overboard they pull themselves up on
the rope.”
The lawyer seemed to consider this
a perfect argument against further pro
tection. But he had never been washed
overboard and faced death in a heavy
sea against the slimy side of a scow.
Outside New York harbor, where forty
scows are dumped every day of the
year, the inspecting government tugs
have long been in the habit of stand
ing by while the scowmen make their
perilous runs along the twelve inch
planks, and they have saved so many
that they have lost all count.
Here again there is no certain way
of finding out how many men los°
their, lives. The scows do not clear
from the custom house, nor are the own
ers responsible to the adjoining states.
7 here is no possibility of an investiga
tion, no call for a coroner’s jury, no re
port of men lost. Frequently the men
are employed with the utmost infor
mality—picked up in a hurry on the
wharf at night, told how to Knock
open the trap doors, and promised .y
dollar and a half if they get back.
Some scowmen become accomplished
gymnasts. But what about the poor
wop who goes out on a nasty sea on
his first trip!
A storm is regarded as rather a
boon—to the owners. The solid seas
wash a good deal of the load overboard
and, n the plea of saving life and prop
erty th'> traps are ordered opened long
before the dumping ground is reached.
At such times the sea is at its mean
est but tier- is not even a govern
mint tug standing by.
The new law applies only to scows.
The men on sta going barges are liable
to much greater dangers, but tin v aTe
partly protected; and those on the
barges for im&nd wa'iis which put out
into dangerous ocean passageways,
such as that around Point Judith, at
the entrance of Narragansett bay, are
not protected at all. In consequence,
numbers of men are lost every year on
the Atlantic coast in barge accidents.
-L o xai u it uj.* vuvoy v*wj «•
On account of the rigid inspection of
steamers, the loss on the North Atlan
tic coast last year was only an average
of one in twenty-one millions. But the
barges, which carry the bulk of th'e
freight, are, under the law, only half
inspected. All the equipment required
is a boat, a life preserver for each per
son, and an anchor and chain. Gov
ernment officers examine the hulls
once a year, but they have no right to
inspect the two lines and bits—the most
important things. These may be in a
dangerous condition, but no one has
authority to stop their use.
For this reason seventeen lives were
lost from Philadelphia & Reading
barges one night last January off Cape
Cod. The exact eause of the barges’
breaking away could not be determin
ed, for they went down; but it was
plain that, if more careful inspection
had been permitted, the loss could have
been avoided. Government officers con
stantly exceed their authority in or
dering repairs made, yet coal barges
rarely live to be considered unsea
worthy. You seldom see them rotting
in the bone yards. They are kept run
ning until they founder.
These sea matters are out of our ken.
But much worse conditions exist right
under our noses. Our eyes, however,"
are dazzled by the brilliance of tlie ac
complishment in which they are invol
ved. We see the smooth running rail-<
read, the towering bni’cing, all th»j pol
i>] ed eterior of civ..hzata »n; we can1
rot see tint they a.*e “b'.u-k 'with
blood.” .
There is th( terminal being buiit f>>r
the New York Central in New York
city. It is one of the wonders of the
age. It lias been in the course of con
struction for seven years, aud the (x
eavating is s-ill going on. Years more
will be necessary to complete it. Bat,
m .the end, the unsightly yards will
give way to avenues and handsome
buildings; the terminal wl1 be com
pletely below the surface, operated by
electric engines, and no longer a scar
across the face of the city. ^Moreover,
it will be the last word in convenience
and one of the most patent evidences
that “the world does move.”
But does it? That hole has been a
slaughter house. Rarerly has a piece
of excavating work been carried on in
such defiance of humanity. When a
coroner’s jury censured the contracting
company for its carelessness, the coro
ner pointed out that the toll of the
dead and seriously injured was a man
a day. Stop and consider that.
In the very heart of the greatest
American city, while throngs hurried
by above and did not know or care,
every twenty-four hours a man was
needlessly sacrificed.
And little good would it have done
the throng if it had stopped and ob
jected. Until last year there was no
law that could reach the contractor.
