The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-08-03

say, VINO OOeS not AIlO H. NsA14S4S00sa
His duty Is to- care tor the line that
controls the lowering OF rising Ct the
cord (bar) Of iron that now must be
put into place. The line is wrapped
four or five times around aS'.'spool"y e.
cylinder or oval Of metaD : and Is to be
paid out to him. II. he let's the line slip,
disaster is spelled. He is supposed to
be competent and to obey signals.
There may be men on that bar or on
adjoining beams that would be hurled
through space aby the slightest jar.
Move it 4 hair he is ordered e. lit
tle.) Move it 4 red hair! "a very lit
tle.) TRANQUILITY intent upon his work,
the bridgeman goes on. But the mig
ger-head man" has been known to lose
control Of his line. tSzE
In the interest of the moment, in the
carrying out of his work, the structural
iron-worker forgets all the danger.
He tells Of risks, narrow-escapes,
deaths Of close friends one night,
bright and early the next morning he.
is walking along a four-inch beam, $50
feet above the water or land, with never
q IAAOu6AS VI IAC OoAoSAs AASSAJ
(afraid; dizzy why, nor one man
after another answers. I don't know
why not, though, except that we never
do. A hundred feet above ground is
very nearly the same as ten to U.S."
And the man that falls and gets badly
hurt comes back as soon as he gets
out of the hospital, and it makes no diff
ference to him. q..
The absence of dialect that will be
noted in the anecdotes scattered here
and there in this article, often told as
closely. as possible in the iron mems
own words, needs some explanation.
The reason is that there is practically
no dialect among them. Nearly all
are workmen that are widely travelled,
nearly all are Americana born, with any
provincialisms they may have had
knocked off by contact with men from
other sections. Americans, Scotchmen,
Irishmen, Englishmen, make up the
roll of these iron workers, with few
Canadians, Indian half breeds, who are
highly esteemed for their endurance,
strength and skill. II never knew but
one Italian iron man." said one Of the
oldest bridgemen in the country, "but
he was a good one. We take another
kind of men, you see." - =. =.
What this trade or profession has
come to be may be told from a figure
or two. THE National Order of Bridge
men and Structural Iron Workers.
(the union which is said to have among
its members IS per cent of the skilled
men) has over thirty locals" in this
country and Canada, and its New York
local" alone numbers 5000 men. The
trade, despite the skilled men in it, Is
not thoroughly organized as yet, and
wages vary in different parts of the
country. The wage rate runs from IS
a day (frem eight to ten hours down
to the vanishing point, the present New
York rate being 1915 for q day of eight
hours, with double pay for overtime
Thus, regardless of his skill, the iron
man finds it difficult to make more
than $22 or $23 a week. though on rush
Jobs, when men must be had hurriedly
and were hard to get, men have earned
up to nearly $50 a week by working
overtime. .5ss5@
: Iron men come into tie. trade in
many a way, and thus, while there are
only two sorts of structural iron-work-
ers in reality-the incompetent, which
the foreman sends to the rear at a
moments notice, and the competent
there are in practice several grades;
the iron men themselves, the Snakes
and the bull gang The snake is
simply q new man, clever, skilful and
willing enough; but who needs q little
breaking in. HE is a man. says the
old bridgeman, who can get out on
the work all right and isn't bit tleery,
but who doesn't know what to do when
he gets there. He may be such a clever
Teller, though, that he will only be q
snake a few days. ,@,.-.-.~
With the bull gang lis is different.
In all bridge and building construction
there is certain amount Of "toting''
to be done. Machinery can de much
in the way Of transporting, but it does
not always pay to rig. up deliberately
to accomplish something that two OF
four strong men can do in few mo-
ments. Nor does it pay to use the COM
paratively high-priced iron men; fol
odds and ends of. fetching and carrying
Here the bull gang" comes into play
a body of ordinary laborers and young
fellows, who are battered from pilla,
to post as they are needed. Let boy
be likely. quick: observing and handy
some foreman is sure to pick him out
when he needs another, man. Il The
"pushers" (the assistant foremen) have
their eyes open as we'll for this sort OF
youngsters. Thus a boy suddenly be:
comes an iron man at q jump, his nerve
ALREADY trained for heights, his foot.
hold sure. Many good bridgeman has
come out of some "bull gang -
1t Is now here, thousand miles away
tomorrow, with these men. Their trade
makes them rovers, going wherever q
great job may be. At this moment
they are in Philadelphia, now in towr
on. Canadian river, in camp far IL
the thinly settled parts Of the south
| west, even abroad. In, New York to.
day there are some men who have only
recently returned from India. A gane
came back from Egypt q few month.
ago, having performed q notable ex
plot in bridging the Nile: There ar,
American iron men down In Cuba, ant
contracts have beeH signed for ovel
a score of bridges in South Africa. al
| to be done by Americans to be started