The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, July 01, 1904, Image 4
CHILD LABOR EVILS. CAPITAL IS ARRAYED AGAINST REME DIAL LEGISLATION. Krta When Restrict lire Law Are raaaed Their Knforeemeat Is Dlfll ealt Bftorta .Belna; Made to Save the Little Out. Homer Folks. . former commissioner of public charities la New York city. In an address, on. "Child - Labor In America" before the General Federa tion of Women's Clubs at St. Louis, snid lrt.part: "In addressing the representatives of the wpmen's clubs of the United States It is happily unnecessary to dwell upon the buffering aud sorrows of the chil dren whose lot we are seeking to im prove. I suppose that were it desira ble to do so and had I power to picture to you the' conditions that actually ex ist this very night In the employment of children in many places in this country the facts would be so terrible when rightly understood that no one present would be able tonight to close bis eyes in sleep. ' "In endeavoring to formulate a na tional programme we should not seek for an ideal system which we know to be at present Impracticable, but rather for the minimum of regulation that is consistent with protecting children against exploitation in their early years and guaranteeing to them im munity from such labor as would in terfere with their proper physical, men tal and moral growth. I heartily in dorse the report of your committee In favor of a general effort for the fol lowing minimum requirements: "First. That no children under sir teen years of age shall be permitted to work at night that is, between the hours of 7 p. m. and 1 a. in. "Second. That no children under six teen years of age shall be permitted to be' regularly employed who cannot read and write simple sentences. "Third. That in states in which these .two provisions are already en forced we should secure the enactment of the standard child labor law as out lined by the National Consumers' league. "But our task U only half begun when we b"ve secured legislation. En forcement is possible only when ade quate machinery is provided. Volun tary compliance on the part of the in dustries affected Is an Idle dream. En forcement by the assistance of volun tary and casual inspection Is a snare and a delusion. "And here again we must expect to meet and overcome the same opposi tion which we will meet in securing legislation, with perhaps re-enforcements, for the number of those who are In favor of righteous law but again it 1U enforcement la simply astonishing. Even when we have secured our re strictive law, and a provision for in spectors and an appropriation for their salaries our work Is far from finished, for it Is just at this point that the adroit employer Is most likely to ad minister an opiate to the entire move ment. "Only those who have been close ob servers of public affairs understand to how largo an extent, in the absence of constant effort on the part of right minded citizens to the contrary, thee public officials who are appointed to oversee, supervise and regulate private Interests for the public good become the very bulwark behind which such Interests are enabled the more effec tively to push their exploitation. "In closing I would say a word of caution against being oversanguine. Let us not deceive ourselves. The his tory of the past two years has some chapters of encouragement, but many of disaster. In several states, with the issue distinctly aud clearly drawn, with ' nothln? like an adequate argu ment against their proposition, our friends have gone down in inglorious defeat before the plain, brutal strength of combined capital. It Is to be no child's play. Human nature has not changed so much as we may think. The business Interests that mistaken ly, as I flr.nly believe, consider their interests mtnaced will fight to the end and will not be easily overcome. 'It may not be difficult to secure laws preventing child labor in facto riesin states which have no factories. It may be possible to secure a law pre venting child labor In all factories ex cept kIhss factories In states which have only glass factories. It may be possible to secure laws preventing child labor in factories during school sessions in communities where the school sessions are exceedingly limited or altogether absent, but when it Is a question of actually removing children Who are In factories, mines, stores, tel egraph offices, and so on, we must be prepared for a long and stubborn fight, perchance for frequent defeat, but so long as God is in his heaven if we are faithful in our task we shall win In the end." . Wasfeworkera of Bohemia. In Kohemia every wageworker, of whatever sex or age, must have a "work book," which contains his per sonal description and history and hid employer's indorsement. Permission to travel in search of work must be in dorsed by one of the local authorities. In changing locations a certificate from original place of residence must be se cured and filed at the new location. The Worker Para the Bllla. "Who pays unionism's bills?" some body asks and attempts an answer by saying, "the professional or salaried class." Not so, mister. All the bills, of any class In society, are paid by the productive workers. The workers