第 10 节
作者:爱之冰点      更新:2021-02-19 17:04      字数:9315
  week;   for   forty   cents   per   week   (a   rate   of   two…thirds   of   a   cent   an   hour)。
  Many women earned less than a dollar a week; and none of them worked
  every     week。    The    following     table   will   best   summarize       Miss    Auten's
  investigations among a portion of the garment…workers:
  Industry     Average      Average     Average     Individual     Number      of   Yearly
  Weekly  Weeks   Earnings Wages   Employed   Dressmakers   。90   42。   37。00
  Pants…Finishers 1。31 27。58 42。41 Housewives and 1。58 30。21 47。49 Pants…
  Finishers   Seamstresses   2。03   32。78   64。10   Pants…makers   2。13   30。77   75。61
  Miscellaneous 2。77 29。 81。80 Tailors 6。22 31。96 211。92 General Averages
  2。48 31。18 76。74
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  Walter A。 Wyckoff;  who   is   as   great   an   authority  upon   the   worker   as
  Josiah Flynt is on the tramp; furnishes the following Chicago experience:
  〃Many of the men were so weakened by the want and hardship of the
  winter that they were no longer in condition for effective labor。 Some of
  the   bosses   who   were   in   need   of   added   hands   were   obliged   to   turn   men
  away because of physical incapacity。 One instance of this I shall not soon
  forget。 It was when I overheard; early one morning at a factory gate; an
  interview between a would…be laborer and the boss。 I knew the applicant
  for   a   Russian Jew;  who   had   at   home   an   old   mother   and   a   wife   and   two
  young      children     to   support。     He    had    had    intermittent     employment
  throughout the winter in a sweater's den; {5} barely enough to keep them
  all   alive;   and;   after   the   hardships   of   the   cold   season;   he   was   again   in
  desperate straits for work。
  〃The boss had all but agreed to take him on for some sort of unskilled
  labor; when; struck by the cadaverous look of the man; he told him to bare
  his   arm。   Up   went   the   sleeve   of   his   coat   and   his   ragged   flannel   shirt;
  exposing a   naked   arm with   the   muscles nearly gone;  and   the   blue…white
  transparent skin stretched over sinews and the outlines of the bones。 Pitiful
  beyond words was his effort to give a semblance of strength to the biceps
  which rose faintly to the upward movement of the forearm。 But the boss
  sent him  off  with   an   oath   and a  contemptuous   laugh;   and   I  watched   the
  fellow as he turned down the street; facing the fact of his starving family
  with a despair at his heart which only mortal man can feel and no mortal
  tongue can speak。〃
  Concerning habitat; Mr。 Jacob Riis has stated that in New York City; in
  the block bounded by Stanton; Houston; Attorney; and Ridge streets; the
  size of which is 200 by 300; there is a warren of 2244 human beings。
  In   the   block   bounded      by  Sixty…first    and   Sixty…second      streets;  and
  Amsterdam         and   West    End    avenues;     are   over    four   thousand     human
  creatures;quite   a   comfortable   New   England   village   to   crowd   into   one
  city block。
  The   Rev。   Dr。   Behrends;   speaking        of   the   block   bounded   by   Canal;
  Hester; Eldridge; and Forsyth streets; says: 〃In a room 12 by 8 and 5。5 feet
  high; it was found that nine persons slept and prepared their food。 。 。 。 In
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  another room; located in a dark cellar; without screens or partitions; were
  together two men with their wives and a girl of fourteen; two single men
  and a boy of seventeen; two women and four boys;nine; ten; eleven; and
  fifteen years old;fourteen persons in all。〃
  Here humanity rots。 Its victims; with grim humor; call it 〃tenant… house
  rot。〃 Or; as a legislative report puts it: 〃Here infantile life unfolds its bud;
  but perishes before its first anniversary。 Here youth is ugly with loathsome
  disease; and the deformities which follow physical degeneration。〃
  These   are   the   men   and   women   who   are   what   they   are   because   they
  were   not   better   born;   or   because   they   happened   to   be   unluckily   born   in
  time   and   space。   Gauged   by   the   needs   of   the   system;   they   are   weak   and
  worthless。 The hospital and the pauper's grave await them; and they offer
  no encouragement to the mediocre worker who has failed higher up in the
  industrial structure。 Such a worker; conscious that he has failed; conscious
  from the hard fact that he cannot obtain work in the higher employments;
  finds several courses open to him。 He may come down and be a beast in
  the social pit; for instance; but if he be of a certain caliber; the effect of the
  social pit   will   be  to   discourage him  from  work。  In   his   blood   a  rebellion
  will quicken; and he will elect to become either a felon or a tramp。
  If he have fought the hard fight he is not unacquainted with the lure of
  the 〃road。〃 When out of work and still undiscouraged; he has been forced
  to 〃hit the road〃 between large cities in his quest for a job。 He has loafed;
  seen   the   country   and   green   things;   laughed   in   joy;   lain   on   his   back   and
  listened to the birds singing overhead; unannoyed by factory whistles and
  bosses' harsh   commands;   and;   most   significant   of   all;   HE  HAS   LIVED!
