The Davis News (Davis, Okla.), Vol. 15, No. 3, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 3, 1908 Page: 4 of 8
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NOW BARREN
I /• fixr WILLARD
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FORbABOR.
which the west produces moving east
in the direction of Aberdeen, you
would have seen a bine-coated minion
of the law stalking along the passen-
ger depot spurting tobacco juice at
the station agent's dog, but to-day
even the dog is missing from the
scenery thereabouts.
Moving day started several months
and the freight train conductor,
known that the railway was t. buUd
a bridge which would take the busl
ness away from this town and allow
the building of a new city where the
river was spanned.
Appropriately the new town became
known as Mobridge and it is today
what Kvarts was several years ago, a
flourishing, hustling little burg with
everything ahead of its inhabitants
and whatever their past may have
been, is forgotten.
While Glenham received many of
the Evarts people with open arms, the
greater majority went to Mobridge,
for they declared they saw greater
possibilities there because business
could be more easily transferred fiom
Evarts to Mobridge.
So if you should happen to be in
the vicinity of Mobridge, ask the post-
master, the man at the wharf, the sta-
tion agent at the depot or almost any-
body the road to where Evarts once
was and take a jaunt down that way.
It's only a few miles south and when
you imagine what the little city once
was and what it is to-day, perhaps you
will be repaid for the stroll. Mo-
bridge is to-day a typical little west-
ern town where some one or other is
continually erecting a shack which he
and his family call home. Homes
NE line of accomplish-
ment in which the Unit-
ed States government
has gone ahead mightily
In recent years is in the
help that has been ren-
dered to the cause of la-
bor. Moreover the aid
that has been given to
the working classes of the coun-
try has not by any means been
confined to thoBe conspicuous services
with which the public Is familiar, such
as the settlement of the anthracite
coal strike, the enforcement of the
eight-hour day on government work
and the establishment of labor s own
branch of public service—the depart-
ment of commerce and labor.
Uncle Sam stands ready, of course,
to step Into the breach wherever oc-
casion demands In an effort to secure
a "square deal" and living wages for
the toiling masses but even when there
are no clouds on the horizon of the
relations between capital and labor
this paternal government Is busily en*
gaged with the problem of promoting
the welfare of those who labor with
hands or brain. A number of differ-
ent branches of the government are
contributing to this policy but 111 the
main the work devolves upon the bu-
reau of labor at Washington, which Is,
In effect, the labor division of the de-
partment of commerce and labor.
Newspaper readers hear of the bu-
reau of labor when its head, the com-
missioner of labor, Bteps in and at-
tempts to arbitrate some strike or
threatened strike, as for Instance the
recent difficulties of the telegraphers
of the country, but there Is not ono
citizen in a thousand who has any
Idea of the scope of the everyday work
of the bureau in acquiring and dlffus
Ing useful Information on subjects con-
nected with labor In the most general
and most comprehensive sense of that
word.
% £oug ti
A dream la on the people.
A light, not flame light, falls
Upon groat broken faces,
These ruined human wans,
And at the roaster moment
Beyond, the soul breaks sod.
And angels in the heart's cor«
glng gloriously of God.
♦♦♦♦
In deeds that make men brothers.
In acts that give us soul,
Those destinies are hidden
That sweep us to the goal,
But we, as gods, are dreamers.
And we, as angels, dream,
We little apes with visions
That are not what we seem!
a bearing on labor interests in ^ an-
keedom it is promptly brought to the
attention of the people concerned.
Fourthly, the bureau fulfills its func-
tion as public servitor by publishing
and sending broadcast all new laws
that are passed afTecting the interests
of the working people. No matter
whether a law be passed by the nation-
al congress or by the legislature in
some one of our two score states it
is no sooner on the statute books than
the labor bureau sends the tidings to
the toilers who will be affected. Final-
ly there is a similar system for the
distribution of news relative to court
decisions interpreting labor laws or
other happenings affecting the rela-
tions of employer and employe.
Most Interesting and most important
of the undertakings of the bureau of
labor are the special investigations
conducted by its own experts. These
.lave covered a very wide range of
subjects. It is. of course, impossible
to enumerate them at length but just
convey an idea of the fields that
have been explored there may l>e cit-
ed such subjects as industrial commu-
nities at home and abroad; co-opera-
tive distribution; railway relief de
partments; the padrone system; con
ditions of negro workers; building and
loan associations; the inspection of
factories and workshops; the trade-
union label; protection of workingmen
in their employment; child labor in the
United States; wages and cost of llv
ing, etc.
