The Seattle Star Newspaper, November 14, 1922, Page 4

PAGE 4 On “Hell Ship” Packers Furnish Labor Scandal Corporation Head Ignorant of Facts How to Take “Hell” From Hell Ships Efficiency Said to Be Sadly Lacking * * * ye * * * ¥* * Max Stern, newspaper man, has written for The Star and sister papers ® vivid description of a trip he took on an Alaskan salmon ship. The horrors of the “hell ships” are brought home in Stern's forceful style ing chapters found bim, ® member of the “Chinese gang,” on his i follows the ship and ts regarded as an omen of il luck, But proved bad and the ship undertaker had no luck, Stern discov ick because vermin leave him, Bark at last reaches cannery Alaska country and men are taken ashere. A sick pup is an aged Mexican is left to die. Rooms in bunkhouse so low tand up. Wretched outlook ts despairing. Men finally get chance The same double standard exists here as aboard ship and men| extra to get leftover delicacies. Stern plans to escape. Finally | for getaway and leaves, After serving company two months he $14.85, Finds he must work at another cannery 10 days to await mall ship. Is given @ seat at “white” table. Great waste of apparent. Finds labor contract evils general, and same condition the codfish crews. Investigation reveals Intense fooling against . Bone says it must go.—Kditor. BY MAX STERN ‘There are some tnetitutions which | double standard of Itving and tte con. agrees are unscientific stant Incentive to “belly etrikes” and aay but which we | rebellion. WOULD END @till cling to, Because “it's always | Ay PROFITEERING Been done.” | 4—The workers gould be permitted | § Fill dreas suits, for Instance, were and encouraged to buy thelr outfits , for men / where they could get them cheapest 4 the part of the outfitter would be Gwords. They are hangovers from oisninated. he olf horse days, and belong oY 5 "The «Chinese store colonial mas | Mexican store aboant ship s up il I F i : 2 and the made un meas and ‘ e men could @il adult males loathe them and iid, with the ship's chest and Ghemsetves when stuffed into them. cannery «tora and another form of Dress suits violate every modern exploitation be eliminated beauty,| @—With the men hired direct, « Set thee sad euvetve an the insignis {Detter aystem of medical Inapection the correctly dolled-up 1922 man, | Could be worked out, gambling could same with battleshipa, but- * remulated and the ship watched feasts and many for boore and drums. T—-With the ability to hire and fire restored to tt, the company could Select @ better type of workers than ow « up under the Chinaman and} the outfitter, Whereas the latter's first interest ts to hire men easy to exploit and their second interest «et. jting good handa the company’s primary interest would be to get good cry from —Instead of coming back owing the Mexican bom: for gambling, the outfitter for inferior clothing and | bedding, and the Chinaman for need ed food extras, the workers under this system would come back with | « nearly thetr whole season's earnings, healthy, contented and ready to meet if i H i § z ‘ j nt Jy: l | : He pea i : ~« Panett ! movement by taking the $5 school tax off the backs of the common i i v = day it means several days’ work and fit ts one more burden to the ones he now carries. | EFFICIENCY 18 eae" | | BADLY NEEDED In spite of the waste of fish tn the figures, @ China scout the He is HH i ? Salmon packers will, however, in| the future have to begin to apply to thetr industry the same yardstick why som®|that other industries in the states be substt |are measuring up to. ‘They will not only have to adopt the Chicago packers’ economy slogan and save all the salmon but the scales. They will not only have to quit wasting fish. They will have to quit wasting human beings, The salmon packers will have to live up to the fact that California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska are not a part of China, Japan or “bar barous Mexico,” but belong to the U. 8, A. and that they are living, not in the days of feudaliem, but in 1922, And the U. 8. A. in 1922 means quite the opposite of the conditions much as I found them in the Chinese gangs. If the salmon eanners are going to march abreast of their country and their age, they will have to bring down the price of salmon. That foenn'’t mean the price In oconts, but the price in human