The day book. [volume], April 11, 1916, LAST EDITION, Image 24

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
arrive at that low plane of human in
telligence where they almost cease
to be men. This is the stage in which
95 per cent of the workers of the ca
tering industry, principally cooks,
find themselves at the present time.
On the other hand, any skilled
workman of other trades -or. profes
sion, even if he be an ex-convict, can,
upon the showing of efficiency, ob
tain employment, but when a cook or
chef seeks a job he is generally sub
jected to an inquisitorial examina
tion concerning his character and an
tecedents, the scrutiny which 99 per
cent of employers could not them
selves stand. Is this not an open
confession of the importance the em
ployers attach to the person in
charge of the most important and
indispensable department, without
which no hotel, restaurant, club, pri
vate or public institution could exist
The profession of cook stands on
a level with the highest and most
useful of occupations, but cooks and
other culinary workers that are la
menting the precarious and generally
unfair conditions under which they
are working have only themselves to
blame. One lies in his bed the way
he makes it And if they only would
wake up and observe what other
trades have done for themselves
through the power of association, in
stead of waiting for some one else
to pull their chestnuts out of the
fire, they soon would be treated, re
spected and retributed as they are
entitled to be, and could then enforce
their own conditions the same as em
ployers limit their salaries to their
employes. Leon Pescheret, Vice
Pres. Cooks' and Pastry Cooks'
Ass'n.
JOHN R.'S ADVICE. John R.
Thompson in Sunday's Herald gives
us the usual advice about success.
Same old hoary tale. He tells us to
"speed up the machinery in our brain
box and do some real thinking." It
will be a damn bad day for him and
jus kind when, we .do. jf.we.liad done
some real thinking we wouldn't have
let him juggle our food supply for his
personal profit If we were not such
a bunch of suckers there wouldn't be
so many "successful" men telling us
how to get along in the world. Clar
ence Ellsworth, 5259 Prairie Av.
PROBATION HELP. Let us start
a probationary system in our institu
tions. Let us receive from the juve
nile court the first offenders who
have been placed on probation, boys
who have done wrong, but who are
too young to know the vital differ
ence between right and wrong. Let
us take them and care for them as
the state cares for persons afflicted
with contagious disease. We alone
are able to cope with the situation.
L. Noyes, 3839 Wentworth Av.
o o
WE HAVE HEARD OF USING
MATCHES, BUT NEVER BEANS
With -American Army in Mexico,
April 11. The scarcity of "change"
has made the lowly bean legal tender
in the soldiers' "indoor sports" of
poker, craps, blackjack and kindred
pastimes. The most common cur
rency in the army here are the Amer
ican five, ten and twenty-dollar bills.
Even Mexican silver in small denom
inations is rare. The beans take the
place of "chips" and cash. The
"banker" has a time of squaring up
afterward. It behooves a player to
win in "even money" or he stands to
lose the fractional part of the dolar
he acquire'd in beans over the denom
ination of the currency in hands o
the banker.
By reputation Mrs. John Wesley,
wife of the founder of Methodism,
was one of the three worst wives in
history. Southey, the English poet,
grouped her with the mates of Soc
rates and Job. She once dragged
Wesley about the house by the hair,
and when she left him took many of
his cherished papers, just for the sake
of causing annoyance. Springfield
Republican,
J&.-J&&S