Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-02-24
GEO. LAKEY SPEAKS
TO LARGE AUDIENCE
lContinned from Page OneI

freight, delivery and overhead, ou
even the most optimistic Of US can
not conceive of the difference be
tween S1.75 and S14.75 being all lie
climate expense. Who pets the dlf
ference?
1T seems that the contracting in
Lerests of the country are gettinl
wise to the fact that the trade assoel
atoms of which we have heard s
much about in New York, an
brought into the limelight by tn
Lockwood committees investigation
are responsible for a very large par
Of the high cost Of building" sal,
The speaker, commenting on the higl
cost of building. Horace II. Herr
editor of the American Contractor, /
quoted as follows:
Contracting interests, In many
localities, are fighting mad and
there is a likelihood that an ag-
gressive campaign to force GER
tain material producers TO sell in
Wholesale lots TO contractors
will be formulated when the
National Association of Builders
Exchanges meets in annual con-
yention in Memphis, Tenn, Feb
ruary 20.
The situation is this: The re-
tail dealers and local representa-
tiyes of certain building mater
ials, especially cement, have in
sisted that all material sold in
their territory should be handled
as local business and the retail
er paid a margin on that busi-
ness. In other years the con-
tractor handling a big job could
buy direct from the producer in
wholesale quantities and get the
benefit of the wholesale price.
Gradually this practice has been
restricted until today it is al
most impossible for the general
contractor to buy direct even
though the quantity goes into
carload lots.
Paying the retailer his margin
increases the cost of cOnstruc-
ton and, in some instances, de-
pending upon the local dealer
means that h tegenearetaoin-
means that the general contrac-
tor can not be sure of continu-
Gus flow of material to the job
in quantities sufficient to pre-
vent interruptions to the work.
This again adds to the total cost
of the completed structure.
Thus, it will be seen that com
lines and cliques are responsible fol
much of the high cost of building
nut, unlike the building tradesmen
las so far escaped condemnatory
newspaper publicity, while the work
n is asked to shoulder the burden
~ taking reduction in wages.
Commenting upon the confusion II
,hicago, Mr.. Lakey further quoted
rom Mr.. Heirs article in the Ameri.
an Contractor, as follows:
The labor controversy in Chi
cago, which has become of ma
tional Importance because of the
fact that Federal Judge Lands
was the umpire, took new turn
this week, which may mean more
or less confusion in Chicago
building circles for several
months. Judge Lands appended
his award on wages, granting
slight increases in the scale of
three minor unions. The presi-
dent of the Chicago Building
Trades Council announced that
while the decision seemed to be a
bad bargain for the unions, they
would stand by the award. In
the meantime citizens COM
mittee has come into the field to
force the unions in line. When
a union failed to get into line the
citizens committee declared open
shop in that union. Now, when
the unions show a disposition to
accept the Lands award the citi-
zen's committee shows no dispo-
sition to call off the open-shop
policy in the crafts where it had
been established during the long
drawn out controversy. The con-
troversy has, therefore, switched
about until it is a fight between
the unions and open shop advo-
Gates rather than a controversy
over the acceptance of Judge
Landis' decision.
"You will note Mr.. Hers com
nent on the Chicago situation. Il
he February issue of our oficiaf
Journal, The Carpenter, we state,
hat the real purpose of the social
I'd Citizens Committee at Chicag
vas well known to u.s." said MI
Lakey. eve find such committees il
many of the large cities masquerad
ng under all sorts of titles and try
ng to make the public believe tina
hey are the protectors" of tn
'public's interest,"" but between yo
and |, we believe their own interest
are served first, and if anything
left the public may have it; or i
plain words, they all work on the the
Dry that we have no right to organ
lze. Now it seems the contractor
realize that while they have bee
busy trying to inflict the un-Ameri
can shop plan on us another syster
of organization has crept upon ther
that is more far reaching in its eli
feet than all the labor unions in tn
land. We know that it seems to hav
became popular pastime to blam
the unions for the high cost of build
ing, and the reason for the popular
lty is the ease with which such mat
ter gets display space in the big head
liners in the daily papers, and mas
much as the average reader in thes
times has crouch at the high cos
of everything, it's easy to make hin
believe the unions are the cause G
it all.
But remember this: That we d
not propose to have our standards G
living guaged by the standards G
fhnse WIN hnVa not ennnrh intnrni