O heart of Man. what glories
Havo never come to pass,
The dream that never wakened,
The love that never was—
The good, the great, the labor—
O save the ways half-trod
Our lives flow on corrupted
Into the life of God.
If. gnzing on dead faces.
Our grief is too, too wild,
If hearts of tender mothers
Are broken on a ehild,
O what might be that anguish
In God. who sees unfurled
Man's evils, for His creature
Is child of all th« world!
♦♦♦♦
O draggled souls. O demons,
O human sharks and snake®,
Free fight of savage devils,
O beast that In us wakes,
Ve, drunk with teeming power.
Have shaken the firm earth
Until her heart is rotten
And lost to love and mirth.
But One has seen our wlldness
And over us is shed . . .
Dreams, that lead forth our labor
Ghosts, that divulge our dead,
A pity, that is saving.
The tears that make us pure,
And love, that in great hours
To God shall make us sure.
♦♦♦♦
Yea, what shall bring the morning
Of dreams that rush in deed.
The Workshop thronged with Workmen
Handling the living need?
O sweat of brow scarce-purposed
In a never dreamed of quest!
O hearts that never tire!
O hands that never rest!
A
999
MERICAN towns and cities,
especially in the west, spring
up in a night and generally
they flourish and develop
with each year. Evarts, sit-
uated on the Missouri river
in the north-central part of South Da
kota, was no exception to the rule In
its early life, but to-day if you should
happen to paddie up the Missouri past
where the waters of the Moreau enter,
the first thought that would enter
your mind when you struck the former
site of Evarts, would be that a cyclone
had wiped out the place.
However, such is not the case.
Evarts is now only a western plain
and this by its own volition. Only a
few weeks ago Evarts was the big-
gest cattle-shipping center of the
United States To-day there is no
Evarts. There is not even a railroad
track; the big shipping depot lias
been torn down, here and there a
splinter left when the buildings were
taken away, tells the tale of a once-
flourishing city.
And the whole reason for the people
of Evarts getting out of their chosen
town was because the railroad wanted
to find a suitable spot on the Missouri
river to build a bridge. The railway
officials were extending their lino to
i he coast and the worst obstacle in the
path of the gigantic enterprise was
to find a place to hang the bridge.
Eventually the engineers settled upon
a site several miles north of Evarts
and at that point a flourishing town,
known as Mobridge sprang up Evarts
people were offered any site for their
town that they might select along the
extension.
Then the exodus b">gan. Husky cat-
tlemen hitched horses and oxen to
their houses and barns, some tore the
edifices down, and they were hauled
across the prairie, much like the
schooners of 49 fame. Glenham and
Mobridge, the latter's name being a
contraction of the words Missouri
bridge, received most of the Evarts
people. When everybody had left, the
railroad tore down Its depot, great
gangs of men jerked the tracks from
their cedar ties and the short line
from Aberdeen was a thing of the
past.
Across the barren plains between
Aberdeen and Evarts millions upon
millions of cattle of every description
had been carted in great long freight
cars to be eventually disposed of in
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis. New
York, ituffalo and In fact all of the
big eastern maris of trade. On August
1, 1908, came the official ending of the
town. All its books were closed on
that date; its employes were officially
dismissed then and their salaries to
that time were paid them, although
most of the public officials and their
families had left Evarts several weeks,
some of them months before.
The casual observer, perhaps in a
launch may go up to the landing at
the center of the town and there tie
his craft for a tour of inspection, but
his efforts to unearth the mysterious
about what was once Evarts will be
fruitless, for everything of any value
whatsoever has been carried away
and scarcely a stick of wood was left
by the economical natives, who now
call themselves citizens of other
South Dakota villages.
Scores of towns have suffered the
same experience which befell Evarts,
but the latter's passage to oblivion
was perhaps more sudden, more spec-
tacular and more regretted than any
which have got into the public prints
in a decade or more.
If you had "happened" into Evarts
two years ago and then dropped a few
days ago you would pinch yourself
twice to see if you were awake. This
by reason of the contrast. Two years
ago you would have seen roughly clad
cattlemen hurrying hither and thither,
engines puffing along the sidetracks,
trainloads of some of the best cattle
leaving with the last load of live cat- I spr|ng up in the night and when their
tie which was to pass out of this | owners grow tired of them they are
typical American city, was almost elther soid for fire wood or some one,
' — perhaps poorer, accepts them for A
moved to tears as he stood on the .
rear platform of his caboose when the
train reached a rise in the plain and
looked back upon the town which had
been his "hang-out" since he entered
the employment of the road.
