Newspaper Page Text
5
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Steel Corporation, for Example,
Is Doing a Lot of Work
for Its Men.
By B C. FORBES.
A Steel man handed me a cigar
and on glancing at the band I no
ticed it read: “Boost for Safety" in
the center and “Illinois Steel Co."
lengthwise. I began to ask ques
tions and was told that these cigars,
'•as* well as articles of more value,
were distributed as rewards among
workmen for, among other things,
preventing accidents, suggesting safe
ty devices and otherwise contributing
to the saving of life.
* * •
The annual carnage on American
railroads, in American industry and
;n American ccal and metal mines is
a most deplorable blot on our national
sscutcheon—100 fatalities every time
the sun rises and 6,000 accidents is
the record for the country.
* * *
My curiosity aroused by the afore
mentioned cigar, I went to the United
States Steel Corporation's offices to
learn what this, the largest industrial
organization in the land, was doing
to reduce its share of the nation’s
awful accident-roll and to improve the
lot of its workers.
* * *
Here arc some of the things I
learned—things that mag astonish
gou as much as thru astonished .me.
for l had read so much about the
cruel, heartless, slavc-driving methods
•>f the corporation that I had come
to believe they mu*! he true :
1. The Steel Corporation has
abolished the seven-day week among
all its workmen.
2. Only blast furnaces are oper
ated on Sunday, and they employ not
more than two of evary hundred em
ployees. The men who work on Sun
days are given a day off during the
week.
3. Not more than one man in four
works twelve hours a day.
>4. The old plan of working cer
tain men a doubie-shift in changing
shifts each week has been eliminated
so that no man works twenty-four
hours on end.
5. The average wage has been in
creased $200 a year since 1902: the
average then was $716. to-day it is
$912, adding upward of $40,000,000
to the payroll.
6. “SAFETY FIRST" is the cor
poration’s inflexible motto, preached
incessahtly. practiced assiduously
and encouraged in every way con
ceivable. Next in orders are: Qual
ity, Cost, Tonnage.
7. The sum of $4,000,000 has been
spent in si.r gears to increase safetg.
8. The results have included a
reduction of 43 per cent in serious
and fatal accidents since 1906. On
to-day's force this means that there
now .escape some 2,500 employees
who would have fallen victims under
the 1906 conditions.
9. Blazoned over every gate en
tered by workmen is a “Safety
First" motto: "Safety First" calendars
are freely distributed; moving pic
ture entertainments designed to in
culcate carefulness, as well as to
amuse, are given to workers, their
wives and children: “Safety," but
tons (some of gold) are awarded
men who perform meritorious serv
ices in the cause of safety—these
buttons, it is found, have a most
salutary influence upon the wearers;
and even pay envelopes each week
have a safety-squib printed on them.
Here is a sample:
Indifference to the safety of others
may, in the course of events, some
time place your own life or that of a
member of your family in danger.
10. A voluntary workmen’s com
pensation plan was adopted on May
1, 1910, before any State in the
Union had passed a Workmen’s
Compensation law, and the scale of
relief printed in sixteen languages,
so that every employee could know
exactly what h« would get for eacn
kind of injury.
11. Fully 80 per cent of all
casualty expenditures go direct tc
the men injured and their families—
the percentage usually received by
irjiured persons is less than half of
rhls in most States, legal fees ab
sorbing the lion’s share as a rule.
12. The Corporation has 1343 pen
sioners, who received $3o3,780 last
year, the average pension now being
slightly over $20 per month.
13. No fewer than 32,248 employees
are now stockholders, owning 125,848
•ilj.'Y'es. The annual cost of this to
the Corporation is $850,000.
14„ Last year $1,100,000 was spent
on sanitation and welfare. Inci
dentally, come fifty children’s play
grounds have been provided, with ex
perts to entertain the children.
15. At one plant aione. encouraged
by offers of prizes. 5,150 vegetable
and flower gardens were cultivated
—72 per cent of all that could possi
bly have been cultivated—and the
produce was estimated as worth from
$225,000 to $245,0C0. or say $45 for
each amateur gardener.
* * *
Th ese are not half the facts told
me by Mr. Charles L. Close, the man
ager of the Corporation’s Bureau of
Safety, .Relief, Sanitation and Wel
fare, whose office is a veritable muse
um, but the column is already full to
overflowing.
Students Bar Dance
and Accept Prayers
MALDEN, MASS,, May 17.—To
dance or pray—that was the question
in Maiden. It was up to the juniors |
In the .Malden High School to dei idt
which it should be. and they chose
nravnr
The vote came as a result of a !
protest made by Malden ministers
egtiinst the dances the junior.- Si"' 1 »
o'h^'ridav nights These are pra/ej |
Meeting nigh’
J The juniors -ded the ministers l
Were eminently correct I
On the Switch-
back
By QUILL.
DO Too
suppose
it's SAFE ?j
Elena of Italy Raises Ban That
Forbade Marriage Between
Ages of 18 and 25.
SAVE NE! 1
YAWR !!
Special Cable to The Atlanta Georgian.
