The National tribune., 1883-03-01
A STRIKING CONSTRAsT.
The Status Of the Nail Industry in the New World
aud thc Old.

The Status Of thc Nail Industry In the New WorI,
aud the Old.
/ Under date of February 10th n South Chi.
/ C8go, Illinois, subscriber writes us rs follows
/ The rapid construction of the nail works AT
/ Cummings. near South Chicago, Illinois, j. one %
. the wonders OF the present day. The old factory
/ WIS destroyed 10y fire Monday night, January
! 18th. and considered one Of the largest and
best furnished mills IN the country Since the dat,
I 81 IRE tic temperature has averaged some ten a.
/ twelve degrees below zero. Vet, without waiting
for the naI machines iron 10 cool the mnuu,, r.
and their faithful employees lave Iaborcd ircs-
sanity, amust might and day. through rain. slcct
snow and storm. ia order 10 replace the works and
he in readiness for making nails 10y the 18th OF Feb
/ ruaty. \ great Feat has been accomplished Nails
were made upon the spike job ~ Wednesday Feb
ruary 1ih 10y John = ZONES the boss mailer of the
West. About twenty machines will bc started ON
Monday next with the balance of the factory in full
operation inside of ten days. The managers de
serve great credit, hut especially those who super
. intended and lahorcd through cold and storm to
bring about this great result.
Ry way of contrast. we reproduce the follow
ing from the remarks of tho Hon. w. ID. Kelley,
Of Pennsylvania, in the House of Representa-
tiyCs on February 10th:
Mr. EclICy.-Wc have talked somewhat about
the wages of labor There are in England only
two classes of workers in iron who are worse paid
and worse fed thnu the nail-maiers Those are the
women and children who make The buckles for
coilon-tIcH and put them on, ami the women chain
maker, at Cradlcy. / unwilling TO bring our
nailmakers into competition with the nail makers
of England. But ask the Clerk to read dcscIip-
ton, which send Ia the desk, taken from the
London Telegraph, and written by an English COR
respondent.
The Clerk read a. follows:
4 tcoraan blacksmith one Of The sights Of ife Black
country Of England
At one forge later on. between aud 10 o'clock in
fact, discovered female mailer working under
disadvantages that might have dauntcd an anchor
smith Whether she had a husband whose absence
wns accounted for by his hcing addicted To- beer
shop foggug whether she had no husband. |
did not ask her, and she did not tell me Anyhow
she was working alone. and she spoke of having
all these brats" To provide for ~ though the
whole responsibility rested upon her poor narrow
shoulders, the bones of which were sharp that
they threatened 10 cut through the finlsy material
that covered them every time she tuEgcd at the
heavy bellows. There four little children,
the oldest about seven. tHc youngest a baby in
long clothes in n calico bcd-gown, in fact and
nothing else. This solitary article of raimcnt had
once been white, but was now approaching the
complexion of a caal-slck.
The two children who came between the eldest
and the Youngest diSportinc in the ashes and
pummcling each others RY;ully dirty little bodies
an a fierce struggle for the mGngl"d remains of a
wooden doll. There only its carcass left, and
its hair singcd off its head and the paint on its
face nll scorchcd and blistcrod but the ;wointaut
nailcrs could not have fought for il more ferocously
had 1t been the choicest Irlzc IN Mr. trcmcr's col
lection. The other two childrcn-thc oldest and
the youngest the former acting the par of nurse to
the lattcr-wcre deposited in a kind OF wooden
cradle that shared with bellows the hearth where
the fire was The baby wa shrickiug and the boy
quiet IL.
One way and another. The mother, poor soul
she was a quiet young wuman-SCCWcd wrli-uigh
distracted a. she banged away at her work. bent
seemingly on getting some set task done: the pcrs-
pir1tion sirnamcd down her face as though she was
crying. she stuck To her work. however. and
kept the sparks 6yin.s-ShowVr5 of them hcsprin-
kicd the occupants of the cradle but without pro-
ducIng the least effect those young s:lannan-
dcrS-uBtil q sHrillcr shricll than hitherto caused
the woman 90 throw down her hammer and take
the child on her lap rs she sat down the nose OF
the anvil
" Hard work ."
80 1t i just that master she remarked in reply
20 au observation OF mine. and often Nvisl, was
~ heaven and ou. ot II all. pom nay soul and body
do; Talcy get 30 sick of Il -
Aud Is riIC took thc sooty handkerchief from her
head and wiped herwet face with IT, nd"r form of
h!dN oi the cian'.c suggested being 10 her advIn-
tasc. Il was la vain She tried 10 pacfy the squ.l
ins child at her lean bosom.
" Hush, then. and mamuy'H spare n penny for
hali "a pint OF beer presently, and then, perhaps,
she II tucislc down a bi;. - said the poor soul ~
rebel stIcucl itself ont and refused either to uu-
bend Ur leave OF -hrcl,iug.
Haven't got uo help ia working for en- all d?
No, mater. I've got no hrp How much can ]
earn? Well, its r.ght-lovn slavery 10 earn "A
penny an hour at Il. More oftcn-cSpccally, when
this young u'ul'Ur IL Cross il isn't more than
Hlncpcncr for the Whole day. No: we don't live
quite on that, sir: I'm lowanccd two luaycs n
week, bUt 4 nigh on four miles 90 fetch en-, 50
don't know. reel, ,oning the loss of time that I'm
much richer after all. I am sure don't know
" hats coming, TO the work, and the price they re
giving FOR Il. It's almost as had as c!ain-nIakiug.'
- Is that worse thnn nail-making?'
For TIE women II Is Just you go 10 Cradlcy
and asl; en-
1t was too late 10 follow her advice that night
bat did 50 next day.