SABLE 



5135 



SABOTAGE 



might take wives from among them. When 

 his request was refused, he planned to invite 

 all the surrounding people to an elaborate en- 

 tertainment. In the midst of the games, the 

 Romans violated the laws of hospitality by 

 seizing the young women, but after the Sabines 

 had been dissuaded from making war, the two 

 nations were combined as one, the Sabines set- 

 tling on Quirinal Hill. 



SABLE, sa'b'l, a small mammal belonging 

 to the fur-bearing group of animals, and hav- 

 ing the most valuable pelt of them all. It is 

 native to Siberia and is closely related to the 

 North American pine marten, or American sable, 

 as the latter is sometimes called (see illustra- 

 tion, page 3666). The sable is usually not over 

 a foot and a half in length. Its fur is a lustrous 

 dark brown, with grayish-yellow spots on the 

 sides of the neck, and a single pelt of highest 

 quality is worth about $200. Less expensive 

 grades run to about $50. In European coun- 

 tries sable is used in the robes of sovereigns 

 and state dignitaries; a coat of this fur owned 

 by Nicholas II, former czar of Russia, is said 

 to be worth $22,000. The animal is somewhat 

 difficult to capture, and is caught in traps espe- 

 cially designed to prevent injury to the fur. 

 The fur of the muskrat and that of the hare 

 are dyed and sold as imitation sable. For 

 habits of the animal see the article MARTEN. 

 See, also, FUR AND FUR TRADE. 



SABLE ISLAND, sometimes called the 

 "Graveyard of the Atlantic," and known to 

 early navigators as Santa Cruz, or "Holy 

 Cross," is a low, sandy island about one hun- 

 dred miles off the southern coast of Nova 



LOCATION OF SABLE ISLAND 



Scotia. It is on the northern lane of travel be- 

 tween Europe and America, and over 200 wrecks 

 1 near the treacherous Cape Sable, 

 which juts out into the Atlantic at the south- 

 ern extremity of the island. Sable Island is 

 crescent-shaped, about twenty miles long and 



one mile broad. The Canadian government has 

 caused thousands of trees to be planted on the 

 island to bind more solidly the shifting sandy 

 soil. Before the trees were planted the shape 

 of the island was continually being changed by 

 the pounding of the Atlantic waves. The gov- 

 ernment also maintains there a life-saving sta- 

 tion, wireless telegraph station and a lighthouse. 

 Cranberries grow in large quantities, and the 

 island supports a hardy breed of ponies. 



SABOTAGE, sab o tazh' , a comparatively 

 new means adopted by certain classes of work- 

 men in their labor struggles with employers. 

 The word is of French derivation, and means 

 scamped work. The practice of sabotage first 

 meant rendering too little service for wages 

 paid, doing poorly the work assigned, or using 

 poor material where better quality was ordered, 

 thus injuring the value and reputation of manu- 

 factured goods. Radicals and irresponsible men 

 found such means were too slow in their ef- 

 fects, so to-day sabotage has reached the point 

 in practice where it may be defined as mali- 

 cious waste or destruction of property of an 

 employer. 



In the lumber industry, for instance, it may 

 mean cutting logs shorter than the required 

 length or sawing boards thinner than ordered; 

 it may mean driving spikes into logs so saws 

 will be ruined. In a machine shop it may mean 

 putting sand or iron filings into oil cups or 

 gearings, loosening bolts or purposely mislay- 

 ing tools to cause delays. In building construc- 

 tion it may mean weak mixture of mortar or 

 waste of material; in street paving, instability 

 of foundation or poorly-prepared material. In 

 any trade or occupation it may^mean "laying 

 down on the job" working so slowly and ac- 

 complishing so little that the employer suffers 

 loss. 



It is not to the advantage of those who prac- 

 tice sabotage to destroy machinery or even to 

 damage it very .-rriously, for such malicious- 

 ness may involve loss of wages :fn-r labor 

 trouble is adju>tl until n >i>.-ur> run be made. 

 Everything which can irritate and embarrass 

 the employer and diminish production is em- 

 ployed in secret ; that some of the acts resorted 

 to are criminal does not deter the guilty per- 

 sons, for detection is difficult, and it is almost 

 impossible to place responsibility. 



Sabotage is severely condemned by all repu- 

 t.iMc labor unions; it is tin \\cipon of 

 the man .without conscience; it lacks the ele- 

 ment of fair play, and wherever employed it 

 widens the breach between labor and capital. 



