[Trade Journal]
Publication: Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives for the First Session of the Forty-Eighth Congress, 1883-1884
Washington, DC, United States
vol. 2, p. 1-13, col. 1
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
OF THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FOR THE
FIRST SESSION OF THE FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS,
1883-'84.
IN SEVEN VOLUMES.
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1884.
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48th CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. REPORT
1st Session No. 444
TO PROHIBIT THE IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN CONTRACT
LABOR INTO THE UNITED STATES, ETC.
FEBRUARY 23, 1884. — Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.
Mr. FORAN, from the Committee on Labor, submitted the following
REPORT:
[To accompany bill H. R. 2550.]
The Committee on Labor, to whom were referred the bills (H. R. 2550 and H. R. 3313) to prohibit the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract to perform labor in the United States, have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to report back bill H. R. 2550, and recommend its passage, with the following amendment, as substitute for both of said bills:
Add to section 5 the following: "Nor shall anything in this act be so construed as to prevent any person or persons, partnership or corporation from engaging under contract or agreement skilled workmen in foreign countries to perform labor in the United States in or upon any new industry not at present existing or established in the United States, provided skilled labor for that purpose cannot be otherwise obtained; nor shall the provisions of this act apply to professional actors, lecturers, or singers."
This recommendation is founded upon the investigations of the committee, and the conclusion to which the committee have come, based upon such investigation, that the evils complained of and sought to be remedied by the bill actually and to an alarming extent exist. The bill in no measure seeks to restrict free immigration. Such a proposition would be, and justly so, odious to the American people. The foreigner who voluntarily and from choice leaves his native land and settles in this country with the intention of becoming an American citizen, a part of the American body politic, has always been welcome to our shores. As a recent writer well said —
Such an immigrant by his coming to this country gives us a certain assurance as tohis ability to take care of himself, and to hold up the standard of social well-being which he finds already existing among our working classes.
Such an immigrant comes here because the institutions of the country are in consonance with his social and political ideas, and because of the advantages and opportunities afforded by the extent of our domain and its material resources. He comes to better his social and financial condition, to take advantage of the facilities which he finds here; and as he comes of his own volition, by his own means, and from choice, he always exacts for his labor the highest rates which the market affords. No one is injured by his coming, and as he generally makes a good citizen, the State is benefited by the acquisition. These immigrants are generally of a higher class, socially, morally, and intellectually, and have aided largely in the development of our industries and the material progress of our people. With this class of immigrants this bill has no concern. Its object is to restrict and prohibit the immigration or rather the importation of an entirely different class of persons, the immigrant who does not come by "his own initiative, but by that of the capitalist." It seeks to restrain and prohibit the immigration or importation of laborers who would have never seen our shores but for the inducements and allurements of men whose only object is to obtain labor at the lowest possible rate, regardless of the social and material well-being of our own citizens and regardless of the evil consequences which result to American laborers from such immigration. This class of immigrants care nothing about our instutitions [sic] institutions, and in many instances never even heard of them; they are men whose passage is paid by the importers; they come here under contract to labor for a certain number of years; they are ignorant of our social conditions, and that they may remain so they are isolated and prevented from coming into contact with Americans. They are generally from the lowest social stratum, and live upon the coarsest food and in hovels of a character before unknown to American workmen. Being bound by contract they are unable, even were they so disposed, to take advantage of the facilities afforded by the country to which they have been imported. They, as a rule, do not become citizens, and are certainly not a desirable acquisition to the body politic. When their term of contract servitude expires, their place is supplied by fresh importations. The inevitable tendency of their presence amongst us is to degrade American labor and reduce it to the level of the imported pauper labor.
The demand for the enactment of some restrictive measure of this character comes not alone from American workingmen, but also from employers of labor in America. The employers of labor, who from inability or from patriotic motives, employ only American workingmen, are unable to compete in the markets with the corporations who employ the cheap imported labor.
As an evidence of the truth of this proposition, the glass manufacturers of Pittsburgh, including all the large employers of labor in that industry, in January, 1880, denounced the action of the manufacturers west of Pittsburgh in importing European workmen in place of discharged American workmen.
This evil has become so extensive, alarming, and great, that the attention of our foreign consuls has been directed to it.
Henry Sterne, esq., United States consul at Buda-Pesth, Hungary, says:
There seems to be an agency at work, which by misrepresentations induces people to leave their homes who will not better their condition thereby, nor benefit the country which receives them. People inquire by letter and in person at this consulate about this agency of which they have heard or read. Some even claim that this consulate has instructions from its Government to assist people in immigrating. I am under the impression that the United States Government does not approve of immigration brought about by such irregular means, and of the character described, and, therefore, beg leave to suggest whether steps could or should not be taken to correct the evil, if I may be permitted to term it such. I have information that agents are managing the business a good deal in the manner of the Coolie trade, and THAT THESE IMMIGRANTS ARE SHIPPED TO THE UNITED STATES ABOUT LIKE SO MANY CATTLE. (See State Department Report 1881-'82.)
