Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-07-24
Balance left to feed and clothc


family Observation-Disclosures. w.
And this Is the experience OF work
man who was making the best wages
raid.
Il have seen hundreds OF men here all
winter who did not draw a cent from the
company after their rent was paid. There
IL one man. John Bates. who not oniy
worked thirteen months for the Pullman
Company and drew nothing over his rent
during all this time. but he was actually
s2is 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 Sos IN
the spring. lie IA an honest, sober, careful
man."
RENTS REMAINED THE SAME.
Ibid not the company reduce the rents
when IL reduced the wages%'
NO sir During all the hard times,
when Mr. Pullman was complaining that
he could not pay the old wages. he con-
tlnued TO collect the old rent.
He claims TO have taken the contract
for building certain cars at loss. Let me
ask you what philanthropy there was III
that when his purpose was merely TO Keep
the men AT work I'm order TO collect their
money In the form of rent?
the cars II he was making II up by eN-
orbitant interest on the money invested IN
tenement houses? He says that these
houses do not pay him over IL per cent
on the Investment. If this is true, why Is
IL that he continues to build them, and In
sist on their occupancy by his workmen?
And why IL IL that the same kind OF
houses can be rented in the city Of Chi
cago for about q per cent. less than they
bring in Pullman
I'm 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 y
| per 900 for can be had In Chicago for
| 81 0S. and the water that he has kindly
provided for us at II cents per 1909 costs
| him four cents from the city"
Mr. Heathcote is a type Of the best-paid
| experts in Pullman. There are many
| workmcn here who did not make over
| Z cents an hour when the shops were
closed. These significant facts have never
| been disclosed. simply because those VINO
| have attempted to state the grievances OF
! the strikers have invariably taken the
| published scale of wages as the basis OF
| calculations, when. in fact as | have at
| TEMPTED to show. the scale of wages may
| be one thing and the daily compensation
| actually received bear no relation 10 IL.
THE RENT SYSTEM.
All the houses at Pullman belong TO
| the Pullman Land Company, and the
workman who rents one of them CON
| tracts with his landlord that he VIII
permit the Pullman Palace-Car Company
an entirely different concern, Of course. TO
| collect his rent and hold it out OF his
monthly earnings in the shops. such
| q contract il undoubtedly vicious and ile-
| gal. but since the party for whose beneht
| ii is made can devise many plans Tor
making its violation unpleasant, the terms
are generally observed.
The Pullman Land Company owns every
building in the town. In some reports the
| statement has been made that the work
| ingmen are permitted to gradually pur-
| chase their homes. This is a mistake
| The only thing they are permitted to 10
| IS 10 pay rent. The title to the property
never passes out OF the hands of Pull
man.
Rents run from 50 to 49, the first price
| being for the smallest twO-room cot
tages. and the last being for the largest
brick houses. which no one but a fore
man or oflice-employee can afford 10 &C.
cupy.
went through n number Of the houses
this afternoon. In fully a hundred
found four families, each paying sl2
month rent. besides their gas and water
bills. and in some / found as many as
eight and ten families. one poor man
showed me his time checks for the last
month before the strike. He had made
81 20 in four weeks. and across the face
of the check was written the words: DE
Quoted for rent. 49, water, 20 cents
leaving just $50 to buy food and cloth
ing for himself and wife.
This is the gravest issue that ever con-
fronted the business world, and one can
not feel the importance Of a just an
swer from the people when he looks into
the faces Of these earnest and determined
men.