The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-03-09

of overcrowded conditions and con-
sequent overwork, under the relent-
less drive of foremen, starters, dis
patchers, superintendent company
stool pigeons, spies, "Beakies" and
what not; when it learned, also, to
what extent they are underpaid, ex-
plotted during unbelievable long
hours, always under the fear of los
ing their jobs for the least cause or
none at all-when the realization of
these facts grow upon one, it be-
comes a matter Of increasing won
der that human beings have been
able to hold out under such condi-
tons.
That these conditions can be main
tanned year III, year out, and at the
same time the work can be done with
as little injury and loss of life to
the public as has occurred, is a fact
which becomes utterly understand
able.
Little Pay for knowledge.
"Our Men Know Their Jobs!" is
the slogan of The marlborough
Rapid Transit Company. But it is
not to be concluded that in this adj
mission is contained any cash value
for the men. Every sophisticated
traction worker knows that this slo-
gan is of the sort which is: Not for
homo. oonS,1rnntiopf
If you are a guard or conductor,
for instance, on the subway, and if
in the last year you have hung up
a clean record in avoiding the con-
slant danger of cutting off the pro-
truding ears of your customers by a
too hasty closing of the doors in the
everlasting subway jams, you under
stand that for this commendable
feat, the company slogan does not
mean that you are entitled to a mans
pay. You know that you will receive
approximately $25 to $50 weekly for
your heroism, that is, if you have
not been rash enough at some time
during the past decades to have in
dulged yourself in the rare luxury of
an Interborough strike.
Life Behind Wall.
If you are an agent, that is, a
person whose sole mission in life is
forever to pass nickels through a
hole in a glass wall at people who
are never to know you and with
whom you are likewise fated never
to become acquainted and if through
out whole week of the most skill
full manipulation, you have been I'M
able to pass off nine of these disks
for the required ten, or even nineteen
for the usual twenty, you do not ex-
pect to have your Saturday after
noon and Sunday off in order to
nurse your gathering gloom. You
know that your work requires you
to be on the job ~ hours day, 7
days a week, each week of 81 hours,
as long as the others, during the
whole year Of 1855 days. And for
this job you, too, will receive no more
than the princely average Of about
$32 per week.
Walking Thru the Night.
If, worse luck, you are track
walker, that is, you are a "Wop," a
"Pollack," "Hunky," whose calling,
as the saying goes, is to massage the
subway walls, perhaps to grease the
rails or help repair weak ones, TO
gather up papers and refuse, to walk
endlessly, YEARLY along the tracks
during the gloomy subway nights,
eyes strained for the treacherous de-
fcctivc rail; if that is your mission
in life, you have not the heart,
damn foreigner" that you are, to
hold up the company for more than
the $lS, 500, S24 which your UNI
skilled efforts scarcely deserve.
Hidden Fatalities.
You are only too thankful that you
have thus far been able to spare the
company the unpleasantness OF hav-
ing had to gather up your scattered
remains after your much too inti-
mate meeting with speeding and
needless train, fateful experiment
which an indiscoverably large per-
centage Of your fellow workers are
trying out weekly; for you know,
too, what so few Of the public ever