FREELAND TRIBUNE. PUBI.ISIIBD EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY. TIIOSS. A. BUCKLEY, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. FREELAND, PA., JANUARY 5, 1893. Where the Single Tax In Being Tried. Readers of the TRIBUNE will remem ber seeing articles in these columns at different times relating to the town of Hyattsville, Md., where the single tax was put in actual operation some time ago by the commissioners of the town. Owing to a state law it was not possible to give the theory a full and free test, as the state and county still continues to collect their taxes on real estate, per sonal property, etc., but the taxes for the town treasury are raised soley by a tax on the value of the land in the town. Handicapped, as they are, by the state law, our readers can see in the fol lowing letter that the commissioners are still on top in the tight against the sys tem, and that the town is progressing in an unprecedented manner. The benefits , that are being derived by the communi-1 ty from this partial operation of the : single tax are so plain that it is not like ly any change will be made, although the opponents of the single tax, the men who are holding vacant land for specu lative purposes, are fighting it through the courts. The following, from one of the commissioners, will be of interest to the many single taxers in this vicinity: HYATTSVILLE, Md., January 2,1W3. EDITOR TRIBUNE.— The troubles of the Hyattsville anti-single taxers are without end. Every move they make against the town com missioners goes wrong. This time their trouble arises from the incompetence of their lawyers who ure conducting: the suit in courts. It will be remembered that a few mouths ago J udgc Brooke dismissed the petition for writs of man damus uguinst the commissioners on the ground that they were ucting within their powers. The petitioners then curried the ease to the court of appeals, at Annapolis, but iustcud of ■waiting to get a formal order signed by Judge Brooke, they took an appeal merely from the judge's opinion. When it was too late the blun der was discovered. But thoy were equal to the occasion, ami with unabashed audacity Marion Duckett, one of the attorneys, called on one of the commis sioners and asked for his consent to have the error corrected so that the case could come up at once. He gravely and politely refused to take any action whatever in the matter, but on being pressed again told Mr. Duckett that if he would make his request in writing it would be laid before the board of commissioners. The request was made iu writing and was laid before the board which passed a resolution stating that inasmuch "as the board of com missioners of Hyattsville has by the action of said relators been made the defendant in a liti gation upon a matter of policy properly deter minable only by the voters of said town or their representatives; we, the said board of commis sioners do not feel that our duty to said town or to ourselves demands that we assist suid re lators or their counsel in the conduct of said c ise." Being refused a chance of correcting their blunder, the anti-single tax lawyers entered un order dismissing their appeal in anticipation of the certainty of its being dismissed by the court if it had been allowed to remain. Hud every thing been regulur the case would have come up for argument lust November. It will now have to go over to the first week in February, and there are not wanting signs that it will be abandoned in disgust. Meanwhile Hyattsville is enjoying an unpre cedented prosperity. Since the operation of the single tux there has been double the umouutol building than there was during any previous year for a like period. Dr. Well himself, the head aud front of the anti-single tux movement, bus started to build another block of houses, iu face of his hot declaration a few months ugo that the single tux would destroy building aud drive everybody out of llyuttsville. The commissioners do not uttribute the in creased prosperity much to the actual lighten ing of the tax burden in dollurs and cents on builders, since after ull the single tax here is only applied for town purposes uud is very light, being limited by stutute to 25 cents iu SIOO. The result is due more particularly to the public feeling thut has been engendered that the Uyattsvllle commissioners are doing uli they can to foster and protect buildings and improvements, and the greut amount of publi city thut hus been given the mutter in the prese elsewhere, and particularly iu Washington. Jf the commissioners hud authority to levy u really heavy tax un the laud values of Hyatts ville, we are absolutely certain thut Hyuttsvillc could suddenly be transformed into a lurgcand glorious