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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1902)
, tr-,ri'&fiWi" -. ftlwiWW-WT"? H -rSNl The Commoner. March 7, 190a 9 I '!FWWJMli!i5W)W"i5Rjru Crime Against Childhood. beputy Labor Commissioner Watson will have the support of all good peo ple in his investigation of the child labor problem. Child labor is an evil that should be suppressed outright. It Is a crime against the child, the re public and the human race. This gov ernment is founded on education of the masses. If a child Is forced into the factory by idle parents to support these same parents in idleness and viciousnesa, the state should Impose its merciful arm for the protection of the child. In this state, with its vast educational endowment and its splen did public school system, there Is not a particle of excuse for an Ignorant childhood. If a child grows up to ignorant manhood he becomes a men ace to the state. If It Is permitted the state does him a wrong that cannot be atoned for. A gifted woman, Mrs. Irene Mac fayden, writing to the December So cial Service magazine, says: "The neglect or abuse of the child has C03t commercial nations in coin, prestige and progress more than can be esti mated. No greater social service could be rendered to a nation than that of saving to it the children, and teach ing it that if it looks after the seedling the tree will look after itself." Speak ing of child labor in other countries, she note3 its rise In England, where child mortality in the manufacturing districts rose to undreamed of heights. The baby victims brought from sluma and poor houses were driven to work before daylight and forced to toll through the long night watches. British manufacturers grew rich the noise of their mills drowned the cry of childhood. Greedy for profit, they fought humane legislation at every stop and every point. Elizabeth Bar rett Browning's poem, "The Cry of the Children," effected the release of chil dren under ten years of age. Econo mists came with. their investigations. The discovery was made that a well cared for, well-developed, highly paid human being with a. high standard of life was. worth more than a badly paid, miserable and unintelligent one. Tha mill owners changed their attitude. A new class arose to protect the chil dren and prominent English manufac turers are active in raising the ago limit for children to enter the mills. Driven from New England, child labor has found a refuge In southern mills largely managed and owned by northern men. The better men of the south are laboring to suppress thl3 crime against childhood. Mrs. Macfayden herself as the agnt of the American Federation of Labor is actively engaged in co-operating with these men. She says of theao southern mills: "Little ones of six or even younger begin their twelve hours' work a day in the mill, and there is scarcely a factory out of the 663 at the beginning of 1901 without a batch of little victims under twelve. When the mills are run at night, bril liantly lit with electricity, the littlo ones are still at work. The 'illiterate negro sends his child to school, the illiterate white man sends his into the mill. In Augusta, Ga., there are 567 children under twelve working 'n eight mills. Of these only 120 can read or write, and they entered after their tenth birthdays and had learned what they knew before that. In Ala bama, where the industry is compara tively new, there are from 1,000 to 1, 200 children under twelve in the mills, most of whom are illiterate. In South Carolina in 1890 there were 30,000 more negro than white children In school, while the factories swarmed with. Atlanta Constitution. THE COMMONER and ATLANTA CONSTITUTION (weekly) both one year, $1.25. No commission allowed to agents . ou this Qffer. Subscriptions for both papers must be sent to THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb. white children. The president of one mill, giving evidence' before the legis lature, stated that 30 per cent of his operatives were under twelve. Any sincere lover of his kind can see that this sin against reason and humanity should bo allowed no foot hold in this free and Intelligent com monwealth. To the good men and women of the south who are seeking to uproot this malignant evil, there can be none but words of cheer and praise. Omaha World-Herald. Where Ivey Stands. (Associated Press Dispatch.) Washington, Feb. 2G. Some time ago the secretary of the treasury re ceived unofficial information to the ef fect that J. W. Ivey, collector of cus toms at Sitka, had Instructed his dep uty at Unalaska not to permit Cana dian vessels presumably about to on gage In pelagic sealing to obtain sup plies at that port. The collector was directed to send a statement of the facts to the department, and was in formed that if such orders had been given they must be rescinded. Today the department receive a telegram from Ivey, saying: "My -instructions were not against Canadian vessels actually engaged in pelagic sealing, which Is Illegal and criminal when committed within the marine jurisdiction of the United States. If there is an ancient treaty between the United States and Grert Britain by which subjects can com mit depredations destroying American property and depleting our revenue of tens of thousands of dollars annually, while our own citizens are denied these privileges, the sooner such treaty is abrogated the better. Your solicitude regarding international complications with Great Britain need cause- you no uneasiness, as the poaching season is not yet opened. Your new collector will arrive in time to enforce your or ders. My Americanism will not allow me to rescind an order which gives British subjects privileges within our marine jurisdiction which are denied our own people. "There Is another matter that may attract your attention. I have recent ly issued orders to the deputy at Ska guay, a copy of which has been sent you, which has put the Canadian offi cers located there out of business and sent them to their own territory. You are aware of the fact that this officer became so offensive that he interfere-! with American officers in the discharge of their official duties, opened United States