midnight
`` I was over here studying literature . '' And he drew out from his pocket a tattered copy of a report , the result of a careful investigation of work on the docks , made recently by a most conservative philanthropic organization . '' ` In all the fierce rush of American industry , ' '' he read , with a quiet smile of derision , '' ` no work is so long , so irregular or more full of danger . Seven a. m. until midnight is a common work day here , and in the rush season of winter when ships are often delayed by storms and so must make up time in port , the same men often work all day and night and even on into the following day , with only hour and half-hour stops for coffee , food or liquor . This strain makes for accidents . From police reports and other sources we find that six thousand killed and injured every year on the docks is a conservative estimate . ' '' Marsh glanced dryly up at me : `` Here 's the America I know . ''