The Labor enquirer., 1884-07-26
1 slave ren.

even in the beautiful city of Denver we
have them. There is one located lat the
corner Of Fifth and Lawrence streets.
commonly called the South Park railroad
shops. The South Park slave pen is .
branch pen Of the Union Pacific railroad
and has at present about 150 slaves
working nine hours per day, At the rate
Of $1.5O per day for laborers and IS for
mechanics.
Visitors are not allowed to enter the
pen under any circumstances, for fear
the slaves would talk to them and thus
be idle few minutes; therefore there
is day watchmsn employed, not for the
purpose Of taking care Of the property,
or watching thieves, but merely to- keep
friends and strangers from talking to the
slaves.
The principle officers of the pen are
the general foreman and the brute
machine shop boss or in other words
the great American slave trader. There
are few jobs about the pen that are
suitable for poor old laboring men, such
as drying sand, sweeping the floors, etc.
1t is the duty of the sand house man to
dry sand, chop wood and start fires in
the engines, and from this the poor old
hard working man was discharged a few
months ago, and no one could find out
what he was laid off for or anythi ne
about it. The next day after this mar
was discharged, another man was put in
his place who had no wood to chop OF
anything to do but dry sand and loaf in
in the engineers room and smoke his
pipe, privilege which no other man in
the pen ever enjoys. A short time after
an apprentice was discharged, after serv-
ing two years at the machine trade, and
was getting the small sum of $1.75 per
day. The great American slave trader
told him he could either wipe engines at
night for $1.50 per night or quit. As it
y. &. (
happened, the smoker had son, and
his place was filed before the apprentice
was out of the pen. But now the
mystery is solyed-the smoker may
become father-in-law some day.
The brute machine shop boss dis
charges, or has all the men discharged
/ = i - =. s =.
he does not like, and fills the vacancies
with cheap men and suckers. Such was
the case one day this week, he called q
poor laborer to one side few minutes
before the whistle blew on Monday eve.
ming and gave him his time, aud when
he asked the reason why, he received nc
answer; but now his place is filed with
cheap man.
There are great many cases | could
refer to-, would time and space allow
but before I close / must say that if the
worklngmen do not check these brute
bosses they will soon be compelled to
work under horse whip.
A LABpRER.
summing Up.
Editor Labor Enquirer.
DENVER, July "a The last assembly
Iorganized / since reporting was at Rock
Springs, Wyoming. 1t is coal mining
camp on the Union Pacific railway
about 100 miles west from Cheyenne
The Union Pacific company jumped the
land several years ago. The mines art
operated by q confidence gang styled
Beckwith, Quinn 4 Co., who have con.
tract with the Union Pacific to have the
coal mined for q stated figure and the
privilege of swindling the miners in
every conceivable scheme. From 20 tc
20, cents per ton is the price they claim
to pay. One-fourth the weight Of allthe
coal mined Is deducted for slack and
2,4O0 pounds of the balance would be a
ton if the scales we're properly adjusted
and an honest man at the beam. There
are three mines in operation, and about
40 per cent of the employees are China.
men. At present the mines run about
half time. ! think the miners in that
camp drag out an existence in more alb
ject misery than in any other place
have ever seen. Many of them live in
small, damp, unhealthy dug-outs, bur.
rowed in the ground. The water they
must use IS unhealthy alkali waterr
hauled fifteen miles in railway cars, and
delivered to the houses by teams at 35
cents barrel. A poor man can't afford
to buy fresh water more than twice a
week, and at that rate it costs IS per
month. Coal costs 81 per ton, and 50
cents is deducted monthly to support j
fellow who passes for a doctor.
Beckwith, Quinn & Co., operate the
mines at Xlmy, Grass Creek and Rock
Springs. At each little town they have
supply shOp6 established. Thav a;ro Il,