S

ENATOR La FOLLETTE deserves a unanimous and rising vote of thanks for his renewal of the fight on the shameless Lorimer. Nobody doubts that the 53 Democrats of the Illinois legislature were paid to vote for this professed Republican. Only 48 Republican members of the legislature voted for him. He owed his election to members of the opposite party-several of whom have confessed that they sold their votes; and one of whom is dead, of the shame of it.

In the contest before the U. S. Senate, it was, again, the Democratic vote that saved Lorimer, the Republican.

How is it to be accounted for? Money was notoriously used for Lorimer, in the Illinois legislature; was money used for him, in the U. S. Senate, as well? There is a growing belief that there

was.

WR

E are glad to know that Senator La Follette has taken up the fight on Lorimer. This means that the foul deal which gave Lorimer the support of so many Democrats in the Illinois legislature and in the U. S. Senate, will be sifted to the bottom. Responsible men have declared that they knew of the wholesale bribery in the Legislature. The exact sum is stated $100,000. We have the confessions of some of the legislators-Democrats who were bribed to vote for the Republican candidate, Lorimer. We

have ample evidence of the paying off of the Lee O'Neill Browne legislative squad, in St. Louis. But how much did it cost the Interests which wanted Lorimer in the Senate to buy the Democratic support which kept that body from expelling him?

Nobody doubts that these powerful Interests bribed the legislature of Illinois the Democratic part of it, at least who can feel sure that those Democratic U. S. Senators who voted for Lorimer, after a full knowledge of the damning facts, were not influenced, improperly?

T

HERE was a fire in a many

storeyed building, at Washington place, New York City; and 146 human beings are known to have been burned to death. They were at work, on the eighth floor, for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. The flames burst forth suddenly, and spread almost instantaneously to the length and breadth of the work room. This rat-hole had practically no emergency outlet for the bread-winners.

There was one spacious door and stairway, leading to the street, but the workers were not allowed to use it. The bosses kept the door locked, when they were not using the stairway; and it was locked at the time the fire broke out. There was one fire-escape, but not opening on to the street. It emptied into the inner-court, of the same building.

There was a third exit from the eighth floor; but a partition had been so built, obstructing it, that only one person could pass at a time. The excuse for narrowing the passage was, that each girl employed in the room. must be examined as she left her work, to make sure that she was not carrying away some of the material belonging to the Company.

So, for fear one or more of the workers might be thieves, the whole number were so penned up that in case

an emergency arose for a sudden exit, there was certain to be a tragedy.

For the time, there is intense sympathy for the victims, and the hottest indignation at those dollar-grippers and the official grafters who caused the

wholesale and horrible murder of the 146 young men and girls; but, most unfortunately, we do not systematize and perpetuate our life-saving efforts, as they do in Germany, and other parts of Europe.

W

HEN you are at the New York Aquarium, if you will watch the glass swimming tanks containing the stort minnows, the hermit crabs or the shark suckers, you will be able to gather a few interesting facts concerning life which may help to illuminate your daily career for you. In the first of these cases are small, brilliantly colored fishes whose lines show a striking pattern of purple and blue, with here and there a touch of salmon, as they turn swiftly in the light. They look as if they were only swimming about and enjoying themselves, nosing each other in hide and seek. In fact, they are engaged in a very serious business of life and death. If you will examine closely you will see four or more on guard over nests in the bottom of the tank. The others are trying to rob them of their possessions. The watchmen do not have a moment's rest. Hundreds of their brethren are hovering and crowding round them, constantly slipping into their domain. As they dart, openmouthed, at one offender, another and many others, will shoot in from the side, where the weeds are, or from the top, where no one is watching, and begin to rummage among the pebbles for the

eggs.

These fish band together in a kind of offensive and defensive alliance. Each guard has but one side from which attack can come. The other sides are protected by the operations of his three

companions. The other guards, since they are in the same peril, can be trusted implicitly. You will never see one guard attack another, though they sometimes collide in the pursuit of interlopers, and always overreach into each other's territory. They never molest or violate one another's nests, and in the excitement of the struggle, when scores of maurauders are swooping down at once, and they are dashing in all directions among them, nipping to the right and the left, they never mistake an ally for an enemy.

Their duty is to guard the development of the new life instrusted to them, and in the prosecution of this labor they even drive the mothers away, which would hint that the latter would eat their own eggs. Needless to say they are in no great danger from the intruding crowd, for the latter have been, or may expect to be, guards themselves some day. They wish only to eat, and in the gratification of this desire they exhibit a degree of good nature, or cavalier indifference, which is amusing. If a guard is on the lookout, they will not disturb him. If not, they will eat his eggs. Even the guards themselves share this desire, for once they are off duty-that is, when the eggs are hatched-they give a defiant flip of their tails and look about for their neighbor's nests. Their roles as guardians of public morality are for the time discontinued.

