Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1877-08-25

HUM VI thC ohciuinS iicic uslo uecn the
Lackawana Iron and Coal Company.
No other corporation has been so fertile
in ingenious devices for its own enrich
ment and the impoverishment of its en-
ployees, none so merciless in the appli-
cation of cruel, system of crushing
out manhood. Its pitiless clutch upon
the throat of labor has forced the tOiler's
scanty pennies from him under every
pretext.
4 mere exhibit of nominal per diem
wages would show that the ironwork-
ers in this employ are doing pretty well
rs the rates of wages run in all fields of
labor, and, indeed, the amounts they
are paid are generally somewhat in ex-
cess of the average earnings of the coal
miners in this region. But it must be
borne in mind that the ironworkers have
not been makingf full time any more than
the miners, and, where the amount of
toll that man gives in return for \
specified sum necessary for the main
tenanee of his family is practically a
matter of Indifference 10 him, so long
rs he gets that needed sum, 80 for 10
days OF work and 10 of idleness is
really no whit better TO him than ten
dollars won by twenty days of steady
work. The best paid men about the
works-apart from the foreman and
bosses, whom it is always policy to pay
welfare theskilled workmen employed
in "charging" in the steel works, who
make about $40 a month if they have
full work, and the heaters in the rail
mill, who get 81 day; but neither of
these average much over half time en-
ployment. For" pudding iron, $40
per ton is paid. That goes to two men.
who are expected to puddle" a ton of
2,2i0 pounds-and ten pounds over for
good weight-in twelve hours. Pud-
dlers make from S2StO S32 per menth.
The heaters of seven-inch iron get only
IL cents per ton equivalent to about
1.60 a day when they have work. Fur
mace men get 81 .O5 day; helpers, 81:
laborers, from 65 to so cents; black
smiths aud skillful machinists, $50:
boys, q to "a per week. Actually, mems
earnings in the different branches run
from ga to 1872 per month. As has
been said, this is better than the min
ers' average, but here the triumph of
the company's rascality is begun.
Primarily, the lot dodge is probably
the best illustration. The company owns
L vast tract of territory, double the
amount permitted by its charter, it is
said, the excess standing under fictitious
titles of individual ownership. Parts Of
these vast possessions are Sanderson's
Hill and Shanty Hi. The former is re-
served for wealthy mems residences,
and is the prettiest part of the town. To
keep it exclusive and insure the shutting
out of the poorer class, lots here are held
at fancy prices, from $1,000 to $4,000
each, unimproved. Consequently the
laborers have nothing to do here. But
they have much to do with Shanty Hill.
That is where most OF them live. Shanty
Hill is barreu, bleak, stony slope,
cherries and ugly. 1t is, perhaps, val
ned at not more than 10 cents an acre
for purposes of taxation. But the COM
pany cut it up into small lots and rented
them to its employees at from 80 to "a
per month ground rent. Even at these
excessive prices, no leases were given.
Every tenant was and is held liable
to expulsion on ten days notice.
Sometimes, after men had erected
their little cabins on these lots they
were ordered to move them to new
sites, seemingly for no other purpose
than to involve them in expense and
keep them poor. One man, a puddler,
says: silt cost me $3.50 to build my
house. l had still about 1925 saved up.
The company made me move to lot
away off, and it cost me 800 to do so.
have since paid them $3.50 in ground
rent. The lot may be worth $50 in good
times.'' A few have carefully picked
the stones from their lots and built them
into wall, dug up the soil and freed it
from rocks, and even carried earth from