Count Esterhazy, an intelligent, cultivated Hungarian, at present Austrian consul to this country, who has established a bureau for the protection of Hungarian immigrants, says:
There is no doubt that a contract system is being carried on, and I believe it has reached larger proportions than any one believes. Certain it is that great numbers of immigrants are landed on these shores who are owned by capitalists. As far as I know, persons who have been so imported are satisfied; but this fact does not apologize for the system. I have long endeavored to discover who the parties are who obtain the immigrants on the other side, but have thus far been unsuccessful. I certainly hope that Congress will pass some law to put a stop to such immigration.
Superintendent Jackson, of Castle Garden, says, speaking on this subject:
I have no doubt that this system is carried on to a great extent by corporations in this country who have their agents abroad. Every now and then large gangs of laborers arrive, all bound for the same town. They are generally taken in charge by some person or persons who come here to meet them. Some few weeks ago a party composed of about sixty Irish and German girls arrived, all of whom were going to one of the large silk manufacturing establishments in New Jersey. I do not know whether they had contracted with any persons, but presume they had done so. No one will undertake to send people to this country free of charge without some guarantee that certain services will be performed in lieu of the price of such passage. We have never received any complaints from the persons who have been imported here, but nevertheless I have no doubt that such a slavery system is being carried on.
Mr. Tuke, of the Tuke immigration committee of Great Britain, a short time ago wrote a letter to the London Times, and after referring to the immigrants whose passage had been paid to America from the Tuke fund, said: "Many instances are cited in which immigrants are returning their passage money." Whether they had done so because they had been transported under agreement or contract to perform labor here, and were to a certain extent compelled to return their passage money, does not appear, but it is more than probable that such was the case. In one year (1883) this Tuke immigration committee "assisted," or rather transported, 3,600 persons to the United States. It is more than questionable whether these assisted immigrants, even if they do not come under contract, are a desirable acquisition to our population. This Government is certainly under no moral obligations to care for and maintain the pauperized victims of the misrule and tyranny of foreign powers, whether brought here by contract or by the monopolies of America, or assisted here by the Governments whose policy reduced them to pauperism.
Mr. John Swinton, of New York City, in a recent issue of his paper, states that in the lower quarters of New York City there are quite a number of firms engaged in trafficking in human flesh; they are, as a rule, engaged in the "banking business," but their ventures in the slave traffic are quite extensive. Going into one of these establishments for the ostensible purpose of securing Italian laborers for an iron company, the agent stated in answer to an inquiry, that during the time they had been in business, fourteen thousand Italians had been brought to this country under contract, six thousand of whom had returned to Italy. It was further stated that they had agents at Naples; that the American companies paid the passage of the men from Italy, and their fare from New York to destination, which amount the imported Italian agrees to pay back with six per cent. interest. The men are shipped from New York to destination by the car-load, cars being chartered for that purpose. The men receive from the American companies from $1 to $1.25 per day. Mr. Swinton also states that the Hudson River Iron and Ore Company in Linlithgow, Columbia County, New York, had in June, 1883, a large number of Hungarian laborers employed at one dollar per day; they were paid monthly, fifteen days being invariably retained by the company. The men were huddled together in shanties, and live mainly upon rye bread and potatoes. They had been brought there under contract to fill the places of American workingmen, to glut the market and thus depress wages.
The Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, in its issue of December 11, 1883, publishes a "special" from Erie, Pa., to the effect that H. W. Heichhold, son of the United States inspector of customs of that name, had that day (December 10) returned from Lake Superior and reported a distressing condition of affairs at Jack Fish Bay and other points on the northern shores of Lake Superior. He stated that at these points 3,000 Italian laborers were left in a terrible state of destitution. They were brought from Italy by agent with the understanding that they were to have employment on the Canada Pacific Railway. As they perhaps reached there late in the season, when work had partially suspended, their agents deserted them in many instances and left them without money, food, or shelter. Some of them made their way to the United States or southern shores as stowaways. They complained bitterly of the treatment to which they were subjected by the agents, who held out great inducements to get them here and then sold their labor at so low a rate that it was impossible for them to procure more than the actual necessaries of life while they worked, after which they were turned drift. Thousands of them were on the northern shores, cut off from civilization, in the middle of winter, many of whom no doubt have ere this died of exposure and starvation. Those who reached our shores are in all probability for the present, at least, a charge upon the communities where they found shelter. During the coming spring and summer those who survive will seek our shores and contribute their share toward the depression and degradation of American labor. Your committee believe and state, and the statement is based upon what it believes to be reliable information, that there are at present over 2,000 imported Hungarians employed in the coke regions of Pennsylvania. According to the statement of Captain Schoonmaker, brother of the largest individual coke manufacturers in the region, these people are from the very lowest stratum of the population of Southern Europe, probably the offspring of serfs and slaves. They look upon every well-dressed American as a lord or prince. One of the paymasters at Uniontown, Pa., says that a number of them tried to kiss his hand the first time he paid them. All of them save the money they make, and many of them send it to Hungary to bring over their friends and kindred. They are, as a matter of course, favorites with operators, as they never grumble about wages, and take what is given them by the company stores without murmuring, and besides, they never strike. In respect to economy and frugality they greatly resemble the Chinese. One of them will walk miles, if necessary, to a butcher's shop and carry off thankfully the offal and refuse given him. The women assist the men, and do fully as much work. Children of both sexes not more than five years of age assist their mothers in loading the coke cars. Nearly everything they eat is boiled in a pot brought from Hungary. As many as forty are known to live in a single hut of two small rooms. Free American workingmen, with American ideas, culture, and intelligence, cannot possibly compete with these people. The situation is essentially parallel to that which induced Congress to prohibit the importation of the Chinese. Italians and Hungarians are now brought to this country in precisely the same manner that the importation of Chinese was begun seventeen years ago. The Chinese were brought to California under contract and then hired out to the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, and other railway companies. Italians have been brought here in the same way to work for the Nickel Plate, Ohio River, and other railway companies in the Eastern, Southern, and Middle States. If it became necessary to protect the American workingmen of the Pacific slope from the disastrous and debasing competition of coolie labor, the same argument now applies with equal force and pertinency to the importation of pauper labor from Southern Europe.
