REVERSIONS IN MODERN INDUSTRIAL LIFE. 795 



the master plumber as middleman. To the former belong all 

 supplies used in constructive or repair work in a shipyard, and 

 to the latter all supplies used in constructive or repair work out- 

 side of a shipyard, and not requiring the special skill of the ship- 

 builder.* 



But the arrogance of this modern trade corporation does not 

 end here. Not content with denying to an American citizen the 

 right to buy gas fixtures, or galvanized iron pipe, or bath tubs, 

 or kitchen boilers from whomever he pleases; nor with telling 

 him that he must not use wooden washtubs in his laundry, and 

 that he must have at least one bathroom for every ten persons in 

 his family ; f nor with prescribing a code for the construction of 

 his plumbing as minute and tyranaical as any that Boyleau ever 

 dreamed of; nor with proposing a government inspection and 

 approval of the plans of architects, especially with regard to 

 light and ventilation ; X the master plumbers have sought to 

 bring under their wise and benevolent jurisdiction the manage- 

 ment of the business affairs of the government of cities, counties, 

 States, and even of the nation. A California law provides that 

 in the specifications for any State building, those relating to the 

 plumbing must, to use their own jargon, be "segregated," and 

 submitted directly to the plumbers for estimates.* The dignity 

 of this noble organization of "professional sanitarians," which 

 is coming to rival that of the feudal corporations, forbids the 

 acceptance of a subcontract. " Master plumbers," said the presi- 

 dent of the Texas association, after describing an attempt made 

 in San Antonio to force upon the county commissioners the ob- 

 servance of the same absurd and tyrannical rule, " should never 

 be second fiddlers to any contractor." |1 The ordinances of San 

 Francisco and other cities provide that no one but a regularly 

 licensed plumber shall touch the sewers, thus compelling the pay- 

 ment of plumber's wages for the work of a laborer. Two years 

 ago, the Master Plumbers' Association of Illinois passed a reso- 

 lution that the United States Government should be denied the 

 right to buy plumbing supplies from the jobbers.'^ Is it any 

 wonder that the Sanitary Committee urged in a report to the 

 Philadelphia convention that "upon every favorable oppor- 

 tunity," the plumbers should "endeavor to disabuse the public 

 of the idea that our legislative duties are selfish " ? ^ Is the idea 

 altogether fanciful ? 



I have already mentioned how the feudal corporations took 



* Proceedings, Cleveland, 1896, p. 141. f Plumbing Code of Rochester, N. Y. 



X Proceedings, Philadelpliia, 1895, p. 45. * Ibid., 1895, p. 80. 

 II Proceedings, Detroit, 1894, p. 79. ^ Proceedings, Pliiladelpliia, 1895, p. 54. 



Ibid., 1895, p. 43. 