The case of the hermit crab offers an even more interesting example of how the game of life is fought. These soft, spidery creatures, not having been furnished by Nature with any protection of their own are forced, by the craving other creatures have to eat them, to find some protection for themselves. As soon as he is hatched he hustles around on the bottom of the sea and, finding a very small snail, weaker than himself, pounces upon it and drags it summarily forth. Then he crawls into its shell and is protected.

However, this is not for long. He grows, the shell becomes too small for him. It is then necessary for him to make another sortie; and you may frequently see in this tank the operation of the law of the survival of the fittest, that makes our world so grim. One will come scrambling along the bottom of the tank, carrying his ill-fitting house on his back, in quest of food and a more suitable shell. If he cannot find a snail to oust, he will sometimes seize a fellow-crab, whose shell is of a suitable size, and him he will worry and torment until, by a process of poking and scratching, he finally succeeds in causing the crab to put his head and shoulders out in self-defense. He clutches the weaker brother and the struggle causes him to drop his shell. The victor drops his own shell, grabs that of his defeated kinsman and scuttles off. The brandishing of claws and the grimaces that accompany the contest are very amusing.

Now the vanquished hermit must get a new home. He takes hold of the shell which the other has abandoned. Finding it too small, he hurries on, peeping frantically into this shell, poking eagerly at that, hoping to find one untenanted or with an occupant too feeble to defend himself. In the latter event he practices the same annoying tactics that were used on him. If he succeeds, his trouble is passed on to the next one.

If he loses, heaven defend him. Even now a monster has spied him, or, it may be, he has poked his claw into the wrong shell. It closes. He is grasped by a strong arm. A short, furious struggle ensues. He is pulled irresistibly in and devoured, a victim of what is sometimes called benevolent assimilation.

In the last tank, that of the sharksucker, you find an example of the true parasite-the child of fortune who knows just enough to realize that he is weak, and who is willing to attach himself to any one more powerful than he, in order that he may have some of the good things left after his master has eaten. This curious creature fastens itself to the belly of a shark, and lives on the morsels that falls from its mouth. It is about a foot long, and remotely resembles a three-pound pickerel on its back. Its belly is slightly curved upward, and comes to an edge like the keel of a boat. Its back is flat and on it is an oblong, saucer-like sucker, which enables it to fasten itself to the shark. When it is quite young its habitat is fixed by the location of its parents. It is born in the company of sharks and it dies in the company of them. The fact that it might be able to do something for itself never seems to occur

to it.

Do not these examples furnish excellent illustrations of our own physical and social conditions? What set of capitalists, or captains of industry, think you, controlling a fine privilege or franchise, which they wish to hatch into a large fortune would not envy the stort minnows their skill in driving enemies away? What sharper prowling about and viewing another's comfortable home, or his excellent business, or the beauty of his wife, if the desire seized him, would not seize upon one or all of these, and by a process of mental gymnastics, or physical force, not unlike that of the hermit crab, endeavor to secure for himself the desirable shell? What weakling, seeing the world was

We will have to beg those who are entering pictures to remember the simple rules: Each photograph to be entered must be accompanied by one

graphs will be run until all have been entered.

The contest is attracting so much attention and has grown so far beyond the idea of those who planned it, it will be impossible to extend the time for entries.

Well developed, clear, post-card pictures give excellent results from the engraver's point of view; it is not necessary to have expensive photographs made. Snap-shots are very unsatisfactory-as are also the "stamp-size" photographs.

As a number of entries have been made of twin babies, it has been decided to offer a special prize for them; a silver knife, fork, spoon and cup will go to the prize twins, and as all so far

ALIEN WATSON SMITH, (18 months). Wrightsville, Ga.

dollar for a year's subscription to the magazine.

A large number of photographs have come from people who have subscribed several months ago, asking that the photographs be entered on the strength of the old subscription. This, of course, would not be fair to the entries who have abided by the rule laid down, and cannot be complied with.

It will be best to enclose the photograph between two pieces of strong card-board, tie in stout paper and mail as second class matter. If the name, age and residence of the baby is written on the back of each photograph, this will be of great and valued assistance to those in charge of the Baby Show.

Photographs will be received until the last week in May, but the photo

M. MODELLE GORDON, (Two years, 11 months). Monroe, Ga.

entered are the most amiable looking pairs of children, it isn't to be thought they will ever quarrel as to which is whose.