The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-11-03
BY Upton Sinclair


change the trays at intervals. This
was done by q single boy, who stood
with eyes and thought concentrated
upon It.. and fingers flying so fast that
the sounds of che bits Of steel striking
upon each other was like the music
OF an express train as one hears 1t In
a sleeping Car at night This was
"piecework," of course; and besides 1t
was made certain that the boy did not
idle, by setting the machine to match
the highest possible speed of human
Lands. Thirty thousand Of these
pieces he handled every day, nine or
ten millions every year-how many In
lifetime It rested with the gods to
sag. f
Near by him men sat bending over
whirling grindstones, putting the fin.
ishing touches to the steel knives OF
the reaper; picking them out of bas-
ket with the right hand, pressing first
one side and then the other against
the stone, and finally dropping them
with the left hand into another bas-
ket One of these men told Jrrgis that
he had sharpened three thousand
pieces of stetel O day for thirteen
years. In the next room were wonder
full machines that ate UP long steel
rods by slow stakes, cutting them of,
selling the pieces, stamping heads up
on them. grinding them and polishing
them, threading them and finally drop
ping them into basket, all ready to
bolt the harvesters together From
yet another machine came tens OF
thousands of steel burs to At upon
these bolts. In other places all these
various parts were dipped into troughs
of paint and hung up to dry, and then
slid along on trolleys to q room where
men streaked them with red and vel.
low, so that they might look cheerful
in the harvest fields.
Jurgis' friend worked upstairs In
the casting-rooms, and his task was to
make the moulds of certain part. He
shoveled black sand into an iron re-
ceptacle and pounded 1t tight and set
1t aside to harden; then 1t would be
taken out, and molten iron poured into
1t. This man. too, was paid by the
mould-or rather for perfect castings.
nearly half his work going for naught.
You might see him, along with dozens
OF others, toiling like one possessed by
whole community of demons; his
arms working like the driving rods
OF an engine; his long, black hair fly
ing wild, his eyes starting out. the
sweat rolling in rivers down his face.
When he had shoveled the mould full
OF sand, and reached for the FOUNDER
to pound It with, It was after the man.
ner or canoeist running rapids and
selling pole at sight of a submerged
rock. All day long this man would
toll thus, his whole being conferred
upon the purpose Of making twenty.
three instead Of twenty-five and a half
cents an hour; and then his product
would De reckoned up by the census.
taker. and jubilant captains of indus.
try would boast of 1t in their banonet.
halls, telling how our workers ara
nearly twice as efficient as those AZ
any other country. II we ara the
greatest nation the sun ever shone
upon, 1t would seem to be mainly ha.
cause we have been able TO goad nnr
wage-earners to this pitch Of frenzy.
.aougn there are a few other thinsa
mat are great among us, including onr
drink-bill, which is a billion and =
quarter OF dollars a year, and doph.
ling itself every decade. ~
mere was a machine which slammed
OUT the iron plates, and then another
" with a mighty thud, mashed
mem 70 the shape Of the sitting.down
portion OF the American farmer Than
Lney were piled upon truck, and n
was Jurgiss task to wheel them n The
Ioom where the machines were cas-.
semoied." This was the child's NAV
,U nm and ne got dollar and sev.
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