF their unfortunate colleagues who have
been forced by loss of custom to quit the neigh
borhood or to seek the relief Of the bankruptcy
court The police have had these seditious
crosses promptly torn up, but the shopkeepers
now threaten that unless the palisades are re-
moved until the strike is over. and they offer
to pay the cost of this operation, they will take
the law into their own hands and make a bon
fire of the obnoxious woodwork.
To add TO all this confusion and worry so
damaging to the labor market in Paris gen.
eral strike of all the workmen employed in the
building trades is now threatened by the General
Labor Confederation The masons have Just
issued an ultiulatum to their employers demand
ing that they work only nine hours but be paid
on the ten-hour scale. The stonecutters also
threaten to strike, and the employers have de-
cfded to reject their demands there is consid-
erable probability that before long from 10000
to 100000 men will be on the pavement. Last
Sunday $50 employers in the building trades
formed themselves into a union for the protec-
ton of their interests and decided to resist the
new demands OF the men.
Many of them declared that they longer
risked undertaking large contracts, owing to the
acts of sabotage" or deliberate mischief. which
the workrnen were in the habit OF perpe
trating to bring pressure on the masters. 1t
was said that last week during the building OF
the Majestic Hotel. in the Avenue kleber the
worknen set fire to their workshop a pre-
lmnary striking. This was an act Of sheer
anarchy, and excited master declared that
unless some means could be found for refining in
the activities Of the General Labor Confedera-
ton nothing short Of political revolution would
T. L b