The Labor enquirer., 1884-08-23
tLEyELANDS TREAD-nILI6
The gtrtarsd Hsre:C CT Dtiystswhdln
clstsl.ads vste calsssasa + Z, !,
iuc Lang Agony. " ~

being s6fsly disturbed BY the more or
less agonixing figure Of the driver. How
often have ! watched the contorticns d
his halfperalysed lees. Poor FELLOW
nov he win croM them, then he will ri
upon one ana che other alternately, nov
he viii brace them out, then he WIN
squeess them together. It Is only tue
Excitement 81 guiding the car thai ksepd
him pafdaily unconSaods 81 the AspKy
of his swelling veins Hs u ppof slAss,
hirea out to torture him51SK II Il upon I tire: tire:
less tread-mill On wheels. The inexora-
BILE laws of his physical being are cold
and merciless. an from ave to seven
years," says : leading physician Of New
York, "he is 4 doomed semi-cripple, and
the seeds Of fatal disease are, seated IN
his spinal column = = s. 8 S 's 4
! Upon my last visit to New York city I
one day took tho front seat of 4 Uniyer-
saity place car. I watched the dexterity
Of the driver With great interest and as
tonishment, With 4 nicely almost super
human he bored his way through the
thick phalanxes Of teams He cried out
at the needless urchins. He watched
descending passengers and looked fol
such as might want a ride. To guide q
pair Of horses through such chaos with
one hand and handle the neversresting
brake with the other looked like q won
derlwork TO me- The man was all life,
all eyes, ears and motion. He was q YER
table gal7anic battery. 81 sltssg aitt, ls,
At one spot however, we became
hopelessly Blocked III for the TIME Then
the poor fellow dropped upon the seat
and Uttered q sort Of moan at his lex.
haustion while lstroklng and pinching
his legs to see if there was any fife and
feeling left in them. 3 embraced this
moment TO say to him that his lot seemed
a hard one considering the great respons-
ibiiity andfhtigde imposed upon him,
You're right 1T ISL he responded
promptly, 9TH EN- that don'tS believe II
had better step on and try this racket
from fifteen to seventeen hours d day
for seven days in thesWeek: You would
not believe me. boss" he continued, hbut
I've got alittle seven weeks old chick at
that I haven't got d chance to b see But
twice since it was born, and that only
for u few minutes.' Now, I tell you tlat
if Iknew that little joker had got to
grow upItS be a cartdriver in New York
would sooner chuck him. tinder these
= Iitell you it's nothing but
willful murder to put man through
this" he exclaimed, as he aroseto force
ahead his car again t'l'kas. q is.tiit =.
An emine Mt professor Of medicine in
Philadelphia whose attention was called
to the frequent and lamentabIe brea king
down of car-drivers explained it by say
ing that the constant grayitation Of blood
and other fluids to the lover extremities
caused by the drivers standing with their
whole weight thrown upon the heels was
the general cause. The result is that
the perpetual jar and jolting Of the car
are transmitted by direct vibration
along the bones Of the leg and thigh to
the spinal column that rests on them.
In the first stage Of the resultant disease
the man becomes irritable and nervous
without intending it. A little later he
has pains IN the lumbar region and an
intolerable feeling of ,heaviness in the
legs. This is followed by congestion Of
the spinal cord, a species Of spino-pen-
ingitis which, though seldom fatal IN
ITSELF is sure to lead to maladies Of 3
serious and permanent nature I am
told that a large percentage Of car
drivers are obliged to wear bandages,
and that great majority Of them suffer
great pain from spinal irritation. What
is 1t, after all, but q species Of willful
murder on the part of these soulless and
greedy horse-railroad nonopolies to sub
ject men to such cruelty from fifteen to
seventeen hours day? "a 49, 7'ti : I
4 And yet it was upon this class Of
abused and slowiy.tortured men that
Grover Cleveland, the great champion Of
democracy, laid his cruel veto after both
branches Of ithetlegisfature Of New York
had almost unanimously voted to reduce
their hours of daily torture from fifteen
to twelve. / understand the reason
given by Governor Cleveland for this
abominable action was that in his view
the legislature had no right to interfere
with the terms Of contract agreed to by
individuals in their industrial relations,
that corporation created by
the legislature Is as distinct from an Or.
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