Mexico weekly ledger., 1916-03-02

All aNSHSC PA uAJ Ah OSh hahO Vi P~Voo anu S"h IVY P.@V
Before this is read, Saturday night, we will have paid out 100000 in
wages for this week, or $4,000 per day. or about $10O per minute. l
challenge any fire brick plant to show a higher, or even IS high, detailed or
average rate of wages as the aboyeI will extend that challenge to cover
any plant the citizens or the Commercial Club hopes to Bring here. / have
been frank in giving our scale of wages; will the merchants and other en-
ployers of labor here be equally frank and publish what wages they pay for
skilled and unsdled labor.
am sorry that we have no fixed scale Of wages to be increased. as the
good Colonel hopes and calls for. Each Of our skilled workers is paid accord
ing to his individual merit, /. e., the class Of work he turns out and his value
to the company, These arc the worknen who make money for US.
Our lowest rate is $3.50 per day for common or floating labor. AS
soon IS a common laborer shows he is willing, steady and a good worker, he
is promoted and can get the higher priced jobs when qualified. We can
always use more skilled men. The growth Of our plant is largely dependent
upon the growth Of our skilled labor
This common labor rate is not Of our choosing, but is fixed for US by
tompethhon-by what is paid by neighbonng towns and large cties-in Mex
leo itself. Does any business a think for a minute W could employ a large
number of men and pay them less than they can get elsewhere?
Many of our men, from onethird to onehaf, have been working at the
plant for five years and more-many since the plant was started, twelve
years ago. When injured our men are not settled with Q a liability basis.
Whether the injury was his own fault n the Companys or is of sick,
provided only he is a good man and loyal worker he finds a bit Of money m
Ibis envelope Saturday night.
When tmes%ere bad two winters ago and work at the brick plant was
only two and three days a week, not a one Of our men went "on the town.
the plant provided for them until work opened up.
Right here | want to pay a tribute to our labor at the brick plant
During the five years I have been here, our labor has constantly been get
ting better and I hope it will continue improving. We have never had a labor
strike nor any serious labor disputes. We have the confidence of our men and
they re faithful loyal workers. / challenge anyone to produce a man who
can prove that he was ever mistreated at this plant
Our labor is 100 per cent native, has been built up, trained and devei'
oped from raw material we found and brought into Mexico; only when we are
seriously short do we bring any foreigners here. The best proof OF the above
statement is to ask such men as Dave Owens, Fritz Langenbachy Jim Towsen'
hbAhN4h RN0t53
Henry Irwin or TONED Harrison of the colored menand manyother Mexico
men born and raised here who are working at the brick plant by the year.
/ want to ask the older citizens to look back to the days immediately
after the old Dixon Fire Brick Plant in the west part of town shut down and
a hundred or more skilled men thrown on the labor market Were houses
all occupied and rents good then? How many men getting $500 per day!
Mexico had a fire brick reputation then as now-Why did they val until
nearly twenty years after to bring a plant here-and then by local men!
Mr.. Glandon tells me he got all the laborers he wanted at stoo per day
lin 1908 and 1904 when building the present brick plant and that o v years
thereafter his highest wages, skilled or common. was $3.50 per day. Contrast
ltaht with u scale paid last week, u
During the FIVE years | have been in Mexico we have hd plenty Oh
labor from October until April During the spring and summer while farm
work. building. street improvements, interurban work and pipe line laying Is
yofnp o around u.s., we have been short of labor more or less acutely'
Ism this to be expected in a town the size Of Mexico? We expect it.
In October. last, business revived, we bgan running full time and max
inc improvements which called for additional men. We have put every
available ia to work, have advertised and barely have had enough FOL r
wants.. no good man came to our plant three mornings successfully without
getting a Job. Where would another plant employing two hundred and over
ret their supply of labor in Mexico today?
Please understand there are a number Of undesirable local men, prob
ably 25 or &c, who for one reason Of another are 50 unreliable and incompetent
l,bat bev demoralze u regular force. When we find out the character
of these Iaborers, we leave then strictly alone, This fact may be misleading
som Of our citizens who don't know that some men out of work re undesir-
able and undeserving.
must also take issue with my good friend Colonel Morris on the effect