davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
0ccupationaI Accidents
Result in 80 Deaths

wv THIN the past year deaths from
wv occupational accidents in Wash
ington numbered thirty ,nine. This
figure was obtained from the coroner's
record, there being no law in the Dis
trict of Columbia requiring the report
ing of occupational accidents.
Washington being essentially a nom
manufacturing city, it's working class
is not subject to hazardous employ
menr in the manipulation of death
dealing machinery. For this reason
alone it's accidental fatalities should
be practically nil. But they are not
The number of persons employed in the
District of Columbia during the past
year is not exactly known. Taking the
figures of the census of 1910 as an APP
Proclamation, these thirty-nine fatali-
ties give an accidental death rate of
OPS per 1000 employees. This rate cor
responds to what the bureau of labor
statistics believes to be conservative
estimate of the rate for the manufac-
turing industries as a whole.
Looking over the list of Washington
accidents the so-called ''non-hazard-
Gus" employments appear conspicuous
" in the fatalities. OF the thirty nine
people killed. two were in the trades.
three in domestic service. while the
railroads and constructive Industries
furnish fifteen
only three men We're killed in the
manufacturing trades, one being caught
under a printing press while cleaning
it. another, an oiler. being caught in
machinery, and third. a laborer. be-
ing struck by a plank while operating
a saw.
The remaining deaths on the list
We're due to miscellaneous causes and
were such as might have occurred any
day. anywhere. Falls. asphyxiation and
electric shock were the main causes OF
the disasters.
From these facts there seems to be
no moral except. BE careful" The in
teresting point, however. is that Wash
ington with its enormous quota of
clerks and large percentage of profess
sional workers, should experience with
in one year so many fatal accidents
that it takes rank with the manufac-
turing centers of the country. where
the industries reap sacrifice of wage
earners.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

animal could bend itself up, like the
India rubber man in the circus it could
almost swallow the rest of the body.
II is from the mouth that the whale
bone comes. This is in the shape OF
great blades which run along the sides
of the jaws and give the floor of the
mouth the shape of a great spoon.
There are 760 of these blades. and
some of them are ten or twelve feet
in length. They are black in color
and attached to them are the soft.
silky, tough hairs which the animal
uses to catch the feed, consisting of
small water animals, which il scoops
into its mouth. The whalebone acts
as strainer or sieve, letting out the
water and holding the food. The other
varieties of whales have whalebone
but none compares with that from the
right whale, which is now so valuable
that il sometimes sells for $4,000 a
ton.
The right whale. like all the others
of the whale family, is not fish. 1t is
mammal, and it might be called the
great cow of the sea. 1t has teats and
it suckles its young, like COW. 1t Is
said to have an enormous amount of
milk. and some years ago articles were
published advocating the use of whale
milk Tor human food. The skin of the
whale is smooth, but it's hide is some
times incrusted with barnacles and
other shell-like parasites. The animal
is kept warm by the heavy layer of
fat or blubber that lies under the skin
of the whole body. This enables il to
live in the coolest water. and the arc
tic right whale has its home about
Greenland and Hudson bay and in the
Arctic ocean north of Alaska and Cam
ada. Many are found in Davis strait,
and also about Spitzbergen and Green
land.
Whaling in the Arctic ocean is ex-
ceedingly dangerous The ships are
likely to remain too late and they may
be caught in the ice of the long arctic
winter There are stations at Point
Barrow, Alaska, and at Herschel Is
land, near the mouth of the Mackenzie
river where the ships sometimes stay
from season to season. In this case
they must carry supplies for the win
ter. AS a rule the steamers expect to
get back at the close of the season. but
they are sometimes caught and a great
number of the ships have been lost.
FRANK G. CARPENTER
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
Philamder p Caxton, u. S. Commissioner of Education
Tells the Wonderful Story of Pestalozzi Teacher

