FOR SALE
FOR RENT
Furnished Rooms
Rooms and Board
The above signs, neatly printed
on heavy cardboard, for sale at
THE WAGEWORKER
1705 "O" STREET j
AK-SAR-BEN IS
NEBRASKA SHOW
Enchanting Festival of the North
. Attracts Wide Attention.
STORY OF ITS ORGANIZATION.
Sixteen Year Prove Value of King
Ak-Sar-Ben to Trans-Missouri Coun-
I . . 1 I . I I . n At
' wy wnwr in nunii r-apera gun
Stat Big Boost for Ita Enterprise.
1, By Will A. Campbell.
When Mark Twain wrote thirty
years ago that no such an enchant
lng festival as the Mardl-Gras of New
Orleans could live In the practical
north any longer than it could live in
London, one season the distinguished
journalist did not know what kind of
men and women the future citizens of
the middle-west would be; did not im
agine that a foundation of business
fraternalisin would continue a great
festival in the north Just as surely as
the love of romance would sustain
such a festival in the south.
On the practical foundation of bust
Tiesa, Ak-Sar-Bcn has been built and
has flourished. The festival is about
to open in Omaha for the sixteenth
year and for the first time membership
has been limited because of the grow
lng popularity of the enterprise.
Void ot all those things which set
the world in love with dreams and
phantoms; without sham grandeurs,
gauds and chivalries, Ak-Sar-Ben is
really a big "boosters" organization
which has done more to put Nebraska
on the map and renew the confidence
of her people, than any other force in
tho trans-Missouri country.
This festival has everything which
Mardi-Gras has and .more. The ro
mance is present; there are kings and
1 knights; big sounding titles go thun
dering along after the names of its
officers, but the soul of Ak-Sar-Ben is
the co-operative spirit of the people of
the middle-west the eternal effort of
the business fraternity to boost for
each other and for the trans-Missouri
empire always.
Ak-Sar-Ben is more than a relic of
the French and Spanish occupation
with the religious features knocked
ovt. It is more than a tawdry mas
querade of knights and nobles clothed
in silken and Paris-made gorgeousness.
Ak-Sar-Ben has a reason ana has had
ince its Inception back in thore hard
days when Nebraska and Kansas were
thought to be a blizzard cursed western
waste in the winter; sun baked prair
ies the harbors of cyclones and grass
hoppers in the summer.
"We must do something." said the
men of Nebraska in 1895 when the
veins or commerce had become so
sluggish that the state had lost con
fidence and lay bankrupt at the feet
of the national government. What to
do waa a mystery. Eastern Insurance
and trust companies became possessed
by foreclosing of the most valuable
real estate, some owning from fifty to
one hundred pieces of nrooertv wide
ly separated, out in tne towns and
cities of the state homes of men were
being moved to the ranches to house
cattle and sheep in the winter that the
more comfortable quarters might take
the place of nourishing food.
Thus the Ak-Sar-Ben festival was
norn in poverty; planned with the be
lief that it would bring the people of
the state closer together; keep their
money at home and working. As they
Joined hands to hold this festival six
teen years ago, confidence began to re
turn; an opportunity has been given
, each fall for taking an inventory of
the resources of the middle-west and
graph le lesson In the advantages of
cooperation has been driven home to
the people.
There waa something about the se
lection of the name which increased
this business fraternallsm. True, the
name la Neb-raa-ka reversed, but it Is
more than that "Ak" la Syrian in Jtr
origin and is said to mean "head of a
household." Then "Sar" Is good Arab
ic for "household," and "Ben" in the
Hebraic is literally translated as "fam
ily" or "brothers of a household."
Thus there is a touch of Oriental
enchantment about the word. Thera
is Ak, the head of the household, of
the king; sar, the board of twelve gov
ernors who manage the affairs of the
festival; last there Is the family called
ben, which embraces the body of
knights, and every true Nebraskan is
a Knight of Ak-Sar-Ben whether h
has been able to journey to the den in
Omaha and attend the ceremonial or
not.
