Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 28, 1894, Page 13

A VAST SWEAT SHOP Degradation of Labor in the Industrial Dis- triots of Great Britain, WOMAN AS A WAGE REDUCER Invading All Departments of Activity and Working for a Pittance. STATISTICAL TRUTHS FOR WORKINGMEN The Fruits of Protection and Free Trade Carefully Analyzed, AN EXPERT'S RESEARCHES INNOTTINGHAM Comprehonsive Review of Til-Paid and De- moralized Labor and the Resultant Kf- fect on the Health and Lire of acturlng Communities. NOTTINGHAM, England, Oct. 20.—(Spe- «<ial Correspondence of The Bee.)—~When I landed in- England about a month ago what 1 took to be the fad of the moment treated with terrible intensity was woman, 1 have since found out my mistake In cla ing this new discovery by man as a fad for after woman came the ‘“advanced woman,” who rapidly developed Into the New Woman. The New Woman Is In a large degree a creature of imagination. It is hard to de- fine her. She embraces every variety of her sex from the female doctor who talks in the drawing room of cases “quite unfit to print, you know.” to the most cultivated and re- fined scholar and philosopher; from the little slum visitor to the wife of a noble peer of the realm. Naturally such a range has fur- nished material for the gentle satire of the playwright, the emotfonal tirades of the three-volume novelists, the topical songs of the music halls and the wiles of the politi- cal manipulators. On the platform the New ‘Woman is debated, all sorts of jokes, scien- tific and silly, are cracked over her unlucky Lead. comic papers have taken a new lease in cartoons, the mighty daflles bombard her with their heaviest artillery, the sixpenny weeklies satirize her, the monthly reviews philosophize over her, the physiologists dis- sect_her, the pyschologists vivisect her, and all Bng'and Is raging over her. Yet woman, tho old woman, has been always with u Still more to the point, 5o far as this coun 1ry Is concerned, she is going about her busi- ness apparently obliviouseto the fact that man--and British man at that— has sud- denly awakened to_the Increasing impor- tance of woman in the body politic of the Kingdom. It s not, however, with the New ‘Woman as above discussed and written about that 1 propose to deal in this letter, but of woman as I find her in the United Kingdom side by side with man in nearly all the oc- zupations of life. Not of the woman faddist as depicted in the new novels and plays, but of the wor wage-earner. Not of the wo- man in search of new senzations who dilates at a West End dinner of her unprintable ad- ventures In the slums, but of the women who are compelled to spend their lives in tho dreary working quarters of the metropo- lis and in England’s great centers of indus- trial energy. Not of the women who talk, but of the myriad women who work. Not of the fashionable who spend, but of the mil- lions who carn. Not of those who play, but of the vast army that toil. Of those who, unlike their American Kkinswomen, are not alone tolling for thelr own independence, but to increase by a few shillings the weekly earnings of the head of the family. WOMEN TOILER The army of women toile mothers and the wives in England, is a tre- mendous one. It is impossible to gauge the competitive power of England in the {ndus- trial battle between the two countries unless Wo ascertain to what extent woman has of late years been drawn into occupations which at one time belonged exclusively to man, While humane and stringent factory laws have in a measure stopped the brutali- zation of women in coal pits and as beasts of burden, the demand for cheap labor, in consequence of the specialization of British industry, has forced her into occupations which are rapidly undermining her physique and making it more difficult to bear healthy <hildren. Not only free, strong, healthy sin- &le women, but married women who must leave thelr homes and domestic work and that most sacred of all trusts—the rearing of young children, to take their place In the mills and factories. According to the last British census the proportion of married women thus employed in some of the prin- <'pal Industrial centers, including the one I am writing from, is as follows: outside of the Industry. le. Tied. i i 3 244 319 b 165 531 ow. 116 61 9 5 Lace (Nottingham). Cotton (Lancashire) . Woolen ‘cloth (Hudds cloth (Bradford) (Prescot) Fottery (Stafordshire) Here is my point. If the potteries of “Trentham, with the protection accorded them by the McKinley tariff bill, were compelled, for instance, to employ 531 married women in their potteries out of every 1,000 women employed, then the soomer the whole busi- ness was written down a failure the better, It Ameriean cotton mills and lace factories are employing over 400 married women out of every 1,000 so engaged they are much nearer the British standard than 1 supposed. Are 50 per cent of our operatives in the tex- tilo trades, for instance, married women? (Are they compelied to toll in the mills in order to make the earnings of the head of the family sufficient to keep body and soul ,togetber? This is a pertinent question, es- {pecially when Mr. Wilson succeeds in