The Oregon daily journal., June 14, 1908, Page 24, Image 24

3
3 HROWlG THE SWITCH
mi SO EASY AS LOOKS
Biff Responsibilities of "The; Human Scrap Heap" of
Bailroading Average PayOnly About. $50
PtC BOYS ON
YOU 5EE
THE, WEST 5DE
vvfy, TCAt WE, avv-
WE t PAY NO
" y f ij w
FOR THIS
RENT- WE
COLLECT RENT
yOV: CAN'T
F ME
Ter Month A Day in the "Shanty." ; -
you CAN'T. SEAT fa 1
i , i ft. - s . r H VERY
i -aj uror in v...,., i I, . m . i . -. . v . i . i
Br4 ; ..r . -a ur: :-. j -' " i t i, -
' I r mm I sss- ' y7 ' v. j . jum nt 1 Mr H T-' IT V "T" 1 T B Ja M I v' w, VJP ' I . I . t0 1 IIIIIIH 111 I
By Graham Romfyi Taylor.; vv
Herur . & O.. .,. the right
main!" shouted Swltchtender Griffin
through ths telephone. It was a veri
fication of the order he bad received
and the little shanty by the side of the
track seemed almost to burst, with the
volume of , his tones, i Any one who
spends 12 hours of the 2 in railroad
switching yard must accustom his
" voles to fc never-ending contest with
bedlam of whistles, bells and rushing
Jamming the receiver on Its hook and
opening the little door, Griffin bent his
ii.fnnt franit throueh the opening.
His lantern swung from the stump of
his right arm, which naa just enougn
nf an elbow to make a hook for it.
Successive bars of yellow light at every
slant and angle glinted In the darkness
as the reflection came from one track
or another in the tangle. . He picked his
way across them and stopped to throw
the switch. Scarcely had he straight
ened up, when out of the night rushed
"No. . It clattered past the shanty
thundered over the high Iron bridge and
then like a spent skyrocket it could be
seen slowly bending its stream Of light
around the curve before the last straight
stretch Into the white glare of . the
train shed. ' , ,
. Bight and Wconff. , v .
"Tou see," said Griffin, as he shoved
the door shut and gave the stove tne
only housekeeping .attention which the
shanty demanded of him, "there's two
o' them mains. One's the right main
and the other's the wrong main. They're
the two tracks across the, bridge. The
right main goin' toward the depot Is
the wronr one coming out But some
times If the right one Is blockaded we
hare to send the trains in or out by
. the wrong main. t ,-...,... .-v - . ..'
; "Suppose," said X, "another train was
coming out on its right main at the
same time you might be sending B. 4
O. No. 6 in its wrorrg main. .Wouldn't
something happen?" -
"Sure. ., They'd clean it up with am
bulancea, and you'd hear the kids yellln'
extry. That's Just the thing ws'ye got
to look out for." ' i .
. His frankness was a relief. It showed
one thing certainly; that Griffin was
keenly aware of his responsibility. In
fact, I felt a sense of assurance in. dis
covering Griffin's motto nailed to the
wall beside a Sunday supplement pic
ture. There was an ejemem ox aoau
certainty about Its strong language.
It read, "Live every day so that you
can look any damn man in the face and
tell him, 'Go to hell,' " a vigorous way,
to be sure, of saying, "Be sure yos are
right," but one, nevertheless, that gave
you a comfortable sense of double riv
eted security, with error not even
smong the possibilities.
Important Jo. ' ..- ' '
"Job important? Well, you can else
it up for yourself. The magazines have
had a big lot of hot air about the en
gineer. All their railroad yarns tell
sbout the tralnload of passengers whose
safety rests with the man in the cab.
