The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-09-24

six o'clock-dispirited and disheartene
as if all Of the working population
Brooklyn is here made busy in supply
ing the East's mail orders.
The National Cloak and Suit COM
pany maintains a large employment
office with a sleek employment man.
ager and a staff of clerks hiring
twelve dollar a week boys and girls.
Since the labor turnover is great one
can find almost every day dozens of
applicants in the large and well ap-
pointed office waiting for an inter
view
This is usually the process of exam
lining the faces of the job seekers to
see II they have sufficient intelligence
to be able to distinguish and protest
against the appalling conditions to be
found inside the building. Whereup-
on they are rejected. If one presents
a high school diploma, one is honor
ed with the munifcent remuneration
of $14 per week. Thus the economic
advantage" of high school education
would seem to be two dollars.
Thrown on Streets.
The time cards show workers who
have been with the firm ten and fif-
teen years. And yet, if there were
an efficiency campaign, as usually
happens when business is not so brisk,
thousands of these broken old horses
would be thrown on the streets with
the worst possible prospects. They
surely could not count upon their ex-
perience in the National as the work
done here is highly sub-divided al
lowing several hundred hands to per-
form the same two or three opera
tons day in and day out. The pack
ers have several sizes of boxes and
paper and wrap up their output with
out knowing the least thing about the
postage or customs regulations or re-
uuirements, while the ones who at
tend to those details could not tie
knot or wrap a package to save their
lives
Hundreds of items are packed every
day by the same packer. but he could
not distinguish between cotton and
silk goods. They are merely requir-
ed to plug away at the same mono
tonous task every tortuous minute OF
the age-long day. The output OF or
ders picked or packed is the limit
and any deviation therefrom is sure
to spell discharge. All the positions
occupied by the relatives or friends
of the stockholders are not subject to
work outputs. All others must see
that their hourly piles OF work APP
proach the output mark.
Straw Bosses Snap Whip.
All of the floors with their differ
ent departments are managed by de-
partment heads who are there to see
that the section bosses are constantly
busy driving the slaves on. These
section bosses are usually chosen
from the ranks, after having been
tested by the department heads and
proving that they are able to bring
the expense account under the budget
estimate-that is they must force the
same worker to do the work of two
or even three men. II the boss took
Dlly Ou lHt WI hOlh anu oNNS0 1870
"help" he was deemed inefficient and
temoted. He was expected to earn
his salary and ten times that for the
company, in better methods Of man
agement."
Such a despicable creature could
get twenty or twenty-five dollars per
week. The department heads by the
same analogy were also expected to
earn their fifty a week by making the
section bosses" work the employees
every minute OF the nine hours day
though ten minute rest period is
allowed the workers. At three o'clock
the whistle gives the workers still
dizzy from the grind the chance to
realize how weary and knocked out
they all are. The amount of rest that
one gets is equal to the number Of
angels that can balance themselves
on the point of needle.
At twelve-ffteen every one knocks
of" for fourty-five minutes and as
soon as one o'clock blows the section
boss comes shopping around with his
,QEte4 a Come On aiS n, aig, " '. 1sst