The San Francisco call., 1897-02-16
NFORD'S VICTORY
FOR WAGE-EARNERS
Passage of His Bill, Which
Compals Wages to Be
Paid Promptly.
Graphic Word Picture of Misery
and Injustice Among the
Loggers.
Flain Talk That Won the Heart of
Every Member of the Assembly
Present

SACRAMENTO, CAL, Feb. 15.-There
was not dissenting voice IN the Assem-
bly this morning when Saniord's Assem-
bly, bill 45 was passed. 1t was Mr.. San
ioro's pet measure. and when he had con-
cluded his speech urging its passage he
was greeted with a round of hand-clap-
ping by his feliow-mem bers. The title of
the bill is as follows:
An act requiring every corporation in this
State TO pay lis employees and each of them at
least once in each and every month the wages
earned by such employees; to define the duties
OF the Labor Commissioner and the District
Attorneys OF the several counties OF this State
IN enforcing this act; to limit the defenses
which may be set up by such corporation to
assignment of wages set-off or coun ter-claims
or the absence of such employe at the time OF
making payment, and in case of such absence
the wages are payable upon demand; to pro-
hlolt assignment of wages for the purpose of
evading the provisions of this act. and agree
ments TO accept wages at longer periods than
as herein provided as q condition of employ
ment; to tx penalty for this violation of the
provisions OF this act by such corpora tion, and
10 provide for the disposition of any fines re-
covered from corporations violating the same.
MI Sanford comes from Point Arena,
sawmill district of Mendocino County,
and, al though he is D mocrat, his bill
received the solid vote of every Repub-
llcan present, and there were fewer Re-
publicaEs absent than Democrats. II was
the gentleman's first speech of any length,
and, although not couched in eloquent
language or EN- mbelished with the power
and grace OF oratory, was just as effective,
for 1t was simple recital of the truth,
rugged picture OF slave life, not in Sibe-
rod mo- on
the coast of California.
lie SAID that 1t was the custom of the
saWmlll corporations to pay their en-
ployes only once in each ninety days, en-
abllng the logger and mill hands to live
by advancing them orders on the corpora
tlOn>' stores. These truck stores possess
all the eXtortionate and tyrannical feat-
ures OF similar dens Of robbery elsewhere
1t is impossible for the la borer 10 get the
face value OF those checks in return for
them a any of the stores in town. for the
companies discount these checks and Or
ders al Is and 20 per cent
"a man should be paid at the end of the
month and in cash or Its equivalent" said
Mr. Sanford. These men work from ten
to fourteen hours per day, and there is not
a dollar IN circulation in the sawmilI dis !
tricts IN which the truck-store system pre- |
walls. The result is tina: the smaller stores |
are being driven away and that the corpo- |
ration stores charge three and four prices |
robbed both ends"
Mr.. Sanford said that the mill compa- ,
nies in Hum boldt County paid off their |
men at the end of each month. The men
got better wages and worked only ten
hours per day, while in Mendocino County
they work twelve hours.
In Mendoclno County because of this sys-
tenn worklngmen can never get out of
debt TO the corporations and they are prac-
tically IN a state of serfdom. If a man
81 I, u L
name put upon the blacklist so that he
cannot get employment in the same busi-
ness anywhere along the coast. The COM
V panies get the interest on the ninety days
use of the money and make an enormous
profit out of their stores.
The food given to those poor employees
is disgracefully unfit for human beings"
continued Mr.. Sanford. at is nothing to
see a man who has been so fortunate is
10 be killed by log or failing tree 10 be
taken about by two or three Cinnamon
and buried on the hillside without shingle
or stone to mark his grave. His home is
a miserable shanty OF rough boards with
the ground for floor. In the center j. a
heap. of sand for a fireplace, and directly
over it is hole in the roof for the escape
OF the smoke. Wooden boxes for tables
and chairs and some straw for bedding
constitute the furniture. One corner OF
this dirty hovel is partitioned off with
torn and ke-blackened gunnysacks.
I'm the center OF the hovel sits the wife
cooking pot of beans, while her children,
only half clothed, crouch and crowd
around the fire to keep as warm as they
may. They are not sent to school because
they are so poorly clad that they would
be lnsulted and laughed at by the chill
dren of more fortunate parents. | have
come here to plead for the men working
in the deep dark canyons, where the red
wood trees shut out the sunlight of God
where the sound OF the ak and the crash
OF the falling tree mingle with the sullen
roar of the ocean as the pillows dash upon
the rocks, and l hope that in the interest
OF humanity the bill will be passed"
Hill of Humboldt favored the bill, but
he thought it should be amended so as TO
exempt insolvenJ sawmill companies from
paying their employees at all. He made a
speech on this subject and wept rhetorical
tears for the poor down-trodden insolyent
corporations.
Muicrevy of San Francisco hoped that
the bill would pass. He knew of in nstances
where men were paid 81 per day for their
work and charged 81 or 81 so per day for
their board on Sundays and other days
when no work was going on.
Seward OF Sierra said that many mining
corporations paid their hands only once
in three months, and some did not pay
their men at all. There was necessity for
such a bill TO cover the mining districts.
The bill was finally passed by vote OF
SO ayes and no noes