The same spirits who organized Ak-Sar-Ben
made the Trans-Mississippi
and International exposition possible
in 1S98, and this enterprise marked the
close of stagnation and opened the era
of prosperity in the middle-west; the
period of the '90's,' dark with industrial
gloom and commercial disaster, be
came history and the star of Nebras
ka began its ascendancy.
The men who have continued Ak-Sar-Ben
for sixteen years and made it
the most enchanting festival the north
has ever known, are the men who have
planted the boom seed deep in the soil
and nourished it until Nebraska and
Kansas are second to none in the indi
virtual prosperity of their people, and in
the amount of food contributed annual
ly to help feed a hungry world.
Ak-Sar-Ben has two distinct seasons
The first comes in the summer and is
for initiating candidates. The second
is festiv-1 time in the fall.
Beginning early in June the unknown
king who is to be revealed and
crowned in the fall, holds initiations
In his great den every Monday evening.-
Business men of Omaha join
earn year and pay substantial initio
tion fees. Some 2,500 contribute thus
annually. Every stranger witnin the
stale, is knighted without paying a
fee if recommended or accompanied
by some Omaha knight.
Tho initiations are unique, change
each year and are originated and exe
cuted entirelyhy Omaha talent. Some
of the ceremonials "would linger in the
memories of your great great grand
children" to use an expression of a
distinguished visitor who knows.
Three presidents, McKinley. Taft
and Roosevelt, have been initiated and
Colonel Roosevelt returns this fall as
a private citizen to renew his alleg
iance to the king. Foreign ministers,
cabinet members, senators, army offi
cers, governors of almost every west
ern state and many eastern states.
have journeyed to Omaha, been knight
ed and experienced! the mysteries of
Ak-Sar-Ben.
All this mystery vanishes in the fall
It is a season of great events. As the
carnivals of Venice became famous in
history because "no less than seven
foreign princes and thirty thousand
foreigners" attended them, so have
the festivals of Ak-Sar-Ben attracted
attention because one hundred and
fifty thousand people attend them an
nually and men more then foreign
prlares have been guests of the organ
ization. Last year the event of the festival
was the visit of President Taft. This
year it is the presence of Colonel
Roosevelt
The electrical parade of King Ak-
Sar-Ben is excelled nowhere in the
world. The scores of floats, different
each year, move through the streets,
bearing hundred's of actors appearing
as the men and women of song and
story or as the oddities and pleasant
creatures of fairyland. All these
floats are brilliant with tens of thou
sands of electric lights which from
the first succeeded the smoking and
flickering torches In the parades.
Then at the coronation ball comes
the cry, "The King, the King and for
the first time in the season the real
personality of the king becomes
known. He is always a gentleman of
position and consequence as the "Rex"
of Mardi-Gras, and it. is an honor high
ly esteemed to be selected king of Ak-Sar-Ben,
so the mystery with which
his personality is hidden all summer
is merely for the sakeof romance and
not an account of the police.
During the summer and fall festival
the country west of the Missouri river
Is referred to as the Kingdom of Qui
vera. This Is explained by Samson
Lord High Chamberlain ot the realm
Coronado, a Spanish grandee and ad-
STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE.
Cost of Living Has Increased 40 Par
Cent In Ten Years.
The cost of living during the past
fifteen years has been rapidly increas
ing. In ten years it has gone up 40
per cent. This tendency will probably
never decrease very materially. While
Wages have gone up they have by no
means kept pace with the living ex
penses. The increase in the rate for
the skilled workers has been about 20
per cent, but the wages of unskilled la
bor have remained practically station
ary. The greatest expenditure of the
average family is for food, constitut
ing about 45 per cent of the cost of
living, and it is in the food products
that the increased cost has been great
est. The next largest item of expense
Is that of rent, constituting about 20
per cent, and that for clothing follow
ing with about 10 per cent of the total
expenditure.