The writer, making a quick trip
from Evarts to Aberdeen, was loung-
ing in the caboose. The sight became
unbearable to the railroad man and
he re-entered the trainman's apart-
ments. "I've seen that there burg grow-
up from the time when ole Jess Atkins
lived in a shanty down by the river
just south o' town and owned six head
o' cattle. There warn't no spur from
Aberdeen then." he soliloquized, "but
Jess used to drive his cows across the
prairie to where the river jines the
Moreau and there they'd ferry the hull
outfit across for a couple o' dollars.
Then he'd have a nice long ride to
Aberdeen.
"Once when Jess' wife and darters
came down to live with him. the ole
man was ketched by some rustlers
from up north and they stole his
ponv, cows and money. Jess hail to
hoof It back to his shack. Well,
sence thet time y'd be s'prlsed how
the place has growed. I was on a river
sldewheeler then. I was the pilot.
Well, pretty soon Evarts was boomed
and all us young cubs got the fever
to stake off a hit o- land and set up In
some kind o' blzness, we didn't care
much what and we didn't know what
it'd turn out to be when we staked.
"Well, finally I accepted a loocra-
tive job as brakle on this line and live
years ago I got permoted to con-
ductor. 1 ain't goin' to suffer, whom-
soever, as they've give me a job doln'
th' same thing from Oakes to Aber-
deen when I get through with this
trip."
And the conductor is not a ro-
mancer, but his feelings were echoed
through the western air and in every
home in Evarts when It became
small sum.
Western hospitality, a tradition,
which Is told In fiction works and
which actually exists. Is one of the
first themes of Mobridge and the
stranger, poor or wealthy, is just as
sure of welcome under Mobridge roofs
as he would be under Ills own. Of
course there are cattle rustlers In
that part of South Dakota, but thanks
to real western cow tactics, they are
few. Vigilance committees have made
stealing cattle such a hazardous
method of ekelng out a living that few
care to risk their health In that man-
ner.
Money In Apple Orchards.
Tasmania has long been known as
the apple land of the south, but few at
home have any real Idea of the money
that can be made, and Is being made,
out of apple growing In that Island.
Last year, for Instance, there were
many small orchards in the south
which returned as much as 1,200 bush-
els to the acre, and one owner of four
acres, who picked over 4,000 bushels
of marketable fruit, which he sold at
four shillings a bushel, reaped a groBS
return of £800. As his expenses at
the outside would not be more than
£100, his profit an acre worked out
at something like £175, Of course,
tills was an extreme case, but or-
chards of 20 acres and upward aver-
aged full 500 bushels an acre, and
yielded a clear net profit of quite
£1,600 in each case. The area actu-
ally planted at the present time In do-
mestic and commercial orchards is
about 20,000 acres, and upward of half
a million cases of apples were ex-
ported to this country last year.—Bri-
tannia.
Is Doing Good Work.
By means of an energetic "field
force" and a capable corps of experts
in the home office at Washington this
branch of the government is continu-
ally Investigating In all parts of the
country such subjects as the relations
of capital and labor, the hours of la-
bor, the earnings of laboring men and
women, and other similarly fruitful
""topics. What is more, this public In-
stitution is continually striving to pro-
mote the material, social, intellectual
and moral prosperity of the workers.
Of course these government scouts in
the labor field cannot work in a rut.
Indeed the force Is so mobile and the
ndlvldual workers so versatile that
vlien a serious dispute arises between
employers and employes or there Is a
controversy such as that some time
ago regarding conditions in the meat
packing industry all other work at the
bureau can be dropped and all hands
concentrate their attention upon the
causes and facts of the crisis of the
moment.
The late Senator Hoar of Massachu-
setts is perhaps entitled to be con-
sidered the father of the movement to
have Uncle Sam systematically aid
the cause of labor. It was in 1871 that
Mr. Hoar, then a member of the Unit-
ed States house of representatives. In-
troduced a bill providing for the ap-
pointment of a commission to study
the subject of wages and hours of
labor and the division of profits be-
tween labor and capital in the United
States. The bill did not pass but the
ball had been started rolling and final-
ly after much agitation congress ill
1884 made provision for a bureau of
labor as a part of the Interior depart-
ment. When the department of com-
merce and labor was organized In 1903
the bureau of labor was taken under
Its wing as one of its principal
branches.
Deals Only In Facts.
In the earlier years of the work peo-
ple did not, In many Instances, take
kindly to the Idea of having their pri-
vate affairs probed for the benefit of
the public, but latterly this spirit has
largely disappeared. Nowadays if the
special agents of the bureau of labor
are refused information by one manu-
facturer they usually have no difficulty
in discovering some other establish-
ment where the needed data may be
obtained. The government labor ex-
perts have won confidence by never
allowing the names of parties furnish-
ing facts to be given in Its reports, al-
though, to be sure, they take every
possible means to verify all the Infor-
mation' gathered. The bureau will
have nothing to do with estimates or
hearsay statements about labor con-
ditions. It never makes any state-
ments unless It has positive facts to
back them up.
