Yet Mr. Cabot performed in offering this resolution possibly his greatest service since he began his campaign to improve the labor conditions in the steel industry even though it was an achievement that he did not have in mind. He forced the Corporation to show its hand; he gave it an opportunity to prove whether or not it really desired, as it was on record as desiring, a fundamental reform. The Corporation gave him an unmistakable answer. It would have been better if they had not forgotten the wise counsel of William B. Dickson, their former vice-president, when he said, in a speech advocating one day of rest in seven, that if the steel companies themselves did not institute this reform, they would be compelled by law to institute it, and that the law would be far more drastic than the manufacturers of steel would find comfortable. BEDFORD REFORMATORY W. J. LAMPTON, in the _New York Times_ [_Bedford Reformatory, a State institution doing invaluable service in the reclamation of wayward girls, is overcrowded and asks $700,000 from the state for extension purposes._] Behold, she stands And stretches out her hands For aid. Those firm, strong hands, Those gentle, helpful hands, Whose spirit unafraid Of sin and shame and loss Have borne the burden of the cross For girls unnamable, whose feet Have trod the open street, The market-place Of body and of soul, In search of toll From any man who gave To own a common slave, The chattel of the street. These Bedford comes to meet, But not as shameless things; To them she brings Love, courage, hope, the better way, The clean, new day Whose morning sun awakes Another world to those half gone And hopeless ones To whom there was no other dawn. And now she stands With outstretched hands For aid; the means to lift Out of the ghastly drift These girl-souls crying in the night For kindly light. And shall she be denied? Shall men who buy Deny? Shall any man, in whom his pride In his own womankind is strong, Go wrong And say To Bedford: “Nay”? May 3, 1913. [Illustration] THE OYSTERMAN BALTIMORE TO BILOXI AND BACK THE CHILD’S BURDEN IN OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNERIES