BULLYING. becoming detached and changing the MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT. motion of the engine, and by which it was sent voluntarily against a car upon which the plaintiff was standing, a question was presented on the trial as to whether the lever became detached by reason of a defective construction of the "reverse lever," "quadrant" and "dog" or by the want of care of the engineer. Held, that upon the evidence submitted, the question was a proper one for the jury, there being some evidence of defect in the operation of the engine; and where the jury find that the company was negligent in the use of such machinery whereby an employe suffers an injury and infirmity the court of review will not disturb its finding. Judgment affirmed. (Burlington M. & R. Ry. Co. vs. Wallace Neb. S. C.. Dec. 27, 1889.) To be continued. Look on this picture and then on that: "Father is coming!" and the little round faces grow long, merry voices are hushed, toys are thrust into the cupboard, mama glances nervously at the door, baby is bribed with a lump of sugar to keep the peace. Father's business face relaxes not a muscle, the little group huddle like timid sheep, in the corner. Tea is dispatched in silence, as though speaking were prohibited. The children creep like culprits to bed, marveling that baby dares crow so loud, now that "father has come." "Father is coming!" Bright eyes sparkle with joy, tiny faces dance, eager faces press against the window pane and a bevy of rosy lips claim kisses at the door. Picture books he lays on the table, and tops, balls, dolls and kites are discussed. Little Susy lays her soft cheek against the parental whiskers with the most careless abandon; Charley gets a love pat for his medal; mamma's face grows radiant; the evening paper is read aloud, and tea and toast and time vanish with celerity, for jubilee has arrived and "father has come-"-Exchange. When I see an ignorant, unreasonable and bullying foreman or Superintendent swaggering around among his men, abusing and insulting them, I am reminded of an experience of mine during my early boyhood which made an impression upon me, and I hope a good and. Into the little town where I then lived, there came one day, a number of orphan boys sent "out West" from New York to find homes in a place where there was more room for them than in the crowded city. They found homes among the people of the village and were sent to school, child labor (at least in factories) not having been introduced there at that time. Among the boys was one named Allen, somewhat older and larger than myself, and possessed of the usual amount of boyish love of mischief and fun, combined with a khowledge of the ways of the world picked up in the streets and alleys of Gotham, which made him quite a lion among the boys bred in the little town. One evening, as myself and "chum" were throwing a ball from one to the other in the street, Allen came along, and in a spirit of boyish mischief took the ball and threw it as far as possible down the street. I was enraged at this and, running up to him, commenced, without thinking much of his superior age and size, to pound him with my fists. He made practically no resistance, whereupon my bravery and confidence in my prowess were much increased, as I attributed his non-defensive action to fear of me, which, considering his superior size, was, I thought, very creditable to me, and increased my importance a great deal. A man who was passing, stopped the one-sided fight, and asked Allen why he let a little fellow like me pound him that way. The boy answered that the people with whom he lived had forbade him fighting, and told him that self. A man with a wife and children at home depending upon him as their bread-winner, will sometimes take abuse and insults, which he knows he ought not to take, rather than risk the loss of employment; but the foreman who takes advantage of this to cover his own incompetency, or to vent his spleen, is a despicable coward and an unprofitable man for his employer beside. The best results are obtained from a shop where the men have the fullest respect for and confidence in their foreman, and this they cannot have if he shows them that he is a bully and a coward. I am disposed to think that many a man "clothed with a little brief authority," who thinks he is doing great things by treating his men as though they were entitled to respect whatever, is really causing others to secretly despise hin as I despised myself until I had made full amends to the boy Allen.