pay their own bills and the bills of every body else. International Metal Work CAUSE OF STRIKES. Majority of Labor Wan Dae to Mia " - maaaaTemeat of Employers. B. F. Du Brul of Cincinnati, commis sioner of the National Metal Trades association, ..who said at the recent meeting of the National Manufactur ers' association that 80 per cent of la bor troubles were either directly or in directly caused by the employer, thus explains his statement: "I said in my experience with strikes and labor troubles 80 per cent of those that had -come under my observation were directly or Indirectly the fault of the employer. Citing Mr. pavenport's illustration that he gave me just a few minutes ago of the bakers' strike in Boston, I should say it has been large ly the fault of . the master bakers of that city. They had an organization thore that had been apathetic and in different. That was one of their trou bles. "In other instances that have come under my notice there has been a fore man that has not done right. He has mistreated his men, and so on. The employer is responsible for that fore man. I know of cases of strikes which in their last analysis ore demands for better management of the institutions. It is a well known fact that the better managed an institution is the less lia bility there is to strikes in that institu tion. "I hope you will take my statement in the spirit in which It was given as a warning to the manufacturers that they must educate themselves, that they must educate their employees and that they must educate their foremen, their superintendents and everybody else connected with the handling of la bor. And, above all, they have got to educate the-laboring-men, and if they do not do it it is their own fault very largely." While the speaker was driving home his points he was interrupted by ap plause. USE OF UNION LABELS. Imltatloaa Prove Their Value to the Caaae of I'atoalam. The union label has at all times been more or less a power, but never so much as In the last few years has it made itself, felt that its enemies must needs copy it. Imitation is the sln cerest flattery, they say, and its truth Is clearly demonstrated when the em ployer who will not have the label be cause he must pay more wages to get It uses a substitute or, in plainer Inn-J guage, a forgery. Every now and then we pick up a paper with an account In it of some sweatshop cigarmaker being arrested and fined for counterfeiting the cigar makers' label. The garment workers warn us against trademarks of certain firms got up to resemble their label and cannot be detected except by a close scrutiny. There is an association of boss barbers In Chicago that issues a card which resembles the label of the Barbers' union so thorougtaly'that hun dreds are being deceived by it every day. If the union men and women would learn to appreciate the strength of the label as its enemies do there would be no further use for strikes. This argu ment has been offered time and time again, and, though the demand for la bel goods is increasing. It is nothing to what it should be. There are enough union men and women In this country to make the nonunionist an impossibil ity by demanding the label on all goods that they purchase. Teamsters" Maga zine. What a Ualoa Maa Caa Do. A union man can be dressed from head to foot in union made goods for instance, union made hat, collar, neck tie, shirt, underwear, suspenders, suit of clothes, gloves and shoes, and deco rate himself with a union made watch. A union man can eat union made bread, drink union roasted coffee and if he wants to can drink union beer and whisky and be served by union bartenders. A union man can smoke union cigars, chew union tobacco bought from union clerks, have union teamsters, have his house built by union mechanics. lie can sleep on a union made bed on a union made mattress, warm himself by a union made stove, filled with union mined coal, can die a union man and be put away in a union made cof fin in a union dug grave, ascend above proud of his union record and be for ever at peace in membership with the angels' union. Union Labor Advocate. Caaaes of Htarher Wagea. A German professor named Schmol ler has been studying the question of wages for thirty years and has lately published the results of his researches in a French magazine. He says that the four principal causes of high wages in modern times are as follows: First, trade unions; second, popular educa tion; third, better social Institutions, and fourth, more humanity among the wealthier classes. New York Journal. LABOR NOTES. The immigration authorities at Bos ton recently returned many child vic tims of the padrone system and inhu man parents to their foreign home. One of the greatest needs of the trades union movement is a congress, composed of representatives from each national organization, in the interest of the union label. Shoeworkers' .Jour nal. Missouri has passed a law prohibiting children under the age of twelve from working and children under fourteen years from doing night work. "If workingmen are out of the un ion they are out of the world," said Professor II. P. Newcomb, the famous scientist, at the recent convention of the American Association For the Ad vancement of Science. ONE OF THE EIGHT By OTHO B. SENGA Copyright. 