The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-09-01
THOUSANDS TO
Be THROWN OUT
OF PLOYMENT
By the First of October if River
and Harder Bill Does Not
Pass, Says Ransdell

WASHINGTON, d. c., Sept l.
Statistics prepared in the Office of the
Chief Engineers at the request OF
Senator Joseph E. Ransdell, of
Louisiana, president of the National
Rivers and Harbors Congress. shows
that there will be furloughed by the
first of October almost 10000 gov
eminent and contractors employees
engaged on river and harbor work
2a,I69 to be eXact-this action being
made imperatively necessary by rea-
son of the failure to pass the rivers
and harbors appropriation bill
Among these more than $4,000 en-
ployes are engineers, inspectors. fore
men and laborers of all classes, skill
ed and unskilled. Counting five per
sons to family, the furlough-wh1ch
really means the discharge-of these
29.169 employees, will be vitality felt
by 145.S45 persons. But this does
not tell half the story, for the sus-
pension of work and the laying on OF
employees will be felt in countless
branches of trade having to do with
the construction of locks and DAMS
the deepening and widening of rivers.
the dredging of channels, the reveb-
ment of banks and the thousand and
one materials and services that en-
ter into the development of the ma
| tion's waterways, and the FEEDING
clothing and housing of the men who
do the work and their families.
Mississippi Hardest Hit.
| OF the many projects that Will De
compelled either to shut down OF
run with greatly diminished forces
after October [. the Mississippi river
from Minneapolis to it's mouth vii!
he the hardest hit, the number OF
government contractors employees
Who will be discharged by that date
being no less than 1879 On the
MINER mississippi 2,9O3 men will De
/ discbareed in the Rock Island dis
trict and I $50 in the st. Louis ois-
trict. In the territory controlieo us
the Mississippi River Commission =
! AKA men must be discharged In tnt
Srs+ and second districts Extending
from Cane Girardeau to White river.
ao46 In the third district, Cbetween
white river and Warrenton, MISS >
and in the fourth district, Cextenoing
from warrenton to the Gulf. the
number Is 9:2556. In addition, lss
men will be laid off In the New Ut
leans district, and $50 in the vicks.
burg district. who are not emPioseu
upon the Mississippi river.
Tn the new London, Conn.,, district
2a1 men will be dropped and In the
first second and third New York oil,
nisions s4e. The pay envelopes will
stop for 105 men at JacksonVllle'
Fla. T93 at Montgomery, Ala; 80
at Mobile: 249 at Kansas City; zoo
at Louisville and 607 at Chattanooga.
On the Great Lakes more than
400 men will be laid off. of whom
10 are in the Chicago district.
If the river and harbor bill fails 70
become law by October i, the PORT
l1an5 nre district will suffer severe
" for the engineers state in their
rsnort that of the 3.130 men at work
IN the Improvement of the Columbia
and snake rivers only $50 would ne
retained, a net loss OF 2.541.
wheeling Will BE Hurt.
pittsburg. Wheeling and C1ncin-
nat; Detroit and Grand Rapids. Du-
18th Milwaukee and Cleveland, Los
ngeIes and San Francisco, Nasn-
y;lle Savannah and Galveston. an
these and many other cities on the
Atlantic. Pacific and Gulf coasts: the
Great Lakes and the interior rivers
of the country will feel keeniy ~ ~.
suspension of work and the laying On
of thousands OF laborers at TINS most
linopportune time.
senator Ransdell. who has been
making the fight of his life to get the
river and harbor bill passeI: atter
studying the summary made cy.-S- ;.s
CHIEF of engineers from the reports OF,
Division and District engineers. said
cat this time. with an awful Eu-
ropean war aging and because OF the
lessened demand for articles OF
American production. It becomes. IN
my judgment, the imperative duty
of the nation to increase the effective
force or or laborers and wage earn