as to their responsibility. Who is the
most important man on railway
train-the conductor, the engineer or
the fireman? 1t takes all three, as L
know, to carry me from Washington to
New York And unseen section men
make the track safe.
AN eloquent minister can't fill a
church in zero weather II the sexton
habitually let's the fire go out Nor
can a competent sexton do much bust
ness if the man in the pulpit is dull.
narrow and half asleep. l admire a
first-rate carpenter. but sympathize
with a second-rate lawyer. Vocational
training will prevent the mistakes that
are filling the trades and professions.
Il don't want less education. but more
of it. The material progress of ma
ton, as l have pointed out, is in pro-
portion to the education of its citizens
1t has been so in all history. Switzer-
land, Holland and Scotland are, rela-
lively, more prosperous than Germany,
which has been kept back because of
the burden put upon it by an immense
standing army. Armies and progress
don't go together. The money spent on
the military and naval establishments
of the United States would feed and
clothe 100000 children and send them
to school.
Within forty years the public schools
of the United Stats have educated out
of greater or less illiteracy 90,oOO.oOO
American citizens. At the same time the
public schools have reduced the iliiteracy
of the white people of the country from
u per cent to 8 per cent, and within
fifty years have reduced the illiteracy
among the negroes from more than 50
per cent to about IS per cent.
Il agree with one of our earlier Presi-
dents when he told Congress in a mes
sage that democratic government in
a republic like our own, without fntelli-
gence must be farce or a tragedy and
perhaps both"
Copyright. 1917, by James b. Morrow
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

bility. Nature teaches that lesson.
First the blade we We're told years
ago. then the ear and then the full corn
in the ear Froebel the great teacher,
said that the gardener bestows the
greatest care on his young plants.
"A scrub sapling will never make a
noble oak. This country was dedicated
to liberty. righteousness and education.
When the bell at Philadelphia rang out
its defiance TO England and its king
there were schools and churches every
where. nation cannot be efficient
without education, and education starts
with the young. Afterward it is the
sum of ones experiences.
IF l had the regulation of the people
L would have them go to school for
seventy years: three or four hours a
day for forty years and thereafter two
or three times a week until they died.
Then there would be actual efficiency to
the full measure of ability. An in
crease of knowledge means an increase
of prosperity. The wealth-producing
power of the people is in the exact pro-
portion to their education.
An educated people living on a rock
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
~ Shell Craters Stop the Fighting in France

not useful. Also, infantry cannot op-
crate. except under cover of the guns.
The trenches have suffered, too, by the
water. In places men wade up to their
knees, sometimes to their necks in these
trenches which have been so carefully
constructed and which are supposed to be
drained. The other day a private of one
of the British regiments who was on
sentry duty had to stand for twenty-four
hours up to his neck in water, with his
gun held in the air. He was compli-
mented by his general for his heroic
steadfastness.
When troops "go over the top each
man carries about ninety pounds of
equipment-rifle, or bombs, if he is
and so on. The old idea of an in
fantry attack was for a force to leap
forward with a great shout of battle
and charge to the attack, bayonets ex-
at all Men climb over the top of the
trench, form into line, each man
so many PAGES from his comrades to
the right and left. and then they walk
In the first place. their kit is too heavy.
In the second it would be bad business,
for if a man with ninety pounds on
his back runs quarter of mile he
would arrive at his destination so ex-
hausted that he could not accomplish
his work.
AS for the flags. they are not used.
In future museums will not be filled
with DaItle-SCaTTeu HaRS carried in
this war. There is no one to carry
them and they furnish too good a mark
for enemy artillery.
X =
Infantry work was arduous enough
last summer on dry land. This winter
1T is impossible. The battlefeId-on
the Somme and the Ancre. at least-is
a morass of mud and water. 1t seems
as if it will never dry up, as if there
can never be enough sunshine to carry
it away. But, of course, it will dry
eventually. When that eventuality will
be is not known, but it may be that
It will be in early March, perhaps no
the great war will go on again, with
greater vigor. it is said, than ever
before.
The writer asked an officer just back
from the front to give him some de-
scription of how things looked. how
many shell holes there really were.
1T is difficult he said There are
shell craters everywhere. For instance
suppose that you want to go from one
point to another across open country
The distance is about quarter of a
mile and you start to walk. You have
to circle one crater after another and
by the time you reach your destination
you will have walked. or rather
waded through mud half a mile 1t
thing"
1t is as hard on the horses as it is
on the men. Even the great motors,
with their caterpillar wheels. which can
almost climb tree. find movement i'm
possible in many places. Many horses
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
they're All Alike.

ss7ro elevate the stage" said Angus
tus Thomas, at the Players Club
in New York ito elevate the stage
would be an easy enough job if there
weren't so many people like the new
Shakespeare Club.
81 said to the treasurer of. this or
ganization:
81 understand your new Shake
speare Club is a great success
life it's great success he answered
warmly. Why, we accumulated enough
in fines for non attendance during the
first month to take us all to box
party at the musical comedy of Back
Up. Bettina."'"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

