Evening star., 1934-04-29
MILLWORKERS OF SOUTH
ARE SATISFIED WITH LOT
One Who Tolls With Them Says They
Want Opportunity to Work
and Not Sympathy.

| help her for the time being. she says
although they may. as the welfare
nurse reports, injure her health in the
end. But who cares? A millworker
lives but one day at the time. Why
worry about the future If there Is
SIS week this Spring, let next Spring
take care of itself.
Always Paying on Car.
Jewel Barker, who presses pillow
cases, makes $14 a week. A good part
of that amount goes on the car which
she has bought on the installment
plan She is always paying on a car,
time to get another. Then, too, she
must have a radio, wrist watch. per-
manent waves. She would have no
money to pay doctor or dentist
whose services she always needs. or to
improve her living conditions. But
pity her not. She has the car, the
radio, the wrist watch, the frizzled
locks. She is content. She has never
heard of pellagra, paternaliSm, collec-
tive bargaining, humanitarianS. She
would never believe she is the subject
of any ones sympathy.
AS long as she has job and de-
cent boss man she does not complain.
had the idea that most overseers
and boss men were hard and incon-
Siderate. But the men Jewel Barker
and work for are not bad at all.
One morning I upset a great load of
immaculate, white goods, all yarded
and ready to be made into pillowcases
for the stockholders public. What a
catastrophel I thought. ! trembled
as stood in the middle of the floor
beside the havoc I had wrought. All
eyes were focused upon me. was in
a jam, in trouble: and mill workers
thrive upon all kinds of trouble be-
cause it is the chief excitement in
their monotonous lives. God help me,
said to myself. And then along came
the boss man and said, I'VE all make
mistakes. Just be more careful"
Strive to Keep Down Accidents.
An accident involving injury to my
self as we'll as to the cloth would have
been less graciouSly received, for the
mill is trying to keep down accidents
and pay out minimum of damages.
1t gives an overseer a bad showing
in the big Office if he has to report
accidents from his division. So If you
get hurt don't 60 to the mill doctor
unless you absolutely can't help it.
and don't let the boss know it. The
other day a girl sewed her finger
twice the needle went through her
flesh. She turned white. I ran to her
and said 1 would tell Mr.. Jones so
she could go to the doctor at once.
mo, don't you do itl" she cried.
tying remnant about her finger.
But I told Mr.. Jones anyway. He
surveyed the scene and thought my
idea of rusty needles and blood pois-
oning rather silly.
Can you make out?" he said to
the girl.
Sure I can," she said, and set to
work with nine fingers.
Then Mr.. Jones turned to me.
You ought not to've called me.
She amt hurt as bad as all that.
Now III have to make report to the
Safety Committeeman we've already
had two accidents this month
Fortunately We have likable,
fair-minded president now. man
who is always willing to talk to the
workers. He puts on no airs; you
don't have to slip by half a dozen
secretaries to get to him, either. If
he's in his Office you just go in and
tell him what you have to say, and
If he thinks your argument any good
he's likely to help you. But you have
to be careful about going to head
quarters; some Of the lesser lights
can make it hot for you.
Salaries Continue, Wages Stop.
Anyway, however you look at It,
there's no ideal here any more chan
anywhere else There are lots of
damnable things that nobody short Of
God can help. II you are mill
worker you'll have trouble. You
won't even have work all the time
If there are no orders in the big
office there is no work for us. Sal
aries continue in the big Office, but
wages stop; we are not among those
rewarded as well for idleness as for
industry. Any time, when we come to
work in the morning, we are likely to
be sent home. Some come from
homes 20 miles or more away, but
what of it? New Year day I went
to work before 6, while some of my
neighborS were returning noisily from
parties. Upon reaching the mill I
met sad-faced hand.
Amt no work today"
Five hundred and more from one
floor alone went home with lunches
and clean uniforms and the cheerful
thought that there would be no pay
envelopes next Friday. I knew I had
family I could sit down on; but I
wondered about some of these work.
ers with children and no savings.
Nov amt this here some New
Year" says Capitola, sallow-faced
cross-eyed woman who looks as though
she might have bad case of pellagra.
Not nary cent this week" Capitola
mas been working here eight years,
ever since she left her mountain home
in a remote section of the State She
had never seen a train or movie"
or a telephone when she came. Capt.
tola can't read or write, but she can
count her money to perfection. She
belongs to the small minority who
save. She makes $14 and few cents
whenever she gets a full weeks work
She pays 81 week for board in the
mill village and keeps a dollar or two
for clothes and a Western movie" on
Saturday nights She hides at least
So a week on her person and then,
every few months, she goes home and
turns her savings over to her mother.
Ma puts my money in her trunk
and locks it up. She carries that ar
key with her day an night an I'm a
bar-face liar If 1t wouldn't take q
damn good man to git it away from
her."
Plans to Raise Hogs.
Capitola plans to buy a place back
home in the mountains some day, and
raise lot O. hogs and. as she says
shyly, maybe git mar'd and raise a
mess of chillun." It infuriates her
when she is laid OF from work, thus
delaying her savings-and her dreams.
She doesn't know who is guilty-the
men in the big Office, the fine ladies
and gentlemen on Main Street. hard