Miss DICKASON. Your boy that gets $1.50 for the paper route, what does he do with that $1.50? Mrs. DURHAM. Well, I let him buy shoestrings, toothbrushes, toothpaste, or whatever he needs, and let him have show fare, which is 12 cents, on Saturday. Miss DICKASON. You said you do not like to eat potatoes and beans all the time. Do you ever buy any oranges? Mrs. DURHAM. Ño, ma'am. There are very few that I ever get. Miss DICKASON. When do you get those? Mrs. DURHAM. Mostly Christmas. Senator TUNNELL. How about milk? Mrs. DURHAM. I do try to get 2 quarts of milk a day for my children. Senator TUNNELL. What does that cost you? Mrs. DURHAM. Buttermilk, 9 cents; and sweet milk, 15 cents. Mrs. DURHAM. Yes. Senator TUNNELL. You get one of each? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, sir. Miss DICKASON. How much does your food cost you a week for what you do buy? Mrs. DURHAM. My grocery bill runs around $12 a week. Miss DICKASON. Your rent is $1.50? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, ma'am. Miss DICKASON. Do you carry any insurance? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, ma'am. Miss DICKASON. Tell us about that, will you? Mrs. DURHAM. I carry burial insurance. Miss DICKASON. How much does that cost you? Mrs. DURHAM. It costs me 25 cents every 3 months, for the four of us. Miss DICKASON. When your husband died this spring, he being sick for a while, you received this insurance because you had been earrying it for him? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, ma'am. Miss DICKASON. While you were working and taking care of your husband, were you out of debt, or how did you make out? Mrs. DURHAM. Well, the insurance I carried on him took care of putting him away, part of the doctor bills and medicine, but I am still in debt for part of it. Senator TUNNELL. Did not you say you had burial insurance? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, sir, just $100. Senator TUNNELL. Did you have it on your husband? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, sir. Senator TUNNELL. That is 25 cents for every 3 months. Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, sir. Senator TUNNELL. You are not out of debt now, then? Mrs. DURHAM. No, sir, and I don't expect to be at 40 cents an hour. Miss DICKASON. You said you worked on the night shift. What hours did you work? Mrs. DURHAM. I worked from 3 to 11. Miss DICKASON. You worked from 3 to 11 at night? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, ma'am. Miss DICKASON. What time did you get home and get to bed? Mrs. DURHAM. Well, I lived out in the country, and I got home around 2 o'clock if we had no trouble. I would walk home. Miss DICKASON. You got home at 2 o'clock in the morning? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes. Miss DICKASON. Did you have somebody taking care of the children, or did you take care of them? Mrs. DURHAM. I was taking care of them and leaving them with my husband's aunt while I worked. I did all my house work, washing and ironing, keeping them in school. Miss DICKASON. So, you don't send any laundry out? Mrs. DURHAM. No. Miss DICKASON. Even though you work a full day in the factory, you do your own washing? Mrs. DURHAM. That is right. Miss DICKASON. What kind of stove do you have? Mrs. DURHAM. It is just a small oil stove, three burners. Mrs. DURHAM. Yes. Miss DICKASON. Where do you get the water you use? Mrs. DURHAM. Outside of the house; out of the hydrant. Miss DICKASON. To wash your clothes, to scrub the floors, and for the boys taking baths, how do you get hot water? Mrs. DURHAM. I heat it on the stove and give them a bath in the big, round washtub. Miss DICKASON. You carry it in from the outside and heat it on the stove? Mrs. DURHAM. That is right. Miss DICKASON. Have you had any sickness in your family? Have you had to go to the doctor any during the last year or two? Mrs. DURHAM. Well, my husband had been sick for over 3 years. Miss DICKASON. And he went to the doctor? I am out Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, and I had medicine to take care of, and my children, they got sick and I had to take them to the doctor. quite a bit for doctor