—T. A. Pandie in Amercian Machinist. if they heard of his doing so, they prevented Allen from defending himwould dismiss him, and let him shift for himself. A good many years have passed over my head since that time, but though I should live a great many more I think I shall retain a very clear recollection of how mean and contemptible I felt, and how thoroughly I despised myself then. Instead of being great and brave, as I had supposed myself to be, I realized that I was a despicable coward and bully, and that the only reason I had not been licked out of my boots was because I could engage in fighting without danger of having my supply of bread and butter cut off, while the other boy lived with a couple who, having no children of their own had forgotten how necessary it is for a boy to occasionally defend himself, and having no parental interest in the orphan boy, held the threat of banishment over his head should he exercise a boy's inherent and natural right to defend with his fists, an attack upon himself. When I grew older and left the little town to pursue my ambition to be a machinist, I began to come into contact with men whom I thought should frequently despise themselves as thoroughly as I did upon the occasion of which I speak. They are the men who hold petty foremanships or other places which clothe them with a limited authority, and mercilessly abuse and wantonly insult men in every way their superiors, but so unfortunate as to be compelled to work, temporarily at least under them. They are the foremen who never acknowledge the possibility of their having made a mistake, and who, when they do make one, and give a workman a wrong order by which work is spoiled, lie out of it, and abuse the workman for what they coolly charge him with being to blame for. They rave and curse at a man who has made a little mistake such as the best mechanic is sometimes liable to, thinking that because the man says little or nothing in defense of himself, he knows he is deserving of such treatment, the real reason being similar to the one which MACHINERY NOT AT FAULT. There is, in some quarters, an apparent inclination to discredit the reports reaching us through the daily press. regarding the distress among the coal miners of Pennsylvania, and, indeed, when one thinks of it, it does seem almost incredible, that, in our free America, men, women and children are actually starving in the midst of such plenty as the world has scarcely seen heretofore. But that this is true, can no longer be doubted when it is made known that public meetings of citizens living in the mining regions, are being held, to devise means of relief, and that people who, in the nature of things, must be familiar with the whole melancholy business, are contributing to the support of families whose natural providers seem, by some infernal alchemy, to be deprived of the power of working for their support, upon the raw materials which are all about them in abundance. And it is to be remarked, that men soon as possible which particular part do not submit to starvation for them- of your work he is best adapted to do, selves and families for trifling causes. and get him at it; never let a man or It is the last resort, even in Russian machine labor under any disadvantage; prisons, where the "hunger strike" it don't pay." proves the most efficient, though the last means of securing some mitigation of cruelty. While it is not true that the world owes any man a living, it is true that the world owes to every man an opportunity of fairly earning his living. Any one who looks about him can see that nature herself yields an abundant return for labor, even of the most rudimentary kind, and all our machinery and improvements in methods and processes simply tend to cause a still more abundant return. To say that this abundance is in itself a curse, and that the only way to rid ourselves of it is to get rid of the machinery, is not only absurd upon the face of it, but is disproved by the facts of history, The problems connected with this question closely concern every citizen, and it is folly to say that "nothing is the matter," "every one can be prosperous who really tries," "there is always room at the top," etc. It is well to remember that some one must always be at the bottom, or there can be no foundation, and, laying all questions of humanity aside, it has been pretty clearly shown that the continued and permanent prosperity and happiness of those at or near the top depends mainly upon the degree of contentment and prosperity of those at or near the bottom.-American Machinist. "The Union Pacific have let contracts for building 131 locomotives, 15 of which are to be six-wheeled, 11 eight-wheeled, 16 narrow guage consolidation, and 89 ten-wheelers. Of this oeder 71 locomotives go to the Rhode Island Locomotive Works. 