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2 cial economists and they formed e, grave question to be met and answered. Hundreds and hundreds of men and women serve in factories, foundries, mines and laboring centers of all kinds—are these men and women given half the intelligent atten tion which is accorded to the machines which they guide from day to day? Are their physical needs half as skillfully met or half as carefully considered as are the needs of the inanimate ma chine which would be useless without the guid ing human hand? It has been said that men and women must meet and fill their own needs and wants—but can they? Is it within the power of the ordinary working factory hand who begins his day at 5 or 6 in the morning and labors for twelve or more continuous hours, to consider his own physical needs, however urgent they may be? Is it in the power of these hands to rest when they will, to breathe the fresh air of heaven whenever human lungs demand it or to seek food, maybe, during the busy hours of a busy day? We well know how detrimental such individual seeking would be to anything like system in shop or foun dry or factory, and we know, too, how often the cruel need of food and rest and air is felt, and is denied. The remedy? There can be only one—to incorporate into a working day a full measure of consideration for the worker—to make this consid eration a part and parcel of the routine and to make it so much a matter of discipline that the neg lect of physical alleviations, -would be regarded as marked a breach of discipline as would now the seeking of these same alleviations. Commercialism and Humanitarianism. There are thousands of men and women today who -would resent being considered heartless and careless toward their fellow men, and to this class it is easy to present the demands of the working man—merely to hear is to heed and to help. But there is another and we fear a larger class who ■would question the expediency of “helping the la boring class during working hours.” It was to this class, composed mainly of employers and their representatives, that “The American Institute of ■Social Service” directed its best efforts. Then fol lowed the most convincing and perhaps, the most surprising results, for it was clearly proven on purely commercial grounds that the investment of the outlay required to give increased comfort and ' sanitation to the working men and women result ed not only in better products and larger outputs for these particular industries, but what is of more vital importance it has created a more harmonious relation between employer and employed. With the consideration shown the workers there grew steadily a sense of kindliness and personal gratitude to the employers which is in striking cotnrast to the old time feeling of resentment and also of bitterness which, we fear, was engendered by Trades Unions and their train of attendant evils, due to ignorance and perverted social standards. “The Personal Note.” One of the chief difficulties in the way of pro viding increased comforts to the working class was first, to know what was needed and then to fill the need without absolute re-organization, or without endangering the whole working system of the fac tory or shop. To accomplish the best results, there fore, it was found necessary to have some individ ual—preferably one who knew the special indus try under consideration—and through the sugges tions made by this person to gradually institute re forms in the working day. It was found that this office was often best filled by a woman, and hence there has arisen a new field of work in that of the “social secretary.” The duties, of this secretary are mahifold. To be mediator, as it were, between the hitherto warring factions of employer and em ployed; to gently suggest the “reforms,” to enforce the fact that they were not charities—which the American working man and woman would quickly resent, but merely “economic measures” which would result in good to both employer and employ ed, are some of the difficulties which a pioneer in this new field has to combat. Some Successful Cases. As “Social service” includes everything that tends to the development and advancement of the working classes, not only physical but mental ben- The Golden Age for November 15, 1906. efit is often considered and always with the result that better workers are provided and better work is done. There are hundreds of cases that could be men tioned but we have only space to speak of a few business enterprises in the north and west which are today practicing helpful influences for their hundreds and hundreds of workers. For instance, the J. H. Williams Drop Forging Co., of Brooklyn, New York, have established a perfectly equipped surgical room where the many cases of unavoid able accidents which occur in the foundry, are skillfully and instantly cared for; this same firm has also a large room devoted solely to individual lavatories for use of the men, and these together with individual lockers for his clothes, sanitary spray baths and also club rooms and a library have resulted in a cordial spirit of fraternalism which has greatly increased the usefulness of the men to the company they serve. The Work Used for the Worker. A yet more significant case is that of the Edison Electric Company of New York City. As a step in the right direction this company has a plan by which the men who serve for a year or more are steadily though slightly advanced in salary with each passing year. To these men also, is given a technical reading room (which is largely patron ized) ; as well as a lecture hall and club room. There is also a Monthly Bulletin published which covers in a concise but simple way the very latest attainments regarding electricity in all its bearings. As a sort of object lesson, also, there is provided a perfectly equipped kitchen where electricity alone