Evening journal., 1911-02-08
BOOTBLACKS ARE
ALMOST SLAVES
Government Report Shows
Greek Youths Are Victims
of the System
MODE OF LIVING TENDS
TO SHORTEN BeYS' LIVES

WASHINGTON, Feb. S.-Drawing
pathetic picture of the Greek youth
employed in the shoeshining establish
ments of the United States, report
of the immigration Commission on the
padrone system has been made pub
lie. The report written by A. A.
Seraphic, an immigrant inspector at
New York, draws just as sinister and
black a picture Of the padrone as It
paints the boys ill
treatment and the motives that prompt,
their self sacrifice.
The Greek peasants. generally poor
and overburdened by usurious interest
rates, look upon their boys as the
means of providing the necessary
dowries for their daughters. In Greece
the women do no work outside the
home so the burden falls on the
males. II is a common occurrence
for brothers to work 10 or 20 years
to provide dowries when there are
several daughters in the family.
Having cheap, easily exploited la
Dor, the Greeks in America drove the
Italians and negroes out of the shoe
shining business. The Greeks were
the first to fit up expensive places, the
promoters including Smerlis of New
Jersey; Coliviras Brothers of Balu-
more, and Kokaris Brothers of New
York. Smerlis is said to have opened
100 places in the United States, but
has sold out now. Every city in the
Union of 10000 or more, has shoe
shining places run by Greeks. In
1908 Smerlis and some of the other
padrones conceived the idea of the
forming a trust but depOrtations of
many boys scared them out Of the
idea
Their Mode of Living.
Boys employed as bootblacks live in
unshnitary quarters and are absO-
mtely ignorant of the necessity of
fresh air. They and their employees
close all windows to prevent the con-
tracing of colds, and in addition,
sleep with their heads covered, this
being the manner OF sleeping in their
native village. Wherever space will
allow, two and three beds are placed
in one room, three and sometimes
four boys sleeping I'm one bed. In
some places no beds at all are used,
but the boys roll themselves up in
their blankets and sleep on the floor.
AS the shoe polishing shops are
=
morning, the boys are compelled to
get up between and $50 o'clock, and
in large cities, where living quarters
are some distance from their place Of
work, they rise as early as 4.30. They
remain at work from morning until
$50 or 10 at night, excepting in some
small cities where the shops are clos
ed about 8 or $50 o'clock, and on Sat
urday and Sunday nights the closing
hour is usually later.
After the doors to the shine estab-
lishments are closed the boys have to
mop the floors, clean the marble stand
and other fixtures and gather up the
rags to take home. They then proceed
TO their living quarters. where supper
has TO be prepared. although in places
where upward Of 10 boys reside, one
Of them usually acts as cook in the
morning and prepares the night meal.
Eating Under Difficulties.
OF the meal prepared in the morn
ing the boy cook at noon takes part
to the store. the 0ther part being left
AZ the house for supper. In the rear
of nearly every shOe-shining estab-
lishment a small space is partitioned
off. This is almost without eXcep-
ton filthy and nauseating. Into this
place the dinner is brought. Each
boy then disappears behind the par
tition aud devours as fast as he can
his share Of the food. the padrone OF
his manager apportioning it. They
eat singly. and if customers arrive
the boy has to, suspend eating his
dinner and attend TO the patrons. IN
the majority OF places the noon meal
consists of bread and olives ol
cheese.
When the stores are closed and tn,
boys reach home, supper is prepared
or heated: after eating, the boys &c
to bed, all so completely exhausted
that many retire with their working
clothes on, divesting themselves Of
only their coats and shoes.
What They Are Taught.
The boys have to work every day ii
the year and learn little outside oi
their work. Padrones forbid the
boys to talk to Greeks and have then
constantly watched They are KEEP
in ignorance of English. the country
and its institutions and told that JUS
tice is purchasable and that the po-
lice are more anxious to levy black
mail than to do their duty. The
boys are even compelled sometimes tC
write glowing letters home to attract
more youths. In some cases boys ar,
physically punished by the padrones
but these are not frequent.
Long hours, close confinement. un
sanitary quarters. bending over theii
work and inhaling of fumes from
shoe polishes and street dirt caus,
serious diseases, while the death:
from consumption among them ar,
appalling.
A statement signed by nearly ali
Of the Greek physicians in Chicago