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About The news-herald. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1909-1911 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 1909)
iiiiiiF7 Fine Sight for Suffragists at Car.cale in France. 0V manv of the "men in 1 ' 1 t K Id fcflUBhffXXLJ ! ill :f M W'W wmww I I Mr St?' T 1 v, s the tlrtit," tlie moil who arc the bread winners of tl:c (-immunity. Ihe work day after day in more deadly peril than the no'.dier on the bring Hue or tin; buckskin-shirt-rd pioneer of tlii; old In dian lighting days! Mod em commercialism bus made human life tin; cheapen, of all raw mate rials. For tin pi-oof of this assertion it Is unnecessary to go among the coolies on the great embankment con tracts of (ho lower reached of the 1 reach' rous Chinese rivers or anions the Hindu lailwny gangs of the dead ly lower Indian plains, where scanty fiLd, foul water, the Parking cholera germ and the Mrnnge iiuu-liinery of the "foreign devil" all conspire co'int their victims by the score, reality iho greatest toll of human life and limb h; taken right hen; In America, in the Hteel mill, the mine, the railroad yard and on the towering steel structures that dot our cities ami spau our riv ers. On the books of many life insurance companies there ore lists of certain occu pations, ominously marked as "extra hazardous." On tins lift none is more dangerous than th:it of the "shot lirer," or the man who tamps and fires the blast in (lie mines. The ordinary miner faces the menace of the deadly "damp" that (lows like an invisible poison stream through the lower mine levels; be faces (lie danger of explosive gases that may drive the lite from his body; the fear of the cave-In that may tlallen him under tons of coal and shite is always with him. All these fall to the lot of the "shot-lire r," as well as (bo dreadful risks of handling n high explosive in the closewallod caverns and under ground passages, where its force is conllned ami intensilled. Such explo sives are notoriously unstable, a stick of giant powder may have withstood the jari of transportation for long ' distances and yet when placed in the drill h(.le by the "lirer" may prematurely explode under the soft blows of the tamping iron on the "iili" above it. Many fatalities occur In similar ways. A nevei-failing source of interest (o (lie street crowd 1:; the movements of the struc tuial lion worker. Viidoubtedly bis work is (he most dangerous of nil the building trades. It certainly is the most spectacular. With the Inciiasiug ground values of the downtown dis uii'ts forcing the buildings lusher each year, he frequently finishes his work in the free spncey, of the upper air with all Hie neighbor ini. buildings far below biiu. He rides the sleil b'-aius ts they aie swung troin the lower 1o the upper r-torics, holding to the cable and balancing them to make sure they do not slip their tether and shoot downward through the computed tloors and create more havoc than a ll'-im h shell. On the steel beams hundreds of feet above the strict tra'lie lie runs back and forth about his labors, as surefooted at those dizzy heights as a mountain sheep. A single false step, a tiiomeulary dizziness and be would plunge to his death a dozen stories below. Kv cry minii'e of each working day his life is in the bands of bis lellow-workmen. A heavy bolt dropped from above, a loosened plank, an unshipped cable or a Hying block and the structure has taken ils toll of human llf". The structural steel worker is rarely crippled, as his injuries are usually such as to cause Im mediate death. Very similar to the risks of the steel man's work are those of the steeple jack. Moving like a fly along the tace of a fac tory chimney, a water tower or a church spire, his dally bread Is gained at the daily risk of life and limb. The fear of high places Is not his par ticular dread, as that is all in a day's work, but every time he Is hoisted aloft be gambles with his llfo on the strength of n strand of cable and the coolness of his assistant. It is the assistant's duly to raise and lower and eli if t the man in the chair's position as be moves u) and down and sidewlse on the face of the building upon which they are engaged. Many wonderful escapes are recorded In the annals of these workers between earth and sky. Only n few days ago n steeple-jack, working on a factory chimney in North St. Louis, saved himself when his tackle gave wny by grasping a book at the end of n rope suspended from the chimney top and arrested his fall in midair, where he clung until res cued by his thoroughly frightened helper. Have you ever noticed the window-washer going about bis business. 