The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-03-18
STARVING IN BOSTON.
Continued from First Page.)


"He came to us and asked for work
of any kind, and the best we could do for
him was to get him a chance to worl,
IN Mr.. Briggs wood yard, where the men
are paid 80 cents day in groceries. That
is one of the severest tests to put man to-
for the work is hard and he can only get
two days week, while he does not re-
ceive any money. This man was glad to
get even this chance. He had trampea
all over the city, looking for work, but all
the promises that had been given him
counted for nothing. When | went to
the house l found that his wife had been
confined the day before, and she vas in
bed with the ne-day-old baby, and her
other two little ones. 1t was the only
place they could keep warm.
'"They had had gas stove, but the gas
company had cut off that because they
could not pay the gas bill. The children
old enough to go to school had to go with
out any breakfast
There IS man near here" put in Mr..
Hague, who was in bushes for himself.
and failed His family had been we'll pro-
vided for. but since the failure he has been
trying everywhere to get work. He is not
a strong man, and cannot do labor -ons
work 4 short time ago the landlord or
dered them out of the house, but we man.
aged to make temporary arrangement
with him.
"This man has been doing odd jobs for
about four months but has not been able
to earn enough to support his family.
Il know another, an exceptionally fine
man, who used to be in the hotel business.
He has walked the streets night and day
trying to get work, and l know it for
fact that he has been living on 10 cents
a day for weeks. He has always been
steady, sober and hard worker, but it
seems he cannot get work anywhere.
There are number of upholsterers
out of employment, and work in the cigar
factories is also dull. The same is true
Of the piano factories.
"The fact of the matter IS that since
the hard times of 1893, the people have
not been able to recover themselves.
When work started up again there were
SO many idle that men were willing to
work for anything they could get, and
the employers took advantage of this. As
a result hundreds have simply been able
to live along from week to week without
saving a cent and those who were able
to save money previous to 1893 and spent
it all during the last hard times, are now
almost destitute when they get out Of en-
ployment.
at is pitiful to see how these people
have to get along, how saving they are,
and how precious to them every drop Of
water IS to them.
"One of our workers went to visit a
poor woman near here, and found her
hard at work over washtub. The Wis
itor had received a note from somebody
calling attention to the family.
"The mother left the tub to open the
door, and her three little ones came after
her There was no fire N the place, and
the visitor was told that there was moth
ing in the larder The woman had had
another woman lodging with her, and the
money for the rent Of the room had been
the greatest source of income the family
had. But the ledger had departed, and
the mother was unable to even pay the
rent.
"While she was talking to the visitor
the children began to play around the
washtub, and in some way they upset it.
The water spread over the floor in all di-
rections, and everybody within SIGHT set
to work to soak it up.
"The mother, however. was not think
ing of the work. What she mourned was
the loss of the hot water There, she
said, all my good, hot water has been
wasted, and l haven't any fuel to warm
some more
This woman. while her fate was q
hard one, seemed to be thankful that she
was not worse off, and was thoughtful Of
others.
"'We are bad enough off, she said. but