The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-03-09
BY COUNT TOLSTOI.


WRITTEN FOR THE SCSDAY REPUBLIC.
Here We have some great cast-iron works.
with a multitude OF immense smoking
chimneys, rafting chains and wheels. great
furnaces. railway tracks and a small town:
beautiful villas for owners and high off,
Gals. dirty. low cottages and abins for the
peop.e. In the factory and the nearby
mines laboring men swarm like ants. some
digging ore hundreds of feet below the sur
face. in dark. narrow, damp and dangerous
galleries, others .~cartins the metal o. dirt.
They work ten. twelve or fourteen hours.
from morn till night. or vice versa. They
work every week day.
The scene in the factory. where men are
wearing ont their lives. either In murder
Gus heat or in dampness (Which is just as
dangerous to life. or by overtaxing the
strength God gave them to use wisely. On
Saturday night they get their wages. wash
and fill up on poisonous liquor in the sa-
looms and taverns established near the
works to destroy them, their customers.
They swiIl all Saturday night and on Sun
day either continue their spree or sleep or
fight. or do both. On Monday morning
they begin anew.
Leaving the factory grounds and the
Chain Of nl-smelling saloons, We come
across peasants tilling a stranger soil with
the aid of miserable. hungy looking horses.
The men arise with the gun. unless they
spend the night looking after their cattle in
swamp lands. the helot's pasture, for which
they pay dearly in labor and health.
And We walk on Presto! the lowest kind
Of work people, assistants to road makers,
men who keep body and soul together by
breaking big stones into little ones. Their
feet are sore. their hands a mass Of horn
and dried blood. their whole body "a dirty
their face. their hair. their beard. their
lungs are filed with the limestone's muir
dercus dust. Like the peasants they as
euage their hunger with bread and water
or bread and fusil. according to the day Of
the week.
And this IL the lot OF the average fac
tory worker. miner. farmer and stone
breaker In most parts of the world. They
live as descibed from their earliest youth
until put under the soil. As to their moth
ers. sisters and wives, they work as hard
as the fathers, husbands. brothers and
sons. and get as little to eat. Likewise.
they suffer from professional illnesses
and female complaints.
Suddenly-sound of bells and clatter Of
boofs. A beautiful troika is comIng-the
sales price Of the least valuable of the
horses would buy the entire estates OF three
peasants in the carriage-two young girls
with picture hats and colored silk umbrel-
las shading their pretty faces You could
buy yonder peasants nag for the price Of
one umbrella. Opposite them q Lieutenant
in white linen uniform. fresh from the laun-
dry. Ah, how his gold buttons and Shout
der straps glisten in the sunlight! On the
box q doughty coachman, velvet coat. blue
elk shirt sleeves. coins and saints pictures
decorating his cap.
Can't you look out ?" he demands Of a
peasant driving ahead. The brute's whip
cracks dangerously near poor VANS ears.
The peasant grabs the line with one hand
and his cap with the other.
After the carriage a parcel OF bicyclists.
f&o young bloods and a lady. The peasant
women rum from them, crossing themselves.
From the nearby forest energies a noblema
riding an English stallion and u woman on
q dancing Arab. Her black hat with veil
cost more than the stonebreaker earns in
two months. The factory hand whistling
with Joy because he procured a job would
be glad to sellstweive weeks labor for the
price Of the nobleman's stick. But that
doesn't prevent him from admiring the fine
figures of the horses and their riders-and
the fat bellies OF their imported hounds.
cunning behind.
Now the carriage stops and the officer
Jumps out. "A thousand thanks says the
prettiest of the young ladies when he hands
In her favorite spaniel The poor thing
worked too hard-two miles running
wouldn't do for dear Caro-
IL.
The question suggests Itself. What crimes
did the factory hands, peasants and stone
breakers commit TO, warrant the awful pun
fshment they. are suffering? And. again:
What are the peculiar merits of the ladies
and gentlement driving and riding by that
they should have such a pleasant time
of it7
None that I can discover! Neither have
the work-peopie a right to complain of the
situation they find themselves In. because
pooiety approved It, adjudged 1t natural
and consequential Who is Society? Our
best, our most Christian men and women
belong to it-every civilized person swears
BY Il
Il an reporting conditions observed in