Some Leading Events in the Current Story of the World

SOME LEADING EVENTS IN THE CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD.

BY DR. J. M. TANNER.

The Other Side.

Whenever anything unusual or shocking happens in the world and appears in the shape of a social disorder, thoughtful people will beginan investigation with the view of determining the causes, rational or otherwise, for those remarkable social disturbances which shock the sensibilities of all mankind. The whole world was astounded at the brutal and surprising assassination of King Humbert, of Italy, one of the most liberal and generous-minded monarchs of Europe. Figuratively speaking, tracers were sent out by some of the leading papers of Europe to discover, if possi- ble, some reason for Bresci's rash act. Two leading articles have appeared on the subject, one by Dr. Felix L. Oswald, the other in one of the leading German papers, the Frankfurter Zeitung. It appears that Bresci was a weaver by trade, and that fact led to the investigation of factory life in the sunny peninsula. The following description is given of factory life in Italy: "Work, both winter and summer, begins at six, and care is taken that no one dare be late, even a second. Tardiness, even in a slight degree, is fined ten centesimi (two cents), and double this sum if it takes place on the Monday. On every repetition of such tardiness, the fine is doubled. At eight, there is a rest of fifteen minutes for breakfast, and between twelve and one work ceases; but it is then resumed and continued until seven. There are no deviations from

40 IMPROVEMENT ERA .

this rule except on Christmas eve when the factories shut down at five; but on the Saturdays before Easter and Pentecost, the work continues until seven. In the silk factories, during the season, the hours of labor are sixteen, viz. from 4 a. m. to 8 p. m., while the average pay is only half a lira (ten cents). It is utterly impossi- ble to sit at a weaver's bench for twelve hours without speaking * * a word, yet if detected in the effort the culprit is fined. * Any break in the machines, although the workman may be entirely without fault, must be paid for by the latter. A signifi- cant light on the relation between the employer and the employees is furnished by the testimony of an overseer lately, who though engaged in one factory for ten years, had not learned the name of a single employee, but knew them only by their numbers. The child labor in Italian factories is a disgrace to the country. Chil- dren of twelve, weak and pale, labor continuously from six in the morning to seven in the evening for the pittance of a few pennies.

---

              The personal dignity of the laboring man is abso-

lutely despised. He is only a machine and a thing. On the other hand, the Italian nobles have immense tracts of land which they will not allow to be cultivated although working hands are in abundance ready to do so." The contrast between wealth and poverty are perhaps nowhere stronger than in Italy where the beautiful villas, rivaling the ancient splendor of the palaces of Spain, must be looked upon by the drudging, oppressed working men who are made to feel the contrast all the more keenly when the natural beauties, resources and advantages of their own native land are taken into considera- tion. Undoubtedly conditions in Italy have the strongest imagin- able tendency to breed despair, and thoughtful people are not wanting who trace the rash acts of such men as Bresci to the miserable and uninviting conditions of the laboring classes. There is also in Italy a mixture of Saracen blood with that of the old Romans and Germans, and this mixture produces, perhaps, one of the most defiant and reckless characters of any nation or race. The intense ignorance of the people and indifference to humanity, either their own or others, makes it easy for such a land as Italy to produce regicides. The method adopted may be clumsy, irra- tional and shocking, but, to the minds of such men as these

CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 41

anarchists, no better means can be devised. Italy certainly needs great reform in matters of education and social legislation, and the nations of the earth that must harbor these Italian emigrants have a right to some consideration at the hands of Italy, and may reasonably ask that country to promote a higher social standing in the interest of humanity and civilization.

The Coal Miners' Strike.