In this connection the following statistics of immigration may be interesting. They cover four years, beginning July 1, 1879, and ending June 30, 1883.
During these four years the number of female immigrants was 37.8 per cent. of the total immigration from England, 47.6 per cent. of the total immigration from Ireland, 40.4 per cent. of the total immigration from Germany, 26 per cent. of the total immigration from Hungary, 17.1 per cent. of the total immigration from Italy, and less than half of one per cent. of the total immigration from China. During the year ending June 30, 1883, the total number of male immigrants above fifteen years of age from Italy was 26,691, while the total number of female immigrants above that age was but 2,566, or less than 8.8 percent. of the total immigration. During the same year the number of male immigrants from Hungary above fifteen years of age was 7,953; female immigrants above that age, 1,627, or less than 17 per cent. of the total immigration. These figures demonstrate most conclusively that during each of the last four years thousands of male Italians and Hungarians who are not the heads of families reach our shores. The immigrant who comes here with his family gives assurance of his intention to remain here, become a citizen and a permanent factor in our population. It cannot be claimed that these are mainly young men, for during the same year ending June 30, 1883, the number of male immigrants from Italy above thirty-nine years of age was 4,428, while the number of females above that age was only 394. From Hungary, during the same period the number of male immigrants above thirty-nine years of age was 1,187 as against 185 females above that age. There can be no doubt but these people come together in large numbers, and when their abject poverty is considered the conclusion that they are imported becomes irresistible. In 1880, according to the tenth census reports, Chinese males in the United States and Territories exceeded Chinese females in number ninety-six thousand. In commenting upon this fact, the Hon. John Eaton, Commissioner of the Bureau of Education, in the report for 1881, says that this circumstance proves "that their stay in the country is only provisional and temporary, and that they can give no 'hostages to fortune.'"
Again Mr. Eaton says, in the same report, speaking about the Chinese: "Industrious, frugal, law-abiding families are the best foundations of a state." Contrasting the importation of coolies in the direction of the excess of males above females with the "assisted" immigration and importation from Southern Europe, we find that during the last four years the excess of male Italians above females who landed upon our shores to be sixty thousand one hundred and ninety-nine, while the number of male Hungarians in excess of females, in an almost comparative smaller immigration, was during the same period fifteen thousand. In 1880 the number of Italians of foreign birth in the United States was 44,230. At the same ratio of disproportion between the sexes, Italian males exceed Italian females in the United States today over ninety-two thousand in a total population of little over 135,000, and Hungarian males exceed females nearly twenty-three thousand in a total population of 42,884, there being but 11,526 of these people of both sexes in the United States in 1880. The total Chinese population of both sexes in 1880 was 104,427, the excess of males being 96,000. The parallelism between the Chinese and Italians in this direction is certainly striking. As bearing upon the character of these immigrants as desirable material for citizenship, the following data, compiled from a statement on comparative statistics on education, issued by the Bureau of Education for and during the year 1882, maybe of interest. England, Ireland, and Germany are included for the purpose of contrast:
The German Empire publishes no educational budget, hence the amount expended for education during 1882 is not given. From these figures it will be seen that 20 per cent. of the entire population of the United States attend schools of some grade, while but 10.2 per cent. of the population of Hungary and 7.4 per cent. of the population of Italy attend any grade of schools. It will be also observed that while we paid for educational purposes, in 1882, $1.63 per capita, Italy, during the same year, paid but twenty-one cents, and Hungary but fourteen cents and six mills per capita for educational purposes. In view of these conditions, even voluntary immigration from these sources can hardly be regarded as an unmixed blessing. But when it is stimulated, encouraged, and "assisted" by great monopolies and capitalists, purely for selfish ends, regardless of the misery they entail upon others, and the permanent injury they inflict upon the country, the General Government should interpose timely and vigorous measures to check the evil. This becomes more apparent and urgent when an investigation of the statistics of immigration discloses the fact that immigration from England, Ireland, Germany, and other European countries from which the better class of immigrants come, is steadily decreasing, while immigration from Southern Europe is as steadily increasing. When the pressure of population upon subsistence becomes sharp and severe, the immigration from the country where such pressure exists invariably increases. This is noticeable in the case of Ireland. From 1873 to 1880 immigration from that country steadily and rapidly decreased; but from 1880 to 1883, owing to the failure of crops more, perhaps, than to political disturbances, immigration rapidly increased, the increase in 1880 over 1879 being over 50,000. Should like circumstances arise in Italy, or Hungary, or other countries of Southern Europe in the future, powerful corporations could easily displace millions of American workmen by this pauper labor, by simply pre-paying the passage of people who would gladly flee from want and starvation, if enabled so to do.