city.. When a new family comes to this town we re joice. When a new house is erected we are glad. We feel that there hus come among us the posssibillty of further beauty and develop ment. There is no beauty in u vucunt lot. There is no progress in the absence of popula tion. We live iu the hope of seeing our town grow lurger, and thut with such growtu wc will obtain facilities of which we are now in u measure deprived, and besides, we want a lurger and better market for our labor. Until the coming into oflice of the present board of commissioners, whut were we doing | to obtain thut growth of population and iin proveiuent which we all think desirable? Our country taxed every new-comer who might establish a home for himself und family Hi cents annually on the SIOO for our beneiit and his own advantage. The stute added to this another 27J cents, and the town was ex pected to add a further yearly punishment of 24 cents. For the privilege of doing good to us all, for employing our carpenters, bricklayers, plas terers, tinners and day laborres, for establish ing that hoiuo for himself und family, which we think every man ought to have, we yearly were expected to take away from the men doing these things $1.22* per SIy personally mixing with the toil ers of Jewry and through the patient collection of details regarding their hab its and manner of life that one gains any clear idea of the industrial machin ery of the east side. One has not long to be on such an in vestigation before he discovers that the Jewish race is not the only one ground to powder in the mill of the clothing in dustry. The Italian "padrone" imports his countrymen like cattle across the sea to set them at work on whining ma chines as well as the hand processes of clothing manufacture at wages, if such a thing bo possible, less than even the I shameful pittance doled out to the Rus sian immigrant. Whom the "padrone" has not the Hebrew contractor seizes by subletting the "finishing" of smaller garments to dwellers in Italian tenements, adding further tone and contrast to an already squalid condition of misery. And now the Chinaman has been drawn in. You will find a little sweaters' shop where he slaves and spins up among the lofts of Doyens street, an entering wedge for a score of others to tame the elusive spirit of the almond eyed oriental into the unprotesting submissiveness of tho Hebrew. "Since the passage of the antisweater law," said my guide, himself a Russian cloakmaker and labor leader as we started out one morning to explore Jew town, "since the passage of the anti sweater law the large contractors have been driven ont of the tenements, and those cloaltinakers who work in factories are tolerably well off as to hours, sanita tion, etc., though the pay is miserable. But you'll find scores and hundreds of the smaller sweat shops existing all over the east side in open defiance of law. "The operators often work from G in the morning until 9 or 10 at night. There is no air or stoppage for meals, and little girls not yet in their teens take a hand at the benches with the lder ones. These shops are in out of the way places, rear tenements or lofts on the top floor of some six story build ing, and they manage to evade the in spectors. There nearly all the garments requiring 'finishing' are sent by con tractors directly to the houses of fami lies, where husband, wife and children toil ceaselessly under worse conditions if anything than the sweaters." We entered one of the narrow alley ways which pierce the frowning tene ment line of Suffolk street, and came out in a wretched "court," hedged in by towering masses of brick on either hand. "Hush," said my companion, laying a warning finger on my arm as I began speaking. "Do you hear that?" He was looking up with intent ears at the smoke begrimed windows of the rear building. From above came low but distinct the peculiar whizzing and whining sound of a dozen sewing machinos. "Come on." We climbed fire flights of stain and passed through the hallways of almost Tartarean darkness, where one had to grope and feel his way like an explorer of the Mammoth cave. At the fifth landing the guide knocked at a closed door. It was opened, and he strode in. The rooin had but two wfndows, and we counted sixteen workmen at the bench or on the machine. They were of the black, scraggly bearded Russian type, and they worked on stolidly after 9ne look at the visitors. The "boss" came forward with that apologetic air which Russian Hebrews have and asked our business. The spokesman of the party said we had come to inspect the shop and gave him notice he was violating the factory law. The man was ready with the excuse that the inspector had given him a permit, but the paper hadn't come yet. and