The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-11
THE "STIFF-CATCHER.-
Makes Money Out of Putting Men on
Cattle Boats.
From the New York Sun,

From the New York Sun.
An unfortunate, woe-begone, half-starv-
ed youth appeared at the United States
Embassy in London couple of months
ago. The story he told was that he was
an American citizen, that he had read
an advertisement calling for able bodied
men to work their way across the Allan
tic In cattle steamers, that he had made
application and been accepted, that he had
shipped, that on the voyage he had been
starved and otherwise maltreated that
when the Vess-l had arrived he had been
left on the dock to shift for himself,
though he had understood that he was to
be sent to his destination in Europe.
The story was investigated and upon
the strength of the investigation the en-
bassy issued a warning to young Ameri-
cans to beware of these free-passaEe-for-
work advertisements and work out their
superfuous energies at the monotonous
plow tail of the commonplace farm
An officer of a line that carries cattle
between this city and London indorsed
the warning of the embassy while ex-
plaining the circumst ances:
THAT man should be left stranded on
a London dock" he said, docs not sur
prise me. 1t is nothing new, but it is not
our fault. We are absolutely helpless. BY
the law of the United States there must
on every cattle steamer be a certain ratio
of attendants to the number of cattle or
horses carried. Now, the shippers consid-
er that the legal ratio is far too high.
Their own interest requires that the beast
be well looked after, consequently they
5 nd along what they consider a sufficient
number of skilled hands, who understand
the needs of cattle On shipboard
THE notions of the shippers. however
do not coincide with the theories of the
man, when the law requires two or three
In doing so, however, they know that they
are perfectly safe, for the discrepancy
will be filed up without any exertion on
their part. Among the floating popula-
ton there are to be found a multitude of
homesicl0 foreigners, Polish Jews, Ital-
ians, Hungarians and the like who have
been lured hither by the legends of vast
wealth accumulated in a few months
and who, being densely ignorant and gem
orally incapable, have proved utter fail
ures. The sole idea of these unfortunates
is to get home again, by hook or crook
and the only thing that keeps them here
is lack of funds to pay their fare across.
These people. though suspicious of strang-
ers, are credulous when dealing with
their own countrymen. Among the lat
ter there are a number who fatten on this
credulty.
Round about the Battery and on the
East Side there are numberless little es-
Establishments, run mostly by Jews whose
business consists in lending money at ex-
orbitant interest ana fleeing their neigh
bors generally. They call themselves
bankers money changers or something
of that kind, but to seafaring men they
are known as Stiff Catchers The stiffs
are the homesick wretches l spoke of, and
the catching is a simple process. BY ad-
vertisement or other means they make it
| known that they can obtain men passage
| across the Atlantic on cattle steamers
| The applicants are many. To each the
| stiff catcher promises that he will not
| only have him carried across the ocean,
| but conveyed to his Observation-Disclosures
| St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Naples, Buda-
| pest-wherever 1t may be. For this ne
demands a fee, S., 81; in fact just as
| much as he can get, and in return gives
to the applicant a piece of paper, which,
| he Swears, is as good as a ticket
"Of course the paper is no good. AS
| likely as not it is in yiddish, and the Of
! ficer to whom it is presented simply tears
| 1t up. However he must have men, and
| he doesn't care rap where they come
| from linen DeglnS couple of weeks of
| real misery for the home-returning exile.
l may say here that If he really is a
worker and has intelligence he will have
! no trouble at all In fact in some re- s.
| poets he will be better off than the ordi-
nary man before the mast
But mighty few Of the stiffs are work
| ers. AS matter of fact, man who does
not understand the ways of cattle is worse
than useless on a cattle ship. They are
| poor, weakened creatures, these stiffs.
They have no physique or stamina and
| probably can't speak English. Before they
have passed Sandy Hook they are gener-
ally sick-chanuel fever, we call it. For
The sick man in the fore hold there is no
| consideration. 1t is case of work or
| starve. Those who are up and about
| commander all the food served, and the
man who is to get any must be there to
take it aud fight for it if necessary AS