too, was paid by the mold -- or rather for perfect cast~
ings, nearly half his work going for naught. You might
see him, along with dozens of others, toiling like one pos~
sessed by a whole community of demons; his arms work~
ing like the driving rods of an engine, his long, black hair
flying wild, his eyes starting out, the sweat rolling in
rivers down his face. When he had shoveled the mold
full of sand, and reached for the pounder to pound it with,
it was after the manner of a canoeist running rapids and
seizing a pole at sight of a submerged rock. All day long
this man would toil thus, his whole being centerd upon
the purpose of making twenty-three instead of twenty-
two and a half cents an hour; and then his product
would be reckoned up by the census-taker, and jubilant
captains of industry would boast of it in their banquet-
halls, telling how our workers are nearly twice as efficient
as those of any other country. If we are the greatest
nation the sun ever shone upon, it would seem to be
mainly because we have been able to goad our wage-
earners to this pitch of frenzy; though there are a few
other things that are great among us, including our drink-
bill, which is a billion and a quarter of dollars a year, and
doubling itself every decade.

There was a machine which stamped out the iron plates,
and then another which, with a mighty thud, mashed them
to the shape of the sitting-down portion of the American
farmer. Then they were piled upon a truck, and it was
Jurgis's task to wheel them to the room where the
machines were "assembled." This was child's play for
him, and he got a dollar and seventy-five cents a day for
it; on Saturday he paid Aniele the seventy-five cents a
week he owed her for the use of her garret, and also re~
deemed his overcoat, which Elzbieta had put in pawn
when he was in jail.

This last was a great blessing. A man cannot go about
in midwinter in Chicago with no overcoat and not pay
for it, and Jurgis had to walk or ride five or six miles
back and forth to his work. It so happened that half

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v?