Decline in union membership in the U.S Research Paper

Decline in union membership in the U.S - Research Paper Example The pattern is irreversible, and it is unlikely that unions, as they exist, can survive the gathering economic storms. A History of Confrontation and Concession The history of labor unions in the United States can be traced as far back as 1765 and the Daughter’s of Liberty, a women’s organizational group who, through their making of cloth and other goods at home, supported the Revolutionary War movement. The first male trade unions formed in the late 18th century, and women workers began organizing in earnest in the 1820s. In general, and according to most trade union historians, the movement as a national power evolved after the Civil War with the National Labor Union (NLU) as the first federation of local groups, followed by its successors, the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor (AFL), still powerful and active today. An offshoot, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or "the Wobblies") came to being in the early twentieth century, often â€Å" using violence to promote the cause of unskilled workers† (History of U.S. Labor Unions, 2010, par 3). ... (AFL-CIO), which according to its official site now boasts 12.2 million members-- teachers and miners, firefighters and farm workers, bakers and engineers, pilots and public employees, doctors and nurses, painters and plumbers† (AFL-CIO, 2011, About Us, par. 2). Other groups over time have become part of the matrix, including public sector employees in hospitals, postal workers, municipal workers police and fireman. Counterbalancing unions in existence in the public sector, union membership today in the private sector has â€Å"fallen under 8%--levels not seen since 1932† (History of U.S. Labor Unions, 2010, par. 5) due to lack of interest, illegal workers and undoubtedly workers who are fearful of loosing jobs in a progressively diminishing job market. Outsourcing as a contributing issue can not be discounted. As Dubofsky and Dulles (2004) found, â€Å"the forces of economic liberalization, capital mobility, and globalization have affected measurably the material stand ard of living enjoyed by workers in the United States† (p. ix). Pros and Cons of Unions and Union Membership Since the Industrial Revolution, unions have  been credited with securing improvements in working conditions and wages. Beyond the obvious, in any discussion of unions one of the first points raised is exactly this: what are the benefits of unions and how do they represent the interests of the working person? Views are generally diverse, depending upon particular experiences and who is making the judgment. For instance, employers who wish more mobility in making economic decisions for their company or organization may find the demands of collective bargaining more than they can absorb, or, more than they are willing to absorb. On the other hand, a good collective bargainer can often come to

Yellowstone National Park Essay Example for Free

Yellowstone National Park Essay â€Å"Leisure, in its broadest sense, provides an excellent lens through which we can better understand contemporary Western society’s relationships with nature. † Such a thesis can be best understood through a socio-cultural exploration of the complex relationship of man with nature, and how it has evolved through time. Engaging the literature reveals that there is NO singular ‘nature’ as such, only a diversity of contested natures each â€Å"constituted through a variety of socio-cultural practices from which such natures cannot be plausibly separated† (Macnaghten and Urry, p. 1). For Williams (1972) the idea of ‘nature’ contains an enormous amount of human history, of which the current understanding derive from a complicate array of ideas, linked to may concepts of Western thought (i. e. modernity, democracy, romanticism, etc. ) The ways in which has historically been made singular, abstract and then personified provides key insights on how people thought about themselves, their place in the world, their relationships with each other and the land, their sense of general power and powerlessness in the shaping of their lifeworlds (Macnaghten and Urry, p. 8). In understanding human-nature relationships, a popular theme appears to be religious in tone – the Christian interpretation of the Genesis story. From Merchant (2003), one gets the idea that mankind’s attempt to return to Eden has been a driving force behind Western culture. In the Age of Enlightenment, this manifested in the European zeal to discover new territory, and transforming it into a new paradise through colonization (Adams and Mulligan, 2003; Merchant, 2003) From the patriarchal white European perspective, the New World is depicted as a hapless female in need of rescue. This narrative derived from the story of the Fall of Adam and Eve has been to the detriment of women and people of color (Merchant, 2003; Gibson, 2002). From an environmental frame, we are faced with the message that man ‘screwed up’ paradise, we’re still falling and if we don’t get our act together, things are bound to get worse and we instead get hell on earth (Rees, 2003) – as if we are witnessing endless reruns of Lord of the Rings’ â€Å"The Two Towers† or Star Wars’ â€Å"The Empire Strikes Back. † On the other hand, the mainstream frame on nature maintains that though we did make terrible blunders in managing resources, weve also accomplished a lot for human progress in terms of innovation, technology, and hard work (Porritt, 2005; Boyden, 2004) – a grace-saving â€Å"Return of the King† or â€Å"Return of the Jedi,† of sorts. Images of and references to nature as female, particularly as a â€Å"Mother,† are also found in popular culture. Roach (2003) uses three approaches – gender studies, psychoanalysis, and theology – to unearth the meanings behind the â€Å"Mother Nature† theme, which according to her are generally three: good mother (nurturing and life-giving), bad mother (i. e. gendered references to natural disasters), and hurt mother (repair-based pattern of reconnecting to nature). She illustrates the â€Å"bad mother† motif using an advertisement for the Nissan Pathfinder (a sport utility vehicle), urging the consumer to control your mother, as the SUV helps you control just about anything Mother Nature throws your way. The advertisement’s underlying message is the human conquest of nature and in a gendered manner, the male conquest of females, common throughout Western history and tradition: from Pandora and Eve’s fall from grace, to the Salem witch trials and Sigmund Freuds view of women as ‘morally inferior,’ among others. Movies have also shaped our perception of nature – the untamed, vengeful mother – as evidenced by the popularity of film genres with man-hunting beasts such as â€Å"Jaws† (a great white shark terrorizing a New England town) and â€Å"Anaconda† (a monstrous snake strikes a travelling party deep in the heart of the Amazon). On the other hand, films such as â€Å"Free Willy† tend to highlight Mother Nature’s nurturing side, as the young troubled boy Jesse befriends and develops a bond with fellow orphan Willy, an orca whale in the park aquarium. At the same time these films bring attention to the plight of endangered animals in the wild, and the need for humans to help and protect these creatures. Cartoons and animation targeting the young audience also have a consistent roster of animal characters – think of old Yogi Bear in Yellowstone National Park, Simba the Lion King in the plains of Africa, and more recently Nemo and his underwater exploits. In the end, Roach (2003) argues for the need to draw on other possible images for nature, including the home, as coupling nature too closely to gender affects both feminist and environmental causes negatively, to a certain degree. Cable channels such as Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and National Geographic also provide regular in-depth nature-oriented programs. In a way, these help inform and familiarize today’s largely urban-based generation with nature and ‘the wild,’ and are also powerful means of getting the environmental message across: we need to help save our planet, stop the destruction of ecosystems and protect endangered species. Music is also one influential component in garnering support for the environmental movement. Global concerts in support of environmental causes and projects feature top performers and tend to draw young crowds, such as the 2007 â€Å"Live Earth† concert series initiated by former US Vice-president Al Gore to bring attention to climate change. Overall, the utilization of mass media and technological advances help bring nature closer to people. A recent development is what has been referred to as ‘wildlife tourism,’ based on encounters with non-domesticated animals (Higginbottom, 2004). Tourism is recognized as a very large global business enterprise because people seem to really like travelling. And exotic places, where encounters with wildlife provide people new experiences, stimulate their emotions, and create different impressions, are fast gaining popularity. Wildlife tourism is a fairly recent, specialized aspect of this tourism phenomenon. From a historical perspective, only a generation or two ago, peoples encounter with animals was virtually everyday, with wildlife ubiquitous in the countryside. Today, visions of nature in its gloriously natural state are made available through television. Electronics is now the standard medium for people to experience the wild. Though people may not necessarily be physically in touch with nature, they might be connected mentally to certain aspects of wildlife. Thus in this way, wildlife tourism offers an opportunity to people to get closer to the virtual reality of experiencing nature as our ancestors did. Wildlife tourism provides urbanites the chance to renew their relationship with nature the promise of a different thrill when one faces lions in a safari, or scuba-diving and swimming with whale-sharks in the Pacific. In view of large-scale habitat destruction in the name of progress and development, wildlife tourism provides an essential appeal for governments to help conserve biodiversity. Wildlife tourism now appears to be an important phenomenon, one that has both negative and positive impacts on animals affected by such activities. Negative effects can be in short-term physiological/behavioral changes in individual animals or long-term, i. e. increasing mortality of entire populations which in turn affect the ecosystem. Thus, there is a need for wildlife tourism to be properly managed in a sustainable manner, so as to minimize the impact of animals and their ecosystems. Though people often assume that wildlife tourists tend to empathize with conservation efforts, even they can cause damage, as well as socially and environmentally irresponsible wildlife tour operators. Wildlife tourism is a modern form of leisure, one that augurs well for sustainable development if it could be properly managed and regulated. On a parting note, leisure in its various forms is shaped by our relationship with nature; particularly the way we interact with it, as influenced by our own understanding of nature and how it relates to human existence. Bibliography Adams, W. M. and Mulligan, M. eds. (2003) Decolonizing Nature: Strategies for COnservation in a Postcolonial Era. Sterling, Earthscan Publications. Boyden, S. (2004) The Biology of Civilization: Understanding Human Culture as a Force in Nature. Sydney, University of Sydney Press. Gibson, D. (2002) Environmentalism: Ideology and Power. New York, Nova Science. Higginbottom, K. ed. (2004) Wildlife Tourism: Impacts, Management and Planning. Victoria, Common Ground. Macnaghten, P. and Urry, J. (1998) â€Å"Rethinking nature and society† in Contested Natures. London, Sage. Merchant, C. (2003) Reinventing Eden: The Fate of Nature in Western Culture. London, Routledge. Porritt, J. (2005) Capitalism as if the World Matters. London, Earthscan. Rees, M. (2003) Our Final Century: Will Civilization Survive the Twenty-first Century? London, Arrow. Roach, C. M. (2003) Mother/Nature: Popular Culture and Environmental Ethics. Bloomington, Indian University Press. Williams, J. (1972) as cited by Macnaghten, P. and Urry, J. (1998) â€Å"Rethinking nature and society† in Contested Natures. London, Sage.

