legislature act in cannery horror
New York, Nov. 29. The first
work of theincoming state legis
lature wjjl be a lawjio, do away
with the employmerVrofj)abies in
the canneries of the state.
It is probable that all the can
neries will be brought directly
H under the supervision of the state.
ife , The story told by Mary Qham-
y berlain,. graduate of Vassar, and
W backed up by Mary Boyle O'Reil
ly, the daughter of the poet and
special commis'sioner of the Chi
li cage Day Book, .has thoroughly
committee,
Both Miss Chamberlain and
Miss O'Reilly worked as day la
borers in i canneries at Jlolly,
South Dayton and Albion:- They
kept careful records-of their ex
periences. Miss Chamberlain told how
girls. and women employed in the
canneries were not jmly under
paid, and" overworked,, but very
often subjected to insult and in
dignities my.-male employes'.
One of Miss Chamberlain's
stories- particularly aroused the
commission. It was as follows :
"August 20, little Jack, aged
12, was up from 3 o'clock in the
morning. He was snipping beans
fronr4:30 until 10-p. fp., with only
half an hour for dinner and a' few
minutes for supper. .
"Jack'.s'afd his fingers swere
'broken.' He had gone tp; bed
at 12 o'clock the night before. He
said he was 'awful tired,' but that
his mother made him work.
"Jack tried to go home several
times. :His hands were all swol-
len. His sister, 10 years old, could
'hardly keep her eyes open. The
rnqther scolded her cqntinually.
"Jack made $1.40 for his work
from 4 a. m. until 10 p. m. He
said he would not get to keep any
of it.
"Jack said that' this work was
nothing to peas, w"hen his mother
and sister came'home every night
at 1 and 2 in the morning, and
became so sick they fell down
and1 vomited.
"There were about 75 to 100 '
children in Jack's shed. Most of
them were 1,0 and over, but about
25 were , between 5 and 10. I
should say none were under five.
"The parents always were urg
ing the children to work. They
needed .the.xtione.y..jdne little
fellow, 11 years old, was throwing
bean snippings at another. His
father hit him across the face,
brutally, and set him to work
again'
o o
GLASGOW STREET CARS
Brand Whitlock, mayor of To
ledo, is visiting European cities to
study progressive government
apd give the peoplefof Ohio cities,
the benefit of hisinvestigations.-
Writing from Glasgow to the.
Toledo News-Bee,, he tells of the
municipally-owned street rail
ways and the difference Jn wages,
and working conditions under the
old street ,car company and the
city itself as owner. He says:
"The old company paid its men
19 shillings a week; the municipal
corporation pays 33 shillings' and
34shillings aweek. .Under the old,,
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