The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-01-23
OFFICERS KILL
SLAVES Who
DEMAND RIGHTS
Mates Peddle Dope to
Asiatics
(Bv q Sean1en CORRESPONDENCE

by a Seun,en Correspondent
have just finished a year or so
of slavery on various tramp ships
operated by the Dollar Line
of New York. The slavery on these
hell-holes of tubs is what l want to
write you about. To begin with, the
food is just garbage on the rotten
ships rousting about the seven seas.
These rotten ships go off on a trip
which may take you from New York
to Bombay, taking these slow old
boats months. l have had expert
ence mostly on British owned boats /;
the slavery on the American tramp
ships is bad enough; the food and
hunks are rotten; but the conditions
on the ships flying the British flag
cannot be imagined by any land
worker. The tyranny of the cap
tains and mates on the Robt. Dollar
and other lines chartering tramp
freighters is worse than the slavery
the Negroes had to undergo when
they were the property" of the
bosses of the South. A sailors life
il in the hands of the officers of
the British ships officers; they
can kill man if he grumbles about
the slavery and low wages. per-
sonally have seen two seamen killed
by captains of British freighters be-
cause the men claimed they were
cheated out of the amount of wages
promised them. When the boats ar
rived in Southampton of course the
British Admiralty Courts cleared the
captains, and even praised them for
putting down ''mutiny."
Wages in the British ships are as
follows, on the average: Sailor
White British or American)-9
pounds, about $44 a month. Sailor
Bombay Lascar-Two pounds, six
shillings-about $40 a month. Sailor
Calcutta Lascar-One pound, II
shillings-Not quite $40 month.
Sailor-Chinaman-Three pounds,
5 shillings-A little over SIS a
month. Greasers-(White Mem
Ten pounds $50 mont h {.
Greasers-Lascars-Two pounds, 10
shillings, or little over $40, and 1
pound 10 shillings or nearly $40 a
month for Calcutta Lascars. Greas-
ers-Chinamen-Three pounds, 10
shillings, or about SIG month. The
wages of firemen are little less
than that for greasers, being s45 a
month for white men, SIS for Bonn
bay Lascars, SO for Calcutta Las
cars, and SIS for Cinnamon.
The way these Indian seamen are
treated on board the British ships
is nothing less than slow murder,
and sometimes murder not so slow.
Their working day never seems to
end. They just drop down after
they get short respite from work.
The Calcutta Lascars Indian sea-
men are called Lascars) are treated
even worse than the poor workers
from Bombay. They are dubbed by
the mates, who usually do the cap
tain's dirty work, for the slightest
hesitation. No horse or OK in this
world has ever been forced to do the
work that these poor brown-skinned
workers are forced to do in one day
on board the British tramp ships.
The poor Cinnamon come in for their
share of killing slavery too. No
wonder these poor seamen from Asia
fall victims to the opium habit. Talk
ing about opium, the officers of
many a freight tramp make thou
sands of dollars by peddling it to
the Asian seamen, and believe me,
they soak the seamen plenty. Many
of the Lascars and Cinnamon are
kept in perpetual debt to the mates,
because the $40 a month or less that
they get for wages is more than
eaten I'D by the amount they have to
pay the officers for dope.
Here are the reasons the ship
owners employ the Indians and
Chinese for slavery on board ship.
For one thing, they can pay them
worse than starvation wages. Then,
thew huddle them together in the
rottenest part of the ship, as living
accommodations. The cost f o r
board is less. The amount of COM
pensation, if any, in case OF injury
or death, is little better than moth
ing. If claims are made, and dis
putes arise-well the claimants are
in India, and the owners are in
England. Some day the Indian and
Chinese seamen will rebel, and the
white seamen will fight together
with them for conditions that the
worker is entitled to have.
Jack BROUGHTON.