The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1895-05-25
LOADING COTTON.


Tho Work of. Negroes On th1
steajhtps Dovtn South
0rsa4 sktn Required h taAe H.adljn~ =,
tlae Heavy a1alse-T The Gaa Alwaye
Cheerful and eangfng Whiis
at LAboe.
r isa problem Ia mechanics 70 load
q. cotton shp-to I'LL every cubic foot d
freight room with the awkward rec
tangular bales-and some men are &C
much more skilled than others in this
science that it qften makes = differences
Of 400 or 500 bales in 2,000-ton ship
and that amount Of loss in the profit o1
the voyage. Therefore, the stevedoree
and screwmen receive big wages, per
haps the largest that are paid to
negroes anywhere in the world, for
most of the longshoremen 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 introduc
ton of negro packers and screwmen
from Galveston to take the place OF the
whites.
The screwmen are divided into gangs
of five, with q foreman, and the whole
are under the direction of chief
stevedore, who is usually white man,
and acts as superintendent of the dock.
Each gang occupies 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 cars or upon fatboats. The
bales as they leave the plantation are
loosely packed generally four feet
Highland the first thing when they
a hydraulic press, which reduces their
bulk by one-half and makes it possible
to pack twice as many in the hold of q
steamer.
The truckmen pass back and forth
between the pile of bales and the ship
in procession, rapidly and in perfect
time, and it is an awkward and s'wuth-
less nigger," as the foreman said, who
ever touches a bale with his hands.
Some of them put on jaunty airs,
strike attitudes, and introduce fancy
steps as if they were at cake walk.
particularly when spectators are watch
ing, but that is unprofessional, and the
serious and self-respecting truckman
totes his bales" without trying to at
tract attention. They sing as they go,
but for the life of me could not catch
the words, and when in an interval
asked one to repeat the verses he re-
Piled:
"D5y amt none. Dat wuz jes' de
truckers song"
The refrain sounded like ''Oh rio rily
oh, oh rio rily oh, and it was evidently
nothing but gibberish. Itappears that
the several gangs have their own par
ticular songs, and l judged from what
the foreman told me that the words
were usually without meaning, or sim
ply a ser1es Of rhythmical sounds with
that rhymed, invented by
some one of their numb and sung to
familiar airs.
The truckman drops the bale at the
edge Of the dock, or tosscs it by jerk
Of the handles of his truck over the
gunwales of the vessel: then man ad-
justs the grapplingiron and shouts a sig
nal to the engineer at tho wfndlass,
who turns his lever, and, hoisting the
bale into the air, lets it swiftly down
nto the hold, where the five artists are
waiting to pack it away.
It is hot work below, and the packers
ind screwmen are usually barefooted
md naked above the waists, while per-
,piration rolls down their massive
Each has hook in his hand,
md they seize and toss the 5o0-pound
oalcs as Japanese juggler plays with
plates.
Five hooks are In the cotton the In !
slant it touches bottom, and they seem
20 work like slot machine, for one
loes not pull one way and another an
,ther, but by united, simultaneous eff
'ort the great package is lifted, and
lrops into the very place where the
Joss wants it to go.
Then at intervals they get out big
ackscrew that must weigh 500 pounds
md crowd the bales together until the
,old Of the ship is one solid mass. One
nd of the jackscrew is placed against |
bale and the other end against
,iece of heavy oak timber four or five
inches square, which is notched to keep
he screw from slipping, and can be In
lined against the side OF the ship or
ne of it's stanchions, SO that good
may be obtained. The screw
) worked by double crank, and one
nan holds it in position while the other
our turn. That operation b called
nosing up"
ALI this is done to musical accom-
eniment-I suppose . negro always
ings when he worlks-but the songs Of
he screwmen are different from those
the truckmen, and the air that goes
nth the jaclxscrew is not the same that
, sung when the screwmen are placing
he bale in position.
These stevcdores have work only
bout six months ia the year, but while
hey are at It they receive good pay.
hey work by the piece that Is, 20
luch money for storing away 30 many
- iknoe the foreman, who gets the
,b and selects his own associates, gets
ae-half more than they.
During the cotton season. Tor - or IA
ours work, he will average q. 50 day
nd they 15, II they are slillfnl and en-
rgotic. The truclr6ts arcpeid ~ the
our, and make from ~ IS NJ N 81.
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