bills and medicine. Miss DICKASON. You said a while ago that the boy that worked and earned $5 a week bought shoes for the other boys. When I used to live down in Oklahoma we all went barefoot. Tell me how it happens that you buy shoes for your boy. Mrs. DURHAM. Well, I started one of my children barefooted, and he stuck a piece of glass in his foot. I thought it was all out, and then in January the next year the glass worked out the top of his foot. I had to carry him to the doctor and have it pulled out. I figured my doctor bill was costing me more than a pair of shoes to go to school in. Senator TUNNELL. My father said that to me. He said it didn't pay. Miss DICKASON. How many times did you take this boy to the doctor when he had this piece of glass in his foot that came out at the top a year later? Mrs. DURHAM. I just carried him to the doctor one time, and he me medicine when it came out. gave Miss DICKASON. Then, the boy's foot was sore and you took care of him yourself after that? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes; that is right. Miss DICKASON. Did one of your boys carry papers, either one of your little boys, younger boys-carry papers any time before? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, ma'am. I had two that were very small, 3 years ago, that started on the paper route, the Tennessean and Banner, they carried them every morning before they went to school and in the afternoon when they came back, one would carry on one side of the street and the other would carry on the other side. Miss DICKASON. Why did not they keep on carrying the papers, then? Mrs. DURHAM. Well, they got $4 for the two routes, $4 a week. Mrs. DURHAM. $2 apiece a week. One of them got sick, almost had pneumonia, and I had to put out a big doctor bill, and I said their paper route wasn't paying them enough to keep them in shoes and to pay the doctor bill. Miss DICKASON. What do you read? Do you get a chance to read anything? Mrs. DURHAM. I see the Banner, the Tennessean, the Household Times, and a few magazines. Miss DICKASON. Do you buy those magazines? Mrs. DURHAM. No; my friends pass them around to me. Senator TUNNELL. You can read, can't you? You went through the fifth grade? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes, sir. Senator TUNNELL. You have probably improved some in reading since. Mrs. DURHAM. Well, I don't have so very much time, but every time I get a chance I generally pick me up something to look at. Senator TUNNELL. Is that all? Miss DICKASON. Just one final question. Your boy that is 14, is he going to go back to school this fall? Mrs. DURHAM. I am not able to keep him in school. He has got to stay out and work to help me. He will start back if I get enough to keep him in school. I will be glad for him to start back, but like it is I can't. Senator TUNNELL. What grade is he in? Mrs. DURHAM. He is in the sixth. He has been out 2 years. Miss DICKASON. I think that is all. Do you have anything else you would like to say to the Senators, to the committee? Mrs. DURHAM. Yes. I kept my smallest child out of school 2 years because the health doctor said he was weak-eyed, and I was unable to buy him glasses, and they didn't let him start to school until he was 7. I started all three at 5, because I was working. The schools weren't crowded and they said they would let him go. My baby went about 3 months and they stopped him on account of being weak-eyed, and they kept him out over 2 years and then he went back. Senator TUNNELL. Does he have glasses now? Mrs. DURHAM. No, sir; I haven't been able to get them. Every once in a while he stays out of school on account of his eyes being weak. Miss DICKASON. Is there anying else you would like to say? Mrs. DURHAM. I carried him to the doctor and asked him to fix him up. He told me if I had $15 to pay down and $5 a week he would. I, myself, have lost 15 pounds since I was laid off this summer on a phone call. I was laid off because I joined the union to try to get better conditions. I had to borrow money then until finally the company gave me a separation slip so that I could get unemployment compensation. Miss DICKASON. Will you tell us your