What In heaven's name would he do,
I'd like to know. If we fellers didn't
keep the switches right? Guess the
lives of the trainloads depend , on the
man in the shanty, too." - .' f '
I was not In a mood to dispute the
statement, , ss Griffin caught sight of
a light in the distance,, which rapidly
, swelled to a full moon. "Great West
ern, No. I," he was hollering- through
the phone. "All right, Tom, the wrong
main for her," and it seemed as if he
had scarcely gone outside of the shanty
when the full moon, backed op by 80
tons of poundping iron, and clouds of
choking steam, rushed by, trailing half
a doxen sleepers that looked like one
, elongated car. . ' '
As I accost oroed myself to the sur
roundings, however. I began - to think
of the things to nnd out which I had
stumbled' down ' the wet and rickety
' steps from the ' viaduct and made my
- uncertain way across and along the
tracks. I had heard that a large pro
portion of . swltchtenders were . crip-;
pled. I wanted to find! out how they
came to be so, how they got their Jobs,
- -what their wages were and what, if i
any, efforts were made to better their
conditions. Already I had become im
pressed with the fact that a wltcn
tender must be "all there" all of the
time, even if his "all" did happen to
include less than the normal total oi
limbs and digits. ...
''O Tns Scrap Heap. ..
"Sure," we're the human' scrap heap
In this businesa , There's about ai
nun of ua maimed as able-bodied.
Look down that row of white lights to
the risrht of the nearest trsca. aaru
nna nf m has a shanty Snd a switch'
tender. There's me and Bill Williams
he's my day partner In this shanty:
Both of us lacking a right srm. Dave,
In tVi n iViflntv ' hI ffOt TO Hit
hand. Next feller's all sound. But the
two after - him neither of them can
count more'n about six all told .on his
fingers. Out or 20 in mis yaru
are seven maimed, and among the loo
or thereabout in the city, , I expect
there's between a third and a half han
dicapped. Dunno how you would nnd
out for sura" V . " ' V . -r-.i
H(w did we get chopped up? Well,
mostly all about the sams way. .You
see, we're all of us trained and experi
enced railroad men. , Thlais the only
kind they can use la this Job. ISO fel
ler that's maimed outside the railroad
..,iaa s.ii wnrk in. , . Pact is, most,
of us were regular -switchmen the
boys that ; ride around on the engine
HiMiHa anH minl cara Some day
or other it happened' to the rest of
them Just about tne way n am i mc.
I lost that there hand making as good
a coupling as ever bumped together.
Just put my Jiand in. and whea i I went
to pull it out the train had it "stead of
me. Done so slick I never knew how
it happened." ;
"Don't you never call us cripples,
young fellow. We're down and out so
th wama in Wa may be human
scrap heap they pay us as If that was
the company's thought anyway. ' Don t
th.v'va ant to have men post
ed on railroading for these Jobs? If
they didn't take us, they'd have to pay
the switchmen's regular scale, 17
n.r.. .n hour Rut ther have ua handi
capped all we can do is to take what's
coming to us and look wise. We get
somewhere between $45 and f 0 a month
for II hours a day, seven days a week.
I Just had a raise from $47.50 to $50.
That was when the switchmen got their
last increase. ;.:;: ' J :V
Fiftv dollars is mignty mus ior a
man with a family. But it comes tough
for those of us who have been usea to
twice that sum snd nearly all of us
maimed chaps have. . There's Jim, hes
h nrasident of the' union we're Just
forming. Jim's getting $56 and a few
years ago out west ne was yara super
intendent, drawing $200 a month. Of
course, when the accident comes, we
usually get a lump sum settlement from
the road, but that only makes a nest
egg for the time when we'll have to quit
altogether." , ' 'v.,.'"' ' v ,
"How, then, do you get these Jobsr
I asked, interested to learn if anything
like a bureau for the handicapped was
maintained by the industry responsible
for the injuries. It proved to exist in
the human kindness of an individual. ,
i- Zxperlenoed Van.
"The yard superintendent kind o' has
a lookout for us fellers. He knows
that if a chap has one srm off that's no
reason why he's not likely to keep his
head on his shoulders even better than
an ordinary chao. So the boys know
they stand a good show by Just going
around to see mm. in xaci, ne iuiu ma
yesterday if I knew any teller that naa
been up against it. but who was steady
and had had experience in the ways of
the road, to send him around and he
would take care of him." .
