The San Francisco call., 1895-05-20
MANY MEN At The DUMPS
The Labor Commissioners Re.
port to the Cooperative
Commonwealth.
liSh a Large Cooperative
Farm.

George w. Sells has been appointed
manager of the Cooperative Common
wealth, and since he assumed office, last
Tuesday, he visited number of the asso-
Citations that have in the past interested
themselves on behalf of the laboring
classes.
At meeting of the Commonwealth held
last evening in the old church building on
Geary street, opposite Union square, the
manager stated that among those who had
been spoken to was Hugh Craig of the
Chamber of Commerce. who had declared
that an association of which he was
member had raised large sum of money
to help the worklngman, and that if the
Commonwealth carried out its promises he
would again do what he could for the
laboring men. He also stated that at
meeting OF the Commonwealth held in the
afternoon he read an interesting report
from Labor Commissioner E. l.. Fitzgerald
in regard to laboring men on the dumps.
This was a report of an agent of the
Labor Commissioner, sent at the sugges
ton of the Commonwealth to investigate
the dumps. 1t is as follows:
Ispent day among the inhabitants of the
several street dumps, and this is what l saw
and heard, and this is what any one can see
and can stand the vile smells and will keep his
eyes and ears open.
They eat the refuse of the dumps and they
sleep on the dumps. Their homes are made
from the ragged and filthy bits of carpet, oil
cloths, mattings and pieces of tin extracted
from the loads of refuse brought to the City
dumping ground by the hordes of scavingers,
and after they have sorted from among the filth
something that to them seems of especial
value, such as bones'or rags, or may be bread,
they seem satisfied.
Here are together about 1SO or 200 able
bodied men who feed themselves by picking
the stale bread, meal and vegetables from the
dump carts.
1 saw men sorting the refuse, picking and
digging and scraping around the ashes, tin
cans, rotten fruit, street sweepings, swill and
stable refuse for crust of stale bread or bit of
meat. / saw them pick up the mouldy rotten
bread. break away the black and filthy por-
tions, putting away the rest for future con-
sumption. / saw them pry off the tops of cans
of rotten fruit and sinking salmon, shifting
| the foul odors to ascertain if the contents had
gone beyond that stage which the human
stomach can endure, but how do they draw the
line of demarkation between food and carrion? ?
They eat what we would fear to thow to our
dogs. They sort over the foul rags gathered
from the back alleys of Chinatown, disease
breeding, leperous Mongolian cast-off clothing,
shaking them out and hanging them on line
to dry, some to be worn by them, the rest to be
sold to buyers OF junk. / saw huts built of
almost everything, some neat and clean, some
filthy and tumble-down, none tall enough to
stand erect inside. Some lay on old spring
beds picked up on CDe dumps, OLherS lay on
the ground. fsaw sleeping apartments made
out of forty or fifty feet lengths of sheet-iron
pipe covered with bits of carpet held in place
by stones or piece OF sewer-pipe. Lifting the
piece of carpet that fell over an end of the pipe
| saw in some mating and old comforters
a myriad of rats, which scampered away on see
ing the light.
| talked with many of these men, one an up
holsterer, another mechanic, another shoe
maker, all willing to work at anything. One
said: "There are no criminals among us. If
| f,,I rI1n i'm ont No hon,
men, and we want work" Another said !:
"What do the Supervisors sell the right to sort
over the refuse to those scavengers? We could
make living from the dumps if they were
away, and what do they do with the money
that the old fellow, whose son keeps the saloon
just across the street, pays them? I uever
your" l was forced to acknowledge that l had
not. 1t has been learned from an attache of
the Board of Supervisors that certain Frank
Capello, known as the keeper of the dumps, is
paid salary of $50 month by the City to
spread the refuse as fast as it is received, also
that the office is considered one of the
fattest plumS in the gilt OF the Supervisors. and
is much sought after.
1t seems that the incumbent assumes that he
owns or has prior right to everything depos-
tied on these grounds, and he employs the ftal-
ians to pick over and sort out all that is yall-
able. The rags are sorted over, dried and
baled. The tin cans are throw into furnace
to get the tin and solder, which is run into
moids, then the remainder is baled and sold to
be made into sash weights. The sweet corn
cans are used again, the bones are used for fer
tilizing, the rubber melted, and the manure
sold to truck gardeners. Thus the man who is
paid salary TO simply scatter the refuse be-
comes monopolist, an autocrat and a tyrant,
who keeps the poor unemployed from picking
up an honest, though meager, living from that
over which his jurisdiction ceases as soon as it
is scattered.
Is there remedy for this state of affairs?
Are men compelled to live alongside of this
foul-smelIing dumping ground? Is it not pos
pible, through the instrumentality of the Labor
Commissioner, to bring about a change?
There are idle lands as well as idle hands and
it is not among the impossibilities of the near
future to bring these together and make them
operate through the assistance of the Labor
Bureau of this City. When the Mayor who is
noted for his benevolence, owns the greater
part of the unoccupied lands of San Fran
cisco, it does seem not improbable to hope
that results similar to those brought about in
Eastern cities could be successfullv accom-
plished here. No man who is the owner of a
vacant lot could possibly object to filling the
stomach of some poor mans family with meal
of potatoes raised by extra hours of toll upon
land that is idle.
Geo. W. Sell, Esq.--DEAR SIR At your request
I send above report. 1t is authentic and mat
ter of record in our Office. Respectfully
E. L. FITZGERALD, Labor Commissioner.
May IS, 1895.
Manager Sells said last night that some
action will be taken by the directors of the
Commonwealth in regard to the men men
toned in the report He also stated that
the Mayor had Deen spoken to with view
to obtain some unoccupied land upon
which to start cooperative farm similar
to that in Detroit, and that the Mayor had
spoken encouragingly of the proposition.
He said that he intends to wait on other
landowners. Thus far 100 good mechanics
and fifteen laborers are enrolled. Within
week fourteen have obtained employment
and next week he has promise of work for
forty more.
The board of directors will meet tonight
and elect officers.