davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1918-01-31
SQUIRREL LOVERS
KISS PROVES FATAL
"Redskns" Tried to Make Bower of
Live Electric Wires.

New York, N. Y.-This is the story
of short circuit on 1880 volt cleo
trio line. Recently trouble showed on
the Fayville line between Hopkinton
and the Sudbury dam in England, says
the Electrical Expermenter.
On patrolling the line through the
woods Charlie Marshall, Hopkinton
trouble man, found one of the lines on
the ground with a squirrel lying dead
beside the wire. Another squirrel was
wedged in the crossarm brace on the
pole and was also dead. On examina-
ton it was found that the bodies and
noses of both animals were burned.
The nature of the burns disclosed the
fact that one squirrel was on the line
and the other was Oh the brace, which
is grounded. When the little animals
touched noses flash-over from the
line to arm was caused, which burned
off the wire and resulted fatally for
the unfortunate lovers.
Which goes to show that the top OF
a pole carrying 1880 volts is bad
place for spooning.
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1918-01-31
ITO be Continued.l
MASKED GIRL BANDIT
RoBS DeEVER CLERK.

"There Are Worse Things Girls Can
Do" She Tells HIM.
Denver, Colo.--A masked girl here
held up Harry Williams, drug clerk.
at the point OF a revolver. and reliev.
ed him of $40 in cash, watch and a
diamond stick pin.
Williams, who was going home from
work, was accosted by the young WON.
an about three blocks from his home.
She poked a gun in his face with the
stern command; Throw up your
hands!"
Williams did so. and as the girl
bandit was going through his pockets,
she said:
II hate to do this. but there are lots
worse things a girl can do to get
money"
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1918-01-31
Wills Man Her Old Shoes

San Francisco, Cal.-The will OF
Mrs. Carrie E. Fabian Smith, opened
here, left her $4,000 estate to her son
and then added:
"If Daniel Carnegie Smith should
appear and claim any portion of my
estate on the ground that he is my
second husband, | will be as generous
to him as he was to me. will leave
him two pairs of my old shoes"
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1918-01-31
MuA|TI0N WORKERS
GET C0RD|TE HABIT
Fatiqued Shell Makers Find Pleasant
Stimulation in Sweottasting
Explosive.

II, ink Is not the only temptation to
are exposed. Quite recently it has
been discovered that good deal of
the drunkenness" attributed to wo-
men and comparatively young girls is
due to another and hitherto unsuspect-
ed cause.-the chewing of cordite, the
smokeless explosive used in the shell
Of cannon and the ammunition Of
small arms.
The fact that Cordite has a pleas
ant taste tending to sweetness has
been real discovery to many of the
women workers and the primary
source Of their danger
Il did not know at all what the
stuff was made Of said woman who
had been handling cordite for six
months or more. But one day l hap
pened to put a little bit of 1t into my
mouth and TO begin chewing ii. 1t felt
nice. rhen began to he bit lively.
l could not understand what the thing
meant. After tea caewed bit more
and it was nice, too. Next day did
the same thing, and then / got
fright. l began TO feel headachy and
well, drunk. That was the end of
it; yes, for me it was. But my mate,
well, she just laughed; but when she
took bit home with her and chewed
it hard she gave us time and half,
that she did"
The explanation of all this is. of
course, simple alough. Cordite, when
chewed has all the exilarating ef-
fects Of a highly stimulating drug and
cannot be tampered with except at
great risk. Its effects on the nervous
system are immediate and ultimately
deadly. Besides, like all such drugs,
1t has to be taken in increasing guam
titles of the exhilaration is to be
maintained. And herein lies the great
peril OF the worker in cordite who
forms the chewing habit.
How far the habit has spread it is
difficult to say Equally difficult is it
to ascertain whether the authorities
have become alive to the fact that the
peril exists. In the north it is under
stood that several cases have had to
be sharply dealt with. But quite OBJ
viously there is need for greater eau
tion on the part of workers and strict
er supervision on the part of factory
managements.
The ministry of munitions should
nip the evil in the bud if it is not al
ready past that stage. On it's action
much may depend not only for the
worker, but for the maintenance of an
essential feature OF national effici-
ency.
The effect of cordite as an "intox-
icant" was first discovered during the
South African war. Some British SOL
diers found to their surprise that by
eating cordite they could get all the
excitement of the most powerful mar.
cotic-and all the terrible effects, too.
Cordite consists roughly OF about
5S parts OF nitroglycerin, 81 parts gun
cotton and S parts Of mineral jelly.
Each cartridge contains so cylindrical
strands of cordit and when Major
Jennings. ID. S. o., learned that the
men were eating these he experiment.
ed on himself by sucking strand He
found that it tasted sweet, pleasant
and pungent, but it resulted in giving
him the most racking, splitting head
ache, and it lasted for thirty-six hours.
New-York tribune., 1918-08-18