The telephone bell rang sharply,' "B
& O- No. i is 30 minutes late."- repeated
Griffin in verification. "Sure, Tom. I'll
look out to send ner aown tne rigni
main." I left .the shanty wondering by
wnat process of divination it was pos
sible to pick the headlight of "No. 's"
engine from ths maie of lights and
signals in the distance. As I msde my
way toward the viaduct and its rickety
steps I heard Griffin's voice call after
me: "Drop in and see a feller when
ever you chance to be down this way."!
SEl'IG Hi
R EVO LU TI 0 H I ZE D
Man Who Perfected His In
s vention While in Prison
Will Get Fortune.
Notes From the
Labor World
. , Boston, Mass., June 13. Nearly balf
a century ago Calvin P. Graves Of
North Hancock, Maine, began to work
out the idea of Improving his mother's
sewing machine. While working on his
invention he was convicted of the mur
der of two men and received a life sen
tence. - During the 19 years he served
before being pardoned he perfected the
device. At the age of 4 he started for
New York today to collect 1100.000 of
fered him for his invention by a com
bination of sewing machine companies.
The invention is not only an im
provement but a revolution in sewing
machine construction. It is an attach
ment that can be placed upon any ma
chine, whether for factory use on heavy
material r for the housewife in the
home. It abolishes the bobbin snd
takes the thread right from the spool
and makes a lock stitch. It is so sr
ranged mat from a row of spools of dif
ferent colored silk or thread any one
can be v used at wlUby using small
The invention also abolishes many of
ths devices on the present machine.
KOSW BROS. BUY
LARGEST VJQOL CUP
(Special Dispatch to The Jcmraal.) ,
. Pendleton, Or-. ' June IS. Charles
Green, representative of Koshland Bros.,
rf Fan Francisco, announced today that
he had purchased the 300,000 pounds
wool clip of Lee Bros. Of Baker City. ,
Thin 1s one of tha largest individual
clips in Oregon. The price paid is pot
given out . . 'r ;. ,;
Freow ater Strawberry Crop.'
rree water. Or.. June IS. It is est!
mated that the strawberry crop for the
Iireaent season in the Milton and -Free-water
country will amount to $50,000.
The bulk of the crop has already been
marketed." and s half doien different
fruit concrm have been handling the
hwriea. this year tne uerries are last
Jner- longer, and with somewhat larger
u rease are producing more berries than
a year ago...-. -". , -t v
Fx-Oovernnr Myron T. Herrh-k of
Ohio and Congrpsaman William B. Mc
Kmiy " of lilinola are mentioned as
i .inaiiiati for treasurer of the Repub-
a national committee.
Boston Clgarmakers' union has levied
an assessment of S5 on each member to
advertise the union label. . l . )
Union bakers in St. Paul have ob
tained an Increase of 1 a week in their
wages. .;...'..::.
The French Railway Workers union
numbers 45.000 men and has an annual
income of about $30,000.
The Amalgamated - Window Glass
Workers of America will hold its annual
convention next month in Buffalo.
Over 80 national and - international
unions of laborers and farmers have
decidod on a plan of political action to
protect the interests of wage-earners.
That a labor union is liable for dam
ages if It calls Its men out because a
workman Is not a member of the union
Is a decision Just rendered by the courts
in Victoria, British Columbia.
Applications for the organization of
divisions in South America and in the
canal sons have been received by the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
Union coppersmiths at: San Francisco
have been Informed by the employers
that the latter -will insist on a nine
hour day in future. Instead of eight, as
now exists. .
The supreme court of Nevada has
rendered a decision that boycotts in all
forms are illegal, and makes it possible
for parties injured to recover damages
from anv party, individual or corpora
tion. Instituting a boycott.
Th labor assembly of St. Paul did
not send delegates to the convention of'
the Minnesota State Federation of La
bor this year, believing that the money
couia do uaea more aavantageousiy in
local organization work.- w- ;
The union labor men - of : Memphis,
Tenn., are planning again to have rep
resentation in. the Tennessee legisla
ture. It. is likely a plan similar to the
on 'adopted "two- years ago will be
aaopiea sgatn this year, in order to se
cure the choice of organised labor as to
turel -represent . it in the leglsla-
b -lm0Tmnt hss been started in.
