OCR Text |
Show S- - j- FEty RECRUITS FOR IIIC!lS,0F LIFE-SAVE- RS prim ' Tbe unreasonably likilT IS.EOR I Small Wages and Lack of Pension Fund Are Driving the Surfmen Into Less Hazardous Callings. HE United sCateVWfb-- ' complaint. In fact, no member of the saving service is finding1 service complains about his lot, even when be resigns. A man went to the captain of his caused by sbeath'gnd crew not long ago last summer, to be resignation. The jfouW exact and remarked: Tm goln to JFip. Too much work feedin er men of the coast db- not aeem aa willing to theolks" home, now weve got anothaccept the amall salary er baby The captain took his pipe out of hls and great dangers ot the service as were their mouth and grunted. That was all. He forefathers It is still possible to find knew perfectly well, as well as the father and son serving In the same man in front of him, that with a famicrew, and there are Long Island fam- ly of young children to be brought up ilies that can boast of having every and educated" In these days of exbut pensive living, It was Impossible to male member a coast - these Instances are by noguard; means as get along on the coast guard's pay of month and $9 extra for rations. frequent as they used to be The $65If athe coast guards are somewhat surfmen are beginning to doubt the value of a service that pays, at most, rough and uncouth outwardly, they a salary of $1,104 a year, with no pros- are as gentle and courteous as women The visitor will find nothing too pect of pension or Indemnification if a man dies In the performance of his duty. Why should a man adopt such a life when he can do better and live safely as fisherman or oysterman, or combination carpenter and In the summer months? Why, Indeed? Along the 10,000 miles of coast line there Is no stretch that Is so uniformly dangerous as the tenuous sand spit that runs along the south side of Long Island, projecting 120 miles Into the Atlantic. The Great South beach. It Is called, or Fire Island beach; but to men of the sea It Is known as, the because Graveyard of the Atlantic of ilhe ships that have broken their backs "on ibe shifting bars that dot Its length Since the white man first sailed these seas, the Great South beach has taken Its toll. Dutchmen out of Rotterdam; Spanish galleons from Cuba; English merchantmen that traded to the loyal colony of New York; kings ships and fishing boats of the old days; stout clippers and ocean liners all these and many more have driven In with the J flying scud, setting their stems deep In the clinging sand that has so seldom let loose Its prey. You find evidences of them In the shattered thlmbers that line the beach from Fire Island to the Hamptons and beyond stout spars, sections of i u, , Umbers ot many shapes and aeeau.and CDe calefies a glimpse of a shattered hull, draped with the green seaweed or a sunken mass of engines and boilers and twisted pipes. The government long ago recognized the peculiar dangers of the Long Island shore, with Its menace to the linefs that ply between New York and European ports, and measures to safeguard It were taken. At Intervals of five miles along the most dangerous are planted section, tiny stations There are 13 of them, each manned by eight men from the first of August to the first of June. Between these dates all the crews, except captains or keepers, go oft duty without pay. These are are stations at New Yorks door. They are also the stations which do the greatest amount of work and bear the heaviest responsibility a statement that casts no reflection on the remainder of the 300 stations Some of the men in these stations hgve performed noteworthy deeds of va'or, but the most they have ever received In recognition has been a few medals, and In one Instance the thanks of the New York legislature. Despite the undoubted hardship of their work, and the fact that they are good for him - When you sit down to called upon to risk their llvestnore eat with them you Are expected to often than soldiers or sallors.-- er even forage for yourself. They take It for firemen probably, the government has granted that every one does that at not seen fit to raise their pay or In- any table Every man know bow to crease thd comforts of their surround- reach for the condensed milk can, acings One wonders how long such an cording to tbe coast guard's viewattitude will be preserved. It seems point. But if they once get It Into unfair td unwise. Inasmuch a< has their beads that a visitor Is not far already begun to react by curtailing lng properly they will make amends. Any stranger who goes to a the supply of recruits. staflon and appears to be a decent It should be borne In mind that in a'l the history of the serv- - citizen can have board and lodging Ice there has never teen an Instance and be Isnt asked to pay, either. That of, cowardice not once. There has part of the bargain la left to hlmeelf. never been a time when a captain Even ffTe does pay he , wont be Alhad any difficulty In getting hls men lowed to tax himself more than the him into the surf. There has cost price of everything. JThls la not never been a time when it was neces- said unknowingly; it Is a fact. The r of the Long Island coast sary for the captain to repeat- aa or- have a of hospitality aa rigid as code der. Now and then, men hive been known to drink and neglect patrol