At the outset the government labor
experts thought that they could carry
on their Investigations largely by mail,
but it was soon found that few people
would respond satisfactorily to queries
thus transmitted and so the bureau of
labor had to organize a corps of spe-
cial agents who are continually "on
the wing" securing information at first
hand and recording it on carefully pre-
pared schedules. The policy of the
bureau of labor in looking into labor
conditions and the problems of life
affecting the working people Is seldom
if ever to argue a point. It simply
secures all the facts In the case and
then lets the intelligent labor man de-
cide what is best for him from the in-
formation set out for his benefit. The
bureau of labor Is particularly fortu-
nate in its directing heads. The com-
missioner of labor, Dr. Charles P.
Neill, formerly one of the faculty of
the Catholic university at Washington,
is a man who has a wonderful faculty
for clear-sighted investigation and^ the
chief clerk of the bureau. Mr. G. W. W.
Hanger, has been fitted by long experi-
ence for work In behalf of the cause
of labor.
Trade Agreement
THE greatest thing accomplished by
trade and labor unions since the
first Labor day, in my opinion, is the
settled conviction that the tollers of
our country can best conserve their in-
dustrial interests by the application
of well regulated trade unionism.
The great trade associations of our
country have been to the commerce of
North America, through the applica-
tion of the trade agreement with its
pacific purposes, what the Declaration
of Independence was to the body poli-
tic in these United States. It also pro-
vides for the logical settlement by
conference or arbitration of disputes
which heretofore were only settled by
the cold-blooded logic of force. The
discipline and effectiveness of trado
unionism, and, as a result, the opera-
tion of the collective bargain or trade
agreement, is the greatest thing ac-
complished by trade associations since
the first Labor day.
What Is the next step for the unions?
The next step for those who have not
already taken it is to make thorough
preparation and arrangement for the
full introduction of the eight-hour
work day in all Industrial and agricul-
tural pursuits. Given more leisure
from the drudgery of toll, the working
man or woman will seek and secure
opportunity for the mental betterment
which will make them happier men
and women, better citizens, more
clever, prompt and alert producers; it
will cause them to look for better con-
ditions of life, all of ^hich are enno-
bling and will tend to the supremacy
of the nation which gives the best op-
portunities along this line. James
Duncan, Secretary-Treasurer of the
Granite Cutters' International Associa-
tion of America.
Hong-Kong's Fine Harbor,
The Hong Kong harbor has a water
area of ten mileB, and is regarded as
one of the finest in the world.
OXYGKN USED TO CUT STEEL
Little or No Finishing Required After
the Operation.
A stream of oxygen Is the knife that
cpts metals. The operation is per-
formed by means of a blowpipe with
two nozzles, of which the first delivers
ai Ignited jet of mixed oxygen and
hydrogen, and Iho second Is a stream
of pure oxygen. The pressure, is reg-
ulated by a gauge attached to the o y
gen tank. The oxygen hydrogen flame
and the stream of oxygen strike the
same part of the metal, which, after
being heated by the fame, Is rapidly
cut. or rather burned through by the
oxygen, the temperature being raised
to 1.300 or 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit
by the combustion of the metal. The
cut Is as smooth as a sheared cut and
requires little or no finishing. Armor
plates can bo cut In one-twentieth the
time required for mechanical cutting,
and the sharply localized heating prob-
ably causes leas strain than punching
and shearing develop. If oxygen costs
two cents and hydrogen two thirds of
a cent per cubic foot, the cost of cut-
ting an iron plate four-fifths of an Inch
thick is about seven cents per running
foot, or about half the cost of mechan-
ical cutting. Special machines are
constructed for cutting various ob-
jects. Finally there is a universal ma-
chine, which can be arranged to make
curved and polygonal cuts of any pat-
tern In addition to the simpler cuts
effected lv the other machines. A
special form of this universal machine
Is exceedingly useful In taking apart
machinery and steel buildings. It op-
erates by cutting oft the heads of the
rivets, which are then easily driven
out.
Powers of Commissioner.
Congress has conferred pretty broad
powers upon the commissioner of la-
bor. He can undertake at his discre-
tion any Investigation which in his
judgment relates to the welfare of the
working people of the country and he
can employ In this quest for Informa-
tion all the means at his disposal and
the corps of statistical experts, Bpeclal
agents, clerks, etc., carried on the pay-
roll of the bureau of labor. Uncle
Sam's labor commissioner may, If he
choose, simply make a report to con-
gress once a year on his Investigations
but of late years special reports have
been Issued monthly or even oftener,
and on a number of occasions the
president has called upon the commis-
sioner of labor to make special inquiry
In some field and communicate his
findings as quickly as possible.
