San Francisco Bulletin from San Francisco, California • 6

inarch Ttgfv EDITORIAL PAGE THE BULLETIN A BODY BLOW AT HANGING was The conducted through showed that at last a poet Vif By Maurice Ketten Blodger Will she ff dWriav The Weaker Sex? Blodger was husband that almost upset watching the 0 a 0 she dancing with?" asked a bold thing and I 0 I I 6 I 0f tt The Voice of Helen Keller Widow of Murdered Official Pleads for Life of Slayer a Disease She Says the person Clara Mudridge dancing with was with Very quietly began swiftly working into an emotional crescendo: footsteps over my head all night They come and they go Again they come and they go all night They come one eternity in four paces and they go one eternity in four paces and between the coming and the going there is Silence and the Night and the Infinite 'or infinite are the nine feet of a prison cell and endless is tSe march of him who walRs between the yellow brick wall and the red iron gate thinking things that cannot be chained and cannot be locked but that wan der far away in the world each in a wild pilgtimage after a destined my lot with the workers of the was the answer It is a movingly beautiful thing that this clear voice summoned out of the darkness and the silences should continually as in this passing fragment plead the cause of brotherhood and justice Now there comes from the press of the Hill acre Bookhouse Riverside Connecticut a little book called in the with the name of Arturo Giovannlttl on the title page and with an introduction by Helen Keller reder ick Bursch who holds' the copyright and who is the soul of the Hillacre Bookhpusc has published only a few books all choice the best known being perhaps Beast by Lincoln Steffens The introduction is rpm a rk able in two ways as a piece of writing and as a revelation of the radical attitude taken toward life by Helen Keller Into this strange ly conditioned consciousness once almost hope lessly alienated from the rest of human life and now so marvelously developed and so inti mately related there has entered the passion for social betterment and the realization of the essential need of social unity that "burns like a flame in the darkness of the world This CKCuse me!" And then Mrs Blodger Miss Keller gives some details In the life of this new poet Born in Southern Italy in 1884 he is still young But since he came to this country thirteen years ago he has had many bitter struggles first years In America were years of disillusion and In the coal mines of Pennsylvania where heworked saw the misery and degradations of many of the foreigners who came here ani mated by the same love for democracy and hope for opportunity that filled his Later he thought of entering the ministry and he studied at various theological schools He must have been a rebellious student inally he drifted into newspaper writing for the Italian press In York City Then his real career began had appeared among the radicals It made Whitman seem almost old fashioned Behind it was none of the essential gentleness and kindliness and tolerance and simple love of comrades that made Whitman known as good gray On the contrary this man wrote in a fury of protest He was like a tor nado The heart that he impacted with words was full of the hatred of inhumanity to man cried Mrs "How sweet of you my dear 9 rt 1 I 99 blind woman sees She sees much more clearly and much more deeply than most Of us who have And she writes with the correct ness and the vigor of one inspired: a poet speaks he covers the bare facts of life with a shimmering cloth of gold He spiritualizes all that men see feel think suffer learn of heights and depths Gio poetry is the spiritualization of a lofty dream that he seeks to realize the es tablishment of love and brother and social jus tice for every man and woman upon earth If you Insist on finding in his glorious imagin ings something definite something translatable into prose it is there it is the struggle of a new world against the old world of ideas against the antiquity of outworn creeds and musty traditions Giovannitti Is like Shelley a poet of revolt against the cruelty the pov erty the ignorance which too many of us ac cept in blind content His is the poetry of humane humanity of exultation in everything new vigorous wholesome manly and of un compromising hatred of what is bestial mean sordid and degrading It is an outgrowth of noble ideals aspirations and hopes for a true democracy that are being proclaimed from one end of the world to the After reading I occa sionally see here and there verses signed with the name of Arturo Giovannitti So he working away undoubtedly meeting the ob stacles inevitable to one with something new to say pnd in a way that was not in fashion conservative editor would think that his was not poetry at all the slaves of words and definitions of words Other editors would not tolerate the ideas expressed However it was good to know that out of the great army of aspiring writers in the radical ranks trying so pathetically against the odds of inadequate training to express themselves in verse there was one who showed something like mastery' of form and brilliancy of imagination to our