tbe American Indians duty, but ejen these have never They are of the , purest American showed dFfbtnselves be cowards. stock, often with a strong vein of old And perhaps, after all, that la the Dutch blood from the colony at West Sayyllle. In most cases they have folthing the service Is most proud of. Yes. they do say Its a hard life, lowed the sea from father to aon for One Is said old Capt. George Goddard of Lone from fourjo six generations . Hill, when some one once asked him almost inclined to believe that they and able to why he still stuck tohls Job at sev- are born leather-skinneenty. "Yes. It may be a hard life, he pull the heavy fourteen foot ash mused. But I like It Thirty-odsweeps that row the surfboata and Some - of thLong years I've been on the beach, for t "self bailers, was a middle-age- d man when I Joined Island fishing families have estabthe service. But Im good for a spell lished enviable reputations for themyet, and then I've laid aside a little. selves in the service. Take tbe Rhodes sos I can live comfortable. They family, the Bakers, the Reynoldses, I dont the Raynors, the Seamans and many give ua a pension, you know. This last was not a complaint, but a others. They have all furnished at fact It w as spoken, too, by s man least one hero. who had reached threescore years Captain Baker of the PoInt o Woods and ten and who was still able to station has two sons in the service. stand up In tbe stern of a big surf The oldest, Eddy, Is No. 1 man af boat and handle a kicking steering Point o Woods; the second, Wally, Is osr, with tbe seas plllngIn higher at Blue Point, and tbe youngest, Simevery minute and the North German my, Is already on tbe eligible list for Lloyd liner Prlnzess Irene fast on tbe appointment at Lone Hill., They are outer bar. Hls tones expressed A fine, husky, strapping' Soys, tbe best certain amount of surprise, but no type of young Americans of their class and calllngbroad-shouldered- , strong limbed, with deep chests that have been developed by hours of tugging at orrs that bsSji to meet the undertow and bite of the surf. In a way one if sorry to see material like this wasted 'on the sea. But there la another side to the story. Is It wasted, after all? These youngsters lead healthful lives, out in the open air. The city means nothing to them. Eddy Baker, who bossed the lob In hls fathers absence when the Antonio Lopes came ashore near Point o Woods two summers ago, and went out to her with a scratch crew Of cottagers and bay men, was once invited to spend a week In town with some of these same cottagers, who had taken a fancy to hls strong, simple nature. He was so dismayed by the confusion of civilization that he lost himself at -- cour-ageou- That Striking Accomplishments Have Resulted In Public Good. ' lour tugs had unexpecedly dislodged her from the sand bar I d like to be aboard her," said a an, wistfully, as he thought of the long trip back to the city by boat and train "Why asked young Baker. To go to New York? Shucks! What do you want to go there for? Some of the Lone Hill surfmen had been standing around when Baker made this remark and, afterward. In the messroom of their station, just after supper, and the sunset patrol had started out, the subject was brought up again They were mildly amused by their visitor's Inclination to return to New York and, finally, Jim Reynolds, who, as he said himself, had bad more schooling than the rest, was Induced to frame the philosophy of hls mates In concrete phrases. WORK REVIEWED BY G0MPERS Head of the American Federation Points to ths Things Organized Effort for ths Prevention of Human Misery Have Mad Possible. By SAMUEL GOMPERS. President American Federation of Labor, In Kansas City Star. The grandest achievement and the greatest glory of the American labor Bluff-bowe- "soul-movin- d high-poope- d . A &Mp tee, down here, we've got the clean sea and tbe wind, be said. sar life-savin- g life-savin- g ut3y- - Jamaica, where be bad to change cars, and It took the police half a day to find him. He had never seen tbe Inside of a big theater before hls visit, and he went Into ecstacies at the dinner table over some ice cream that had been frozen In fancy molds. But be could fry ham and eggs as deliciously aa the bestT chef that ever handled a gMddle, and he knew bis way through he mysteries of flapjacks, plum dull, and other dishes that menu. form It was this came Eddy Baker, by the way, who summed up the whole viewpoint of hls kind as the big Prlnzess Iren beaded for New York, after "Everybody knowa everybody else. And the everybodies arent so thick that we can't have lota of apace and air and sunahlneon all four sides of us, outdoors ttid In. Nobody down here Is after your money. I dont need to knock the city. But down here they like you for yourself. Eddy Bakers right -- 1 cant see how anybody likes to live In the city. Why, think of the breakers and the fights w havstth them. Do you have anything like 'that In the city? No, sir; I guess not Tbe fact la, these men do not mind tbe dangers and privations they undergo. They are nerveless, or practically ao. They are not wholly ignorant of fear; they realize It in graduated degrees.1 Men like Captain Goddard of Lone Hill or the Bakers of Point o' Woods have reduced tbe apprehension of danger to a minimum. Although, it should be said, even