The Butler County press. [volume], August 22, 1913, Image 1

About The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946

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VOL. HQ. NO. 20
CONVICT SLAVE f?Y
COMPETE WITH FREE LABOR.
Prison Mad* Gooda Should la Umd by
tha 8tat« and Not Placed on thoOpen
Market—Duty of the Several State*.
Attitude of the Unions.
Slavery exists today. Thousands of
persons, black and white, confined in
the penal institutions throughout the
country, are legally slaves, sold to busi
ness interests for exploitation. Such
Is the contention of the national com
mittee on prison labor, which has been
working for a number of years study
ing this problem, and which a year
ago announced through Dr. E. Stagg
(Whltln, now chairman of its execu
tive committee, that these conditions
were universal and should be eradi
cated.
STATUS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN PENAL INSTITUTIONS
A convict remains the property of
the state, according to all but three
of the state constitutions. The excep
tions are Rhode Island, Vermont and
Maryland. The freeing of the slave
by his master under negro slavery
finds Its counterpart In the pardoning
power vested in the governor in the
case of a criminal. He, the master,
can make the convict slave a free man
again at his will.
Few people today realize that this
Is the actual status of thousands of
people confined In our penal institu
tions.
The convict factory exists practical
ly throughout all the manufacturing
states. Many of our prisons are
great bastlles, Inclosing within their
limits two. three and sometimes a
dozen factories. In the management
of these factories the contest between
civil and private production has been
going on apace. Certain Industries
have been developed in them to such
efficiency that they have become pace
makers for the free factories outside
their walls.
The surplus products resulting from
efficiency developed In the productive
end of the penal Institution must find
a market either in the general compet
itive market or In transfer to some
other supplementary Institution or de
partment connected with the penal In
stitution. The transfer of commodities
between institutions and departments
of co-ordinate control is governed by
the same fundamental principle as the
transfer within the prison Itself.
The only wonder is that with the
demand of the public for the adoption
of sane business methods In our gov
ernment we have come so slowly and
to such a limited degree to apply prop
ositions which to the business man are
axiomatic. In twenty-three states all
the surplus product reaches the open
market in sixteen states part of It
does, while in nine none of It does.
The facts have been brought out by
•worn testimony that at the New Ha
ven Jail the contract under which the
convicts work contains a clause pro
viding that if the convict does not
work satisfactorily to the man who has
leased him he may be punished. For
the convict's labor and the right to
punish the contractor pays less than 10
cents a day and manufactures chairs
sold in the markets of New York city.
What local manufacturer can compete
with such a producer?
Under the pressure of prison life the
great prison factories of Maryland
have likewise become pacemakers for
the laborers throughout the country.
Yet who wants to compete with them
—who can successfully? With labor
worth from $1 to $1.50 a day, with
•hop rents free and often with light
and heat thrown in. the prison con
tractors have an opportunity to make
a net profit while selling their goods
cheaper than the free manufacturers
can produce them, even though he
pays his employees wages in the sweat
shops which forces degradation and
Immoral living.
Offset this proposition with the prac
tical business situation which exists in
the so called state use system.
The unions, unfortunately, have been
credited In the public mind with op
position to any labor on the part of
the convict, yet the fact is that the
unions have forced the issue upon the
public attention. It was through their
representative, John T. McDonough,
that they forced the New York consti
tutional convention in 1894 to accept
the proposition despite the protest of
Joseph H. Choate. It was Ellhu Root
who cast the deciding vote for the
union program, but there Is some
doubt whether the conservatives would
have let the reform go through if
it bad not proved to be the only way
to secure the popular and union vote
back of the adoption of the new con
•tltution. It is the unions that are
making the strong fight throughout
the country and aiding In every way
the national committee on prison labor
|o bring about reforms.
"What are you going to do about it?**
remarked the political boss of New
Ha ven, Conn., when the investigation
of the civic federation proved that the
City was selling its convicts for 0
cents a day under a contract that gave
the power of punishment to ttoe con
tractor.
What to do about it Is the problem
df practical reformers. The principles
unaenyiug prison uu»or reform are to
be found In the establishment of a
central bureau of clearance between
the productive side of the state's penal
institutions and tbe maintenance and
supply departments, under state, coun
ty or municipal control.
LOVEMAKING IN SPAIN.
It is Done Right Out In the Open, and
No One Seems to Mind It.
The best of tin- Aii-a/.iii In the A lea
acar gardens But I would not Ignore
the homelike charm of the vast court
by which yon enter from the street
outside to the palace beyond it Is
planted casually about with rather
shabby ornuge trees that children were
playing under and was decorated with
the week's wash of the low, simple
dwellings which may be hired at a
rental moderate even for Seville, where
a handsome and commodious house In
a good quarter rents for $tM) a year.