principles? Perhaps Mrs reference to her two little daughters furnishes one key to the explanation If a second murder followed the first the two little girls a man had been killed to avenue their lng IVIrc A A A THE JARR AMILY AND THEIR RIENDS HE sample of Helen repartee which was printed in Bulletin gives one a good idea of the wide sympathies and the intellectual quickness and acuteness of this woman who has made her oersonalitv felt through such tremendous barriers It helps one to understand as a writer in the American Magazine points out how natural in Helen case is the con ception of a soul separate and distinct from the brain and nervous structure but acting through it have you they ask her required the greatest courage IS easy for most of us to announce our beliefs for the reason that it seldom falls to our lot to cling to them under fire Therefore the action of Mrs Edna Gerson Montague widow of the mur dered railroad official is something for us all to think about Mrs Montague husband Horace Montague was killed by the young banditj Ralph ariss or Bostick in a train hold up last December ariss has been sentenced to hang and is now at Yesterday Mrs Montague sent a telegram to Governor Johnson GUIS BRANDEIS on is worth quoting Mr Bran deis says in his statement to the Commission on Industrial Relations: ganized labor has just as great a place in a scientificallv manaapd bn macs as it has anywhere else Methods standards and rates payment have to be determined and for all these purposes you require collective bargaining or an equivalent determination just as much as you need it in other plants To intro duce scientific management without a labor union to look out for the labor would to my mind be almost as dangerous as to vest in the owner of the ordinary business power to deal with the employes individually Even where the em ployer is humane intelligent and benevolent it is not proper that the settlement of the rights of his employes should rest wholly upon his will Both sides should' be represented And for this our trade unionism is essential Undoubtedly so far as it represents increased ef ficiency and not a more intense strain on the worker is of permanent value The more productive the labor of men can be made whether by machinery or by the better direction of their own strength and skill the better off workingmen should be But it is simple justice that the workingmen in an industry should share in the benefits of increased productiveness derived either from new machines or frorn new methods It is even more necessary where the new require ex tensive alterations in their working conditions and habits that the workers should have an equal voice with the employers in the adoption of those conditions With these reservations sufficiently guaranteed to insure that no attempt will be made as in the case of many bonus and piece work schemes to encroach on working hours working conditions or wages workingmen may be expected to welcome better utilization of their labor San Quentin begging him to intervene and save ariss from the gallows In the name of my two little girls and of myself and my beloved husband I beg mercy for ariss pleaded Mrs Montague in her telegram believe crime is a disease and society should treat it as such and not with Undoubtedly Mrs Montague had held this view of crime in common with the best scientific thinkers long before her husband was killed But how many of us after having a house robbed or a relative slain seeing the law about to per form our personal vengeance for us would have the clearness of vision to keep would grow up knowing that a man had been killed to avenge their loss Mrs Montagues telegram is one sign that shows how people today are viewing ven geance When the State takes life we are all murderers If this could be brought home to more of us hanging would cease together with all other parts of our prison methods that are based upon revenge BRANDEIS ON EICIENCY METHODS 4 By Boy McCardelL I let us in with old Mr I Smith!" cried Mrs Stryver "If ho sees his wife dancing with I And then she remembered Mrs Blodg I er wife of Smith was them "Who is Mrs Blodger always said so! As Mrs Blodger was from Sacramen to and had only met with Clara Mud ridge Smith once and then casually her dislike must have been simply the temperamental dislike most women have for each other as a matter of course look around and see who Is in the corridors" suggested Mrs Jarr as old Mr Smith passed into the day time ballroom where the "The Dan sants" or as they are Improperly pop ularly known "tango are held or rather danced Then Mrs Jarr put her fingers to hei ears expecting to hear pistol shots ring out when second thought made her realize that old Mr Smith was not alikely person to tote a revolver "He sure enough on his feet to kick murmured Mrs Jarr "and he isnt strong enough to strike him Maybe bite but then the poor old man any teeth" "What are you talking about?" asked Mrs Stryver Mrs Blodger being too In terested In the new hats she saw on the! ornate loafer ladies In the corridor to) pay attention to Airs Ings Mrs Jarr nudged Mrs Stryver to be quiet lest Mrs Blodger suspect that while they waited the Impending