The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1909-02-23
THE PLUMBING QUESTION.
Some Information on the Subject
r1.or, Mor re Exnor;anca .

From Man OF Experience.
There has been considerable dis
cussion In newspapers recently as
to prices of plumbing in this city;
and in the course of a conversation
with Mr.. Frank Smith, manager of
the Orangeburg Material Company
he gave some interesting informa-
ton.
Among other things, Mr.. Smith
said, that the Orangeburg Material
Comany was the first concern in the
city to undertake this class Of work,
which was about two years ago, and
since that time have done more work
than all of the others in the city;
besides have filled large contracts
in other parts of the State among
which might be mentioned the South
Carolina University contract.
Mr.. Smith said that Mr.. Wertz
and the others complaining simply
were not posted as to the work and
prices which they were criticising.
The best proof of this is that the
Orangeburg Material Company,
which is joint stock company, has
never been able as yet to pay divi-
dend to its stockholders; and has
only been able to continue In busi-
ness by taking contracts for heating
and plumbing outside of Orangeburg,
where the prices for work are much
better than in Orangeburg.
The plain, unvarnished truth is
that the plumbing concerns in this
city have lost money on the work
done here, taking it all around.
The price of labor, as all know, is
controlled by the plumbers union,
and the union has allowed Orange
burg, on account Of being small
city, lower rate of wages by fifty
cents per day than Charleston or
Columbia.
The Orangeburg Material Com
pany has put in numerous jobs in
this city at profit of ten per cent
on the cost price, and any merchant
can tell you that this margin of
profit is too small on which to do
business, as rents, licenses, taxes,
bookkeeper, etc., cannot be paid with
such narrow margin of profit.
This concern gets more for its
work outside of Orangeburg under
close competition than is received
in this city.
We have never refused to furnish
a plumber to put in work where the
property owner furnished the fix
lures and material; on the contrary
we have put in a lot of such work,
even goods bought from Seers G
Roebuck, charging five dollars per
day for the plumber, and are still
ready to undertake such work We
will either furnish the material or
do the work as our customers like.
When information of this nature
is required why does not the Council
call on City Engineer Hawes or City
Electrician Salley, both of whom are
practical mechanics?
To show how little some know
Of plumbing we are told that a
gentleman asked one of the plumb
ing concerns here to install a sink
which the plumber offered to do for
about forty-five dollars, the distance
out to the street sewer being about
sixty feet. The gentleman thought
this ridiculous. why" said he, II
have my own sink" AS a matter
of fact, the sink sells at retail for
dollar and a quarter, and it would
take about twenty-five dollars worth
of lead pipe, grease trap, brasses,
terra Gotta pipe, iron pipe, cast iron
pipe, etc., to do the job, leaving
twenty dollars profit, from which
the plumber and his helper must
be paid for work.
No, the prices for plumbing in this
city are very reasonable, and it is
certain that the Orangeburg Mate
rial Company has hundreds of we'll
satisfied customers, because we do
first-class work, do the work prompt
ly, and install frst-class material.