customs mail, dominated over the railway officials, discriminated in the order of shipment in favor of Can adian merchandise against that shipped from Seattle, established a Canadian quarantine at Skaguay, col lected moneys and performed other acts of British sovereignty in a port of the United States, such as hoisting with bravado the cross of St. George from the flagstaff of his custom house. I have sent the concern, bag, baggage, flag and other paraphernalia flying out of the country. "You may fear the shadow of inter national complications and rescind this order, but a Reed, an Olney or a Blaine would not." Underground Railroad. Unquestionably the most stupendous work ever undertaken in New York Is what is popularly known as the un derground railroad. Everybody in New York knows something about it. But few have any accurate conception of the magnitude of the enterprise; fewer have any idea of the system nec essary In Its construction. The equip ment and handling of a great army of invasion are minimized when com pared with this work which, when In operation, will carry a passenger from the Battery to One Hundred and Fifty-seventh street In seventeen minutes. Nearly everybody knows that the contract calls for the expenditure of $35,000,000. How many people know that this sum is for the tunnel, sta tions, and rails alono? How many people know that after this enormous sum has been paid anotnor enorinou3 amount Is to bo expended for tho equipment of tho road? How many people know that as yet nothing has been done in the work of building U10 engines or the cars? How many know that the great power house, tho great est in the world, ig to be paid for by still another sum? And that this power house is to be built at tho foot of Fifty-ninth street, near North Riv er? And that the machinery alono In thi3 power house, will cost $2,000,000? Impresslvo as is tho work already done, how many of tho thousands who have looked down into tho rock-blasted excavations, and at tho miles of iron and steel already placed, know that up to the present time, November 1, more than $9,700,000 have been pal;l out by tho commissioners and con tractors? To continue Interrogatively, how many know that tho work as a whola Is under tho supervision of two bodies the commissioners who plan and compute all tho minutiae of the work,J ana tne contractor and his assistants who receive .their plans and details and then make their contracts wit'.i sub-contractors? And that each sub contractor In turn sub-lets to others? Under Chief Contractor McDonald there aro, within his Immediate su pervision, seventeen sub-contractors. Under George S. Rice, assistant chief engineer of tho board of rapid transit railroad commissioners, are 200 ex pert engineers, graduates from Har vard, Yale .Columbia, and Cornell, and from schools, of engineering iu New York and other cities. Returning' fbi a moment to the question of 'cost It should be remem bered that the sum stated is for tho line under construction on Manhattan Island.. It does not include the cost of the -work which is to be done from J the city hall to the Battery, and the tunnel under East River to Brooklyn. Time was when the proposal to tun nel the river alone was regarded as the work of a generation; tho money nee essary, millions. Now it is only a fraction of the great underground sys tem. Tho distance to be traversed by the Manhattan line will be equal to about twenty-flve miles. Between tho city hall and One Hundred and Fifty-seventh street there will be stations for express trains at Fourteenth, Forty second, Sev.enty-sixth, and Ninety sixth streets. These stations are about Mr. Wlnle-w' Seething Sjrrep Has been ued for oyer bixtt tkars by mu mows of mothkxs for thofr OHU.DRRN WHII.M TKXTHIMO, With rMKFKCT BUCCKHH. It BOOTH EA the CHILD, BOFTBNH the OUMR, ALLAYS all TAIN, curks wind colio. and It the beat remedy for piABRHoa. Sold by drmslsti In otpfv pnrt of the world. Be snre and aik for "Mrs. Wlnalow'a Soothing Syrup," and tako no other kind. Twca-ty-flve cents a bottle. It is the bait or all, one and ono-half miles apart. Ex press trains will run at a speed of fifty miles an hour. Local trains at a speed of thlrty-flvo miles an hour. Local stations will be distant from each other one-quarter of a mile. Few persons, aside from interested parties, aro awaro that, oxtondiug north from tho armory at Thirty fourth street and Fourth avenue to tho Grand Central station, thero will bo a double tunnol, each twenty-flvo feet in width. This double tunnel is supported by natural rock, and in this respect represents a bit of engineering economy which only engineers can ap preciate. Thero will be two lines of track in each of these tunnels as far as tho Grand Central station. Tho platforms at all stations will bo 200 feet long, tho width varying. Quito contrary to repeated state ments in the daily newspapers, not a single section on the main lino, or the Lenox avenue lino of tho system is yet complete. In several places along both lines the blasting has been fin ished; the steel braces or standards put in; in some cases the arched ceilings of vitrified brick aro completed, and a few bits of glazed walls have been put up. From Houston street to Bleeckor street, a distance equal to nearly four hundred feet, Is tho first nearly-completed section of tho work. The laying of tho rails, and another coat of whitewash on tho walls and ceiling will finish this section. Work was begun on this stretch fifteen months ago. The station at Fifty-ninth street, cr the circle, 'as It is most generally known, is approaching completion, and will bo opened to public view very soon. The engineering department of tho work has solved the problem of proper ventilation in a great tunnel. This has come after considerable attention, and at great cost. The plan calls for a peculiar make of asbestos paper and layers of asphalt between, all fastened upon tho stone. Thus the tunnel will be enveloped, rendering it absolutely proof against dampness, insuring healthy ventilation, without the ail (Continued on Page Eleven.) TO COMMONER READERS AM CLOTHES CATALOS Ought to appeal with irresistible force. 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