  That is the point! He has not starved to death。 Not only has he been care…
  free   and   happy;   but   he   has   lived! And   from   the   knowledge   that   he   has
  idled and is still alive; he achieves a new outlook on life; and the more he
  experiences        the   unenviable      lot   of   the   poor    worker;     the   more     the
  blandishments   of   the   〃road〃   take   hold   of   him。 And   finally   he   flings   his
  challenge in the face of society; imposes a valorous boycott on all work;
  and joins the far…wanderers of Hoboland; the gypsy folk of this latter day。
  But the tramp does not usually come from the slums。 His place of birth
  is   ordinarily    a   bit  above;    and    sometimes      a  very    great   bit  above。     A
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  confessed   failure;   he   yet   refuses   to   accept   the   punishment;   and   swerves
  aside from the slum to vagabondage。 The average beast in the social pit is
  either too much of a beast; or too much of a slave to the bourgeois ethics
  and   ideals   of   his   masters;   to   manifest   this   flicker   of   rebellion。   But   the
  social   pit;   out   of   its   discouragement   and   viciousness;   breeds   criminals;
  men   who   prefer   being   beasts   of   prey   to   being   beasts   of   work。 And   the
  mediocre       criminal;     in   turn;    the   unfit    and    inefficient     criminal;     is
  discouraged by the strong arm of the law and goes over to trampdom。
  These     men;    the   discouraged      worker     and   the  discouraged       criminal;
  voluntarily withdraw themselves from the struggle for work。 Industry does
  not need them。 There are no factories shut down through lack of labor; no
  projected railroads unbuilt for want of pick…and…shovel men。 Women are
  still glad to toil for a dollar a week; and men and boys to clamor and fight
  for work at the factory gates。 No one misses these discouraged men; and in
  going away they have made it somewhat easier for those that remain。
  So the case stands thus: There being more men than there is work for
  men to do; a surplus labor army inevitably results。 The surplus labor army
  is an economic necessity; without it; present society would fall to pieces。
  Into   the   surplus   labor   army  are   herded   the   mediocre;   the   inefficient;   the
  unfit; and those incapable of satisfying the industrial needs of the system。
  The struggle for work between the members of the surplus labor army is
  sordid   and   savage;   and   at   the   bottom   of   the   social   pit   the   struggle   is
  vicious and beastly。 This struggle tends to discouragement; and the victims
  of this discouragement are the criminal and the tramp。 The tramp is not an
  economic   necessity   such   as   the   surplus   labor   army;   but   he   is   the   by…
  product of an economic necessity。
  The 〃road〃 is one of the safety…valves through which the waste of the
  social   organism   is   given   off。   And   BEING   GIVEN   OFF   constitutes   the
  negative   function   of   the   tramp。   Society;   as   at   present   organized;   makes
  much waste of human life。 This waste must be eliminated。 Chloroform or
  electrocution   would   be   a   simple;   merciful   solution