appointments, owing to the shortage
of housing accommodations Others
are not taking examinations.
Workers in the following war in
dustries will be among those affect
ed by improvement in industrial
housing:
Casting-Aluminum and brass,
malleable steel, gray iron.
Forgings and Stampings-Drop
forgings eight, heavy), gun forg-
ings, shell forgings eight, smalD =,
stampings (heavy, light), sheet
metal workers (heavy, light).
Rubber Products-Solid tires,
pneumatic tires, tubes and acces-
sories, mechanical goods, clothing,
TO otwear, ball, airplane fabric, medi-
cal supplies, gas masks, hard rub
ber.
Clay Products-Chemical stone
ware, apparatus, sewer pipe, hollow
tile, lnSulatOrS, tableware, cOndultS,
brick (fire, paving, building).
Machinery and Machine Products
Electrical appliances, machinery,
machine shop equipment specialties,
bar metal products.
Chemical Oils and Paint-Oils,
ref. and gr. mfg, jobbers, paints,
paint division, varnish division, shell
lac division, chemicals, acids, ferti-
lizers, ind. chem.
Automotive (Textiles and Cloth
ing)-Knit goods, shorts and over
alls, sewing machine products, uni
forms, garments, caps and hats,
woollens.
Engineering (Wood and Leather)
Paper boxes, wood cases, leather,
truck bodies, millwork.
The housing situation in towns
engaged on army and navy contracts
has varied considerably. In some
cases the shift of local labor from
less essential industries to war in.
dustries has been general. No hous-
ing shortage has therefore occurred.
On the other hand, increase of labor
has necessitated accommodations
for thousands of men. Arsenals,
navy yards, gun proving grounds
and nitrate powder plants have re-
quired the building Of complete new
communities, fully equipped with
houses, streets, schools, churches,
recreation buildings and public utili-
ties.
Congestion is the crowning evil
that must be eliminated or, at least,
greatly reduced, if we are to win
the war. At the present time it often
hapIens that a bed is occupied for
=" entvfour hours by men working
in three shifts, and this is only one
example of deplorable sleeping con-
ditions.
The "take roomer campaign" :"
induced by the war, has not only
scded to the general congestion, but
created family problems of most
New-York tribune., 1918-08-18

requisite number Of skilled me-
chanics.
England is more advanced than
the United States in the housing of
her workers. She has invested $780,
100000 in war housing, as against
a bare $100,000,O00 here-nct yet
all spent by any means-but even
she still has cities and districts that
have escaped methodical and thor
ough housing. measures. For en-
ample, it is a matter Of record that
owing to deterioration due to bad
housing. only 1000 out of II 900 men
from Manchester were physically fit
to enter the army.
The size of the problem that con-
fronts the government in it's en-
deavor to improve conditions Of
housing for war workers by appro-
priation is far from small. In re-
ality a gigantic task has been un-
dertaken. Every new or expanded
shipyard, gun or shell factory, aero
plane shop or other mushroom mu-
nitions city presents an immense
problem. But, in addition, there are
the problems Of factories that were
already in existence, multiplied by
that sudden expansion.
In 1917 the motor industry fur
nished finished products valued at
$1,000,000,000. These included cars,
submarine chasers and many war
machines. In order to accomplish
this output the force of workers was
increased-and the housing problems
of hundred plants.
The monthly output of shoes by
the leather industry amounts to
100000 Pershing trench shoes,
which means a similar increase in
workers and problems.
Each of the following thirteen
industries-boo OTIS and shoes, cotton
manufacturing, cotton finishing, hos
iery and underwear, woollen, silk,
mems ready-made clothing, iron and
steel, car building and repairing, ci-
gar manufacturing, automobile man.
ufacturing, leather manufacturing
New-York tribune., 1918-08-18