It may be well to bear in mind that the figures given above do not represent the actual number of these people now in the United States. The number is probably greater than the statistics show. A large number of this class of immigrants land in Canada, who subsequently find their way to the United States, but are classed in our statistics as Canadians. The 3,000 Italians imported to work on the Canada Pacific Railway is an instance demonstrative of this proposition.
Canadian statistics show that the foreign-born population of the four old and leading provinces of the Dominion, in 1871, was 582,624, while in 1881 it is stated at 561,872, a decrease of 20,752 in ten years. Yet the same statistics claim an immigration during these ten years of 319,321. If this be true, it is evident that the greater portion of this foreign accession subsequently migrated to the United States. As evidence tending to show the efforts employers of labor are making to supplant American workmen with foreigners, and as still further demonstrating the necessity for passage of this bill, attention is called to the following resolution of the Window Glass Manufacturers' Association, held at West End Hotel, Long Branch, July 11, 1883, which is submitted without comment:
On motion of Mr. Gorsuch it was resolved, by a vote of 13 to 8, that the treasurer be authorized to pay a sum not exceeding thirty dollars per man for each blower or gatherer brought over from Europe after August 1, 1883, provided the same be employed by some member of this association, and provided they are not workmen who have been in this country within the twelve months last past.
The committee had before it and took the testimony of some of the leading and most intelligent men in the labor organizations of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio. A summary of their testimony is appended hereto, as are also copies of contracts signed in Europe by the imported workmen. The importance of this subject, its bearing upon the social, political, and economic condition of our people, together with the magnitude of the interests involved, will, it is hoped, furnish an apology for the length of this report.
APPENDIX.
SUMMARY OF TESTIMONY TAKEN BY THE COMMITTEE.
Mr. T. V. POWDERLY, of Scranton, Pa., master workman of the Knights of Labor of the United States, representing 500,000 workingmen who are interested in several bills which are before Congress, testified as follows:
"I am interested in the eight-hour law, the land bill, and bill on imported labor under contract introduced by Mr. Foran. These imported men show no disposition to become citizens of this country, but, on the contrary, seek to obtain a certain sum of money, which they consider a competence, and with it return to Italy or Hungary. I have seen eight of these people and one woman living in a small house, without beds or furniture, sleeping on the floor, and have been informed by reliable authority that these nine persons' expenses for one month was only $27. I have seen them in the Frostburg region of Maryland, where they had been brought by agents, who engaged them at Castle Garden, living in a wooden building, sleeping on bunks, this building being fenced in to prevent them being communicated with by the people whose places they had taken. The diet of these men was water and mush, with a small quantity of meat on Sunday. These men are brought into competition with skilled as well as unskilled labor, and it is fast becoming as bad as the competition of the Chinese in the West. A demand is now going up for an amendment of the Chinese bill in such particulars as it has been shown deficient."
WILLIAM LEECH, of Malaga, N. J., of the W. G. W. A., said:
"I was at Malaga last year when certain Belgians were brought to that place. It was our duty to find out from them if the situation of affairs at Malaga had been made known to them before they came, or whether it had not been misrepresented to them. When we attempted to obtain this information the company had thirty-five of us enjoined by the courts from interfering with them. The window-glass workers were ordered out of their homes in midwinter and compelled to move. Last spring we went to work, the Belgians in one factory and the citizens in another. They have since left Malaga, the firm having changed managers."
