"Plus, the easier way to build the workforce was not by advertising for slaves but by using the network of friends and relations that free workers had."
Quote from Slave Labor in the Capital, page 71
"Observers were impressed by the 'spirit' with which the masons worked. Since one story of a stone building had to sit at least a year before the second story was added, the masons expected to begin work at the Capitol. They didn't expect to be told by the commissioners that they had to work under McDermott Roe and that those whose wages were due to be renegotiated had to work by the piece."
Quote from Slave Labor in the Capital, page 89-90
Letters written by the commissioners, President Washington, and Secretary of State Jefferson can give the impression that there was a shortage of workers in Washington and that workers from Europe had to be recruited. In reality there was no shortage of workers. The press to recruit emigrants arose because since they could be legally bound to pay off their passage money, they would be cheaper than free workers already in the country or emigrants who paid their own passage.
When the commissioners changed the way of paying mason, many of them quit and left the city. Benjamin Stoddert, the Georgetown merchant and speculator, wrote to the commissioners chiding them for spreading disaffection that would stop the flow of workers to the city: "The report of such men will have more affect upon the minds of mechanics than everything that can be said in contradiction from authority the most respectable."
When the commissioners changed the way of paying mason, many of them quit and left the city. Benjamin Stoddert, the Georgetown merchant and speculator, wrote to the commissioners chiding them for spreading disaffection that would stop the flow of workers to the city: "The report of such men will have more affect upon the minds of mechanics than everything that can be said in contradiction from authority the most respectable."
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