The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-12-17

| bunk house nifty foot long Cooking
| Is done on the stoves In the houses In
winter; in summer out-of-doors. or in
| little huts built by the mon themselves.
These huts, built by the immigrants,
arc usually of sod, placed in q frame
of poles, and are either square. with a
Hat top, or cone shaped like an In
oisn tepec. Others are built of odd
ends OF planks, scraps OF tar-paper or
| tin Some OF the Italians build very
| attractive huts OF discarded powder
cans. by cutting the cans down the
side seam, after the ends are knock
| cd out. small rectangular blocks of
, tin are obtained. ana by mailing those
over II frame of boards the appear
ance of corrugated iron house Is
given.
Box-Car IInn,ls.
Where the work is Misunderstanding.
| box cars placed OH a temporary track
| near the work AMI fitted UP as camp
cars are used. These cars have n
stove in the centre, n double-deck of
berths at either end, and windows
! about leighton inches square. cut In
| either side. III the cases where Il mar
RED man. usually foreman, Is among
the immigrants. the house is of n bet
ter grade. Although built of tho same
material as the shanties. they are more
closely built and are usually lined with
three-room, ne-story house. one room
being used for cooking and dining, and
the remaining two as living and sleep
ing rooms.
The majority of the immigrants do
their own cooking. each man for him
self or else they form groups OF fvc
to ten. when the men take 1t by turns
TO do the cooking for the others of
the group. There are Il few boarding
places on the American plan, but these
are rare, and are always where there
is a foreign foreman with his family
on the work. An occasional boarding
group Is found where all the man buy
their own provisions. each man for
himself having It cooked by the wo-
man who conducts the house. and who
charges the men $3.50 monthly for
cooking and washing. This custom is
found more widely among the Croa-
tians. OF all the different methods. in
dividual cooking Is the most prevalent;
The cost fliving Is about $40 per
man for the Croatians. for a month.
and the same for the Siovaks. and
from So To 81 for the italians. The
Italians live mainly upon bread and
macaroni and Bologna sausage, which
accounts for the extremely Low cost of
their maintenance. At their noon
meal. on the work. whole gang may
be seen eating simply a loaf OF bread
and pickle or piece OF bologna
sausage. At night they cook stow
made of macaronl. tamales. and pota-
toes and small scrap of meat For
breakfast they have bread and coffee
and bologna sausage. When not work
Ing the majority of the Italians cat
only two meals day. The other for
eign races cot meat for both sumner
ana breakfast, in addition to good
deal of canned food
The COmmlssary In Southern Cnu,p,.
The commisaary. On construction
work in the South. ia an important
par; OF tho industry. In many cases
the whole profit is from this source.
In former years. when the negro was
practically the only lahorer. II was not
unusual for contractor To take work
az cost, or even less, depending on the
commissary for his profits AS the for
cisn lahorer has been substituted for
thn negro. this custom has been less
ana less prevalent as its existence de-
ponds upon the expenditures OF the la
borers. and the negroes are more cx-
traNagcnt than many others Many
OF tho larger Southern contracting
hrms nave abandoned the commissary
as n source of profit, since employing
foreigners, and maintain IT only as a
convenience This has given an open
Ing Tor tho padrones, who are bccom-
Ing more and more numerous in South
ern construction work. The negro arc
by far the hest customers in the com
missary. They arc generally unmar.
ricd men with no responsibilities.
roaming from one place to another,
spending their entire earnings in tho
coinfnissary. They often cash their
limo at a discount, and then spend the
money before leaving the commissary.
Tho Croa'ians are good livers In COM
parison with the other. foreign races,
and they do not stint themselves In
1000 or drink. The negroes spend their
surplus above what Is needed for food
for Saudy clothes and .patcnt-leather
shoes. but the Croatians spend theirs
Tor beer or for such substitute for that
beverage as may be had Mt the com
missary. Although evtravn giant they
DO not however. spend as much rs the
negroes, who loiter about the commits
saries looking for something for which
10 spend their money. The Croatians
know what they want and buy 1t free
~, but IL there Is u surplus OF their
wages it is saved. The Italians, living
as they do, very cheaply, buy little from
tho commissaries
They Must Come to the Rock.
In general way the laborcrs are
required TO patronize the commissaries
If wholesale boycott of the commits
'''titNo " tiit ldDOTeTS were TO take
place there is no doubt that they would
be replaced by others who would
patronlze the stores. In localities
where other stores are convenient
there is good deal OF buying at these
other stores. especially when labor Is
more scarce t!An work, and the men
feel more independent. The men. both
negroes and foreigners, understand
that they will more likely be employ
ed on other work If they deal at the
commissaries instead Of other stores.
In isolated districts, where no 9TH
or stores are convenient. the men must
necessarily patronize the commissa ries,
although the pCices arc high. Tho
chief method of securing the patronage
OF the laborers is that OF paying off"
The men are paid only once n month.
This OF itself has n great deal of intiu-
ence in the direction of extravaganza.