A Regular Man from Brooklyn

Before a Senate subcommittee came John Alessi, 43, of Brooklyn. Mr. Alessi, a gaunt, nervous man of Italian descent, drives a truck for New York City's Sanitation Department. He is the father of three, and wore, fittingly, a white collar in his appearance before the committee, which is investigating "whitecollar" working conditions. He was supposed to be just a minor witness, to illustrate the ponderous cost-of-living figures spread before the committee by C.I.O. president Phil Murray. But Mr. Alessi stole the show. He has had a bad time of it ever since 1929. Now things are worse, and he wanted the committee to know. Said he:

"To understand a sanitation problem you have to understand the work. . . . During the snow period we operate big brooms. A person driving that equipment goes through a very tense period. What I mean is: we have very few windshield wipers to wipe the snow away--have to open the windshield of the machine so you could see. The outcome is this, that as the broom works, it sweeps the snow in the air and the wind blows it in the cab, and the result is that eight hours of that continuous work, you'll have icicles running down your eyes and nose and your hands are frozen to that wheel, and that's what causes the greatest amount of sick rates. The sick rate is terrifically high in the City of New York in the Department of Sanitation. . . . On illness per hundred, Department of Sanitation is 85.5."

Florida's Senator Claude Pepper was astounded. Did the witness mean that 85 out of every 100 are ill? He did, although that is the annual rate.

Old Bills. Nebraska's Senator Wherry wanted to know John Alessi's total earnings. They totaled $2,320 a year, John Alessi said, but he had a big explanation:

"Now what is the economic situation at home? I tell you we have none. We don't know what it is to go to a show. . . . When I first came on the job in 1928 I was an extra man which they considered extra. Well, they were only paying for the time you worked. . . . Now I was an extra man for about 21 months, and in 21 months that I went through this deal I figured that maybe now that I'm a steady man the conditions will be better. Well, I found myself in hock, and when I started being a regular man, I was $600 in debt. Up until today I'm still in debt that same $600. It seems I can never peel off any amount of that debt. It seems when I get to a certain extent that something happens which makes it accumulate old bills.

"I'm going to give you some instances. Now I got married when I was a regular man and we said, 'What shall we do to pay up our old bills? If we get married now we'll have the furniture to pay for, and I haven't got a dime.' I said: 'Wait a while and see if I can peel off these debts.' She said: 'I'll work a while and maybe on both salaries we'll catch up.' So it happened that way, and then she was in a family way and from then on my troubles began all over again. So after my work I came home, came in the door and they congratulated me and said, 'You've got twins.' I almost collapsed. Well, those twins were born and cost a lot of money. They were anemic and I had to buy liver extract No. 65 which would cost me $365 a bottle. They had to have one bottle a week between the two. In other words, every week I had to buy a bottle of this medicine."

Snow Money. "Well, we had a very good year that year--had a lot of snow, one storm on top of the other. We were able to accumulate quite a few hundred dollars in snow money with which I was able to pay off the debt to the doctor. Then of course, little odds and ends came --the boy, et cetera, et cetera. I want to impress you gentlemen that I haven't been able to replace one piece of furniture that I bought since I married. I had to turn my bed over to my children because it's too weak to hold me and my wife. We had to wire the legs together and I'd like to extend the invitation for you gentlemen to come to my home and see that bed wired up.

"And in time the kids grew up and you have to buy instead of a crib, you had to buy other beds and furniture which I was only able to do which recently I got a letter from Sears that said, 'Kindly refer to this matter immediately or your salary will be garnisheed.' Well I had to get $14 by hook or crook to pay off that debt. Now I want to give you some of the Mayor's own figures, that out of 168,000 city employes in New York, 90,000 are in hock up to their ears."

Garnisheed Money. Committee members reeled under this drumfire of hard-luck statements. But John Alessi went on to testify that his false teeth cost $105, that his rent is $38 (which is reduced to $30 because his wife tends the apartment furnace), that his pay is garnisheed $3.78 a week by the National City Bank, that he has to buy three quarts of milk a day for his children. This last reminded John Alessi:

"We don't really get substantial food for my wife and children. About three weeks ago my wife said: 'Well, Dad, I went to the butcher and look what I bought for $3.45.' Well, I looked at it, and this is what was there: About a pound and a quarter of a cutlet, about a pound of chop meat, and a little piece of pork which we would say after you trim the fat off it, if it comes to a snowball you have a lot of meat. Now that dinner had to last us Saturday and Sunday for a family of five.

"Gentlemen, I want to ask you is that enough food for a wife and three children? Of course not, so what is it?

"You know Italian people have a habit of cooking a pound or two of macaroni. If it wasn't for that, that meal wouldn't be a meal. That costs money. The oil you have to buy and the tomato paste is something. Prices is going high. The cheese you need, the Italian cheese you need, you can't buy it, so you buy Argentina cheese, and that is very high. I think it runs to 35-c- a pound. So if you buy a little piece for your Sunday dinner, it costs about 15-c-, and I tell you it is no bigger than this little ball (he held up a small flash bulb). Fifteen cents or maybe 20, whatever the butcher charges. That is what you get when he puts it on the scale and that is the conditions in our department, gentlemen."

Mr. Alessi had finished, with the thanks of Senator Pepper.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.