The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-02-03
WORKERS IN MlowINTER!
Eow Bot-Weather Laborers DtsvfD
Themselves During the Cold sessonA

Eow Bot-westher Laborerv Dtsp3pso
Themselves During the Cold sessenA
Thousands of men are thrown out opf
employment annually By the coming ut
the cold weather. Chicago. through
the Cook county poorhouss, cares fo4
over / 200 every winter; a. many moreI
are looked after by private and organf
lied charity. The remainder dispose
of themselves in various ways.
The fruit men who look after thu
loading and unloading of the fruit car
goes, the lake sailors, the pleasure boat
men, the fishermen and all the ilk OF
workers who depend. directly OF indi-
reetly, upon the lake for q living are
the chief recruits of the cold weather
sufferers. To them are added the men
who do odd jobs around the parks, tia
shipping yards and the teamsterS. OF
these men the fruit handlers are re-
ported as frequently spending the wins
ter months in the brideweli; the poor
house they regard as too aristocrstic
for them. All summer they live, eat,
sleep, spend their entire time cn the
narrow strip of platform lying betwesn
the river and the sheds, and with the
opening Of the fruit season they GO
back TO their old haunts. The sailors
and boatmen belong for ths most part
20 a different grade. The more shift
less among them seek the places where
a sailor man may be boarded from the
closing until the opening os the nsviga-
ton season for the small sum of s15.
The careful men, who manage 70 work
steadily ell the year rouad. keep an
eye open for q winters fob. and either
follow the fruit trade south or contrsvs
TO leave the boat in the vicinity OF a
mining or logging camp. Many ofthem
ere employed At the same place year
after year. In some casns their train
fare ia paid for them; in others they
are advanced sufficient money 20 enspe
them TO reach the camps. Duluth, rs
canada, all the boat towns IN fact re-
lieve Chicago of hundreds Of men every
year. With ths opening of spring they
are back At the boats
Teamstess. and the n1ea who worn
with them, stay IN Chicago and wait
for the snow. The city aud ths barge
firms gladly pay for the shoveIiny and
carting away Of "the beautiful ard
hundred. Of men support themselves IA
this manner. Countless Others do the
same by cleaning tbe steps AMI
psvements of private houses The ies
companies slso furnish employment for
many Of the summer vorkmen- Strong.
sble-bodied, willing men freq,endy
find an opportunity 90 r~sch the scene
OF the Ice cutting free Of charge; the
various charitable socie.es help guam,
titles OF them every winter. TIA ss-
sistance r-ndered ranging al tie way
from pair of warm mittcz.x 70 railroad
fare.
Other men. the elder sailors especial
". Ard work as window ciosn~rs: the
large buildings with their arrrnss Of
assistant. 5aDi'ors, cleaners and the Ike,
employ large number - ertrs ns-n IN
winter, a. DO also the ohesp sodgins
houses
a large percentage of he men ktlTl
unsccouatsd for sa8osist from day "a
BAY On odd jobs. living ct The ensrits-
bic lodging houses. and for tbs rest
qulen Sabe7
The problem ~ what becomes OF IN.
hundrsds Of Chicago uorkrnen whom
the S1ntcr throws oct Of employrn.n,
IL problem which nobody can ansz~-.
Tor NOBODY tnozs-Cki,aso Tribune.