1903, by Otho ti. Senga Abraham Adams set his square jaws together in a manner not entirely pleasant to behold. He was not a handsome man at the best, and this ex pression of stern determination did not add to his attractiveness. "This thing has gone far enough," he said aloud. "One way or auother it shall be settled and settled tonight." He stretched out his long, lean arms and looked grimly at the great, bony bands. "One of those fellows wears a ring and plays the piano," be thought, and a ghost of a smile touched the firm mouth. He walked with long, slow steps to the mirror aud gazed at the face re flected there. It was not unlike the man for whom he was named, with the high cheek bones, wide mouth, deep set eyes and large nose. "You're not much to lock at. Abe." he said, shaking his head at the re flection, "and Bruce is as handsome as a girl and a good, square fellow, too." he added honestly. Abraham Lincoln Adams hnd come from a country home and a country lawyer's office three years before. He bad passed the examinations with high honors aud since his admission to the bar had been remarkably successful. He felt that he was now in a position to ask the girl of bis choice to share his life and the honors be was sure the future held for him. He had known the girl since cbiid hood. He was a big boy studying al gebra when she sat dangling her plump legs on the front seat devoted to the infants. He had taught one term in that same school, and she had tortured his faithful heart by an ab sorbing interest in a pink cheeked boy in her class and by an utter inability to master the mysteries of X Y Z. He had left her with no word of love. He had bis way to make, and the let ters between them were few and un satisfactory. A year ago she had come to Boston to study music, and his honest soul bad rejoiced. How happy . he would be in having her so-near. He could' see her often and take her about a good deal, and it would not be long now be fore he could tell ber of the great love that was in his heart, of his hopes for the future, his plans for her happiness. But to his dismay, be found Tillie hedged about In a most inexplicable fashion with formalities and conven tions hitherto unknown. Eight young women had rented a furnished bouse and with an aunt and uncle as housekeeper and protector were living in a little world of their own, superior to boarding houses, and with a fine contempt for "homes" and institutions. Adams wasn't quite sure whether the aunt and uncle were rent ed with the house or if they were real ly related to one of these very modern young women. He called several times and was cor dially received, but upon every oc casion at least three of the other young ladies were present and remained dur ing hia entire stay. Then he tried the plan of writing to Tillie. inviting her to accompany him to a lecture or a concert .-The little notes he received in reply were sweetly courteous, but he felt somehow thrown back upon himself, chilled and repulsed. "You must remember that I am only one of eight." was the tenor of the sweet little notes. "Not one of us ac cepts an invitation for herself alone. Which one of the girls would you like to include iu your very pleasant plan for Thursday evening or Saturday aft ernoon?" Then be. settled down to a 'regular call on Wednesday evening. He met all of the young ladies and really had better opportunities for conversing with any one of the others than with the one he sought. Bright, pretty girls they were, each earnest in her work.' with high aims and youthful ambi tions. An artist, a schoolteacher, a writer, a music teacher, a violinist, a kindergartner and an editor made up the list Often there were other men there, and ' Adams soon discovered that he was not the only one who would like to see Tillie alone. After awhile he be gan to wonder if the other men were as completely shut out as he, and the unwelcome thought suggested itself that Tillie might manage to see him alone if she really wanted to. "Can it be that Tillie doesn't care to see me?" he asked himself uneasily. "If it were so wouldn't she tell me?" His own nature was so simple and direct that this would seem the most kind and true thing to do. He could not understand the feminine complex ity that led the girl to enjoy his un wavering, unspoken devotion. The pro tests of the other girls that she was unfair to the man and did not deserve euch homage only increased her deter mination to hold him at this disadvan tage and to ward off as long as possi ble the declaration she knew she must hear when ouce .they were alone. But now he was resolved. He would not be a plaything for a girl's whim. She' must make known her decision, and he would abide by it. Under cover of greetings from eight aughing girls he was able to ask Til lie if she would go for a short walk with him. "With another of the eight?" she tsked archly. "No; alone." , Tillie shook her pretty head In re fusal, but her heart beat faster. There fas something new In the man's tone, something masterful and commanding, that she had never known before. After a few minutes he wandered, with apparent listlessness, to the