The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-08-03
! THE STRUCTURAL;
WORKERS. S Il &B&a i

If you Will look into the literature OF
work you Will find the term Rough
Necks." There was a time, not yet
beyond the memory of the present gen.
GRAFTON of scientific labor, when it had
meaning and fair one. The men
that went by 1t We're bluff, hardy fell
lows, picked up from the four corners Of
outdoor labor, rovers and wanderers.
good mechanics, but those who liked
something more exciting that the hum
drum Of the shop, called now here, now
there, by the demands of the great new
American trade. the day of iron con-
struction in bridge and massive build
ing. when skeleton frame and spanning
steel fabric were first coming into play.
Rough Necks" there are no longer,
though at times when the descendants
of these pioneers sit about and tell
stories of their hardous experiences the
words may be heard, pronounced half
laughingly. Now and again, by rare
good fortune, an old-timer like "Skib
Der Hicks may be met with. But it is
men of a new type that hold the field.
In place of Rough Necks" it is today
bridgemen and structural iron workers,
young men for the most part, not few
of them men of education and parts,
all mechanics OF the highest skill.
In the eyes of all men, not hidden in
shops nor buried in the bowels of the
earth, they are continually plying their
muscular yet delicate and venturesome
craft. Look up fifteen stories along the
steel ribs of a great business structure
Just under way and the structural
workers are like insects creeping over
the great metal limb. Then climb up
beside them, If you can, and look down.
The street below seems peopled with
flies.
With but a plank, perhaps beam Of
iron only, as resting place between
earth and sky, the workers are doing
wonderful things, just how wonderful
you must be up there to see. There on
platform 100 feet in the air stands a
little forge. One man stands before it
heating rivets and then passes them on
to another, who drives them home.
Further along, on another section, q
compassionate riveter, with it's long
pipe, does two mems work. Again the
grouping takes on different form.
Hanging down from a trolley that is
part and porto of a giant traveller,
hangs a bar Of steel. There are half a
dozen tons Of it or more. Chains grasp
it little above the middle, so that the
bar hangs vertically at an angle, like
pencil between the fingers. The troll
ley is so mechanically perfect that not
only can it move the piece just over the
point where it is wanted, but the hoist
ing engineer far away can lower it
neatly by fractions of a foot
Down it comes, in obedience to signals
from the men, who grab it with hands
or hooks. The swinging bar is guided
into place with nicely. It may be a
post (upright), diagonal, an upper or
lower cord bar in this great span. Fit
ted in, it now awaits it's pin. On wire
rope from the traveller above comes
dangling a smaller steel bar. a ram. A
gang of men seize it, twisting it at
fright angles to them. Back and forth
they swing it, until, gaining finally the
proper momentum, they crash it
against the pin again and again, driv-
ing it home by inches.
I "sat in" Zone night in this Year of
Grace 1901 group Of bridgemen and a
warm and coy room Of a boarding.
house in one of the larger American
cities, and had drawn for me hour after
hour, rough plans of beam, cord, post
diagonal, pin, batter post, member and
span, catching glimpses of mechanical
wonders and niceties by the way. They
were told so rapidly and enthusiastical-
ly that only a scientist could have ap-
preciated their fine points, and heard
meanwhile stories of hazard and risk.
commenced to understand how it was
that a man down in Pennsylvania to-
| day, a man with one crippled hand
acknowledged one of the greatest
| structural iron men and bridge builders
in this country, William Wennas, could
though no trained engineer, rise as he
had done. For in the men before me
there was quality of speech and men,
boris ranks, and made them what the
world Of the present calls specialists. -
In my travels among these iron men
of the bridges I discovered very nearly
the same characteristic running
through them as class, knowledge and
habits of speech one does not ordinarily
think Of among workingmen. Not thai
all out Of these hundreds show It
Some men, when spoken to, had no,
the facility Of educated speech. 1 dare
say they could rivet quite as we'll, haG
as trained an eye and as clear me.
chanical head. But the perfect remain!
that an astonishingly large percentage
of these men impress the student Of
social facts at sight.
Thus, after a day in the clouds
treading on narrow beams at "leery'
heights, one bridgeman-a man, by tn.
way, who is known all over the countr,
from his feats of riding on box-car:
when 'broke" and wanting to get Il
another city without paying railroad
fare-was found reading John Sher
mans "reminiscences" with intelli
gent interest enough to regret that h,
could not understand all the details O.
the financial struggles in ongress. Ant
the present writer would defy any mar
to tell more clearly, translating tn,
technical terms into simple English, tn,
story of how a span was laid down
how iron was Photographed" than d!t
three worthless of steel, Billy Beatty
! Johnny Brown and Iohn5 noyio ~,