Pennsylvania is just now the scene of one of the greatest labor strikes that has ever taken place in this country, involving as it does something like one hundred thousand men, some say one hundred and forty thousand, but that is the total number of coal miners in the region of country in which the strike is now taking place. It is said, however, that the Hungarian, Italian and other emigrant miners are not taking part, and that the strike is con- fined for the most part to the Americans. At the head of the labor unions is President John Mitchell, a young man not more, perhaps, than thirty years old. The griev- ances set forth, and upon which arbitration is asked, seem to demand consideration on the part of the great mine operators, and will undoubtedly call forth very general sympathy toward the strikers. It is said by Mr. Mitchell that the average wages of the miners do not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars a year, and for that reason an advance of twenty-five per cent is asked. Again, the company is asked to confine the amount of anthracite coal to the ton to twenty-four hundred pounds. It is claimed by the miners that in some instances twenty-seven hundred pounds, and by others that even four thousand pounds of coal are required for one ton. Again, it is said that the miners must pay two dollars and seventy-five cents per keg to companies' stores for powder, when it could be purchased elsewhere for one dollar and fifty cents per keg, or at wholesale for one dollar. There is also a general demand to do away with companies' stores, whose prices, it is said, are higher than prices where free competition is allowed. These stores constitute an important problem now in many great corpo- rate institutions in the country. They are popularly called "pluck- me-stores." Miners are also required to pay a dollar a month for physicians' services, whether needed or not, and have no choice in

42 IMPROVEMENT ERA .

the matter of family physician. It is stated that when represen- tatives of the miners have sought to get these grievances reme- died, the miners have been discharged, and that all intercessions on the part of ministers and philanthropists have been treated with indifference by the company. The company has not given out its statement, although Presi- dent Olyphant, of the Delaware and Hudson Company, has spoken presumably from the standpoint of the employers. He said, "As to grievances, we are always ready to receive complaints and entertain them. We will now meet our men at any time. The whole matter rests with them, but we decline to recognize labor unions. As to our miners, I do not believe they have any real grievance against us. The assertion that they have not shared in the general prosperity of the country may be met with the state- ment that the operators are in the same position. " Should this tremendous body of men become organized and defiant, by reason of any agitation or aggravation through the feelings of despair, it is difficult to say what may happen in that region of country. Should it enter their minds to fire that great coal region, millions of wealth would be consumed, and the country would face a contention that would be appaling in the extreme. Soldiers are mustered to the most important places of the strike, and every precaution is taken to avoid riots and the destruction of property. It is doubtful that this immense body of men will sit by and see one hundred thousand men take their places, destroy their interests, and compel them to seek other homes as well as other employment, without a struggle that may end in great bloodshed and the destruction of property. Where hope vanishes, desperation begins. The dangers are largely removed at this writing, October 10, by the offer on the part of the company to consider the question of arbitration. It is understood that the company is willing to meet the demand by a raise of ten per cent. Though the district has been quiet, it can hardly be expected that the strik- ers will allow others to take their place without a struggle. It is said that the Republican leaders will induce, if they can, the operators to yield to a reasonable demand. This is speculative, but, if true, it indicates the immense power organized labor may

CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 43

exert upon party leaders to intercede in its behalf. Organized labor is the natural off-set to organized capital. The power of both is rapidly increasing. While such vast organizations may bring benefits to wealth and labor, both carry means of vast de- struction, and can entail untold human suffering.

Fighting the Elements. The early settlers of Utah have a very distinct remembrance ofwhat were properly known in those days as grasshopper wars. Inmore recent times, the agriculturists of this and other countries, have been compelled to make war upon the elements. Parts of France, especially in the neighborhood of Lyons, have been visited during the summer with hailstorms, that ravished the country and destroyed the vineyards to an enormous extent. These hailstorms are not of frequent occurrence during a single season, and there are certain indications of their approach that may be relied upon, so that the vine-growers have more or less certain notice of their appearance. To prevent the ravishes of these destructive storms, produced by electrical disturbances very largely, scientists have recommended the cannonading of the clouds, when the indications of a hailstorm are at hand. This season, experiments were made, and the following description is given of the vine-growers war upon the clouds: "The farmers of Denice were aroused at 1:30 o'clock on the night of June 5-6. The storm was very severe. The artillerists, from forty to fifty strong, fired their guns and stopped the thunder and lightning. In the neighboring communes, the people saw columns of flames rise three hundred feet above the cannon when the shots were fired. At several places, women recharged the cartridges." Awriter, commenting upon this singular circumstance, says : "The results obtained from these experiments are such that organ- izations will be established at once in all places heretofore ravished by hail." It is said that the practice was known in France more than a hundred years ago, and that it found its origin in Italy. In our own country, millions of dollars of fruit have been de- stroyed by the frost. These ravishes are contended against by smouldering fires in dampened straw. Usually the straw is placed in

44 IMPROVEMENT ERA

awagon and hauled about under the trees of the orchard, or placed at frequent intervals on the ground. This practice of fighting the frost has proved quite successful in California, and it is surprising that it has not been practiced more frequently in Utah. Frosts are not frequent here, and the great destruction to our fruit by means of frost, has happened in one or two nights at the most. In view of the almost universal failure of the fruit in this State, by reason of the frost, during the season of 1898, it will be surprising if, hereafter, a more concerted effort is not made in the principal fruit-growing portions of our state, to avoid it. We shall then be compelled to wage war against Jack Frost, just as France is now compelled to wage war against the hailstorms of that country.