We need not discuss the causes of
this Increased cost of living, says the
Rev. Charles Stelzle. There Is a very
wide difference of opinion as to the
reasons for the Increase, and no doubt
there is truth in all of them. But this
fact remains It is costing the average
workingman more to live today than
it did fifteen years ago, and his wages
are not as great proportionately as
they were at the beginning of this
period. If the rate of production were
the one factor at work. Instead of an
Increased cost of living there should
have been a decline in the cost of liv
ing of at least 15 per cent. The Amer
ican workingman is the 'most highly
skilled workingman In the world. He
produces more than the workingmen
do in other parts of the world, but
compared to what he produces, he is
probably the poorest paid workingman
in the world. The question of a living
wage must necessarily be a relative
term. It depends altogether upon the
standard of living which men set up
for themselves. The living wage of
the day laborer would not be a living
wage for the average professional man.
But generally the term Is employed to
designate the amount upon which the
average workingman and his family
subsist The average family in New
York city cannot live comfortably on
less than $800 a year. This applies to
practically every other city. Less than
this amount lowers the standard of liv
ing below the normal demands of
health, working efficiency and ordinary
decency.
The wages of tne average worker in
the United States is $432.20 per an
num. But this Includes all wage earn
ers, and it must be evident that there
are large numbers of workers who re
ceive very much less than this amount.
It should be remembered that large
numbers of wage earners are not per
manently employed during the year.
In many Industries the workers are
not employed more than half the year.
This applies principally to laborers,
who are more subject to casual em
ployment than are the skilled work
ers, but even among the trade union
ists about 20 per cent are unemployed,
even during prosperous years. It is
true that there is often more than one
wage earner in the family. But the
measure of a' man's wages today is
not determined by his ability to sup
port a family, but rather by what the
average family as a whole may' earn
and this measure is the margin of
bare subsistence.
The Philosophy of Work.
Labor is discovered to be the great
the grand conqueror, enriching and
building up nations more sure than the
proudest battles. Channing.
What is there that Is illustrious that
is not also attended by labor? Cicero.
The gods sell everything good for
labor. Epicharrous.
Genius begins great works; labor
alone finishes them. Joubert.
Toil and pleasure, in tbeir natures
opposite, are yet linked together in a
kind of necessary connection. Livy.
Labor Is the divine law of our ex
istence; repose Is desertion and sui
cide. Mazzlni.
Labor Briefs.
The 1,150 stage bauds employed in
seventy New York theaters want an
increase in wages. Tbey are all mem
bers of the Theatrical Protective
Union of Stage Hands.
Washington Central Labor union has
begun a campaign against the display
of strikes and strike breaking scenes
In motion picture shows. Labor led
ers hold that the pictures put tbelt
cause before the public In a false and
damaging light.
The engineers of the Central Ver
mont railway will receive an increase
in wages averaging 20 per cent as a
result of an agreement recently signed
by officials of the company and repre
sentatives of the Brotherhood of Lo
comotive Engineers.
Adjutant General Weybrecht of Ohio
told the Columbus street railway at
torneys that the investigations by the
militia and police pointed to strike
breakers as the perpetrators of many
deeds of violence in order to "hold
up" the company and prolong their
employment
Judge K. M. Landis. umpire in the
dispute between the Bridge and Struc
tural Iron Workers' union and the
contracting firm of John Griffiths Ac
Son, Chicago, imposed a fine of $200
on the union because twenty-nine of
its members quit work in violation of
an agreement.
Frank H. McCarthy. New England
organizer of the American Federation
of Labor, who has been conducting the
organizing work in Qulncy for the past
several months. recently announced
that be has completed , his task ami
that Qulncy is now one of the best
organized cities of Massachusetts..
MY STORY
OF MY LIFE
BY
JAMES J. JEFFRIES
ICopyright, 1910, by McClure Newspaper
Syndicate. Copyright In Canada and
Great Britain. All rights reserved.
CHAPTER XXI.
I PUT BOB FITZSIMMONS AW AT FOB TELE
SECOND TIME.
