The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-03-28


princeton graduate. gentleman born
and bred. iaft the university to go out
in the woria and make his way like a
commou day laborer and eat his bread
by the sweat of his brow and write his
Impressions of the life for scribner's
Magazine. the experiment was treated
seriously for the most part as one
worthy the researches of the earnest
student Of economical and sociological
conditions in the United States but
there were some who ieered and scoffed
Ht the scholar and gentleman who
thought that by putting on a jumper
Hud oNeralis and living the laborer's
lire Cor six months out of all the years
OF luxurious and pampered youth he
could arrive at the laborer's point of
7leE. realize his moral and spiritual
condition and experience his joys and
Forr0Ws. some one said when The
Workers" was first published that Wal
ter WyCkon was Il We'll meaning gem
t.emeu who had just found out that
there were people in the world who
struggled and labored for bare living
and that he was carrying the news into
ali The ends Of the earth as q wonderful
and startling discovery
--The Woman Who Tolls by Mrs
john Van Worst and Miss Marie Van
Worst which was partly published IN
1-reryhCdy's Magazine and now APP
pears in book form from the press oil
doubleday. Page & Co, has met with
somewhat similar reception There pc
Chose who are inclined to mock at the
authors of The book as impractical re-
formers. foolish sentimentaHsts and all
tile ether terms of cppronrium COM
monty applied to people who are not
satisfied with things as they are anu
instead OF being coutented with the
gospel of ignoble ease strive 20 nnu
fhe better way. Tt can not be- pretenH-
al that the Van Norsts and the Wyck-
crz who voluntarily assume the gatp
and HHe the life of the laboring classes
faf 4 few brief months as an eNpe-l-
1snt arc ever able 70 put themselves
entirely in the position of working men
and women
rhev are widely separated from the
class they have temporarily adopted 4ol
tne5r own hy both their past and tneir
fatlr- Their birth. education and ira
CHfous give them az once advantages
ana Iisa dvssata ges over their compan~
lsre been born and brought uD to thelf
DUH driven lives and are undoubtedly
daadened 10 many Of the harasnlps
vrtch they endure. while Lhe toiLll1r
have I'M the midst Of their worst surfer
izs the knowledge that il is merely
e. passing experience the horrible night
mare Oh "a few months at worst But
such experiments are none the less vail
uanla and creditable to the student VINO
makes Them Many who beuttle the
. difleulties and the disag reea bleness OF
fuen an experience could not be per
suadad to- try it themselves. Mrs. Van
Worst and Miss Van Worst are ladies
born and bred. They belong TO the
class 30 which the leXuries are necesst-
tls-
llfss Van Worst I'm the introduction
u her story Of life as a factory girl In
LINN. Mass states that among the
garments she laid off We're a $40 hat. a
$500 sealskin cloak. a $3.50 gown. a $50
siE unlersllrt. g gloves and $50 un.
q hat and
gloves "a Si95 shirt waist a SO jacket.
g. ssirt and 81 underwear She took the
name ~ Ben Ballard. and going 70
-.lrn worked successfully as a ydmper
ana cleaner in two OF the large shoe
factories. She lived in factory board
iz house and entered as fully as pos
si-te -nto the lives of the other factory
names ffQln Lynn she Went 70 South
Carolina. where she studied the life of
the cotton mills from the point of view
or the laborer. and this chapter. in
N1lc1 the duh and hopeless horror OF
-fes NL tle southern mill hands IS
leL-.le1 with painful NiViduess. is per-
faus the best in the book The last
t-trter IS plea for the little children
e.as ea "a the southern mills. and has
L,l rreiifed with having had much lc
o. H-rn the passage of the bin bv the
south Carolina legislature prohibiting
tas employment of children under ten
years az age Miss Van Worst urges
however. and with most evident Justice
taa- Ten sears is a barbarous limit to
l-t upon the age Of the factory child
s.a sn4 cites other states Georgia and
alabama, I'M which not even so humane
-" -s the new one which South Car
cIinA boasts has place upon the
statute books
MIS- Van Norsts experiences were
der ana more varied than those Of
COZ .aoorator. AS Esther Kelly
sne worked successfully ia a pickle fac
Lrt ln Fi-tshurg. in a shirt factory in
4eII4. NeW York I'm clothing factory