Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/817

 Rh 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 outside of a shipyard, and not requiring the special skill of the shipbuilder.

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; nor with prescribing a code for the construction of his plumbing as minute and tyrannical 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; the master plumbers have sought to bring under their wise and benevolent jurisdiction the management 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 president of the Texas association, after describing an attempt made in San Antonio to force upon the county commissioners the observance of the same absurd and tyrannical rule, "should never be second fiddlers to any contractor." The ordinances of San Francisco and other cities provide that no one but a regularly licensed plumber shall touch the sewers, thus compelling the payment of plumber's wages for the work of a laborer. Two years ago, the Master Plumbers' Association of Illinois passed a resolution 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 opportunity," 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