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Mari Tomasi
riecorded in
Writers' Section Fi!es
A MODERN GUILD
Birnie Bruce, secretary of an important granite association,
sat behind his desk. his low, resonant voice carried well above
the clicking activity of typists around him.
"I was born in Scotland," he said. WI came over when I
Was boy of nine about forty-five years ago* lay father was
a granitecutter from Aberdeen. By the time i was fifteen and
through public school, he had already worked himself up from
the bottom to manufacturer. After school hours and on holi-
days I used to help him picking up waste and doing odd jobs.
My father was proud of granite, glad to be in the business,
and I Was proud at fifteen to be considered man enough to do
a full day's work in the shed. At fis time my tatner employed
about 70 men.
"When he died in 1908 my brother and I continued the bus-
iness shod and quarry. My brother left the shed in 1915
to put all his time in the quarry. That was his chief interest.
I'd been a cutter, the sheds were my life, I wasn't particularly
interested in the quarry although I knew every single angle of
the business, since I went there every time we took orders for
stone. I continued alone in the shed until 1930, and that year
I sold my business to the Rock of Ages Corporation. I'm plant
manager now, and also secretary to this granite association.
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"This 'Barre Guild' represents the five largest quarry
producers in our granite district, and we work with the manu-
facturers to adjust labor disputes and to protect the title
'Select Barre Granite.' The title is copyrighted, So, too,
is 'Barre Guild.' Both are trademarks of our association.
Unless a stone has passed the rigid tests qualifying it as
'Select Barre Granite,' the seal 'Barre Guild' cannot be put
on a finished monument. 'Barre Guild' is used on every piece
of granite work big or small, whether marker or maousoleum
put out by our association. The seal is out into the atone'
by sandblasting. The 'Barre Guild' seal guarantees that the
granite is free from all defects, and that workmanship and
design are unsurpassable. Our association also gives the pur-
chaser a certificate of quality. This neans besides a guar-
antee of workmanship, material and design that the memorial
is genuine, first class Barre granite, and that it will not
fade, chip, crack or disintegrate, and that no acids, oils,
coloring matter, or any injurious cleaning fluids were used
on the finished product. If any part of the memorial is found
defective by the manufacturer, he agrees to replace it free
of all expense. To be effective this certificate must be reg-
istered with the Barre Guild, and it is signed by both purchaser
and retailer at our offioe. Many times a purchaser wishes to
order a certain design for a monument, or suggests one that
isn't a credit to our memorials; we try to show him his error
and so keep the designs up to a high standard, We have re-
fused the seal to many monuments. Some of the most noted mew
oriels of Barre granite are* Booth Tarkingtonfe; John D. Rook-
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erfeller's mausoleum already erected in aim/3y Eollow; former
President harrison's; llhiarn Wrigley's; the monument at Wash-
ington's birthplace; and the Calvin Coolidge family memorial.
"Actually this Guild is a modern version of the guilds
of the mid-ile ages and the present granite associations in
Scotland." Birnie Bruce lit a cigarette. liry father used to
say it was natural for the Scotch to be the first granite -cutters
to come to Barre. Aberdeen is a great granite center. The
'Granite City' it's called. any of its buildings are of a
gray stone similar to ours. The granite industry in Barre
started about 125 years ago. kobert Parker was the first quarrier,
and he left the business to enter the War of 1812. It Wasn't
until 1880 that the industry rose to great importance. At
this time the workers were chiefly f',cotch immigrants, and now
the Italians started coming. Of the Barre graaite workers the
Italians form the largest group, and they are superior as scul-
ptors and carvers. Uost of them c&me from the North of Italy,
a hardier lot than tLose from the South. Prom 188C to 1910
tlere were also such imnigrants as Swedes, Norwegians, Welsh,
Irish, Swiss -Italian. The French-Canadian wave started about
1920, just prior to the big ntriko.
"The workers have had their troubles. I've lived through
most of Barre's labor troubles, and I know that although there
were agitators and ill-advised stonecutters, they were not the
basic causes of the Strike. The causes went deeper. We were
slowly emerging from the loQg working-dey. Men wanted more
time with their families, and time to do the countless odd
jobs their homes necessitated. And they wanted more money,
4.
they were no loner content to enjoy the bare necessities of
life. But mostly they wanted the elimination of dust. That
was always a sore spot. I don't blame them. I know what 1'm
talking about. My father, brother, and three uncles all died
from stonecutters' t.b. When I started in this business we
had a ten-hour working day. Now it's eight.
"The introduction of the pneumatic tool gave rise to the
first ral attempt to combat silicosis. On fine work the men
stooped over a stone, the dust was inhaled in the lungs. The
pneumatic tool caused more deaths than the hand ones because
they cut stone 50 feat there was more dust in the air. After
discussions and heated arguments it became compulsory to have
large dust -removing machines in every shed. And in 1938, it
was tide compulsory for individual cutters to have smaller
suction attachments. There's no reason now Thy granitecUtters
shouldn't be as healthy as carpenters.
"In the old days we 12ad no such thing as pneumatic tools.
Now both quarries and sheds have compressed air machines.
Oranitecutters had to be skilled, one twist of the wrist and
an entire stone was spoiled. They were so skilled they could
take a rough draft and from that ch!sel a monument with every
detail of line perfect. They envisioned the entire monument
from some rough sketch.
"Now lettering and ornamentation are done by sandblast,
and large saws do the surface cutting. I can remember years
ago when only one block would be cut at one time in the quarries;
now twenty or thirty are cut at the same time. This by means
of the circular saw which works backwards, just the reverse
of the ordinary saw. rachinery of this type L&B displaced many
workers. re claim that the granite industry Is, if not the
oldest, at least one of the oldest in civiliration. Befcre
tailors, before tentmakers, there were granite cutters.
know it's a shame to have machinery displace so many men engaged
in U -is ancient industry, but machines work fast and chear,
and we have to fill the demand for stone."