The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-26
WORK OF THE TUB CARRIERS
ONE OF THE OLDEST OF THE
CITI,S MANY ODD TRADES.

Followed n IN Occupation steadiiy--CSis
ores Men Employed In This Labor -One
New York Trucking Concern That
Makes d Business OF Hauling Tubs Only.
Among the unusual ~employments in which
men may be found engaged In this city
is that Of carrying Washtubs. The men
who follow II work at it regularly year In
and year out.
The tub carriers are employed by a truck
ing concern that makes a business OF haul
ing tubs and delivering them In buildings
wherever they are TO be Get, this being the
only trucking outfit devoted solely 10 his
business In the city. Just rs there are
some trucking concerns that devots them
solves solely to the dry goods trade. q
some TO the grocery trade. and 90 on, this
concern. as IL has been doing for now ten
years or more. devotes itself solely to haul
ing tubs. using about twenty trucks In this
work and employing additional trucks
when needed.
There are other truckmen, to be sure,
who have more or less tubs, but this one
outfit alone hauls probably more than
half Of all the tubs set up in New York and
it's immediate vicinity. II has its head
quarters In Brooklyn, on the waterfront.
Set washtubs are made OF soapstone,
OF cement, and Of porcelain. Cement
tubs, which cost less than soapstone, are
now used In great numbers; comparatively
few porcelain tubs are used because OF their
greater cost. Porcelain tubs are made
in Trenton, N. j., cement tubs in Greenpoint,
Brooklyn, and great numbers Of the soap
stone tubs are made in Virginia, In some
parts OF which State there are found abund-
ant quarries Of stone suitable for the pur-
pose.
Virginia tubs are shipped in carloads
from factories there TO tdewater at Hamp-
ton Roads. to be brought thence by steamer
to New York, and here hghtered around to
Greenpoint, or otherwise distributed in
carload lots they might be lghtered to
Yonkers, or to Jersey City. or elsewhere
hereabouts.
The tubs that come thus TO the Greenpoipt
storehouse are here removed from the
lighters on small fiat care rolling or tracks
that run into the s~torehouse. The tubs
thus shipped here are all Of standard sizes
and dimensions, and these constitute the
great bulk Of all the tubs sold and set;
but the manufacturers keep at work here
a force Of about fifty men to make special
tubs TO order 70 may be required.
The tub trucking company has . branch
warehouse III The Bronx convenient to
water transportation for the receipt OF tubs
and 1t keeps there a few Of its trucks. 1t
hauls tubs, In that direction, as far away
as Mount Vernon; II sends trucks and
men TO Jersey CITY 70 haul and handle tubs
landed there; and II hauls tubs in or about
the city anywhere within o radius OF twenty
miles from the City Hall.
Many Of these tubs are boosted up. az
pianos are hoisted. on the outside Of build
ings, TO the several floors on which they
are TO be placed, by mean Of a block and
tackle suspended from the roof; tubs are
OF course carried up on An eleyator when
construction; but great numbers OF the
tubs have 70 be carried upstairs 70 wherever
they are 10 20, and q vashtub OF this sort
Ia o heavy load TO carry. A cement tub OF
the regular kind, two tubs 10 one piece.
weighs about 700 pounds While the regular
For tub carriers the tub trucking concern
has long employed, as II still does, colored
men. There 10 an art in carrying tubs,
there 10 In everything else, and the men
have 70 learn this; but once they have mas-
easily. II takes three men to carr. such
a tub upstairs. one at the front and two
at the back.
They turn the tub over, bottom up, and
thu front man gets under and partly inside
thst end and 70 steady and guide II. The
two men support the tub at the rear,
one al each corner, and some men prefer
70 carry. or get accustomed 10 carrying,
one particular oorner or the other, and
carry there. a. one may always
10 carry st the right, The two
rear men support the greater part OF the
load.
n tub turned over and lifted and properly !
n up the steirn 70 thu top. where the
man In front guides II around 70 clear the
and walls. the rear men following, |
and 60 they carry II along the hall and on
up the next fisht Of stairs Inc 20 OF TO the
floor where II is 20 CO.. IL ie hard work,
sure enough, but abs bodied men aoous-