and paper making-has increased
the total amount of it's payroll,
according to a comparison Of the
payroll for March, 1918, with that
of February, 1918. This increase
is due to swollen forces to meet war
needs, rather than to higher wages.
The housing problem affects each.
Woollen, hosiery and underwear
and cotton manufacturing show the
largest increases, of 23.6 per cent,
17.8 per cent, 1877 per cent, respect
lively, while the increases of the
others range from "a per cent to
14.8 per cent.
In February, 1918, 7,157 men and
4,05S women were employed in GER
tain munitions plants throughout
the United States.
In 1861 the United States
Employment Service directed ap-
proximately 458,0O0 persons to en-
ployment and it is now directing an
average of 100000 persons monthly.
More than 265,00O shipyard vol
unteers have been enrolled by the
United States Public Service Re-
serve. There were almost no houses
ready for them.
If New York yards are to produce
100000 tons of shipping, according
to the programme of the Emergency
Fleet Corporation, in 1918 housing
accommodations must be found for
1900 workmen in shipyards on and
adjacent to New York yards.
There are some eighteen ship
yards on New York Harbor and the
vicinity occupied in constructing
and repairing ships for the Emer-
gency Fleet Corporation and the
Navy Department. These do not
include several yards constructing
submarines, submarine chasers and
other small craft. In 1914 about
9,415 were employed, when war was
declared 15,490, and in February
1918, 31,636. The nine construction
yards working on large ships for
the Emergency Fleet Corporation
employed only 1,43O men in 1914,
New-York tribune., 1918-08-18
A war workers. room-used by three
shifts, who keep the beds filled
twenty-four hours day.

for the amusement Of the workers
has been made.
Moral degradation soon results
from lack of privacy, while physical
discomfort induces discomfort and
lowers ambition. -
American wage earners lose on an
average about nine days year
because of sickness alone. On a
basis of 800 working days during
the year, this would be an average
loss of 3 per cent Of the working
time.
According to the Philadelphia
Housing Association, Philadelphia's
death rate increased from 1916 a
thousand in 1916 to III in 1917, as
the workers flocked into the war
plants there. New York's death
rate was only 1878 and that of
Chicago 1878. Philadelphia's infant
mortality rate, 1908 in every 1000
in 1916, was III a thousand last
year, compared with 1913 for New
York and 1873 for Chicago.
In certain labor camps where con-
gestion reigns some 2,877 men are
allowed less than 800 cubic feet of
air space each; only 100 are allowed
500 cubic feet each.
All these conditions unite to pro-
duce big labor "turnovers," the con-
slant shifting of men from one plant
to another, with the consequent
losses due to breaking in the new
men, big employment bureaus, and
SO forth, and thus impedes our prog
ress in winning the war.
The Cost of
Replacing Men
According to records dealing with
labor turnover it costs $40 to re-
place an ordinary laborer, $500 to
replace skilled workman.
NO complete survey of the amount
Of labor turnover in plants through
out the country is as yet to be
had While the Bureau of Labor
Statistics has been investigating this
problem for over two years, the
result of it's Investigations has not
yet been made public.
According to w. A. Grieves, Of
the Jeffery Manufacturing Com
pany, twenty metal plants in the
Middle West were forced to hire a
total of $4,000 men in order to
maintain an average of $4,000
hands during the year. Thus the
labor turnover for these plants was
157 per cent for the year.
The average turnover for the
last year in ffty-seven Detroit
plants was 252 per cent.
While conservative estimate for
several large manufacturing con-
Germs would be 100 per cent, some
firms have increased to 400 per cent.
New-York tribune., 1918-08-18