Sonoma county. California f ait
Sr-ill foIm n organization for the
"1 J?1 mutual interests. This
movement has for its purpose the se-
whl"5 nf J,,ftc ln 8an Frsnclsco.
wnere all orodurta -n v. ji
fTLV1. d,"POB of without having?
ro,p!i,f?ramJion to the middle men
. ". l"e gooas. .
n20a te J?suv d th Pennsylvania
llw1-10 'fchsrge all foreigners and
auctert Sfut Am?rlcn "tlsens has
ai tract en much public ' attention tv.
SJJ 't. onlV the lab?ers.ashe
office force, operation and mechanical
by Ehgllsh-speaklng men. The Penn
sylvania system, wfien operating to"?,
full capacity, employs about 180,000
persons. . 5 , , . '
- Suit for 150,000 damages against a
'Jrr twh' t is sought t5
Sta.lJiJVJ?g:ment atn"t "e property
of Individual worklngmen, has. been
brought by ihe Citizens' -alliance of Den
ver on behalf of nTarhi. "Z
the ground that members of the Ma'rbl
workers union held up the construction
. . ft TZ UUIIUIIIK I II ir.nP tttt m
strike for hlrhsr .- ir. Tk. .rJ
Fe.leration of Labor will assist in de
fending the suit. .
; The enormous profits required by West Side Furniture Dealers to meet excessive rents is best illustrated by; the special v.. sales advertise
ments of the Big Price Boys. It is not "unusual to find $100 articles specialed at $50, and $50 articles marked;. down to $25r., while, you -will
sometimes see a $10 piece of furniture going at $3.35.- - f . - - , ... , ' - v.4 - :
V Granting that some specials are even put on at cost, what do you think : of trading regularly with; a firm that must ask three times the
, wholesale cost of goods in order to do busine ss profitably ?L (iYou may take the special bargain, but" you: will fight shy of everything ' else.
It is actually impossible for. us to reduce anything 35 per cent without throwing it under cost. Therefore every' day is special bargain
day , with us. Investigators have found ,this t o be true, which accounts ior the enormous bu siness we have ' been doing. Others ' cannot
compete with us because - ' , - , '.' . ' ' ; ' , '. ,i ' ' -
Others Pay Rent We Collecfc Rent Who Can Sell the Ghcapest?
You will add to H
your happiness if
you can induce your hus-
band to
Kcep Away From Those Big Price Boys
They are expensive companions.
If they furnish your home your
husband will soon learn" how
much too much he paid for furni
ture, "will always feel sore, and
will never take the interest in his
home that he would if M.-A. had
furnished it . at no-rent bargain
prices. ; , , . "
AMIR sVT-TJP" .1 y
mmm
r S
Will be a big item in furnishing that new house you are building.
We actually, save you from 5 to 25 cents a yard on carpets. - It's
a big saving. MM.-A'.M . knows you wont overlook it, either
Rockers :
A fine new line of Mis
sionRockers. See them
for genuine bargains.
7
Ti'iiTn MrWfasi
1
1
f '
; r w.-.v "jvv
Acorn Ranges
We have secured one of the oldest '
and best line of Steel Ranges
made in America the celebrated
Acorn. There is no range on the ,
market that i excels the i Acorn.
' The new fuel-saving fire box is
found only in the Acorn. It saves
25 per. cent in fuel.
VICT
"When the
Song of
Heard"
ni-
Happy indeed is the home where "Lore's
. Old Sweet Song" is ever heard. But tired hus
bands and care-worn wives forget to repeat
the "old, old story," and sometimes feel irrit
able, even "scrappy", '
A Victor Restore Harmony
.; It cheeerfully sings ' the old songs that
thrilled you when love was young. Depressing
clouds lift. Your hearts are filled with love
and joy and life seems worth living.
, - Can you afford to be without a Victor?