fire place and. turning, faced the group. Tillie!" At the sound of the firm, compelling voice eight astonished faces were turned toward him and eight pairs of bright eyes gazed at him in constrained silence. He took out his watch and held it in his hand. He looked only at Tillie. For him the others were not there. Some foreshadowing of the greatness that was yet to be his fell upon the thiu face aud . gaunt figure and lent . a strength and dignity that awed' the pirl's soul and held her gaze captive. "Tillie." speaking slowly and clearly, "in exactly two minutes I am going to propose to you. If you wish your seven friends to remain I have no objection." A horrified, gasping "Oh!" in several different voices, a rustle of silken petti coats, aud seven breathless girls scam pered out into the hall and up the stairs. "Of course she'll refuse him!" cried the girl who wrote stories. "Isn't be horrid?" "No," nuswered the woman who read stories. . "He is. manifesting the one needful quality, and Tillie will marry him." "If she doesn't," chimed in the artist, "it wiil show that she isn't bright enough to recognize a great man in the days of his obscurity." "In which case," added the girl with the violin. "I shall try for him my self." This was the last and certainly the most astounding. Each girl went si lently to her own room, feeling that a great crisis had come in the life of one of the eight. Left alone at last with the girl he lov.ed, Adams made no movement to approach her. His eyes had never left her face, and she had not been able to look aside even when her compan ions fled from the room. "Tillie" the grave voice grew sol emnly tender "I have loved you for years, and you have known It There was small need for me to declare a love that had been yours since child hood, and I would not seek to bind you by any promise until I could offer you a home -as well as a heart I am now ready to do for you all that a man can do for the woman be loves. Come to me. Tillie. and tell me that my love is returned, that you will be my wife. Tillie" He held out his hand, the great bony hand that wore no ring and could not play the piano, and the dark, home ly face was illumined with the mighty love and exceeding tenderness that only a strong man knows. The girl rose slowly, her eyes still fixed on bis, and moved toward him as if impelled by some stronger power. Half way she stopped and raised a pitiful, pleading face to his. "Abe," she whispered. "Abe, are you going to make me come all the way?" Be had intended to. but the passion ate, thrilling sweetness of his boy hood's name overcame his resolve. One long step and he caught ber In his arms. "All the way, sweetheart." he an swered, "but I will carry you the other half." Bow the- Liberty Bora Did It. It will be remembered that a dozen or more of the collisions between the British and the Liberty Boys of New York just prior to the active outbreak of the Revolution grew out of the post ing of incendiary bills and broadsides. The manner in which these bills were posted is curious. According to the diary of John Parks, written in 1775, the work was accomplished in the fol lowing manner: , "The method lately used in New York to post up inflammatory hand bills was the same used in Kngland at the time of the pretender. It was done by a man who carried a little boy in a box like a magic lantern, and while he leaned against the wall, as if to rest himself, the boy drew back the slide, pasted ou the paper, and, shut ting himself up again, the man took the proper occasion to walk off to an other resting place." St. Columbian') Sacred Oak. In years gone by Ireland had a sa cred oak dedicated to St. Columbian, one of the peculiarities of the tree be ing that whoever carried a small bit of the wood or bark in his mouth would never meet with a violent death, it be ing especially efficacious in saving Christian martyrs from the block. It was known throughout the British isles as the Holy Oak of Kcnmare. After the lapse of many centuries this sacred oak was uprooted by a storm, after which it was said to be guarded by angels to keep heretics from gather ing the wood for fuel. At last a wick ed tanner "barked" one of its largest limbs and tanned some leather, which he made into shoes for himself, im agining that such relics would bring him wealth and power. He wore them but once, however, but that one time was enough to make him an incurable leper. ' . Honra of Sleep. Though insomnia is distressing and very bad for health, many people sleep too much. Too much sleep is harmful, and even a newborn infant ought not to be allowed to spend all its time in slumber. Between one and two years of age a child needs sixteen to eighteen hours of sleep; from three to four years it requires fourteen to sixteen hours; from four to six years it ought to have thirteen to fifteen hours; from six to nine years it should have ten to twelve hours, and from nine to thirteen years the proper allowance of sleep is eight to ten hours. After the comple tion of growth the sleep allowance can be brought down safely to sis or eight hours. A Snail's f Pace For Life .Original.! "Irvin is in the neighborhood again," said the mayor, coming into police headquarters