Pursuit of the American Dream in Catch Me If You Can and Blow Essay

Pursuit of the American Dream in â€Å"Catch Me If You Can† and â€Å"Blow† â€Å"Catch Me If You Can† is a true story based on a man who cheated large corporations out of their money, after growing up in a small town in poverty. â€Å"Blow† is very similar in that it is based on the true events of a man who worked the drug cartel for millions of dollars, after growing up with his parents in the slums. The main characters in these films both use two different schemes to accomplish the same goal, which is the â€Å"American Dream,† after being far from it during childhood. Based on the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr, â€Å"Catch Me If You Can† tells of a successful con artist who managed to pass himself off as several identities for personal gain. During high school, Frank Abagnale Jr. idolized his father, who was constantly in trouble with the IRS. When his parents separate, he runs away to Manhattan with $25 in his pocket. Frank is determined to regain his dad's losses and get his parents back together. Just a few years later, the FBI tracks him down in France. He's extradited, tried, and jailed for passing more than $2,000,000 in bad checks. Along the way, he had successfully posed as a Pan Am pilot, a pediatrician, and an attorney. Also, from nearly the beginning of this life of crime, he's been continuously pursued by an FBI agent, Carl Hanratty. George Jung is the son of a struggling small business owner. Seeing his family struggle to make ends meet and failing, George promises himself never to share a similar fate. Moving to California, he starts his own pot pushing operation in which he finds himself at both success and downfall. In prison, he meets a cellmate who introduces him into a partnership to the new market of co... ...men cheated the system and gained large amounts of profit while at it. Along with their sudden rise to power, both characters have their own downfalls. Frank Abagnale Jr. doesn’t have it so bad, as instead of serving his sentence behind bars, he works with the man who caught him. To this day he helps find over 80% of the fraudulent checks being passed through the system. George Jung is in jail and is coming out in the near future. All in all, both characters have made large impacts on the American Society, as they are famous for their devious actions. These men both grew up in poor areas where their family constantly had struggles, and instead of getting passed it, both tell themselves never to be like that again. Both men had the right idea to make it in life, but went about it in different ways, which were very similar, and produced the same outcome; punishment.

Explain Why Human Emotion May Be Regarded as a Powerful Component of Successful Advertising

Explain why human emotion may be regarded as a powerful component of successful advertising Consumer buying and use of goods in many cases is to pursue a kind of emotional satisfaction, or self image display. When some kind of commodity to meet the consumer's psychological needs or show the self image, which in the minds of consumers value may go far beyond the product itself. It is precisely because of this, the emotional appeal advertisement in modern society be born, in today is to flourish. Therefore, the emotional advertising appeal to consumers is the emotional or affective responses, convey goods to their added value or emotionally satisfying, the formation of consumer positive brand attitude. According to the different human emotion classification of affective advertising, emotional advertising into family love, love, friendship and affection, not only gives the product vitality and the characteristics of human nature, but also can arouse consumers nostalgic or longing for the emotional resonance, which can induce consumer goods purchasing motivation. For example: Friendship is a part of life. † Maxwell House Coffee: good stuff should be shared with friends. â€Å", this is Maxwell coffee launch of the advertisement language as into the Taiwan market, because the Nescafe has been occupy the market in Taiwan, Maxwell had to hand the emotion, coffee and friendship with together, won the recognition of consumers, so Maxwell coffee has successful entered Taiwan market. When people see a Maxwell House coffee, think of friends and share feeling, this feeling is really good.. References Olney. T. J. M. B. R. Consumer Responses to Advertising: The Effects of Ad Content, Emotions, and Attitude toward the Ad on Viewing Time . Vol. 17,No. 4(Mar,1991),pp. 440-453 Holbrook. M. B. J. The role of emotion in advertising

A College Degree Is Worth the Effort and Expense Essay

In today’s economy many people wonder if a college degree is worth the time, effort, and expense it takes to complete it. I, a twenty-seven year old who did not think it was worth it when I graduated from high school, have changed my position on the issue. I have had experience in today’s workforce and it is not easy to find a satisfying job with only a high school diploma and it is extremely difficult to find a job with decent pay and any benefits in which you have a chance of advancing in that career. These things are essential for a productive and fulfilling life. I believe that getting a college degree is well worth the time, effort, and expenses. A report by the Pew Research Center found that college graduates make about $550,000 more than high school graduates over the course of their careers (Cass). This shows the significantly larger income opportunities of having a college degree versus only a high school diploma. Imagine the difference of making $465,000 compared to $1,015,000 over a thirty year career? Breaking that down for $465,000 would be $15,500 a year, $1,291. 67 a month, $300. 39 a week, and $7. 51 a hour compared to $1,015,000 or $33,833. 33 a year, $2,819. 44 a month, $655. 68 a week, and $16. 39 a hour. It is a big difference! In today’s workforce we have an increase in unemployment. The unemployment rate in 2010 was 5. 4 percent for people with bachelor’s degrees and less for those with higher degrees, according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, 7 percent of those with associate’s degrees and 10. 3 percent of those with only a high school diploma were out of work (Cass). This shows that obtaining a college degree enhances chances of becoming gainfully employed. Charles Wallace also writes about the demands of our workforce and our need for college education. Wallace quotes a report that â€Å"estimates the economy will create about 47 million jobs by 2018, including 14 million new jobs and 33 million jobs replacing workers who leave or retire. About 33 percent of those jobs will require a bachelor’s degree and another 30 percent will require an associate’s degree or at least some college training. Only a third will be available to people with a high  school diploma or less. † The cost of college has increased more than many other things in today’s society, in fact â€Å"the cost of college has nearly doubled in the past 10 years, while housing costs and the overall Consumer Price Index have risen less than 25 percent† (Cass). However the rewards you can get from college still outweigh the effort and expense at least for now. The government is trying to help ease the burden, â€Å"starting in July 2014, loan recipients will have to devote only 10 percent of their income to loan repayments, rather than 15 percent. And those loans will be forgiven after 20 years, rather than the current 25 years† (Brooks). If the costs continue to rise so dramatically then the costs will eventually begin to outweigh the rewards. However when you look at the rewards you have to look at more than just the financial gains; there are many other rewards to consider such as health insurance, retirement plans, experience with more diverse cultures, and the positive self-improvements that come with college education. As Charles Nelson, writer of the essay, â€Å"Investing in Futures: the Cost of College† states, â€Å"degrees pay off in other ways too. College exposes students to new issues and subject areas; it helps students to consider the value of things that might otherwise seem pointless; college graduates may lead more rewarding lives, being more mentally engaged by their surroundings (333). I believe a college education is a very important investment. It outweighs the costs many times over. College education opens many doors and lasts a lifetime. It increases the ability to understand other societies, helps to explore options that may have never been considered before, and contributes to a greater sense of self fulfillment and self-worth.

Changes In The American Family Example

Changes In The American Family Example Changes In The American Family – Article Example CHANGES IN THE AMERICAN FAMILY The family structure that existed in the United s five decades ago was more traditional with the father considered full time laborer to provide for the family while the mother remained housewife. In the context of social theories of family structure and functions, things have taken a new shape. In the recent time there has been a significant influence of socio-economic and political factors in the working of the family (Wiseman, 2008). To begin with the marriage institutions, there are several social and political changes that explain increased divorce, separation which has seen unprecedented percentage of single parenting. This culture is a complete turn of events as compared to the previous stable and complete family of father, mother and children. Family in the past decade was centrally hinged on heterosexual relations between married couples with significant harsh punishment for deviants like gay and lesbians. This has changed in the United States s ociety where human rights groups lobby for legalization of such family structures (Wiseman, 2008). It is therefore evident that political environment may provide undesirable legal structures that has seen homosexual marriage relationships. This is one of the worst changes in the family structure as it evidently works outside the ordinary social limits and even ungodly.From the economic perspective, the changing socio-economic and political trend has made provision for the family a critical issue. There is a significant shift from keeping women home to take care of children to engaging them in labor market for additional income to supplement that of the man (Wiseman, 2008). This has seen children now being taken to daycare as both parents work. This has a positive result as it helps women to realize their potential and prove their worth to the society. The modern woman now helps in the overall welfare of the society through improved productivity to the economy and finds her way into politics to address the issue of women.ReferenceWiseman, D. (2008). The American family: Understanding its changing dynamics and place in society. Springfield, Ill: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher.

