The evening world., 1894-02-14
HIRED BY PkDR0NES.
System of Slavery Encouraged by
Municipal Departments.
Contractors Furnish Men and Pay
Them What They Please.
Fat Percentage Made nt the Expense
of the Poor.

In a city Iito Ne" YORK, AT a trne
when the most widespread distress eN-
lists. when thousands OF men are out of
work and every charity organization
trying to feed the hungry. II seems dif'
fcult to believe hat men can seize the
occasion to grind their unfortunate fel.
lows. rob them ol their wages and carry
on n system OF slavery as bad II not
worse thar that which existed In the
South In ante-abolition days.
Yet such Is the fact. Tho system
fiourishes to al extent SCARCELY dreamed
of. and worse stu. the municipal de.
p]artrnents are actually encouraging 1t
every day. That Che heads Of these de-
partments never pause to consider the
evil effect Of this system IS evident. 70
think otherwise would be to place the
officials on the zane plane II not a little
below that of the padrJne.
Not very many years ago a great
cutlery was raised against the padrone,
and every influence possible was brought
to bear in order to break up the system
Of serfdom that then existed. 1t was
known that thousands of men were
being imported from Italy. bought up. as
II were. In their native country, their
passage money paid. and they themselves
held under contract to the padrone for
wears. IN some cases until they pad
uack the debt with such interest as
the most grasp.ng usurer would never
dare demand.
The padrone system was broken up-so,
at least, 1t was stated-and the intelli-
gence was hailed with rejoicing every
where. Italian residents worked the
| lI rln Hf 3 Va ltaa ~. tina Z mo
then, however. they have allowed II. to
grow again and branch out. until to-day
1t is practically stronge than ever.
1t does not import men. now. There
is no necessity for doing SO. There are
thousands of Italians here to-day who
owing to the necessities of the times, are
only too willing to sell themselves. t..
more Contractors" who, having taken
the place Of the old padrone. hold the
Whether their pull" with the city de-
partments Is OF a political nature or
otherwise does not appear. Certain 1t
IL. that they rave everything to say as to
the "umncr of Italians employed on II
OF the public works.
No man. in fact, Is employed except
through them. The city pays them In
bulk the wages which the men earn and
they in turn pay the men. The I'M
fortunate laborcr Is not In "a position to
demand his wages. lie must take what
u CONTRACTOR gives MN, which Varies
from 80 to 70 per cent. Of what the city
pays him for the men.
Every day In the year one or more OF
these contractors" call at the office of the
Street-tlcaning Commissioners to ask the
same question, can supply you with
any men to-day"' 1t Is only in cases Of
emergency that Commissioner Andrews
requires them. and when he does the
contractors services are promptly en-,
gagged. Just such an emergency pre-.
scented Itself yesterday when the city
was covered with snow, which had to b,
cleared away.
The law says that In cases OF emer-
gency IA number OF extra men, with carts,
sc, can be engaged for II period not to
drews took advantage of that section OF
the statutes to call upon the Mayor early
N the morning and obtain mis- order for
the employment of l,5Oo men. at 81. III
per day. Then the Commissioned notified
Supt. robbins. The Mulberry street con.
tractors were In waiting. The orders for
the delivery of the 800 men We're given
and a drag-net was sent through Mul
berry street "A few minutes later.
The headquarters oft hese contractors Is
p. Caponigus holds forth" The latter
office. by the way, Is also used as Sub.
station % OF the New York post-OihCe,
Another ~well-known contractor is q
Cavn, 40 Mulberry street.
The loo men began work last night
after the regular street-sweeping force
had got through for the day. All wer.
NV 'u SisbV ltl ltN 'iNh, Jul tllfN VIII
only receive II little more han half.
The evil, however, Is not &c
much In the amounts the con,
lowed to receive anything at all. Wit
the enormous clerical force In his office
with his foremen II superintendent
the surprise IL that Commissioned An
drews was not able to employ the mer
himself.
Instead. they are bought In blocks from
the contractors. who, give the men 4
! 0llN. "a N.AN Nn tlnnn hi ta a an ~ M
1t Is the simple evidence Of serrdom
and when the work Is done the con
tractor win draw the whole amoun II
bulk and settle any way he likes.
AT 10 o'clock this morning Commits
sioner Andrews had not arrived at his
office. Chief Clerk Mccarthy, who has
been in the Department for many years
was willing to answer all questions.
TO begin WITH he said. there I:
no politics In the employment of thes'
men. | doubt IL Commissioner Andrews
or appearance. They have been her,
since The first day the department wa.
organiZcd. ana they come every day ask
Ing the one question. They are able e
procure all the men needed. thousands 4
necessary, without trouble. If we wen
up to Mulberry street. we could not &c
them.
They are only employed In cases o
emergency. and We only pay the con
tractors for every man he supplies Il:
with. Not only has every man got
hH'IA''l' " w 'ls' b'N hlS llllt ~
there iS. no room for fraud. Occasion
ally bills have been sent in by con
tractors for more men han We're ac
tually supplied. BY our system of mum
Der and name, we could At once see tn,
attempted fraud and prevent II.
~ tel, you.' he, added, 'tt would 1T
absolutely impossible for us to seCur,
all these men on such short notice.
don't know how much money thes,
contractors pay the men, nor do I care
Neither does Commissioner Andrews
| don't see that ii makes any differ
"nCe To us whether he pays them tn,
full mount, ." only five cents. W,
lay the full amount, ana get our worl
properly done for it,"
In the last statement Of Mr.. Mccarthy
les the whole story in a nutshell. IN,
STRENGTHENING Department is not both
cred with the hiring Of men, and 1t Il
not the business of commissioner An
drews whether the unfortunate laborer.
the men only receive - cents or 81 {
shovel snow all night, while on the hull
the contractor makes IA thousand dollar.
or so, does not matter.
Mr., McCarthy's statement that 1
would be impossible to secure all the me,
needed on such notice does not hol,
Sood IN view of the existing distress
a few days ago the simple announce
mcnt that worN was to he started on In,
City's parks and the Speedway brough
forth several thousand men anxious I,
do labOrcrs' work. Every DAY hundred!
of men walked up to one Hundred ant
Fifty-seventh street and Seventh aVenu,
I'm homes nj paIting XU,rl ~, ,l, C,..a