forcing the rest of the free trade wedge into our industrial system. American workmen must mot suppose that democratic free trade bed- rock has been struck with the present bill. It Is Important, therefore, that he should know exactly the part woman takes In the British industrial system. He must know what she does. Why she does it. The wages paid in the several competitive industries, together with the condition of the opera- tives. This is a good deal to treat of in one letter and condensation will be necessary. INVADING ALL OCCUPATIONS. To return to the woman who works a: we find her in England today. The census of 1891 returns no less than 4,016,230 women engaged ir definite occupations in England and Wales. These industrious women wage- earners aro engaged In every imaginable branch of work. Speaking generally, we find that woman appears in all the twenty-five belasses Into which the British occupation tables are bunched, except only the defense of the country, In these tables we find wo- men returned as bankers, brokers and dis. count clerks, and within the last few months they have actually invaded the sacred pre- cincts of the Bank of England itself. They ippear as district, municlpal, parish and union officers, and have broken through the upper crust of Bumblelsm and Bradleism, making the administration of pauper relief more humane and decent. While not ac- tually engaged In the defense of the country, ‘women in England may be found as black- smiths, forging the peaceful ploughshares and as “bayonet and sword makers,” sharp- enlng the implements of war. Women are enumerated as miners of coal, of lead, of copper, of limestone and of iron ore. They are actively engaged as malsters, brewers mod retailers of spirituous, vinous and malt Mquors. As barmaids they administer to man's appetite for drink, as butchers and bakers and “buttermen,” and ‘‘poultry dealors,” and “dairymen,” to his love of rehitects the English wo- nd build house: id in the oc- cupations of plumber, gasfitter, bell-hanger, =|..m‘ carpenter and joiner, they keep the nglish homes in repatr. And this does not conclude the catalogue of wowmen's achievement in the industrial struggle with the arch-enemy—man. ‘The stable and nm"‘nrd. once 50 ex- clusivoly his, has rece & vicleat assault ¥ \g dealers, “follmongers,” “tanners “veterinary snrgeons.” The song of ‘‘The Jolly Young Waterman,” may soon be changed, for he may be a woman. There are women “boatmen” and “seamen” and “bargemen” and “watermen,” while about ips they figure as “‘shipchandlers” and hipwrights.” As “watchmen” and “lodge- keepers” they preside over houses and ware- houses by day and by night, and as “‘messen- gers” and “porters” run errands and carry a¥oets, while in (he hazardows work of gamekeeper” they keep an ever wary eye on_the festive poacher. Even the shadiest and most Indigenous of British occupations have not been strong enough to withstand the terrific force of the new woman army, and chimney sweep and costermonger would alike stand dismayed it they could read in the British blue books that the “missus” s coming to the front in both these pursuits. In short, woman in the great conflict has usurped many of the weetest as well as the roughest | tives of man, As an “Insurance agent" | can tnsure your life, as a “law_clerk’ pare your will, as “municipal oficer” attest it, as ‘“undertaker” bury you, and as “preacher” in your funeral sermon dilate on the comparailve uselessness of man and |the joys of a happy release from all his afflictions. she preo- THE DOORS CLOSED. Above I have only named some of the rather peculiar occupations of English wo- men. In all those branches of work so well adapted for women our English cousins have made great headway and out of some 500 occupations glven in the detailed report for 1891, T find the following with blanks in the ““femalo” colum Women in England are not army officgrs, builiffs, solicitors, ship riggers, cerflent makers, hay cutters, grave diggers, civil engineers, boiler makers, teamsters, colonel on East India service, railway contractors, dock laborers, locomotive drivers, locomotive stokers, railway guards, stone quarrymen, clergymen (of the Established church), road inspectors, lime burners, Manchester ware- housemen, priests, naval officers, level cross- ingmen, policemen, sawyers, The New Woman of the United States may paste this in her bonnet (if it has a crown), for it s all her kinswoman across the sea has to learn of man’s pursuits and occupa- tions. Abolish this little list and man and wonfan will practically stand equal, Then woman will have surely followed wherever man has dared to tread in pursuit of a livelihood. What does all this mean? Stmply this. While English economists are prating about the “economy of high wages” and of the “highest paid labor” be- ing “the most efficient,” the English woman is belng forced into almost every occupation (and the married woman at that) because her labor is cheaper than that of man's. Fur | thermore, that while preaching this to th credulous free traders in foreign countries probably more than haif the whole indus- trial population of Great Britain have to exist, and at