Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1883 — By Numbers. [ARTICLE]

By Numbers.

The contractors on one of the railroads down East, finding it impossible to beep track of the Italian laborers by their unpronounceable names, fell the plan of numbering them. The/ number of each is painted in plain figures on the seat of his pantaloods. Before beginning work in the morning, at noon and again at night the men are formed in line, and the foreman passes in the rear Of them and takes down each number, in order to ascertain who is present, as well as who is abseiit. The plan is beneficial in two ways—the men are easily recognized, and they are also kept from sitting down too much for fear of rubbing out the figures.