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5 U 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? D(X>000O0<X)000'XKKK3<X>COO000OC«3CXKX>0CX><XX}pC)0O0O0C30O0C000000000O00O0000 1 nominate, as a candidate in The Hearst’s Sunday American I and Atlanta Georgian Pony Outfit Contest: Name Address Nominated by Address GOOD FOR 1.000 VOTES Only one nomination blank can be voted for any contestant. coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorxKxsooQoooooooooooooooooooooooooooib Subscription blanks and printed instructions for the use of contestants are now ready. Sent anywhere onrequest. 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. -H-M-H-H-H-v .H-l-H-H-H-l-i-K-H-H-H-l-.H-H-l- H-H-H-H-H- 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