Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-19
Balance left to feed and flothe

FAMILY ........................... $14 %
And this Is the experience Of a workman
who was making the best wages paid
Il have seen hundreds of men here all
winter who did not draw cent from the
company after their rent was paid. There
Is one man, John Bates, who not only
worked thirteen months for the Pullman
Company, and drew nothing over his rent
during all this time, but he was actually
S21S in debt to the company when the
strike came on. Do you blame such men
for striking? Enoch Kinyon is another
who worked faithfully all winter for the
Pullman managers. and owed them $lOS in
the spring. He is an honest. sober. careful
man"
Rents Remained the Same.
Did not the company reduce the rents
when it reduced the. wages?'
mo. sir. During all the hard times. when
Mr.. Pullman was complaining that he could
rot pay the old wages. he continued to col
lect the old rent.
He claims to have taken the contract
for building certain cars at a loss. Let me
ask you what philanthropy there was in
that when his purpose was merely to keep
the men at work in order to collect their
money in the form of rent?
Could he not afford to lose money on
the cars If he was making it up by ex-
orbtant interest on the money invested in
tenement houses? He says that these
houses do not pay him over B IL per cent
on the invest vent. If this Is true. why is
it that he continues to build them and in
sst on their occupancy by his work men
And why is it that the same kind of houses
can be rented in the city of Chicago for
about - per cent less than they bring in
Pullman?
In the matter of gas and water Mr..
Pullman contends that he is losing money
in order to accommodate his employees. and
yet the gas which he charges us 81 Der
1000 for can be had in Chicago for 81 OS,
n fh.a tor ha no hoS ind 4
for us at ii cents per 1000, costs him four
cents from the city,
Mr.. Heathcote is a type of the best paid
experts in Pullman. There are many work
men here who did not make over seven
cents an hour when the shops were closed
These significant facts have never been dis
closed. simply because those who have at
tempted to state the grievances of the
strikers have invariably taken the publish
ed scale Of wages as the basis of calcula-
ton, when, In fact as l have attempted to
show. the scale Of wages may be one thing
and the daily compensation actually re-
ceived bear no relation to 1t.
The Rent system.
All the houses at Pullman belong to the
Pullman Land Company and the workman
who rents one Of them contracts with his
landlord that he will permit the Pullman
Palace Car Company. an entirely different
concern. Of course. to collect his rent and
hoiu II out VI MS HiOHtuSy earnings IN the
shops. Such a contract Is undoubtedly VIC
ious and illegal. but. since the party for
whose benefit 1t is made gan devise many
plans for making its violation unpleasant,
the terms are generally. iobserved.
The Pullman Land Company owns every
building In the town. tia some reports the
statement has been made. that the working
men are permitted to gradually purchase
their homes. This is . ,mistake. The only
thing they are permitted,to do Is to pay
rent. The title to the property never pa sses
out of the hands Of Pullman.
:, Rents run from 50 to- S76 the first price
being for the smallest; twe-room cottages
and the last being forI the largest brick
houses. which no one bun q foreman or
office employe can afford oioccupy.
l went through a number Of the houses
this afternoon. In fully Q hundred found
four families. each paying $i2 a month rent
besides their gas and water bills and in
some l found as many az eight and ten
families. One poor man showed me his
time checks" for the nst.month before the
strike He had made $lL2O in four weeks,
and across the face Of the check was writ
ten the words. Deducted for rent 80; water,
20 cents leaving just l.5O to buy food and
clothing for himself and wife.
This Is the gravest issue that ever con-
fronted the business world. and one can
not but feel the Importance of a just an
swer from the people when he looks into
the faces Of these earnest and determined
men