tragedy her recreant spouse was trot ting Inside with the fair and fickle Clara Mudrldge Smith "I stand it any whis pered Mrs Stryver "Let us go insideand see what is going on" Then she nudged in turn Mrs Jarr and took hold of Mrs arm The nudge and the glance that accompanied it meant that Mrs Jarr should go on the other side of Mrs Blodger and lay a hand upon her other arm so that when they entered the dancing room of the Hotel i St Vitus and Mrs Blodger beheld the perfidy of her butterfly tney might hold the lady till her rage turned Into hysterics 'and from that by more or less easy stages "to incoherent moans' land then the saving swoon So with Mrs Jarr and Mrs Stryver guarding her on either side Mrs Biodg Boslon Lawyer Lays Down Principle That Must KT 1 A I Blodrer nuioe usea si gainst Unionism Il I Mrs Jarr and my darling Mrs SttyVJ ver to give me this pleasant surprised Poor Bernard left me today In a huff because I hadn't brought my check book with me And now you bring about thib delightful reconciliation You tell him I have a blank he's dancing with Clara Mud rldge Smith!" hissed Mrs Stryver a little disappointed that the tragedy she had feared was seemingly averted Mrs "Much he cares for any one but me when I have my check book give him a "You give me quite a check!" snapped Mrs Stryver But Mrs so eager to see her young she forward and old Mr Smith who was dancers me madam chortled the old man Jarr 'introduced Mrs "And so YOUR husband is dancing with my chuckled the old man "Ah how beautiful! She is' but a child Mrs Blodger she must be humored! How nice to krfow Clara my baby Clara is dancing with a young man of such a pleasant manner and a friend! Ah I was telephoned I would have a surprlse today but little did I it would be such a pleasant one!" "Ah! the cried Mr Blodger advancing over squaw will danoe (the Harvest Dance with Mr Blodger faltered: he had almost bf jfered to dance with his own wife "some boob" he added "Is all romance dead?" whispered Mrs Stryver to Mrs Jarr "Of course I would not wish to see any trlfe or unhappines4s but really one might have thought words would have been passed when that doddering old man saw his vyife dancing with this overdressed loafer Or at least one would have though Mrs Blodger would have tried to scratch Clara Mudrldge Smith!" "Your dlff is some on the prance remarker Mr Blodger airily as he fanned his heated face with his hand kerchief "mine dances like a centipede all feet!" "But Bernard you promised to teach whimpered Mrs Blodger Me for the doll baby some said Mr Blodger lead ing Clara Mudrldge Smith out again "Just like babes in the wood" said the old husband And Mrs Jarr wondered if Jealousy was a lost art irst Lighted Street THE first street to be lighted by gas was Pall Mall in London where the system was first used 107 years ago A few experimental gas lights had previously been used in Golden Lane This year marks the cen tenary of the general adoption of gas lights in London streets The first at tempt to introduce the use of gas in America was at Baltimore in 1816 The project was unsuccessful In 1822 it was introduced into Boston and in the following year the New York Gas Light Company was Incorporated but it did not enter into successful operation un til 1827 Philadelphia and several other cities adopted gas lights at about the same time Within thirty years there were 237 cities in the United States and six in Canada lighted by gas Rosin and oil were used for producing gas in America in the early days of the In dustry but later cannel and Newcastle coal and the Albert coal of Nova Scotia were used Until half a century ago the price per thousand cubic feet ranged up to J7 the average being about S3 50 A NEW POET The Revelation of Power Made by Arturo Giovannitti in His Recently Published Volume in the Galey i WHILIE Ettor and Giovannitti were in jaH waiting to be tried on the techni cal charge of murder for their partici pation in the Lawrence strike Giovannitti spent part of the time in writing Verses As might have been expected it was not the kind of verse usually printed in the magazines delicate sensuous and graceful reflecting the more superficial aspects of life It was unconven tional and violent and fairly bursting with emotion and it dealt with themes that were fundamental close to the heart of man and to the foundations of society One of them was copied and re copied in the radi cal press Here somewhat after the rhap sodical manner of Walt Whitman Giovannitti gave passionate expression to the of confinement in prison not merely his own but that of the others about him It had the flow and the sweep of a mighty chant It gave a realization of prison life seldom achieved in I literature of not merely what went on before 4 Vi a 11 aaJ 1 0 mu pujoicai tyc uut oerore ine eye oi one murmur that could follow the consciousness of the im prisoned who could understand and Interpret their feelings Moreover it related the life in prison to the life in the world outside and by its implications and its suggestions it started powerful but wholesome trains of thought A Im jaU 'Vi WJ JM VJl vW RW Hn A 1 a Ry" II 1 iJOHM!) w' vXA ini ofh I '0 i I tu 7 0 a 1 i qi tA.