davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28

a dollar is worth about a plugged
nickel? Meat is gone up, freight
is gone up, bootleg booze is held al
prohibilve rates. Has the aims Of
the natibn gone up3 Not so | noticed
/ it. Why, only las night tap q
bird. an he makes me change a
twenty dollar note an he eases me
a jit. l could a flung it in his face,
only bull was pipin' me off.
Another slick lookin' gazabo-
looked mighty we'll to do; must 4
been some kind o mechanic or a
banker-he says he amt got no
change, SO he offers me a flock O
oil stock turned up my nose an
I says: Say, do l LOOK like a fish
TO you? You can't stick me witt,
that queer junk. If you don beat
IT. I'll turn you over to a cop
He says. What do you want
Liberty honds?' | says, Yes, an |
take 'em at face value, which is more
than what lot O. youse fawraners
what calls yourself Americans II do.
That shut him up, an he comes il,
with a quarter-littie enough. If l
got to give each O them Boolgar-
ians lesson in citizenship, five min
ntes'L argument an a lecture, for two
bits III starve like gent.
Il tries to put the bee on fat
woman 10 minnits later. She says,
You poor man--here, 60 and get
yourself square mear-an' she tim
kles two dimes an a penny in my
I'm. | looks at it an says, Lady,
where'd you get your idees O. the
price o square meals?' She never
answers me, but ducks like cow
ard, havin' skinned man what never
done her no harm, an protected by
what we call laws an justice again
my foilerin' her an pastin' her one
like should of. She's the kind what
bet she goes to church on Sund'ys
an claims TO be a Christian. A
prohteer, that's what she is!
why, it was only the other night
l forget for half minnit the de-
cadence O. the decade, an when a
live one come lords me bust right
into the old spiel-befofe I could
think. l begin givin' him the good
old canvas, bracin' him, an whisp rim
in a hollow voice that l been goin'
from place to place lookin' for work,
but ev'rybody turned me from the
door He backs up step an slants
me up an down an says for me to
tell that stuff to Sweeny-they wasn'
no such thing these times as no
work .
HE thought he had me stopped
but l done a quick think, an | says,
No, sir, in my line o work they ain
no vacancies. He says, An what's
your line O work?' l says, I'm
bartender Well, you could O
knocked him for a gool. The tears
spdrts to his eyes an he says, Bar
tender! Oh, what sacred mem'ries
that gentle word brings back to me.
Here, old scout'-an' he palms me
a handful O chicken feed. The mex
gink I tries it on it don't work so
good, though. He up an slams at
me: Bartender? 1t took us cou-
pie O hundred years to eradicate that
dirty word out O. the langwidge..
An he shoves me often the curb an
beats it.
Now how you gonna be for
chune teller an know in advanced
which way a party is gonna hop?
Here's big nash'nal election
comm, ON. Do YOU remember. Dude.
Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28
Floor Please?--By JACK LA1r

"My life" he said, "has had l
million ups and downs
And | knew at once that he was or
mad been an elevator man. had
heard the gag" in vaudeville
house, and he couldn't fool me.
We were standing on the platform
OF an elevated railroad station, wait
ing for an owl train. We were only
going home, but we were impatient
to get there. Most men are impa-
,ient to get where they're going, no
matter where they're going. He was
more impatient thar | was. He was
a bridegroom.
He addressed me first, observing
that those so-and-so night trains
never held to the same schedule
twice. | answered, saying l had
used the road for twenty years and
had never dreamed it had a sched-
ule. He gravely assured me that if
I would read the printed sign on the
fare takers hut I would see the time
table. / just laughed. | was no
stranger in town.
We sat on the bench. wanted to
read my prematurely born morning
sheet, but he had none, so he wanted
to talk. He asked me what building
| was III. | picked out classy look
ing building and named it. He said
"O." I couldn't read in the way he
said it whether he meant he had sur-
missed it was that building, or that
it was a fine building, or that it was
not fine building. I thought it no
more than seemly 10 ask him what
building he was in, and he named
another one, taller but not as COM
mercially aristocratic. / said "Uhu,'
leaving him TO infer whatever he
chose from that. Then he asked me
what line I was in, and | said dry
goods; | regretted it before my
breath was through my teeth be-
cause | knew he would say all goods
were dry goods now. He said it. I
asked him if that wasn't the truth,
and he said he'd say it was.
Have you ever met guy yet
what was for this here pro'bition?'
he followed up.
81 have not" assured him.
"Me neither. The country goes
dry by As states out o. 48, an there
amt one voter in America what's
for it. If they ever put it UP to the
workin'men votes"
All! He was a workingman.
Whenever I can grab off a con-
fidential talk with a workingman
who doesn't know I am attached to
a newspaper-and will, therefore.
speak freely-I improve the change.
Most people are workers: most read
ers are people; a writer must culti-
vate rather than elevate readers.
"What trade do you work att" I
asked, knowing that my grammer
would disarm any surviving suspi-
cion.
1t was then he cracked" the
whimsey about his ups and downs.
| tried to appear stupid, acting the
part rather we'll for one to whom
it came with such difficulty, and he
spilled the "tip-off;'
my OF man useta say What
goes up mus come down Well,
outside of few big league pitchers,
| guess he was right"
Il believe Isaac Newton found that
out some time back" ] cut in, stupid
ly forgetting to act my part.
Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28
World Of Industry