do not wander-far from the front line.
as in days of yesteryear. The working
parties bent upon repairing shattered
wire entanglementS are in greater dam
ger from the oozy mire than from enc
my bullets.
1t is worse for the British than for
the Germans. AS the British troops
advanced, from July l onward, their
guns kept just ahead of them. Shells,
large and small. dropped in a continu
Gus tattoo on a front of twenty miles.
AS the troops advanced mile by mile,
slowly and with terrific fighting nearly
all the while. the ground became
plowed with shells. not only British.
but German. The result is that the Brit
ish front line now runs directly through
great shelI-scarred area. Not only is
the ground directly in front cut up,
which makes advance almost impos-
Sible. but behind the front line. for
some miles back. the same condition
prevails, making the work of bringing
up supplies from the rear and taking
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

back, the sperm whale, sulphur-bottom
and others. The most of these are
caught in the southern oceans, many
being captured about South Africa.
There are fleets of whaling vessels that
start out from the ports on the coast
OF Cape Colony, and also from those
of Natal and the Mozambique channel.
There are altogether twelve whaling
stations there, and they are now cap
turing about 1000 whales every year.
The japanese are great whalers. They
have their boats made in Norway, and
they come into the Alaskan waters and
elsewhere to fish. The government
gives bounties to the industry and at
present Japan has seven native COM
panies with twenty-eight whaling YES
sells In one year one of these companies
has captured as many as 500 whales.
The Russians do some whaling and
also the English. There are four places
in Europe where the business is car
been operating on the coast OF Great
Britain They catch few hundred
whales every year. The total number
of whales caught in Europe and North
America is not one-fourth of the
product of the world, the most of the
balance coming from South Africa.
southern South America and the Ant
arctic ocean.
The total sum of money invested in
the shore stations of Alaska is less than
1900, 900, and about three hundred per-
sons are employed in the industry.
Among the best whalers of today are
the Norwegians. They have fifteen COM
panies and they go to all the oceans.
None of them has a large capital. but
when they strike rich whaling ground
the profits are enormous. One of the
companies recently paid two dividends
of 1870 per cent each from its catch in
South Georgia, and at the same time
added to its surplus and reserve funds.
And now let me tell you something
about the right whale. 1t is the big
gest gold nugget found in the placer
mines of the sea. A single one may
yield bone to the value of $4,000, and,
at the same time, produce fifteen or
more tons of excellent oil. This whale
was the basis of the whale industry of
the past. 1t has made fortunes for our
New England whalers. and the Nor
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
Frank C. Carpenter Tells of Whaling i'm Arctic Ocean

wegians, Dutch and Scotch have got
ten rich from 1T There is the record
of a Scotch vessel that started out for
Greenland. about the time we were
fighting the war of 1872. and brought
back a cargo from the catching of
forty-four whales. 1t had whale oil
that was then worth $4,000. and the
whalebone at the present prices would
have been worth more than a million
dollars.
The right whale is one Of the giants
of the seas. 1t is from forty to fifty
feet long and it sometimes weighs
ninety tons 1t is not the largest of
the whales. The common humpback
is fully as long. and the sperm whale
often reaches sixty feet. while the
rorqual sometimes runs up to eighty
feet. The blue rorqual is the largest
of known animals.
The head of the right whale is of
enormous size. 1t forms about one
third of the whole body. The cavity
of the mouth is so large that if the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

Now they are catching finbacks by
means of the harpoon gun in many
parts of the ocean. In the Antarctic
sea around South America the annual
catch is not less than 10000 finbacks
and humpbacks They are taking many
humpbacks also about the islands of
South Georgia, not far from the Falk-
lands, and in 1910 the whales killed
there produced more than 100000
pounds of oil, or enough to fill basin
in which a whale steamer could turn
about and maneuver. In 1907 two
thousand whales were caught not far
from Cape Horn, and near there the
whalers found a strait that seemed to
literally boil with whales. There were
so many that single boat would cap
ture eight or more in a day. In 1913
there were thirty-two steamers working
around the South Shetland Islands and
they caught more than 5000 whales.
The whale catch of the world is now
upward of 10000 a year. This includes
the right whale, the finback, the hump
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

great mammal is now filed with air
from the air compressor on board
This makes the carcass SO light that it
Will float. 1t can then be towed to the
nearest harbor and anchored, being
marked with a white flag, while the
ship goes out to catch more whales,
or it may be towed direct to the station.
Some of the whales weigh much as
ninety tons, but they are easily carried
along through the water in this way.
After the whale arrives at the plant,
it is hauled up an inclined plane onto
the wharf by means of a donkey en-
CINE. The men then get on T. e whale.
and cut the meat into long strips a foot
thick and a foot wide. They use axes
and knives. A hook is attached to the
end of one of these strips, and the en-
CINE pulls it off the body by
means of a wire cable. At the same
time two men walk along and chop
the blubber loose with heavy ak blades
a foot long. The Aleuts are employed
at Akutan and the. Japanese at Port
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

