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IKDIAKA UNIVERSITY 



These houses are a fair type of the homes of all the workmen. 

 They are small cottages of three, four or even five rooms, built 

 cheaply it is true, but as well, perhaps, as the poorer rental prop- 

 erties in the smaller towns and cities. The rent varies from four 

 to six dollars per month, and is taken out of the pay. A garden 

 plot is given with the house, but this is often not cultivated. 

 Sometimes workmen may buy these cottages on small monthly 

 payments, and one employer who is also interested in a building 

 and loan association has given special attention to the effort to 

 provide his employees with homes in this manner. His success 

 in this has not been altogether flattering; although several men 

 have obtained homes in this way, many do not want to be bothered 

 with property, as they put it. This apparent lack of what may 

 be called the property sense in so many of the workmen is one 

 of the most discouraging things in their social condition. Doubt- 

 less this fact is connected with their tendency to instability of 

 employment, and has its root in the same general instability of 

 character. The hope lies in the building up of character through 

 the encouragement of the property interest, as is being done by 

 some employers. 



The conjugal condition of the workmen, it is to be regretted, 

 is a point on which no satisfactory data could be secured. The 

 impressions of employers as to the number of employees who are 

 heads of families are various, some thinking that less than one- 

 half are heads of families, others putting the proportion as high 

 as four-fifths. One would naturally expect the heads of families 

 to be more ambitious than the others in their efforts to secure a 

 better living; on the other hand, their greater responsibility 

 makes them cautious of unemployment. This explains why some 

 employers in the Bedford district are inclined to think the single 

 men largely responsible for the agitation of the union idea and 

 the demand for increased wages, which have in recent years some- 

 what disturbed the industry in that region. 



The morality of the workmen can, of course, be treated only 

 in general terms. There is much drinking, especially among the 

 younger men. However, it does not seem to exceed that found 

 in other trades, and it is doubtless much less than in many, such 

 as the glass industry, for example. In the small quarry com- 

 munities the practice of clubbing together to buy whiskey in 

 quantities is quite common, and is doubtless much better for the 

 men than accessibility of saloons would be. Superintendents and 



