davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

they waste their efforts and scatter
their savings until there is nothing
left for old age?
Surely the condition of the banks in
the State, especially Of the savings
banks, does not suggest the latter con-
clusion. One had but to watch the
string of relatively aged depositors
during the run on the Hibernia Bank
in this city recently to realize that
saving up for old age" and then really
having something when old age comes
is not forgotten principle on the. Pa
cihc Coast
Perhaps il is the rowing condition of
large numbers Of the inhabitants. Yet
the argument against this conclusion is
that no other of the pioneer States.
where the mines create a fargo class of
rowing prospectors and the like, has so
large a percentage of paupers save
Utah. And in Utah, with double the
percentage Of San Francisco, the cause
is obviously in the comparatively low
grade of inhabitants with which the
community was built up in the early
days OF Brigham Young and Nor
monism.
Possibly the university professors,
whose skill has recently devised us a
taxation scheme which is something
else than potpourri of legislative
fancies, experiments and favoritisms
whose ingenuity mas lOunu out now to
culture our wines, to make our hens
lay, to exterminate grasshoppers and
10 register~ou thoughts by machinery.
will tackle this problem some of these
days and point the way out. But for
the present the whole thing looks
mysterious.
If California were trust-ridden or
Wall-street-r ridden, or had a Packing
town ard a Halsted street, six little
sorT t-l,n
other social paraphernalia of the most
completely developed stage of modern
civilization, it would be easier TO un-
derstand things. Then Upton Sinclair
could come among us, buy up a Hell
con Hail." engage our university grad
uates as chefs and chambermaids and
laundry ladies, and help us to better
times. But under the existing circum-
stances
Well. bother the circumstances. Well
get over them somehow California
has had a fire and it has had a Ruef,
and il is getting over both OF these.
So, one has right to hope even about
pauperism. Besides, If the problem
gets a little too tough for US, there is
the whole nation to fall back on: for
the problem of pauperism is NATIONAL
If anything is national-and the nation
has been gradually getting the better
of it.
Twenty-six years ago there were 132
almshouse inmates to every 1905 ,0Og OF
Inhabitants. Sixteen years ago this
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

Hampshire. where there are 26S to ev-
cry 100000 of population. Perhaps it
is merely the kinship between impov-
erished soil and impoverished purse
for New Hampshire notoriously passed
the zenith of its agricultural productiv-
ity long since and now subsists very
largely upon its water power, its man
ufactures and it's summer boarders. 1t
cannot be expected to be prolific of
wealth for its individual citizens. Nor,
as it happens, does it couple up prog
ress" and poverty" in the way of Hen
ry Georges argument, unless, forsooth,
il be true that the pauperism of the
State is proportionate to. the large
amount of extensive land ownership
by big holders. New Hampshire has
been falling mere and more into the
hands of the American barons of late,
who take to it's mountains and its COM
parative isolation as an ideal place for
ranges and preserves, but this evolu-
tion has only been within the last five
or ten years. whereas within this same
period New Hampshire has made quite
as notable a conquest of its poverty
problem as has any other State.
In the States where, under all
natural laws. the greatest percentage
of indigency would be expected to ex-
list, the percentage is actually below
that of such States as New Hampshire,
connecticut, MASSACHUSETTS ana DCia-
ware In New York, for instance
where the influx of impoverished for
eigners is incessant. the number of
almshouse inmates bears the relation
of only 139 to the hundred thousand.
as against 213 in Connecticut and 1877
in Massachusetts. Furthermore, the per-
centage has declined from III in 1900,
while in Connecticut it has increased
from 1872. In fact. the Empire State
is probably the best exemplar in the
Union of the way to grappl with and
master the pauperism difficulties BY
means Of organized charities of the
most vast scope. by the intensely prae-
tical operations of its various social
settlements, and by the systematic
methods of administration of the aims
houses themselves, 1T diverts the
stream of humanity from the pitiable
deneurnon of the poorhouse to the
better end of life at home. and of sup
port by improved and more ambitious
children.
Despite the sweatshop, despite the
deadly grip of consumption and other
ravaging diseases, despite the colossal
discomfort and filth of tenement living.
the New Yorker seems to be able to
keep up the self-respect of his fellow
citizens and to prevent their decline
into Indulgence and impotence.
And the same story obtains in Chi
cago where the percentage of pauper-
ism is even less. and where the de-
cline since 1890 has been extraordinary.
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