excitedly. "When? How? Where?" My English was not correct, but the mayor understood me. "Yesterday noon he rode up to Ben ton's bank at Squlrrelton, shot the pay ing teller, grabbed a package of bills and was away before any one realized what had happened." "Well!" : "Then he met a mounted policeman, got a bead ou him and forced him to give him his uniform. This was near Redmond, five miles to the south of us. I want you to go out, hunt for him and bring hini in, dead or alive. You know the reward $5,000." "Alone?" "Yes. You can work better by your self than with a lot of bunglers." "Right you are, and I'll go in uni form. It'll be a shooting affair any way, and I always feel better facing a gu;i when I've got my togs on." I tracked Irvin by asking people if they had seen a mounted policeman and came up with him while he was trotting along a country road. I shout ed to him to stop, as 1 had something to say to him. He east a quick glance at me, hesitated, then impatiently rein ed in his horse. I didn't wish to kill him if I could get him into a trap and disarm him. I rode up to him leisurely and said: "I see-you're on-the force. Where do you hail from?" 1 "I'm from Squirrelton; looking for Irvin." "Get any trace of him?" "One clew points to Sparksburg, an other down there in the river bottom. If you're looking for him you might go one way while I go the other." "All right," I said to inspire confi dence. "When we get to where the road forks I'll go to the river bottom." Presently I drew rein and dismount ed under pretense of tightening my saddle girth. From behind my horse r drew my revolver and, bringing It : to bear on bim before he could see what I was about, called on him to surren der. He had to choose between two forms of death my bullet or the gallows. With the former there was a slender chance, with the latter none whatever. Bending low behind bis horse's neck, he gave him a cut and dashed off, fol lowed by my shots. Meanwhile I mounted and went after him. Now and again he turned and fired at me. but I got down flat on my horse, and there was not much for him to shoot at Finally I fired a shot that made him totter; then he fell from the sad dle. I was beginning to draw rein when m.y horse, on crossing, a rotten covering to a culvert, broke through, and I went flying through the air, land ing about fifty feet from Irvin. My revolver flew to a point at the side of the road between us. though a trifle nearer to him than to me. I started up, when I got a twinge that laid me out again. My leg was broken. As soon as I could think of anything except the pain I raised my head and saw Irvin crawling on his stomach to ward my weapon. He had moved only a few feet, and his progress was so slow that it would take him some time to reach it. Evidently he had either parted with his own weapon or had discharged all the cartridges. I saw at once that it was a question of life or death with me to secure the revolv er myself and began a crawling which was no more rapid than that of my enemy. Every now and again I would hear a groan from Irvin, which was usually echoed by one from me. Irvin made ten feet while I was making six, then he stopped, took out a handkerchief and, binding it around his leg, twisted It with ids knife as a tourniquet. While he was doing this he was watching me, who made, ten feet while he was. at work with his surgical apparatus. Starting again, he was handicapped by having to hold the tourniquet, which he had no means of fixing permanently. Nevertheless desperation gave him strength, and he made better headway than I. It was singular, this tortoise race between two fellow beings with life for the prize, death for the forfeit. Several times I thought I should faint, ;but knew if I did I would probably never return to consciousness. I there fore nerved myself to keep my senses and continue on my way. But in five minutes I did not make five feet, nor did Irvin do much better. Presently Irvin stopped and calculat ed his own and my distance. "What do you say to a rest, pard?" be asked. "There's no rest for the wicked," I replied wjiout ceasing my efforts. "Very well. You'll get one pretty soon. Since I stopped the flow of blood I've ceased to lose strength. I can see you're giving out pretty fast. I only proposed the truce because I didn't like to see you suffer." ' There was now about ten feet for both of us, and I felt sure that despite his plucky words Irvin was bleeding from an artery, and, though I was ex pecting to lose consciousness every mo ment, I pushed on. I reached the weapon while he was yet three feet away and put out my hand for it The effort was too much for me I fainted. When I came to myself Irvin was .where I had last seen him, stone dead. His ashen face was toward me, his glassy eye storing at mine, his right hand extended toward the pistol, which I was grasping. I looked at the cham bers and found, to my surprise, that they bad all been discharged. There was not a bullet la any of them. JOSEPH H. KING. MARVELS OF MEMORY SOME REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF THE POWER OF RECOLLECTION. A Ena-Haaataa Whose Woaderfal -. lf t of Reteatloa BreashtvDIesaar to Voltaire A Reporter, Wan Did ' Hot Have to Take Notes. Extraordinary ' memories - have at tracted the attention, of men in all ages, aud in these days a man with a retentive memory .is considered to be more or less gifted. , "; ; Some good instances of' remarkable memories are to be gathered from the records, of Greece and Rome. Themis- . toeles, a famous Greek general, is said to have known-every- citizen iu Athens. No tloiibt Otho, the Roman emperor, owed much of his success to a remark able memory. He learned the name of every soldier and officer in his army, and this, among other things, rendered . him so popular that he was at length -acclaimed emperor. j, ' Hortensius, the Roman ornor. is said to have been able, after sitting a whole day at a public sale, to give an ac count from memory of all things sold, with the prices and names of tile pur chaser!!. . - . ' Coming to later times, the following anecdote affords an instance of won-' derful powers of memory: An Eng lishman went to Frederick the Great of Prussia for the express purpose of giving him an exhibition of bis powers of recollection. Frederick sent for Vol taire, who was then residing at the Prussian court At the king's request Voltaire read a long poem which he had just composed. The Englishman was present and was in such a position that he could bear every word of the poem, though he was concealed from Voltaire's notice, i After the reading of the poem Frederick observed to the au-1 thor that the production could not be an original one, as there was a foreign gentleman present who could recite every word of it. Voltaire listened in amazement to the stranger as he re peated, word for word, the poem which he bad been at so much pains In com posing, and, giving way to a momen tary outbreak of passion, he tore the manuscript in pieces. He was then in formed how the Englishman had be come acquainted with his poem, and his anger being appeased he was will-, ing to do penance by copying down the work from the second repetition of the stranger, who was able to go through it as before. i There lived in the sixteenth "century at Padua a law student who had train ed bis memory to such a high degree of perfection that he could recite 36, 000 words after once hearing them read. Jedediah Buxton, an Illiterate per son of the eighteenth century, used to put his memory to a curious use. On one occasion ue uieuuoueu uiu quauu- ty of ale he had drunk free of cost since he was twelve years old and the names, of the gentlemen who had, given it to bim. , The whole amounted to 5,116 pints. As ficrnln HhnnHnff that- retentive srlfta ' were not found In the educated alone, there Is a notable Instance of "Blind Jamie," who lived some years ago in Stirling. He was a poor, uneducated man and, totally blind, yet be could actually repeat after a few minutes' consideration any verse required from any part of the Bible, even the obscur est and least important. An instance of a wager being won by a feat of memory was that of a person who repeated an entire newspa per, advertisements as well, after a single reading. The power of retaining events has sometimes been manifest in a marked degree. A laboring man named Mc Cartney, at fifty-four years of age, claimed that he ; could recollect the events of every day for forty years. A test was made by a well known public man who had kept a written record for forty-five years. The man's statement was fully corroborated in deed, so accurate was his recollection that he could recall without apparent effort the state of the weather on any given day during those forty years. Another instance of a wager being won by a feat of recollection was that of Mr. Futter, who several years ago was a well known tithe collector in Norfolk. He wagered that he could recollect every word of a sermon that was to be preached and afterward write it out verbatim. He was not seen to take notes and at the close of the sermon retired to a room and wrote out the sermon. On comparison' with the manuscript which the preacher had been asked to bring for the purpose, it was found to vary In one instance only, where a synonym had been used, but in that Mr. Futter was proved to be correct," for the clergyman . had a distinct recollection of substituting one word for the other in his delivery. When reporting was forbidden in the houses of parliament and any one seen to make notes was Immediately eject ed the speeches, nevertheless, were published iu the public press. It was discovered that one Woodfall used to be present in the gallery during the speeches and, sitting with his head be tween his hands, actually committed the speeches to memory. Tbey were afterward published. , Lord Macaulay had a marvelous fa cility for remembering what he read.j He once declared that if by accident all I the copies of Milton's 'Tarodise Lost" were destroyed he would be able to write out the whole of this long poem without a single -error. In fact, he once performed the marvelous feat of repeating the whole poem, making only one omission. . Charles Dickens, after once walking down a street, could remember the names of all the shopkeepers and their businesses. London Spare Moments. Telegraph posts along a railway ara arranged thirty to the mllev