Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-12-12
THE rLAN OF SELLING MEDICINES
rs az fSc T5f1At 70 PIERCE
THEIR MODEL TOWN.
AVIslToR TO PULLMAN FINDS LITTLE
CHANGE IN THE SITUATION.
Fewer Employees In the shops Than Re
fore the strike-IhyinE or workmcn.
The Schedule of Wages In Force-Cry-
ing ExIis of the Credit system.
Especial Corr,sPondcncc.l

ing Exiis of the Credit System.
Especial Curr,7spon,icncc.l
CHICAGO, Dec. al have just paid Mr..
| Pullman's town n visit, during which /
tried to learn the present state of affairs
there.
''How many men are at present work
ing in the shops? Are they getting any
better wages than were those against
| which they struck? Have the old hands
| been rc-empluycd. or have they been dis
| eliminated against? Will there be much
want in Pullman during the coming win
teri How do the people feel toward the
| Pullman company" These and similar
| queries wcrc the ones tn which dCsird
| answers.
Il should say" answered. one Of my
| informants, THAT about =. 500 mon arc
now Mt work, possibly not moro than
| 1000. They are getting the wages against
| which they struck last summer. / am not
sufficiently familiar with the scale, how
| ever, to speak in detail Of the wages paid
by the company Mt this time, but the num-
Der OF men receiving as much rs 50 n day
| Is very small. \ few more get s.. 80 day,
n still larger number 81, and ~ on down
| to 81 or less.
"Thc population OF Pullman is not now
what it was, for Mt one time there were
nearly IL, 900 inhabitants. Nearly urquitc
|
then, but now Of the 500 homes 500 Mt
least arc vacant. l know this to hc true
because heard II ut the renting Office. II
each of these houses had five inhabitants,
which think Is not an ovCp'stimatC, in
Guiding children and boIrdCrs, the resi-
dents of Pullman now number $500 less
than when 1t was at its hast. There will
be some suffering here this winter because
there will bc some families having no
means of support. hut IL will b. so in
many other places too. l cannot say
whether believe there will be moro suf-
fcring here than elsewhere because am
not familiar with other places. Although
there arr only about half as many Mt work
| rs in the best times, yet not all of those
| who took part in the strike and have not
again secured positions with tho Pullman
| company have moved away. They still
occupy the Pullman houses, Of course, hut
they are not paying rent, and most Uf
, them have determined that they will not
pay rent either. For some reason best
known to Mr., Pullman thCrC have been
| no evictions, possibly because hC has had
enough of lighting for the present. How
long these families will be allowed TO &C.
| Cupy these houses rent free we do not
] know, and IL is not likely that Mr.. Pull
man himself could give this information.
| His present system of employment is
radically different from the old time plan
1
employed who cannot bc kept steadily ut
work, whereas the scheme used to be to
give work To as many individuals rs pos
sihlc, even IL they all worked ON short
time. 1t was claimed by the company, l
believe, that this plan gave something of
an income to all and was therefore of great
| benefit to the wOrkingmcn. Those who do
not approve of Mr.. Pullman or his com
pany claim. on tho other hand, that the
plan was adopted for the purpose of keep
" | ing the men who rent the Pullman houses
in town 80 that they might continue to
= | pay rent. OF course / know nothing about
| the merits of either of these claims. As
u have said, the men like the present plan
better than the old one. for IL gives those
who are employed n steady and definite in
/ come, and those who arc laid of, not be-
., | ing tempted to- hold on so rs to- be in the
line of steady work when 1t comes, feel ut
liberty to go away and seek work else
, where. 1t Is, however, less profitable To
tho company. You can undoubtedly get
more definite information rs to the num-
Der of mon now employed, the number ot
vacant houses and the wages paid than
k can give You Ivy calling ut tho renting
office and questioning the agent, Mr..
HornbCck, who Is the only one empowered
to give out any statements here.
went to the renting Office, which Is
located in the arcade" drCary enough
1
Hornbcck for tho information required.
" but he did not answer my questions. lie
said he had got over talking to newspaper
al men. Hc knew all the things / wanted
to know, but he wouldn't tell me.
From other sources it was learned that
most of the men now working are old en-
s ployeeS.
You SEE, IL was stated, Its money
in the Golfers OF the company tn keep tn,
- old men on. for they arc in the houses
and though back in their rents, can h,
induced by steady employment to pay NJ
Y | their arrears even IL they have to ply In
nj very small driblcts. They nro paying n,
1r fast as they can. but that Is not very rapid
l. 1t Is not any too easy for IA man on s. ri
;. 81. so a day To meet current expenses
le much less pay up old obligations. TIL,
" curse of PullmDn Is and has been the CrCli
Is system. Very few Of the residents her
Is confine their purchases to the amOun
u of money they have in hand. l know
ID that this system is quite generally preva
or lent, but in few places is it 50 universal n
he It IL here hold that the undcrlyin:
IT. principle of the entire Pullman plan il Il
or blame for this. for as the men cannot bu.
ny homes here and cannot go outside tho linn
r. its of Pullman for that purpose withOu
e. risking their places they have no incentive
IN to be providcnt, rs men living in othc
a communities have. l am aware that 1t /
| Clllnlpu tlat no nTuer mas ever DNasn ls~lltH
y making any distinction between resident
and nonrcsidCnts, but do not care to- n
IS wise my statements in tho least"
ny 1t took mo several days to get the fact
So from the Pullman company's standpoint
nS but that was undoubtedly because IL wa
- desired to furnish the information in
comprehensive and compact form. Accord
NJ ing to an employee of the Pullman CON
pany, there are now 1855 employees, {
whom but COS rent houses of the company
=. Many of tho others, however, board wit
w. those who do rent. The average earning
nro nearly So n day, including messenGC
J. boys, ut SIS per month. Most of the wOr
~. Is piece work, and so the earnings shout
not be spoken of wages About -
earn SIS n week, as many moro SIS. The
work n little harder now than they did l
the 1ushest times, when rates were higl
est. and so earn almost rs much a. the
II. did then. In October the average earning
were $40 and some cents.
OF the total number of employees mo-
At at work only 300 are new to the works
N The feeling tow yard the company is cordia
and there are but ESQ vacant tencmcnts-
.: 1t will be observed that the two version
os do not agree In nll essentials, but 1 haS
IN set down both rs impartially as l can do s.
% NJ. ]. DEXTER.
on. The Brooklyn Primaries.