Even the police did not get a record
of the accidents. Without breaking
the law in any way, the company was
able to hide many of the deaths it
caused. For, under the rulings of the
Public Service Commission, if a man
is not killed instantly, or does not die
within three days, it is only necessary
to list him as “injured.”
Nothing was ever done to stop tho
slaughter at the Grand Central Station.
A more humane company later took ov
er the job, but that was a matter aside.
Even when the Erie cut had been turn
ed into- a shambles, no public notice
was taken, and the terrible state of af
fairs that existed there might never
have come to be known at all if one
day a piece of rock had not been blown
out of the cut and into a house, where
it killed a woman.
As long as the killing was confined
to wops, there was no interference, but
the death of some one not connected
with the work was another matter, and
there was a great hue and cry. The
district attorney made loud threats as
to what he was going to do; but after
all nothing effective was done. The
grand jury returned an indictment
against the company merely for main
taining a nuisance, the company finally
pleaded non vult—meaning that it did
not intend to do it—paid a fine of five
hundred dollars, and the slaughter went
grimly on.
Jt would seem as 11 it were some
body’s business to put a stop to such
practices. Here is something which ,
may throw a little light on the sub
ject:
So many Italians were being killed
in this country a few years ago that
the Italian government instructed its
consuls to investigate. They soon
found that they were in for a big un
dertaking, and built up about each of
fice a whole staff of lawyers and clerks.
Their information come from news-'
items, fellow workmen, relatives in It
aly, and, by special arrangement from
city and county records. In New York
the consul" secured access to the police
blotters, and had occasion to eercise
it constantly..
But one day a police sergeant re
fused the privilege to an agent of the
consulate, explaining that the city was!
involved. This hardly seemed possible,
as the man in question had been killed
in the construction of the hundred mil-.1
lion dollar Pennsylvania station. The'
Concern doing the work was named the
New York Contracting company, Pen
nylvania Terminal. Nothing but its<
well known political affiliations seemed',
adequate to explain why public officials
di,d so much to protect private inter
ests. The record was finally produced,
but no satisfactory reason for having
at first Refused it could be obtained.
; In the past few years we have been
^kicked into a slow, stupid conscious
ness of employers liabilities, but we
bhve not thought of the wops. Even'
^the Employers’ Liability Commission
(closed its painstaking report in New
York a fejE..., months. ago with only a
few casual references to them. With
all the power and machinery at its com-.*
mand, it was unable to break through
the crust under which the wops grope
darkly toward' L.eir graves.
It ia cfsy to understand why. The
wops :>re never o-msidered as individ- •
uals, but are kerlu? togeth:- vti-i
ever ihey congre/:'* an i shipped out
to any point whe.*e they are needed.
It may be a fever car p, a swamp or a
piece of dangerous construction work
right around the corner—they go with
out question in groups, as they are or
dered. There is a rather sickly humor
about this when you consider the re
rivation of the name by which they are
At P. E Fox’s
I
JUST RE
CEIVED!!
Large lot of hand
some furs-- Come
in and see them.
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THE
ISLAND
DEPARTMENT
STORE
To JUNEAU!
HOLDERS
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*
THE DOUGLAS ISLAND CONCRETE WORKS *
have made the blocks for nearly three hundred chim- J
ney during the summer just past and all of them are
giving perfect satisfaction. 8 inch Chimney Blocks
50c each. Telephone Douglas 4-3-6.
•+• 4» • 4 • # • 4» •+• 4> • *i» • 41 • 4* • * • * • * • 4’• 4* • 4* • 4* • * • 4* • 4* • 4> • 4*
GOOD PLUMBING PAYS!
Take a look at my work in the new
Alaska Labor Union Hall. 1
J. MINKOVE
E.M. Peters
PLUMBING
STEAM FITTING, SHEET
METAL AND MACHINE
WOKE. JOBBING AND
ALL KINDS OF REPAIR
ING DONE ON PHONO
GRAPHS, GAS ENGINES,
& SEWING MACHINES.
FRONT STREET
Near Baseball Park
DOUGLAS CITY