Arizona republican., 1919-07-26
Phoenix Acute Building Stage

A crisis has been reached in building operations in Phoenix There are 272 partly finished residences in early stages construction. For two days there has been a holiday appearance about them. Nothing doing. They will of course, all be finished sometime but whether any more new buildings will be begun depends upon the settlement industrial dispute The bod carriers are holding out for s6 a day.
 The building trades wage situation is in riousy chaotic chaotcaIy serious shape. Con tractors are between the deep blue of labor and the devil of the prospective builders Many half formed building projects have been definitely aban- doned what with wage conditions and what with the present prices of building materials.
 The wage scale for bricklayers is at present s9 though it is said many receiving S10 and s11 It is proposed it is stated next fall to advance the scale to SIP and some of the optimistic brick layers looking forward to s14 day The plas- terers who are now receiving s9 day, it is under stood, August will advance the scale to s1O.
 The wage advances which have taken place have so far been effected with little protest from the contractors The latter have been willing to pay any wage for labor and any price for material for which the builder would stand. They say that they have now reached the limit-the breaking point. People will not build at higher figures. The goose which has been laying the golden eggs is in it's last gasp.
 The contractors further say that if the higher wages attended by greater efficiency or if even former efficiency maintained the situation would be less discouragng but they can only observe that efficiency decreases in inverse ratio to wages. For instance they say the present of the brickIayer is 900 per day-a cent brick. In the old days man used to lay 1000, 5000 and even 4OOO day.
 Next to the mounting wage scale the thing that has been most disturbing the contractor has been the uncertainty of it A sudden advance, and all ad- vances have sudden, likely to wipe out all the contractors profits and leave him the red. The workmen have had arrangement which was theoretically fair but practice not always coupled with theory. It agreed that advanced wage scale should apply to job already under or under contract. But working such job have often not hesitated leave to take places 8 new job at the higher wage leaving the old tractor his choice between likeness and paying the new wage to
 The contractors holding meetings to decide what is to be They feel that there is not much they can do locally. The matter of allowing wage raises is about to pass of their hands They allow them at the expense of their profits at their loss on the jobs already under way. But can they get jobs? They have already seen many pros- pective abandoned and they fear all will be aban doned and that they will be out of business.
 They see light in only direction-the outside. Building trades wages, they nave ascertalneu, are much higher in Phoenix than they are in the east and higher than they the coast. They believe that the existing scale would bring sufficient number of skilled men to Phoenix A com paratively few, they say, of the whole number m ployed here would be enough There for instance only about seventy bricSlayers here but pecu-
 liar relation between the brckayers and bod carriers and bod carriers would be easily secured from the ranks of unskilled labor resulted in tying