Evening star., 1916-10-15


partment of Labor has recently been
directed to the ques
INQUIRY Into tion of job selling, and
Job Selling. recently been com- n.
pleted Job selling involves the prac-
tice Of paying to the foreman in indus
trial plants a fee for securing work
and also for paying money to the fore
man from time to time In order that
the workman may not lose his job or
may receive more desirable work.
The attention Of officials was first
brought to this matter during the
course of a recent strike, when one of
the demands of the strikers was for
the discharge of Il foreman to whom
the foreign Workmen We're required to
contribute money from time to time in
order to hold their jobs or to secure an
advance in wages. In response to this
and subsequent complaints an inveSti-
cation was instituted which developed
the fact that the collection of fees for
jobs, or assessments of various kinds,
by foremen was carried on in a large
number of establishments.
Those directing the investiga ton
found that in some plants the customs
have been established for years. With
some foremen box of cigars or a bot
tie of whisky was sufficient present
70 secure joo for ten years. Presently
the applicant learned that money was
moro acceptable. and s. was the usual
fee for the unskiiled labor: the appli-
cant then learned that s. or SO extra
would help him to get a job without
waiUng-or, in other words, it would
place him pm the preferred list; then
the price rose to So and from that to
slJ. and at the time the Investigations
We're begun IT is stated that the fee
expected" was generally SIS, 500 Or
even sZ3. for job paying approxi-
Elately 25 cents an hour.
1t is said that the employees paying
these fees were almost altog non
English speaking foreigners, and those
who profit from the fees are usually
English speaking, or able to speak
English. and quite generally of a diff
ferent race from those who are ex-
plotted. . 49,.
Evidence gathered By thc investiga :
tors showed that the shreWder fore
men, occupying comparatively high
positions. seldom received ttic money
directly from the applicant. but usually
nave a number of men who act as GO
bctWceas. These go-betweens, il is said,
were found in many cases to be OF the
same race as those exploited. 1t was
also found that in many cases the go
between performed the service with
out pay-first. because il enabled him
to get in better with the foremen and
threby secure better work, and, sec
ondly. it enabled him to get work for
his friends and fellow -countrymen and
gave him some standing among them.
1t was found during the course of
the inVesti ga tioE thas on the whole
there were many reasons t0tbelieve that
more or less grating Of this kind in
the form of Job selling by foremen. in
collecting money from workmen for
ret:,ining them during slack times. for
assigning them to more desirable Jobs.
or for Increasing their wages and In
conducting rafties for the benefit OF the
foremen, is carried on to a greater or
less extent IN most of the large indus
trial plants where immigrants are
employed.
AS :. result of the findings of the in
vcst'gation il is said that drastic steps
have been taken by many of the manu-
facturerS to punish the Horemen found
guilty of such methods, and of Install
ing methods for preventing such glAft
: methods in the future. In the ma jor-
ity of plants it is believed that the
practice has been practically broken
! up. In certain OF the plants locked
into during the course Of the investi-
s"tion three foremen have been dis
charged by the company officials, who
were convinced Of their guilt without
lett the state they we're working in
, during the course OF the investigation
two others stood trial and we're con-
victeG; three so-bctweens pleaded
guilty, and others received Tary;ns de-
Rrees Of punishment. The punishment at
provided by Law in the state OF Ohio,
where most of the investigation work
was done, is d fine OF $50 to 800. In
tnat same state an effort is now being