The evening world., 1915-02-26
$4,000 OL0SE Jobs, !.
COURTS DECISION
! TIES Up SUBWAYS
Mayor and p. s. Board viii
Ask for Repeal OF Alien
GOES TO u. S. COURT.
No More Contracts VIII Be Let
Until Present Tangle Is
Solved.
GOES TO u. S. COURT.

Just how the city Of New York IL
going to finish fts S>oo. 100000 Of out
standing subway work In vtew Of the
opinion Of the Court Of Appeals de-
claring constitutional the State Labor
Law barring aliens from ali pubic
works 10 causing Mayor Mitchell.
Chairman Ddward =. MCCALL OF the
Pubnc Service Com mission and Comp
trolisr william A. Prsndsreast. the
ohAsf financial oficsr Of the city. Eravs
appr shension. Twenty-Five thousand
men are Immediately affected.
New York City 10 already facing
the highest tax rate In Its entire his.
tory and Mayor Mitchell says the de-
cision Of the Court Of Appeals will
be very expensive 10 the city.
Comptroller Prendergast declares
that the section Of the STATE Labor
Law barring aliens from labor work
on city or State contracts, us against
the public interests, Ia q species OF
intolerance and should be repealed"
Governor whitman and prominent
members of the Legislature will be
appealed to to-day In an effort TO
have the labor law 10 amended that
Il will prove harmless TO subway and
all other big city and state jobs.
40 grave 10 the situation. accord
ing to Chairman Mccall. that Il may
be necessary to appeal to the United
States Supreme Court. which VIII he
asked to revisw the action Of the
New York state Court Of Appeals ~
quickly ~ possible. % that the city
may be saved from . jungle Of legal
tangies and law suits and even
prosecutions.
Said Chairman MCCALL: "The possi-
bile resuits of this decision Of the Cour'
Of Appeals are simply stupsndous.
feel that can hardly undertake &c
say what this decision may mean. rha
most important 10 that II may NEAR
the delay OF tho completion OF the
dual subway system. That 10 the
most important thing to tho people
OF New York City But there are
other possibilities.
"Thts decision places the Public
Service Commission on tho horns OF q
dilemma. Under the law A. II has now
been expoundsd by the Court Of Ap-
peals. the members Of tho Public Ser
vlce Commission must void any con-
tract on which II Is shown to them
that alien labor In employed. They
must either void the contract forth
with or be subjected TO prosecution
for misdemsanor.
"On tho other hand IL they do void
each and every contract on tho alien
labor complaint being presented TO
them, the Public Service Commission
tho position Of being sued for millions
OF dollars IN damages In case the
Supreme Court OF tho United States
reverses tho ruling Of tho Court Of
Appeals Of the State Of New York.
1t takes a greot deal Of time, yenrs
sometimes. TO get decisions from tho
Supreme Court Of the Uaited States.
and pending the procuring of such a
decision this Commission would, of
course. be unable TO let any further
contract.
There are contracts for rapid tran
sit work for S%00.0o0.o00 now out
standing. Sixty four OF the eighty
three major contracts for tho con-
struction Of the dual subway system
have been let already. Seven moro
contracts are ready TO he let. We
were to have opened bids on another
section of the Seventh Avenue sub y
to-day. We will not open these bids
AZ result Of this decision. for should
we do so we would be In the position
OF having 10 award the contract to the
lowest bidder.
1T Ia possible that this requirement
that only citizen labor be employed
on subway work may render the con-
struction 20 expensive that contrac-
tors may prefer to default on their
contracts There 10 absolutely no
way Of telling what may happen. I
expect that representatives Of the
contractors will pour In here for a
conference over the situation. None
Of them has come In as yet"