number had been brought down tC
10 At the end of 1903, when the Gov.
ernment last finished it's summaries
the number was down to 101. This
is decrease of almost 25 per cent il
little over twenty-five years
In other words the situation through
out the United States has been getting
better at the rate. approximately, OF
l per cent per year.
And the Improvement is particularly
true OF what may be called the Interior
States-that is, of those which do not
border or lie near to the ocean. IN what
is called the north central division
which includes such States as Ohio In
diana, Illinois. Iowa. Missouri and their
immediate neighbors, the percentage
decreased IA to every 100000 in the
the south central division, embracing
Kentucky. Tennessee. Alabama Okla
homa and Arkansas. it declined in the
same period from 46 to AZ, thus sug-
gesting the inference that pauperism
and the floating population which ex-
lists, most naturally, in communities
beside or near TO the ocean are very
closely related. Wherever the Amer
ican people, with a fixed population,
are left to handle their own problems
without the admixture of too many for
eigners they manage to obtain a
mastery of the difficulties attending in
digence. Even where they have the
alleged laziness OF the negro to wrestle
with they do better than where they
have immigrants from Europe, as is
shown by the fact that percentage had
fallen In the South Atlantic division,
which involves the Virginias. the Caro-
linas. Georgia and Florida, from 81 to
every 100000 in 1900 to 75 in 1903.
The negro it seems, though his toes
may stick through his shoes and the
legs of his dozen and one babes be
barer than the hide of Mexican dog,
does not frequent the house of the in
digent. Perhaps the pilfered chicken
and the gratuitous cast-offs of the gem
erous whites suffice to take the place
of more formal public aid. But at any
rate he seems to prefer TO exc it out
with poverty and poverty's pittance
under the roof of his own shack than
under the restraints and regulations of
the county poorhouse. So, family pride
being large and social homogencity
being great south of Mason and Dixon S
line, the poverty problem is less there
than in almost any other section of the
country The almshouses are poorly
equipped, relatively few counties have
them, and when equipped they are IL
literally utilized. Pauperism has not
yet become habit
Singularly enough, among the North
ern seacoast States the one which has
the largest percentage of INDECENT is
the old and honorable State of New
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

The Windy City is, in it's way, the
center of the most original and de-
termined of modern sociological work
It's noted Hull House, guided by the
genius of Jane Adams. was one Of the
first to introduce sanity into the
method of dealing with and relieving
the poor; and the Salvation Army has
nowhere else found the scope and
effectiveness for its work that it has
found in the slums of this swift,
grinding metropolis. Under the lead
ership of such factors the public gen
orally has given with liberality, both
from its purse and from it's energies,
to the poverty problem. The result is
that Illinois percentage of poorhouse
inmates is only los to the hundred
thousand, against 1S9 in New York
Where the problem of pauperism
really begins is not so easy to deter
mine as might be thought at first
glance. For the ages of the inmates
vary from childhood to the oldest
impoverished condition have not yet
been gathered. More than 1000 chill
dren under years of age are in the
various institutions throughout the
country, and more than per cent of
the. total number of inmates are not
over "a years of age. In fact. the
disaster of being broke and of being
able TO rise above the condition seems
to hit persons at almost any old time.
1t does strike in old age the most
frequently. of course, running the total
percentage of poorhouse inmates Of
age from so to 81 to 10 per cent of
the country's aggregate. But it be-
gins to strike with amazing hardness
at the comparatively young age of
40-the Osler limit. Go past this
line, and the number of inmates sud
denly jumps to a total upward Of
10000, so that by the time you run
over the figures of the ages up to 60
you have 81 per cent of all the indi-
gents in the American public insti-
tions.
Some enterprising student, thought
full and sympathetic, will some day
make it his occupation to enter the
aInshouse and study out the tales of
the various persons who occupy them,
lie Will come back to the world with
a wonderful story of the points at
which human courage gives way be-
fore circumstantial difficulties. He
will know something that few people
now know of the extent to which
romance and loves disappointment
takes away the courage and depletes
the power of fighting: and we shall
have this information to pit against
the stories with which the papers are
filled daily of the extent TO which love
and its trials lead to crime. to divorce
and to the other dramatic outward
evidences of degeneration He will
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

