The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1910-04-21
FOE THE LADIES.
A Spring Poem.

AS - ah@1
A Spring Poem.
A world Of beauty will enthrall
Our senses Tor q while.
\ The merry birds wiz chirp and call,
The yellow buds viii smile
Perhaps.
The zephyr warm viii come to wake
The leaves upon the tree,
The purling riyulet will make
Soft melodies for thee
Maybe.
The iovial germ will leave his lair
And lie in wait and creep
To capture you while Journeylng whefe
The mud is two feet deep
Sure thing. So
-o:.o-
An Oft-Told Tale.
This is an old story. It does not come
from Your Town, but if Your Town has
a street railway the local situation is
doubtless not much more satisfactory
than it it in the town which furnishes us
with our text. Let us put the complaint
for, of course, that is what it ls-ln
the mouth of a man who earns more or
less of his bread by the sweat of his
brow. He says:
Going home from my work evenings,
/ AVE not had a seat in a street car for
more than seven years. The service,
when the people need it most, is abom-
Unable, d~isgraceful and unsanitary. |
am surprised hat the people submit to
this imposition"
To which public utility victims every
where will say an enthusiastic 'Amen!
1t does not make much difference IN
what city or town n resides, II he
p~atronizes street cars he is usually quite
willing to agree that the service is "abom-
inable,'' that the attitude Of the company
toward the public is "disgraceful, and
that the cars are "unsanitary. Ihese
complaints are common. Inc peopies
rights, if not actually trampled under
foot, as the campaign orator would de-
clare, are at least very tightly packed In
the aisles of the cars-somewhat as sar-
dimes are packed in little tin boxes. Serv-
ice is subordinated to profit:
Monopoly never existed that was not
insolent.
Concerning the average street car serv-
ice in the average American town, we
are all informed. The facts, as already
asserted, are an old, old story. But what
of the cause of the poor service that is
so generally given by public utility cor
pOrations? Let us quote again from our
~seven-year s~traphanger:
81 am told that the bonds, stock and Ii
aDlllIlGS OIL tile street IdllWdJ COMPANY
aggregate $103, 100000. Engineers tell
me the system can be duplicated for
.$12, 100000. Watering stock in this man
ner ought to be a penitentiary offense."
There is the trouble watered stock.
To carr a 5 per cent dividend on $1O3.-
100000 the street railway in question
must annually make $5,150,OO0 above
operating expenses. To earn a ; per cent.
dividend on a capital of $12, 000,000-the
actual value of it's property-the com
pany would nave TO make 100000
above operating expenses. The difference
between the two earnings is $4,915, 900.
and in order to pay this the service is
crippled. 1t stands to reason, does it
not, that the service must be crippled?
Economy is to be commended, but
economy, as we see, may be at the eX-
pense of the people and for the profit of
the few. Is it not plain that there
should be some regulation of the capital
ization of public service, and perhaps
other corporations? For instance, the
regulation that would be effected by tax
ing property on the basis of capital
stock, except. of course, in cases where
the value of the property was manifestly
in excess of the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
ans National Daily.
$3.50
The Servant Problem in Africa.
Servants are an absolute necessity in
Africa. declares a woman writer in the
DeIineator. But next to the climate and
the insects. the native servants are the
greatest pests. Even the best of them
are the worst imaginable. They delight
in grease, rags and dirt. They never do
anything if they can avoid it.
Servants are all of the male gender.
They are engaged by the month and paid
in cash or merchandise, at their option.
The principal servants are: Cook, house
boy, small-bOy, jackwash and headman.
[ was very fortunate in getting one.
His wages were So a month, cash, and
all he could steal. He dressed in an
undershirt and the cast-off trousers of
some white man. At the end of the
month. when he received his wages,
most Of it went for rum and a~nisette
bought at the factory. When the money
was gone, he tapped a palm tree and
drank of its fermented juice. No matter
were always on time and he was polite
and deferential. He called me missy.
Because we both spoke English and
he was a British subject, he looked after
me in a way. He instructed the bush
men how to act and dress before a white
He warned me when there was
any mischief brewing, and when he got
into trouble, which was very frequently
he looked to me for aid. But he never
forgot his position. He was small,
slight, SO years of age, could read and
write, and sing Moody and Sankey
hymns. He came into my employ the
day l landed in the bush and left me
only when l took the steamer at the
coast to return to civilization. On the
march, he was the first to start away
with the cooking kit on his head; upon
nv arrival in camp, he met me with hot
coffee. No matter how discouraging the
conditions, he was faithful: Had l
raked all Africa l could not have found
q more faithful servant. Only those
who nave lived in the bush can appre-
ciate such a one. If native cooks do
not like their master, they lave a Eabit
of feeding him slow poison. Many a
white man makes his cook first partake
of the food.
1870
Poverty of Expression.
The average school girl has a limited
vocabulary for the very simple reason
that she forms pet expressions and
clings to these platitudes throughout
school days. One girl is heard to say
that everything is perfectly lovely"
another always says she almost died
a-laughing," over the silliest thing i'm
aginable. These pet phrases are not
elegant and show poverty of expression.
We do not expect girls to chatter like
walking encyclopedias of knowledge,
but the careful girl will learn different
adjectives and will also be original in
conversation. There is no young wom-
an so hopeless in society as the one who
Cannot converse pleasantly with others
or be original to a certain extent. IT'S
true most persons are better imitators
than ~originators, and to those who are,
it is best, then, to become a splendid
imitator.
-O+tO~
Woman's Position in China.