The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-07-07
|COMP[ LIANT Of
The BOAT men
The Warm weather evidently AHec.s
Roussabouts and They are
Hard to Keep al
Work.
KEoKUK IS AFFECTED
Helpers on Thl. Little packet Cause
III. Beat Men to Worry
by Their indif-
ference.
KEoKUK IS AFFECTED

The little packet Keokuk is havin 2
one Of the. best years for business that
It has experienced for several years
and it is keeping the officials busy
handling the immense amount OF
freight that is being shipped from
this city. and points en- route to the
other cities. For the past week the
keokuk has been running under the
most extreme difficulties as it has
been almost impossible 10 secure
stevedores or .'roustab bouts" Hereto
fore the number OF men in quest of
these Jobs have always been plentiful.
but about week ago the whole roust-
/ about crew Suddenly seemed TO desert
the keossuk and since then it seems
that no inducements large enough can
be offered to secure their services
again
Inc roustabouts on the steamer
heokuk are treated In much the same
manner that they are on other boats.
I in fact. receive little better treat
ment than they do on most of the ri--
er boats For the past few DAYS the
mate and purser have found it neces-
sarg TO take up the duties of roust-
abouts and have In this way succeed
ed in keeping the boat running on
schedule time
/ However. the trouble is not alone
! with the Keokuk, as the boats of the
/ Streckfus line are also experiencing
the same difficulty in securing men
to load and unload the boats.
twenty-five cents an hour is paid
which is considerable more than Is
drawn by laborers in most cases. Here
tofore. there has always been more
men to apply for positions than
could be accommodated and the
! phenomena can not be explained
Some Have Better Luck.
The boats on the Streckfus line.
however, are not having as much diff
4 hculty in getting men to handle Their
freight as the Keokuk II seems that
most OF the men engaged in this kind
OF work desire the long runs of the
boats more than the short ones. as
there Is more variety in the longer
trips. While the Keokuk makes in
4cessantly, from day to day, the trims
I between this city and Quincy. the
Streckfus steamers are making the
longer trips between Burlington and
ST, Louis and st. Paul. Although the
work is not any harder than on the
short route boats. they seem TO pre.
/ fer the latter course This i explain
ed by the reason that the most of the
men who sign on as roustabouts are
4 waits, imbued with the habit OF drift
ing from place to place. and the idea
OF routine day to day work does not
i appeal to them. Hardly any of the
I deck hands that are taken up on one
trip of the boat return with If and ii
is the same way with the down trips.
The most of the roustabouts sign
ing on the Strckfus steamers are ne.
groes of happy go lucky sor that
would just as soon be dropped off one
place as another The art Of handling
tnem 80 that they will remain and
work is a delicate one, that is only
mastered by few men
On account of the heavy traffic in
this part OF the country the streckfns
steamboat line mas lately added to Its
fleet OF steamboats, the Nashville
purchased from southern company
ne Nashville Is one OF the trirnmest
little boats on the river and is bull,
IN the same substantial way as all the
tother streckfus steamers.