Free Essays on Magazine Culture

If Magazines can be called a barometer of popular culture, what modern cultural trends do they show? Has magazine culture been changing since the 1960’s? Can these changes be explained by changes in popular culture, and in what way? In answer to the question relating to magazines changing from the 1960’s, it’s hard for me to answer because I was not around then, and was not able to read any magazines that came out. However listening in class I do believe that they did change drastically from then until today. The magazines moved from unspecialized to specialized, in order to compete with other forms of media and to please their advertisers. Magazines also used the ideas of demographics and psychographics to get more readers involved in their particular magazine. Moreover things like the development of photojournalism and in depth personality profiles helped put magazines on the map of the mass communication market. This gave advantages to the magazines because they were able to sell more units to a specific audience, and receive more advertising dollars in the process, in contrary to a broad audience with a less specialized magazine like Time or Readers Digest. Magazines can be called a barometer of popular culture because it lets the public know what is going on in a particular interest such as, hair styles, snowboarding etc. We wouldn’t know what the latest fashion trends would be without media, and magazines contribute to that. Magazines like Seventeen or Maxim are prime examples of this. There are Magazines for almost any interest now days, and to keep up with the latest trends and materials you are almost forced into buying unit specialized magazines for your interests. These changes definitely can be contributed to a change in the popular culture. There is just more stuff to do then there was in the sixties. There is almost a need for specialization because of the broadness of events and interests that inv... Free Essays on Magazine Culture Free Essays on Magazine Culture If Magazines can be called a barometer of popular culture, what modern cultural trends do they show? Has magazine culture been changing since the 1960’s? Can these changes be explained by changes in popular culture, and in what way? In answer to the question relating to magazines changing from the 1960’s, it’s hard for me to answer because I was not around then, and was not able to read any magazines that came out. However listening in class I do believe that they did change drastically from then until today. The magazines moved from unspecialized to specialized, in order to compete with other forms of media and to please their advertisers. Magazines also used the ideas of demographics and psychographics to get more readers involved in their particular magazine. Moreover things like the development of photojournalism and in depth personality profiles helped put magazines on the map of the mass communication market. This gave advantages to the magazines because they were able to sell more units to a specific audience, and receive more advertising dollars in the process, in contrary to a broad audience with a less specialized magazine like Time or Readers Digest. Magazines can be called a barometer of popular culture because it lets the public know what is going on in a particular interest such as, hair styles, snowboarding etc. We wouldn’t know what the latest fashion trends would be without media, and magazines contribute to that. Magazines like Seventeen or Maxim are prime examples of this. There are Magazines for almost any interest now days, and to keep up with the latest trends and materials you are almost forced into buying unit specialized magazines for your interests. These changes definitely can be contributed to a change in the popular culture. There is just more stuff to do then there was in the sixties. There is almost a need for specialization because of the broadness of events and interests that inv...

Find the best careers for your ISTJ personality type

Find the best careers for your ISTJ personality type When you’re thinking about your career path, you probably consider things like location, education level, skills you already have (or are willing to build), and other highly practical concerns. But have you ever thought about what job would match your personality? Finding a career that dovetails with your personality type can absolutely help you build long-term career satisfaction. What is an ISTJ, anyway?The steady, organized ISTJ is the third-most-popular Myers-Briggs personality type within the population. ISTJs are broken down into the following components.IntrovertedISTJs tend to stand alone and are comfortable working independently. When you hear the phrase â€Å"self-starter,† this fits an ISTJ perfectly. Introverts tend to be motivated and energized by their own inner drive, rather than feedback or praise from others. This isn’t to say that all ISTJs are lone wolves- rather, they know what they bring to a team and are likely to keep going with the work at hand regardless of what’s going on with other team members.SensingISTJs tend to make decisions based on a rationalization of the available facts and details, rather than abstract concepts. ISTJs like to have the info laid out in front of them. In a brainstorming session, the ISTJ is the one most likely to show up with an outline of evidence to support the ideas he stayed late to write down, the night before. The ITSJ is the one who always has homework done on time, and printed neatly in time for class.ThinkingLogic and reason are the guiding principles for an ISTJ’s thought process. Feelings and instincts tend to take a backseat to a thoughtful analysis of what’s most logical. The ISTJ will have considered all possible angles and all possible outcomes based on data gathered about what’s happened in the past and what’s happening now.JudgingISTJs were voted â€Å"least likely to be a loose cannon† in high school. They’re not impulsive or likely to make a decision based on a gut feeling; rather, they prefer to have a detailed game plan before embarking on a project or task.Careers for ISTJsWith these qualities, ISTJs are likely to respond well to careers that are detail-oriented and require methodical work. ISTJs thrive on organization, problem solving, and productivity. If you want someone to overhaul your processes to improve workflow, or impose order on workplace chaos, an ISTJ is the go-to.If you’re an ISTJ and thinking about what career path could work with your personality, here are a number of different jobs to consider in different fields.If you’re interested in business or finance†¦AccountantAuditorBudget analystCost estimatorFinancial advisorLoan officerManagement consultantOperations analystPurchasing agent or managerReal estate appraiserIf you’re interested in administration†¦Account collectorArchivistBilling clerk or managerBookkeeperExecutive assistant or secretaryFinan cial clerkInformation clerkLogistics managerOffice managerRecords clerkIf you’re interested in information technology†¦Computer engineerComputer network architectComputer programmerDatabase administratorInformation security analystIT project managerIT support specialistSoftware developerSystems analystWeb developerIf you’re interested in the legal world†¦Corrections officerCourt reporterCustoms inspectorDetective or investigatorJudgeLawyerLegal secretaryParalegalProbation officerSecurity guardIf you’re interested in healthcare†¦Biomedical technologistDentistExercise physiologistMedical records technicianMedical transcriptionistOccupational therapistPharmacist or pharmacy technicianPhysician assistantPhysician or surgeonSurgical technologistISTJs can be found in just about every field, so if you have diverse interests to go with your abiding love for paperwork and order, there’s likely to be a job out there for you that perfectly marries you r personality with your skill set. Good luck, ISTJ job hunter!

Revisions Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Revisions - Thesis Example arch has studied if existing immigration and border control systems are enough to prevent illegal immigration, as well as existence of psychological and logical aspects related to the illegal immigrants and immigration to use them as a tool to infiltrate terrorists to the USA Since the discovery of the continent, everyone other than Native Americans, who are living in the US, are descendant from immigrants and slaves. By the late seventeenth century, nonnative individuals formed seventy-five percent of the American population (History of Immigration Law in the USA). At first, the U.S. government promoted wide-open immigration in the pursuit of settling as much territory as possible. However, after the Civil War different states began to adopt their own immigration statues. In 1875, US Supreme court brought the immigration laws under federal jurisdiction. In 1891, US Congress established Immigration Service (History of Immigration Law in the USA) and started implementing immigration laws. Early immigration laws were designed to control US population structure. For example, 1790 Naturalization Act limited European and Caucasian descendent immigration, 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act made immigration from China illegal. Likewise, ethnicity, the government was al so worried about moral composition of the US population. Congress, between 1872-1890 passed laws constraining the immigration of several groups that included prostitutes, criminals, mentally ill, and financially unstable individuals. In the late 19th century, the government became concerned about native laborers. In 1885 and 1887, Congress passed first laws restricting immigration based on economic reasons. Congress during 1900 to 1921 instituted a â€Å"quota system† guaranteeing permission to a set number of individuals from each ethnic group. In 1924, Congress established the first branch of border control to monitor immigration from Canada and Mexico (History of Immigration Law in the USA). In

CIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CIS - Essay Example Nevertheless, along with it has come the intriguing question of "how safe is it to share" (Martinelli, 2006) The advent of the Internet has provided some major breakthroughs. Social networking and virtual worlds are gaining in popularity and are opening new avenues for businesses. VoIP and visio-conferences eliminate the limitations businesses encounter due to geographical boundaries largely. These provide opportunities for various business houses to advertise, share information with their collaborators, receive feedbacks on their products, equipping them with the cutting edge technologies needed to grow. Thus, to be successful in this highly competitive global business environment, enterprises increasingly adopt flexible, distributed working practices. The outcomes from virtual collaborations form the fundamental contributions to corporate information and knowledge assets. These assets are used for later analysis of data to provide assistance in decision-making, designing action plans for the management. They also provide critical information regarding corporate strategies, operating principles, client information, and personnel records and so on. It is thus of much importance that these information assets be protected. As better ways to collaborate keep coming up, the risks involved in it also increase manifold. Increased reports of cyber crimes are quite disturbing to the new age collaborator fraternity. According to the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) annual report, five major threats have emerged as major concerns. Malware, Botnets, cyber warfare, threats toVoIPand mobiledevices, and the "evolving cyber crime economy". Malwaredevelopment proficiency is rapidly growing, perfectly suited to exploit the weaknesses of poorly configured sites, in particular social networking web sites. Reports indicate an increase up to 10 times of malware object detection in 2008. A Botnet infection may occur even through genuine Web sites. With subtle delivery techniques, users do not have to do much, except loading a Web page, triggering a Botnet infection. Around 10 million bot computers are used to spread spam and malware over the net every day. A major issue of concern is Cyber war. Nations equipped with computer technology uses its power to decline, curb or confuse their enemies' military, economic and infrastructure assets. VoIP traffic, like e-mails, is being targeted for various scams, frauds and thefts. Mobile devicesdraw cyber criminals as they are easy targets and are used frequently for transacting business and provide access to sensitive data. Cyber criminals have become increasingly specialized, controlled and profit-driven costing businesses a fortune. These concerning issues have forced agencies spending a good amount to ensure information security. Researchers believe in a three-pronged approach to meet these threats. Technology, Regulation and Education might be the answer to them. (Martinelli, 2006) Technical security measures fall into three primary categories: Network Security, Host-Application Security and Subscriber Access Security. Message encryption, Firewalls, Prevention of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, Spam prevention, Access Control, Server Security are examples of various technical policies in place to counter threats. DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to sign e-mails, along