The bureau of labor Is in reality a
great "Intelligence office" that pours
out information through four different
channels. The first of these is made
up of the results of original Investiga-
tions conducted by the bureau or its
agents and experts. Secondly the la-
bor bureau gives the whole country a
digest of state labor reports, thus
bringing to the attention of the gen-
eral public many matters relating to
conditions in the different stateB of the
union that might not otherwise become
matters of common knowledge,
Employment Bureau.
Uncle Sam has also Inaugurated an-
other aid to labor In the form of the
largest employment bureau in the
world. This Is an adjunct of the bu
reau of Immigration, and Is In charge
of Terence V. Powderly, at one time
a recognized leader of union labor
throughout the country. It Is the func-
tion of this new bureau to Inquire as
to the facts about the reported demand
for labor in all parts,of Ihe country
Mr. Powderly has opened correspond-
ence with responsible officers In ev«y
state In the union concerning the need
for labor and the opportunities for em-
ployment in each state and when any
workingman desires to make a change
of location all he has to do is to in-
quire of Uncle Sam as to the prospects
in any section in which he would like
to find employment.
EIGHT-HOUR SONG.
Greater Equity
THE eight-hour day Is the greatest
achievement of unionism, but the
original intention was not that men
should make over-time, but that more
men should be employed.
In the making of contracts for con-
struction work on buildings, etc., em-
ployers figuring on the cost of labor
usually consider the wage question as
the most important. The strong unions
numerically generally succeed in ob-
taining about as high wages as they
demand. This does not leave a large
amount of money to be distributed in
wages by the sub contractors on the
job, who have to figure pretty closely
In order to come out ahead financially.
The result Is that the smaller and
weaker unions cannot obtain as high
wages as their fellow-workers in the
larger unions, who were provided for
first.
In my opinion, one of the most im-
portant things to be accomplished by
the labor unions is to establish a more
equitable distribution of wages to all
workmen employed on contract work,
with due consideration to the contrac-
tor,—Jeremiah J. Donovan, President
Boston Building Trades Council.
Hss Wide Scope.
Thirdly, this bureau of labor Infor-
mation reviews exhaustively for the
People Eating Less Meat.
Sanltarlanism, or half vegetarian-
ism, has gained many converts since benefit of lis millions of American eli
Minister Wu coined the new word. entg thn labor an(j statistical docu-
The theory of the stomach's being the Inents Qf an foreign countries and
seat -of all diseases is banishing meat wt(;u anything is discovered that has
from the bill of fare of many homes,
Eight hours work, that none may shirk
Their duty for each day;
Eight hours for rest, that each may
best
Earn well his weekly pay.
For leisure eight, that up-to-date
Our brain and brawn may be;
Six days a week, a day to seek
God and Eternity.
(SHsHS)
Aye let us sing, with a merry ring
This eight-eight, all three
For work and rest, and leisure best;
For cheer of family.
All around the earth let there be no
dearth
Of loving brotherhood
Then blessed by God, on every sod
Comes a glad motherhood.
(SHsHs)
When work Is done by setting sun
We homeward make our way.
Bee, on the run the children come
For "Here comes dad," they say.
"There's mother, dear, with face all
cheer;
She's looking, too, for pay—
A kiss, so Bweet, a sweetheart treat-
Home's best place, any day."
•-Rev. C. L. Thurgofel.
Child Sufferers
THE child labor in America should
fill us with shame aud pity. There
are 1,700,000 boys and girls in the
United States under 16, earning their
own bread. Of these 80,000, mostly
girls, are employed In the textile mills.
Thousands of children, many of them
not more than six or seven years o£
age, are working 12 hours a day; mul-
titudes of them through the long hour*
of the night. These children live an
average of but four years after they,
enter the damp, dusty, noisy mills.
And all this In our rich, free, great
America. These little martyrs toll for.
a pittance to swell the dividends of the
stockholders who live in ease and lux-
ury. Not even heathen nations have
cast the burdens of life upon the lit*
tie children. Only In Christian na.
tlons do we throw these innocent, help-
less children into the factories to grind
them up body and soul Into dividends
aud dollars—Exchange.
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The Davis News (Davis, Okla.), Vol. 15, No. 3, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 3, 1908, newspaper, September 3, 1908; Davis, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc139528/m1/4/?q=no+child+left+behind: accessed July 4, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.