ROME, May 17.—Through the kind
ly influence of Queen Elena and Dow
ager Queen Marghertta, Italy’s
thousands of telephone girls have
been freed of the bondage of spin-
sterhood. Cupid, who was summar
ily "out off” by Parliament’s decree,
has been put back on the .wire after
holding the receiver for seven reli
bate years. And those stern states
men who decreed that “love is ex
tremely detrimental to the State, tel
ephone service” have been probably re
buked. %
The law of 1906 providing that tel
ephone girls in the Government’s
service must not marry between the
ages of eighteen and twenty-five has
been repealed, to take effect to-day.
Seventy switchboard brides in Rotne
alone will be RM to the altar within
the twenty-five ensuing days.
Recognition of Motherhood.
The new act. as drawn up by the
royal ladies and a committee of the
wives of deputies and ministers to
whom the loveless gills appealed,
provides that married operators shall
have clerical positions whin their
husbands aren’t earning much or
when they are in delicate health.
This recognition of motherhood by
the State, as employer, is a grant of
rights such as was recently refused
to married school teachers in New
York.
The law forbidding marriage t«
operators classed as “beginners” was
passed when the Government took
over the telephone service. The rea
sons given were that, in cases of ill
ness, married operators would em
barrass the service and that girls in
love were not as efficient as mature
spinsters.
Scientific Way Too Slow.
Immediately the hello girls in all
the large cities organized in defense
of' their romantic rights. Two years
ago, on the eve of a threatened strike.
Signor Calissano, Minister for Posts
and Telegraphs, promised to appoint
a scientific commission to settle the
matter. If the commission should re
port favorably to the young women,
he said, he w ould introduce a hill for
the repeal of the law that had broken
engagements, hearts and hopes
i throughout the land.
The commission was so slow that
the girls recently took up the battle
anew, appealed direct to the Queen
and the Queen Mother, setting forth
that Italy was the only nation in the
world which deprived a portion, of Ra
women population of-the right of
complete happiness.
The two Queens showed immediate
sympathy, and conferring with the
wives of statesmen, they formed an
invincible force that carried King and
Parliament before it.
Miss Leishman Can
Never Be a Duchess
Special Cable to The Atlanta Georgian.
BERLIN. May 17.—The proposed
marriage of Miss Nancy Leishman
and the Duke of Croy was discussed
at the annual meeting of the As
sociation of Her German Nobility,
which regulates affairs connected
vith the semi-royal houses of the
nation.
The members have unanimously de
cided that Miss Irishman, the daugh
ter of the American Ambassador, can
never expect to be recognized by a
German court either as a Duchess or
a "Highness.”
They declared that no marriage of
a Duke of Croy could he recognized
as regular unless the bride were a
woman “of equal birth.”
Despite this edict, preparations are
making for a wedding in June.
Ducal Pair Separate;
Divorce Is Prevented
Special Cable to The Atlanta Georgian.
LONDON. May 17. The Duke and
Duchess of Washington have signed
a formal deed of separation. She is
to receive $100,000 a year from him.
She ha« taken a house called Jjatch-
mere on Ham Common, a London
suburb.
Their intimates say the Duke tried
hard to persuade his wife to divorce
him, but she refused. Her mother,
Mrs. Cornwallis-West, strongly sup
ported her in this determination. Be
sides she took legal advice and was
informed that the Kings proctor
would probably intervene on the
ground of cOlluaihn should the case
come before the divorce court.
LETS go 'round I
AQAiN
THE PLAYS
THIS WEEK
“Are You a Maion?" a Hit.
“Are You a Mason?" has scored a big
hit at the Atlanta where it is being
given by Miss Billy Long and her
associate players. It has a thousand
laughs and each one gets over with the
Atlanta company. Business has been
greater during the week than since
the opening of the season, the house
being practically sold out the last two
performances. This afternoon a mati
nee will he given, the last performance
of the farce being to-nlgbt. Next w««k’s
14ay is “The Deep Purple."
Good Show at the Forsyth.
At the Forsyth theater Paul Dickey Is
putting over a hit a* strong as any
end run he ever made for Michigan,
and there has never been a crowd facing
u gridiron that has been more excited
than the gatherings facing the stage
his week, when the ex-football star
gets things warmed up In his “The
Come Beck" sketch. The Apollo Trio
■ *ffer a novelty unlike anything an au-
'ience here has ever seen. It Is a good
biU from start to finish.
WO: v BNT YOU LIKE TO OWN THIS OUTFIT?
And wouldn’t your enjoyment from its use be doubled if your own efforts had
earned it for you? Certainly! And this delight is ahead for the winners in this
great contest. Why not send your nomination blank to-day, and make an effort
to be among the winners?
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1 nominate, as a candidate in The Hearst’s Sunday American
I and Atlanta Georgian Pony Outfit Contest:
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Nominated by
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Tc-day’s Vote Coupons appear on Page Two of this newspaper—Ask your
friends to save the Vote Coupons for you. They will be found in The Georgian
every week day and in every issue of Hearst’s Sunday American.
Address all inquiries, nomination blanks, vote coupons, etc., to
PONY CONTEST EDITOR
Hearst’s Sunday American and Atlanta Georgian
20 East Alabama St. ATLANTA, GA.
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This Is a Good Time To Enter
Timid boy and girl contestants are asking us, every day, if it
is too late to enter this contest for free Shetland pony outfits.
Our answer is that now is the right time. The “too late” period
will be here before we realize it, though, and every boy and girl
who wants to compete for one of these splendid outfits is urged
to send in a nomination blank bv to-day's mail.
NTEST
TARTING