EMILE BOUILLET, of Zanesville, Ohio, W. G.W.A., said:
"I was hired at Antwerp by an agent of Dean F. Williams, of Zanesville, Ohio, who came for a set of men (sixty). When I went to see him I asked him why he came to Europe for men. He replied 'that men were scarce and work plenty in the United States.' I told him we would expect the same wages paid in the United States. He said 'they would pay the New York tariff.' When we arrived at Zanesville we discovered that the New York tariff was 25 percent. less than the regular price. I complained to the company of this misrepresentation and they answered that 'they did not authorize the payment of more than what they were then paying.' At Kent the company did not pay the price agreed upon. They brought them to Kent on a con-tract for three years. The men were not permitted to associate with American workingmen lest they might find out the true state of affairs. Two of these men were arrested and put in jail for some days for violating this contract. When we arrived, a friend of one of us was met by a man whom he knew in Europe. As soon as they commenced to talk the manager ordered the arrest of the party. When we arrived at Mansfield, Ohio, a member of the firm came into the car and inquired if any of us could speak English; I answered that 'my father and I could.' He then warned us not to talk to the men."
Question by member of committee. What is the difference between the wages paid these foreigners and Americans?
Answer by John Schlicker. Between 28 and 50 per cent.
Question. Did any of these people show a disposition to become citizens ?
Answer. I think not.
WILLIAM F. BARCLAY, representing the miners of the coke region of Pennsylvania, said:
"We have a great many of these so-called Hungarians. They are not Hungarians, but Slavonians. They are not brought to our region on a written contract. There is an agency in Pittsburgh and in New York for the employment of these people, and to send them where they are called for. We are against the importation of these people because their influence is degrading. Firms employ these people in preference to Americans or other emigrants. They are easily imposed upon, not 5 percent. of them being able to read. They perform this soft-coal mining very well, as it requires little skill. They have usually about one woman to every ten men. Their habits are disgusting in the extreme. I saw and counted one day thirty-five women and children, employed forking coke and working about the ovens; the children poorly clad, of every age ranging from five years upward. They do not work on Sunday. To illustrate how they live: A yard boss, who went to get men to work, got thirty-seven men out of a house containing four small rooms. They had no beds, but laid on the floor, heads and tails, I suppose.
"I never knew one of these men to stay in the country. They spend comparatively nothing, saving their money to return home; even when sick they go to the poor-house, until at last the authorities refused to longer entertain them while they had money. They will eat anything. They hang their meat out in the sun that it may become soft and tainted. The businessmen of the region are opposed to them. They get the same wages as the Americans , except when they work by the day, then they are paid 33 per cent. less, which is all they are worth. This importation has reduced the price of mining, and makes it impossible for the men to do other than submit to whatever the operators demand or require of them, regardless of its just-ness. The condition of the miners and coke-makers generally is aggravated by the company stores which abound in this district. I priced potatoes before I left, and could have bought them of an outside dealer for fifty cents per bushel, while the price in the company stores is eighty cents per bushel. If the men do not deal in the store they are discharged.
"I never met one of these Slavonians who could speak English. We tried to organize the men to enforce the statutes of Pennsylvania, but it was a failure. The companies discharged the men who were active in the matter. They were black-listed and refused work throughout the region. I was urged at another time to getup a strike by one of the operators so that the price of coke might be raised.
"The Hungarians are paid sixty cents per ton, but they are so ignorant that they do not know what a ton is. The mines are wet, and these people work from 1 o'clock a.m. to to 7 p. m. for a day. Americans and more skilled workmen could do the same amount of work in eight hours, but all have to wait on the wagons, the filling of which is delayed by these men, thereby putting the skilled and the unskilled on an equality. We dare not lay our grievance before the coke manufacturers, for whoever does so will be immediately discharged. We are opposed to strikes, as the to strikes, as they are of no use, and could not succeed with us while these people are in this state of ignorance. Our citizens and merchants are leaving the region. The conditions are becoming insufferable . The works run from two to five days per week, and the wages paid about $1.25 per day, or generally eight tons at thirteen cents per ton. The coke manufacturers are now trying to form a syndicate, that they may monopolize the coke business. There are some manufacturers who will not employ these foreigners, one of whom lives in the region."
Mr. BARCKLEY also furnished the committee with the following written statement:
"We have the following evidence that the importation of laborers under contract does exist. The captain of the vessel on which Joseph Welsh, brother of Hon. John Welsh, ex-member of the Pennsylvania legislature, came to the United States, informed him that the large number of Slavonians on board the vessel were imported laborers shipped to America under contract; that the importers had made a special contract with the steamship company at a very low rate for their delivery in the United States, and that their accommodation would be in accordance with the rates, and that should he (Mr. Walsh) not receive the proper care he should complain to him (the captain). I have this from Mr. Walsh himself. We have much other evidence of their being imported by special agreement to work for certain firms. We have discovered an agency at work engaged in the business of importing laborers, agents in Europe gathering the men, an agent in New York receiving them and for-warding them to destinations. I have in my possession evidence that a firm having a branch in the city of Pittsburgh is engaged in this business. E. Dorner& Co. is the name of the firm who have received a certain amount per head for such imported laborers.