present are existing on an in- come per head which is less than the cost of keeping her indoor paupers. This does not look like adhering (o the fiction of the “economy of high wages. Take, for example, the wages of these woman workers here in Nottingham, one of the places that will compete with our own concerns, not only in machine made lace, but in every variety of hosiery and knit goods. What s the condition of labor here? Far worse than I expected to find it. When [ vsited Nottingham twelve years ago I found the textile industries prosperous and wages for England fairly good. Today It Is dif- ferent. Like other towns they are looking hopefully toward the United States and pray- ing that President Cleveland and Mr. Wilson may fulfill their promise or a still further reduction. In such an event how could American operatives compete with the wages that I find here today, Women are earning from 96 cents to $1.68 per weck. In the best of times when work is abundant thqse engaged in the large con- corns ‘like Messrs, J. & R. Morley's only make from $2 to $3 per week. Low as these rates are, what are called the “out-workers are still worse off. Here is a sample right from the lips of a worker. This woman (what is called a middlewoman), bands men's drawers; for cutting, creasing, turning inside out, punching and working button holes taping and tying in dozens, she is paid cents or 21 pence a dozen. She pays out- workers 21 pence, or 4% cents, a dozen, and pays carriage to and from Shelford (elght miles from Nottingham,) Another woman, seamer,” joins up the toes and heels of stockings and is pald 4 pence, or 8 cents per dozen pairs. She can make 3 shillings, or 72 cents, a week, by working hard all the time. ‘Another seamed long cashmere hose at 18 cents, or 9 pence per dozen. Her average earnings are 2 shillings, or 48 cents, per week. Another seams from elght to nine hours daily. Her average earn- ings are 214 pence, or 5 cents, a day. An- other, a widow with two children, seanm nine hours daily and earns % pence, or 114 cent mn hour, working very hard, Her aver- age weekly earnings are 3 shillings, or 72 cents. In the lace trade things are nearly as bad. One woman receives % pence, or L cent, a dozen yards for scailoping. She can scallop a dozen in an hour. For frill- Ing, another could earn 3 shillings, or cents, a week, if she negtected her hom SUIl another mends tulle. For ninety yards she receives 2 shillings, 48 cents. She can make 3 shillings, or 72 cents, a week, when well supplied with work. Speaking of the seaming trade generally and the outworkers in it one of the factory inspectors remarked that women who earn than 3 shillings, 72 cents, a week, are cither bad workers, or work less than fifty- six hours a week, but those who earned moro than 72 cents are either specially well paid or they work extra hours, which would be counted ‘as overtime in a factory. WHAT THEY EARN, How much more do they earn than 72 cents per week? At the outside $2 per week. And this thess poor creatures do mot receive in cash. The work is given out by middle- women who keep wretched little grocery and general stores. On woman gays that the price 1s 3 pence (6 cents) per dozen for seam- ing[h)lll' hoso in groceries, and 2% pence (5 cents) in cash. And then wit st with a sigh she ““There Is little work for them as asks for money." One woman has seamed for ten years for one firm and never seen any money during that whole time. What did she get? Groceries, flour, etc. But living 1s so cheap In free trade England. Oh no! Look at this. This woman has to-pay 2 penee per ounce for the wretched grade of tea she uses. Think of It, 64 cents per pound More than 2 cents per pound for flour; poor tub butter, 30 cents per pound; bacon, 18 cents per pound; cheese, 10 cents per pound. All of the commonest and cheap- est sort. After reading this, and I can substantiate every word and every figure, the Anglo- American dude congratulates himself on the reduction which Mr. Wilson says will take place in the cost of British hose. What does the American woman think of this degradation of woman—new or old? Possi- bly these facts and figures may explain why knit goods are so cheap even In protection America and why it is so difficult to manu- facture these things at home and pay living, decent wages. Another point that American labor or- ganizations should look into, mamely, that some of the women who do this work are helped regularly by the parish, so much per week. s It right that American labor should be thus asked to competa against the firm of John Bull and the poor house? This comes dangerously near prison labor, Meantime the British free trader is talk- Ing of high paid labor and reduced cost of production. From §1 to $3 a week is a safe range of women's earnings in the Notting- ham and Liccester districts, a very sn per cent at $3. And now a word about button makers. Already I hear of our button factorles clos- ing and the hands thrown out of employ- ment. And no wonder. & found in a Birmingham factory when I was there that & majority in a large factory could earn $2.50 per week. This tells the story so far as woman s concerned: Number in every 