T TRAINED at Harbin Springs for
that second fight with Fitzsim-
mons and got into very good con-
uiuon. ine Dout was neia ai
Alec Greggains' San Francisco Athlet
ic club, at Fourteenth and Valencia
streets. A lot of my Los Angeles
friends came up to bet on me. I guess
they brought up at least $40,000 or
$50,000. George Miller got down $5,-
000 at the regular odds, which were 10
to 4 in my favor. "Chalk" Roberts
brought $10,000. Jim Hayes, the pro
prietor of Harbin Springs, put up $2,-
000 on me. Lots of the other boys got
down smaller sums.
There was a big crowd at the ring
side that night. Fitzsimmons was in
troduced first and had a great recep
tion. He was always well liked in
San Francisco, where be fought his
first fight after coming to America
from Australia. Bob looked in as good
shape as when he fought me at Coney
Island. He didn't even look a day
older, although he was thirty-nine now.
A challenge from Jim Corbett was
read, and the crowd cheered. I was
glad to hear the challenge taken so
well,, for the heavyweight crop was
running out, and there didn't seem to
be many more fights in sight for me.
As soon as .we began fighting I went
after Bob steadily. We. were both a
little cautious at first I sent a good
hard left Into his body, and he took
It all right Before the end of the first
round he had begun landing on my
head, and my nose was bleeding a lit
tle. I had found out something too. The
new- ring platform was too lightly
built. Fitzsimmons could skip about
on it like a Frisco flea, but whenever
I moved quickly the boards bent under
me. It was like trying to dance
around on a springboard. It made my
footing uncertain and awkward and
took away half my speed.
In my crouching position the "give"
of the ring platform affected my foot
ing so much that I tried standing
straight up. Fitzsimmons mixed it
with me. and we both got in some stiff
punches. The way the old fellow could
hit was a wonder. He was hammer
ing my face in. The blows were as
heavy as any I ever felt. The jar
didn't daze me. but I had never been
so cut and bruised in a fight before.
Fitzsimmons was a wonderful fighting
boxer.
Along in the fifth round I managed
to get over a left book that cut Bob
along the cheek bone, but a moment
later he stepped in with a terrible
right that landed squarely on my left
eye and nearly knocked my bead off.
The blow opened a big gash along my
eyebrow. I was In pretty bad shape
for a champion now all cut, to pieces
and my eyes closing. When I went
back to my corner Billy Delaney was
mighty anxious. "Jim," he said, "you
have got to get him before your eyes
close. Go after him."
I crouched as 1 came from my cor
ner that time and went at Fitzsim
mons with a rush. He skipped out of
ray way and laughed as he moved
around. I kept turning to face him
like a bull in a bull ring, 'and every
time be seemed within reach I rushed
him again. Once I cornered him on
the ropes, but he slipped away, and as
he went by me he landed a couple of
hooks that made the blood run again,
I couldn't get him. He surely was a
slippery fellow.
"You've got to do it soon," said De
laney again.
With my cuts all closed up and the
blood washed off I went out after Bob
again as bard as I could go. All of
my injuries were on the surface. In
side I was as sound and fresh as ever.
I wouldn't think any worse of Fitzsim
mons if be had shown discouragement
about this time. He had beaten me
enough to knock out any ordinary man.
I knew his right hand was gone, for
once when he landed a heavy smash
on my forehead I could hear the bones
crack, and, although he went right on
hitting with it. there wasn't the same
weight in the blows. He was jabbing
more and depending on the left. Fitz
simmons bad a great left. I think it:
was his best hand. He usually lauded
knockouts with the left.
In this the seventh round I went
after Bob bard and swung my left into
his body, then brought it up to his
head. The punches were well meant
but Fitzsimmons took them and came:
right .back with three bard left hooks
on the mouth that started me bleedlnr
again and forced me to the ropes,
rushed and chased Fitz across the!
ring, punching bim over the heart As'
we came into a clinch Bob grinned and'
asked, "Well, how do you like It?"
"Suits me all right," I said. "You
are pretty good for an old fellow."