PAUL O. DE ESTERHAZY, Austro-Hungarian consul in New York, has acknowledged the existence of such an agency, but says he is unable to do anything in the matter. The class imported by the coke manufacturers are the lowest beings that have ever been in the State of Pennsylvania, subsisting upon what an American laborer could not eat-such as mules, hogs, & c., which have been killed or died with cholera and other diseases. Not one has ever been known to become an American citizen, but all return to Hungary within a limited time (about four years), with what money they can save by living in this miserable condition of filth and squalor. Women and children work, too, drawing coke and forking coke into cars, commencing work about 1 or 2 o'clock a.m. and returning to their shanties as late as 7 p. m., working through all kinds of weather from two to five days per week. They seldom sleep in beds, but lie on the floor, with a board or a stick of wood under their heads, as large a number probably as forty in one house intended for a miner with an average family, one female serving about ten men in all relations between male and female, house-wife and laborer in the coke yards. They are not known to purchase any of the luxuries which tend to elevate and enlighten the people, living in filth and wretchedness; but hoard up their small earnings which they promptly forward to Hungary, thereby draining our district of the circulating medium. Being low in the scale of intelligence, they are the willing slaves of the coke manufacturers, willing to submit to almost any conditions.
"One of the tricks of the manufactures is to import these people for the purpose of evading the laws enacted for the protection of the laboring classes.
"The "Checkweighman law" is an example. The people being unable to read and write, they promise them 30 cents per wagon of one-half ton each, but when they arrive here they are compelled to sign an agreement, making only about 18 cents per ton for mining.
"I have known these beings during the time of the strike to have been dragged from their homes and driven down into the mines by the managers and coal and iron police. I have also known them to have been knocked down and kicked under cars for refusing to do more contract work. In all, they are mere tools by which the manufacturers gain almost any point they desire, to the degradation of our native workingmen and the detriment of our businessmen, making tramps of the former and bankrupts of the latter."
WILLIAM ASHTON, of Philadelphia, Pa., W. G. W. A., said :
"My information is in regard to importation of foreigners to Baltimore, Md. These men were brought under a contract; they were window-glass blowers. The first importation took place in 1879; forty-eight were then brought over by Swindell Bros. The following year Baker Bros. imported seventeen, King Bros. twenty-two, and Swindell Bros. twenty-three. The first importation occurred during a strike; there was no strike when the second importation occurred. Some of the foreigners refused to work and were arrested, but discharged before a hearing was had; their clothing was retained by the firm and it was weeks before they could secure it. They were kept locked in houses, when not working, and could not be seen by the Americans. Most of them have since returned home, some being sent by the glass-blowers' association, and some by the Belgian consul, who complained bitterly of the treatment they received. The effect of their importation was the reduction of wages about 12 per cent. An injunction was issued against the American workmen from interfering with them and made perpetual by Judge Brown, of Baltimore. Before these men were imported we had as good a set of American workmen as could be found anywhere. The system in vogue in Europe and America differs materially. The Europeans work according to old methods and processes; in fact, they bring their tools and molds with them. The European workman cannot turn out within 35 per cent. as much ware as the American workman, and as a result do not or are not able to fulfill their contract, hence the employers are at liberty to pay them what they please."
VAL HAAS, Baltimore, Md. , W. G. W. A., said:
"The situation was misrepresented to them; some of them, when the exact situation was explained to them, quit. Two Germans who quit work were refused their clothes and were arrested. I have been called up at night by these men to explain to them the trouble, as we could not get near them or they near us, so that an understanding might be had. They were under constant police surveillance, and we were enjoined from interfering with them. These foreigners were natives of France, Belgium, and Germany; they were brought in three different parties. In 1879, Baker Bros. brought forty-eight, and King & Bros. twenty-five. Baker Bros. brought a second lot of twenty-five, and King & Bros. and Swindell & Bros., twenty-three. Previous to this last importation there was no strike; some of these men are here yet, others have gone away. The effect has been a 12 per cent. reduction of wages."
CHARLES LEFFLER, Baltimore, Md., W. G. W. A., said:
"My statement is substantially the same as Messrs. Ashton and Haas. Mr. Swindell says he does not want the foreigners any more; they accomplished the object intended — the reduction of wages."
J. CAMPBELL, of Pittsburgh, Pa., said:
"We have no objection to these men coming here voluntarily, but we object to them coming under contract, and to reduce American wages."
JOHN SCHLICKER, of Pittsburgh, Pa., W. G. W. A., said:
"The labor of window-glass blowers is very hard; but few men are able to work at it after the age of forty-five years; the average is but thirty-five years. In consequence of the exhaustiveness of the labor, we decided to not make more than 48 boxes of glass per week, which amount is more than 200 per cent. more than what was a week's work some years back. This limit of48 boxes is a good week's work. To break this limit was the purpose of the importation. These foreigners could not make this amount, and consequently could not fulfill their contract, and were, therefore, subjected to its penalties for failure. One lot of men, that were brought to Kent, Portage County, Ohio, were not employed, as the glass-house was not started, and these poor men and their families were left destitute in a foreign land, and in a hostile com-munity, a charge on the public."
