United labor bulletin., 1910-11-03

La Corina (trade mark, La Corina).
Balhin Bros. Grade mark, Flor de Eli
sardo).
Berriman Bros. trade mark, Jose
vila).
Sanchez Haya (Flor de Sanchez
Haya and Duque de veragua).
These firms are working in Palatka
Fla, with the exception of Berriman
Bros, which is in Sanford, Fla, and San
chez & Haya, in Miami, Fla The men
employed in these factories are altogeth-
er ABOUT 500 scabs, 95 per 100 of which
are negroes. This is an Insignificant
number IL one takes into consideration
that the Manufacturers Union would
have employed in this period of the year
from 5000 to 10000 cigar labormen had
they not closed the factories These 500
men at present employed in these branch
factories were taken from the fiIthiest
parts of the scrubs of this city and from
the lowest class of the negro population
They are poor and inexperienced cigar
makers, for which reason they are never
employed in the trade when it is in nor
NAL condition
Being loafers smost of the time, their
state of idleness plunges them into the
lowest sort Of vices. making them the
most repugnant, vilest and ATHEIST char
acters among the negro element of this
city.
As result of their sensuous life as
libertines. they are affected by some OF
the most repugnant and contagious dis
eases. such as syphilis and tuberculosis.
On account of their wrecked health they
are very sensible to any change in their
everyday manner of living and other
changes in the weather, thus their in
firmities are being complicated to the ex-
tent that they have created around them
an environment of contagious diseases.
That is the state of affairs in the places
where the above mentioned branches
have been established.
The change in water and the different
kind of food they are living on in the
towns where these scabs are now work
ing have revived the effects Of their old
diseases and produced new sickness.
such as dyssentery and fevers, to the ex-
tent that those factories have the ap-
pearance Of hospitals rather than work
ing shops.
In those little towns made up of small
wood houses. such as Palatka, Fla, there
are no buildings suitable to the trade OF
cigar manufacturing and consequently
the strike breakers are working in exces-
sively small rooms and all the different
departments of the industry are punched
together in one, because there is not
enough space in the buildings to place
each one of them separately as 1t should
be done.
II one adds to these conditions the con-
tinued state of drunkenness of the ma
1ority OF the scabs and their ignorance in
hygienic habits, it is easy to imagine the
state of affirs inside those shops.
We would ask the reader to be lenient
with us while we make an approximate
description of the filthy conditions in the
interior of the shops in question. The
facts that follow are the truthful and ex-
act representation OF things as described
by the investigating committee sent by
the strikers; these men are well known
and their reputation for truthfulness is
an established fact.
In contrast with the clean and we'll
ventilated buildings of our shops in
Tampa, when one enters one of these
branch shops for the first time. even the
person most accustomed to it could hard
ly stand the pugnent. intoxicating smell
Of so much tobacco leaf concentrated In
such small space. And the cloud OF
smoke inside makes 1t impossible to rec
ognize the men at few feet distance.
But worse than all this is the odor ema-
mating from the bodies OF those already
described. We invite the imagination OF
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