Evening star., 1905-10-16
GUINEAS AS WORKERS
AN ENGINEERS ESTIgIATE OF
THE ITALIAN LABoRERs.
Some OF Them Go to Night School, and
All Are Quick to Learn
English.

They are a queer lot. those Guineas.
Keep them at work underground and they
are perfectly satisfied, but give one of them
a soft job above the surface and he will
quit in a week"
That was the way one of the tunnel en-
gineers sized up the underground workmen
VINO have for the past year been cutting
their way through Capitol Hill. It was after
hours and some of the men who plan the
work were sitting around a small table dis
cussing the men who do the excavatfng
These We're the underground gang" made
| up almost exclusively of italians.
They are a class by themselves" said
one of the engineers, "and / don't want any
better workmen. They come to this country,
the most of them, not knowing a word of
English, and they pick it up in year or
less. l don't want to sound like singing
their praises too highly, but they will work
without watching, and that is a good deal
more than you can say of lot of the labor
you have to employ. There may be a good
reason for their not sighting their work
| underground. They have to go backward
and forward under 1t every day and If any
of It falls they are probably the ones that
| will be buried. Yes. l guess there is some
| reason in their doing it well.
| And save money? Well, l wish / could
| do half as we'll 'rne most of them make
| pretty fair wages-s2.75 day Is not un-
common. But know man who Is making g
| dollar and a half with a time and
quarter on night shift, and he has saved
something over $500 while this work has
| been going on, and that Is less than -"o
years.
But the funniest thing I ever heard of
was the way one of them helped out the
Jewel Filtration Company not long ago,
when it was financially embarrassed some
OF the workmen had quit and come TO ING
office for their wages. 1t was late anu
;he banks were closed and nobody In th9
office had any money. The chief ensi-
neer told them they would nave TO cohe
al ound in the morning .atter lne JAIN '..
opened But one of the workmen, VINO
was not quitting. asked him how much
money he wanted.
...About $780, said he. not thinking Tor
minute the Guinea had that sum WITH
HIM. ,,,
.All right said the Dago. and pulled
out roll about the size OF telegraph
pole He peeled off two hundred from the
outside and handed ii over, ana the eiiiei
engineer took 1t, too
Leave Money on Deposit.
.rbe Gu,neas seldom draw their pay.
There is another outfit working on TINS
same Job with us, and they pay by check.
Usually the men just deposit the check
with the company without indorsing IT,
,n5 have a .wad' of money coming to them
when job is over. oo
II know one man that has 81. 800 on de-
nosit with his company. They live on the
average for SD a mUfltii anu - q
snends SO he is a high roller. Ihey WIN
pick up English quick. too. l know ono
Of the men; he is young ltaIan, who
works in the daytime, goes to night schooi
and spends his noontime studying IN zen
wears I may be hunting job under MIN;
aThey do not often quit. They frequently
stay by a job till it is finished, and they
will go from one piece of engineering work
to another all over the country just the
same as the engineers They are expert
underground workers, and l know iocai
crew of laborers could not have been train
ed in two years to do the work those Iei-
lows have done the tunnel
Drink? Well. yes. but not whisky Tney
drink sour beer for choice; buy II by the
keg because 1t is cheaper that way, ana
bottle it and let it turn before they use IT,
They very seldom get drunk. and you can
turn them out on a night shift any time
In the week / know that Is not the case
with a lot of the other workmen. One or
them wants to work night shift tonight
and they simply can't get out the men be-
cause this is pay day.
Take It altogether think they are pref
tv good citizens. There is one outfit here
that is working a lot of high-grade Aus
TRANS, but for my part give me the
Guineas.