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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (June 13, 1909)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, ' PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING. JUNE IS. 1909 mcMW 015 SI the Wonderful Story of the Lad Whose Case Touched a President's Heart 1 vv " f ' D 1 IMA TTTT V MILING JOE" is home again. He went back to the East Side tenement district in New York, cured, after his four long years in the sea air of Coney Island. Cured, you see. Not simply "im- roved," as the solemn doctors say when they patients go back well started toward he- frov let p iilniWwwi'iY 1r'--rrn-vlYr- '"rtliv ,hwWf"" 'n,lll"vl1 ' ' - -I, - ii w n ' If " A ' ,i I r. I - . ?f 1 ; if PyM-i , -.rra-u iyyi& -If aagssi- . SS-r-rV I, i rTT" 'Z r - " ' - , t . . A&o y w- cured, and so make room for a few others of the four or five thousand half starved sufferers in Manhattan who are wait ing their chance to be saved from the terrible tuberculosis of the bones and joints and glands that is laming and wasting them and fitting them for crutches or the grave. Joe "Smiling Joe" is cured. That means he is made into the full, glorious, mighty possibilities cf a man, of a matt who can use his whole heart and soul and body for a man's work and a man's life, as well as the rest of us. It means more, much more. It means that all over this broadband, wherever hun ger and the pallid air of cabined poverty help the cruel bacilli of those crudest of diseases to do their crippling work, hope shall spring and health shall raise its drooping head, and men and women shall stand up in the form of their Creator to look life bravely in the face, saved. YES; of course you know "Smiling- Joe." the boy whose sunny soul saw mirth and f rlendllneti In every inch of the pitiless world that alwayi ringed him around with pain. But one is so-liable to forget the details of theie ad cases. What was it that made him so interesting? Vitn it any rl-'uiiarity of his affliction? No; his was the cv'.imonfst sort of a perpetual helplessness and suffering. Was it was It? Why. feally, when one comes to recall clearly, It wasn't any thing: more than his emile from out of the dreadful bandages he wore. Nothing more, in plain truth. But In the course of the last few years that smile of his amid the dread ful bandages has gone all over, the country, so that th nation's many millions Lave seen it and remember it, while the nation's many thousands who have little one enduring a like affliction know that there Is at least one place in the land where there is a chance for their salvation. MISERY LOOMED BEFORE HIM Joe" Barron, in 1905, was years old, and he had tuberculosis of the bones and spine. Althdugh still in Its incipiency. the appalling disease was rapidly mak ing of him one of those bent, contorted, helpless crip ples from Whom the world of love and kindness coldly turns away when the germs have done their hateful worst. ' On the various sea coasts of Europe there are no fewer than seventy-five sanatoria which are devoted xeilvly to the treatment cf tuberculosis in children- They know what children are worth over there. tut, until recently, in the United States such an Insti tution would have been a cariosity. In -June, 1904. the New York Association for Im rrovins; the Condition of the Poo r. after a preliminary investrgatlon ,-of the numerous sanatoria of Europe, Oertrted that this country should have at least one to hicb the victims oX Uur nu&JUUUs struggle- for ex istence might have recourse. Now, while America was cheerfully blissful in Its Ignorance of any such cures, iier great city has been going right ahead, with Its poisonous tenements and its ill-fed tollers, manufacturing regiments of miser able cripples every year, and manufacturing more of them every year. . This state of affairs made the association very anxious to lock arms in the struggle against that ter rible Increase, even though the weapons and the com missariat were both lacking. So in June. 1 904. the fcea Breeze Hospital, the first seaside hospital in America for the treatment of tuberculosis of the bones. Joints and glands of chil dren, was started on the shores of Coney Island, with nothing but u coveted platform and some tents. i'hu sea and lite sea air wen tu do ttia rest and they've dune it. Among the crippled Jetsam of the Kast Side, now eagerly snatched up by active charity and shipped to the care of the nurses under whose bare tents "Joe" Uarron appeared a year later, with his spine begin ning to weaken and a smile on Ms thin, drawn, little 4-year-old