Show TENEMENT HOUSE CIGARS SOMETHING THAT WILL INTEREST SMOKERS i How Tlicy Arc Mnde Flltliy ROOD nIgh Rents A Disgrace to Civilization Civi-lization TJic Blue Label Mr Theodore Roosevelt while a member of the Xew York legislature speaking of a bill to prohibit the manufacture man-ufacture of cigars in tenement houses said I have visited these pest holes personally and I can assure you if smokers could only see how these cigars ci-gars are made we would not need any legislative action against this system at all And the New York Sun under the caption of The Cigars of Death has the following to say The tenement house inspectors now making their rounds have found nothing in any quarter of New York more dangerous to public health family virtue and common decency than the huge tenement tene-ment house cigar factories which have frequently during the past few years been forced upon the notice of the i board of health but which for some I I reasons through some means are I still allowed to exist I n un In view of the above facts which in no wise are overdrawn from an economic eco-nomic sanitary health and last but not least a moral standpoint the whole pestiferous system should be abolished There can be no privacy in a home cast in such surroundings the teachings teach-ings and horrible examples held out to the young children are frightful to contemplate con-template and is such that society cannot can-not afford to ignore i The organized labor movement has been bitterly fighting against this monstrous evil for years and asks the I general public if inview of the facts I set forth we are not entitled to its support If the lawmaking powers I will not stop this disgrace and thus far they have notlabor unions will do what they can t protect the public against this octopus The CigarMakers International Union of America las a blue label which Is placed upon all cigars made I by members of the union which is opposed op-posed to the tenement house system I and will under nO circumstances allow al-low its members to work In them I the public will call for a cigar bearing the blue label of the C M I U of A it will protect itself against the tenementhouse cigar The same may be said of the clothing cloth-ing industry and many other trades that are affected artd cursed with this the greatest of modern industrial evils The tenementhousework system Is on of the vilest and most inhuman of devices of the modern captains industry through which they can fleece their victims who are legion The system Is a combination of the sweatshop the truck store the pickme and other vicious systems and combines all the vicious grinding features of all systems that are bad for the unfortunate victim who works in a tenementhouse factory The plan of operation can be briefly explained as follows A dealer in or manufacturer of cigars ci-gars will buy a row of tenement houses containing little stingy rooms which are divided up Into alleged al-leged living apartments these rooms are let to the unfortunate victims for i a exorbitant rental usually twice the amount asked for the same quarters in buildings not used for this purpose The tenants then go to the landlord cigarmanufacturer take the tobacco In its raw state to the socalled home where it is made into cigars and returned re-turned to the master The victim under un-der this system is bled at both ends and In the middle as well The dealer gets his shoprent free he gets an enormous rent for the building This process in the end forces the victim to work for practically nothing no matter what wages he was to receive it all comes back to the firm In the shape of rent and free shoprent I which he squeezes out of the working mantenant The alleged home of a tenement house worker consists usually of two smal rooms poorly lighted the sanitary sani-tary condition of which Is a mockery and disgrace to our modern civilization civiliza-tion The family live eat sleep and I make cigars in these pest holes called cigrs home little children are compelled to eke out an existence In the midst I of such surroundings living in an atmosphere at-mosphere reeking with foul air and the fumes of tobacco in its various stages of preparation and a moral atmosphere at-mosphere that appeals to humanity for redress G TV PERKINS Ink Prest C M I U of A Chicago April 1895 |