In Germany factories cannot close
down now and production cannot be
restricted, neither can machinery
used for production be sold without
first obtaining permission from the
proper authorities.
In Chicago, new agreement
with minimum wage of $50 week
has been secured by the Theater
and Building Janitors' union. A
few years ago the rates of these
workers was $40 a week,
During the seven years history the
Washington state wage commission
has brought about many improve
ments in the labor conditions of
women in industry, also exercising
supervision over the labor appren-
tices and minors.
About 80 local organizations al
ready are in process OF formation,
and it is figured that before long
much will have been accomplished
toward the solution of problem
greatly aggravated by the destruc-
tons due to the war.
The brick ard tile industry in
Denmark has not fully recovered
from the effects of the war years. In
1914 there were over 400 tile works.
,ut in 1918 there were only 220
Which number increased to 500 in
1919. These works now employ be-
tween 5000 and 1000 workers.
The average number of wage EARN
srs employed in Massachusetts, dur
Ing 1918 was 1920. as compared
with 7O8,42l in 1917. The average
yearly earnings for all wage earn
,rs, without distinction as to age,
lex or skill, rose to $944.65 per
:apita, as compared with S758.23 in
1917.
The output OF the Argentine glass
lscfnries is insufficient to supply the
ienihnds of industries such as the
cologne distilleries, which need large
,,,antities of containers of fancy
hapes. The approximate consump-
ion of bottles by this one industry
llonc IS l,UuU,OuO per Hioiitn'
British pottery operatives have
agreed to accept the scale OF wages
recommended by the special COM
Initee appointed by the National
Council of the Pottery Industry
namely. an increase OF &c 2-3 per
cent over pre-war rates incorporated
as wages, plus Is per cent bonus.
Organized labor in Massachusetts,
has filed an initiative" petition call
ing for the enactment OF the "legls-
lature next year of law providing
machinery for exclusive state admin
.stration and control of workmen's
compensation insurance and to elm
mate the present participation ir
compensation insurance by private
companies.
A few figures recently supplied by
he Statistical bureau OF the British
Ministry of Labor suffice to indicatt
he trend of wages at the present
time. In the South Wales blast fur.
naces the tonnage men are receiving
Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28
SIDETRACKED ey J5ck lett

I sov'ment an plottin' again natior,
what never done 'em nothln' excep
treat 'em too good.
The profiteenn' swindlers what
passes for capitalists an middlemen,
is pickin theirself nice numbers an.
writin them on their goods an
laughin' up their silk lined sleeve
becus the tail end o the crowd IN
line outside their stores is gettin
grouchy an impatient.
Politicians is SO busy straddlin
prohibition, which they hate but
which they're for, an women's votes,
which they detest but which they
boost. that they ain hatdly got time
70 enac' no legislation exceptin' TO
raise the rev'nue rates an tighten
up tlh enforcement stachoots apper-
tainin to that eighteent amendment
"Bootleggcrs is Gettin' two
smackers for a dime shot, composed
O 10 per cent fusel oil, 40 per cent
wood alcohol, an 10 per cent hot
air, the rest hcin' likkcr -
Unions is hollerin to high heav
ems about the high cost o livin'
while they strike ior,a dollar a min
nit more 10 make ivin' that much
higher an shut off that much pro-
duction 10 make it higher yet.
Farmers is yamrlerin' becus they
can't keep hands on the farms when
they couldn't use any if they had
en- bcCus they amt got no room in
their barns, elevators. or silos for
their product-them receptacles be-
in so full O. fedral reserve cur.
rency an gilt edge securities.
Wherever you turn they's drive
on. Everybody is wealthy an every
body is raisin' funds TO take care o
the poor. D.
'"The streets is so jammed with
automobiles that a guy can't walk
no more nowheres. Nobody tries to
walk no morey anyways, the world
bein' divided between them what
rides, them what's in the hospital
an them what's afraid to 60 out on
foot.
Coal shortages is predicted, but
nobody caresaeverybody lives i'll
steam-heated flats.
Hotel rates is impossible. But
who gives hang? Nobody can get
in one anyway.
rFreight congestion is undescrib
able. Cars litters the tracks an
foodstuffs is rottin' by the ton. No
body minds-~if one car outta nine
gets in that load is gonna pay for
the other eight an eight times more
for itself.
THE national debt don worry no
body, becus what we owe fawran
countries we don never have to pay,
since the fawraners is gonna kill
each other off till they won be no
body left to collect. an what we owe
ourself-well, what does the. right
hand care what the left hand doeth?
"A man useta go home on Satday
night with IS bucks in his kick an
he had IS bucks. Now he goes home
with 100 an he's got so cents.
~ tell you, Dude, the world is
gone SO loony now that loony guy
looks out between the bars an laughs
himself out O. breath"
We'll, what are you gonna do
about it," asked Luke, the Dude.
with his phlesmatic cough, as he
shot string tied cuff.
'I'm gonna LET it CO." said Slim.
"The world amt been so by lingo
to ME that I'm gonna get a lame
back pushin' it back on the track
Copyright, 1920, by Jack Lait.)
Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28
Japan Suffers
Heavy Slump in
Shipping Trade
Amalgamation of Three Big
Concerns or Government
Aid Is Only Solution to
Present Difficulty.
BY D. N. Perry,
International News Service Staff
CORRESPONDENT

