The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-15
MR.. TATEYS FULL REPORT
Men Discharged Because They Will Not
Patronize Commissaries Outrageous
Prices Charged - Clinton Loses
$4,000 Per Month Business
Men Take Action.

and they board themselves, but they
are required to buy the stuff they use
from him. He maintains a sparsely
stocked grocery store, or commissary,
in one end of his shanty, from which
he supplies all the staples of the mems
diet. The men sleep on board plat
forms, which are located in the shanty
in the rear of the commissary.
A staple of Mr. Kajano' stock is beer,
which is kept in considerable quanti-
ties
1t will be necessary to speak of the
| beer more at length presently. The
sale Of beer to large extent makes
the shanty profitable, and the shanty
boss possible.
The men buy during the month all
that they need to eat and drink. The
purchases are charged to them, and
the total amount of the. purchases de-
Quoted from their pay, by the contract
or, and paid to Mr.. Kajano.
This question was asked of Mr.. Ka-
jano:
IF one of the men refuses to board in
your shal1ty, what remedy have your"
II he doesn't board in the shanty, he
can't work on the job was the reply.
Who discharges the men, in such
case?"
Il do, and the contractor sustains
me, according to our agreement" said
Mr.. Kajano.
That these facts are true rest on
other evidence, and their truth can be
inferred from the conditions.
Under the system the contractors and
the shanty bosses are partners. The
form of the partnership varies, but the
result Is always the same. The con-
tractor receives back again consid-
cradle portion of the money he has paid
his help for their labor.
| he
tractors to bid in work cheaper than
the cost of doing 1t, in the hope that
they could recover the loss from the
profits derived from keeping the men.
How often this hope has been disap-
| pointed, is shown by the fact that the
, banks of the reservoir are thick with
the financial bones of contractors who
, have aided in its building.
The system is a crime against Justice.
against the state, and against labor. 1t
deprives alien laboFers of the Just pro-
ceeds of their labor, and citizens of the
opportunity to labor.
| As an additional abuse connected
with the system, l refer to the plan of
the padrone who eompels the more ig-
norant leborers to pay him IS each for
! procuring them work. This money is
: as a usual thing divided with the con-
) tractor.
The feature of the system has been
) explained to me in detail by william
cunningham, contractor, who was
formerly engaged in the construction Of
= the sewage basin.
: There is no difficulty in understand
, ing why it is that so many Italian la
1 borers are daily discharged from the
: work, and Others Immediately put into
/ their places.
/ Only the more ignorant Of the men
r pay bonus for their jobs. The de-
nand for labor is great enough SO that
: a bonus cannot successfully be de-
l manded from all who are employed.
: The men are required not only to
I lodge in the shanty and buy their stuff
3 OF the shanty boss, but they are over
e charged for everything that they buy.
1 They are given only the cheapest
food, which they cook themselves. They
t pay for their food and lodging. al
t though they sleep in herds together
t about as much as is paid by an average
! operative in town, who has comfort
4 able room and plenty of good, whole
some food prepared for him.
4 Nor are the laborers anything ex-
: cept underpaid, considering that at the
e best they can work only eight months
IN the year. They receive for the most
part 30 for a day of 10 hours / have
S procured price list of staples from the
a shanty, formerly kept by Jim Frank, a
e padrone. The shanty is used by men
employed by Moulton & O'Mahonev
$ The list is as follows:
! Price in shanty. Price in town
lice, loc TO. &c to Sc 10.
e Beans, &c ID &c 10.
e FORK, lSc 10 &c to &c ID.
Cheese, 22c ID. 16c m
Sausage, 18c ID. 10c n
: SoIlee' Soc 10. 22c ID.
sugar, &c 10. 51sc ID.
!
I Also on sale found various grades of
cheap maearoni, not to be found IN
town, on which 1 am informed the
. profit was SO per cent The cost was
y eight cents a pound There was also q
KIND OF sausage like bologna, imported
from Italy, which cost IL cents a pound
and was sold for "a cents a pound
/ The men cooked this stuff in shacxs
erected by themselves. / am Informed
= that the net profit on the TRANSACTION
i wish the laborers Is from 60 to 10 per
= cent This is not as good business for
! the padrones as might at first appear
because under the usual arrangement
). 10 per cent, more or less, of the gross
receipts must be paid to the contractor
> Even when the laborers board outside
the shanties the contractor will manage
' to make a profit.
have been informed of an instance
I In which one of the contractors engaged
n IN Tie StHeT Udbln demanded and re-
: ceived the sum of 50 per man from the
}. woman who boarded 20 Of his laborers
+ He received this in return for deduct
: ing the board money from the wages
of the men.
Al Beer is retailed in all the shanties
: The usual price is 6 cents a bottle
There 10 tidy profit in the business
The beer Is purchased in quantities by
the key, at low rate. The estimated
consumption over the entire reservoir is
30 kegs a day
provision Of the law OF the state
requires that nine hours shall consti-
tute days work and that the laborers
snail not be required to work longer
than nine hours. They are required to
work ten hours. They are paid S1.211a
a day; II It is to be considered that they
are not required to work longer than
nine hours, but are paid overtime
II IL claimed as a reason why prefer
! ence In employment Is not given TO cit
LIENS Is that they Dc not care to de the