There are $4,000 people in the
United States (you and may be among
them) under sentence OF death. to ba
executed at an unknown moment duc-
ing the next ten years-110O next week
and hoo more every week until the
CHASTITY work is complete. An intelli-
gent and earnest effort would secure
the reprieve of a multitude of these In
nOcent victims. 1t IS dollars or lives
Such are some of the features OF
very serious question concerning mil
lions of losses and millions Of human
beings killed or wounded in our greas
industrial fight for supremacy. At the
exposition one sees many simple. In
genious devices for making machinery
harmless without interfering with its
effectiveness. Buzz saws are muzzlod
so that they may no longer saw men
to pieces GrindstOnes may explode
without hurting the most delicate child
or the8mosts careless workman stamp
ing machines viii punch iron, but pro-
tect men who work them.
Cogwheels are protected; skids have
rachets so poised that YOU can roll
barrel over them and rest every foot
or two. for the rachets will catch the
barrel and hold it, whether il is whisky.
cement or cold pork. All the new safe
.ty systems of scanOlding are exhibited
and carboy protectors for decantinS
dangerous acids and explosives shown
a feature is masks of various forms
for protecting the faces and bodies OF
workmen handling huge masses OF
white, hot steel al the rolls or fur
naces; masks and protectors for men
who grind cutlery. who quarry rock
and work on it with chisSls and electric
sculpturinS drills
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13
Practical Humanitarianism

10 this end a. movement has begun
in this country under the direction OF
the American Institute OF Social Ser
vice and in aid Of their work an expo
sition is open at the American Museum
Of Natural History in New York from
Ianuary IS TO February g. The ex-
afbits viii consist Of devices for safe
larding men and women who work
40 preventing accidents under the or
finary conditions OF life and labor 10
which the general public is exposed.
The display is also TO consist as
much as possible Of 'livc" exhibits.
that is. machines or devices in opera
ton; models OF actual or reduced size
and Photographs wood and metal
working machinery; stamping, grind
ing and polishing machines; presses,
textiles. the building trades, safeguard
ed elevators. windlasses, cranes and
hosting machinery; transportation Sc
curity by sea and land; safety lamps
and explosives; qu8rrying, agricultural
and chemical industries; safety from
fire, ctc.
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13
By Arthur |. Street

- NE in every thousand per-
sons in the United States is
v " pauper,
This extraordinary fact is
probably seldom realized. It would not
be pleasant reading In these days when
we have been Winning elections on the
cry OF too much internal prosperity"
as Speaker Cannon said; although it
may sound ever o familiar and con-
vlnoing to such men as Upton Sinclair
and his fellow socialists.
Worse still. this paupcrism includes
only those who are regular inmates OF
almshouses. How many are indigent
and helpless outside OF the public in
stitutions no one has yet assumed TO
estimate, FOR the real story OF the
ehett0s Of New York, Chicago, st.
Louis and the other large cities is un-
told The thousands who survive in
the tenement dens Of these places on
less food than feeds the traditional
Cbinaman and on almost as little
clothing as wraps the native in the
Congo live and die beyond the pale Of
Official enumeration Their tragedies
become known in small degree. here
and there. through the pen Of the
sympathetic fctionist, the big head
letters OF the yellow journal" or other
speeches and deeds OF such social
economists as Jacob A. Riis and the
members OF the social settlements. but
the sum total Of their numbers is al
most secret history.
Worse again, out of the one per thou
sand OF paupers I'm the whole country.
half as many again are males as are fe-
males. That is there are but little
over $4,000 women against nearly
$500 men. Evidently the men Of the
United States arc less provident, or
less proud, and are more willing 10
bring their days and their careers to
an end under the dole and shame OF
free living.
or. Is st that the fewer number OF
women paupcrs constitute a tribute
NO the gallantry OF the men, who, on
lthc whole. have seen TO il with the
better care an5 solicitude that their
women are not allowed TO come 10 the
ignominy OF pauperism2
Color TO the belief that the latter
Is the case is given by the fact that
the section OF the nation in which the
number OF penniiess women is the
smallest is the section where gallantry
has always been reputed TO be the
highest--that Is. among the States OF
thef far West. IN what the Govern
ment reckoners call the Western
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