the gentlemen must excuse him if they did not see it on his walls. We knew the man lied. The machine operators were on men's trousers. Their task was to make up the entire garment from the cutter's hand, and for which they got the mu nificent pay of seven cents for each pair of trousers. How long did it taker Well, they could not tell exactly, was the answer. Half an hour if you were an unusually quick and expert operator, an hour if you were slow. They were fortunate when they earned nine or ten dollars a week. And the work—that is, steady work—only lasted four or five months, October and November up to a few weeks of Christmas time in the fall, and April, May and sometimes part of March in the spring. The "boss" said the hours were from 7to 7. The others were silent. There was no leaving the room for meals. Each brought out his paper of sour rye bread and stale meat, with perhaps a piece of scrawny chicken from the pig market in Hester street as a luxury, and munched the food during fifteen min utes' nooning at his table. Learners of the trade got next to nothing for their services. At another shop of the same sort the "boss" was out. and we found the em ployees more talkative. I long their number was a young Russian woman but twenty years old and working twelve hours a day. The law makes it a crime to employ women under twenty one more than ten hours daily. She was "learning," and it was left to the "boss" what pay he should give her. The operators complained chiefly of the lack of work in the off months, by means of which the sweaters had the men completely at their mercy. Though semitwilight prevailed here all day, no gas was lit in the shop, and the sore eyes of several of the workmen told us of the strain. The air was foul—no 400 cubic feet of air space for each person, as prescribed. It seemed doubtful if there were 200. "Have you noticed there are no tailors on the east side now?" said my cloak maker friend when we passed out of one of these places. "They are all operators or pressers or finishers or but tonhole makers, and each person has just one tiling to do on a garment, which is very simple and easily learned. Formerly a tailor needed considerable skill, and his services were in great de mand. As it is at present, anybody can sew a buttonhole or follow the cutter's directions on the sewing machine, and the clothing maker is compelled to sub mit to every exaction, because he knows a hundred others are ready to step into his place. The only persons who receive good wages in the New York clothing trade are the cutters, who, if they are expert, average twenty to twenty-five dollars a week. I was curious to And out what portion of the total selling price of clothing went to the men who made it. In a Russian shop in Pell street, right in the heart of Chinatown, where a boss and six employees were engaged on sack coats and overcoats, they gave me a sample schedule of prices. I was shown a coat that would retail perhaps at $ 12, to be forced down to $lO or SB, if the market was dull. The man who put this heavy, substantial garment together received 14 cents, the baster 12, the fin isher 10, the ironer and the button hole maker 7—a total of 51ceuts— somewhere near r> per cent, of its mar ket value. Small wonder that clothing dealers can sell their stock on occasions for one-half or one-third of the price ad vertised, and that at a handsome profit. It can always be said of the industry of the Russian Jew that he works him self as hard as if not harder than any sweaters which are set over him. Leave the tenement house shops which covert ly defy the law and enter one of the lit tle living rooms one can step into from every hallway in Essex and Suffolk streets. Save the five deepest hours of the night, there is nbtime in the twenty four when you won't find the whole family up and sewing for bread. We Unearthed a family of three—two broth ers, with the wife of one of them—who inhabited an 8 by 10 "courtroom" and toiled, the brothers at least, from 6 to midnight. Winter and summer that room was at furnace temperature with the roaring tiro they kept for heating irons. They were pressors of "knee pants" at Beven cents a dozen. Each man by means of this grinding slavery earned about six dollars a week, and out of that they paid for that redhot stove, eighteen hours in the twenty-four, and the room rent, which was five dollars a month. They carried the knickerbockers back and forth. In a few years these fellows will have achieved what they regard as independence. A pitiful sight in the clothing district was that of .Sarah Zussman, a gentle and mild faced young Jewess, with four mites of children dependent upon her i and no means of keeping the wolf from the door, but working on