100 women and girls earning under $1.44 per week, 40.4; $1.44 to §1.82 per week, 385; $1.87 to §2.40 per week, 16.6; $2.40 to $2.88 per week, 5. Women wage earners in the United what do you think of these figures? Nearly elghty out of every 100 employed earning less than §1.52 per week. Over forty in every 100 less than $1.50 for a week's work, No wonder our button factories close and bar thelr doors. Better do this than thus dograde honest labor. The potters of the United States deserve great credit for what they have accomplished lwlnl we take into consideration the wages preroga- | they pay. For their benefit T wend a table showing the wages paid women in the Staf- fordshire potteries and the number in each | 100 working at each rate. I make no com- parisons with American wages, for each individual operative who reads this letter knows exactly how her wages compare with | theirs. - The following table represents nearly 1,600 workers and may be regarded as absolutely rellable Number in each 100 women and girls earn- ing per week: DEPARTMENT. Printing Painting. Warehouse. Throwing and Joliying. Towfng Glnzing IRE Lathe turning. 10 Cther branch All bran Rope and twine industries were selected by the free traders and doomed. No ordinary cut of duty would 4%4. here but absolute free trade. With the following wages paid women In Liverpool and Manchester perhaps these in- dustries may be able to compete even with British manufactures Number in each 100 women and girls earn- ing under $1.46, 15.5; $1.46 -to $1.95, 30.0 $1.95 to 243, 4 3 10 $2.92, 3 and upward, 1 Here we find nearly fort employed working for less than $2 per week Working not in country cottages amid the green flelds, but in the horrible coke towns in the vilest tenement houses, where the death rate is appalling to scientific men. Ex- isting in localities where the death rate among women sometimes exceeds fifty to the 1,000 or 5 per cent per annum of the popula- tion. ““The continuance of aedeath rate such as this for three years,” says an official re- port, “over an extensive district in the heart of Manchester, is a source of grave anxiety to the medical office of health.” And well it may be so. THE HOME MARKET. Until the new tarift bill was enacted we were doing well in the manufacture of car- pets. Mr. North's report shows nearly 30,000 persons employed in making carpets. We had won the control of our home market. In quantity I belleve we produced more than any other country. The average wages actually paid women In this industry exceeded $1 per working day, or $325 per year. In Bradford. Halifax and Leeds their average pay, that Is their earnings when they work, are half that amount, or §3 to $3.30 per week. It has been shown that in all the large textile centers of England women's wages range from 75 cents to $3.30 per week. That the women who thus work are not young girls, but in some cases over 50 per cent are married women, wives and mothers who are compelled to neglect their homes and their children to add a pittance to the weekly earn- Ings, so that, including the husband and chil- dren, it may become a living wage. It Is this point that I am trying to emphasize in this letter. If 1 shall succeed it. will ‘more than compenshte for many miles of travel and many interviews with the victims of this human degradation. The effect of this Sort of work is to demoralize the family. _Un- happiness, drunkenness arise in working families from the wives being in the mills. It destroys the home, dirtiness and untidi- ness reign where comfort and order should abide. Children are neglected and mortality is high. The stamina of the children fs undermined In two ways: First, the eftect of the mill work upon the mother is in- jurious; secondly, the institution of a “baby farmer” for a mother is even worse. The whole system is vicious. To introduce It into the United States s criminal. To bring about a competition that will tend thus to reduce the standard of our women Is worse than folly. When Governor Me- Kinley talks of the homes of the American wage earners and points out how his tariff law protected them from the poverty and hopeless misery of the workers of Burope he undoubtedly has in mind the homes in which the women as well as the men are compelled t6 spend the day at the mill or factory. The strength and safety of the republic is in its homes. Destroy them by compelling all to become wage earners and half the stremgth Is gone. All this is laughed at here and called sent!mentalism, and its advocates sentimentalists, At home we called it looking after the general wel- fare of the people. OLD NOTTINGHAM. I camnot-close without a word about old Nottingham, one of the oldest and most re- markable cities in England. At one time Nottingham enjoyed the distinction of being the most drunken city in England. I was there for a couple of #lays this year, Goose Fair week, and the people seemed determined to keep up its bachanalian reputation. I never saw $o much - good-hearted, jovial nebriation before. Thousands came in from the country round about and prodiglous x in each 100 | CENTS IS WHAT Saturday, and bargains —the people. AS ADVERTISED us or matched