1.1 or -0 stories above the. street level? lie stands on a nar row ledge and bis work compels him to lean far back over the crowded street, many feet below, as be reaches upward to clean the upper part of the glass. A slip of the foot on the wet stone of the ledge, u single stumble and the crowd of downtown shoppers would see him dashed to his death on the paving at 'heir feet. Volumes bae been written concerning the terrible life -destroying implements of modern warfare, but the government statistics, com piled by the interstate commerce commission, show that the railroad switchman's work Is inoi'e dangerous than that of the professional soldier. A military movement In modern war late lasts only a few months at the longest, tint the switchman's campaign is every vfork ing day. In a great terminal the noise of tug ging engines and rolling coaches ami box cars never ceases. On the procession of cars mov ing steadily in and out depends the business activity of the city and its surrounding ter ritory. Hay and night the yard crews dodge back and forth in this scene of tireless activity, clambering over and between moving cars, making flying couplings and cutting cars out of tilings on the tracks as the cow puncher frtM;jwn TV. "ratT!'?" -2?;i..? If W Ihnk S ATA., u ' ii. ( wtfim iiiWMiiw t r friths ,w v t." .-. . a., -is v.. -. v v,v -yx -.wwa -.: v .s --'.s.-x ' V'k to 1 77 f Jtf- rJ" ' y '7, !; y?K 7 4 n i- II I 11 IT It L i ITrl .v.. . . ft-. MILE ft it1 A. PREMATURE EXPLOSION Itl MINE which the American ra tion exercises over Cu bans, but c;uotcs r.s sig-nil-cant that despite two - Hp-,' x t, ....... t r F00T CAUGHT PROG cuts a steer out of a herd. He baps Irom mov ing cars, boards a Hying gondola or an engine pilot a miscalculation inch in bi.i movements would send him to his death under the vvhei Open switches, "dead" switch lamps, derails and the ever-prcsent switch frog lie in wait for his unguarded moments. A few days ago a vet eran switchman in the l-'iisco yards leaped from a moving yard engine ami started across a passing track to make a coupling. His foot caught in a switch frog. Another crew had just ' lin ked'' a car in on this spur, and it came rolling down the track upon him. lie hur riedly tugged ami pulled with all his strength to loosen his foot. As the car came closer he kicked Vid shoved with the free lot, a surer method, but it failed him now. The car was now close up,,,, him as he rolled as fur from the track as the ii'on grip upon his font would allow and watched the heavy wheels roll over bis leg nd ankle His effort was in vain as he died 0 ,h(1 opprnt; ing table. Of nil the dnn gerous positions in rail road work, the switch man's Is the worst. This is so well known among railroad employes that "only a switchman L-iiua- become a railron.l military Intel ver.tions, "i.ml even when the con dition of Cuba was the darkest and most for bidding, at no time hm a political party arisen advocat!n. even Indi rectly, annexation," and tba't this fact shows how deep-rooted is the na tional sentiment umong the Cubans and how little the moral Influ ence, the force of at traction of the I'nitoi s'latt-s. As a result the people of the two coun tries are leiis in loy al ui.uiittuiidlng with each (;tiicr than ever be fine; a direct and unfor tunate tcciaelice of t ho "deli.oKi' i.'.ink proef ed ings of the lute provi t e fx v- - 4 J "HjS VV.f -.-..-waF' t .v..' :.' v" ft". YS ,f. a ll .... - -gv - Ipilrsss y ) ! 2 of an etr k. '.w s - ', ssir.v "vs.::;---'--1 v-; '?; .' iPrM,.,xk- a m& a-v ...... i.-.1 I- s. M 3 VI. .af .: -? tAfl " ':;;-'' :,. ,-.. i d It I U 2?-is'. ."3.f doorways m- b a ix ..-." Vi- tte- vy . .- ; "Amr'-A !. fast Vr. G .'- ';iki... 1 1 The conditions 3PPAKIHG OPS'AFETY BELT :225aj Lzl Feminine Police Keep Order and Fem inine Labor Carries on the Oyster Industry That Make the Place Famous. Cancale, France In these days of discussions of suffragist moventenis. women's rights and feminine business acumen, anyone in Fenreh of an exam ple of an unusual sort might drop iu upon this French channel port of some 15.00(1 souls when they are all at, home and see a truly woman run town. There is no woman mayor, lio Ioni an in the town council. The ofliees are left as a mere matter of form to the men, who are seldom there to fill them, but the women are law unto themselves; they make up tb wholn town, transact all the business, police the place, maintain order ami africt sanitary conditions, manage the schools, and