Question. Did you examine Mr. Foran's bill?
Answer. I did, and I favor its passage. I would not object to men being brought to start a new industry.
Mr. JAMES CAMPBELL here said that Mr. James Chambers, of Pittsburgh, had said that Mr. Day, of Kent, Ohio, could send to Belgium and get men at any time, he having an agency there.
JOHN COSTELLO, of Pittsburgh, Pa., president of Miners ' Association, said:
"To mine bituminous coal, it required but little skill. In our district we adopted arbitration, which is legalized under the laws of Pennsylvania. Some of the operators are now trying to break the price agreed upon or decided by the board of arbitration. They sometimes go to Castle Garden and engage men to work in the mines that are idle because the operators will not give the price. Recently we paraded with drums beating and the United States flag flying, on the road which passed near the mines that are refusing to pay the arbitration price, and sixteen of those who were in the procession were arrested for conspiracy. After the arrest and bail of the accused, we paraded again, and twenty-two were arrested on a capaias."
JOHN SCHLICKER, of Pittsburgh, Pa., W. G. W. A., said:
"The difference in working in the glass industry in this country and Europe consists in the fact that there they have two factories and work eleven months a year. I have worked in glass works for 30 years and have not averaged eight months per year in that time. The difference in wages is not material, when all things are considered, between this country and Europe. At Kent, Ohio, these imported men are working on Sunday."
T. B. BARRY, East Saginaw, Mich., ax maker, said:
"I am an ax maker of good reputation for skill and industry. The ax makers struck in Cleveland. We were practically denied the right of free speech. We were not allowed to communicate with the 'rats' who were brought there. Two men, during the time of the strike, who stopped to light their pipes, were arrested and fined $10 each by Judge Solders. I wrote to different parties for work, but could not get any. I received a letter from R. Man & Son, Clinton County, Pennsylvania, in which they informed me that they would not employ any person who belonged to a labor union. I have been forced to take a rest
"In the lumber region of Michigan there are 1,000 men working for their board Agents go to Canada and bring men under false pretenses, telling them that they will receive $35 per month, and advertise for men in large numbers in the Canada papers, to be paid the ruling rates, about $35 per month. When the lumber camps are filled they offer them $16 per month.
"At Muskingum an attempt was made to reduce the boom-men by importing men from Canada. This luring men under false pretenses should be remedied. The hours of workmen who work at salt manufacturing are from 4 o'clock a.m. to7 p.m. The wages are $1.50 per day of 17 hours. These people, to get an existence, cultivate in the evenings, with the aid of lamps, small patches of ground. The men who come from Canada do not intend to remain here, but return to Canada."
JOHN MURRAY, of Shawnee, Ohio, Miners ' Association, said:
"Our men are deeply interested in the bill against the importation of labor, and we expect Congress to do something to remedy the evil. There were 700 foreigners and700 colored men brought to my district during a recent strike there."
FRED. TURNER, of Philadelphia, Pa., secretary of Knights of Labor, said:
"It is the universal sentiment that the bill of Mr. Foran should be passed. The importation of foreign workmen is getting as bad as that of the Chinese. We have not the slighest [sic] slightest objection to their voluntary coming. The African slave was better off than are these people under some of these contracts. The slave had some one to look after his welfare; these people have not. We present a petition to the committee containing 35,000names of persons who pray for relief by the passage of a bill to remedy this matter."
FRANK PORTER, of Cambridge, Mass., cotton mill, said:
"I voice the sentiment of New England and ask that Mr. Foran's bill be passed. The manufacturers of New England have imported men, time after time, during strikes, from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Canada, whether under contract or not we are not able to prove, but we believe they were imported under contract. The Canadians, as a rule, do not become citizens, but return to Canada."
JOHN S. MCCLELLAND, Hoboken, N. J., telegraph operator, said:
"I was one of the men who participated in the late strike of telegraph operators. The telegraph companies would have imported foreign telegraphers if they could have gotten them. They could not get them from England as there they are in Government service, and if they once leave, when they return they are forced to begin at the bottom."
F. C. MORGAN, of Washington, D. C., said:
"I saw an agent, when I was in Brazil, in 1879, trying to engage the natives of Brazil to come to the cotton-fields of the United States. I do not know that he engaged any who went."
JOHN COSTELLO again said that these imported workmen signed contracts, waiving the benefits of the statutes of Pennsylvania, which were passed for the protection of workmen, and thereby in their ignorance injuring the workingmen and nullifying the salutary laws of Pennsylvania, which were enacted to protect the workmen from the avarice of greedy manufacturers.