Business in Context. UK Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business in Context. UK Economy - Essay Example This essay stresses that political factor have a huge influence upon the economy as the policies and legislatures are drafted and implemented by the political parties are mostly related to the business trade practices. It not only has a political influence upon businesses but also the businesses create an attempt to influence environmental policy by endeavouring to position the political programme and to influence regulations and legislations. This paper makes a conclusion that the population tends to rise and the consumption habits too. The culture and the society generate demand for certain merchandises and services which are offered by the business houses as per the consumers demand. UK has shown a rise in the GDP. This is due to the socio-cultural affect. Consumers are the central point of the business. The technological advancement has made the consumers expectation more. This creates the gap between the expectation of the consumers and the predicted expectation of the business towards the consumers. The new changes in immigration law and intellectual property law stated by the UK government have gained international attention and many international corporations are looking forward to this policy. The policies have been able to attract many foreign players like Google, Intel and many other corporate. Technical advancement for any country aids in development of the business houses.

Determinants of Plasma Retinol and Beta-Carotene Levels Statistics Project

Determinants of Plasma Retinol and Beta-Carotene Levels - Statistics Project Example The statistical analysis demonstrated that for this showed that sex was significant at the .000 level. Additionally, the research should that the strength of the connection was .045. Regarding the first hypotheses, the research showed conclusively that the null hypothesis could be rejected. As such, the research hypothesis -- Sex would not have the same impact on the occurrence of Plasma Retinol (ng/ml) levels as it does on Plasma beta-carotene (ng/ml) levels – was accepted. Regarding the second hypothesis, the research showed that the null hypothesis could not be rejected and that research hypothesis that a correlation exists between the occurrence of Plasma Retinol (ng/ml) and Plasma beta-carotene (ng/ml) in the body could be rejected. The first test that was carried out was a regression analysis. This regression analysis examined the correlation between sex and plasma Retinol (ng/ml) levels. As noted, this test demonstrated that there was a significant correlation between the two variables. The second test that was carried out was also a regression analysis. This test instead examined the connection between sex and plasma beta-carotene (ng/ml) in the body. This test demonstrated that there was not a significant connection between the variables. Finally, the third test that was carried out was an independent samples t-test. This test examined whether or not a correlation existed between plasma retinol (ng/ml) levels and Plasma beta-carotene (ng/ml). This research showed that a connection did not exist between these two

Contemporary isssues in Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contemporary isssues in Marketing - Essay Example and paper will discuss and focus on the notion of marketing in the contemporary, what the irreducible minimums are and how ethics borders on the subject of interest-marketing. Marketing as a concept has undergone a series of changes, dynamism and evolution over the years, shifting from the natural conventional meaning of selling goods and services. There have been changes relative to managerial focus, institutional focus, social aspect, commodity aspect and institutional focus or aspect. To begin with, the social aspect of marketing is concerned with the quality and the innate parts of the product or services (Murphy, 2010). This is to mention that a product, good or services is presented to the market due to its worth and value. Secondly, commodity aspect touches on the good or service itself and its usefulness in the human society and life (Maina, 2013). A practical case and instance is a manufactured good, finished product say a farm product such as diary which has undergone value addition. Institutional aspect in marketing seems to deal with the dealership concept from the wholesalers to the retailers and agent. Irreducibly, it would focus on how to e ntice and appeal to their natural and business instincts. Over the years, the changes, advancements, modifications and improvements in the field of technology has seen a corresponding change in the notion of marketing. In the past, business relied or word of mouth marketing, mailed brochures, radio and television advertisements and later is the internet marketing (Pride & Ferrell, 2011). Verbal marketing required field agents to be deployed to spread the good word and message of marketing. Secondly, the customers also shared the message with others and the brand name spread. Internet marketing has also been boosted by the expansion of the social media space where users can view products online and firms spend less for the marketing process. This argument and logic presents the chronological moves and evolution

SLP 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SLP 4 - Essay Example The concept of skills gaping is also important in the organization in that it helps the management to identify the tasks that require a variety of skills. Skill variety is known as the degree to which the job involves many different work activities or requires several skills and talents (Jackson & Schuler, 2000). The management may be in a position to fine tune the skills of the employees in order to improve their competencies. This also helps the management to identify the gap in the required skills among the employees that may need to be filled. On the other hand, this process also helps the management to recruit the right people with the right skills for certain tasks in the organization. The performance of the organization as a whole is improved if the workers have the requisite skills to perform a variety of tasks. During my course of work, I have seen this process used. I worked in the marketing department during my previous employment and I have realised that there are a number of skills required by different people in order for them to perform different work tasks. For instance, people with good verbal communication skills were assigned tasks that mainly dealt with customer issues. These people would deal directly with the customers and other stakeholders. On the other hand, people who had good technical skills such as computer knowledge were given tasks such as customer database maintenance and management. These people were also responsible for computing data obtained from online marketing research carried in the company. In order to apply this process in the work environment, it is important to identify the skills possessed by the employees and the skills needed to perform different tasks in the organization. This helps the responsible authorities to assign people with the right skills to perform certain tasks in the organisation. This also helps to minimise

Contemporary isssues in Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contemporary isssues in Marketing - Essay Example and paper will discuss and focus on the notion of marketing in the contemporary, what the irreducible minimums are and how ethics borders on the subject of interest-marketing. Marketing as a concept has undergone a series of changes, dynamism and evolution over the years, shifting from the natural conventional meaning of selling goods and services. There have been changes relative to managerial focus, institutional focus, social aspect, commodity aspect and institutional focus or aspect. To begin with, the social aspect of marketing is concerned with the quality and the innate parts of the product or services (Murphy, 2010). This is to mention that a product, good or services is presented to the market due to its worth and value. Secondly, commodity aspect touches on the good or service itself and its usefulness in the human society and life (Maina, 2013). A practical case and instance is a manufactured good, finished product say a farm product such as diary which has undergone value addition. Institutional aspect in marketing seems to deal with the dealership concept from the wholesalers to the retailers and agent. Irreducibly, it would focus on how to e ntice and appeal to their natural and business instincts. Over the years, the changes, advancements, modifications and improvements in the field of technology has seen a corresponding change in the notion of marketing. In the past, business relied or word of mouth marketing, mailed brochures, radio and television advertisements and later is the internet marketing (Pride & Ferrell, 2011). Verbal marketing required field agents to be deployed to spread the good word and message of marketing. Secondly, the customers also shared the message with others and the brand name spread. Internet marketing has also been boosted by the expansion of the social media space where users can view products online and firms spend less for the marketing process. This argument and logic presents the chronological moves and evolution

Provocation and Intoxication Defences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 11

Provocation and Intoxication Defences - Essay Example In both cases the defence of intoxication and provocation will are only partial defences with the result that if they are successfully raised as defences to murder, that charge will be reduced to manslaughter. Each of these defences and Smith’s ability to use them are discussed below. Provocation has developed as a partial defence to murder and if successfully argued will reduce murder to manslaughter. Under the law as it stands, Smith will have to show that his victim John conducted himself is such a way as to cause Smith to lose his self-control or to act in â€Å"the heat of passion† so that the killing was not pre-meditated nor was it carried out â€Å"in cold blood†.4 Sections 54 and 55 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 replaces Section 3 of the Homicide Act 1957 as well as the common law relative to the defense of provocation.5 Section 54 defines â€Å"loss of control† which is now the new test for substantiating a partial defence of provocation.6 By virtue of Section 54 an individual will not be guilty of murder if his/her act or omission was a result of the defendant losing self-control.7 However, the â€Å"loss of self-control† must have a â€Å"qualifying trigger†.8 Section 54(1)(c) directs that the test to be applied in determining the loss of self-control is an objective one in that: Section 54(1)(c) follows the ruling in R v James and Karimi [2006] where the court ruled that in assessing whether the defendant alleges to have suffered a loss of self-control, the jury is entitled to take into account factors other than the defendant’s age and gender.10 In applying the test delineated above to the facts of the case for discussion, Smith is a male with sufficient maturity to work as a traveling salesman. However, he has been away from home for at least three weeks and must have been eager to reunite with his young wife Mary.

