The sun., 1908-06-21
TOLD At THE COAL DUMP PIER
COOPERATIVE IDEA or. JOHN
DAILY, TRIMMER moss.


sf24
It Made His Associates Princes Amsp&
Laboring Men-T'hcn Scfn Daly CarrseN
His Idea Further and Himself meoaSnn
King-I1ben the scheme ColIapssd-
Only one remains Of tho Eve coal dung
piers Of the Delaware. LaokawAnna ana
Western Railroad which reared shojr high
and gnmy fronts over tho North River
on the Hoboken side In tbs days wheu
John DAILY. the trimmer boss. used % ride
down from the heights to his work Ia biz
carriage every morning. Lesa coal II
brought by the road now to this port. and
machines like the floating grain elevators
lift Il from the cars ON fiat piers.
One alone Of the six black skeleton skrac-
lures survives-one was built since the
time Of John Daly-and only there can a
few old timers be found who remember th&
story Of this man. a story full Of suggosfjozx
to students Of remedies for the woes Of ~
workingman.
Away back in the '7Os John DAILY used w.
leave his little apartment In an old fashioned
Hoboken tenement house, dinner can In
hand, at a quarter Of every morning
| except Sunday. and hurry to the coal dooks.
Then when the whistle blew be would crawl
on his back. shovel In hand. from tho hatch
Of coal barge back. well back under tho
deck. and begin to push and pile up the
coal beyond his head until It touched the
deck. So, laboring hard In strained position.
he and some ninety-nine others worked Ia
an eighteen inch or two foot space most
Of the time, for that is the way 'and the
work Of coal trimmers. aS
Al, NJ k<Ssr
while actually engaged In shovenin9.
Their pay did not run when boats were
not in. but often they worked late into the
| night, and at the end Of the month they
sometimes had s75 each to bring home.
And they brought It home. for they were
not tipplers or drunkards. So 10 went,
winter and summer for years.
John Daily was q shrewd mau. an ann;
bilious man. He saw clearly that II would
be hard to fill the places Of himself and
| his fellows II they should decide to 60 on
strike. He talked to the others about II
when they we're waiting for boats. until he
| had persuaded them all to join him IN q
| cooperative bid for the contract. which
would terminate with the outgoing Of the
then superintendent. s.T
The new superintendent came and the
| trimmer boss made his offer for tho con-
tract, to last during the incumbency OF
this superintendent at the old rate. John
DAILY stepped up and said
"If you give this man the contract he
! will not be able to carry it out, for we Will
not work for him and he cannot All our
places. Give us the contract jointly and
we'll stay and do the work We don't
need him at all to boss us: We know our
business" reds
The new superintendent thought the
matter over. and in a few days agreed to-
John Daly's proposal, for. indeed. there
was nothing else for him to do. John DAILY
was elected boss trimmer
Thereafter the pay OF each man wss
sometimes as high asS140 month. and the
trimmers are now princes among lahoring
men. Then old Matt Casey died.
The men held meeting to decide what
| to do about a man for his place. Would
It be right to admit a new conner at onc8
to the sharing which they had shaved for
| years to attain and had taken the risk Of
discharge to secure? Surely not. they
agreed.
"Hire him at % cents an hour" they told
John DAILY, 1and after q time, when We
see fit. wen put him on an equal footing
with ourselves
A man was hired at % cents an hour.
Many more Of the cooperative trimmerai
died as the years rolled around. some re-
tired because Of old age, some had to retire
because John DAILY gave them heart break
ing. impossible tasks, to drive them AWAY.
as they believed. and some John DAILY dis-}
charged for one offence or another. until
Of all the hundred cooperative trimmors,
not one was left but John DAILY. now solo
contractor. and he had working for him
hundred men at % cents an hour. "a
John Daily was known on many an ocoerS
sion to spend only S. for the trimming "
boat for which he got Sl45, These were
the days in which he used to come down from
the heights to his work In his own carrieg6.
He owned real estate in Jersey, City and
Hoboken. He was believed to be rich.
new superintendent. Mr.. varian.
came about 1888, and a new contract had
to be made with him. History repeated
itself. The men demanded contract as
cooperative body and the utter elimination
of John DAILY.
Mr.. varian would not deal with them as
a cooperative body. They struck then for
Is cents an hour, and a settlement was masfo
by which there should be no contract. but
all the money which contract would bring
them would be divided among them fairly
by Mr. Varian himself
Again did the tenements rejoice in sflS
as a months pay instead Of 500. and this
condition lasted all through the supefirl,
tendency Of Mr.. Vsrian. He was sucoeadeA
few years ago by Mr.. johnson, who.
thinking that a couple Of honest con-
tractors would treat the men fairly. while
relieving his Office Of burden Of care that
did not rightly belong to it, gave shs
contract to Thomas Connolly, who used
to be weighmaster in the old days. and ~
man named Miller. one of the old timers
who worked for DAILY. They are the hosssa
there to-day. employing about ninety men.
the new machinery making up the differ
ence. and the pay Of the men is %. rs or
80 cents an hour, according to the valuatios
the bosses put on their work. The pay
averages about s4s every two weeks.
But what of John Daly2 He went West.
with plenty Of money TO enjoy hlmsalf.
and he died about ten years ago. far fross2