31 to the Baldwin Locomotive Works, and 29 to the Cooke Locomotive company." "Whenever you take a new man into the shop to work, try and find out as EIGHT HOURS. We would ask those people who are fond of declaring that it is impossible to maintain in this country an eight hour working day by law, to glance over toward Australia where the eight hour has been in existence for thirty years. This great reform has proved a blessing, instead of a curse to that country, and there is no reason whatever why it should be otherwise than a blessing here. One of its effects would be to give employment to many thousands who are idle now, which in itself would be a great gain. Still better than declaring eight hours a legal day's work would be a voluntary agreement between employes and employers to that effect. There seems to be a fear that the different trades will demand ten hours pay for eight hours work, but such a fear is groundless. There has not been so far, anything in the agitation for an eight hour workingday that could lead anyone to suppose that such a demand, which would practically amount to an increase of wages of 30 per cent. is the principle object aimed at. The necessity for less work and more rest, the desirability of giving work to the thousands now without it, the need of more time to devote to mental and physical culture, these are the main purposes to be accomplished. What has been possible in Australia would certainly be possible here. We have already adopted another great reform originated on that distant continent, and have found it to work admirably -the secret ballot law-and were we to give a trial to the eight hour working day, there is every reason to believe that it would prove equally feasible and beneficial to the people of this great industrial country.-Mechanics Journal. We have to acknowledge the receipt of an invitation to attend a union picnic and ball to be given by the members of Gabriel Division No. 307 B. L. E., and Alamo Lodge No. 263 B. L. F., at Taylor, Texas, May 21, 1890. We regret that we will be unable to attend. Taylor, Texas, is noted for being the home of strong federalists, and we wish to congratulate the brothers there for carrying their federal principles into social affairs, it creates confidence and respect for each other. that resulted in the "Supreme Council.” The Journal calls it "assumption of dignity." How then may we ask, did the heads of those three organizations come to learn that they would meet for that purpose? Who first issued the call, and who authorized him or them to do so? It must have had a source somewhere; "federation was the outgrowth of the demand of the times," does not explain it. Federation does not grow up in the night like a mush room. The Journal further says: "We can see but two reasons why the K. of L. was not represented; negligence or opposition to an international federation." Shame, for such an unmanly We are sorry to see the editor of the Switchman's Journal descend to the same disreputable methods of replying to our arguments on Federations as those resorted to by the editor of the expression! Such an implied calumny Firemen's Magazine. He deprecates is no credit to the Journal. He who such a course yet in the same breath he wrote it knew it was an unjust imputaseeks inspiration from such expressions tion. This is a charge that nine-tenths as "bad-tail flush," "rant and reason,' " of the Journal readers will repudiate. "mudholes," "take a tumble" and simi- Why then, we ask, as we have asked lar choice bits of literary connections. several times before, did the "Supreme We feel that when a man descends to Council," insert a clause that made it this he has nothing else to offer. "Sar- impossible for the K. of L. to join? casm, ridicule and rant begin where argument, logic and reason leave off." The Switchmen's Journal said amongst other queer things: "One gentleman is even reckless enough to proclaim that he is father of the child (Federation) and that it was born somewhere down in Georgia, and that any federation that has not his brand upon it is not genuine or the authorized." We asked the Journal to name this gentleman, that good men may not rest under suspicion. Here is the reply published in April: "We aimed at no one in particular, but the discussors in general." Is not this brimful of logic? According to this answer "one gentleman" means every man that took part in the discussion. This is as clear as mud. We suppose this is some of that "ancient standard of beauty and purity of style," or it might have been intended for a stroke of a "flaying pen." The Journal works itself into a white heat of indignation for us daring to ask why the K. of L. was not invited to attend the formation of the federation Speaking of the B. L. E. the Journal says: "That same (Richmond) convention appointed a committee to settle a strike inaugurated by a federation of a system, and that said committee without consultation with any of the federated bodies declared the strike off.” The strike that the Journal mentions here is we presume that of the "Q.” Now, was there a federation on the Q. ? If so who were federated? The constitution of the engineers at that time would not permit them to be party to it, and the Journal says that their Grand Chief had always endeavored "to uphold these laws." saw a copy of the laws governing the federation on the Q.? Who were its officers, and what were their methods of settling a grievance ? These are things that it would be well for the Journal to explain. Who ever The "Supreme Council" are continually charging their base Every position that they have taken so far, even their claims to the settlement of the Queen and Crescent trouble. have met |