misery which is now altogether too high. (The End) PACKER WOULD BETTER SYSTEM BY MAX STERN C, H. Bentley, president of the California Packing Corporation, the| %é parent company to the Alaska Pack- ers’ association, ie going to take up| the Chinese contract system in the FE \w and have one delivered, fresh, ween, ond all ready for your Alaska fisheries with his board of | Hundreds of Brand-New and Used Instruments Are Now on Sale OVEMBER 14, 1922, rutSDAY, N THE SEATTLE STAR This is an opportunity that will be appreciated. High-grade Pianos offered at prices that will prompt you to buy. In addition, we'll allow you to make your selection and will gladly keep the Piano here and make delivery any time before Christmas. Our liberal credit plan permits you to make payments in small amounts to practically suit your convenience. Here Is a Sale That Means a Lot to You Please do not confuse this with an ordinary Piano Sale, because it is different! High-grade instru- ments, every one! Prices that are very, very moderate! 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Luscious, Juicy, tempting —~made with Sun-Maid Raisins Had Your Iron Today? and the possibility of hiring the work- ore direct, he told me. ‘The Chinese contract system is an aspect of California's great problem | trialized, as is 4 problem that so far the best inten-| “The fruit able to answer. “The curse of California and the Pacific coast is the seasonal nature of labor,” said Bentley “We have been studying this prob- that will take time the thousands of workers or to the have no answer to It company, Bentley plans to study the) WINTER SLACK matter of cutting out the middioman| FOR LABORERS “The Pacific coast is not indus he democratie * : Pie anxious to improve labor conditions| labor possible. iT LK BS R: expected to be tl Ge ariccie male wones ony ad dat attaae ache la |=EY CP Ye but that #0 far] “It looks, however, like next spring A TE |pominee—-and Webster seems @ " pose | they had found the Chinese contract} will see a shortage of labor, and J. Stanley Webster, who has just! many to be the best timber. In cag® uch a system would open UP! system working fairly satisfactorily | we'll have to take what: we can get, of the seasonal worker, said Bentiey,|%4tne the summer and early fall, tioned employers have yet been un-| hay, lumber and fisheries all require seasonal workers. “There is no great industry here “The result is a series of labor D D D D Dp D d Gj v4 problema that are unique to the; fabrication on a big scale, the prob-|been systematically bringing about Coast, lem in solved.” better hdusing conditions, and we “There is one solution as I #0 it| ANXIOUS TO HELP SPRING SHORTAGE That ts the possibility of discovering | LABOR CONDITIONS Is EXPECTED , t . ee darned enn es es eel Meutity Oald that bis egmabusy: tl] waws to eetsloy oui the baad port ot years, and so far we will certainly change the system. they must find a stronger man tha® | “At the next meeting of board | Louts F, Hart, tne rns t , . the present gover of diredtors I shell bring the matter!) 114) want to beat former GAM to their attention.” Fusticn Stephen J, Chadwick, whe 7 and fabricating steel by the use of| and vegetable crops, | great possibilities for winter work on! the Const. We have tremendous hydro-electric resources, and at our | been re-sleoted to congress for the|of his election he would probably | |third time in the fifth district, is} be groomed to run against Dill for senatorship in 19%8—whield | | publican circles as a lkely nominee | would seem like oid times to hinmy 74 |for the governorship in 19: Tho|as he ran against Dill for oo bs victory, of Senatorelect C. C. Dill in 1918 and beat him after @ has convinced party leadere that/| fight to hem. "So far the best means of securing “It the conditions are as bad aa|the seasonal workers for the salmon} | | thone described in the Seattle Star, | canneries has been thru the con.| ee prominently mentioned in re-| the doors are vast quantities of pix ‘TOM | certainly they must be remedied,” he | tractor. from China. . said | “If we can evolve a better way, a “If nome method can be discovered | “We do not want any reflection | way to get ood labor and to assure to utilize our water power for steel! cast upon the canneries, We have the best wages and conditions, we up thé slack in winter