IT IS no wonder the land ls full OF In
surance companies. The extrsordi-
nary statement is made that the
everyday Industries with everyday
machinery. are killing and manning
more people than all the wars OF the
nation.
dr. Josiah strong told President
Roosevelt the other day that the acci-
dents suffered by the industrial army
IN the United States in one year would
Furnish enough killed and wounded for
twelve Spanish-American wars for
period OF twelve hundred years
Dr AZ. H. Tolman OF the American
Institute of Social Service. OF which
4 r. strong is president and Grover
'Cleve.and and several Governors vice
presidents. quotes that the Pennsyl-
raaia cosl fields furnish an industrial
Ban Bnn of deaths annually; that we
ll-i in the United States every fOu.
wears 10000 more people than all
wto fell ou both sides during the Civil
ttr- tlat in tne same length of time
sse age now killing So per cent more
pc than the two great armies could
otElr0y who We're making destruction
tle.r special business: that there arc
rorc Killed and wounded on our rail
roads every year than were the entire
iosses ~ tac Bocr War on both sides
lE rhrcc wears.
Dr Strong says that New York sur
ceons basing their figures on expert
rlcc and the records Of hospitals. esti-
maze thai 150. 600 accidents occur IN
Kew York city alone every year.
Bocausc Of tho enormous loss OF life
GAINING 81 tnose who labor. Paris. Ber-
Iin. Munich and other European capt
fals have organized associations for the
saving 81 life and limb and have en-
couraEcd safety appliances for imple-
ulents and machinery 10 reduce the
animal mortality
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13
FACTS ABOUT FOLKS

4 n Germany, during May, hundreds OF
children run about the streets with
out hats on when it rains; as it is
generally believed that May rain is
most healthy, and that when it falls on
their bare heads the chiIren will grow
quicker and gain in strength.
In France a man under 25 years of
age. whose parents are dead and whose
grandfather or grandmother is alive,
cannot marry without the written au-
thority of both. or either. OF them.
The natives of the Sandwich Islands
estimate women by their weight. The
Chinese require them 10 have deformed
feet and black teeth. a girl must be
tattooed sky-blue and wear a nose ring
to satisfy a South Sea islander. Ger
tain African Princes require their
brides TO have their teeth filed into the
semblance of a saw.
The japanese farewell. "SayOnara,~
means something like IF il must be
So" or "if we must part thus. so be
it,"
kissing and shaking hands Sss rarely
practiced = Japan.
The Tartans regard onions, 1eeks and
garlics as perfumes. A lady or Tartary
viii rub a piece Of freshly-cut onion
on her hands and over her countenance
to enhance her attractions
In Scotland it was long customary to
place on a mans tombstone the symbols
of his trade; and in burial grounds
tombstones so ornamented are to be
found Thus. at the abbey OF Dunblane
a sugar cone may be seen as showing
the grave of a grocer; an axe and a
saw, with hammer and nails. occur on
the grave of a carpenter; and an awI
and hammer on that of a shoemaker.
handle the sword from their earliest
years. and as a result they have ad-
mirable figures and an easy walk.
Seminudity is common in rural ia
pan, and, furthermore. II is regarded
as being respectable and healthfuI
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

have in his hand figures that we can
only guess at as to the extent to
which heredity wcakens the vitality
and passes the sins of the fathers
10 the third and fourth generation.
He will be able. perhaps, to warn US
of some of the dangers which, from
lack of general experience. those who
believe in socialism and it's paternal-
istic plans do not yet see in the pro-
gramme which they so ardently ad-
vocate. He will give US new tale,
as comprehensive. as fOrceful. as
tragic as The Jungle" or Jean
Vatican"
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