Coffee and Starbucks Essay Example for Free

Coffee and Starbucks Essay had enjoyed phenomenal growth and become one of the great retailing stories of recent history by making exceptional coffee drinks and selling dark-roasted coffee beans and coffee-making equipment that would allow customers to brew an exceptional cup of coffee at home. The Starbucks brand was regarded as one of the best known and most potent brand names in America and the company had firmly established itself as the dominant retailer, roaster, and brand of specialty coffee in North America. It already had over 1,500 stores in North America and the Pacific Rim and was opening new ones at a rate of more than one per day. Sales in fiscal year 1997 were a record $967 million and profits reached an all-time high of $57. 4 million. The companys closest competitor had fewer than 300 retail locations. And since going public in 1992, Starbucks has seen its stock price increase nearly ninefold. Exhibit 1 contains a summary of Starbucks key performance statistics for the 1992–97 period. Company Background Starbucks began in 1971 when three academics—English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegel, and writer Gordon Bowker—opened a store called Starbucks Coffee, Tea, and Spice in the touristy Pikes Place Market in Seattle. The three partners shared a love of fine coffees and exotic teas and believed they could build a clientele in Seattle much like that which had already emerged in the San Francisco Bay area. Each invested $1,350 and borrowed another $5,000 from a bank to open the Pikes Place store. Baldwin, Siegel, and Bowker chose the name Starbucks in honor of Starbuck, the coffee-loving first mate in Herman Melvilles Moby Dick(so company legend has it), and because they thought the name evoked the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders. The new companys logo, designed by an artist friend, was a two-tailed mermaid encircled by the stores name. The inspiration for the Starbucks enterprise was a Dutch immigrant, Alfred Peet, who had begun importing fine arabica coffees into the United States during the 1950s. Peet viewed coffee as a fine winemaker views grapes, appraising it in terms of country of origin, estates, and harvests. Peet had opened a small store, Peets Coffee and Tea, in Berkeley, California, in 1966 and had cultivated a loyal clientele. Peets store specialized in importing fine coffees and teas, dark-roasting its own beans the European way to bring out their full flavor, and teaching customers how to grind the beans and make freshly brewed coffee at home. Baldwin, Siegel, and Bowker were well acquainted with Peets expertise, having visited his store on numerous occasions and spent many hours listening to Peet expound on quality coffees and the importance of proper bean-roasting techniques. All three were devoted fans of Peet and his dark-roasted coffees, going so far as to order their personal coffee supplies by mail from Peets. The Pikes Place store featured modest, hand-built nautical fixtures. One wall was devoted to whole-bean coffees; another had shelves of coffee products. The store did not offer fresh-brewed coffee by the cup, but samples were sometimes available for tasting. Initially, Siegel was the only paid employee. He wore a grocers apron, scooped out beans for customers, extolled the virtues of fine, dark-roasted coffees, and functioned as the partnerships retail expert. The other two partners kept their day jobs but came by at lunch or after work to help out. During the start-up period, Baldwin kept the books and developed a growing knowledge of coffee; Bowker served as the magic, mystery, and romance man. 1 The store was an immediate success, with sales exceeding expectations, partly because of a favorable article in the Seattle Times. In the early months, each of the founders traveled to Berkeley to learn more about coffee roasting from their mentor, Alfred Peet, who urged them to keep deepening their knowledge of coffees and teas. For most of the first year, Starbucks ordered its coffee beans from Peets, but then the partners purchased a used roaster from Holland and set up roasting operations in a nearby ramshackle building. Baldwin and Bowker experimented with Alfred Peets roasting procedures and came up with their own blends and flavors. A second Starbucks store was opened in 1972. By the early 1980s, the company had four Starbucks stores in the Seattle area and could boast of having been profitable every year since opening its doors. But the roles and responsibilities of the cofounders underwent change. Zev Siegel experienced burnout and left the company to pursue other interests. Jerry Baldwin took over day-to-day management of the company and functioned as chief executive officer; Gordon Bowker remained involved as an owner but devoted most of his time to his advertising and design firm, a weekly newspaper he had founded, and a microbrewery he was launching (the Redhook Ale Brewery). Howard Schultz Enters the Picture In 1981, Howard Schultz, vice president and general manager of U. S. operations for Hammarplast—a Swedish maker of stylish kitchen equipment and housewares—noticed that Starbucks was placing larger orders than Macys was for a certain type of drip coffeemaker. Curious to learn what was going on, he decided to pay the company a visit. The morning after his arrival in Seattle, Schultz was escorted to the Pikes Place store by Linda Grossman, the retail merchandising manager for Starbucks. A solo violinist was playing Mozart at the door, with his violin case open for donations. Schultz immediately was taken by the powerful and pleasing aroma of the coffees, the wall displaying coffee beans, and the rows of red, yellow, and black Hammarplast coffeemakers on the shelves. As he talked with the clerk behind the counter, the clerk scooped out some Sumatran coffee beans, ground them, put the grounds in a cone filter, poured hot water over the cone, and shortly handed Schultz a porcelain mug filled with the freshly brewed coffee. After three sips, Schultz was hooked. He began asking the clerk and Grossman questions about the company, about coffees from different parts of the world, and about the different ways of roasting coffee. Next, Schultz met with Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker, whose offices overlooked the companys coffee-roasting operation. The atmosphere was informal. Baldwin, dressed in a sweater and tie, showed Schultz some new beans that had just come in from Java and suggested they try a sample. Baldwin did the brewing himself, using a glass pot called a French press. Bowker, a slender, bearded man with dark hair and intense brown eyes, appeared at the door and the three men sat down to talk about Starbucks. Schultz was struck by their knowledge of coffee, their commitment to providing high-quality products, and their passion for educating customers about the merits of dark-roasted coffees. Baldwin told Schultz, We dont manage the business to maximize anything other than the quality of the coffee. 2 Starbucks purchased only the finest arabica coffees and put them through a meticulous dark-roasting process to bring out their full flavors. Baldwin explained that the cheap robusta coffees used in supermarket blends burn when subjected to dark roasting. He also noted that the makers of supermarket blends prefer lighter roasts because they allow higher yields (the longer a coffee is roasted, the more weight it loses). Schultz was struck by the business philosophy of the two partners. It was clear from their discussions that Starbucks stood not just for good coffee, but rather for the dark-roasted flavor profiles that the founders were passionate about. Top-quality, fresh-roasted, whole-bean coffee was the companys differentiating feature and a bedrock value. It was also clear to Schultz that Starbucks was strongly committed to educating its customers to appreciate the qualities of fine coffees, rather than just kowtowing to mass-market appeal. The company depended mainly on word-of-mouth to get more people into its stores, then relied on the caliber of its product to give patrons a sense of discovery and excitement. It built customer loyalty cup by cup as buyers of its products developed their palates. On his trip back to New York the next day, Howard Schultz could not stop thinking about Starbucks and what it would be like to be a part of the Starbucks enterprise. Schultz recalled, There was something magic about it, a passion and authenticity I had never experienced in business. 3 Living in the Seattle area also had a strong appeal. By the time Schultz landed at Kennedy Airport, he knew he wanted to go to work for Starbucks. Though there was nothing in his background (see Exhibit 2) that prepared him for the experience, Schultz asked Baldwin at the first opportunity whether there was any way he could fit into Starbucks. The two quickly established an easy, comfortable rapport, but it still took a year of numerous meetings and a lot of convincing to get Baldwin, Bowker, and their silent partner from San Francisco to agree to hire Howard Schultz. Schultz pursued a job at Starbucks far more vigorously than Starbucks pursued him. There was some nervousness at Starbucks about bringing in an outsider, especially a high-powered New Yorker, who had not grown up with the values of the company. Nonetheless, Schultz continued to press his ideas about the tremendous potential of expanding the Starbucks enterprise outside Seattle and exposing people all over America to Starbucks coffee—arguing there had to be more than just a few thousand coffee lovers in Seattle who would like the companys products. Schultz believed that Starbucks had such great promise that he offered to take a salary cut in exchange for a small equity stake in the business. But the owners worried that by offering Schultz a job as head of marketing they would be committing themselves to a new direction for Starbucks. At a spring 1982 meeting with the three owners in San Francisco, Schultz once again presented his vision for opening Starbucks stores across the United States and Canada. He flew back to New York thinking a job offer was in the bag. But the next day Baldwin called Schultz and indicated that the owners had decided against hiring him because geographic expansion was too risky and because they did not share Schultzs vision for Starbucks. Schultz was despondent; still, he believed so deeply in Starbucks potential that he decided to make a last-ditch appeal. He called Baldwin back the next day and made an impassioned, though reasoned, case for why the decision was a mistake. Baldwin agreed to reconsider. The next morning Baldwin called Schultz and told him the job of heading marketing and overseeing the retail stores was his. In September 1982, Howard Schultz took on his new responsibilities