The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-09-10
STOPS HIS STREET GAR
TO SAVE sPARR0Ws LIFE
Chicago Street Car Motorman
Performs Unique Act Of
Humanity.
Writer Daaws a Comparison
thaeapitalistic Condi-
tions of Today.
From Chicago Socialist

From Chicago Socialist
ITO save the life of one weak little
sparrow that had flown too early from
its nest, James Murphy, g. conductor on
car number 1919 on the Evanston line,
stopped his car; loaded with passengers
yesterday afternoon. and saw to it that
the little bird was moved from the rail
to place of safety, while a. hundred
people watched his act Of humanity.
Nobody minded the delay and when
Murphy, who Is six feet tall, again took
his place on the car, murnur Of ap-
proval ran through the crowd"
The above touching little news item
appeared In the daily papers last Fri
day morning. When read it vision
of great souled teacher standing be-
fore critical audience passed before
two sparrows sold for q farthtng and
yet not one OF them shall fall to the
ground without notice. etc.
The picture enlarged.
Then appeared the weak little SPAR
row that had flown too early from it's
nest-Murphy, the strong, weatherbeat-
en-, kind-hearteds3 generous natured
grip1nan; the car full of passengers that
had their better natures stirred by one
little act Of humanity; weak little
sparrow's life had been saved.
Then the scene changed. I saw the
great street car OF Commercialism
moving rapidly along the rails of econ
omic development: It was in control
of a great giant gripnlan whose name
was material interest. The car was
loaded with people on whose faces the
marks and lines OF competition were
deeply furrowed; they were nervous and
IN hurry; the car rounded the corner
known as change in the mode of pro-
ductlon without even stacking its terri
f1c speed. AS the corner was turned a
fearful sight presented itself to those
who were not too much occupied with
their material interests to see what was
going on. On the rails Of the line Of
economic development were hundreds
Of thousands of little weak children
who had been forced out of their nests
too early. A few Of the passengers who
were not entirely blinded and orazed
by competition called to the gripman
to stop the car long enough to remove
the helpless children from the rails;
but. the grtpman paid no attention. :. on,
On, he drove the car: o1l Y once dzd ne
deign to offer any explanation for his
apparent brutality. He said that II he
stopped his car it would do no good, for
just behind him was his >dealy conpe-
tttor, who, If he stopped would simply
run into him, crush his car, sweep him
to one side Of the track and kill, crush
and mangle the babies anyway. He
said he was very sorry but he must
| obey the orders of the Manchester
Economists who were the directors Of
the company which owned the reoad.
There was some protest from g few
individuals mostly women and some
weak men with white hands and neck
ties dressed In peculiarly cut black
| clothes. The weak looking men at first
made some protest. They appeared to
have kind hearts and professed to be
diciples Of the Great Teacher who was
executed in Jerusalem many years ago;
I mean the one who spoke Of the SPAR
! rows; but just as soon as one of them
succeeded in arousing the slightest bit
of Indignation among the passengers,
one or another of the directors of the
company (Which we found out after
wards) paid for their neckties and black
clothes, and fed them 80 that their
hands might be white. gave them q
hint that if they hoped to continue their
life Of ease they had better direct their
energies to tickling the ears of the d.
rectors Of the company. And with very
few exceptions the nice gentlemen took
the hint. The car rushed on The chill
dren were left On the track of economic
development, deformed and ruined for
life. I asked serious looking man
who had a red button on his coat If
there was no way to stop the awful
destruction of young life. He said there
was, but It could only be done by TAX
ing the management Of the road out of
the hands Of the Manchester Company
who run it for profit. He told me that
even crushing the lives out Of weak
| little helpless children for profit was
part Of the creed of the Manchester
Company.
| He put his hand in his pocket and
drew out a. small pamphlet entitled.
What working mems votes can do"
written by Ben Manford, printer, and
! handed 1t to ma saying as he did so,
Read that, it may throw some light on
! the subject