Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-12-05


That Pullman has done his best 10 secure
for his tenants every one OF these grandly
planned advantages must be apparent TO all
who have studied Pullman town as it stands,
or who have read the description Of it which
l have endeayored TO give in the two letters
preceding this one II he has failed, it is not
the fault Of his architect, who. it seems, long
ago thought OF everything, nor yet the fault
Of the Pullman company as an employer, for
it has found steady employment at good
wages for all.
Pullman's workers do not carry their
lunches in dinner pals. All go home to the
midday meal II is high noon. The hoarse
whistle cries brief truce to work in the
shops. Twenty five hundred men are out OF
doors, walking rapidly down street and bou-
levard TO dinner at tables waiting in some
1900 houses. At l2:45 the men return. The
quarter Of AN hour saved daily, with the half
hour in the morning before : o'clock, aggre-
gate enough in the week to give the men a
Saturday half holiday. Tho shops are busy
again, the thousand children-tidy, bright
children, too-have returned to school, and
the visitor may patrol the clean. we'll paved
streets, almost thinking himself in "A suburb
inhabited by the rich. Suppose You ring at
the front door Of one of the houses, and ask
TO be shown the home OF a Pullman laborer.
Try this cottage, for instance. IL is the stand
ard two story and basement brick The fam
lily living here pay SIG a month rent.
They have five rooms and a dry cement floor
basement The water tax is included in the
rent. The gas is 81. so a thousand feet No
one is prohibited sub-letting rooms or parts
of houses II a man does not wish TO nav
SIG, he may take flyer DOM fat in a four
fiat cottage for $l2, four room fiat for SO,
or even another style of fat-good for a
small family-for 81 The average monthly
rental paid by workingmen throughout the
town is but 81 30 per room.
The writer has made unexpected calls upon
dozens of Pullman householderS, selected at
random. In only one or two did he find the
odors arising from negligent huuSewifery
In only one instance wCs the amount Of the
rent. the accommodations afforded or the
company's treatment of its tenants com
planned Of In nearly all of the houses the
interiors were coy, home like, comfortable,
with books and plants, artistic gas fixtures,
bright, warm cOlOrs NJ carpet and papering,
an organ or piano, and plenty of sunlight.
Pullman is not paradise. Its dwellers
must work, AMI they Must pay their rent. and
the mere laborers must be satisfied with mar
row rooms and limited bills of fare There
are dissatisfied ones, OF course, who grOwl at
this or that, and try 10 make themselves end
others believe that the whole idea is a mis-
take and all the inhabitants its victims. But
that the Pc pie are thrifty is as apparent in
the dress as in the homes. in the stores rs in
the savings banks, where there ara 700 ac-
counts, averaging more than t20r each. The
average wage earning per annum is 500.
The cardinal feature Of the Pullman idea is
central control Il will build my working
men a model city" said Pullman. "and will
it for Them Pullman is, indeed,
master. IL re chose he could he despOt, to
the extent Of refusing a man habitatiOn, +
or what is quite much to the purpose,
employment 1t has been said that every /
man IN the place looks as if he was like the
bed linen used in the sleeping cars, with the I
word Pullman branded on his. back. 1t
has also been said that PuIlman's employees
are compelled to purchase where and OF /
whom Pullman wishes them to purchase, and +
that the rules governing the department of /
the tenants are so severe that q man may not !
sit In his own dooryard In his shirt sleeves I
and sr,oke . ,i-A Thasa are misrepresenta- /