face that was heartbreaking in Its wln someness and its fortitude They gae him the approved treatment, the lack of which, together with the open, fresh sea air and plenty of wholesome, nourishing food, entails disas trous consequences in cases like his. Just as the sup plying of them means restoration to complete health. They strapped him to a curved board, fastened so tightly that he could do no more than wave his arms and twist his head about a little. Most of the poor little wretches who como to Sea Breeze have been so starved for food and light and air that It takes days, and sometimes weeks, to restore to their souls the heritage of happiness that belongs by right of birth to childhood. But little "Joe'' Barron, although his martyrdom was no different from that of hid companions, seemed to have brought into the world, witti the misery to which he .'as condemned, some bright, enduring ray of the heaven whence children come. He was always cheerful, always hopeful, always smiling, ss though his small heart held such a big love for all about him that he could not feel the harshness of earth's unjust sentence. Now, the new seashore sanatorium had to, and has to. exist on the dole of charity; and charity must be stimulated with words and scenes If It is to keep Its beneficiaries from perlshlnar from sheer want. So the patients at Sea Breeze were sometimes pho tographed. In order that charity, being stimulated, might dole out more to keep them alive and, perhaps, enable a larger number of the small martyrs of the East Side to feel God's sunlight and drink in the salt air of Ills healing ocean. The photographer happened, they say, to catch "Joe's" smile. The truth is. when he came to level his camera at that habitual optimist he could not have helped photographing the smile, even if he had found "Joe" asleep. It made a striking picture, the essence of 'the drama and all art seized fresh on the lips ef life's reality the hard bed of pain In contrast wltn the In domitable human courage which his lifted the world from Its primeval anarchy. When the association sent out that photograph, with an appeal for charity's dole, newspaper and mag azine editors all over the country who are really human beings, albeit somewhat Indurated to battle, murder and sudden death saw in a flash the marvel of that smile. Everywhere they reproduced It; everywhere the people of great cities and of the villages and farms felt the responsive thrill which, of old, kindled pagan souls In the presence of some statue of Prometheus bound. Everywhere American men and women learn ed the Inspiring story of "Smiling Joe." In the fours years that have elapsed since "Joe" Barron was taken to Sea Breeze to be cured huge myths have grown up about the magic of his smile beautiful myths, too, more beautiful than the poign antly tragic one of that ancient, brave Prometheus, who, stealing heaven's fire of Immortality for man, was condemned to be bound to a rock while vultures preyed forever on his vitals. BOARD HIS BEST ALLY It was reported that the face of the smiling boy had so stirred the depths of charity that It brought to the association the $250,000 so desperately needed to extend Its work. That was a glorious myth. but. un happily, too glorious to be true. While "Smiling 'Joe's" picture was traveling to millions of homes here and was slowly spreading its Inspiration abroad, the boy who made It possible was steadily winning his way to perfect health. Although born a cripple, with his spine crooked and his leg twisted, the stern but kindly board to which they bound him proved his best ally. Summer and winter the nurses carried him and his fellow-sufferers out to the porch, where they lay all day, breathing In the sea air; summer and winter they had the same good sea air flowing over them in great waves of health at night, for the windows of the indotTr wards were invariably open wide. Jacob A. Klls, whose interest In the poor is unfftlU Ingly alive, accompanied President Roosevelt in 190S on a visit of Inspection of the' sanatorium, and "Smil ing Joe" fairly .touched Mr. Koosevelt tu the heart. Tne President shed tears over the little sufferer. A year of the curved board sutliced for Joe's case. It left him straight as an arrow and as helpless as the day he was born. He had to grow muscles before he could walk, and he had to live in an enveloping plaster cast while he grew tne in. It made him look like an animated marble monument, and its successors stayed on his harassed body for more years, until the doctors, a few weeks ago. after all his play In the open and his sleep In