Toxic, Japan-The absorb.
ton of three large shipping concerns
of the granting Of government aid
must come within the next few weeks
in Japan, according to shipping
The slump in shipping here, due ia
companies during the war period, has
caused several companies to tie UP
their ships, while three large firms
the Toyo kisen Kaisha, the kokusai
kisen kaisha and the Osaka kisen
Kais,ia-are reported to be ready fol
amaigamaton by the Nippon Yuser
Kaisha. Japan's largest shipping
firm.
What the various concerns desire
is government aid, but, as this is ap-
pareptly not TO be had as 1t was fol
the silk business, it Il believed id
Toxic that amalgamation is assured.
Mr. Wakamiya, director Of the Jap
anese Merchantile Marine. favors
amalgamation rather than national
ization of shipping, and, as he is in a
position to carry great deal of in
fluence, this fact is given by ship
ping men as an added reason for the
belief that amalgamation of the four
big companies will come in the near
future. Two of the firms to be alb
sorbed by the giant ship firm of Jap
an, the Pippon Yasen Kaisha, are
said TO be ready to give up their
rights to separate existence. These
two the Toyo Kisen Kaisha and the
kokusai Kisen Kaisha, are both re-
ported to be in difficulties. The Toyo
kisen Kaisha has long been one Of
the big lines serving the trans Pacific
trade and its disappearance from
the port of San Francisco would
doubtless be an important fact for
kaisha. however, does not seek ab-
sorption, as it has been newly subs
sided and is said to be in fair con-
dition.
Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28

bad-for a joke. But l got here"
with most piteous weeping
"They said they was S. reward"
drying his tears on grimy sleeve.
1--WE wanted to buy a rowboat. |
wanted to tell on Tommy Smith 10
get even. When l went to his
grandma's house he threw me in a
tub of water, he did.
Gee, whiz! But | thought | will
get awful mean and tell on him.
Admits He Is Scared.
81 got only three books left to
read. | read about Daniel and the
Lions Den. | feel sorry for Daniel
and gee! it was fine when God
stopped them from eating him. He
wasn't as bad off as me. I can't get
out of the Jail Then | read Bring
ing Up Father and that makes me
laugh.
"The grand jury is going to sit
on my case-and Pm scared Law
renee ratified on excitedly.
"If his father will agree" prom
ises Prosecutor Wolverton, we can
place his boy in a good home where
he can start anew without can tied
to him like a dog. No one will
know who he is and will not hold
his past against him. Then it will
be up to the boy to learn to be-
have"
So Lawrence is not in such dire
circumstances as might be imagined
at first But fierce loyalty is firm
in the diminutiye blond doer of evil.
"I'll go back to my father some
time, anyhow. He is good and nice
he's a smooth-faced man"-which
qualification to Lawrence seems to
be, ideal-or maybe smooth-f faced
ness is good because it is an at
tribute to the nuch-loved thought
busy junkman who is his father.
Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28

