New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-20


n road construction Job in Jersey The
railroad was and is one OF the biggest
IN the country; its working day is ten hours long
and the kind of work it pays 81 so per for is
accomplished mainly with pick At the end
of the seventh day the man was fired and given
an order on the paymaster for $40 so. When
he handed il in at the little window the pay
master took note of the number of the order,
ran his inger down page of the ledger and
announced that that particular order had been
paid.
There was an argument. 1t was brief. be
cause the railroad had the numbers and the
power of persuasion-and the workman moth
ing but an order for $40 so. He hung around
all of the next day. trying to collect, but he
failed to get within fifty feet OF the paymaster
He needed that $40 so. He had never owned
more than $40 at one time in his life and there
was a family in Chrystie st. tenement. So
he came over to New York and told his story
at the Office of the railroad. After passing
through the hands of half dozen persons
he was informed that the railroad would in
vestgate."
RED TAPE IN WHICH THE BUSINESS
MUMMY is WRAPPED.
After several trips to the Office the railroad
admitted that there had been mistake-the
money had been paid to the wrong man, or it
hadn't been paid at all, or something of the
kind 1t looked to the laborer as though that
were the end of his troubles but, as repre-
sentative of the road explained to him, there
was a formality to be gone through with. Be-
cause of the usual red tape, the matter would
have to be brought to the attention OF the claim
agent. who would turn it over to the man hav-
ing the claims OF employees as his portion, who
would give it to the clerk whose business it
vas TO attend to claims under $40, who would
eend it back to the claim agent for his sigma
tare. Then it would start on the trip again.
and be run into a siding, and held for storage
charges. Perhaps, long time in the future,
the heirs to the estate OF the claimant might
be able to collect
They didn't tell the claimant all that at the
railroad Office, but he gradually found it out
He dropped in a couple OF times week for
month or 20, but they always had an excuse.
In the interim he obtained other jobs and lost
them again, but there never was "a moment
when he couldn't have used that $40 So
HE KNEW THAT LAWS EXISTED-BUT
NOT FOR HIM.
In vague sort of way he knew that there
was such thing as the law; he knew far more
definitely that it was something he couldn't at
ford. Then there was stretch of unemploy-
ment, when the $40 so doomed up bigger than
ever, and in the middle of it the claimant
learned in some way of the existence of the
Legal Aid Society. So he went to the society,
and the society served the railroad with pau
per summons, which is summons that can be
obtained without payment OF fees by man
whose personal property amounts to less than
Sl00 The railroad realized that it was no
longer dealing with an IMMERSED laborer-and
forty-eight hours after the serving of the sum-
mons it sent man to the home of the laborer
with the cash.
The Legal Aid Society of New York City
does the biggest law business of any insttu-