Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-16

European countries sons succeed their
fathers in the same traae. usually at the
ssEae bench. and often serve the same
employers for generations That habit Is
found among only small portion of ar
tisans in the United States. Too many
OF them are migratory and like to change
the scenes Of their labor and the charac-
| ter of their WORK
Man is social animal end does not
| like to spend winter on farm. Thou
sands of men would rather live in fetid
| lodging houses with congenial company
during the winter than get up before day
light to milk the cows. The farmers in
| the neighbOrhood of New York city. in
Westchester, Duchess and other counties,
can relate interesting experiences with
| this class Of help, who appear in the
spring. looking like tramps. and leave as
soon as the snow flies for the Bowery.
Skilled Labor in Demand.
| The demand for skilled labor was never
so great anywhere in the world as 1t is in
| the United States today and wages were
| never SO high. Here in the city Of Wash
| ington everybody who har wanted repairs
| made in his house-paintng. papering or
| plumbing, or anything of that kind-can
| testify to this fact. Tie greatest demand
| I, workmen all over the country is in
the building trade. The amount Of build
| ing this fall and winter seems to be un-
| San Francisco contractors are paying
$3.50 day for skilled labor and IS for
| unskilled labor, and those rates prevail
| all along the 4>acffic coast. Last fall at
Nottingham. Wash, was told that build
| ing operations were practically suspended
| because workmen could not be obtained.
The demand for common labor in the
| east has been very well supplied during
| are arriving in large numbers. The total
arrivals during the fiscal year ending
June &c. 1909, was 751,7S6. The num-
Der from July 1 to October 81 was 269,-
90
! If you will examine the advertising
| pages of the newspapers you will notice
| that many people want employment of
| various kinds; II you will turn to the
adjoining columns you will notice that
| many people want help of the same
kinds. and 1t is difficult to explain why
| the man who is seeking employment and
the man who Is seeking help do not get
| together. What keeps them apart is a
difference of opinion regarding wages,
! hours of employment and other details.
Every man in this free country has the
! right to decide for himself what he shall
! do and put the price on his own labor;
and. at the same time people who en-
| ploy clerks and workmen have a right to
make their terms of employment. 1t is a
| pity that some arrangement cannot be
| made for clearing house of labor, so
| that when there is an excess in one Sec
/
| lions where there is a scarcity. That
| might be a proper function Of the labor
| unions. which have done SO much in other
! respects to improve the condition Of the
| wage earners.
Railway Stock Distribution.
The annual ''round up of the Pennsyl-
vania Company shows that 1t has $500
stockholders. an increase of 9,s41 during
the last two years; of whom 26,9O4. or
nearly one-half. are women. The aver
age holding is LIS shares. the par value
of which is s., 75O Thus the distribution
of Pennsylvania railroad stock is prob
! ably greater than that Of any other cor
poration In the United States OF the
total shareholders, 1852 live in the state
| or PENNSYLVANIA. and their average hold
ing Is ninety-six shares. This is 1889
| more than was reported two years ago
There are SEAS shareholders in New York
state. whose average holding is 23e
shares; 1900 in New England: $3.50
scattered through the rest Of this country
and S,126 live in foreign countries whose
| average holding is 131 shares
| The dividend statements of all the great
trunk lines show a wider distribution
OF their stock than ever before There
Is scarcely an exception. and the increase
IN the number of shareholders and the
been greater during the last two years
| than ever before. This is attributed to
| the slump in values which followed the
financial panic Of 1907. The prices of
shares In the great corporations Of the
country dropped so rapidly below their
actual value that people who had money
laid away sold other investments to pur-
chase them.
No Hookworm in the Army.
| In reply to an inquiry would say that
neither the Secretary of War nor the
surgeon general in their reports admit
| ted that the "hookworm" or "lazy
worm had found its way into the army.
On the contrary the statements made by
them showed that this curious disease
! has yielded readily to treatment Secre-
tary Dickinson summed up the situation
| in his report as follows:
investigations have been made which
! show extensive prevalence Of hookworm
| infection among southern recruits, and
also at certain posts in the Philippine
| Islands. The surgeon general states that
| of 14S recruits from the southern states
| examined at Fort Slocum, New York har-
| Dor, with reference to this disease since
| the beginning OF the year, lis, or III
| per cent, were found infected. Forty-four
examined at Jackson barracks, Louisiana,
showed thirty. or % per cent. infected.
| The three posts taken together showed
an infection In 81 per cent of southern
recruits. These infections are, however.
| as a rule not severe, and yield promptly
| to treatment, and are of Importance
rather as an index of the prevalence Of
| this disease in the civil population than
| as having an important influence upon
| military efficiency. 1t has been observed
that these recruits. when cured, improve
| in weight. energy and appearance not
withstanding the fact that they had been
before not conscious of the presence of
| the parasite
influence of American Colleges.
Mr.. Julian Brode, special agent Of the
bureau of manufactures. in a recent re-
port offers high testimony to- the in
fluence of American colleges in the east.
Writing from Constantinople he says:
Zone influence strongly in favor of in
creasing American commerce in this Sec
ton is Robert College. This Isl an Amer
lean institution established forty years
ago. Its enrolment is 500 students, and
| SO popular has it become that students
frequently pay their tuition two years in
advance so as to be sure OF places. The
students get a very friendly feeling to-
ward everything American. The alumni
are now found among the largest import
ing and exporting houses here. They un-
hesitatingly say they owe their present
successful position in life to this college,
and express themselves as always being
gald to do all possible business with the
United States In Asia Minor there are
four such colleges. and all are doing
splendid work