Manual Training Schools. Recent reports from Germany indicate the great advancement made in that country, in institutions of learning wherein manual training is carried on in work shops, shops intended to give the in- dustrial classes technical training in different trades of greatest consequence to the country and most valuable to the individual. Prussia alone has five hundred and seventy manual training schools. Throughout Germany, there are fifteen hundred and fourteen work- shops where the young are taught trades. Besides these industrial work-shops there are pedagogical schools where more than two thou- sand German teachers have been taught to become instructors in manual training. No other country in the world,perhaps, hasmade greater industrial strides during the last decade thanGermany, and no other country represents a greater transformation in the evolution of the artisan. These manual training schools are giving force and direction to industrial life in that country, and promise to make Germany one of the foremost competitors in the commerce of the world. What has worked so advantageously for that country may work equally well for the people of the United States. Indeed, this country is now engaged in manual training, and is perhaps second in that respect to Germany. A few years ago, the legisla- ture of Utah added a manual training school to the Agricultural College, but the people of this State have manifested an indiffer-

CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 45

ence to the advantages which the young people might easily en- joy at that institution. The present school year opened with only fifteen students in the manual training classes in blacksmithing and carpenter work. This does not speak well for the State, and every effort should be used to arouse the people from this condi- tion of indifference towards what ought to be a matter of deep con- cern to them.

Navigating the Dead Sea. For centuries, one of the dreariest solitudes to be found any- where on the earth is the stretch of country surrounding the Dead Sea. The occasional visit of a tourist is all there is to break the monotony of its dead silence. For years, however, the people of Hebronhave been frequenters of the market of Kerak, the only town of any commercial importance east of the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. Kerak has about eighteen hundred Christians and six thousand Moslems. It is found that the route taken by the transporters of merchandise from Kerak might be considerably shortened if transportation could be had across the Dead Sea. With this object in view, and the further object of furnishing tourists, whose numbers are rapidly increasing, an opportunity to either visit the trans-Jordanic country or take a short ride upon the Dead Sea, a German company is building and sending motor boats to Palestine for these accommodations. The first of these boats is named Prodromos (The Forerunner.) It is not unlikely that this enterprise may give rise to an increased trade between Kerak and the desert. From an agricultural and commercial point of view, the country beyond the Jordan really offers, for the present, more advantages than are to be found in what is known as Pales- tine proper. Bon voyage. General Palmer. When General John McAuley Palmer died, at his home in Springfield, Illinois, September 23, aged 83 years, a typical Ameri- can passed to his rest. He was one of the very last of the men who were Lincoln's early associates in Illinois, and who were prom- inently identified with the civil war and the reconstruction era which followed.

46 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

He began his public career in the year that the pioneers entered Utah, and had been highly honored by two political par- ties. As a Republican, he was governor of Illinois, and as aDemo- crathe served his country faithfully and well in the United States Senate. From the beginning until the time he left the Senate, in 1897, he was in the public service in one way or another almost continuously. He was State senator from 1852 to 1856, a presiden- tial elector in 1860, an officer during the war of the rebellion, governor of Illinois from 1869 to 1873, United States senator from 1891 to 1897, and presidential candidate of the "Gold" Dem- ocrats in 1896. He was one of that class of men whose robust character was aproduct of those environments and hardships peculiar to the pio- neer period in the West, which contributed to the shaping of many distinguished personalities who achieved high rank as leaders among men. He is spoken of as a man whose career from begin- ning to end was marked by a spirit of resolution, courage and endurance, which the hardships of his early life had no doubt engrafted into his character. If there is one lesson greater than another to be learned from his career, it is that "to be right is best," for he belonged to that small class of public men who would "rather be right than consistent."