elsewhere AND MONDAY’S PRICE WILL BE “ g nderwear 0s1ery, Chinaand Glassware SPECIAL SALE MONDAY ! Blankets and Comforts. Remnants of Siiks and Dress Goods.. New Dress Goods...:. . o Fipe Silks.... & New things will also be added for sale on Monday. Coma early and bily before your choic3 is sold. | Morse Dry Goods (o. Try our Mail Order Dept. Agents for Butterick’s Patterns and Publications. R We Take Off the Prices, The People Take Off the Goods. R S— PER.DAY WE TAKE OFF. We TAKE OFF That Much for YOUR BENEI. e -— Ofi TAKE OFF SALE created much merriment and excitement among the eager throng of buyers on such as were never known before were carried away by our enthuslastic friends We placed on this immense counter Saturday morn- ing goods from every department in our store and guaranteed that not an article had ever been sold by for less than $r.0o, Sat- urday's price, 67¢; The same goods, excepting what was sold on Saturday,will be on this counter Monday, 640 Every article guaranteed to be $1.00 goods and over. Handkerchifs, in lots ot AND MONDAY'S PRICE WILL BE 2. 4 6 6to 1 g 3 DELAYS ARE DANaEROUS, SPECIAL SALE MOXDAY DRESS G0ODS. ND THE UNIVERSITY Contributed. The question of the proper attitude of the churches toward state education 1s one which apparently will not down. In spite of many protests against this discussion and in spite of a good many vigorous denials that church people.are thinking of this at all, it is very certainly cvident that intelligent men and women are very carefully considering just THE CHURCHES - quantities of ale must have been consumed The principal part of Goose Fair is held on the market place, the largest, by the way, in England. From this conter the booths and tents rum In every direction. It is indeed a curfous and iInteresting sight to see vast heaps of every variety of food piled up on these stalls and upon the ground. Then, of course, comes the other attractions of a country fair, including side shows of all de- grecs. The freaks of England seem let loosw in Nottingham market place. Anything ‘'goes” during falr woek, und the genial policeman seems to debate the question of locking up drunkards with the convivial law- breakers themselves on the street corners. Walking through a narrow court leading to the market place, called the Shambles, I noticed a curious looking oil painting in wood in front of a very low and very anclent butcher's shop. It turned out to be a fair portrait of the unfortunate young Notting ham poet, Henry Kirk White. In vain 1 endeavored to interview the busy butcher in relation to this portrait, but all T could learn was that in this tumbled down old place the melancholy poet first saw light March 21, 1785. There was something so incongruous in the old-fashioned, refinea scholarly head Llaus adorning a butcher's shop in the city Shambles. The author of “Clifton Grove' is hardly known In his own dear Nottingham and a visit to four book- sellers failed to produce a copy of his works. One clerk said he belioved there was an 18-penny edition of White published, but there was no call for it in the great center of machine made lace. And this of the poet who sung of Nottingham: When splendor offers, and when fame in- cites, . I'll_pause, and think of all thy dear de- Hights, Reject the change, Remove the range. Turn to these scenes, scenes once Trace once shore. Poor White died young. Though the son of a butcher he rose rapidly to fame and left enough classical poetry to stimulate speculation as to what he might have done had he lived the allotted life of man. Any- how, his classic face should not adorn a tumbled down butcher's shop and his works deserve something better than an 18-penny edition not on sale. p ROBERT P. PORTER. LITTLE OH-DEAR. boom, and weary'd with -the wish which first induced to these well known old, Trent's romantic Eugene Field in Chicagn Record. See what a wonderful garden is here, Plant d and tiimmed for my Litt'e-Oh-Deirt Posies so gaudy and grass of such brown. Bearch ye the country and hunt ye town, And never ye'll meet w As this one I've made for Dear! the garden so queer my Little-Oh- Marigolds red, and buttercups blue, Likes all dabbled In honey and dew, The cactus that trails over trellis and wall, Rosles and pensies and violets—all Make proper obeisance and reverent cheer When into her garden steps Little-Oh-Dear! And up at the top of that lavender tree A sitver bird singeth us only can she: For, ever and only, she singeth the song, “I fove you! I love you!' the happy day long ! Then the echo—the echo that smiteth me ere: 1 love you—T love you, my Little-Oh-Dear! The garden may wither, the silver bird fly— But what careth my litfle precious, or 17 From her pathway of flowers that in spring- yme upstart, . She walketh the teiderer way In my heart! And, oh! it Is always the summertime here, With that song of “T love you,” my Little: Oh-Dear! — Oregon Kiduey Tea cures backache. Trial slze, 36 cents. All druggists. why they should contribute by their taxes to the maintenance of the state system of education and then be put under forced contributions, in a sense, to some minor institution bf their particular church. Nor are laymen