those miserable boys' knickerbockers at seven cents a dozen. We saw her in a bare and cheer | less room on the top floor of 20 Suf folk street, the furniture and everything Balable gone to the pawnbrokers, and | the wan faced little ones gathered about I her. Her husband, Barnard, lay in the | Moses Montefiore hospital, an incurable consumptive. He toiled, too, at boys' % kne® pants" for the support of his fam ily till the vitiated air and the confine ment broke him down and marked him for the grave. It seemed a cruel mock ery that the young mother worked, worked, worked with the strength of de spair to clothe other hoys while her own children went in rags and tatters. Louis, the grave eyed baby of eight een months, dropped a broken bread twist of Russian rye—hard rations for a baby to munch on—when we entered and gazed with wonder. The larder was empty, and the woman could do but a part of her usual work, as within a short time she was to become a mother. It took her three hours to finish a dozen garments. Only the friendship of their poor neighbors, who collect scraps of bread and give them to the family, fceeps them alive.—New York Herald. WOMEN'S WORK. If They Were CompclD-cl to Subtext I'pon Their Wagt-M They Would Starve. The relation of women's work to the general problem of poverty must also be well studied. The worst paid work is always women's work. And it is easy to see how the labor of women often tends directly to the depression of general wages. The wife or the daughter of the breadwinner frequently works for less than would sustain life. The main dependence is the wage of the husband and father; what is earned by the women merely adds something to the sum of comfort. It is out of his earnings that they derive the strength which they expend for the benefit of their employer. If they were compelled to subsist on what their employer pays them they would starve. A vast amount of the labor of women is thus given for wages that will not sustain life. The vital energies by which this labor is per formed are supplied from other sources. Many poor widows and deserted wives who sew all day and most of the night for less than enough to feed them selves and their children are kept from starving by the alms of some church or charitable association, or perhaps by the assistance of the overseer of the poor. Now it is evident that this kind of labor tends to poverty. Because there are so many who can work for less than enough to support life those employers who recognize no law but competition are ready to reduce wages to this standard. Although, as we have seen, it is bad economy for the employer to pay less than will fairly support life if his la borers are compelled to subsist upon the wages which he pays them, yet it may be good economy, from his point of view, to pay them this inadequate wage if he can depend on somebody else to supple ment it, and can thus consume the labor force which somebody else daily replen ishes. This is one of many ways in which the strong thrive at the expense of the weak. Not only women's work but much of the labor of young men and boys is ex ploited after this fashion. Great firms and corporations employ young men at salaries far below the cost of their main tenance because they can get them at that figure. The young men are living at home, and their fathers and mothers, many of whom are themselves poor, are made to contribute to the growing wealth ' of the great firms or companies by board ing and clothing their employees. The excuse for this is that the young men are receiving instruction. That is a good reason why they should not re ceive the full wages of trained hands, but it is not a good reason why they should not receive enough to support life, for they are not only receiving in struction, they are performing labor, in many cases very severe and exhausting labor, and the labor of a full grown, able bodied young man or woman ought to suffice for maintenance.—Washington Gladden in Century. Trade* I'nionM aiul Politics* We believe the trades unions will broaden as their members become more enlightened, and that they will be found at the proper time to be the most power ful organizations for political purposes, but until such time as tailors, carpenters, etc., are ready to stand as one man in their unions to secure better prices for their labor it appears to many thought ful trades unionists folly to try to get them to act unitedly on political princi ples, of which many men have no con ception. The trades unions propose to secure full justice and freedom for the workers by doing "first things first."