Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-08-09
EVADING TRUCK ACT
Irish Girl Workers Are Robbed by
b Employment Agents.
ARE PAID IN GOODS, NOT CASH
Employers Agents Palm Of Cheap
Finery on Sewing Girls.
IRISH KILT B0Bs UP AGAIN
Members Of Parliament May Adopt
Dress in Defiance of Rule.
DECREASE IN CRIME IN IRELAND
Police Reports show Half of ORenses
Are Due to Drunkenness-Dubli
Printers and Foreign
Prayer Books.
Employers Agents Palm Of Cheap
Finery on Sewing Girls.
IRISH KILT BoBs UP AGAIN
Members Of Parliament May Adopt
Dress in Defiance of Rule.
DECREASE IN CRIME IN IRELAN1

q BELIEF almost amounting TO lne ulBnlly
Of q tradition that the truck act, as the
law prohibiting an employer from paying
his employees in goods instead OF in cash is
called. was honestly and thoroughly en-
forced throughout the United Kingdom,
but facts which have just come to light
show that It is dead letter in Donegal.
Miss Martindale, inspector of factories
: and workshops, declares that trucking and
gombeening' are as prevalent in Donegal
today as in the old days before the pas
sage OF the act. Thousands of Donegal
girls are occupied at home work "Sprlg-
= glnE," which means embroiderng handker-
chiefs hand and machine knitting and ma
Ginning and finishing shirts and collars.
The work is done for the great Belfast
and Derry manufacturers, but in Justice to
them It must be said that they have moth
ing to do with the evasion Of the truck act.
The fault lies with their agents, who are
mostly local shopkeepers, and through
whom the work is distributed to the DON
egal girls. Miss Martindale says that she
has found that It is rare In Donegal to
find girl who Is paid In coin for her
work. AS a matter of form the money may
be handed to her, but she Is expected to
spend It at once in the agents shop, and
more often she never sees the money at ALL
but receives goods which are supposed to
represent the value of her work.
spend Money at Agents shops.
Continually we are told" says Miss
Martindale, that unless the money is left
at the shop no work would be given. and
we become accustomed to the remarks
out of friendship we might be getting a
little con.' Sure It's only with a great
squeeze we get any money at all and He's
middlin' hard on COIN
resentment and to regard II as a matter
of course that they should spend all their
=. money at the agents shop. Indeed and it's
ashamed I'd be not to leave my wages at
the shop said one girl to the inspector.
while another said I have meyer taken a
halfpenny from Miss B., and get a great
deal OF work from her."
One Of the worst features of the system
] is that the money must all be spent on
useless finery. as the agents are nearly all
small dry goods dealers. Not one OF them
sells flour, bacon or meal or ether necessi-
ties for tho Donegal peasants.
Kilt Question stII UnsOIved.
The great Irish kilt question is still un-
rolved. Mr. Hazelton, NJ p, has written
an amusing letter to Black Rod, the anti
quated official who objected to the presence
" the House Of Lords of a gentleman
wearing the Irish kilt, in which he draws
Black Rods attention to the fact that the
king sometimes wears kits and that he
(Bl6ck Rod does not wear trousers him
self, but Black Rod has not seen fit to
reply. The Irish members of Parliament
are now seriously considering the advisa-
bility OF appearing in the House of Com
mons in kits as a protest, ana Mr.. Hazel
ton declares that he will bring several OF
his friends who wear kits TO the House
of Lords jnst to what Black Rod will
do about It,
Crime IL ON Decrease.
Crime in Ireland continues to decrease
with satisfying rapidity. The statistics for
1907, which have just been issued. show
that there were only s.4lS indctable Of
fences before the courts in 1907 as COM
pared with 9465 in 1906 and s.72s in 1906.
There was a corresponding decrease in the
number OF non-indlctable offences and II
is notable that 5l.4 per cent Of the total
A>number OF offences dealt with by the courts
were either drunkenness or the minor Of
fences growing out of drunkenness, such as
assaults and disorderly conduct There is,
however, a welcome decrease in offences
Of this class also.
II has Just been discovered that a serious
blunder was made last year by the De
partment OF Agriculture which is one oi
the few boards connected with the Castle
government that is doing any real good fo
Ireland. II has been the custom OF tn,
department to supply farmers with flal
seed as a reward for success in growing
tlax and last year the award was earned
oy a large number OF farmers in Count,
Derry and in Tyrone They got their fla'
seed and planted It. but when It came ul
II was discovered that the flax was Of tn
kind which is only good for oil production
and seeding purposes but was no use
all as fibre producer for linen making
AS the only market for the Irish flal
growers Is afforded by the linen manufac
turers the farmers have suffered a heav!
loss and they are now calling on the de
partment 10 reimburse them,
Printers Against Foreign PrayerbOOL
The Dublin printers about to appea
to the Irish bishops to put a stop to tn
purchase OF imported prayer books b,
priests as prizes for children in the schools
IL is stated that this large trade has al
most entirely gone abroad. while bette
books are produced for the same price IL
Dub in, and hundreds OF Dublin printer
are out OF employment. II is also propose
A. to appeal 20 Irish Catholic trade unionist
y not to allow their children TO accept thes
books unless they hear an impr Mt shown
that they were printed and bound In Ire
land.
A romance OF hundred years ago
recalled by the claim OF Leslie O'CallaghaI
a small farmer OF Kanturk, County Corl
10 the title and estates Of the late Lor
Lismore, who died without issue in ls0
OCaIlaghan claims to be the eldest legit
mate grandson OF Richard O'CallaghaI
first cousin OF the late Lord Lismore.
hundred years ago Richard o'Caliagha
4 fell in love with a pretty servant name
Nellie o'connell and married her in IN
\ Roman Catholic church at Colough III
~ fAther promptly cut him off and as he wa
Protestant ana the stri a Catholic n
marriage under the laws OF that time wa
invalid and their eldest son was. therefor