One of those two story cottages, as
we should call them, in the anteeourt
of the Alcazar had for the student of
Spanish life the special advantage of
lover dose to a ground floor window
dropping tender nothings down through
the slats of the shutter to some maiden
lurking within.
The nothings were so tender that you
could not hear them drop. and. besides,
they were Spanish nothings, and it
would not have served any purpose for
the stranger to listen for them. Once
afterward we saw the national court
ship going on at another casement, but
that was at night, and here the pre
cious first sight of it was offered at 10
o'clock in the morning.
Nobody seemed to mind the lover
stationed outside the shutter with
which the Iron bars forbade him the
closest contact, and it Is only fair to
say that he minded nobody. He was
there when we went in and there when
we came out, and It appears that when
it is a question of lovemaking time is
no more an object In Spain than In the
United States. The scene would have
been better by moonlight, but you can
not always have it moonlight, and the
sun did very well at least the lover
did not seem to miss the moon.—W. D.
Howells In Harper's Magazine.
CURIOUS FISHING.
Gathering In Eels With Brushes and
Shrimping on Horseback.
In the Hawaiian Islands some of the
native fishermen literally go into the
water and chase the fish Into their
nets.
The sea round the shores of the Is
lands is studded with coral reefs, in
which are numerous holes and tiny
caves In which the fish hide. The na
tives row out over there reefs, taking
with them a brush about three feet in
length, with very lone bristles, and
shallow nets, somewhat resembling a
paper bag, as they are closed at one
end.
As they row over the surface, seeking
a likely spot, they chew a very oily
fruit known as the candle nut When
they consider they have reached a good
fishing around thev spit mit this nut.
which
forms
a thin film on the top of
the water, over which the wind passes
without leaving a ripple. This enables
them to see right down Into the clear
sea. and
if
they are satisfied with the
outlook they prepare to
fish
Taking the brush in one hand and
the net. the inoutb of which is propped
open by means of a twig or two In the
other, they dive noiselessly and quietly
overboard. Having arrived at the face
of the coral reef, they literally brush
the frightened fish out of their dens,
endeavoring to catch them in the net
as they dart away.
There Is one place at least on the
coast of Belgium where they go
shrimping on horseback. The trawling
nets are attached to the sides of sad
dles carried by horses or big donkeys,
and on their back men. and women,
too. for that matter, ride Into the sea
until the animals are almost under wa
ter, when they drag the trawls behind
them, walking parallel to the shore.—
8tray Stories.
Left Handed Stone Slingers.
The right hand doubtless owes some
thing of Its prominence to the Bible.
Tbe Hebrews singled it out for special
honor, and the Scriptures contain quite
a hundred references in which "the
right hand" is made the type and sym
bol of everything noble, praiseworthy
and desirable. It is worth noting, how
ever, that the tribe of Benjamin once
boasted 700 left handed slingers who
"could sling stones to a hair's breadth
and not miss" and that among the
"mighty men and helpers" of King
David were many who "could use both
the right band ant} tbe left in hurling
stones and shooting arrows with the
bow."—London Standard.
Plain and Painful Talk.
Dttring a senatorial Investigation one
time Senator Clapp experienced great
difficulty In getting some Information
from a nervous witness.
"Now," said the senator somewhat
•harply, "out with it, my man out
with It!"
"If the committee will excuse me,
said the lawyer representing the wit
ness, "1 do not like the term 'Out with
ltr
This la not the office of a dentist"
THE BUTLER COUNTY
THE PSALM OF LABOR.
For centuries I have served
mankind. For ages 1 have borne
the burdens of the world.
I huve stirred the earth. 1
have made it to bring forth in
crease.
I have caused the desert to
blossom and changed the wilder
ness into a garden.
I have garnered the grain. I
have gathered the fruit.
I have fed the world. 1 have
provided food for all the people.
1 have tamed wild beasts and
made them the servants of man.
I have woven fibers into cloth
and fashioned garments. I have
clothed the people.
1 have hewn down mountains
and transformed the rock into
human habitation.
I have felled tbe giants of the
forest and made them furnish
comfort and protection to man.
I ha've gone down into the bow
els of the earth and forced her
to give up her treasure.
1 have wrought in the glare of
the furnace, undaunted by the
hissing of steam and clanging of
steel.
i have enriched the nations. I
have produced the wealth of the
world.
But mine eyes have been blind
ed, and my hands have been
shackled.