alone thinking of these matters. The_clergy in most of the western states seeM to be exceedingly doubtful as to whether there should be added to the burden of the erection of church buiidings and main- tenance of church organizations in new states the further burden, which certainly at times seems unnecessary, of maintaining a distinct system of education inferior to that which the state stands ready to offer without money and without price. One of the most remarkable utterances on this subject is to be found in a sermon preached by Rev. Dr. E. G. Updike of the First Congregational church, Madison, Wis., early last month, which has received a large circulation in pamphlet form. His theme was “Christianity and the Stats University.” He held that the church could not be true to its mission unless it was profoundly in- terested in the welfare of the state, and the state, if it was patriotic and public spirited, would also be interested in the success of the church; that each, when Ideal, Is of t people, by the people and for the people and that there is really no reason for an- tagonism of any kind. The state differs from the church in that it is an institution into which all men are born and with which all men must be identified, whether they will or not; while no one is compelled to be & mem- ber of the church. The state seems to be as truly part of the divine plan as the churen self. ithe distinction of sacred and secular_in most Instances s a pernicious one. The whole of a man’s life ought to be sacred, not only on Sunday and at prayer meeting, but in the business, political and social world. The safety of the state depending upon an intelligent citizenship, it has come to be gen- erally admitted that the state has a great work to do in public education. There was never a wiser provision than when public schools were established;and made dependent upon the taxes leyied upon the property of all; when the rich méh were made to help educate poor men’k/sons. The question of state education, and, stete higher e thon is in his opinion 1o lgnger debatable. Dr. Updike admitiéd that he had once shared the views Whiék so many ministers in Christian churches seem to hold of educa- tion by the state=-But he said when one sees the really goof, wprk that a State uni- versity 1s doing, and when he considers the larger work that {t''miy do if it only has the co-operation afid 'sympathy of the best people of the state, the, whole question pre- sents an entirely _different aspect. One feels instinctively ' ‘that nothing — must stand in the way ofidech a great and bene- flent work. It taken a great deal of money today to thoroughly gulp & university. Ten millions of dollars is schrcely too much. The smaller schools in hé Miate may say that an carnest faculty and sble instructors make a college, and that millions do not count, but this no longer answers for argument with bright, quick-witted, young wen. Every educated man knows that he receives quite as much from contact with a large body of students, and from opportunities in well- equipped libraries and laboratorigs as he pos- sibly can from teachers or text books. And 0 it is coming to be more and more a seri- ous question with all church schools, not heavily endowed, as to how they can be sup- ported and made to compete at all favorably with institutions that have back of them the property of a whole commonwealth. § There is another question which Dr. Up- dike sald was intensely practical. Every member of the churoh s also a citizen. He must do his part in sustaining the educa- tional work of the state, and when he comed in addition to that to be obliged to contribute to his own church school, either the burden is too great or the school fails of anything tke proper endowment, Colleges of the weaker class must always look for endow- ments from rich men; but it will require a vast number of rich men, giving all their fortunes, to build up those smaller schools in any state, so that they can In any sense take rank with the State university. There is really no demand for so many schools at the present time. There might be some grounds of justification if the several de- nominations would unite their forces on the basis of building up one distinctively Chris- tian college. But a combination of all the chureh schools in the state would not equal one-half of what the state has invested In its university. The practical side of this question is easily gathered from the remark of a prominent minister in one of the denom- inations in Nebraska: ‘“There are ministers all over this state whose salaries are in arrears and unpaid because the congrega- tions have been compelled to contribute to the maintenance of an inferior school, when the university, with all of its larger oppor- tunities, lies open at their hand.” Dr. Updike felt that it ‘was a very un- wise thing for Christian people, and espe- clally for Christian educators, to draw away from the university as some of them are now doing; and a very inconsistent thing for them to draw away in this manner and then cause the report to go out that the university is unchristian. He held that it is the duty of the church to project as much