Captain Gooddard, stanch old veteran that be la, baa been known to break down and cry. -- For the Sake of Novelty life-save- , d d i ij- - g only too true, and You Small Girl' Excellent Reasons for But dont you like td be mamma' Wishing She Might Be a Hen, If dear little girl? Inquired Miss Tbung Only on Occasional Sunday. " In Out back qf tbe bouse, on a grassy bank overlooking tbe chicken yard, sat Mias Thung and Margaret last Sunday. TbcyWere absorbed, especially MargareL In watching the chickens. They scratch Just the same on Sunday." observed Margaret reflectively, as they do on weekdays. Its wicked, I spose. no. It objected wicked, Isnt .Ob, Miss Thung. My mother says that musmenlon Sunday la bad for tbe soul, remarked But thickens are not like MargareL little boys and girls, are they? she questioned with a baby sigh. "No, they are quite different They haven't got a tout have they? pursued the child. "No. Margaret paused long and reflectively. "1 wish I was a ben, sbA said tt last with decision. surprise. pity 'tie tls true," that the greatest form of, waste from which our people suffer at this time is tbe terrific waste of human energy, due to uneconomic methods Tbe awful slaughter of the workera whose bodies are maimed, or whose Uvea are unnecessarily destroyed In some Industries and In transportation, is generally caused by long hours, Ignorance, Incompetence, baste or greed. Still, while it la true that these grave chargee are dally substantiated, yet, if It had not been for tbe constant vigilance and heroic persistence of the workers In providing remedies for such awful possibilities, every trade and occupation would be equally subject to as frequent casualties as now occur In the mills and blast furnaces of tbe iron and steel Industry, where organization of ths workers has been slow to develop, as well as In those coal fields, where the mine workers are still subjected to serf like conditions by agencies of predatory wealth. It Is, therefore, perfectly appropriate to draw attention to such a tbe comparison before enumerating legal measures of prevention . and safety already established In the several statesr The first subject covered la naturally. the Conservation of Time or Without tlm to "The 8 Hur Day. recuperate,- - pbserve, study, reflect, the workers Lars rendered hopelessly unable to acf either in their own bewith others for half or In the public good. Shortening the Working Day. Observe the communities where the steel trust, the sugar trust, the cordage trust an dtbe rubber trust are dominant, and, where greed Is all powerful, where tbe workers grind out a miserable existence twelve hours per day, and In many cases seven days per week, never less than seventy-tw- o hours, frequently eighty-fou- r bourj per week. In such places race suicide rune rampant,' sickness, vice, disease, drunkenness snd deaths by violence Oh, yee, I spose so," replied Ma- are the rule rather than the excepJ But she concluded wistfully. tion. rgaret Boarding house shacks, corner saI.tblnk I should like to try being a loons and squalor abounds homes, ben for a while. schools and libraries are consplcuoue-lrare or absent Fraternal Fractions. Human life Is held cheapest In Lodger My brother la coming bn A Pennsylvania, where the long and the Visit; have you a couple of spar cote? many work days are ; prevalent. Butlandlady A couple! Ie be eo big ler loses 374 out o? every hundred as all that? thousand of Its people by violent Lodger No, but you see tbe fact Ideaths In Industry; PIttston, 359, Rocks and McKeesport 290, la, he really consists of two half broth era. Shenandoah 279, Pottsvtlle 276 and the large city, Pittsburg, with Its diversified population, revels .in a violent Accessories. Bacon A amall piece of tubing death rate of 191 per one hundred fastened across the handle bare of a thousand people, according to the motorcycle will bold convenient small mortality statistics1 of the United accessories for which there is no oth- States census bureau lb 1906. er place on a machine. The average age of these deaths by and a half Egbert By accessories I suppose accident Is thirty-thre- e it means arnica, witchhazel and years. This fearful drain' occurs i I among men doing the work of the world before they have reached ths -- 4 y 'f court-plaste- Mo-Jtee- long work day that saps vitality and vigilance from the workers Is the principal cause of this heedless slaughter of human beings struggling for an existence. So much for the day. We nfixt come to the proposition of con' serving life and health by means of and 'Inspecfactory regulation factory tion. Much brfs been done In many states along these lines and thla accomplishment Is due to organized labor. Much la yet to be done, and organized labor Intends that the work Shall be finished. Lavs regulating guards for cleaning of machinery were adopted by Massachusetts In 1882, In New Jersey in 1884. This wee almost tbe beginning. As manufacturing has developed in the other state some protective provisions have been adopted. . The present status of tbelr provisions Is ts follows: Twenty-fou- r states require factories to be so ventilated that a sufficient amount of air space ahalf be provided for each operative. Thirty-threstatea require fire escapes on factories and public buildings. Twenty-fou- r states require guards on dangerous