JOHN ST. JOHN-HOLYOKE.

Early in October the various building crafts of Holyoke were employed in the construction of the Elmwood School, the early completion of which, corresponding with the educational needs of that city, was an object of solicitude to the mayor. The Building Trades' Council sent a committee to the city officers to request that no contract be awarded to any employer of non-union plumbers; but the Board of Public Works, having charge of the construction, did not see its way to discriminate between the citizens on such grounds. The employment of four non-union plumbers by Kennedy & Sullivan became the subject of a difficulty on the part of John St. John's carpenters, who objected to working with them. The carpenters had no relation with the plumbing contractors, and their own employer was powerless to remedy the alleged grievance.

On October 11 all the carpenters in question went out on strike. The lathers then struck for a similar reason, and in a short while construction ceased in all its branches. The State Board went to Holyoke on the 17th, and brought about a conference of all the parties interested. The master carpenters, a member of the plumbing firm, the mayor, the President of the Board of Public Works, the agent of the Building Trades Council and the four non-union journeymen plumbers, met in the mayor's office, and endeavored, by conference in the presence of the State Board, to find some

way of terminating the difficulty. The master plumber was neutral regarding his workmen's attitude towards tradesunionism, but expressed his readiness to perform his part in any fair expedient that might be devised. Mr. St. John promised his co-operation. The four non-union workmen stated that their objection to joining the union was that the required fee was excessive. The representative of the strikers, who was the business agent of the building trades council, said that he would endeavor to have the plumbers' union commute the cost of initiating the men in question to fees within their means. Mr. Sullivan of the plumbing firm volunteered to advance the amount, whatever it might be, if agreeable to them, on account of wages for work to be performed. The four journeymen accepted their employer's offer, and thereupon signed applications for membership in the plumbers' union. This solution was gratifying to all concerned. The controversy was at an end, and on the following day, October 18, all the building trades resumed operations on the Elmwood School.

The co-operation of the Hon. Arthur B. Chapin, mayor of Holyoke, contributed greatly to the speedy settlement. The influence of the settlement extended beyond the scene of the difficulty narrated in the foregoing, and was effectual in warding off trouble in the building of the Highland School, then under contract to the same parties.

MCARTHUR BROTHERS COMPANY-CLINTON.

About 250 laborers employed by the Metropolitan Water Board at Clinton, in the construction of the Wachusett dam, at $1.50 a day, learned on October 15, at the end of a half-hour's work, that the contract for the succeeding portions of the work had been awarded to McArthur Brothers Company, of Chicago, and that the new employer intended to pay for a ten-hour day at the rate of 13 1-2 cents an hour. The new price was deemed insufficient, and the laborers struck. The Board communicated with an officer of the Metropolitan Water Board, and learned that, while it was no longer the direct employer of the men in question, it would be pleased to have the Board compose the difficulty, if possible. While the Board was in Holyoke, reports were received to the effect that strangers had been put to work in the places of the strikers, and that collisions had occurred between the former em

ployees and the newcomers. The contractors had sought and obtained police protection. On arriving at the Wachusett dam it was learned that many of the old hands had returned to work, and the chief of police assured the Board that everything was going on harmoniously, the same as before.

FITCHBURG MACHINE COMPANY FITCHBURG.

On October 25 the Board went to Fitchburg and had separate interviews with the parties to a controversy in the moulding industry. In June last the moulders employed by the Fitchburg Machine Company demanded a minimum wage of $2.75 per day, which it afterwards changed to one of $2.62 1-2 a day. The employer's refusal was the occasion of a strike that has lasted ever since. The employer would make no concessions, and the strikers' committee expressed a belief that it was useless to press matters at that time, for the reason that business was dull. The Board gave such advice as was calculated to facilitate negotiations whenever they might be resumed.

M. J. PERRAULT-FITCHBURG.

The parties to a controversy in the foundry of M. J. Perrault were interviewed separately on October 25 at Fitchburg. The employer said that the union price, $2.75 a day, had been demanded of him last June. He declined to entertain it, closed up the shop, but afterwards reopened it to non-union men only. Business, he said, was dull, but the situation was on the whole satisfactory to him. The employees expressed the belief that while business was at such a low ebb it would be useless to undertake anything looking towards a settlement.