Мг. А. С. ROBERTSON, of Pittsburgh, Pa., said:
"The number of foreign glass-bottle blowers brought to the Western States under contract is about 80 in all, distributed in five factories, namely: La Salle, Ill., 36; Covington, Ky., 13; Louisville, Ky, 14; the balance in Streator, Ill., and New Albany, Ind. They receive about 40 percent. less wages than American blowers, or, in other words, they get 8 cents per dozen for quart beers, while the American gets 13 cents per dozen. The effect of this competition will be to bring the native workmen down to the level of pauper labor. The hollow-glass workmen west of the Allegheny Mountains have not worked since last June. They have been, during all this time, enjoying the luxury of a lock-out. Last year's revision of the tariff virtually increased the duty on green glassware nearly 100 per cent., but notwithstanding this increase, the manufacturers are endeavoring to force a reduction of 20 per cent. in wages. Previous to the revision there was an importation of about two hundred thousand gross of bottles. Since the new tariff went into effect there has been scarcely any importation of this ware. Two American blowers will turn out eighty dozen bottles per day, while two of the foreign blowers turn out but fifty dozen per day. The manufacturers seem to favor free trade in labor and a high protective tariff upon their manufactured goods or wares."
Copies of agreements with foreign workmen, executed in Belgium.
No. 1.
(Original in English.)
Agreement made by and between the firm of Day, Williams & Co., of Kent, Ohio, of the first part, and each of the signers hereto of the second part, exactly as if a separate agreement were made between said firm and each of said signers.
Each of the signers of the second part agrees and promises to work for the said first party at the business of window-glassmaking for the term of three (3) consecutive years beginning January 1, 1880, and to faithfully perform his duties; shall be paid the wages currently paid by the New York State manufacturers. Said first party agrees that the wages of each flattener shall be not less than at the rate of sixty (60) dollars per calendar month, and that the wages of each cutter shall be not less than at the rate of (50) fifty dollars per calendar month for work actually performed, or during the fire. It is agreed that said first party shall retain ten (10) per cent. of the wages of each and every workman until the expiration of this contract, as a guaranty of its faithful performance; said ten (10) per cent. to be forfeited by each and every workman who shall fail to perform the conditions of this contract. It is also agreed that said first party shall advance the passage money of the party of the second part to Kent, Ohio, and that in case any workman shall fail to perform the conditions of this contract, he shall repay to said first party the amount of said passage money. It is also agreed that said first, party shall have the right to discharge any workman who shall neglect his work through drunkenness or idleness, or who shall attempt to create dissatisfaction among the workmen. The said Day, Williams & Co., its successors and assigns, however constituted, shall always be taken as the party of the first part.
Signed by said first party by its firm name and by each of the signers of the second party by his own name, as of this second day of December, 1879. It is agreed that the flatteners shall receive $30 (thirty dollars) per month for all work done other than flattening.
DAY, WILLIAMS & CO.
HENRY PIERRE.
ADOLPH BRESSON .
AUGUST COENEN .
No. 2
(Original in German.)
Agreement between the firm of Swindell Bros. of the first part, and John Schmidt,
gatherer, and Carl Wagner, blower, of the second part.
The undersigned, of the second part, covenants and agrees with the party of the first part that they will for two consecutive years, beginning January 1st, 1882, work and duly perform such duties as instructed by the party of the first part, or his super-intendents . The party of the first part covenants and agrees to pay the undersigned, who may duly perform their duties, the price generally paid by Baltimore manufacturers for the size of 16 by 24 inches, and all sheets shall be estimated at 8 sheet of 36 by 54 in. for 100 square feet. The party of the first part covenants and agrees that the wages of each glass-blower shall be an average of $80 per calendar month, on condition that he makes 180 boxes of 100 square feet per calendar month.
The gatherer shall receive 65 per cent. of the sum paid the blower for wages per calendar month for actual work performed during the fire. It is agreed that the party of the first part shall retain 10 per cent. of the wages of each and every workman until the expiration of this contract as a guarantee of the faithful performance of the provisions of this contract. The aforesaid 10 per cent. shall be forfeited by each and every workman who shall fail to comply with the provisions of this contract.
It is further agreed that the party of the first part shall advance the passage money of the parties of the second part.
It is further agreed that the party of the first part have the right to discharge any of the workmen for drunkenness, or neglect of duty, or for disturbing the peace, or creating dissatisfaction among them, or for joining any association of American workmen.
The said Swindell Bros., their heirs and assigns, shall be considered the parties of the first part, and they agree to pay each blower $12 per week and the gatherer $9 per week, on condition that each perform his work faithfully at every blowing. The parties of the first part agrees to make monthly settlements with the parties of the second part, after the advances for passage, & c., shall have been repaid. Provided you faithfully perform your work for the term of contract (two years), we will payback the passage money from Europe to America.
Antwerp, Dec. 15, 1882.
SWINDELL BROS.
YOHONN SCHMIDT, Gatherer.
CARL WAGENER, Blower.