at the same time carry on the most famous oyster industry of France, doing the entire cultivating and selling and transporting tho prod uct of the ocean beds, even loading and unloading the seagoing ships that come and go at the port. And what is still more interesting J to their sisters In other partH of the worm, tue gins ot i.ancaio are me lirst to be married of nil the girls of north and rentral France. Ask a French sailor where of all ports ex cepting of course out of chivalry his own native town the most beautiful of French Usher girls are to be found and he will tell you at Cancale. You will believe him, too, when you walk along the tpiays and t ho narrow streets and see the pretty faces and neat trim llgures set off to the best ad vantage in the lireton dress and clean white cans, or watch the little groups in the shade of the street iu the after noon or within the deep set stone ,( -1 - f l I Wfcj Oyster Girls of Car.cale. nding nets and as I hcli' French that make gossip-tongues ti a J)AH$ER0U5 WORK has saying. Dozens of laboratories are seuttered over the city, where men work day alter day in the noxious fumes of the strongest life-destroying gases known to sci ence. Kducated men of undoubted scientific attainments work for hours in the interest of commerce or 'the arts iu order to solve soni. elusive problem. With rubber masks and gloves the chemist tries to protect himself and succeeds in a measure, but Ibe laboratory has a long list of victims to answer for. Sight less eye, defective hearing, twisted limbs, paralysis, paresis. Insanity and death make up the counts in the long indictment. The list of occupations of more than ordi nal y peril is a lon.' one." The tool grinder, the man Who puts the liivt rough edge on all cutting Implements, stands hour after hour in front cf a heavy emery wheel revolving at a tremendous speed. A fault iu the wheel, a sudden acceleration or stoppage In Ils speed may nuse the wheel to burst with the report ai-.d dread efleet of a six-ll;ch shell. The Hy ing pieces rend walls and ccilhms like paper and i rumple heavy pieces of machinery Into shapeless masses. No employe iu the line of its force can hope to escape. The powder mill employe' works In a walled it'closure within whose bounds lie snf-tic-lent explosives to shatter the mighty pyra mid of (ii.eh to u shapeless mass of rubble. The woiker in this place is under stricter supervision than the Kaflir in the South Af rican diamond mines. The utmost caution Is observed, "danger" signs are nailed tip ev erywhere; the grounds n,re picketed by watch ful guards; no mutches lite lighted and a supremacy, Lord special fell soled shoe is worn, as the chance spark struck by a steel shoe nail might cause disaster. So. iu the midst of dan gers, some of I hem immi nent, some less threaten ing, the bread-w inner in many occupations follows his .calling your in and year out. In many lines of craftsmanship and effi ciency the supremacy of American skill is unques tioned. And to para phrase our Kipling just a little. If life lie the price of Ciod we are paying full. Cuba's Grievances Stated. The Cuban Opinion, a fortnightly review devoted to Cuban affairs, has made ils initial appearance at Havana. While it declaims a feeling or hostility toward the government at Washington and expresses a willingness to "draw close r the ties of friendship mid cor diality between the great American nation and the young Kepiiblic of Cuba." yet the tenor or ils contents is skeptical as to the good faith of the American people and Its tone is any thing but friendly, ll ib ( lares a purpose to defend the national statu, the material inter ests ami l!,e good name; of the Cuban people, a laudable undertaking in itself, yet it charges that there "Is a disposition in the I'liiled States to look down upon the Cohans as an inferior ami degenerate inclal product from which nothing worthy or enduring Is to be evpected." ll also says that "it is tills spirit which conslaiitlv middles with our internal affairs and attempts to dictate to our govern ment; in short, which really considers Cuba us In reality nothing but an American colony, without any rights or her own, temporarily and somewhat nominally In possession or a nice unlit to survive, and In time to be supplanted by Anglo-Aiuerlrans with their ill-concealed hauteur urn) their utilitarian civilization." The Opinion admits, however, that a series of unfortunate circumstances has given the Cnlted States un Interv-iillon In local affair quite out or proportion to the moral influence sional administration of