The evening times., 1895-11-06

The Times reporters have demon
strated beyond a doubt that there is
actual suffering among the families
OF the locked -out employees of the Ana
costa Street Railroad.
Charity in such cases as these is not
charity but is II Act ual hu ma nitarian
duty.
The Times asks for aid for these
suffering women and children. Any
contributions sent to The Times Will
be accounted for in the cOlums Of the
paper and turned over to the Street
Rail way Union, which Is already doing
Its best to relieve the needs of it's
members.
The Times starts the subscription
as follows:
{. G. Conn. ...............-....... $50 w
Great suffering is the almost invariable
consequence of struggle OF any sort between
capital and labor and this fact is exempli-
fled by the present condition OF the locked
out car drivers on the Anacostia road.
Since the action of President Griswold
in locking out the old employees and running
the cars with new men, the stikcss have
bttu III tht Htpt tIe tltN'hs
of Anacostia would bring the company TO
terms by refusing to patronize the road,
and their slender stock of money and sup
plies has long since been depleted.
Poverty, illness, and sometimes absolute
hunger have played sad havoc with the
little handful OF men who are resolutcly
standing up for what they believe TO be
their rights.
A Times reporter, accompanied by Pres
ident Thomas ] Lawrence, of the Street
Railway Protective Union, visited the
homes of number OF the men last night,
and found many with only a few pennies
between their families and starvation.
SICKNESS AMONG THEM.
Three severe cases of typhoid fever were
found, and nearly every man had sickness
of some kind in his family.
The first call was made on one OF the
drivers living near Sixteenth and X streets
southeast. Mr.. Lawrence knocked on the
door, and the approaching footballs clat-
tered and echoed along the bare floors and
walls of cold, cherries hall. The door
opened, and the drivers wife, her thin,
pinched face and sunken eyes denoting
nights of sleepleSsness and days OF patient
endurance, stood in the doorway.
Clinging TO her skirts were two little
girls, startled by the reverberating echoes
of the knock. Back through the gloomy
hall, every footstep sounding like kDell,
and into the stuffy little sitting room, where
the driver, just over bad illness, was
sitting.
In response to Mr. Lawrence's inquiries
he stated that he had only a couple of dol
lars left, and saw very little prospect OF
getting any more. He declared emphat-
ically, however, that he was firm in his in
tention to stand by the union and the men,
and stick out for living wages.
Across the Eastern Branch, in the heart
of Anacostia, the most distressing case OF
all is located. A driver with his aged
mother and wife occupy couple OF rooms
that were once pretty and cheerful, but
an atmosphere OF poverty and gloom has
robbed them of their attractiveness.
THEY HAVE TYPHOID.
The unpleasant odor of disinfectants
strikes one before the house is entered,
and lying on bed in the front room is the
driver, pale, wan and weak. suffering from
that dread malady, typhoid fever.
In the next room the wife is also lying
Ill, and the old mother plods patiently be-
tween the two, nursing and ch eering.
Their larder is as empty as their purse,
and but for the help of their neighbors their
earthly troubles would have been over
long since.
Further down in the town man. who was
once the most prosperous Of the drivers,
lives with his family Of four. The house is
they still have provisions,
but their money is exhausted and two fine
boys, one seventeen the other twelve. lie in
the same room suffering fromtyphoid fever.
The father has just recovered from a
spell of sickness, and is unable to do a
stroke of work.
With nearly all the men who have fami-
lies the circumstances are the same. Their
needs are great and pressing. and it is i'm
pera,ive that something be done to relieve
them.
The plans for the monster mass meeting
Friday night in Masonic Hall, Auacostia,
are now completed. The following promi.
ncnt labor representatives will speak:
General Worthy Foreman NJ. j. Bishop
and Thomas B. Mcclure, of the General
Executive Board, X. of l.; Rev. Alex Kent
President Tracy, and Vice President Far
rell, of Columbia Typographical Unio n. No.
101; Master Workman Simmons. President
Hyde, of the Bookbinders; A ndrew Best
of Il. A. 75, Brooklyn Street Railway As
sembly, and Samuel De Nedrey. Ali labor
organizations are invited to attend.