The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-29
JOB ALWAYS READY.
One Resource for Those Who Are
Broke in Big Cities.

One Resource for Those Who Are
Broke i'm Big Cities.
New York Sun.
OF the occupations by which men make
a living in a great city, that of an adj
dresser offers apparently easy an open
ing as any, and pays as little. 1t is
adopted, temporarily at least. by thousands
of men in reduced circumstances. and. it
may be added. abandoned almost as quick
ly as begun by nearly every one of them.
Seated at long tables in a dingy loft at
the top Of some old building. men write
for dear life to keep soul and body together
by copying addresses at usually IS cents
a thousand. A fair average is $50 an hour.
and the man who can do 200 an hour is
rare; more often the average is 100 an hour
than even 150.
And. what is more. when the days work
is done the average by the hour multiplied
by the number of hours does not make the
total by considerable. for there must be de-
Quoted all the minutes. frequently hours,
during which no work was done. owing to
delays in getting new copy after finishing
a list, in waiting for more envelopes, per-
haps. and from many other causes un-
looked for, but certain to occur. AS it Is
duce the possible earnings of writer. so
that by the end of the week he finds his
wages aggregate but very small amount.
The most he has probably averaged on six
days work Is 1.5OO day. and many days
he will have done only from $50 to 1000;
so II at the weeks end he has earned Sc
he. IL more than lucky. and the chances are
that his earnings viii be considerably less.
All work Is paid for on Saturday night,
but owing to the needy condition OF those
who work at the business. IL is customary
In some establishments to relieve the needs
Of the moment by system OF loans TO
employees made by the manager at the close
Of work every evening. Not more than
the sum received he gives his. I: o. u
1t happens, therefore, most frequently
that an addresser has little or practically
day gets arouad0perhaps $50, possibly s..
sometimes even as low as cents. AS a
get-rich-quick occupation addressing is not
a success.
To become an addresser is simple. Ad-
vertisements inserted almost daily in the
newspapers show where the work is to be
had. Applicants are required merely to
write their name and address on slip
of paper and If the penmanship Is salts
| factory the writer is Immediately accepted.
! No questions are asked, no references re-
| Quired.
Work begins at 7:3o or o'clock in the
morning and lasts generally until or as
much later. up to 10 o'clock. a man is
willing to work. Frequently there Is no
stop even for luncheon at noon. A midday
| meal, other than possibly a glass of beer
and free lunch, is a luxury many ad-
| dressers cannot afford.
1t Is optional with an addresser at what
| hour he begins In the morning and quits
| in the evening and how much or how little
| he does during the day
| Copy and envelopes, postal cards or what
ever ii may be that is to be addressed, are
handed out at the foreman's desk. usually
from 100 to 500 each to each man: These
are taken to table and when completed re-
| turned to the foreman, who gives credit on
his payroll OF the day for the work done.
One may have to wait from seven minutes
/ to seven hours for any work to do.
| Copy Is usually plain and easily read.
/ Three lines constitute the usual address.
| Four or Ave lines make slow work.
1 1t Is to be observed In passing that de-
| spite the prevalence nowadays OF labor
/ saving devices and the substitution OF ma
chine for hand work, the writing OF ad-
way to have diminished. and there is al
| ways a job open for the plain, rapid writer.
| Typewriting addressing comes higher and
in no appreciabie measure displaced the
more laborious, but cheaper, addressing by
| hand.
Perhaps this may be accounted for partly
by the unlimited labor market in this
| particular line OF work. There are always
| enough would-be addressers TO fill the de-
mand, and more and still more to take their
| dropping out all the time.
| A few stay week, fewer return the Sec
ond week, and probably not one in twenty
! sticks to 1T for full month at a time
| Few men are discharged. they don't have
| to be, for just as soon as another and bet
ter paying job offers they throw up the adj
| dressing work with few regrets.
Addressing is, I'm other words, purely a
| hard luck job taken as a makeshift taker
| by men who are willing to do almost any
| thing for work rather than steal beg OF
starve 1t may be but one degree removed
from starvation, but it is better thar
| nothing.
Consequently all kinds and conditions OF
men may be found In an addressing estab
lishment. From sixteen to sixty the ages
vary. In one particular only are all ad
dressers alike: not man Of them but Ii
| broke.
They are all has-beens and up against it
Otherwise they would not be there.
Curious and widely contrasted charac
| tiers are thrown together in this hotsan
and jetsam of humanity. Here is a former
| merchant. next to him Is Coney island
| waiter. a lawyer or doctor may hav,
for his neighbor young fellow who ha:
been serving as a coal-passer on a steam
| ship in order TO see the world. Stenograph
ers, clerks, bookkeepers. men in many
walks of life are there-all struggling Il
| meager one.
What has brought them low? Drink
hard luck. Many explanations are e given fi
always by way OF apology.
Underneath the whole business Is a dull
| dread of what the future may have IL
store. a hopelessness vividly expressed Il
this incident narrated one day by a New
York addresser:
II worked one time in one Of these ad
dressing concerns in Chicago" he said
when / went back some months after,
saw none of the old crowd, and inquired
what had become of them. One, heard
was in the hospital another in jail, ,
third had gone insane, and still anothe
had cut the Gordian knot by committing
suicide!"
Not all addressers, of course, finish SO
but, at best, an addresser is as good ;
specimen OF down-on- his-luck citizen a
one can find.
Wood for Paper Makers.