Remember "M.-A." give terms to suit all pock
a a J ti"
Refrigerator Weather
You simply must have a Refrigerator; ther
is no use talking, but you don have to buy
it from the Big Price Boys." ; .,,.
"M-A" Will Save You From$1 to$10
Refrigerators from $8.00. up.
Others Pay Rent, We Collect Rent on Half
Our Own Building-VVho Can Sell the Cheapest ?
W. U MORGAN
CEO. T. ATCHLEY
. S. H. MORGAN
81-S3 -8?
CORNER
B.SXAR
Iti'sj sTli d TEH tb? tV
; ai
'inn tlj
) 111 'iS
SolilOak Dressers $11.00
t - (Not like cut.)
We have one of the largest assortments of
Dressers in the city and can save you from
$2 to $10 on a Dresser. - ,
VATERMELOflS SOON
TO ARRIVE III CARS
.- (Hsant hum by hrmgrtt tsmi Win.)
. Ban Francisco, June lJ.-THe. local
wheat market hss been monotonous: for
soms time, and win continue so until
the hew crop begins to arrive at Tide
water In Quantities. Prices were un
changed today and the market wns dull
and easy. Ths rscelpts wers 13,220 cen
tals and Included 11,920 centals from
Washington. -.-.
Cargoes on passage were in sympathy
with. American advances. The ' Eng
lish country markets wers quiet and
ths". French was -dulL Liverpool was
firm fpr spot nd higher for futures.
Paris declined. .-
Barley was aulet And unchanged for
spot, with receipts of 4,40 centals, snd
Including 1.B80 centals from Washing
ton. December advanced 4o per cental.
The receipts of oats were only 880
centals and sir from Oregon. A slack
demand and there being some timid
holders who have been- anxious to real
ise havs given the market the appear
ance of. being very weak. - The-' report
ed sales at reduced prices, however,
havs consisted mostly of ths lower
grades. Choice and fancy whtts oats
were held at ths quoted prices, and all
white havs to come from tbs north.
There were no rscelpts of beans, . corn
or rye, and these articles were nominal
ly unchanged In prices. - ... . ;
Receipts of flour wers 8,917 barrels.
Including 1,3 1 barrels from Washing
ton and 26 barrels from ths east.
. Extra eggs advanced , lc ' per - dosen
with sales on 'change of 20 cases at
23e and 3ft cases at 23 He All-grades
of California closed steady and eastern
seconds were-flrm. Butter, was steady
for all grades of creamery, snd firm for
packing stock.' On 'change 2,500 pounds
of cube butter sold at 23 He per pound.
Cheese was unchanged,- closing weak
for California flats and firm-for Young
Anrica, The steamer Mariposa (or
Honolulu today had good Quantities1- of
butter and. cheese, , . .
j The steamer Governor for British Co
lumbia, and ths steamer Mariposa' for
Honolulu took out food ' quantities of
freshi and dried fruits.' ' On - regular
steamer days fins snd specially packed
fruits for shipment usually command m
premium-on-regular market quotations.
Berries were weak all round. . Cherries
had about .the sams general range as
on Friday. - The market was -still glut
ted with apricots, the arrivals having
for some days been much tn -excess 67
the demand. Peaches were slow, even
for best quality. ; Cantaloupes were in
liberal supply, and cheaper. A carload
of watermelons is about due from Coai
ehella. valley. ' . - . .
Ths river boats- wers late, - causing
no -little .annoyance to trade, '-especially
early buyers, who were looking for spe
cial lines of fresh goods. Most of ths
asparagus available ln ths early .part of
the day was taken, by canners.' String'
beans and. green peas were weaker.
Lima beans -were on sale, but the trade
did not take them.- Rhubarb has been
somewhat neglected of late. -Cucumbers
and tomatoes wers In better sud-
pir. v ;
Ode.'
' To the man who's always grtintln' :'-'
And a-grumblln' snd a-klckln',
- The world don't owe a llvin",
But a thunderjn' big liokin.
From- the Bostoix TranscrtpW