Evening journal., 1908-06-22
sriokIaysrs View of It.
Editor DEE EVENING JOURNAL

Editor THE EVENING JOURNAL
I read with considerable amusement,
not unmixed with surprise, the agita-
ton of local merchants occasioned by
the rumors that he Y. M. c. A. con-
templates going elsewhere for furnish
ings. The merchants Of this city are
generally members OF the Board Of
Trade, and this association has adopted
for its slogan Spend your money at
home" This we heartily endorse and
believe that It should he carried out
by the citizens, generally, whenever
and wherever possible. but we are also
Of the opinion that this principle should
be broad enough in its application to
embrace workingmen as well as merch-
ants, as it is the money of the work
ingmen that the merchant largely de-
Ponds uDon for his success.
You viii remember hat sometime
ago a difference arose in this city be-
tween the employing bricklayers ana
their employees, resulting in a lockout
of the union employees. These unior.
men We're all citizens Of this city, born
and raised in this city. rearing and
educating their children here and pay.
ing taxes to this city. Notwithstand-
ing these facts, employers advertised in
Philadelphia, Chester. baltimore and
smaller cities in this vicinity for brick
layers. These foreign hrlcklayers were
brought here; paid $3.50 per week, ana
not one cent of their wages is spent in
this city. There are about fifteen Of
these men in this city at the present
time, supporting families in Chester,
Philadelphia and other towns and
cities.
For three years these outlanders have
been employed in preference to the
home worlxmen and while, at times. d
number far in excess OF fifteen have
been employed in this branch of the
builacng industry we viii use fifteen
as a basis of calculation and simple
multiplication will disclose the fact that
fifteen men at s264O Ger week. for
three years, will receive in wages
$61.576 How much of this is spent in
wilmington may be judged by an in>
cident occurring on one of these build
ings. being erected bv foreign works
men, Jim. Ca bricklayer from Ches-
teri, asked Sam, Ca local union mani.
for a chew of tobacco. Sam asked
him If he hadn't any Of his own. mo"
he replied, Il forgot t. get any when
I leo home. and I wouln't buy anv n
this d. place" Jim lives in an
other State. goes home every night. AMI
always buys his return trip ticket at
the other end. So YOU can easily
figure out how much Of this mans
s26.40 per week goes Into the pockets
of our local merchants To the writer s
personal knowledge, three men employ
ed on a certain building on Market
street lived in Philadelphia; came down
on the train arriving mere every morn.
ing about 730 and left on the sos D.
m. They walked to and from work so
their contributions to the local merch.
ants We're not heavy enough to cause
our local banks to refuse further lie.
posits
These same merchants who are now
lettingout vociferous bowls have in
variably given their work to contract
ing bricklayers who employ these
foreign workmen. regardless Of these
facts. On building. recently erected
on Market street, four briclSlayers were
employed. One lived within the cor.
porate limits of our city and seventy
five per cent. of the wages paid went
to foreign merchants. yet. no doubt.
the owners ana occupiers of this prep
erty will object because the Y. NJ. c. A
docs not Datroalze home industries.
Consistency. thou art a jewel" but
the Board of Trade does not ap-
pear to be wearing much of this kind
of jewelry in the present instance.
Yours. for a fair fight, regardless Of
whose OK is being gored.
William A. Ruth,
613 N. jackson street.
President BriclSlayers' Union, No. 1, of
Delaware.
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