$500 in April, 1917, and 14,5oO in
January, 1918. Probably $4,000
extra men will be needed.
Districts in need Of additional
housing facilities are the north
shore of Staten Island, Newark
Bay-60,000 new workers have been
brought to Newark by war indus
tries-Newburgh, N. Y, and Port
Jefferson, L. I.
On the north shore of Staten
Island there are three large yards
working on Emergency Fleet Cor
poration contracts. Some of the
workmen live in Brooklyn and Man.
haitian, and a few in The Bronx.
This means long trip by trolley,
ferry, subway or elevated train. On
Newark Bay there are three new
and large shipyards, employing up
ward of 1880 men. This number is
constantly increased, with a relative
increase in the demand for suitable
accommodations.
Philadelphia Homes
Taxed for $4,000 Men
In the Philadelphia district alone
provision by individual homes,
apartments and dormitories for the
accommodation of more than $4,000
SKIP and munitions workers must be
provided.
The labor camps throughout the
country have suffered as severely as
the munitions factories and ship
yards from defective housing. Sleep
ing quarters, for example, are great
~ overcrowded, the beds are usually
infested with vermin, and men are
bunked under conditions which do
not permit of proper air space per
capita.
In Ohio, alone, there are 1O8 labor
camps with population of 7,712.
These include II construction camps,
61 railroad camps and "a factory
and mill camps. Here again a high
percentage of labor turnover was
noticed. In 1917 in 80 camps labor
ers remained for only one month
or less, while in 10 camps workers
could not be persuaded to remain
for more than one day.
Even the centre Of the govern
ment at Washington is being most
seriously hampered by lack of hous-
ing in the District Of Columbia. The
following table shows the situation n
Government clerks now in Washing
ton. ID. c. 10000
Members Of families. ies..... 5000
Officers and their families. 5000
Total. .................... 10000
Rooms listed in all room listing agen-
cies January II ........ 1.743
VIII accommodate ................. 1886
Must be provided for. 26,514
Fifty per cent of all persons Of
fered appointments by the Civil Ser
vice Commission are now declining
New-York tribune., 1918-08-18

Losses from labor turnover in the
last year in a group of twelve metal
working factories totalled $831,000.
The annual turnover in some in
stances reaches 500 per cent.
In December, 1917. the Fore
River Shipbuilding Company re-
ported that it had hired 5000
men in four months to increase its
force $500.
Munition works at Bridgeport
hired 10000 men to increase the
working force $500, while Bethle-
hem Steel Works engaged $4,000
men to effect an increase of 10000.
During the same year manufact-
uring concern at Bucyrus, Ohio,
brought $50 employees to that city
at great effort and expense. After
few days thirty remained, the
other 120 having left owing to the
impossibility to find comfortable
homes.
Meanwhile six cement companies
discovered that their labor turnover
for three years had increased 1O3
per cent q year, and one public ser
vice corporation admitted a labor
turnover Of LOO per cent.
In April, 1918, R. E. Lee, of the
Firestone Company, stated that
Goodyear, Goodrich and Firestone
had a floating population of 1000
men week; many hundreds of
workers who reach Akron do not
take their trunks from the station.
Last May the American Interna-
tional Shipbuilding Corporation, at
Hog Island, reported that 10000
men had been hired during the pre-
vious six months in order to get the
New-York tribune., 1918-08-18
Concentration of
Labor Arou n d
M u milton Fac
tories and Ship
building Y ard 8
Causes Condition
Government Must
Tackle
By Katharine Wright


sistence to the need for de-
cent living conditions for the
workers gathered about our great
factories. The "housing question"
long the almost exclusive possession
of social students and economic re-
formers, has suddenly become one
of the great problems of the nation.
For bad housing stands squarely
across the path Of our great war
Vupplies programme.
The national government, slow in
sensing this danger amid the null
tiple demands that followed our un-
prepared entrance into the conflict,
has moved at last and its action is
beginning to bear fruit. A hundred
million dollars has been apportioned
Ito meet this need and is being spent.
Enough has been done to give light
on how the rest can be done, but not
senough to more than touch the
edges Of the great need. This ar
ticle and others to follow it pre-
sent facts which should be known
to every one interested in our win
ming the war and the means by
which it is to be done.
For years before the storm broke
the country had been learning slow
ly Of the evils that infest the city
slums and the squalid cabins such
as were revealed in the Pittsburgh
survey-of their efficiency as breed
ing places of rebellious discomfort,
sickening waste, disease, immortality
and crime.
War Brings
New Point Of View
The war has added to the prob
lem immeasurably and has brought
it home to industrial captains and
government officials from a new
angle, a point Of view that strikes
home with a power which the hu-
manitarian and social arguments
never had. For our mushroom mu-
milton plants have drawn thousands
of workers into places where decent
living could not be had for any
money. And the great directors Of
labor have learned by little expert
ence that without decent living a
man cannot do good work.
War came with a rush to many
communities. Take, for example,
one drowsy little town on the lower
reaches of the Delaware River. In
1914 it was dreamily pursuing the
routine Of commonplace existence.
It had a population Of about $4,000,
Of which 13 per cent was negro. 1t
had thirty-one policemen and forty
one saloons, a public school system,
two or three parks, public library,
a sewer system and filtered water
supplied by private company.
About $500 dwellings were inhabited
by an average of between four and
five to house.
War came. Four munitions
plants selected neighboring sites for
their activities. immigration had
ceased so the demand for workers
had to be met from native sources.
Negroes came in droves from the
South and there were race riots.
Single family dwellings were con-
verted into rooming houses with a
family in each room. Houses were
used that had no water and no
toilets, with leaking roofs and flood
ed cellars. Accommodations we're
imperative for the thousands of
white laborers that thronged the
shipyards.
Munition Workers
New-York tribune., 1918-08-18