— General Secretary John 13. Lennon, of the Journeymen Tailors' Union. Knight* on Militia. , At the recent session of the general I assembly of the Knights of Labor the | following was adopted: I Resolved, That we favor the dissemination of a patriotic military sentiment and a return to the popular form of maintaining the militia in vogue prior to 1800—namely, allowing the 6tate militia to elect its own officers, and the rank and llle to hold their arms, and we discounte nance centralizing the military power in every way, object to the expenditure of vast sums of the people's money in building useless armo ries, and indorse the popular system in vogue in Switzerland. No Mistake In This. Speaking of "the association of work ingmen to carry on their own industrial enterprises," Plank and Platform ob serves that it "has long been recognized as presenting in the abstract an ideal solution of the labor problem. Where the workingnien are their own employ ers there can be no disputes about wages; where they operate by their own capital the common interest of capital and labor is beyond question." Imperative Mandate. The social Democrats of Germany favor compelling the leaders who sit in the imperial diet to resign their seats every two years, in order to take the opinion of their constituents upon their actions as legislators. The cigar makers must make up their mind heforo Jan. 8 if they want the for ty acres at Colorado City donated by Anthony Butt for a national home. The union talks of spending $40,000 on the koine. rOIJTICAL ANNOUNCEMENTS. TjH)R CONSTABLE CHARLES SAULT,' of Five Points. Subject to the decision of the Democratic nominating convention of Foster township. TjXHt SUPERVISOR— MATTHEW DENNION, of Five Points. Subject to the decision of the Democratic ' nominating convention of Foster township. tjX)R SUPERVISOR CONDY MCLAUGHLIN, of Five Points. Subject to the decision of the Democratic nominating convention of Foster township. p >R SUPERVISOR JOHN METZGER, of East Foster. Subject to the decision of the Democratic nominating convention of Foster township. JpOR SUPERVISOR JOHN O'DONNELL, of Eckley. Subject to the decision of the Democratic nominating convention of Fost* r township. SUPERVISOR JAMES WILSON, of South Hebertou. Subject to the decision of the Republican nominating convention of Foster towi ship. TAX COLLECTOR— CONRAD BREHM, of Upper Lehigh. Subject to the decision of tin,- Democratic nominating convention ot Foi ter township. JP OU TAX COLLECTOR PAT K J. GALLAGHER, of Highland. Subject to the decision of the Democratic nominating convention of Foster township. TREASURER— DANIEL BONNER, of Five Points. Subject to the decision of the Democratic nominating convention of Foster township. Thousands of Singing Birds. When the North German Lloyd steam er Herrmann unloaded 011 Saturday twen ty large bundles shrouded in white cloth were carefully lifted from the hold and placed on the dock. From each bundle came a chorus of angry twitterings and chirpings and much fluttering of wings. The bundles were loaded on a truck and were taken to the store of a bird fancier (11 William street. There they were un loaded and the cloths removed. Each bundle contained 252 little wooden bird rages, each with a canary bird in it. Im mediately every one of the 5.040 birds Btretched his little yellow throat in an effort to outsing his neighbor. They caroled and trilled as merrily as if they were looking out 011 green heath and a blue sky instead of a muddy highway half obscured by a drive of wet snow. Three men undertook the task of giving the birds grain and water, and the op eration consumed the major part of a day. The canaries are of three grades—the $2.50 birds, the $5 birds, and the $lO birds. The ordinary birds are worth $2.50. A large fine bird, or one of par ticularly handsome coloring, brings twice that price, while a distinguished vocalist will bring $lO. All the birds are males and singers. They come from Germany, where they are bred in large numbers. It is probable that all of the 5,000 birds will be Bold within a few weeks. This is the busy time in the canary market, and within the past week more than 10,000 of these birds have arrived classed as live stock.— New York Sun. A Kangaroo lioxt r. All exhibit-ion of boxing of an unusual character has been secured by the man agement of the Royal aquarium. Pro fessor Landerman, an Australian pugil ist, will box a Kangaroo seven feet high. It is said that the kangaroo boxes scien tifically and hits harder than the or dinary pugilist. The exhibition appears to have been given in Melbourne and Sydney—the combatants being so se verely mauled that some were in hospi tal for months afterward. Professor Landerman and the kangaroo came over from Australia in the Ormuz. John L. Sullivan, although challenged, refused to fight, and Mme. Sarah Bern hardt was so amused and taken with the exhibition at the Criterion, Sydney, as to offer £I,OOO for the animal.