The Alaska sourdough., 1911-11-07

A big, two listed Irishmaan, good nat
ured, smiling, man who gets things
done. / was told that every railroad
contractor in the country bids for his
services. He is said to be the best
blasting foreman in the United States.
He wastes no time. He spares no dyn-
amite
$50 you kill man occasionally
remarked to him.
"Oh, they get bumped, II he replied,
eff they don't get out Of the way. II
And that was all he said on the sub
ject.
But there was light to be. had else
where, in other lines of work, on this
matter of killing workmen.
Last spring when the new Municipal
Building was being erected on Park
Row in New York, the steel SIX eleton
had reached the third floor before the
frst man was killed, and the contrac
tors marveled. This was the record for
. bill buildings, in New York. 1t is com
monty understood that for nearly ev-
cry floor Of every skyscraper that goes
to make up Manhattan's picturesque
skyline, man gives up his life.
Closer figures are not available. No
one in fact, has any at all. Ten times
as many men might have been killed,
and yet there would have been not
only no authority to prevent the out
rage, but no record Of the slaughter.
When the Employers Liability Com
mission, appointed by Gov. Hughes,
discovered that, it was aghast.
Gin all the large numbers of i'm
mense skyscrapers erected in New York
city, in recorded, s'not an accident
or an injury that takes place is report
ed to any one Except to the coroner
in Immediately fatal casey the text
reads: except the coroner s investiga-
ton of atalscases-from the time the
n first shovelfnl of dirt is thrown out I'M
til the last slate is put on the roof. Nor
Cdu CHC nuluOCi VI hiAACu dAu 1AJuAOo
in these trades be even appropriated. -
This means all classes Of work men,
remember-not wops alone. Il in
tcludes men who at least have organiza-
tions to speak for them. The wops
Lave not even that. And if tho num-
Der Of the dead among ordinary work
men IS not wortl: counting, ina n th&
Indifference g he fate Of the wops'
Even the wplAmen have become hard
ened. In all building operations, when
nan is kille! II has been the custo:n
for the othe.s to stop for the da* to
aIeng the wops have become 50 com
mon that this custom is no longer o..
served when they are the vi,tlms
From ironworkcr to stonemason the
word is passed, "Just q wop''-- and
the job goes on.
The men who dump refuse from
scows into the open sea also "don't
count
These scows are towed out regard
less Of weather, and as the lows
plunge head-on into the green rollers,
and the tow line tautens, solid masses
Of water sweep the scows from end
to end Even Sailors seldom know any
thing 50 bad. But the greatest danger
comes at the dumping ground, where
the scowman must run along a greasy,
slippery, twelve inch plank, to knock.
out the traps. The scows roll and
plunge and are hampered by their tow
lines in free sea action. Worst Of all
is when the tow bat swings around and
anxious to be back in harbor, cracks
the whip with its string Of scows
To give the scowmen some little pro-
tection congress passed a law two years
ago compelling scow owners to rig a
support along the marrow gangway. Of
course it had not occurred to the own