The San Francisco call., 1896-08-09
|NVEST|GAT ING
GRADERS CAMPS,
Labor Bureau Officials on
a Tour Of Inspec-
ti0n.
SAW FOUR COLONIES.
All Kinds of Accommodation,
From Cleanliness to
Filth.
WHY THE MEN COMPLAIN.
Some Want Better Food, Some More
of 1t, and Some Want Shorter
Hours.
WHY THE MEN COMPLAIN.

When living in the rough, inconvenient
manner similar to graders camps, comfort
is a relative term, and the little neces-
saries of more civilized life are not consid-
cred, but the place can, at least, be kept
clean, and that this is not always done is
easily seen.
The men at the camps are not all salts
fed with their surroundings. They have
been complaining, and in pursuance OF
their complaints G.. L. Dam and c. nj.
Grim, from the office of the State Labor
Bureau, have been investigating.
On Friday they visited four graders
camps, and to-day they will make report.
Their report will lead to some improve
ment in at least one, for John TuttIe's
camp on Haight street, between Fillmore
and Steiner, will not be spared in their
report.
A sand lot Uttered with old wagons,
broken wheels and pieces of iron, sur
rounded by ramshackle buildings, in some
of which horses live, in others men, and a
pronounced ''stable'' SMELL constitutes
Tuttle's camp. There are about twenty
five men in his camp, all of whom take
their meals in the cookhouse, and fifteen
of whom sleep in the bunkhouses. There
are thirty horses in the stables.
The stables are cleaned out every morn
ing, but not so the rooms. The dirt on
the windows and the floors and the walls
and ceilings has not settled since yester-
day nor the day before, nor the week be-
fore, nor last March. For is the "human"
poison-like smell thing of a week or a
month. The rooms are poorly lighted
from the dirt on the windows, there is no
circulation and the sashes look as if they
were never raised, and the beds-they dis
courage any but distant ins spection.,
These things the investigators took note
of ana then passed into the cookhouse.
1t was not badly kept and the utensils
seemed clean, but the place is small and
stuffy.
Some sleeping-rooms are in the same
building as the kitchen and dining-room
and the rooms are small.
Three men are in one room, two in
another and more are In other rooms.
Another .'bunkhouse'' is across the lot
from the ''cookhouse," and two more men
sleep in room off one of the stables. The
men work ten hours day ana say that
they are not badly treated. The labor
deputies will recommend, however, that
Tuttle be given ten days to put his dormi-
tories in proper condition or tear them
down.
A. E. Buekman's camp at Steiner and
Waller, where it was said typhoid fever
was rampant, was found to be the cleanest
and best ordered of those visited. The
kitchen and dining-room are IL one build
ing and the dormitory or bunkhouse is
situated far enough away to secure COM
plete isolation for each. There are fifty
five rooms in the bunkhouse, window in
each, and in each are two spring beds.
Sheets and good blankets. are provided for
each bed, and there is an attendant whose
business it is to keep the rooms clean and
in order.
There were no sick men in the camp
yesterday, nor had there been, the men
said. Their principal cause for complaint
was the food. Not the dinner, but the
breakfast and lunch. They say those
meals are not fit in quantity and quality
for workingmen.
Murphy's camp at Harbor View houses
thirty-fve men in rough redwood bunk
house.
replace the straw when they see fit. The
blankets belong to the men. a neighbor-
ing hotel boards the Iaborers under con-
tract with Murphy. The men complain
that they are worked over hours, but be-
yOnd that they are content.
Frank Seminars, better known as
"French" Frank, has camp on Geary
and Fillmore streets. Only three men
sleep at the camp, and their hunks form
the second story to the stable stalls. But
they, too, are content.
Those conditions will form the basis fol-
the Deputy Commissioners reports to-
day. They will also be brought to the at
tention of the Board of Health, and that
body, too, may take a hand in cleaning
camp surroundings.
In response to a courteous letter from
Contractor Buckman asking the Health
Officer to visit the camp, DR.. .Lovelace sent
curt reply to the effect that he was salts
fed that the camp was in bad sanitary
condition and that he did not deem any
further investigation necessary. He stated
that his authority for the allegation that
typhoid patients had been taken from the
camp to the City and County Hospital
was the word of Superintendent Stable Of
the hospital.