The section OF Industrial Hygiene"
includes improved dwellings, first aid
10 the injured. prevention OF tubercu-
losis and other diseases harmful TO
those who work. There will be new
styles OF respirators and devices for
supplying pure air. with many other
industrial betterments.
The chief aim OF the exposition is to
arouse the public to the necessity OF
doing something to lessen the causes
OF accidents to American life and labor
and establish a museum OF safety de-
vices where all problems OF safeguard
ing life and limb can be studied IN
working details as is done in the great
cities Of Europe.
AS far back as 1889 the Germans
held an exposition for the prevention
OF accidents. Three or four years later
"A similar exposition was held IN ANS
terdam. and since then museums Of Sc
curity have been established in the
principal capitals of the Continent,
from Paris TO Moscow.
DR. T0lman., the director, calls at
tenuon to the remarkable extent 10
~hich electricity is being used for
rpwer purposes. Even out IN Indiana.
where the vegetation is heavy and the
politicians numerous, the United States
Steel Corporation is establishing a
plant that viii handle 100000 tors
$500 600 tons OF steel There will be
sixteen blast furnaces OF $50 tons daily
capacity. all OF which means the daily
employment OF an army Of workmen.
Municipal Growth
IN New York forty-story skyscrapers
are going up. and the whole city is be-
ing tunneled under buildings. streets
and rivers for coming railway systems
Among the prominent mon whose aid
has been sought are President RoOse-
vclt, Grover Cleveland. the principal
Governors and men OF note more or
less interested in such movement.
Every life saved is a national as
set" says DR. Strong. the society's
president. The last census reports
57.5l3 deaths by accident and violence
in a single year and the number of
ordinary casualties was many times
greater. John Mitchell says that in the
anthracite mines two persons are killed
and five injured for every working day
in the year. To supply the country
with coal from the various coal fields
1900 men are annually killed and 5000
injured. More than ten thousand are
killed on the railways and nearly one
hundred thousand injured.
In the manufacturing world il is
estimated that $4,000 factory en-
ployes are killed and injured an
nually. Twice as many laborers are
killed in the mines in this country as
in Great Britain. Among railway en-
ployes we kill nearly three times and
iniure more than fave times as many
as in Germany. We have more than
twice as many accidents as Germany,
where so per cent OF them are avoid
able. AS a rule such deaths are la
beled IAN act or God" And IL is
sometimes said that il is cheaper TO
Kill men than to protect them.
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13
BERLIN

OF s34S,000 000 Add 70 this the cost
and veXations of suits for damages and
the amount is still greater.
DR.. Strong makes this tremendous
statement: without any increase Of
the annual rate reported by the Gov
ernmept in 1900, there viii be 575 900
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

Denver every ten years. and a. the
same time manning or mangling every
man, woman and child in Washington,
oregon. California. Nevada, Utah, New
Mexico. Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming,
Idaho. Montana and Oklahoma, and do
ing it every ten years.
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

1t is estimated that the annual loss
by fire in America is $174.0OO, O00, and
statisticians claim that
the Industrial accidents of the United
states cost annually the enormous sum
The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13
SAFETY DEVICES

killed every ten years, besides some
five million injured, even il our proper
tion of accidents to the population
should prove TO be no greater than that
of France. This is like massacring
every inhabitant in three cities of the
size of indianapolis, Kansas City and
The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1907-11-08
For The LITTLE ONES.
shsilfsh With Many Eyes.
. Soldier Crab.

There Is shellfsh called the
cca; 81 mail, which has its eyes not
on its body, where We should natur-
oily look FOR them, but on its shell,
fSsr the Chicago News. They glis-
"a. ,kc crystals in their settings.
A. =; We expect TO see eyes
on the shell Of tortoise or on our
finger nails. The discovery is com
paratiyely new and has led TO a
close inspection of the fish. In one
specimen 500 eyes were counted,
twenty-four rows. with an average
Of fifteen in each row. Another
shell. in which the eyes were small,
had $500 ewes on it.
There are also some queer crabs
in the world. The soldier crab Of
Bermuda carries heavy shells up the
hills. A shore crab in the Cape
ve-1e islands may be seen running
, l;ks piece Of paper blown
by s.-~ : kind. There are crabs
in Ascension island that steal
Young rabbits from their nests, and
the robbcr crab of the Philippines
cracks cocoanuts and eats them.