big guns got on it. Now. for their first
line the Germans have abandoned that
kind of trench. Instead they fortify a
chain of shell craters, with huge dug
outs at certain distances. The advantage
of this is that it becomes difficult for the
enemy precisely to locate the front-lne
trench. Aeroplane photographs do not
show the trench line, as before. nor any
thing else of value, for an aerial photo
graph shows one shell crater. whether &C
cupied or not, to look just like another
The Germans. too have found it more
advantageous to keep very few men in
the front line. and most of these only
machine gunners. Their heavily manned
trenches are the second and third lines.
The fog of the Somme is another thing
that has retarded fighting. The mists
have been unexpectedly severe, possibly
because of the accumulation of water in
the shell holes. In such mist attacking
infantry might attack, but the guns cam
not effectively work. Aerial observation
is impossible, and without it gun work is
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

wounded back from the front more
than doubly arduouS.
The Germans are a little better off.
The condition of the land between them
and their enemy is to their advantage,
for they do not appear to be in any
mood to attack themselves. and are,
doubtless. we'll pleased that conditions
prevent their being attacked. 1t gives
them time to dig themselves in and to
perfect an extensive organization of
defenseS still farther back. To the rear
of their front line the ground is not so
cut up as is that behind the British
line. so the Germans do not have the
same difficulties of transport.
The writer has heard that the Germans
have turned the shell craterS to good ac-
count and have invented a new form of
trench warfare. Until this innovation a
front line trench was deep, well con-
structed and permanent affair, until the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

in the middle of an ocean would lay
their hands on the raw materials of
other peoples and make them into the
finished product and become rich.
Wealth and civilization are inseparable.
/ am almost willing to say that wealth
and happiness. not for the individual.
but for nation, are also inseparable.
Il shall not condemn wealth until
every frugal and Industrious family in
the United States has a home Of it's
own. with garden in which there are
flowers and trees. l want to see every
howell torn down. There should be
wealth enough that no woman or
child is hungry or in rags.
Much needs to be done in this coun-
try. Roads, liberating millions of our
people from the tyranny of mud and its
isolation, should be built and our cities
and villages should be made beautiful
Wealth alone can do this work, and
wealth must come through education.
The educated man puts Il harness on a
river and it turns wheels and gives
thousands of other men employment.
Educated men drive tunnels through
mountains and gather up waste
products and make the deserts blossom
and bear good fruit. Two-thirds of the
wealth created in the United States dur
ing the last forty years can be directly
traced to the work done in our public
schools. / do not hesitate TO say that
no institution at any time IN the his
tory of the world has achieved so much
for humanity as have the public
schools of the United States within the
same forty years.
You asked if a nations efficiency be-
gins with its children. l replied that
your question answered itself and then
called to mind some facts from our own
history to prove the truth of my state
ment. L might have taken YOU to
Switzerland and shown you what has
been accomplished in that country by
a practical system of education for the
young.
Switzerland. with only 3,745OOO in
habitants and in area no larger than our
own states of Maryland. Delaware and
Rhode Island. is one of the richest coun-
tries in the world. 1t is without natural
resources. 1t has no harbors or Ship
ping. Its winters are nine months long
An eighth of its surface is perpetually
covered with ice and snow.
Man for man. is 1t one of the wealth
lest nations on earth? The statue In
Geneva of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
answers the question One hand of the
statue is on the head of a little bare
foot boy; the other hand is on the head
of a little girl At the base of the
statue, cut in marble. are these words
To our father, PestaloZzi. All for
others; nothing for himself
"Or we might have gone to Denmark
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

and mules have been drowned. Special
roads have been constructed in many
places, and even bridges built across
shell craterS. In some spots the shell
craters have become joined together,
and. becoming filled with water, have
formed lakes of considera BILE size. Then
there are the bigger mine craters.
sometimes thirty or forty feet across
the top. and maybe as deep.
One innovation of the ingenious trans
port corps is the skid. 1t is simply
fiat sledge drawn by a horse. Where
the horse can go, and that is not every
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

where, the d-bottomed skid can fol-
low. On these many supplies are trans
ported.
A few days ago eleven British SOL
diers got mirel in trench. They sank
deeper and deeper. and their frantic
efforts to climb up the slippery sides of
the clay trench only made matters
worse. They discarded their rifles
and their other equipment and
churned about in their heavy boots.
They sank deeper and deeper. Their
plight was discovered and comrades
tried to pull them out. For hours this