of its life as possible into the state, through all the in- stitutions of the state. It was a strange thing, indeed, for the church to say to young people, “Come to these Inferior schools and We will dook after you, but it you go else- where you can take care of yourselves.' The poorest kind of a policy on the part of the ~churches, the most unreasonable thing and unchristian thing for any people to do, s to let 1,600 of the brightest young men and women of the stato fel that they no longer had the inter- 6st of the Christian men and women of the state, because they are not willing or are not able to attend thesd minor schools. There is probably not a denomination in the state that has not more of its own pesplo in the State university than In its own church school, and yet it is doing practically nothing for them. The speaker’s remedy for the present con- dition was not to disband the minor schools on the other hand, nor on the other to at- tempt to bring them into competition with the university. Most of,them are at least on tha basis of fair academies, and as such are doing good work. But he suggested that each denomination should bufld a dormitory or church-home near the State university. This home could be made a re- ligious center. In every such dorm tory there would be one or more teachers who could take _intellectual rank with the best in the univer- sity, and who should have in charge cer- tain’ branches, specifically religious or de- nominational, not covered by the university course. It would not be difficult to make ar- rangements by which these studies could be substituted for other elective studles in a regular university course, it desired. Such an equipment would not cost any one denomi- nation anything like the sum which they ave spending for Inferlor education under qmbarrassing circumstances. Dr. Updike felt that there could be no better place for theologleal schools than by the side of a great State university, and that the Intellectual stimulus of the university is the best ‘possible stimulus that a student can have while fitting for his work. This would end at once the thread-bare cry that state universities furnish a-very small num- ber of young men for the ministry, Under the clrcumstances, the speaker sald, it was a wonder that they furnished any. When the chureh ignores the state schools and leaves them to take care of themselves and then complains because they do not turn out more candidates for the ministry, it is Intensely Inconsistent. The sermon closed with the statement that the State universities have come to stay, that to ignore what the state has done and s doing and to go on making plans to build up unnecessary denominational schools, when the same money Invested elsewhere would do ten times the good, Is a squande; Ing of God's money, for which some ac- count will have to be rendered. No one, he sald, would think of asking well-endowed church schools to disband: but the poor, struggling, poverty-stricken colleges, meat- tered through all the western states, that have no outlook, that must continue to beg as long as they live, and that frequently ouly live to beg, and that cannot hope to do CORTAINS. AGE AND per pair. Lambrequin ment at $1.25 per pair. UHEMLLE, Every pair of Chenille at $5, $6 and $6.50 goes into the base- ment Monday morning at $3.40 Take your choice. All new colors and new goods. Nottingham Laces that have sold at $2, $2.25, $2.75, $3.50 and $4, all in one lot in base- Some fine curtains in this lot. Lace Curtains one at a window, 55¢ each. Chenille Table Covers, 11-2 yards square, at 43c each. Orchard & Wilhelm CARPET CO. fih}liné’r_nn | Route NEW SHORT LINE PUG TO MONTANA ET SOUND J. FELA TN OXSS, Ceneral Passenger Agent, OMAHA, NEB. anything but inferfor work, would better se- riously consider the proposition whether they might not do more good either by becoming well-equipped preparatory schools, or by tak- Ing thelr small endowment and with it erect a church home near the State university, and 50 look after a great number of their own young people, of whom they mow assert that they have little religious education. e MUSICAL AND DEAMATIU, Sol Smith Russell is worth $400,000. Crane will shortly produce *“The Pacific Mail. Richard Harding Davis is at work on his first play, which E. H. Southern may pro- duce. Alexander Salvini is Burope. Denman Thompson will retire at the end of this season and make George Wilson his successor as Uncle Josh The manager of the excavations at the ruins of Delphi has informed the academy of Paris of the discovery of more fragments of to make a tour of the Hymn to Apollo, Zola has agreed to write an opera libretto in four acts for the Paris Grand Opera in collaboration with M. Bruneau, who helped him in dramatizing “Une Page d'Amour.” It is to be ready in the spring. Sir Arthur Sullivan has returned to Lon- don for the winter, with his health restored. He will immediately finish the music for “King Arthur.” Mme. Fannie Bloomfleld Zeisler, the famous Chicago pianist, is making another tour of Germany. After appearing in a num- ber of the smaller towns she will visit Berlin October 28 and 29, in conneetion with the Philharmonic