I did not see that the wealth 1
had created was mine nor that
the things of life belonged to me.
But the scales are falling from
my eyes. 1 am beginning to see.
I will arise in my strength. I
will break my chains
1 will take what belongs to
me. 1 will lay hold on my own.
I will brlag comfort and abun
dance to all. I will bring peace
and Joy to the multitude.
All mankind will be blessed,
all the inhabitants of the earth
made glad.
For I am greater than greed.
1 am mightier than mammon.
I am LABOR.—Ada M. Stim
son. Holly. Colo.
LABEL STANDS FOR HOME.
Saored Duty of Every Union Member
to Buy Union Made Products.
The union label stands for home In
dustry. the protection of the Interests
of labor, the protection of Just andhon
orable employers from competition by
cheap labor rivals, fair wages for the
toiler and better trade conditions gen
erally for both employer and employ
ee. It guarantees the worker a better
living, shorter hours, better condition#
and more money for the necessaries of
life—the true foundations of general
lasting prosperity. It is the trade
mark of industrial prosperity and the
symbol of living wages and humane
conditions. Its presence is the death
certificate of slavery and starvation,
aud It should be sought and encour
aged in every possible way. If the or
ganized tollers themselves do not sup
port and uplift It. who lu the name of
heaven can be looked to to support
and uplift it? It Is the sacred duty of
every union man, woman aud sympa
thizer of either sex to buy nothing but
what bears that sterling mark of hon
est workmanship and living wages. It
is the only protection of the toller aud
the foundation of the entire category
of benefits he is deriving from being in
the union ranks. Don't forget this
when you are again out buying, ne
matter what.—Baltimore Labor Leader
DON'T GO TO SLEEP.
Aotivs Union Man Should Not Be Con
tent, but Should Be Ambitious.
A little girl fell out of bed during the
night. After her mother had picked
her up and pacified her she asked how
she happened to fall out. The child
replied, "i went to sleep too near the
place where 1 went in."
A great deal of the effort of organ
ized labor is lost on account of mem
hers who go to sleep too near the place
where they went in.
It Isn't enough to Join a labor union
and keep one's name on tbe member
ship roll by paying dues.
A good union man Is a anion man
twenty-four hours every day and seven
days a week. Vet we must admit that
many men Join labor organizations and
remain only long enough thereafter to
pay dues in the meeting hall.* then
again we have some men that are good
union men while they are in the meet
ing, but when they leave the hall they
leave their unionism behind, and there
it stays until they return to the next
meeting, when It is suddenly revived.
The spirit of unionism should always
be and always Is In the heart of a true
union man wherever he may go. Not
for a moment does be permit it to
lapse.
O'Connall Active In Labor Ciroles.
James O'Connell, who has been nom
inated as a member of the Industrial
commission by President Wilson, has
for more than twenty years been pres
ident of the International Association
of Machinists. For the past fourteen
years Mr. O'Connell has served as third
vice president of the American Federa
tion of Labor and at the present time
Is also president of the metal trades
department of the federation, which
embraces all tbe various trades work
ing in metals and which has a com
bined membership of more than 300,
000.
Union Label Display.
Cleveland Label league is plantain#
label display in Luna park on I«t»or
lay.
Origin
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1913.
FAMOUS PHRASES
of Some of World's Most
Popular Quotations.
WORDS THAT WILL ENDURE.
"While There's Life There's Hope"
Wae Written by Cioero, and Cynical
Old Diogenes It Was Who Told the
World "Habit Is Second Nature."
It Is recorded that an Ignorant per
son. explaining her distaste for Shake
spearean performances, said that bis
plays were too full of quotations. Yet
we, too, though we may pride ourselves
upon our learning, probably do not
know the origin of half the common
phrases we use as carelessly as verbs
in our dally conversation.
No less a person than Cicero first
made use of the expression, "While
there's life there's hope," In a letter he
wrote to Atticus. We are lu the same
boat" is not modern slang, but occurs
In a letter written by Clement I., bish
op of Rome, to the Church of Corinth
In the first century. This letter is ex
tant and Is one of the prized docu
ments of the early church.
"I never put off till tomorrow what
I can do today," was Lord Chester
field's explanation of bow be managed
to do so much work. "Whatever Is
worth doing at all is worth doing well"
he wrote later In the famous letters to
his son.
