The Dickinson press., 1888-06-02
A WORK THAT KILLS..
HOW LIVES ARE sQUAf!DERso IN
THE LAKE TRAFFIC.

How strong Men Work Hard, Drink
Heavily and Die Long Before They
Observation-Disclosures Loading II Nes-
scl-The Fearful Physical Results.
Men are thu cheapest animals on earth, and
their lives are >%4uander,el in conducting the
lake commerce rs in battle: indeed, conwti.
ton is warfare. and men die in lul,or's ranks
rs they do on battlcfields where bullets
swarm. The lonS>horriuen VIII" toll
in the lake traffic work hard and drink lleav-
lily. l saw the men who work on the coal
and iron docks at Buffalo and on the coal
docks at Toledo. Almost without exception
they were broad shouldcirl. thick nrckcd
Iri>hmcn. At Buffalo my steamer drew up
tn the iron. dock just us another steamer
moved away.
''How many tons OF rails do YOU want.
ca,tainn. the foreman of the lon.,ll"lrmcn
asked.
"FiNe hundred, and Il hundred tons ot
spikes and tis!platcs." the captain replied.
1--WE have Just finished loading 1000 tons
in that steamer" nmldiny his llcal to indi-
cate the departing vessel, "and the men are
tired. 1t is supper time, captain" he added,
land you will nave to wait until the men
cat and rest IL little while; then We will load
You"
Tho sturdy lrisl,mcn had been working
continuously for twenty hours. Their flannel
shirts were wrinSinS wet with the sweat of
toll. They were almost exhausted. They
walked slowly toward their boarding house,
stopping on the way ut Il saloon tn get II
drink "t whisky. Al = O'clock they returned
and hogan tn run steel rails that weighed $40
pound each int" the l,old ut tn" ship. There
Were thousands of tons of rails piled on the
docks. Tw" mon lail IL rail on Il heavy hand
truck. anil one man wheeled it up an incline
into Tia. shit, MI thu men We're lalrl,ra'led.
All We're clad in flannel. The work was ex-
ccc,iii 1, im;,vv. and the trucknnen strained
painiu.i; every time they wheeled their
heavily laden trucks M, the incline. | sat ON
the raj of ia" ship watching the work and
admirinr til" muscular development of the
mes! who lllmrr,t lmluw mo. Take them all
in all. they We're the most powerful men !
have ever >rcil. Presently it became dark.
y cold wave blew off the lake and over the
wharf. Fires tn give light To work Ivy were
built IN tin" dori.
After tw" hours passed in this excessively
hard work, | saw the ovrrstraincd muscles of
the Irish truriimcn twitch and Jerk under
their white skins us though turbulent creeks
flowed there. They We're almost exhausted.
But not Il man ili,rhed from his work. The
foreman sent for II bucket of beer. When IL
was brought tho tired men drank deeply.
Sweat, laden with iron dust. rolled down
their bodies in tiny riliS. The beer did not
seem to meet the iinIcrious demands their
systems made for StimulantS. Presently a
broad shoulslrrcd. bullet headed, black eyed
$N,,l.,u,, ,,r,, lii. ,,.I. 1,,,,, , A..
dock and said. loudly: Curse tho beer. There
the foreman. lc said: Scot II pailtul of
whisky, or we will never get this iron
loadcl.' y pailful of raw whisky was
brought onto the dock. Man after man
raised the bucket to his lips, and drank freely
of the fiery spirits. Then they worked with
renewed energy. noticed that their muscles
ceased To twitch. They worked rapidly, and
though they drank high proof spirits ut short
intervals. the only apparent effect it had on
them was to cause their naturally fiery tenn
perS tn blaze Il little higher. Occasionally
men dropped the handles of their trucks pre-
l,aiutoIy to lighting, but their foreman had
them we'll in aiul and controlled them with
Il few sharp spoken. words of command, on
hearing which they glasprd the handles of
their trucks and resumed work, with many
surly shakes of their liraul.
The mate of the vessel saw that | was i'll
tcleStel in the work, and that ] admired the
physical perfection of the 'long>liorcmcn.
He sat silently by my side for Il short time
looking ut tho busy scenc. Finally lie said:
81 have seen hundreds, yes thousands of these
men buried. That gang" pointing to the
busy workers over whom tlickcring bars of
light played, sis a prime gang. They are
powerful young men. Not one of them will
he on this dock in five years from Tonight.
The work is too hard for men to do and live.
These men work hy theton. They earn from
81 to 81 per day. Night work is double pay
usually. Instead of quitting work when they
are tired, they stimulate with whisky. Ihave
known them to work for thirty-six hours con
%tinnonsly, and eight hours of that heavy labor
is sufficient to kill the devil. These men,
he continued, twill finish loading the steel al
about ! o'clock tonight. After they quit
work every one of them will drink half I,
pint of raw whisky before going to his board
ing house. They will fling themselves OF
their beds, clad in their wet clothing, and lie
the heat of their bodies dry them while they
lie i'll drunken slulnbcr. At s. years, if on,
by chance lives to he bold, the long>llorcmal
is a broken down old man. They CONSUME
themselves with hard work and hard liquor
Americans never do this work, and it is no
q Job that beer and cabbage stuffed Dutch
men banker after. Yes,n lie said c~arelessl,
as he looked the gang over again, they ar
powerful men, but they will ali he dead i
five years" He clambered down from til
rail and walked to his quarters whlstlm
gayly.
At Toledo, Ohio, where we stopped to tax
49,, nnn -,,- .~,l %I,,,o go,
of sturdy Irishmen who shovelcd coal frol
railroad cars into large iron buckets whic
held II ton each. A wire rope which term
mated i'll Il strong hook passed through Il pu
ley suspended from the arm of u derrick, an
the lower end passed around the drum of
steam winch. When the buckets We're file
they were attached to the hook and elevate
sufficiently high to clear the rail of the shil
then the arm of the derrick was drawn ovt
the deck of the vessel until the buck
was directly over the open h%atchway, in
which its contents were dumped. The co
handlers who worked on this dock we
physically almost the equals of the longshor
men who worked on the Buffalo iron doc
Hour after hour these strong men bent ov,
their scoop shovel, each man shoveling i'll
his own bucket. So regular were their NOV
ments that l timed them. They lifted al
cast a distance of Jour feet sixteen 5000
full of coal Il minute. For twelve hou
they worked at this monotonous md ha
labor. There was not an American on t
dock, and, as at Buffalo, whisky was call
upon to aid the human machine, and to su
ply quickly available fuel. l was told til
these men are short lived, as their Buff
brothers are. The trimmers, those mel w
work in dark holes with wet sponges ii
over their mouths to keep the dust that
germane to coal and wheat out of tn
lungs, what of them! Their lives are Ii,
of horribly hard work, and are wholly UNI
tractive. No man who has been educated
the free schools of America could be hired
trim coal or wheat ships. Personally l shol
prefer to work as a convict ut Sing Sing th
to work q free man at trimming coal
wheat carrying vessels.-Frank Wilkeson
New York Times.
A VAST MILITARY CAMP.