The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1934-03-16
az IOHN L. SPTYAK

as how I'D stop OH an VeH yO~ W
fore / went home"
The Negro walked out. We fol-
lowed him with our eyes.
THAT'S the stretch-out system
for you," said Jackson. "And now z
they're working it in the asbestos
mills"
He explained the stretch-out.
Mill workers used to earn 80 a
week. Under the MIRA code the
minimum wage was set at $12 so !
the mills simply stretched out"
the work. A mill hand was given
exactly twice as much to do for
the extra pay the code got him. 1t
was a killing, exhausrlng grind
and it was common all through
the South. Employers in other in
dustries were following the textile
lead and stretching their workers.
"The mills haven't lost anything |
by the CODE" he concluded. "They
are getting SIP worth Of work out
of them"
81 thought you were on the Com
pliance Board" l said SUCCESSFULLY.
81 am but Pm only one man.
And now this niger. Why, there
is one case before the board where
the asbestos plant before the code
went into effect, used to run one
side of one twisting machine and
pay $18 a week. This was con-
sidered a good days work. Now,
under the code, the worker is
forced to run both sides of the
machine for SIS a week. In other
words, the worker is now getting
SIS for $50 worth of work. That's
the way it is in all mills. It's es-
pecially bad in an asbestos mill
because if you work there for any
|. length of time you've signed your
death warrant"
left him and went to the Char
!. lotte Health Department.
! "What about asbestos mill work
ers?" l asked DIR. G.. L. Rey, the
: city health officer.
He shook his head. "They can't
: last more than five to seven year;
: if they are white. Then they die
They last as long as seven years
don't they, DR.. Hand? ?"
He turned to another physician
, sitting across the desk from him
e az don't know. I've heard of
some cases that lasted that long
% Most of 'em don't. Niggers sur,
a don't"
a "You see," DR.. Rey explained
n ''the negro seems to be NATURAL.
n. disposed to tuberculosis. He is
lie more subject to it than the whit
ID man. And as for asbestosis-tha
~ is the medical term for this di
g sease-negros can't stand even
lie fraction of the time a white ma
! can.
in "Once it gets into your lung
n there's nothing anyone can do fo
IS it. It just stays there until tn
en- lung becomes infected and that
re the end. Why, I had Negro her
ne this morning. He hadn't been j
es the asbestos mill more than thre
rs or four months and he's finishe
by now"
"How about masks ?"
he "I tried. l wrote to the U.
Public Health Service and the D,
I'D partment of Agriculture. l urge
his local officials here to pass an ord
it nance or state bill to make Il
mills supply masks to the worker
in Nothing's come of it. Might CO
'ut the mill owners a few dollars"
lite From DR.. Rey l learned that t
Negro lived in Blue Heaven.
I've Blue Heaven is one of the TO
e." decrepit areas where Negroes Ii
his in Charlotte. Like the others.
he begins on the outskirts of the ci
the where the pavement ends. TIL
red. rutted clay road leads to t
ing home in Blue Heaven. Boa
m shacks resting on brick pills
lar, ranged in rows like bath houe
see at a Northern beach.
Inn Children were playing on Il
road, a mother, holding a sleepi
one baby, sat on the steps of her shs
staring expressionlessly at the d
ok tant railroad tracks. Men in
did blue denim overalls eyed
ork cUriously.
ant stopped one and asked if
ong knew where the man who work
lie / in the asbestos mill and was pre-
be- sick lived.
vers ooh. You goin' to take h
): away?"
this "NO. 1 just want to talk
uck him."
OBJ well, he lives right in that J
Tear low house yOnder, near the tor
the hill"
in There were three sparsely Fl
nished rooms in the sick Negl
ked. house, running railroad fash
stos The boards On the inside were
for. bare and depression as the ia
bout ones on the outside. His wife
Nat's two ragged boys looked fearfV
get at me. They had heard "heml
ger, rage was catchin'" and they "
as afraid I was from the Health
tags partment. come to take him a,
hap but the sick man recognized
ngs, He sat in an old chair holding
i've same bloody handkerchief to
e to mouth
eaKs News had spread that w
man had come to see him and
men Negroes passed repeatedly stal
mem at the house curiously.
-, what do you expect to live