New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-09-17

contained violent personal abuse of Tampa man
ufacturers and melted workmen to quit work
When Mr.. Stachelberg, who is a member of the
firm, ordered the reading Of the paper stopped.
the cigarmakers INDUCED in a demonstration,
and demanded that the reader be allowed to read
anything in print When this was refused
strike followed. Three hundred men walked out
The reader in a cigar factory is an important
parsonage. Mounted a dais near the centre
of the room, with a skyItght directly overhead.
he sits in a comfortable chair and reads to the
workmen the news of the world, fiction, history.
political economy, poetry and selections that
may be requested.
He is not employed by the owner or manager
of the cigar factory. but is selected by COM
mfttee of the workmen. He is paid usually
about 500 week
The factory opens at $50 a m, and the cigar
makers work until 10 O'Clock, when they stop for
breakfast Before going to work in the norm
ing every Cuban and every spaniard must have
his coffee cafe con 1eche' is an absolute
cessity to a cigarmaker. A cup is filed two
thirds full of boiling milk and then the coffee is
poured in; and such coffee! Every Cuban and
Spaniard knows how to make coffee, and they
will not touch a cup of coffee that is not made
properly.
AS soon as the workmen are seated at their
benches or tables and start rolling the "smok-
ers' the reader begins. He must have a clear
voice, not too loud or harsh which can be dis
tinctly heard in all parts of the large room
First the daily papers are taken up and tina
telegraph news of the world is read. Where no
paper printed in Spanish can be obtained con-
tanning press dispatches the reader translates
the English text. after first reading it aloud for
the benefit of the American worknen who may
not understand Spanish. After the teIegraphi[
report comes the local news and then the edi-
toriaIs Thus the first half hour is spent Never
more than one-half an hours reading is
CURED of the reader at one time.
After his first rest the reader takes up some
serial, usually a Spanish romance, and devotes
the next half hour to this Then comes another
rest, in which the workmen discuss with theis
immediate working partners the merits of the
story, the probable fate of the hero or the vii
lain and also the author.
Light literature occupies the next half hour Of
the readers time, short stories from maga-
zines, jokes conundrums, comments and fol-de7
rol
History is then taken up, Cuban history
Spauish history the histories Of various Euro
pean countries, and especial attention is paid to
the history of the United States
In the afternoon reading half hours the reade1
presents selections from the writings OF world
famous men of letters The course has been
mapped out by the committee appointed for that
purpose, and the reader must follow the COM
mittee's selections.
How the factories came to be provided wt0
readers for the workmen is Of interest 1t Is
we'll established fact that people Of the Latin
races viii Hse their hands, arms, shoulders OF
heads when they talk to emphasize their re-
marks Tho Cuban or the SpaniaTd cannot
talk two minutes without waving his hands and
Struggling his shoulders. 1t is second nature n
him and he can't help it
Now a ctgarmaker has to use both hands n
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