Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-10

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which the cleaned pigs were sent had
| to be passed.
| The cellar was about five feet under
ground with a ceiling so low that 1t
could easily be reached with the hand
The ceiling had once been whitewashed
| but all over 1t now were marks of dirty
bloody hands. In the reom about 300
men and girls worked.
The only ventilation came through
| the door
Brain Ceases Function
1 was placed at a table with a lot of
other girls and given cans of minced
turkey" to wrap. In three minutes i
had learned the trick. Every few min
utes a boy came by with a truck and
each girl had to have so many boxes
ready for him.
The pace set by the boy kept every
one working with feverish intensity.
AS / became more accustomed to the
work l was told by the forewoman to
have one box additional ready for the
boy every time he came.
And so the work was increased until
my fingers went like lightning and my
brain had ceased to work and 1 had
not started to work until noon while
since seven o'clock.
All of the girls wore loose wrappers
and as one of my neighbors explained
they didn't cost anything to wash as
the red paint, with which the tins were
painted, covered the wrappers so that
within few days it wasn't any use
even trying to keep them clean.
Very Tew of these girls went home
Even If they had home, which many
of them didn't, it was cheaper and
safer to stay in the yards.
Tells of Awful Surroundings
If they went home at night there
was danger of the strikers getting hold
of them. Once that happened they
would never be heard from again. The
company had provided one room for all
the girls. They brought their own bed
ding and as they didn't go home for
weeks at time they used the same
sheets without washing.
Negroes We're mixed up with the
white girls and no one seemed to care.
The floor, where the bedding was laid,
was never cleaned by the company.
They couldn't afford to pay anyone to
do that. If the girls wanted to do it,
they could. Consequently the floor re-
mained dirty.
Along one side of the room were
rarely opened. They were so stuck in
their places with the accumulation of
dirt of months that none of the girls
had strength enough to raise them. Ali
breathed the same air over and over
again and never thought OF complain
ing to any one. They would have
worked without any air at all for the
sake of eight dollars and half a week.
Women of the AbvSS
At night a dozen girls would get to-
gether and tell stories which they had
gathered up during their life on the
west side of Chicago.
The worse the story the better was it
appreciated. The purer minded girls
would be unwilling listeners at first
and then gradually they would become
accustomed to the atmosphere of their
surroundings. Each night they would
listen a little closer. Then finally they
would shyly come up and make one Of
the circle. In week they were telling
stories they haG just begun to remem-
Der and their laugh would echo as loud
as the rest when some particularly
spicy one was told.
AS | heard them talk my loathing for
the whole terrible state of affairs grew.
One night it seemed as if | could
stand it no longer / remember trying
to get into the farthest corner of the
room, away from 1t all. / closed my
eyes and put my fingers in my ears
but the sound penetrated even then
and | gave up all hope of trying not to
hear.
Memory Is Like Nightmare
/ looked into the faces of those girls.
There seemed to be much that was good
left in them. But l thought what of
their future?
Another girl who told me she had
worked almost all her life said she
never knew anything so horrible as
this. Then she and prayed and spoke
of our homes, tried to think of the good
pure women we knew 1t was all hor-
rible and the memory of il yet clings
as some terrible black dream.
spoke to one of the girls who seemed
less bold than the others, but she gave
a harsh laugh and in a voice that was
tinged with bitterness called me a fool.
None of that goes down here. What
right has any one got to think about
living different? | never seen no one
give us a chance" She laughed again |
and | can hear the hollowness of 1t |
ringing in my ears still. She said / |
would learn my lesson, but | ran from
her and never broached the subject
again.
Although most of the girls were
under eighteen very few were innocent. |
All the men they met were OF the same
class, vultures who watched for vic
Tins.
Women Driven Like Slaves
The girls homes in Packingtown were
surrounded on every side by houses OF
disrepute. Their daily companions had