From that on I punched at Bob's
body, and he jabbed and booked with
the left. All the time the crowd was
cheering like mad. Fitz looked like a
winner, for he was almost unmarked,
while I must have been a sight. The
crowd thought the old champion was
coming back into the title again. 1
knew I'd win in time. I was all right
still inside, not weak or dazed or even
tired. And I knew that Fitzsimmons
could not keep up such a terrible pace
for twenty rounds. In time he must
wear himself out even if 1 didn't bring
him down with a blow. His only
chance was to blind me entirely and
then beat me dowu when I couldn't
see to block or get away. And even
then I might have been able to stick
It out.
My eyes were nearly closed when I
came up for the eighth round. 1 went
after Fitzsimmons steadily. Fitz stood
up straight and tried with bis left for
my chin. I ducked under the blow and
sent my right to his body. 1 could feel
the ribs bend. It was a hard punch.
Fitz hooked me on the face, and I
leaned In with another body punch.
Then we fought hard for a minute. I
could feel that Fitz was growing weak
er. His blows didn't hurt, ana ne
seemed to be tiring. The right time
had come at last. I stepped In and
swung my left for the pit of his stom
ach.' The glove landed a little to one
side, striking just at the edge of the
right ribs and driving them in. Fitz
simmons straightened up and stood
perfectly still for a moment. I knew
the blow had paralyzed his legs and
he couldn't move. "You've got me,
Jeff," he gasped, and just at the same
Instant I started the finishing blow for
his jaw. I landed both hands before
he fell. Fitz went down hard, and
Referee Eddie Graney counted Mm
out. Fitz was trying to get up and
managed to rise to his feet just after
the end of the count. He walked to
one side of the ring and raised his
hand. "The best man won," said Fitz
simmons. "I am satisfied. I'll never
fight again."
"You're the most dangerous man
alive," I told him. "and I consider my
self lucky to have won when I did."
That fight with Fitzsimmons was
one of the hardest I ever had in my
life. I don't think money would pay
me to stand up and deliberately take
the beating I got from him before 1
landed the knockout Every bone in
my nose was broken and driven in.
My nose was flat with my cheeks. It
was a lot of trouble to have that fixed
W " .... st
Photo by American .Press Association.
JEFFRIES TKAIMNli FOIi .I.lll XKO.N J EKK S
wi;E.sii.i.(i rose.
up again. The dot-tors took eight
stitches above my rijrht eye mid eight
more over my right cheek bone.
The cut over my left eye took seven
or eight stitches. Every tooth in my
head was loose. For two days after
the fight I couldn't eat. I couldn't
move my jaw. and I thought it was
surely broken. One of my ears was
in bad shape.
Fitsiauuoi'.s. whet; he was taken to
the Olympic club after the fight to
have hot salt water baths and be rub
bed down, fainted as soon as the rub
ber touched his ribs. He fainted again
a few hours later when he tried to
raise bis left arm to reach for a bat.
That was from my body punching over
the heart Fitzsimmons' right hand
was smashed. He landed it over my
eye and drove the first two knuckles
back over an Inch, splintering the
bones into small pieces. He was a
game fellow. Long afterward he ask
ed me one day if I had noticed during
the fight that he was turning his right
hand to land with the last two knuc
kles. These -were the only two left
and yet he was hitting almost as hard
as with a sound band. The joints of
Bob's left hand were buckled toward
the end of the fight, but be didn't hold
back his punches.
And the funny thing is that a sport
ing writer in San Francisco supposed
to know something about the game
saw all this damage done in the ring
and then went away and wrote that
the fight was a fake. He sent out a
Mory that it was "framed" for Fitz
simrcons to lie down in the eighth
round nnd that when the time came
Fitzslm.Tions dropped his hands to his
sides and said, "Hit me now." That
was funny when my own brother Jack
bet $500 I'd ' knock Fitz out in five
rounds. .
The whole country laughed down the
"fake" story. My friends all knew
that there wasn't money enough In cir
culation to Induce me to fight a crook
ed fight Fitzsimmons was always on
the square. The fight Itself was evi
dence enough. , .
REVIEVJF LABOR
Progress of the Union Movement
In America.
FACTS ANSWER QUERIES.