concert. Before she returns to her home she will play in concerts in Ger- many, Holland, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland, The German emperor has just completed a one-act opera, based upon an old German historical episode. The libretto was worked up by Count Philip Euhlenberg and edited by Baron Wildenbauch. It is proposed to have the opera performed before a select circle at the royal residence before submitting it to public eriticism. Lawrence Irving, the actor's son, having made a mark on the stage, is ambitious to shine as & dramatist, Several brief plays of which he is the author have been performed at matinees In London, and he has now writ- ten an elaborate ome-act drama, founded on one of Swinburne's poems, with a leper as the herolne, Henry Irving has bought the play and may produce it at the Lyce e “While down in the southwestern part of the state some time ago,” says Mr. W. Chal- mers, editor of the Chico (Cal) Enterprise, T had an attack of dysentery, Having heard of Chamberlain’s Colie, Cholera and Diar- rhoea Remedy I bought a bottle. A couple of doses of it completely cured me. Now I am a champlon of that remedy for all stomach and bowel complaints.”” For sale by drug- glsts, — Accorling to recent statlstics there are about 2,000 women In this country who are practicing medicine. Of these only 180 are homeopathists. Most of these medical women are ordinary practitioners; thero are, however, 70 hospital physicians or surgeons, 95 professors in the schools, 610 specialist for the diseases of women, 70 alienists, 6 orthopedists, 40 oculists and aurists, and finally, 30 electro-therapeutists. hero are ten medical schools devoted exclusively to the tralning of women. — . Prof. Heory Gibbons of Amherst been elected to the protessorship of Latin Iiterature at the University of Pennsylvania Prof. (ibbons was graduated at Ambherst in 1872, has { OMAHA CHARITY ASSOCIATION. Aunual Reports of the Secretary and Treas- urer—The Work Accomplished. At the recent meeting of the Omaha Char ity association, which sustains the Creche, the secretary, Miss S. J. Barrows, made the following report: Once more we meet to chronicle the gaing and losses of the months gone by and con- sult how best to meet the duties and needs of the coming year. Although the unfversal financial distress has made serious inroads on our receipts, yet we have succeeded s far in escaping debt and in keeping the house open. We have even ventured on some much needed repairs in and about the building. such as papering, painting and some carpenter work, In ail of which we were helped - by generous friends, The city lald a stone walk around the buiMing, which necessitated some filling in, and mason work, but the fmproyes ment in looks and comfort repaid the exe penditure. In November, 1893, the subject of a kindergarten for the children too young for admission to the public schools wa brought up and the result was the establish- ment of such & school with Miss Drake as teacher, which was continued ubout five months, when the teacher resigned, and, by a special permit trom Superintendent Fitz- patrick, the children were sent to the Leavenworth kindergarten—an arrangement which has been very satisfactory to all con- cerned, with the exception of an cpidemic of measles and mumps in the spring, which passed away, leaving no il effects. The majority of (he parents have been generally prompt in their payments, At our September meeting much discussion was held as to the best means of ralsing money to carry us through the winter and it was decided that an appeal should be made through the newspapers, which was done, and the Tesult was very encouraging. Some of the ladies visited the coal deaiers and ob- tained several tons of coal. Donations of shoes, dry goods and provisions were also recefved, and $37.50 in cash. It Is evident that the people have a mind to give, but the hard t'mes and consequent demands on their purses from all quarters make thelr dona- tions much smaller than they would other- wise be. Our great reliance must still be on the parents of the children and thelr ability to obtain work. Applications for the ad- mission of children are increasing every week and there 1s every indication that the Creche will be taxed to its utmost capacity during the winter, and we can only trust for the future as we have in the past, that the worthiness of the cause will raise up friends for it who will lend a helping hand to save these little ones from being sent back to starvation and neglect. The largest number of children in the howse at one time was mixty-three in October of last year, and the smallest number, thirty- vine in’ July last. At present every bed is filled. And 50 we enter upon our new year with many gleams of sunshine among the shadows, glving us courage to go forward in the work, taking this for vur watchward, “For God and Humanity."” The report of the treasurer, Ada T. Walker, from elved from donat account whip. Reeelved fry | Recelved trom ~miscs | =gsssrss EXPENDITURES, Aid for matron and help. fur groceries and provisions. for ‘meat RATton. ..., goods and sundrics 1594 4 for dr Batance on hand October 1, Total