9

8.

for any medical attention I got, and my expenses while I was laid
up took all I'd saved. The insurance the construction had on its
workmen took care of the ninety-dollar-hospital bill that was run
up during the nine weeks I was there, but the company didn't pay me
a cent for the time lost; they wouldn't even give me part time, al-
though they knew that I was hurt in their employ and that the accident
was not caused by any fault of mine. After I got up and about they
never would take me back on the job, and I've been going down hill
ever since. I'm sure that that accident is the cause of my feeling
bad all the time now. Sometimes when I sit down I can't hardly get
up again.

"I never was foreman of but one construction job, and that
was when we built the Ford Motor Plant at Cordele, Georgia. They paid
me a dollar an hour. When the building was completed and inspected
the owners and contractors all told me how pleased they were with
the work I had directed for 'em.

"During the World War I was employed to work on construction
of warehouses for ammunition to be stored in. The building was going
on about twelve miles north of Charleston at a suburb known as North
Charleston, on Cooper River. There were about thirty-five thousand
people working there. As fast as the laborers could get a little bit
of space cleared up in the swamp, they started putting up a building
on the clearing. That's the only time I ever worked under military
regulations. Soldiers guarded every move we made. We weren't
allowed to have lights in our camps at night and if we wanted to go
out at night or any other time we had to have a pass to come and go

1866