at Starbucks. Starbucks and Howard Schultz: The 1982–85 Period In his first few months at Starbucks, Schultz spent most of his waking hours in the four Seattle stores—working behind the counters, tasting different kinds of coffee, talking with customers, getting to know store personnel, and educating himself about the retail aspects of the coffee business. By December, Jerry Baldwin decided that Schultz was ready for the final part of his training—roasting coffee. Schultz spent a week at the roaster examining the color of the beans, listening for the telltale second pop of the beans during the roasting process, learning to taste the subtle differences among Baldwin and Bowkers various roasts, and familiarizing himself with the roasting techniques for different beans. Meanwhile, he made a point of acclimating himself to the informal dress code, blending in with the culture, and gaining credibility and building trust with colleagues. Making the transition from the high-energy, coat-and-tie style of New York to the more casual ambience of the Pacific Northwest required a conscious effort on Schultzs part. One day during the busy Christmas season that first year, Schultz made real headway in gaining the acceptance and respect of company personnel at the Pikes Place store. The store was packed and Schultz was behind the counter ringing up sales when someone shouted that a customer had just headed out the door with some stuff—two expensive coffeemakers it turned out, one in each hand. Without thinking, Schultz leaped over the counter and chased the thief up the cobblestone street outside the store, yelling Drop that stuff! Drop it! The thief was startled enough to drop both pieces and run away. Schultz picked up the merchandise and returned to the store, holding up the coffeemakers like trophies. Everyone applauded. When Schultz returned to his office later that afternoon, his staff had strung up a banner that read Make my day. 4 Schultz was overflowing with ideas for the company. Early on, he noticed that first-time customers sometimes felt uneasy in the stores because of their lack of knowledge about fine coffees and because store employees sometimes came across as a little arrogant. Schultz worked with store employees on developing customer-friendly sales skills and produced brochures that made it easy for customers to learn about fine coffees. Schultzs biggest idea for Starbucks future came during the spring of 1983 when the company sent him to Milan, Italy, to attend an international housewares show. While walking from his hotel to the convention center, Schultz spotted an espresso bar and went inside to look around. The cashier beside the door nodded and smiled. The barista (counter worker) greeted Howard cheerfully, then gracefully pulled a shot of espresso for one customer and handcrafted a foamy cappuccino for another, all the while conversing merrily with those standing at the counter. Schultz judged the baristas performance as great theater. Just down the way on a side street, he entered an even more crowded espresso bar, where the barista, whom he surmised to be the owner, was greeting customers by name; people were laughing and talking in an atmosphere that plainly was comfortable and familiar. In the next few blocks, he saw two more espresso bars. When the trade show concluded for the day, Schultz walked the streets of Milan exploring espresso bars. Some were stylish and upscale; others attracted a blue-collar clientele. What struck Schultz was how popular and vibrant the Italian coffee bars were. Most had few chairs, and it was common for Italian opera to be playing in the background. Energy levels were typically high, and the bars seemed to function as an integral community gathering place. Each one had its own unique character, but they all had a barista who performed with flair and exhibited a camaraderie with the customers. Schultz was particularly struck by the fact that there were 1,500 coffee bars in Milan, a city about the size of Philadelphia, and a total of 200,000 in all of Italy. His mind started churning. Schultzs first few days in Milan produced a revelation: The Starbucks stores in Seattle completely missed the point. Starbucks, he decided, needed to serve fresh-brewed coffee, espresso, and cappuccino in its stores (in addition to beans and coffee equipment). Going to Starbucks should be an experience, a special treat; the stores should be a place to meet friends and visit. Re-creating the Italian coffee-bar culture in the United States could be Starbucks differentiating factor. Schultz remained in Milan for a week, exploring coffee bars and learning as much as he could about the Italian passion for coffee drinks. In one bar, he heard a customer order a caffe latte and decided to try one himself—the barista made a shot of espresso, steamed a frothy pitcher of milk, poured the two together in a cup, and put a dollop of foam on the top. Schultz concluded that it was the perfect drink, and thought to himself, No one in America knows about this. Ive got to take it back with me. 5 Schultzs Growing Frustration On Schultzs return from Italy, he shared his revelation and ideas for modifying the format of Starbucks stores with Baldwin and Bowker. But instead of winning their approval, Schultz encountered strong resistance. Baldwin and Bowker argued that Starbucks was a retailer, not a restaurant or bar. They feared that serving drinks would put them in the beverage business and dilute the integrity of Starbucks mission as a coffee store. They pointed out that Starbucks was a profitable small, private company and there was no reason to rock the boat. But a more pressing reason for their resistance emerged shortly—Baldwin and Bowker were excited by an opportunity to purchase Peets Coffee and Tea. The acquisition took place in 1984; to fund it, Starbucks had to take on considerable debt, leaving little in the way of financial flexibility to support Schultzs ideas for entering the beverage part of the coffee business or expanding the number of Starbucks stores. For most of 1984, Starbucks managers were dividing their time between their operations in Seattle and the Peets enterprise in San Francisco. Schultz found himself in San Francisco every other week supervising the marketing and operations of the five Peets stores. Starbucks employees began to feel neglected and, in one quarter, did not receive their usual bonus due to tight financial conditions. Employee discontent escalated to the point where a union election was called, and the union won by three votes. Baldwin was shocked at the results, concluding that employees no longer trusted him. In the months that followed, he began to spend more of his energy on the Peets operation in San Francisco. It took Howard Schultz nearly a year to convince Jerry Baldwin to let him test an espresso bar. After Baldwin relented, Starbucks sixth store, which opened in April 1984, became the first one designed to sell beverages and the first one in downtown Seattle. Schultz asked for a 1,500-square-foot space to set up a full-scale Italian-style espresso bar, but Jerry agreed to allocating only 300 square feet in a corner of the new store. There was no pre-opening marketing blitz and no sign announcing Now Serving Espresso—the lack of fanfare was part of a deliberate experiment to see what would happen. By closing time on the first day, some 400 customers had been served, well above the 250-customer average of Starbucks best-performing stores. Within two months the store was serving 800 customers per day. The two baristas could not keep up with orders during the early morning hours, resulting in lines outside the door onto the sidewalk. Most of the business was at the espresso counter; sales at the regular retail counter were only adequate. Schultz was elated by the test results; his visits to the store indicated that it was becoming a gathering place and that customers were pleased with the beverages being served. Schultz expected that Baldwins doubts about entering the beverage side of the business would be dispelled and that he would gain approval to take Starbucks to a new level. Every day he went into Baldwins office to show him the sales figures and customer counts at the new downtown store. But Baldwin was not comfortable with the success of the new store; he believed that espresso drinks were a distraction from the core business of selling fine arabica coffees at retail and rebelled at the thought that people would see Starbucks as a place to get a quick cup of coffee to go. He adamantly told Schultz, Were coffee roasters. I dont want to be in the restaurant business . . . Besides, were too deeply in debt to consider pursuing this idea. 6 While he didnt deny that the experiment was succeeding, he didnt want to go forward with introducing beverages in other Starbucks stores. Schultzs efforts to persuade Baldwin to change his mind continued to meet strong resistance, although to avoid a total impasse Baldwin finally did agree to let Schultz put espresso machines in the back of two other Starbucks stores. Over the next several months, Schultz—at the age of 33—made up his mind to leave Starbucks and start his own company. His plan was to open espresso bars in high-traffic downtown locations that would emulate the friendly, energetic atmosphere he had encountered in Italian espresso bars. Schultz had become friends with a corporate lawyer, Scott Greenberg, who helped companies raise venture capital and go public. Greenberg told Schultz he believed investors would be interested in providing venture capital for the kind of company Schultz had in mind. Baldwin and Bowker, knowing how frustrated Schultz had become, supported his efforts to go out on his own and agreed to let him stay in his current job and office until definitive plans were in place. Schultz left Starbucks in late 1985. Schultzs Il Giornale Venture Ironically, as Schultz was finalizing the documents for his new company, Jerry Baldwin announced he would invest $150,000 of Starbucks money in Schultzs coffee-bar enterprise, thus becoming Schultzs first investor. Baldwin accepted Schultzs invitation to be a director of the new company, and Gordon Bowker agreed to be a part-time consultant for six months. Bowker urged Schultz to make sure that everything about the new stores—the name, the presentation, the care taken in preparing the coffee—was calculated to lead customers to expect something better than competitors offered. Bowker proposed that the new company be named Il Giornale (pronounced ill jor-nahl-ee ) Coffee Company, a suggestion that Schultz accepted. In December 1985, Bowker and Schultz made a trip to Italy during which they visited some 500 espresso bars in Milan and Verona, observing local habits, taking notes about decor and menus, snapping photographs, and videotaping baristas in action. Greenberg and Schultz then drew up plans to raise an initial $400,000 in seed capital and another $1. 