Professor Carleton Parker finds
that the average duration Of a job
in certain kinds of work is as fol-
lows:
Days
Lumber camps .................. 1880
Construction work Observation-Disclosures. 10
harvesting
Mining 60
Canning 80
New-York tribune., 1918-08-18
Munition Workers
Sleep in Garage

Ao-Ooy lI41o tOWu IdS d pOpuIdClOU
of $4,000. Only 1900 houses have
been added to those already stand
ing in 1914. Some 14O or more
employees of one shipbuilding COM
pany live in garage and there are
seventy-eight more in an old build
ing where every room is crowded
with double-decker beds. Twenty
men sleep in the old poolroom on
the ground floor and from six to
twelve in each room upstairs. A
yard water closet is the only toilet
for these men, and yard hydrant
and sink the only water supply.
Decreased productive power due to
housing evils is slipping cog in
the great American war machine. A
sickly workman will in a short time
be an inefficient workman, and if the
output of war industries is to be
satisfactory it is of the utmost i'm
portance that the health Of the work.
crS De guarded.
At present the vitality Of workers
is lowered by disturbed sleep that
brings with it little or no refresh
mont. Sometimes the bedding is In
@anitary, vermin infested. Some
times the sleeping quarters are bad
~ overcrowded.
Added to the disadvantages Of loss
Of sleep, there is lack Of relaxation
for waking hours in labor camps
and communities where no provision
The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1918-04-03
BLEASE Ar MANNING.
Makes Speech Opening His Campaign
for Senate.

Tor senate.
Manning, March 3O.-By special
invitation Ex-Governor Cole l.. Blcase
opened his campaign for United
States Senate here today. About a
thousand people turned out to hear
him, the crowd including consider
able number of negroes. He was in
troduced by Representative j. II. ILe-
scsne and spoke from the porch of
the court house. His speech was read.
principally, from typcwrittcn copy
The address was largely in denuncia-
lion OF Governor Manning, who he re-
fcrrcd to as King Richard the First.
and your so-callcd GOVERNOR lie
also attacked the extravaganza of the
legislature, saying that if his hearers
could go UP TO Columbia and 500 ,hC
numncr Oi officers who work no more
stand behind tho president in the Son
men would CXclaim "My Lord" But
most mon would say "l'll be damned"
lie stated that the speeches he h 4
delivered last year at Pomara. Chapin
ana other places had been grossly
miSrcprcscntcd by the newspapers,
He said he did announce that had he
been u member Of Congress he would
have voted against going 10 war with
Germany but since we are i'm il he
favored fighting it out 10 victory. He
said he had offered to raise a brigade
OF as brave and loyal men as ever
Shouldcrcd guns provided they were
allowed 10 choose their own officers
ana mat ne was ready to give his own
service either as officer or private as
ne had already freely given of his
means He said that while others in
columbia who proclaim their patriot
ism had sold land TO the government
al h'&h prices he had given fOrty-thrcc
acres Tor rifle range free of price.
lie said that although he opposed the
nomination OF Wilson for President,
prci"rrin& another man, he would
stand behind the President i nthc Sen
ate but recalled that President Clevc-
land never had a more bitter enemy
rhan Senator Tillman.
Scoring The legislature for cNtraya-
eancc he said that several thousand
collars had been voted for law
building at the university for ten or
Twelve hoys TO learn law when they
could learn much better at home in
some good lawyers office. He also
., 4
The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1918-04-03
CENSUS REPORT OF
COTTON GiNNED
Cotton Ginned in South Carolina Civ
en- by Counties.

Washington, March 27.-Drcctor
sam l.. Rogers, of the Bureau OF
the Census, Department of Com
mcrcc, announces the preliminary
report of cotton sinncd by counties
in South Carolina, for the crops Of
1917 and 1916. The report was
made public for the state at 10 a. m,
on Wednesday, March 20, 1915
Quantities arc in running bales.
counting round as half bales. Lin
tCrS are not included