labor laws we have, so much pressure is brought to bear upon the courts that oftentimes little or nothing can be accomplished. A writer from New York state says that they have great difficulty in getting the courts to uphold the factory inspectors. The magistrates will either refuse openly to enforce the law, or else do everything possible to hinder the factory inspector and then if the case finally comes to a decision the parties are convicted and sentence suspended.

It is certainly bad enough to have the courts refuse to enforce the child labor law, but the vice of working these little people, whatever their age, has brought about a still greater crime. It is not alone that the parents swear falsely as to the age of their children, so that they may go to work as soon as possible.

most sacred institutions, rights and traditions of our government should thus be denied our citizens.

Mr. Edgar T. Davies, Chief Factory Inspector for Illinois, has just collected evidence against a similar certificate mill in the city of Chicago. At the middle of February of this year he states that

Governor Guild, of Massachusetts, said a couple of years ago: "Agents of the state bureau of Labor statistics report to me that a shameful trade exists which supplies for money false age and schooling certificates to children under age. This report is confirmed by the district police.'

Such official statements need no comment. But the cry for children's blood has led to even greater and graver crimes than this. Our public school Our public school system, our most sacred institution, the basis of all our principles of liberty, is threatened. I do not refer to the amazing way in which children seem to jump from ten to fourteen years during a summer vacation, as happens so often in manufacturing towns or mining communities. The chief factory inspector of Ohio, Mr. J. H. Morgan, states that in one town in that state the public schools have actually been closed so that the factories might keep open during a shortage in the child market. These are conditions which make us rub our eyes and wonder where we have been that the

WORKERS.

his inspectors have collected 1,382 fraudulent or false age certificates which have originated from the same source. The organist of a local church is the alleged offender. He signs the age certificates of the children who apply without having any proof of their age, without a parent or guardian being present, and also takes. money for the service, all three of which actions are contrary to the laws. would have no authority for issuing certificates at all, if it were not that he uses the name of the pastor of the church.

He

"We find," said Mr. Davies in a detailed statement, that it was this man's habit to require no proof of age whatsoever, to consult no records, and he merely issued the age and school certificates upon the statement of the children and the receipt of twenty-five or fifty cents.

"In many instances the child was not accompanied by the parent or guardian, which is required by law, and in many instances the child is much under the age of fourteen years, although the cer

S

UNLIGHT, hitherto regarded as no less essential to the existence of man than the air he breathes, and as being absolutely indispensable to plant life, has found a rival in ordinary acetylene gas. True, the usurper cannot dissipate the frigidity of the atmosphere, nor make the world wag long without the beneficent rays of the great god of day, but when the latter chooses to sulk, vegetation need not pause in its growth, but under the cheering influence of acetylene's rays, may wax large and lusty. Professor John Craig, of Cornell University, N. Y., in a series of experiments extending over a long period of time, discovered that of artificial illuminants, none is so closely akin to sunshine as are the rays of acetylene gas.

But

Go to a hot-house; observe how the myriad panes of glass are placed to catch every scattering ray of sunlight. dark and gloomy days come and the plants languish. The process of forcing fruits or garden vegetables or flowers for the market at once ceases. Sunlight, since there is none, cannot be trapped. Diminishing profits stare the horticulturist in the face. Then it is that artificial sunlight, generated by acetylene, comes to the rescue, and performs its function.

Professor Craig's experiments show the great possibilities of his discovery. Large, luscious strawberries, the kind that are usually not brought on the market till late in the season, were forced sixteen days before the first crop is ordinarily matured. Likewise, radishes were ready for the table in three-fourths the usual time, and moreover, in spite of an increase in size over the radish grown in the ordinary way, suffered no apparent deterioration either in quality or in flavor. Geraniums and lilies were matured three weeks ahead of time. More

all these were brought to an early and healthy maturity. And here is another curious phenomenon: Even when there. is a long succession of warm and cloudless days, acetylene need not be relegated to the back-ground, for though it may sound like painting the lily, the rays

shoots. The results in several other instances were likewise of little value, but, as has been stated, the experiments, on. the whole, were overwhelmingly successful.

That the growth of plants may be stimulated by means of artificial light has long been known to scientists. In 1861, M. Herve-mangon, a Frenchman, first showed what could be done with the electric light in this connection. Twenty years later, Dr. Seamons, an Englishman, demonstrated that if a 1,400 candle power light were placed ten feet from the plants, with glass intervening, half the power of sunlight could be produced. Put to practical use, however, electricity in the past has proved itself a failure; acetylene gas, standing as it does nearest to the sun's rays, alone seems to be a success.

of this gas reinforce those of the sun and certainly hasten the ripening process very materially.

The malodorous onion is foremost of those plants that refuse to be cajoled into growing more rapidly than under the natural light of day. With stubborn perversity this king of the leeks refuses to be coaxed farther than to add a slight length to his long dark-green upper

To the market-gardener and florist it at once opens up dazzling possibilities. Imagine a crop of berries or flowers from one green-house thrown on the market. days or even weeks ahead of the usual time, with competition absolutely lacking. The enterprising horticulturist would reap a golden harvest.

O sit a mile away from the platform on which an orator is speaking or a band playing and to hear voice or music as perfectly as if one's chair were within a yard of the stand; and to know, at the same time that, at twenty different points in as many different directions all equally distant from speaker or performers, other listeners are enjoying the same privilege, is an experience that the invention of a new instrument called the multiphone has made possible and which will soon become one of the commonplace conveniences of modern life.

With the invention of the multiphone

the powers of the telephone have been vastly enlarged, and a new wonder developed out of this sometime commonplace marvel. The multiphone magnifies both the transmitting and receiving capabilities of the telephone. It can pick up all the significant sound in an area almost as great as that controlled by the human ear, and reproduce it at a distance so that anyone within a similar range from the receiver may hear almost as well as though he were at the first named point. Audiences may be amplified to the physical limitations of wires and instruments, and actual demonstrations have proved that orators no longer need disappoint overflows from inadequate halls.