The Washington herald., 1912-11-10

$50
- railroad dspots. any tims Of day or
night. and you will nnd thsrs woman
- sometimes young. sometimes middle
aSed-sitting on . bench dosing rest
lessly. Beside the woman are one Or more
children. Occasionally the woman u accom-
panied By her husband. More often not.
II you wait long enough you viii sss the
woman startled out OF her light sleep BY the
cries Of her babe. She opens up one Of thu
two or three satchels and telescopes that
lie at her feet, produces . bottle Of milk.
and begins to feed the baby. Ifit ID meal time
the little family huddle together. each puts
q piece OF newspspsr over her or his knee.
and furtivsiy they begin to eat their dry
lunch. all the while looking guiltily about
them to see II they are being watched by
curious eyes Of other passengers, which gen.
orally Il the case.
II history 10 fresh in your memory, you
will recall descriptions Of merciless con-
Querors in the middle ages driving the inhabi-
tants Of entire villages from their homes The
haggard and worn women and children Sit
ting In our railway depots waiting for Q train
and looking scared and helplessIy about them
are likewise being driven from their homes
and native towns. and friends. and pleasant
associations BY . merciless conqueror-mod.
ern Industry.
These women. and children. and men with
heavy eyelids. parchsd lips. and weary faces.
who feel every few minutes their pursss or
inside pockets for their tickets and few paper
bills which are all their earthly possessions.
are but . fragment Of the great army Of men
and families who follow the trail Of the job
from city to city. from one end Of the country
to the other.
home. meant settling down. Today marriage
IL no longer . guarantee for . mans being
settled or having . homo II y not marriage.
but the Job that settles Or unssttles man
and his family.
Changes Affect Workman.
industrial history u beng written fast and
furiously in this day. Shifting In the owner
ship Of plantA introduction q scientific man
akement, consolidation, snd AmAlgamation
of the interests which control certain indus
tries require constant changRs and continual
readjustment These changes and readJust-
ments decided upon at the lunch table. or
over the directors table. reach the kitchen
Of the workman homo At the same nme they
reach the plant
Every Ind ustrial readjustment. every shake
up In the shop means a man thrown out OF
work anG his home and home Nfs placed on
trial. The length of the trial Of the home
depends upon the amount Of money the work
man has saved in his " seven Year, Of plenty"
II the amount II smAll the home Il aban-
doned by the man nrst. He goes to another
city, sometimes even to another part OF the
country, to find work there And only after
months. and sometimes even years. when the
man has made good in the new country and
In his new work. the family 10 once more re-
united. And the railway stations Of Chicago
see these women and children. battered down
by months Of pdnched living. weitins for their
train.
family. consisting Of husband, wife and
three children. the husband and wife being
in the upper thirties. were bound for Mon
tana. They came from Ohio. The man was
q mtner. American bonn To the question
what caused him to leave the Ohio town,
where he lived for 30 many years and 20
across the country. to Moncana In search Of
Job. the man said:
Things just naturally gave out In the
town where I lived. l worked in the mines
there for years. It was a good mining town
In past years. Then there was a change
In the ownership Of the mines Wages went
down. Men were laid of. I was among
those who lost their joba