The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-03-27
READS TO WORKMEN.
THE NOVEL OCCUPATION FOLLOWED
sY A NEW YORK MAN.
Cigar Makers Pay Him Well Tor
Tranaiasing and Reading Aloud Newspa-
pers and Books while they Work-His
Audience Sometimes Critical.

NA0NR &A@& - -
Translating and Reading Aloud Newspa-
pers and Books while they Wori-His
Audience Sometimes Critical.
The Spanish speaking cigar makers In
this town employ q man to read 60 them
while they are at work. In no other In
dustry is this thing done, though it
would seem that other workers by the
piece could initiate the Cubans Il adj
vantage. Not only do they keep in touch
with all the news, but IL keeps them
from talking, and there isn't q minute
of their time wasted.
The Cubans are great takers, and
this is what probably started the cus
tom in the cigar factories OF Havana.
When the men were brought 20 this
| country to make their cigars i'm Key
West and the lower part of New York
| city, they wanted q reader more than
ever. They are very bright, intelligent
fellows, these Cubans, and they take q
deep interest in the news Of the world
as well as the latest intelligence from
their own little island. They all sub-
scribe to a fund to pay their reader, and
they work all the harder for keeping
their mouths closed and their minds
employed as they roll the tobacco.
Julian Barreda is probably the most
popular of the young men who Earn a
good living by amusing and ~instFucting
| the cigar makers. He is a native of
Porto Rico, where he learned the Eng
lish language as well as a great many
other things. He has had q college ed
ucation and can translate the English
and American newspapers into Latin
and Greek as easily as in Spanish.
He is employed just now in two fac
tories, that of Lozano, Pendas q Co,
al 200 Pearl street, and another
al William and Plat streets. When
Barreda first came to this country,
he could not speak the language very
we'll, though he knew it theoretically
and could read and write it. He is a
skilled electrician, but could get moth
ing to do in his line and so went to ad-
dressing envelopes at $3.50 q week.
There was a vacancy in n OF the Gu
ban cigar factories after awhile, and by
that time Barreda had mastered the
speech of this country.
He walked into the factory n day,
and mounting the table which served as
d rostrum for the reader he made q lit
tie speech to the men, the purport of
which was that he thought he would
make q good reader for them.
They told him to go ahead and show
! what he could do. Ho pulled . paper
ont of his pocket and began reading q
tariff editorial to them. They demand
ed more when he had finished the edi-
torial, and he read tothem for an hour,
translating the cable news, the sensa-
tions of the day and the Washington
dispatches into their native Spanish.
} The trial was satisfactory, and he was
engaged at once for four hours q day.
There were 80 Cubans I'm the factory III
that time, and each agreed to give him
as cents a week. Then Barreda made
an arrangement on the same terms with
another factory, which employed 4f
: men, and he wa In receipt of q good I'm
/ com at once.
, He reads for IL hours at each factory
: in the morning and for AZ hours in tht
8 afternoon. He has his evenings to him
/ SELF, but he occupies a couple of hour
then i'm reading the afternoon papers q
familiarize himself with the late news
d and so his day il a busy one.
1T is not so easy q task al n nigh
suppose, " said Barreda to a reporter
1.-The men are very critical, and III th'
matter is dull o. uninteresting they a
/, not hesitate to shout ont and demand
Z change. They are especially intereste,
8 in the foreign news. Then they wan
the general news and anything sensa
tional in the city news. They like scan
U dial. A divorce case or anything on tina
order Just suits them. AS fast as tn
Cuban papers arrive by mail ! get then
and read them, and the Spanish paper
! published in the city contain q grea
deal that the men want to hear.
I'm the afternoon / read to them on
of some book. Just now / am readin
e Gil Bias in one shop and a Spanis
novel called The Two Sisters in TIA
other. When I have finished a novel,
= select half a dozen Others that / thin
Il will suit them and read them a list 9
% titles. Then they vote on which n
A shall begin.
J, Are they good listeners?'
q, 1.-THE best in the world. They az
d working all the time, and they are am
~ ious not to miss q word. They wor
faster when some nj is reading, an
they realize that If they yer get to tall
ing together their bill at the end Of HI
g, week will be just % much less. The
&c are nearly all re~yolutionists, you know
and there 10 great chance for argumex
j. among them, because they all belong |
different factions.
:. II have to be very careful in readin
the Cuban papers and those. publishe
in Spanish in this city that I do nj
miss an editorial representing some pa
ficuIar shade Of opinion. No matter no
i. radical il liz, IL is sure 10 have some al
t. herent and some synpathizer in q
shop
Barreda has learned to be a very III
eliminating newspaper reader. +
To knows when to skip the dry part OF /
arficla and he knows inst what NEW