age, please? Mrs. DURHAM. Thirty-one. Senator TUNNELL. All right, thank you. Do you have any other witnesses? Miss DICKASON. Mrs. Dorothy Fizz of Pottstown, Pa. TESTIMONY OF MRS. DOROTHY FIZZ, AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA, POTTSTOWN, PA. Mrs. Fizz. My name is Mrs. Dorothy Fizz, Pottstown, Pa. Senator TUNNELL. What is your work? Mrs. Fizz. I work in a shirt factory. Senator TUNNELL. How long have you worked there? Mrs. Fizz. Nine years. Senator TUNNELL. How much did you start to work at? Mrs. Fizz. When I started to work I was making $16 per week. Senator TUNNELL. What are you making now? Mrs. Fizz. Now, I am making $26 a week. Senator TUNNELL. How may hours do you work? Mrs. Fizz. Forty hours a week. Senator TUNNELL. Then, you are getting 65 cents an hour? Senator TUNNELL. Do you have a family of your own? Mrs. Fizz. Yes; I do. My husband and I have one boy at home and I also have one in the service overseas. My husband has been sick a year in August; he is not able to work. Senator TUNNELL. He is not able to work? Mrs. Fizz. No. Senator TUNNELL. Do you own your own home? Mrs. Fizz. No; we rent it. Senator TUNNELL. What rent do you pay? Mrs. Fizz. $22 a month. Senator TUNNELL. What was your husband's work? Mrs. Fizz. He was a truck driver. Senator TUNNELL. How long has he been out of work? Mrs. Fizz. A year on August 2. Senator TUNNELL. August 2? Mrs. Fizz. Yes; it was 1 year. Senator TUNNELL. Is your husband likely to recover? Mrs. Fizz. Well, he is getting better, but there is no chance for him to be able to go back to work. He still reports to the hospital every Saturday for treatment, and that must be paid or they don't give him the treatments. Senator TUNNELL. If this bill were passed, it would not help you? Mrs. Fizz. No; but I would feel secure that my wage would not be lowered on me, because I can hardly get along. I have no way of knowing how I can get any coal in the winter to heat in my kitchen. I don't heat my bedrooms at any time. Senator TUNNELL. Do you use your kitchen for a living room? Senator TUNNELL. Your husband stays in your home? Mrs. Fizz. Yes. He was in the hospital for 4 months, and I had to cash in on the war bonds I had been able to get before he was taken sick, but I had to cash that in, to pay his hospital bill, and for his medical care. Senator TUNNELL. Have you any war bonds now? Mrs. Fizz. No; I have none whatsoever now, I had to cash them in. Senator TUNNELL. Have you any other income? Mrs. Fizz. No. Senator TUNNELL. What size home do you have? Mrs. Fizz. A 5-room house. Senator TUNNELL. Furnished? Mrs. Fizz. Yes. Senator TUNNELL. Your own furniture? Mrs. Fizz. Yes. Senator TUNNELL. How many years have you been married? Mrs. Fizz. 22 years. Senator TUNNELL. What was your husband getting before his health failed? Mrs. Fizz. He was getting $35 a week. Senator TUNNELL. Did you work at that time? Mrs. Fizz. I wasn't working until I started to work 9 years ago, I had to go to work because we had a lot of bills, grocery bills, doctor bills. I have three children altogether. We had so many expenses and bills that I had to go to work to help pay them off. I now have a doctor bill of $35 standing, and I do not know how I am going to pay it. Miss DICKASON. You have a son who has returned from overseas, haven't you? Mrs. Fizz. Yes; I have a son that was discharged 2 years in August. He has malarial fever, shell shock, and he had his spine injured. Miss DICKASON. Where was he overseas? Mrs. Fizz. He served on Guadalcanal with the marines, and in both the Red Sea and the Coral Sea. Miss DICKASON. Can he work regularly now? Mrs. Fizz. No; he cannot. Miss DICKASON. Is he married? Mrs. Fizz. Yes; he is married and has a small baby. Miss DICKASON. Do they ever bring the baby over to your house to eat? Mrs. Fizz. Yes; because they don't have anything half the time themselves. They live with her mother who is a widow and unable to work, and she has a small child, so they go between the two to get something to eat. Senator ELLENDER. Does he get any allotment from the Government? Mrs. Fizz. He gets $23 a month. You know how far that goes for three people. He works when he can. |