25 million in equity—enough to launch at least eight espresso bars and prove the concept would work in Seattle and elsewhere. The seed capital was raised by the end of January 1986, primarily from Starbucks and two other investors who believed in Schultz and his ideas, but it took Schultz until the end of the year to raise the remaining $1. 25 million. He made presentations to 242 potential investors, 217 of whom said no. Many who heard Schultzs hour-long presentation saw coffee as a commodity business and thought that Schultzs espresso-bar concept lacked any basis for sustainable competitive advantage (no patent on dark roast, no advantage in purchasing coffee beans, no way to bar the entry of imitative competitors). Some noted that consumption of coffee had been declining since the mid-1960s, others were skeptical that people would pay $1. 50 or more for a cup of coffee, and still others were turned off by the companys hard-to-pronounce name. Being rejected by so many potential investors was disheartening (some who listened to Schultzs presentation ? didnt even bother to call him back; others refused to take his calls). Nonetheless, Schultz continued to display passion and enthusiasm in making his pitch and never doubted that his plan would work. He ended up raising $1. 65 million from about 30 investors; most of this money came from nine people, five of whom became directors of the new company. One of Howard Schultzs earliest moves during the start-up process was to hire Dave Olsen, who in 1974 had opened a coffee bar, Cafe Allegro, near the busiest entrance to the University of Washington campus. Olsen was a long-standing Starbucks customer, having discovered the quality of Starbucks coffee beans, gotten to know the owners, and worked with them to develop a custom espresso roast for use in his cafe. Olsens successful Cafe Allegro had become known for cafe au lait, a concoction equivalent to the Italian caffe latte. When Olsen heard of Schultzs plans for Il Giornale, he called Schultz and expressed an interest in being part of the new company—he was intrigued by the Italian coffee-bar concept and was looking for a more expansive career opportunity. Olsen not only had coffee expertise but also had spent 10 years in an apron behind the counter at Cafe Allegro. Schultz immediately picked up on the synergy between him and Olsen. His own strengths were in forming and communicating a vision, raising money, finding good store locations, building a brand name, and planning for growth. Olsen understood the nuts and bolts of operating a retail cafe, hiring and training baristas, and making and serving good drinks. Plus, Olsen was fun to work with. Schultz put Olsen in charge of store operations, made him the coffee conscience of the company, and gave him the authority to make sure that Il Giornale served the best coffee and espresso possible. The first Il Giornale store opened in April 1986. It had a mere 700 square feet and was located near the entrance of Seattles tallest building. The decor was Italian, the menu contained Italian words, and Italian opera music played in the background. The baristas wore white shirts and bow ties. All service was stand-up—there were no chairs. National and international papers hung from rods on the wall. By closing time on the first day, 300 customers had been served, mostly in the morning hours. Schultz and Olsen worked hard to make sure that all the details were executed perfectly. For the first few weeks, Olsen worked behind the counter during the morning rush. But while the core idea worked well, it soon became apparent that several aspects of Il Giornales format werent appropriate for Seattle. Some customers objected to the incessant opera music, others wanted a place to sit down, and many didnt understand the Italian words on the menu. These mistakes were quickly fixed, without compromising the style and elegance of the store. Within six months, Il Giornale was serving more than 1,000 customers a day and regulars had learned how to pronounce the companys name. Because most customers were in a hurry, it became apparent that speedy service was a competitive advantage. Six months after opening the first store, Il Giornale opened a second store in another downtown building. A third store was opened in Vancouver, British Columbia, in April 1987. Vancouver was chosen to test the transferability of the companys business concept outside Seattle. To reach his goal of opening 50 stores in five years, Schultz needed to dispel his investors doubts about geographic expansion. By mid-1987 sales at the three stores were equal to $1. 5 million annually. Il Giornale Acquires Starbucks In March 1987 Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker decided to sell the whole Starbucks operation in Seattle—the stores, the roasting plant, and the Starbucks name. Bowker wanted to cash out his coffee-business investment to concentrate on his other enterprises; Baldwin, who was tired of commuting between Seattle and San Francisco and wrestling with the troubles created by the two parts of the company, elected to concentrate on the Peets operation. As he recalls, My wife and I had a 30-second conversation and decided to keep Peets. It was the original and it was better. 7 Schultz knew immediately that he had to buy Starbucks; his board of directors agreed. Schultz and his newly hired finance and accounting manager drew up a set of financial projections for the combined operations and a financing package that included a stock offering to Il Giornales original investors and a line of credit with local banks. While a rival plan to acquire. Starbucks was put together by another Il Giornale investor, Schultzs proposal prevailed and within weeks Schultz had raised the $3. 8 million needed to buy Starbucks. The acquisition was completed in August 1987. After the papers were signed, Schultz and Scott Greenberg walked across the street to the first Il Giornale store, ordered themselves espresso drinks, and sat at a table near the window. Greenberg placed the hundred-page business plan that had been used to raise the $3. 8 million between them and lifted his cup in a toast—We did it, they said together. 8 The new name of the combined companies was Starbucks Starbucks as a Private Company: 1987–92 The following Monday morning, Schultz returned to the Starbucks offices at the roasting plant, greeted all the familiar faces and accepted their congratulations, then called the staff together for a meeting on the roasting-plant floor. He began: All my life I have wanted to be part of a company and a group of people who share a common vision . . . I’m here today because I love this company. I love what it represents . . . I know you’re concerned . . . I promise you I will not let you down. I promise you I will not leave anyone behind . . . In five years, I want you to look back at this day and say I was there when it started. I helped build this company into something great. 9 Schultz told the group that his vision was for Starbucks to become a national company with values and guiding principles that employees could be proud of. He indicated that he wanted to include people in the decision-making process and that he would be open and honest with them. Schultz said he believed it was essential, not just an intriguing option, for a company to respect its people, to inspire them, and to share the fruits of its success with those who contributed to its long-term value. His aspiration was for Starbucks to become the most respected brand name in coffee and for the company to be admired for its corporate responsibility. In the next few days and weeks, however, Schultz came to see that the unity and morale at Starbucks had deteriorated badly in the 20 months he had been at Il Giornale. Some employees were cynical and felt unappreciated. There was a feeling that prior management had abandoned them and a wariness about what the new regime would bring. Schultz determined that he would have to make it a priority to build a new relationship of mutual respect between employees and management. The new Starbucks had a total of nine stores. The business plan Schultz had presented investors called for the new company to open 125 stores in the next five years—15 the first year, 20 the second, 25 the third, 30 the fourth, and 35 the fifth. Revenues were projected to reach $60 million in 1992. But the company lacked experienced management. Schultz had never led a growth effort of such magnitude and was just learning what the job of CEO was all about, having been the president of a small company for barely two years. Dave Olsen had run a single cafe for 11 years and was just learning to manage a multistore operation. Ron Lawrence, the company’s controller, had worked as a controller for several organizations. Other Starbucks employees had only the experience of managing or being a part of a six-store organization. When Starbucks’ key roaster and coffee buyer resigned, Schultz put Dave Olsen in charge of buying and roasting coffee. Lawrence Maltz, who had 20 years of experience in business and eight years of experience as president of a profitable public beverage company, was hired as executive vice president and charged with heading operations, finance, and human resources. In the next several months, a number of changes were instituted. To symbolize the merging of the two companies and the two cultures, a new logo was created that melded the Starbucks and Il Giornale logos. The Starbucks stores were equipped with espresso machines and remodeled to look more Italian than Old World nautical. The traditional Starbucks brown was replaced by Il Giornale green. The result was a new type of store—a cross between a retail coffee-bean store and an espresso bar/cafe—that became Starbucks’ signature format in the 1990s. By December 1987, employees at Starbucks had begun buying into the changes Schultz was making and trust had begun to build between management and employees. New stores were on the verge of opening in Vancouver and Chicago. One Starbucks store employee, Daryl Moore, who had voted against unionization in 1985, began to question his fellow employees about the need for a union. Over the next few weeks, Moore began a move to decertify the union. He carried a decertification letter around to Starbucks stores and secured the signatures of employees who no longer wished to be represented by the union. After getting a majority of store employees to sign the letter, he presented it to the National Labor Relations Board and the union representing store employees was decertified. Later, in 1992, the union representing Starbucks’ roasting plant and warehouse employees was also decertified. Expansion into Markets Outside the Pacific Northwest Starbucks’ e.