today wages which represent an in
crease over pre-war wages of l45Lt
per cent The iron puddlers of the
north of England are receiving an
advance over pre-war wages rep
resenting l67h per cent; of the Mid
lands, 100 per cent; of Scotland, Us
per cent. Steel smeters of various
districts basic process have received
4 1854 per cent advance and the acid
process l0S34 per cent.
Some interesting figures are re-
ported by the committee in charge
of "no accident week" throughout
the public utilities plants in New
York and Pennsylvania. There was
a 46 per cent increase in the number
of employees insured in 1920 as COM
pared with 1919. The days lost time
and costs are approximately one
fifth of those of the corresponding
period of last year.
Important actions of the St. Louis
convention of the National Fedora
ton of Federal Employees, just
closed, included the>passage of reso-
lutions: Cd That all locals inme-
diately affiliate with state and city
central trade union bodies; (2) that
the organization redouble its/efforts
to secure reclassihcation of govern
rent employees and a civil service
court of appeals with workers rep
resentation; 60 that not less than
$1,000 year, or 371z cents an hour.
be adopted as minimum wage,
without regard to sex.
Peat, long used in Great Britain
and Ireland as substitute for coal,
now gives considerable promise of
taking the place of wood pulp for
the manufacture of paper. Expert
ments recently conducted in Man.
chester, England, demonstrated the
possibility of making usable grade
of newsprint from bleached peat pulp
and the inventor displayed samples
of other papers OF various tints, suit
able for wall papers, wallboard,
wrapping paper, etc. For better
grades of stock it is proposed 70
mix the peat pulp with wood pulp.
According to the latest dope on
the location OF factories, Michigan,
of course, leads with IS motor car
plants, Indiana second with %, Ohio
with 22, New York with IS, Illinois
10, Pennsylvania 10, Missouri s, Wis
consin 6, New Jersey, Connecticut
and Massachusetts, each, Kentucky,
Oklahoma, Georgia and Virginia 2
leach and South Carolina, Vermont,
Texas, California, Alabama! Missis-
slppl, Louisiana, Delaware, Arkan-
sas, Maryland and Kansas ! clch.
The total number of workers Or
ganized in unions in Denmark was
360,0l6 at the end OF 1919. OF these,
1872 were affiliated~with the as
sociation, as compared with 255,lSO
at the end of 1918. OF the affiliated
organizations the growth of men,
.bership has been largest in the Dan
ish General Workers union, with an
increase Of S,454; in the Textile
Workers union with PISA. in the
Agricultural Workers union with
1000, in the Municipal Workers
union with l.62S, the Smiths and
Machinists' union with l,23l, and the
Railwaymen's union with 1902
Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28

they're in of their betters an equals,
thinks they're goin,' what they're
don,' an what they're thinkin' is the
most important matters in the world;
an they expect-they demand-that
the whole world stop doin' anything,
worryin' over anything, lor givin'
their sslind to anything excep' what
these here hogs is interested in.
"An' the bozo what pushes the
handle what op'rates the elevator is
the one what they consult least an
expect the creates forchun tellin' an
Red Cross nursin' out O. a.
Women, with all their lovely
angeles, is the worst-specially
women what don't work downtown,
but what comes down to. see their
doctor or lawyer or if their husband
is got any comp'ny in his Office
what's verboten. They stop TO shop
first, mos alwus, an come in with
carload O plunder in bundles; they
wanna be the first in the car an still
be neares' the doors-can't be done.
An if | call out Floors, please, they
shoot me slant like I was askin'
them for their phone number or
otherwise gettin' fresh an pers'nal.
If they toss me tell at all, they do
it like I'd know it il had any head
at all or as if it was none o my busi-
ness. But centrally they don't conflde
in me, an JUS let me carry 'em past,
after which they blow up an talk to
me like I was relation.
"If the. ladies' retirin' room of a
big bu1din' was either on the main
floor or on the top floor, it would
add 20 per cent TO the efficiency o
the elevator an 20 years TO the life
O. the elevator men. But no-it's al
ways about midway, so we get the
traffic runnin' up an down, in an out,
all day long, an that's what makes
me wanna chew scrap iron some
times an strangle my gran'mother
I'm on now from 2 to midnight
business is so fierce these days that
supper is just another lunch time. -.
what with runnin' up and an
runnin' down til it seems to me the
whole world is got iilligree screen
in front of it, blurry an endless; an
with pushin' the handle I'll | got
cal1ouses on my right hand an open
in an shuttin' gates till I got hlis-
ters on the finger ends o the left
an no sense O touch left at all
an workin' in a cramped position
because I am generally crowded in
to nv corner with elbows pasted TO
ribs, I wanna tell you when | get
that two weeks in summer I'm. a
bird what's loosed out of a cage for
fair-out o two cages, becuz where
I lived didn't have much on where
| work.
can then I shove off for nacher
for a farm I can't hardly crank
up my yacht an sail for lily or
Switzerland, so 7 look in the ads,
an I pick me out a farm what's
noted mostly for ITS cheapness an
for its farmness-where everything
is on the level, includin' the eggs,
the people, an the scenery.
There I lay me under tree az
look up an they ain no canary bird
cell effect overhead. | see leaves
flitterin' aroun' in the wind an |
amt got nobody bawlin' me out, an
7 look over an see cow,/a farmer,
an jackass, an they're a decided
Improvement on the s'City / get So
weeks a year.
"Weil, this year kite for farm
not far off. cn'y ahout twa h'irks
Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28

