Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-06
Fifty Years Ago
I'm The Star

Radio was unknown so years ago and
the loud speaker nuisance had not de-
u veloped. But there
11uchster were other noises and
Nuisance. complaints is made re re-
Star of June %, 1880, is the following
letter from suffering reader:
After all the appeals from the pub.
lie and the efforts of the Commission
ers, the screaming nuisance of street
vendors, rag, bone and other uncivilized
brawlers is on the increase, because So
called philanthropistS pity the huck-
ster's family. Are there not other and
better means of support for these men
than inflicting these tortures on the
sick, sensitive and suffering Of this cityp
They brawl 20 times while once would
answer far better. and for the sake of
health they should not be allowed to
sell their wares in the street.
"A large proportion of the fruit, veEe-
tables, flsh, etc, sold in the street il
the stale and surplus leaving after the
market has been culled over; and often,
when large quantities are sent from
Southern cities, already stale, these
hucksterS can buy very cheaply and sell
low. but the purchaser. who may not
inspect very carefully what is SO hurried
ly bought on the street, has no way Of
getting redress If he gets worthless or
condemned produce. Very few huck-
sters raise what they offer for sale.
Many of them have stands and send
out their surplus stock for the street,
Sometimes the very meats, fowls or
fruit condemned at the market are sold
on our streets.
Again, those who purchase from
huckSters often get short weight or
measure. Not once out Of ten times will
hu gnrI@ kfAG,.
three pounds of lawful weight. MANY
persons plead for these men because the
poorer classes cannot go to market and
are obliged to buy in the street. The
poor need our sympathy quite as much
as those of whom they buy.
The yelping of dogs, the screaming
of children, the milk wagons startling
toll and the thousand noisy aRgrava-
tions we are obliged to endure, added to
the street harpieS, are quite enough to
distract one. Justice to all would be
space OF rest after enduring these In
fiictions 10 these many years."
-
The following in The Star Of June 20.
1880, regarding woman suffrage has
wo the tincture Of prophecy:
"VAhah Between seven and
Suffrage. eight t, hundred men, most
wives, daughters or sisters, sat as dele
gates In the two national conventions
this year and yet were not aware Of the
consuming desire of the women of
America to exercise the right OF vot-
ing until they were told OF it by the
representatives of the female suffrage
association who were in attendance.
Under these circumstances It is not sur
prising that the crusaders made little
headway in either body. When a good
healthy demand for the right to vote
originates and exists by the Preside and
around the family boards of the coun-
try 1t will have some weight, and prob
ably not until then"
Nothing Is clearer" SAYS The Star
of June 30, 1880, than that some OF
Cruelty to to e the er preyen nG% pa o9
Shop Girls. s Shoelsy sn 10 eo ANIMALS rs
advantageously given to the prevention
OF cruelty to human beings There are
plenty of fields for the laborer. To,
example, the infamy of keeping shon
girls on their feet all day, whether
there is anything for them to do or
not, Is one that cannot be justified
from any point Of view. There Is not
a day that does not count its victims 10
this heartless rule In shattered consti-
buttons and shortened lives, with no
remedy for the wrongs thus done. In
the absence of any laws on the subject,
their own sex can stop the abuse, or
at least largely mitigate its evils IL IL
will; and it is its duty to leave no EFFORT
untried that will tend to secure that
object"