is used as fuel and where inexpensive meals are served to the men. het another instance of training men along high er grades of work than that in which they are engaged is shown by the classes given in electric ity, physical culture, civil engineering, as well as writing amt arithmetic, which are tendered to the men of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. At eight of the car barns are club rooms with read ing rooms, barber shops, circulating library, etc. A Great Daily Paper Adopts “Social Service.” The “Brooklyn Eagle,” one of the greatest American dailies, has become a strong advocate of Social Service and strange to say its offices are as cleanly, sanitaary and well kept as any in the country. There is also a club room for employ es, mutual benefit societies, a rest room, emergecny medical closets and many other heretofore unknown helps for the “pen and pencil pushers.” Women Who Work. Perhaps the most urgent need for help which is heard by the social service worker is the unvoiced plea made by the thousands and thousands of wo men who each day go out into the busy world to share with man the burden of bread winning. We hear much of the excellent service of the New York Telephone Co. —is it possible that some of this is due to the fact that that corporation fur nishes rest rooms for the weary “Central,” and also that at every station there is an emergency medicine closet; individual lockers, and that tea and coffee and hot milk are served to the workers at any hour of the day or night? Let our local telephone companies consider some similar allevia tions when the public protests bitterly yet fruitless ly against the “Terrible telephone service in the South”! One of the most perfect laundries in the coun try is “The Pilgrim Laundry” at Brooklyn—the work done there is famous throughout the region of the Bronx. One hundred and twenty-five girls are instrumental in creating this reputation; they go to work at 7:3o—they do not climb laborious stairs as in the olden time—they now conserve their strength by having the trip made easy by means of an elevator; they do not stand until nature rebels against the unnatural hours—at 9:30 a. m. they have a recess of twenty minutes when the firm gives them tea, coffee, milk and crackers; at noon they can get a lunch in the lunch room at a merely nom inal cost—during the afternoon there is another short rest, and despite these “wasted” (?) minutes by four in the afternoon more work is done than (Continued on page 5.) Items of General Interest. The average age of persons arrested in New York City is 22 1-2 years, and one out of five is a wo man. British India’s government is successfully making quinine, of which immense quantities are sold by it through the postoffices. London Punch suggests as one way of raising revenue that every “authoress and author shall be subject to an adjective tax.” Mrs. Sarah Lamb of St. Pancras, London, re marked on her recent 104th birthday that she “wouldn’t mind” living her life over. An idea of the immensity of the new Cunarder Mauretania may be gathered from the length of her cable. This is about 1,900 feet long, and weighs, with its shackles, 130 tons. Harry B. Wolf, who is running for Congress in the Third Maryland district, began his career as a newsboy and became in succession fire of fice boy, law clerk, student, lawyer and politician. He is still little more than 26 years of age, and he is known as “the newsboys’ candidate” and “the man with the grip.” The latest “fellow” of the Royal Botanic Socie ty of England is Baroness von Eckhardstein, who for years has devoted herself to the study of botany and is now a recognized authority on certain phases of plant life. The baroness, who is a daughter of the late Sir Blundell Maple, spends most of her time in the country following her favorite hobby. The tomb of the late Duke of Hamilton in the park of Hamilton Palace, near London, is said to be the finest mausoleum in the world. Its cost is estimated at about $900,000, and is modeled aff ter the San Anglo Church in Rome. The coffin is in closed in an Egyptian sarcophagus of black marble and the whole structure is one of almost unequaled magnificence. “Snakology” is one of the most advanced sci ences to be taught in the American schools. It is deemed advisable that children should have a knowledge of the habits and characteristics of snakes and specimens of these reptiles are gathered from all sources and their bodies carefully studied while facts about their lives are given to the chil dren as special topics. The currency of a country is one way of tracing its history or rather its progress toward a com plete civilization. It will be remembered that once tobacco was used as money in Virginia; whale’s teeth are still used in the remoter Figi Islands, and nails were once used as currency in Scotland as were dried cod fish in Newfoundland. Salt passes for money in Abyssinia, bees wax in Suma tra, tea in Tartary and hoes in Madagascar! The highest mountain peak now believed to ex ist in America is Mt. McKinley in Alaska, more than twenty thousand feet high. This peak was discovered by Dr. Fred A. Cook who was surgeon, of the Peary Expedition in IS9I and of the 'Bel gian expedition in 1897. Mt. -St. Elias is under twenty thousand feet -while some authorities give the height of Mt. McKinley as twenty-three thou sand, though twenty thousand is a safe estimate. One of the most unusual and unique uses to which the phonograph is put is that of a medium to carry to future generations the voices of grandpar ents as well as parents who wish to leave a “spok en” message to their descendants. A maker of phonograph records in New York is responsible for the statement that men often come to him and talk whole addresses, usually those having a suita ble moral lesson, into the phonograph. They have individual records made to leave among their as sets.