tbe I'nlted States In Cuba, wliiili has left behind it a train of sad and shameful recollections." The ollicial acts of Provisional (lovernor Magoon, the Cuban paper claims, are open to swift censure. It is alleged that his adminis tration was ready to" squander the resources of the Cuban treasury and that, the award of Jihlli.UUU to the government nt Madrid only three days before his provisional governorship expired is one of "many transactions of a pe culiar and dubious nature." Among other lalse reports the Opinion charges that there lias been a malicious effort in the Cnlted Slates to cast discredit on the Cuban govern ment in alleging the prevalence of yellow fe ver, when, in fact, the fever was driven out in 1H1 and the Island was kept, clean till Oc tober. HHi.'i. when it was re-introduced from New Orleans In spite of the precautions of Cuban quarantine officials. Tb" Opinion shows that there is $141,000, nun c,r Aiiferican capital Invested in Cuba, In railways, sugar and tobacco industries, real estate, plantations, banks, navigation compa nies, mortgages, etc., while the F.nglisli Invest ments total $100.(10(1,01)0, ot which all but JlO.Oou.uOii is in railways, It adds: "Th lute provisional administration or the Vnlted States in Cuba made ilseir famous for the larpe number of contracts of all sorts into which it entered, especially with American contractors, for the construction of high roads, bridges, aqueducts ami oilier public Im provements. Many of these contracts were made in the most inform:. 1, not to say Im- . -al manner, and give- rise to nun h scandal and to the complete discredit or the provi sional administration. They cost the Cuban treasury vuat sums and It is the general Im-pK-sion that ill ninny cases (he execution of the work has been very cyclic icnt." woman run town come about in the most natural way in the world. All the men are Ushers and they spend the greater part of the year in. sea. They are good sailors ami they man the craft that venture across (lie At- antie to the ! rem b lishMig groamls along the Newfoundland toast. It was their rights that useel to come up fre quently for adjustment by lisbery commissions, and it is the loss of their vessels that almost every ye ar brings sorrow to Cancale and the neighbor ing coast. When the men do return they find that the town his been managed so well in their absence, and the thrift of the women has been so well exercised that they are content not to meddle and to let. things go on as they have been going. There are proportionate ly more widows, and young widows, too, in Cancale than in any other town of France. A fisherman's bride waits for four years after she has heard that the boat her husband sailed away upon has not been reported and then she puts on her mourning. It is tiiis uncertainty as to the fate of the men. thrown helpless and homeless upon the rear that at any time they may be their own resources, that makes the women of Cancale self-reliHut and that leads them early to seek some means of their own for an hone st live lihood. For the men that remain in the town the women do not seem to en tertain the greatest respect. Most of them have become Incapacitated for work or are shiftless and idle. So the vonieu run matters themselves. The thrift that the conditions men tioned Inspire is something or u pUs. siou Riming the women. It seems that there is n constant struggle with each one of them to make more money than the man who goes to sea. They frequently accomplish this. t,0, fn'r the returning fisherman finds fre quently that his yearly gain of $ir,0 or $J00 gut al ter a bard but lie from the sea is more man equalled by the tient and careful housewife that h i t at home. pa-he Not Interested. heard the latest news? 1 inquired "Have you Mrs. P.i.ztbod. "Yes," answered Miss Cayenne. "It's very shocking. Isn't it?" "Ho you know then.?" "No. 1 haven't the slightest Idea as to the Identity of the people. Scandals are like humorous anecdotes about celebrities; the same old stories with different mimes Introduced." Desert Plants Store Water. The problem of storing a supply of wilier for their own use and of pre venting It evaporating Iiiih been solved by the desert plants In many most n. pen Ions ways, perhaps the most note worthy example Is the so-called "wa ter burred," which, of about the sl;:o and shape of an ordinary beer keg, H In fact, nothing more nor kh ihn'n a Jiving water tank. Its whole Interior Is composed of storage cells so ud mliubly arranged that the pulp which they form contains something k0 jqj psr cent, of pure water.