machinery. Twenty-seve- n states Insist upon sanitary and sufficient toilet rooms for the sexes. Thirty states provide factory Inspectors to enforceobservance of the laws. Seventeen states make It mandatory for employers to report all accidents' to an authorized state official so that accurate vital records can be readily obtained for the further advioe and Information ot the people as to the needs of additional conservation of Ufa and limb. This la an especially necessary provision. Thirty-si- x states restrict night work U by children. Compensating the Maimed. Thirty-eigh- t states have enacted aome form ot employers' llublllty law, very few of which have been Interpreted favorably for the workers by tbe courts. This is to he accounted for largely because the courts have clung tenaciously to former precedences of peculiar Judicial reasonings, which have at times been referred to as the unholy trinity," viz., assump-tloof risk," "contributory negligence and fellow-servarulings, as if these obstacles were not large enough to offset a workmans claim for damagea. Another method haa been devised which the courts have duly recognised aa valid and sufficient grounds to prevent an injured employe from obtaining an award' for damages. This cunning device has been to Induce or coerce an employe when arranging for employment to flgn a contract "waiving hls rights" to I tafe for damages in case of injury dur- - .. e movement la Its laudable effort to prevent human It has misery. mattered not whether such suffering was caused by accident, disor ease, greed poverty, the men of labor have been equal to the occasion by devising practical remedies for industrial, social and political evlla. Unkindly critics when piqued, or at & lost for an argument to support their contentions, have at times thoughtlessly charged trade unionists as being thoroughly materialistic in possessing no Ideals or sentiments, and influenced by no great forces. 8sntlmentifl Organized Labor. Such expressions can only come from those who are not informed, or uch as are burdened with prejudice. In order that those who run may read and understand, a few facts are herewith-unfolded so that cynics, critics, opponents and friends may obtain a glimpse in a condensed form of what these same trade unionists have accomplished because of a great soul moving force burning within them. Conserving Men and Women. Tbe farther the American people advance In this direction in the future the more surely will they observe true economic prtnclplee that la to say, tbe conservation ot human resources and human energy of the toilers means the ultimate safety and well yacht-skipp- of life or the maximum of oflb clency-- n - Life a Value. Modifications of tbe common law rulings of "assumed risk and "contributory to "comparative negligence have been adopted' in several states, but such trifling with measure ot such grave Import la not sufficient Just, humane and effective legislation muit be enacted by the states legislation that is uniform and uniformly good; effective legislation that will forever abolish the defense known as "fellow servant" "rule, "contributory negligence," "assumption of risk" and "waiving of, right." Industry must bear the financial burden of accidents to tbe human being, exactly as it does now toward mechanical accidents, or accidents that occur through the natural elements. Compelling Safety Appliance. The next In importance are safety appliance laws, enacted by the congress for tbe purpose of conserving life on the Interstate railroads of the United States. Every one of these laws Is a monument to tbe everlasting credit of organized labor. This complication of and legislation enacted by the state legislatures and the United States congress at the behest of the organizations of labor la far from be-- . lng a complete record, but it Is sufficient at this time to enthuse the workers and to convince the most skeptical aa to the great good which has been accomplished for all labor unorganized aa well as organized and particularly for that part of society sometimes defined aa the general public, who hare been safeguarded whiletraveling on railroads, while resting In hotels, amused In theaters, or when coming lq contact with those who., might disseminate disease propagated In workshops or factories that would remain Insanitary ai4 dangerous if It had not been for the vigilance, fidelity and foresight of the organized work-f"-. I So we feel cheered on this Labor Day. W even feel like laying aside the hardness that la acquired in the course of many battles against big odda and allowing the sentimental aides of our natures to show themselves. We feel like talking of our woman and children, and the battle organized labor Is wcglng to oak them comfortable at their work snd r healthy In tbelr homea. We went to cite tbe human suffering thatth organized workers have ' been able to abolish. And to pledge ourselves anew to a continued battle to bring decent working hours and conditions Into those dark places ofltthe nation that are still its most crying disgrace. And, withal, we are sanguine of a day that la coming when all working people may perform their tasks with the sab isfactlon that v haprlei fife to possible to them. The progress haa been aucb that there Iaoccarn for hopefulness, , r Giving llfe-iavln-g ' r. Saneer?p&t: o i , ) |