Enthusiasm and Harmony ' Prevail
Throughout the Membership of the
Federation Notable Change In Trend
-of Public Opinion. ,
We do not expect that union men
and union advocates shall take all
things, indeed take anything, for grant
ed and thereby perhaps imagine them
selves in a fools' paradise, writes Sam
uel Gompers in the American Federa-
tionist. We ask only that the irresisti
ble cold facts shall speak for them
selves in the constant progress and
success of our American trade union
movement.
That the course of the various trade
unions of this country Is proceeding
with a degree of success gratifying to
the members our readers have abun
dant evidence in the statements given
In this Issue by men wbo write with
authority. But when the question of
each union doing Its share in advanc
ing wages, making more general the
shorter workday and carrying out the
purposes of its existence within its
own sphere Is answered satisfacto
rily queries arise as to what is being
done by the movement as a whole: Is
It in a healthy condition? Does it
fully cover the ground prescribed by
Its mission? Is It on the right road?
What of its perils from causes beyond
the reach of the separate organization?
Is It losing ground actually or rela
tively? Have its enemies found any
new means for Its weakening?
.Here are facts which sketch the re
ply to such inquiries:
Never was the American Federation
of Labor In better fighting' trim than
today. Never were the various big in-.
ternational unions, taken ' generally,
better provided with ammunition for
their struggles. Never was the' move
ment stronger in point of solidarity.
Not only have trade . union centers
been able to report the elimination of
such organized enemies as the Citl- -zens'
alliance, but large bodies jot
trade unionists are enrolling in the
fold with their brother organized
wageworkers. Among the officials of
the American Federation of Labor
there is no variance of policy, no fac
tional, difference, no clashing of per
sonalities. In the unions there is no
east or west or north or south. Ours
is a united, harmonious,- disciplined
and enthusiastic movement''
We believe we can read In the com
posite voice of the pulpit, the press
and the platform the encouraging fact
that the sentiment of the people of
America has in the last few years
turned toward recognition of the ne
cessity for trade unionism and the
fulfillment of that necessity to the
highest degree possible in all the ex
isting circumstances by the American
Federation of Labor and its affiliated
organizations. Large numbers of our
fellow citizens men and women not
qualified for membership with us are
from time to time coming forward, as
occasion prompts, with the services of
their emphatic aproval. their personal
aid and' even their finances, especially
in cases where the unions are fighting
the battles of toiling women and de
fenseless children.
With rernrd to compensation for In
jury to,, the workmen there hris been
recently a decided move by the public
In. general toward the stand taken by
the trade unions. It Is seen, with sin
cere approval by the mass of union
men. flint leading active trade uniori
ists sire giving their time to this press
ing iU'-stiou, and largely on them de
volves watching the developments of
the compensation discussion, with the
proposals growing out of It so that the
T'niied States may herein move up to
the level of the rest of the world. The
unions and the lovers of right and hu
manity are drawn together in the so
lution of this problem. The women of
America responded to the call of a
noble common sentiment in the battle
of the shirt waist girls ' for not only
better wages, but tbeir rights as Amer
icans when on strike. The close of that
episode marked a distinct advance to
ward the democracy of the women in
this country. '
In all Its breadth and depth the
American trade union movement has
waxed mightier within recent years
aye, even months. Its militant activi
ties have been justified by events the
unions have won right along the line.
Its principles. Its policies, its manage
ment through its" own democratic
methods, have justified themselves to
the thought and conscience of the
overwhelming majority of its member
ship and will surely reach even the
unorganized workers, wbo will be the
organized union men of tomorrow.
Actors' Union Getting Busy.
Notwithstanding the many .fallacies
given circulation to hinder organiza
tion and tending to hold the union up
to' ridicule, the Actors' International
union is setting on foot a movement to
install locals In every important city
throughout the country, Detroit and
Boston are the two latest cities to fall
into line, both having very recently
been the scene of two healthy locals.
In view of- the fact that the average
performer never ..received his full
worth prior to the activities of the un
ion and that his conditions of work
were In many respects Intolerable, it M
now apparent that the better pay and
conditions prevalent in some localities
are due to the actors' connection with
tho labor movement