In some of the expressions we use
habitually may be crystallized an
epoch of history. Such Is the motto of
the Order of the Garter. "Honi soltqul
mal y pense" ("Shamed be he who
thinks evil of It"), which was given by
Edward III. of England. Wishing to
draw the best soldiers in the world to
him, he proposed a revival of the round
table of King Arthur, holding a tour
nament at Windsor castle on New
Tear's day. 1344. After the contest of
arms the euests were entertained at
his expense at a rouud table Philip,
king of France, was Jealous over the
Interest this aroused and forbade his
subjects to attend, at the same time
misrepresenting Edward's motives.
Several years later, when Edward
founded the Order of the Garter, he
chose a motto that seemed to chal
lenge his rival monarch to think wrong
of it if he dared.
Later English history has not been
laggard In increasing the supply of apt
remarks that have grown Into every
day sayings. Lord Eldon, lord cban
cellor of England during the first twen
ty-six years of the nineteenth century,
continually mispronounced the name
of Henry Brougham, afterward to be
a successor in the chancellor's office.
Brougham objected to be called Broff
am, and In this regard Eldon was the
chief offender. Once, after Brougham
had made an excellent speech, Eldon
by way of apology prounounced his
name correctly and made a proverb,
"New brooms sweep clean."
The same expression occurs fre
quently to different people who could
have no knowledge that their thought
had been given utterance before. "No
man is a hero to his valet" has been
paraphrased by scores, from Mine, du
Cornuel. a witty French woman of the
seventeenth century, to Dr. Johnson
and Napoleon. The first record of It.
however. Is found In Plutarch, who
states that when Hermodotus address
ed a poem to Antlgonous I., king of
Sparta, hailing him as son of the sun
and a god. the monarch replied, "My
body servant sings me no such song.
It was Diogenes, the cynic, who de
clared that "habit is secoud nature."
The phrase "circumstances over which
he has no control" was used by the
Duke of Wellington in a letter con
cerning some affairs In which his son
was mixed up and with which he de
clined to interfere. Dickens also used
the expression a few years later when
he had Mlcawber write to David Cop
perfleld, "Circumstances beyond my in
dividual control," etc.
"Conspicuous by their absence" has
been used on many occasions in mod
ern oratory. It was first used by
Tacitus In relating that in tbe funeral
procession of Julia, niece of Cato, sis
ter of Brutus, wife of Cassius, many
of the Images of the most famous
families in Koine were seen, but "Cas
sius and Brutus shone pre-eminent be
cause their Images were not dis
played."
"Nothing Is certain but death and
taxes," wrote Benjamin Franklin, stat
lng that tbe constitution of the United
States was in operation and to all ap
pearances would last.
"Those who live In glass houses
should not throw stones" was said by
James I. of England when his favor
ite. the Duke of Buckingham, com
plained that a mob bad broken his
glags wludows, which were at that
time a luxury.
"Mind your p's and q's" is said to
have been taken from an old French
phrase at the time of Louis XIV. A
very iow bow was in fashion, and the
dancing master in instructing his pu
pi is would warn them to look out for
the position of the feet and tbe move
ment of the head lest their cue wigs
be disarranged. The French word for
foot Is pled. "Mind your pleds and
queues" soon came to be transplanted
Into English and abbreviated.
Wallace Irwiu once complained that
when he had been luvlted to be funny
at a banquet his real gems of wit were
nddresaed to the back of his chauffeur
on the way home. But what's tbe dlf
ference? According to the Latin poet
upheld by modern investigation, every
thing you could possibly say has been
said before -Anna Bird Stewart 1*
Minneapolis Journal.
WOMEN ON HORSEBACK.
They Cut a Queer Figure Before Side
saddles Were Invented.
Before Queen Catherine de' Medici
started the fashion of sidesaddles by
having a board slung on the left side
of her horse to support her feet all
poor women rode on a pillion behind a
man. All women of the better class
rode astride.
A lady to prepare for riding bent
forward and took hold of the lower
hem of the back of her dress skirt,
drew it through between her legs and
wrapped her skirts around her legs
down to her knees, then folded the rest
of her skirts across the front of her
person.
Then she drew on a pair of large
trousers, the legs of which ended Just
below the knees, where they were
sewed to the tops of a pair of clumsy
riding boots. The upper part of the
trousers was open in front, and the
flaps folded across the person and fas
tened by a band around the waist A
hood was worn on the head, and a
mask protected the face from sun and
weuther. She rode on a man's saddle
and wore spurs find carried a quirt
(riding whip) looped on the right wrist.
•The same style and kind of quirt Is
now used by our western cowboys
»nd plains Indians and was formerly
carried by the Cossacks.
A lady In riding costume, whether on
foot or on horseback, was anything but
a graceful figure.