the healing air. pronounced him well and let him go back home again. Those are the simple, unadorned facts about "Smil ing Joe," with these other facts In place of the beau tiful myth: By the summer of 1905 the banatorlum had demon strated the- astounding thing that the air of ttie At lantic ocean, at the shore of th?i United States wan Just as healthful as the air of the Atlantic ocean at the shores of Europe. Any sand crab or flshhawk could have told the doctors that without half think ing; but we must be cautious and highly scientific, you see, when we are contemplating- any such innova tions as founding a sanatorium or boiling eggs. The association determined to try for .funds tr erect a large hospital modeled on the little Sea Breeze i'lstitutlon. John D. Rockefeller offered to give $125. 000 cash If us much could be raised from other sources. The second sum was virtually all pledged when the photograph of "Smiling Joe" was made pub lic. Yet the photograph brought In a great deal of money. The $250,080 Is In bank now. awaiting tha action of New York city In condemnation proceedings appropriating Rockaway Beach for purposes of public; health and recreation. But the city eant afford It Just yet; and so the thousands of little cripples on the East Side must wait and become more crippled until It can give their promised sanatorium a site big enough to accommodate it. While Joe's picture did not bring in all the $350,000 so widely talked of. It did a great deal to arouse inter est In the relieving of little Invalids sucli as he, and was responsible for many contributions. But the smile has. perhaps, done something1 more. It has spread the light of hope wherever Viope was not. and has made national the force of thn movement to save the Innocent martyrs of our headless civiliza tion where It might still have been local. smud W tote w c I AN a woman be a successful legislator! One woman, at least, answers yes, be cause, 6he says, with due modesty, she has proved it. She is Mrs. Alma Lafferty, who was a member of the recent Legislature of Colorado the only woman in a body of sixty-five lawmakers. During , the session her courso was watched with interest not only by the people of her Denver district, but by those of the state and by many throughout the country. , Mrs. i Lafferty says sho is satisfied with her record. The voters who elected her appear to be satisfied, too, so all ;ia well. : . 'HEN Mrs. Lafferty began her term she was regarded first as an easy victim by those who wished to introduce freak legislation. Every one with a strange, freakish bill appealed to her to Introduce it. She probably re ceived visits from more cranks than any other mem ber of the Legislature. But not for long. Mrs. Lafferty Issued Iier first bulletin early in the session. "No cranks need. apply,'" she declared. "1 am here for serious business and not as a vehicle for mental versatility." To this declaration she clung, and although she became one of the most prolific introducers of bills in the Legislature, freak bills ware not on the list. Other legislators began to take notice of this determined-looking woman. She sat In- the middle of the chamber, and her desk nearly always bore flowers or other indications of femininity. Mrs. Lafferty, above all, made a reputation for two things getting good bills through and develop ing intp the most exptTt lobbyist on the floor of the House. She took to lobbying as naturally as a duck to water, and commanded one of. the most powerful lobbies before the Legislature. It was largely made up of women lobbyists. Women have made a reputa tion in Colorado, with their votes to use as a club, as the most persistent fighters that appear before the Legislature. They have the quality of neveT know ing wnen they are whipped, and Mrs. Lafferty pos sessed this quality to its fullest extent. W,hen a fight was raised on one of her bills she flooded the floor of the House or Senate, wherever it was occurring, with her lobby, before the enemy knew she was prepared. Through the Women's Club of Den ver she held the threat of the female vote of the state against any one who opposed her, and on non political questions the women were behind her, re trardlees of politics. In addition she commended the educational lobby of the state, for she fathered, or, rather, mothered, about all the educational bills presented to the Legis lature. She allied herself with Judge Ben B. Llndsey, of the Juvenile Court of Denver. Introducing all the Juvenile bills that passed and now bear the signature of the Governor. Judge Iylndsey, whose sensational and successful