Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1918-05-30
UNION CHIEFS AGAINST
RIVET|NG CONTESTS
Federation of Labor Officials State
the Views of That Organiza-
ton on This Subject.

American Federation Of Labor Off
cIals may take measures TO expel from
unions any members who participate
In rIveting contests. which ere simply
sensational and theatrical while they
dcmoralizc the workers, slow up ship
building, waste energy and create a
vicious expense To the government for
phantom results
This was the statement made YES
terday by Charles p Mouslev, represents
i've Of the Boilermakers and Shipbuilders
| mon. Of Wilmington. IT the American
Federation of Labor Offices in the Heed
Building. Philadelphia in the presence
OF Charles + Scott. and T. Cavan.
general organizers according To en- article
printed in the Philadelphia Ledger today,
which continues:
The men pointed out that the Eng
lIsh BOllermakers Society recently an
nounced that members must quit taking
p .rt In nveting contests The English
boys did right in putting stop 10 it
said Mr.. Cavan. and if we've got any
thing TO say about IT we'll try TO stop it,
too The men themselves laugh at the
so-called records
MIR Mousley asserted that Charles
Sch0ck who set 2720 rivets in nine
days Mr. Cavan added such a result
generally followed all attempts to beat
riveting records
Mr. Scott, explaining how production
is retarded. said
Suppose / start out to make a rec
ord in the yard where | WORK Word
goes around. SCOTS out to make a
record The whole yard gets Interested
in my circus. AT least 100 piece-workers.
who work on rates and don I care about a
boss. come trotting down TO see me At it.
There's 100 machines idle right away
And when the day is done. although |
may have hung up world S record. the
genera. speed Of the yard has slumped so
that the yard as a whole is behind its
own average Then after I've distracted
the attention Of the entire yard while the
record 5 being made. the distraction con
tinues for days in backwash Of gossip
about 1t
''This record fad was devised by
one who didn t know anything about ship
building. And the public has fallen for it
because it's sensational and theatrical.
The r CORDS Of 5000 and 6,C00 rive is in
nine or ten hour day are humanity i'm
possible. | want continuous drive on the
part Of our men in speeding up the build
ing Of ships; want them TO do everything
that is humanity possible for them TO do
but this contest mania is demoralizing
and a terrific waste, besides being i'm
possible.
After Mr. Mousley had told how the
government had paid nearly double
for rlvets during a recent contest, Mr.
Scott asserted the men believe publi-
cation of inflated scores is holding them
up to ridicule so they have an effect the
reverse Of what they were intended to
have, and men in other trades, reading
about them, become dissatisfied, dream
ing about the fabulous sums made in ship
yards
MIR Scott concluded his denunciation
of riyeting records with the observation
that there never was time when better
feeling between workers and employers
existed than that now existing in the ship
yards.
We are satisfied at the treatment
we've been given all down the line" he
said. 80 We re out to come up to and
exceed expectations. That's why we are
opposed to these riveting contests.