Our great-grandmothers rode on side
saddles, but their great-great-grand
mothers rode astride if they belouged
to the gentry class.
Our plains Indian women, even when
they changed their buckskin skirts
that came to the knee and their buck
skin leggings for the long calico skirt
of white women, always rode astride.—
Washington Post.
THEY DIDN'T MIND DIRT.
In the Days When Clothes Were Dyed,
but Never Washed.
In the matter of the washing of
clothes, not to say the washing of
themselves, our ancestors were a tritie
lax. The laundress of the twelfth cen
tury must have held a position which
was practically a sinecure, while It
seems within the bounds of possibility
that in those days she did not exist
at all. There were, iusooth, few gar
ments whidi would stand washing,
and the dyer was driving a brisk trade
before the laundress wan even thought
of. A little dye must Indeed have cov
ered a multitude of spots.
In the days of the Tudors and Stu
arts washing was a trifle more In evi
dence than formerly, but those articles
which were permitted to find their
way into the "buck pan"—as the wash
ing tub used to be called—were few
and far between. The wealthy of the
middle ages got over the difficulty of
obtaining clean underclothing with
primitive simplicity by not wearing
any, while the lower orders wore
coarse woolen garments that would
no doubt have "shrunk in the wash."
To prevent any casualty of the kind
they remained unwashed.
Velvets, taffetas and richly dyed
silks, such as those worn by the no
bility and gentry, could not. of course,
be washed, and should any person of
high degree be the possessor of a linen
shirt it was a thing which was care
fully made known to all his friends
and relatives as being extremely la
mode and a fit subject for congratula
tion, but washed it never was for fear
of injuring
it- pristine beauty.-Lou
don Tatler.
Witchcraft.
In many parts of the world-Greece,
for instance—the believer in witchcraft
8till gets hold, by hook or by crook, of
hair, nail [tarings and so forth from
an enemy's head and hands and burns,
buries or does something else with
them In order to entail unpleasant con
sequences upon that enemy. Aud uni
versal folklore reveals the concern of
savages to dispose of their own hair
and nail clippings to prevent an enemy
from getting at them. Australian na
tive girls, having had a lock of hair
stolen from them, expected speedy
death as a certainty. London Tele
graph.
Virtues of the Nurse.
Sir William Osier In a lecture at
Johns Hopkins training school named
the seven virtues of the nurse: "Tact,
without which no woman can be suc
cessful and her chief protection in the
mechanism of life: tidiness. It being
the primary duty of a woman to look
well taciturnity, which should be cul
tivated as a gift sympathy, gentleness,
the birthright of a nurse cheerfulness
and charity, the last and greatest of
all."
Vague.
"I didn't exactly know how to take
the missis this morning," said the
lady's maid to tbe cook.
"What did she say?"
"When I remarked that I was afraid
her complexion could not be Improved
by cold cream she told me 1 needn't
rub it in."—Baltimore American.
Most of Them Do.
"It only ueeds determination to live
a hundred years," says a well known
health writer A great many people
have determined to live a century or
die in the attempt—and they have died
in the attempt.—New Orleans Picay
une.
Good Plan.
It Is a good plan while waiting for
your ship to come In to kill time by go
ing to work to earn something.—New
Orleans Picayune.
'Tls a wise saying, Drlva on yoni
own track.—Plutarch.
332*6 nigh St.
ke
STOVES & RANGES
Made In Hamilton
MV
"Ask the man who builds them"
S O Y
Geo. Bast
6e Son
•Kgggai
Cor. Fran! and Hisli Sts.
Zunt-Heit, Special
$1.00 PES. YEAR
v
Reg. U. 8. rat. uffice
Grimmer
8e L»on£
110 Main St.
loiorocK tiros. c..
Reliable Dealers in
Dry Goods, Carpets, Cloaks, Q,ueensware
Millinery. House Furnishings
Joss-Holbreck Stamps with
aM Cash Purchases.
Meet him at
-i
r's Cafe
Merchants' Dinner Lunch
[Served every Day
Lunch Counter Connected
TRY
T|iH.H.j0nesS8[V!csDjsinfec!ors!
Used by all the leading Cafes
and Business Houses in the city
No Bad Odors and Perfect San
itation at All Times
331 East 5th St. CINCINNATI, IHII
READ THE PRESS.
Just Bear in Mind
The Ohio Union Bottled Beer
When you want a good Beer, all wh* hava drank
It are delighted. Nothing but Hops and Malt of
Quality are used in making our
Brew
•Sold by all Leading Cafes In Hamilton
Ohio Union Brewing Co.
Cincinnati, Ohio
1
and Tannhauser