OUT OF POCKET.
Reading edition
The losses to thirty thousand employes and seven hundred contractors during the lockout aggregated more than $4,000,000. They are fairly shown by the following statement:
4,000 Carpenters, 16 days, @ $2.50 $160,000
2,000 Carpenters, 30 days, @ $2.50 150,000
4,000 Hodcarriers and Laborers, 60 days, @ $2.00 480,000
3,000 Bricklayers, 54 days, @ $3.60 583,200
1,000 Brick Makers, 54 days, @ $5.00 270,000
8,000 Brick Laborers, 54 days, @ $1.75 756,000
1,000 Brick Teamsters, 54 days, @ $4.00 216,000
1,000 Stonecutters, 30 days, @ $4.00 120,000
500 Cornice men, 30 days, @ $3.00 45,000
500 Gravel Roofers, 30 days, @ $2.50 37,500
700 Plasterers, 30 days, @ $4.00 84,000
250 Lathers, 30 days, @ $2.50 18,750
600 Painters, 30 days, @ $2.50 45,000
1,000 Mill men, 30 days, @ $2.50 75,000
Iron men 10,000
Slate Roofers 5,000
Stair Builders 5,000
Lumber Yard Employes 5,000
Teamsters 5,000
Boatmen 5,000
—————
Total $3,075,450
The actual loss of the seven hundred contractors would average not less than $25 per day for sixty days, which would make their loss—exclusive of percentage on work delayed—$1,050,000. This sum, added to the loss of the idle man, makes a total loss in the building trades alone of $4,125,450. And this resulted from a demand for Saturday pay-day.
This calculation does not include the percentage of losses to the builders upon work which was in hand, and which could have been pushed to completion during the pendency of the strike. They would have amounted at least to $1,000,000. These figures should be a warning to projectors of strikes in the future, but when a strike is determined upon, the results, in a financial way, are never considered. Nothing is looked to but the present imaginary wrong, which reckless leaders insist must be righted without reference to the effect upon their own pockets or those of the employer upon whom their demands are made. It is about time for the strike and boycott days to end, in order that prosperity may be assured to both the employer and the employe—at least in the building trades of this country.