run as an Independent candidate Is still puzzling the bosses of both parties, who considered him "dead," gave her bis influence In return for her support of Juvenile bills. But the strangest fact In Mra. Lafferty's legislative career, on the face of It, Is that The bill she desired to have passed above all others was defeated. More than anything else, she wished an eight-hour bill for laun r (irla. It went through, tha llOoso and met strong; 9 opposition tn the Senate, being- finally killed on the last day of the session by one vote. This eight-hour bill for laundry girls has been the pet measure of the Federated Women's Clubs of Colo rado for several years. A law giving laundry girl eight hours was passed by the last previous Assembly and knocked out later by the Supreme Court. Mrs. Lafferty revived the light at the recent session and introduced three bills covering the subject. , One was not properly drawn and died In committee. A second was , drawn solely for the benefit of the laundry girls and waa dropped by her when House bill 32 4 had gained some headway. This provided eight hours fr employes of laundries.- mechanical or .mercantile establishments, hotels and restaurants. 1'he msrxwUle esUbUAlwjisnts, hotels nd-restu- i :- ' 1 rants Immediately set about to kill It. The Hotel Keep ers' Association and the Laundry Association both have- strong organizations. An attempt wag made by the enemies of the measure to have an amendment In serted Including telephone employes. This was design ed to bring the Colorado Telephone Company into the fight, and any Colorado legislator who wishes to get a bill through steers clear of legislation aimed at that company. Its Influence Is more than they wish to have against them. The amendment was defeated, and the bill finally reached the Senate shorn of the provisions agajnst the hotels, restaurants and mercantile establishments. But those interests, having started a fight on It. were de termined to see it through to a finish. Mrs. Laffertv threw her lobby into the Senate and, one after another, went to senators and told them if they wished to see their pet measures get through the House to vote for the bill. But the Senate was in a deadlock. Not until the . day before adjournment did the laundrv bill come up for third reading. Mrs. Lafferty had a majority of senators working for her. One Instance in particular illustrates her method: , A senator' had a bill for a home for mental defect ives. Mrs. Lafferty had Introduced the same bill in the House and was anxious to get It through. The Senate bill was then in the House, but the senator was op posing her laundry blUi She went to him and said: "If you want your bill for mental defectives to pass the House, get my laundry bill through the Senate," The senator changed his attitude and voted for her bill. LOST BY ONE VOTE On the last day the hotel and business men throng, ed the Senate chamber, as also'dld the members of Mrs. Laflerty's lobby. She went from senator to senator with pleas. But the business interest was too strong. Several senators changed position and the bill was lost by one vote. Even then Mrs. Lafferty sent for her lobby and got the bill up on a motion to reconsider, but the damage had been done and the motion was lost. Mrs. Lafferty was more successful on her other bills. She put through a teachers' pension fund bill, although It was Introduced by another member of the House. She got through her bill o create a state board of teachers' examiners. In the face of a strong fight by the State Normal School, one of the most sue. cessful state institutions In the matter of getting ap propriations from the Legislature, she put through her bill for the certification of teachers by any state edu cational institution. Where other Juvenile court bills were killed, Mrs. Lafferty's went through without a ' change and unanimously. On purely political questions Mrs. Lafferty took no part. The direct primary law did not interest her. The bank guarantee was not nearly so important in her eyes as the eight-hour bill. The initiative aniKreferen dum and the straight Australian ballot questions bored Mrs. Lafferty. She does not believe in political theo ries. And she had a peculiar habit, that grew notice able toward the end of the session, of being absent from the House chamber when the time came to vote upon a bill upon which she did not care to be recorded. For this reason some of her male colleagues have firm convictions against women legislators, though to Mrs. Lafferty credit It can bs said that she ntvt, broke, t&ith, v ' ' . i i ' ... . , ,; VI- .:-X
