The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1895-07-26
LOADING COTTON.
Tho Work Of Negroes on III,
Steamships Down south.
Great sSlii REQ tired IN the Handbag ).
the HEAVY I:ales-rhe Men Always
cheer.aI and singing Waite
at Labor.

freight room with the awkward rec
tangular bales--and some men are so
much more skilled than Others In this
science that 1t often makes difference
OF 400 or 500 bales in s,O0O-ton ship
and that amount OF loss in the profit Of
the voyage. Therefore. the stevedores
and screwnen receive big wages, per-
haps the largest that are paid 70
negroes anywhere in the world, for
most OF the lougshorernen in the South
Atlantic are OF that race, says the Chi
cago Record.
In New Orleans they are nearly all
white men Italians, Swedes and Irish
men-and the riots that we read about
in the papers were due to the introduce
tion of negro packers and screwmen
from Galveston TO take the place OF the
whites.
The screwmen IRE divided into gangs
of five, with u foreman, and the whole
are under the direction OF chief
steyedorc, who is usually white man,
and acts US superintendent of the dock.
Each gang occupies Il hatchway of the
steamer, and five men are all that can
conveniently work in such narrow
space.
The cotton comes from the planta-
tion ON the ears or upon tlatboats. The
bales ms they leave the plantation are
loosely packed generally four feet
Highland the first thing when they
reach the dock is to tumble them into
a hydraulic press, which reduces their
bulk by one-half and makes 1t possible
to pack twice Us many in the hold of
steamer.
The truclsmen pass back and forth
between the pile of bales and the ship
in u procession, rapidly and in perfect
time, and it is an awkward and ''wuth-
less niger" as the foreman said, who
ever touches bale with his hands.
Some of them put on jaunty Mrs,
strike attitudes, and introduce fancy
steps as if they were at cake walk.
particularly when spectators are watch
ing, but that is unprofcssional, and the
serious and self-respecting truclSman
ctotes his bales" without trying to at
tractattention. They sing as they go,
but for the life of me could not catch
the words, and when in an interval /
asked ons to repeat the verses he re.
piled:
Dey amt none. Dat wuz 1es' de
truckers song
Inc refrain sounded Ike ''of rio rtly
oh, oh rio rily oh, and it was evidently
nothing but gibberish. 1t appears that
the several gangs have their own par
ucular songs and judged from what
the foreman told me that the words
were usually without meaning or sim
ply series OF rhythmical sounds with
examinations that rhymed, invented by
some one OF their number and sung to
familiar airs.
The truclkman drops the bale at the
edge OF the dock, or losses It by jerk
OF the handles OF his truck over the
4 gunwales OF She vessel; then q man ad-.
lnsts the graz ngiroti and shouts q sig
nai 70 the eugtnee ~ the wind assi
who turns ms lever and, hoisting the
bale into the air, lets II swiftly down
INTO the hold, where the i've artists are
waiting to pack II away.
1t is hot work below, and the packers
and screwnen are usually bnrefooted
and naked above the waists, while per.
| snita finn rolls down t1,air tnassiye
,nnseIas nal, I,os !" hoai. =. IL 49,
nns .i.a,. 80 10" a5 10 o ~, - zoo t,s na
bales n: a .Tamsnesa inagler n J,U ,,,;tf,
n Mat. - ''"$'S '"7s ~ p'"s "i'A
p Eir. bo,1,s ~. il 4ha oo+ton a., a.
s+ant = to""lns Ia.+o,a 80 Vt ,1,a, w. .oa-.,
~ ,vor,, ILL., So mactino -, So 81
Joes ~ r,,,ii nna So 80, ~ nnott,a. o o.,
aoeS hoe pun one way ana another an
ton. ~ "S C,, ~ ,,na,.a,.o g. H. a"s "a