—Lon don News. A(1 v let* to the O fit id Seekers. We see 110 impropriety in making ap plications for office on the part of all who desire it, but we believe there is a possibility of the thing being overdone. None of these petitions will be consid ered until after March 4. Therefore there is plenty of time in which to make applications. During Mr. Cleveland's last adminis tration he dispensed the public patron age through the members of the senate and the house. If he pursues his former policy he will, as a general thing, appoint to office from this state such men as are recommended by the delegation to congress, and we do not think that he will ever ses or read a letter of application for public office.— Atlanta Constitution. A Grewsomo Relic. The scaffold upon which John Brown was hanged in Harper's Ferry has ar rived at Washington for shipment to the World's fair. The timbers are in a good state of preservation, though they have served the purposes of a porch to the residence of a son of the man who built the scaffold. The gallows itself is a plain, substantial affair, which would attract little attention apart from its history. Tiie timbers are evidently pine, although they have been painted over at some later period to preserve them. The two uprights are big beams six inches square, and the crossbar is in propor tion. Even the screws with which it was put together have been preserved. John Brown was hanged on Dec. 2,1859. —Boston Journal. • CURE THAT 1 : Cold iii , AND STOP THAT 11 | Cough, ii I In. H. Downs' Elixir | ] i! WILL DO IT. I] | j Price, 25c., 50c., and SI.OO per bottle. | | I | Warranted. Sold everywhere. 11 1 . HSSBY, JOHNSON 1 LOBS, Prop!., Lnrlisjton, Vt. | | , i • . O. "PECTECTION or ifirieze TIRADE." By llcnry George. The leading statesmen of the world pronounce it the greatest work ever written upon the tariff question. No statistics, no figures, no evasions. It will interest and instruct you. Keud it. Copies Free at the Tribune Office. H. G. OESTERLE & CO.. manufacturer of SOCIETY i GOODS. HATS, CAPS, SHI HI'S, BELTS, BALDRICS, SWORDS and GAUNTLETS. Banners, Flags, Badges, Regalia, Etc. LACES, FRINGES, TASSELS, STARS, GALOON, EMBROIDERY MATERIAL, GOLD and SILVER CLOTHS. WRITE FOR SAMPLES AND PRICES. No. 224 Noiyh Ninth Street, Philadelphia. A New Year Full —of— Good Tiling 1 © For All. We start the new year with closing out lots of goods. Call and see Ladies' Coats. Newmarkets at half price. An SB. coat for $5. A slu coat for £5; etc. Special Bargains In Woolen Blankets. Have them from 79 cents a pair up Remember, men's gum boots, Candee, §2.25 Muffs, 40 cents up to a,ny price you want. Ladies' woolen mitts. 2 pair 25 cents; worth 25 cents a pair. Some 50-cent dress goods at 25 cents All-wool plaid, which was 00 cents, now 39 cenQ Some Special Things In Furniture. A good carpet-covered lounge, §5 A good bedstead, §2 25. Fancy rocking chairs. §3.50. Ingrain carpet for 25 cents a yard. Groceries & Provisions. Flour, §2 15. Chop, §l.lO and §1.15. Bran, 50 cents. Hani, 13 cents. Bologna, 8 cents. Cheese, N. Y., 13 cents. Tub butter. 28 cents 18 pounds sugar §I.OO. 5 pounds Lima beans, 25 cents 5 pounds currants, 25 cents. 5 pounds raisins, 25 cents. 0 bars Lenox soap, 25 cents. 6 bars Octagon soap. 25 cents. 3 packages pearline, 10 cents. Best coal oil, 12 cents. Vinegar, cider, 15 cents gal Cider, 20 cents a gallon. Syrup, No. 1, 35 cents gal. No. 1 mince meat. 10 cents. 3 pounds macaroni 25 cents. 3 quarts beans. 21 cents. 6 pou,.ds oat meal, 25 cents. FREELAitD READY PAY. J. C. Bcrner, Spot Caslx Promoter of Low Prices, .''leslan.d, - - CITIZENS BANK —OF— F RE ELAND. 15 Front Street Lcb-U, v.. . ... OFFICERS. JOSEPH BIHKBECK, President. H. C. KOONH, Vice President. B. It. I)A vis. Cashier. JOHN SMITH, Secretary. DIRECTORS. Joseph Birkbeek, Thoiuus Birkbeek, John Wagner, A Hudewlck, H. C. Koous, Charles Dusncck, William Kemp, Mathias Schwabe, John Smith, John M. Powell, So, John Bui ton. JST" Three per cent, interest paid on saving deposits. \ Open daily from 9a. ra. to 4p. ra. Saturda. evenings from fi to 8. SPECIAL HOLIDAY SALE:' Here is the place to And a I MAMMOTH STOCK OF J BAIUi.VINS M suitable at this season. ■ THOUB \ N T WITF PKFCTTY NOV \^RIKS Ladies' Coats, Furs, Glove* Vj v Caps, llats. Underwear t Bx.dery, Dress Patterns, Corsets. lA. ■ens, Trimmings, Etc., Etc. Childrens' a d Infants' Goods In great variety, and a storeroom tilled with the prettiest sort of useful and ornamental goods that you will want during the holidays. SPLENDID SOUVENIR GIFTS to all pers ns pur chasing to the amount of $1 and over. MRS B. A CRIMES. I Centre Street, - Below Front, - Frecland..