New Britain herald., 1923-10-08
PLASTERERS' PAY
 NOW 25 4 DAY
\. '. Tradssmsn Sell Services
 at Auction

time on sunday sfteF in the merhing the slave market la Brownsville is
 open, This is no ''fom" show where little Eva rides to heaven on prep
 erty string or where Uncle Tom
 writhes under the lash of a meustaeh-
 cd driver, The slaves" drive up in their cars and the slave beaefs". in
 the suise of contractors, are rather
 humble in their manner.
 it is a strange situation that has developed in the building trades, The center of the auction area is at Pitkin and stone avenues Here labor Is bid
 for at prices that might cause the
 white collar man to turn green. as though he had indulged in a full round meal of cucumber pickles and ice cream.
 Ten dollars a day doesn't mean a thing at the Brownsville auction block. Fifteen dollars hardly means more. But when somebody remarks about the golden yellow hue on the back of a tso note-for a days labor --he begins to speak in the only ian- guage that is inteliigible around Pit. kin and Stone avenues. And if. hs casually mentions s2b for days work he not only has uttered a mouthful, but his voice sounds amplined as though from a loud speaker.
 About 1000 people were at the auction block yesterday. They milled around as though there was a caucus In the ncighborbood-or n free-for-aiI. Cars Of various makes and prices were parked nearby.
 Eyes And Money Talk
 Everybody knows why everybody else is present, It is situation where eyes speak multitude of words. where an infection sings like the parallel lines on the dollar mark. Hence all unnecessary verbiage is The conversation is re- duced to set of almost primordIal this:
 "Umph?"
 "Umph; s25."
 "Good!"
 And for all this the late war is blamed. The more lucid of the speakers th,re say it developed | shortly after the armistice when cer- tain people were flush with money and wanted homes pronto. They 'ound they couldn't get the homes as rapidly as they wanted unless they paid higher wages than the union scale. They were agreeable; what was the newly acquired money for?
 So little by little the wages were annQfnl ! | demand and command. They did both. There was a master tradesmen among the contractors, put that is rather decrepit now. The found they must have lelp. The amateur home builders we're stealing help by paying big wages. Home builders, finding they . 'ould sell the homes at profit of 5000 to $5,000 each, turned around md became contractors. The work ITS were sitting at the top of the world through no effort of their own, ut benefiting by a situation the anna eur contractors and the regular ones rere creating.
 Union Scale Means Nothing.
 The union wage scale for plasterers , S10 day. Contractors yesterday we're hiring the best men for $25 and ?6. The scale for carpenters in Brooklyn is SIP and they were hiring Ut at s25 yesterday. The operation 7 } called ''snowballing" among master radesmen. It isn't called much of I nything at Pitkin and Stone avenue , xcept getting the help. |
 So amazing has the situation be- ome that workman may be on the q ob only three days before he has an I fer from another contractor for $1 lore a day. He quits immediately O money is held back-and goes to mother job. Any contractor may have l
 complete and excellent force when J 0 goes home at night. Next morning ( e may arrive to find his job as de- l old of workmen as Mrs. Hubbards l upboard was of .bones. The only q hing left for him to do is to go out c nd steal the help away from some g ther job-at $1 day more a man. a
 There isn't any trouble among the T They accept it as situ- ? IiOh' ito CNOiy Ahdi lOi IihtoCii' he building is mostly in the locality Brownsville and consists of apart lent house work The contractor lust finish his job on time. It be- o ,mes a question with him whether o Q will take loss imposed by for c it for overlapping the time limit or t, Ike a loss by paying high wages. F ontractors agree they have sustained D ,me heavy losses. But they admit H icy aren't doing it now-not by a n gful. O
 The Owner Pays.
 They're figuring the price of wages = to the contract amount, and the If vner has to pay. That means that al estate prices have risen out of all and Brownsville is on the rge of skyrocket boom. with the E yrocket plentifully supplied with lpetus.
 Rents likewise are up. Apartm ents M @ rented at from $15 to $2o room. m gh wages arc chasing rents and ss nts likewise are chasing high wages. AT s game of put and take with the hs cent on both. S, Up to a snort time ago rev outside in
 Brownsville had heard of this ction block and the high prices. that re being paid Recently the news s leaked out. One contractor said be sterday he had been unfortunate in di ting help. but was delighted when mi o intelligent appearing men agreed
 work for him at SIS day. They appeared at the job next ,rning and very soon he found out ,.; sy dioh. hnow 'n,hs soou. any ne ehe Moih' he quSS'ioiie" '" tn