The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-03-28
LETTER TELLS OF
LIFE IN II EAR 7
OF STEEL CENTER
Pittsburgh Has Group of
Worker-C Correspondent
(Continued from page 1.I

are hardly worthy of being called
homes but since that is the term in
common use, we will apply it here.
Most of these homes are ramshackIe,
humble dwellings, with walls unplas-
tered, containing no gas or electricity,
usually water is carried in from the
outside from wells contaminated with
the sewage that runs directly past the
wells. The poor worker in some IN
stances is allowed a small yard for his
children to play in, but in addition
to probably ten children the yard con-
tains a cess-pool, well, and probably
gutter where the sewage from the
house runs thru.
In the summer it certainly must be
very enjoyable to be playing in such
dump, where they can have the com.
panionship of mosquitoes, flies, and
other sorts of verinin. Quite often
the landlords of these homes deliber-
ately neglect to make repairs on the
houses, merely to increase their pro
fits and tell them that if they desire
anything better they should move,
which of course, the worker is not in
position to do.
The Negro Colony.
Not far from the steel mills is a
colony of Negro workers imported
from the south. This is The worst
hole imaginable to be inhabited by
any living creature. The streets are
unpayed, no lights at night, but of
course, the question of lights does not
concern the steel barons since they
can easily say that the illumination
from our blast furnaces is sufficient
light for anyone to see his way. The
steel kings did have built a number
of barracks to house these Negro
workers consisting Of one story, wood
en-, one-roomed cages, in which from
the outside can be seen hunks arrang-
ed in rows on which the workers are
expected to rest.
The ventilation is very poor, and
on summer evenings these Negroes
can be seen sitting outside to cool
off after a long days laboring at the
hot beds of the steel mills, at night
only to return to a packed room,
vermin considered, to try to recuper-
ate for the next days work.
Not Fit For Stables.
Where the Negro workers have
families they are housed in old,
tumble down shacks which are not
even fit to serve as stables. While liv-
ing in these shacks the children of the
exploited workers are told that they
can some day become president of the
United States, if they are only ambi-
tious enough to try.
These children are also soft soaped
with the stories of how Carnegie,
Schwab, and Corey made their mil
lions. But between starvation, and
plenty of worry, they have very little
time to consider whether or not these
stories told them contain in any way,
shape, manner and form any truth
They accept them as a matter of
course and look upon them as myth.
The Flunkeys Live Better.
Comparing the homes of the fun
keys with the homes of these work
ers the difference is as between day
and night. On one hand one sees
how the actual producer of the steel
mills live while on the other hand
one sees the luxury and wealth of
the parasites living from the toll of
these workers. The parasites have
their cars and live far enough from
the steel mills that they do not have
to have illumination from the blast
furnaces light their way. Going past
the Offices of the steel mills their
cars stand in rows all set and ready
to take the bosses away from that mi
SCRABBLE neighborhood, while the poor
worker starts on his weary drudge
homeward and cannot even then es-
cape the tortures of the mills, hav-
ing all the smoke and noise still to
contend with after he is once home
from his long days drudge in the
steel mills.