The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-07-06

The full dinner pail has proved a
melancholy myth to the employees OF
the steel trust.
The workers for the smaller iron and
steel corporations like the Republic
Iron and Steel company the Tennes.
see Coal and Iron company; the
Schioss-She field company; the Colora.
do Fuel aud Iron company: the Lacka'
wanna Steel company and the Penn
sylyania Steel company are even worse
off.
In good times about 80, 900 men are
employed by these companies. The to,
tai now at work is less than 100000. OF
the still smaller companies, with nc
powerful influences behind them to
hand out contracts even at the expense
of the railroads OF others which are
the buyers, several have gone to the
wall, notably the United States Steel
company, a s3,o0o,000 Massachusetts,
concern. Others are tottering upon the
verge Of dissolution.
The railroads of the country being
the largest employers Of labor, have as
a result Of the contraction in busluess
made the largest additions TO the IDLE
army.
10000 RAILRoADERs LAID OFF.
Since the first Of the year fully l20,.
600 workers have been discharged by
the various railroads, and the wedding
out process is still going cn.
The full dinner pail is only a memory
with these 100000 men.
The cotton mill towns of New Eng
land nave much poverty to deal with
In ordinary good times there are 20o,'
900 operatives employed These geo
pie do not earn much money and are
able to save but very small sums
Most Of them do not attempt to save
anything.
These mills for the past nine months
have been shutting downsfor few
weeks at a time. When they are do
ing business they are run only on two
thirds time or four daysa week.
There is actually only a full weeks
w,rk Tor about 100, 000 Of the zoe, ,o0(
workers, but the largest number are
given part-time employment through
the system Of running the mills fou
days a week.
This has been one Of the most dire
ful years to the workers in the history
Of the cotton mill trade. Many Of the
operatives are French Canad ans o.
their descendants: So extreme has
their poverty. been during gthe past few
months that thousands Of them have
gone back to Canada, relying upon tht
generosity Of relatives there to support
them in the south, in the manufacture
ing district dependent upon the Goa
and iron trade, there are large num-
bers Of unemployed.
DISTRESS IS WIDESPREAD.
In the middle west, particularly ir
the cities where large packing houses
are established, the army Of idle work
ers is extensive.
There are 100000 packing-house
employers in times Of fair business
pros perity. Between 25 and 40 pei
cent. of these are now idle, or about
Is, 1000 men.
The lethargy in the packing house
industry is most significant OF general
trade conditions and Of the great idle
army throughout the country. When
the average workman is idle and is
forced to reduce the expenses OF bis
family to mini mum the article OF
food that is cut down as much as
possible is meat. When only few
cents can be expended upon each meal
meat becomes a luxury that is seldom
INDUCED in.
In Chicago alone, where 10000
men were employed last year in the
great packing houses in that city, the
number now employed is 25, 900, or a
reduction Of 372 per cent.
That the contraction in trade is
about the same in various cities is
shown by the shrlnkage in the bank
clearipgS.
For the week ending June II the
bank clearings were 30.2 per cent.
less than year ago; in Boston they
showed a decrease OF 32 per cent, in
Baltimore decrease Of p 2 per cent.
and in Philadelphia 20.6 per cent.
The tremendous reductions made
by the railroads to keep down their
payrolls are due solely to the decrease
in freight tonnage. The passenger
traffic has, as yet, not shown any con-
sequential shrinkage. In fact on
many Of the roads It is a tritie better
than last year, but this is attributed
to the unusual traffic due to the world S
tair at St. Louis.
In May the gross earnings OF 66
railroads totalled $50, l34, SS1, COM
pared with s54,0Ol, ,062 for May OF
1908. This a decrease OF 81, 1866, ISL.
The railroads in the section east Ut
the Mississippi also benefited by the
strike in the Great Lakes, which prac-
tically tied up all Of the boats for a
considerable period. The lake traffic
is tremendous in normal times and
cuts heavily into the business of the
railroads. But for the late strike
officials Of the eastern roads running
out from St. Louis and Chicago I'd
mitted that they would be suffering
for want Of freignt.
A year ago the question OF getting
cars to meet the demands OF the ship
pers was serious one, but for several
months there has been a plethora Of
eouipnent.-New York Herald.
The Memphis Appeal thinks that
''the Republican party is now thor,
oughly Jim Crowed. The whites will
do the office holding, and the negroes
can 60 to the polls and vote for the