hasn't the moral strength of an adult
and should not be Judged as one. He
cannot determine right and wrong
and understand either without help.
1T is rare that boy is kept over
night away from his people. But I
could not let Lawrence Mapes go
back home. He is kept away from
the older criminals and soon | hope
to find a good home for him."
Lawrence,is unusually good look
ing. His 10 years of life have been
crowded with mischievous pranks
grown out of wild impulses that no
one has ever checked. He is said to
be insncere, but this doesn't seem
likely from his open way of discuss
ing his own shortcomings.
Tells of Franks.
Zone time" his big, gray eyes
laughed, another boy and me saw
a man in swimmin' in Timber creek
and we went and took $3l out of hi
clothes. We got caught before we
could spend cent Of it. And once
another boy took S. off of our teach
er and we divided it, and I had only
a dollar gone when we got caught.
I bought cakes and candy with my
share.
"We had bad luck both times we
tried that" Lawrence sighed. "But
we used to go out in the street and
break old electric bulbs. I liked to
hear 'em pop. We never broke any
thing near an auto, because W.
didn't want to cut the tires-tha
wouldn't be right. We broke just
the lights that was burnt out, any
how.
This time, what I got here for,
was trying to get reward for the
bicycle that was stole. | thought |
would tell and get another bow in
Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28

Among the nonaffiliated organiza-
tions the telephone workers record
an increase from 5000 to $500 men,
bers, the mercantile clerks from
19,800 to 2o,770 The Brick1ayers'
union shows a decrease in member
ship from 1924 to 6,324.
The Amazon valley is said to be
the greatesA undeveloped region in
the world which is yet untouched.
The soil is said to be extraordinar-
lily fertile. The forests offer woods
in inexhaustible variety, many of
them cabniet woods of rare value.
Of vegetable oil nuts, a tenth part
only is known to the outside world.
Resins, gums, spices, medicinal
plants, hbers abound, in intimate
variety. Kopoc grows along the
banks of most of the main rivers,
but not pound of it is exported to
the United States, although America
imported 100000 pounds last
year from faraway Java. There are
mineralized areas said to contain
coal, iron, gold, silver and precious
metals of many kinds. They have
not yet been prospected.
Silk manufacture is one OF the
most ancient as we'll as one of the
four most important among the
Swiss export industries. The prin-
cipal centers of this industry are the
Cantons of Zurich and Basic. In
1919 30,266 persons (6,788 men and
23,47S women) were employed by
the 2ll Swiss factories engaged in
the production, Transforming, print
ing and dyeing of silk. The Swiss
silk industry in the first part of 1915
was confronted by adverse condi-
tons arising out of the difficulties en-
eountered in obtaining an adequate
supply of raw materials from
abroad and the closing or restriction
of foreign markets against their hn-
ished products.
Statistics compiled recently by the
census bureau show that approx
mately 10000 men, past the age of 60
are employed weekly as motion-pic-
ture extras in the studios around
New York and Los Angeles. Each
day there is issued from the studios
call for hundreds of old men to fill
the parts of war veterans, rural male
gossips. Jurists, courtroom spectators
and innumerable character parts of
similar nature The demands
made upon the aged actors by studio
work are light, calling for little phys
ical or mental exertion, and not more
than two or three hours of actual
activity a day. Their average in
come from picture work is $3.50 per
day.
Figures compiled by the United
States National Industrial Confer
cnce Board show an upward curve
ir plotted wage scales from March,
1910, to M-:.I, 1920. Measured by
| full-time weekly earnings in II lead
ing industries there has been, since
the end of the war, rise in the
wage level averaging "a to Is per
| cent
About one-half the employees in the
toy shops in Belgium are women and
girls above 10 years OF age They
are paid from 1,l0 to $50 francs per
hour for all eight-hour day. with Sat
urday afternoon off.