Feared Drowned :: essays research papers

Favorite Poem I picked the poem â€Å"Feared Drowned† by Sharon Olds as my favorite poem because it reminds me of a hard time that I had to overcome in my life. Once in my lifetime, I found this one perfect person who I fell in love with and lived happily ever after. Yeah, in reality this did not happen. Yes, we did have common interests and therefore developed romantic involvement. Real life relationships are more like "The Real World" rather than "Romeo and Juliet". It was a fact of life that couples do break up. In my freshman year of college I lost someone very special. My girlfriend at that time broke up with me but she still wanted to be friends. We had been in a relationship for about 4 years and all of a sudden everything started to fall apart. I could not figure out how that could be possible to be friends still. I always thought once you break up that’s it you go your way and I go my way. I didn’t really want to be friends with her. I was ready to move on with life but she kept coming back to me. Although, I didn’t look at her the same way I used to but she still wanted talk on the phone and go out. Growing apart was the reason for our break-up. This was an instance where we just did not feel attracted to each other anymore and that resulted in an end of relationship. She started talking to another guy and I started talking to this one girl and we came to the conclusion that we should break-up before anything bad happened such as losing trust in one another and this could hurt our relationships forever. Now I have overcame that tough time and I am still friends with my ex-girlfriend.

The Definition of Courage :: Expository Definition Essays

The Definition of Courage      The current dictionary definitions of courage are inadequate because they only include references to physical courage and omit instances of inner strength.   Three contemporary dictionaries agree closely on the definition although they differ in the order of importance. Webster's New World Dictionary describes courage as "an attitude of facing and dealing with anything recognized as dangerous, difficult or painful, instead of withdrawing from it," and The American Heritage Dictionary gives a similar explanation.   While The Shorter Oxford Dictionary concurs with this meaning, it states that the primary definition is "spirit, mind, or disposition."   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Courage is not just found in the veteran soldier who can display shiny medals or in the policeman who bravely risks his life for justice as portrayed on television or in films.   Suicide is the antithesis of courage.   It is not an elementary school boy who agrees to fight, but he who can stand up against it.   A six year old girl who ventures out on her bicycle for the first time displays as much courage as a young man who witnesses a murder and volunteers to testify in court.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Courage is a state of mind that enables a person to overcome fear, pain, danger, or hardship. Although different from one another, all aspects of courage involve taking risks. One facet, physical courage, entails facing fears of possible bodily harm.   For instance, a twenty year   old man, unable to swim, jumps into a swift current to rescue a six year old who has slipped and fallen.   A young fireman who rushes into a burning building to save a baby and a nineteen-year- old Vietnam soldier who leaves the safety of the trench to preserve the life of a wounded friend have physical courage.   Elizabeth Morgan, who risked a jail term to protect her daughter Hilary from her injurious father, exemplifies courage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another form, mental courage, means standing up and not yielding to phobias.   While some fear speaking in front of a large audience, others fear heights.   A teenager who puts down her fear of   flying to visit an ailing, distant grandmother, and a freshman who conquers his fear of public speaking to run for a student council office both exhibit mental courage. The Definition of Courage :: Expository Definition Essays The Definition of Courage      The current dictionary definitions of courage are inadequate because they only include references to physical courage and omit instances of inner strength.   Three contemporary dictionaries agree closely on the definition although they differ in the order of importance. Webster's New World Dictionary describes courage as "an attitude of facing and dealing with anything recognized as dangerous, difficult or painful, instead of withdrawing from it," and The American Heritage Dictionary gives a similar explanation.   While The Shorter Oxford Dictionary concurs with this meaning, it states that the primary definition is "spirit, mind, or disposition."   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Courage is not just found in the veteran soldier who can display shiny medals or in the policeman who bravely risks his life for justice as portrayed on television or in films.   Suicide is the antithesis of courage.   It is not an elementary school boy who agrees to fight, but he who can stand up against it.   A six year old girl who ventures out on her bicycle for the first time displays as much courage as a young man who witnesses a murder and volunteers to testify in court.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Courage is a state of mind that enables a person to overcome fear, pain, danger, or hardship. Although different from one another, all aspects of courage involve taking risks. One facet, physical courage, entails facing fears of possible bodily harm.   For instance, a twenty year   old man, unable to swim, jumps into a swift current to rescue a six year old who has slipped and fallen.   A young fireman who rushes into a burning building to save a baby and a nineteen-year- old Vietnam soldier who leaves the safety of the trench to preserve the life of a wounded friend have physical courage.   Elizabeth Morgan, who risked a jail term to protect her daughter Hilary from her injurious father, exemplifies courage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another form, mental courage, means standing up and not yielding to phobias.   While some fear speaking in front of a large audience, others fear heights.   A teenager who puts down her fear of   flying to visit an ailing, distant grandmother, and a freshman who conquers his fear of public speaking to run for a student council office both exhibit mental courage.

Kohler Company Essay

Kohler is one of the largest and oldest privately held companies in America. It started by manufacturing plumbing fixtures, famously inventing the first modern bathtub, and soon after began manufacturing small engines and generators. Today the company is also in the furniture and luxury resort business. Most of the company’s shares are held by members of the Kohler family, however 4% of the outstanding stock is owned by outsiders. Herbert Kohler Jr. , the CEO and Chairman of Kohler, would like to do what he can to keep Kohler stock within the Kohler family and its interests. This led to the 1998 recapitalization. In this restructuring of equity, family members and permitted transferees (Kohler Trusts, Kohler Foundations, ect. ) were given the option to exchange their stock for several different classes of stock, such as common stock, non voting stock, Series A and Series B. The shareholders not classified as a permitted transferee would either have to sell their shares for what an independent firm determines fair market value, or dissent and allow fair market value to be determined by a legal proceeding. The fair market price offered by Kohler in 1998 was $55,400. Kohler’s stock recently fetched between $100,000 to $135,000 and the two largest outside shareholders recently bought a combined 93 shares right around $100,000. So Gen, a mutual fund and largest outside shareholder, believed market value per share could be $400,000. Because of this discrepancy in price; outside shareholders decided to file suit against Kohler claiming the price of $55,400 undervalued the stock and was not fair market value. It is now April 2000 and Herbert Kohler Jr. must decide whether to settle with the plaintiffs or go to trail in 2 days. It was very possible that the court would determine fair market value to be much higher than price offered. Herbert also must consider that the IRS will use a court determined share price to determine the tax liability of Herbert’s deceased brother’s estate. The share price will also affect the way the Kohler Foundation could operate, since by law it must annually pledge %5 of its assets, which is mostly Kohler stock. Analysis: Much of the share price was driven by the speculation that Kohler might soon go public. Herbert thought this was the primary reason the shares were extremely overvalued. However, the assumption of a future IPO was inaccurate. One of the core values and strengths of Kohler is the private classification of equity. Kohler considers it a competitive advantage to not have to disclose its financial position to the public. Not only does it give away proprietary information to competitors, but public reporting also affects the way a company can make decisions. Kohler feels that many of the business decisions that made Kohler a success, such as investing in cast iron production at a time when the industry was moving away from it, would not have been possible if they were accountable to pubic shareholders. Without the possibility of an IPO a lower share price than what share prices recently traded for was could be justified. However, Herbert must also consider the effects of having the valuation be determined in court. The first drawback to this is how costly legal proceedings are. On top of lawyer fees and court costs, it could be very expensive to reconcile and audit all financial documents as well as pay for expert opinions concerning the valuation. Since there is no standard or correct metric to value a company, there is increased risk as to how the court will value the company. If Kohler decides to continue with the trial they are leaving themselves, the Kohler Foundation, and the Kohler estate open to a lot of uncontrollable risk. Recommendation: I recommend Kohler offer to settle with the plaintiffs at $140,000. Kohler should settle outside of court to mitigate the risk and cost associated with the trial. While the price is not ideal, settling outside of court allows Kohler to control the price at a manageable level. This will be the best way to hedge against risk and lookout for the interests of Kohler, the Family, and its charities. In order to settle Kohler must offer a price of $140,000 to give the mutual funds the return on investment they desire. Since the purpose of mutual fund is to create value for their investors, they are probably more than willing to take the matter to court if they feel they are not receiving a fair return. The per share price of $140,000 will give the mutual funds roughly a 20% return on investment which should be enough for them to consider the offer favorable.

Born to Be Story Teller

Short summary Jean Francois takes the blame for a crime he did not commit after a change in his life has made him a respected tradesman. He has done this to save a naive rustic from his own fate as an habitual criminal prior to his reformation. He willingly substitutes for the real thief because he can survive a life in jail and his young rustic friend would be spared a life of in-jail and out. Jean Francois has saved his young friend from a life like his. Shows how once labeled a criminal in the eyes of the law; one remains a criminal in the eyes of the law, for the rest of one’s life.MAIN STORY HE  was scarcely ten years old when he was arrested for the first time for vagabondage. This is what he said to the judges: â€Å"My name is Jean Francois Leturc, and for the last six months I’ve been with the man who sings between two lanterns on the Place de la Bastille, scraping on a  bit of catgut. I say the chorus with him, and then I cry out, ‘Ask for the new s ong book, ten centimes, two sous! ’ He was always drunk, and he beat me. That’s how the police found me the other night, in these ruined houses. Before that, I used to be with the man who sells brushes.My mother was a washerwoman; her name is Adele. A gentleman had set her up on a ground floor, at Montmartre, long ago. She was a good worker and very fond of me. She made money because she had the custom of the cafe waiters, and they need lots of linen. Sundays, she put me to bed early to go to the ball; but weekdays, she sent me to the Brothers’ school, where I learned to read. Well, at last the policeman whose beat was up our street used to stop before her window to talk to her, a big man, with the Crimean medal. They got married, and all went wrong.He took a dislike to me, and set mamma against me. Everybody had a slap for me; and it was then that to get away I spent my days on the Place Clichy, where I got acquainted with the mountebanks. My stepfather lost hi s job, mamma lost her customers, and so she went to the washhouse to support her husband. It was there she got consumption, from the dampness. She died at Lariboisiere. She was a good woman. Since then I’ve lived with the brush seller and the catgut scraper. Am I going to be put in prison? †Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He talked this way openly, cynically, like a man.He was a ragged little rascal, as tall as a top boot, with his forehead hidden under a strange yellow mop of hair. Nobody claiming him, they sent him to the reform school. Not intelligent, lazy, especially clumsy with his hands, he could learn there only a poor trade, to reseat straw chairs. Yet he was obedient, naturally quiet and taciturn; and he did not seem to be too profoundly corrupted by that school of vice. But when he was seventeen, and set free in the streets of Paris, he found there, for his misfortune, his prison comrades, wretched creatures, plying the lowest callings.Some were trainers of dogs for rat-catching in the sewers; some shined shoes in the Passage de l’Opera, on the nights when there were balls; some were amateur wrestlers, letting themselves be thrown by the Hercules of the side shows; some used to fish from rafts out in the river. He tried one of these things and another; and a few months after he had left the house of correction, he was arrested again for a petty theft, a pair of old shoes picked from out an open show window. Result: a year of imprisonment at Sainte-Pelagie, where he served as valet to the political prisoners.He lived, astonished, among this group of prisoners, all very young and carelessly dressed, who talked loudly and carried themselves in such a solemn way. They used to meet in the cell of the eldest of them, a fellow of thirty locked up for a long time already and as though settled at Sainte-Pelagie, a big cell, papered with colored caricatures, out of whose windows could be seen the whole of Paris, its roofs, its steeples, its domes, and far off , the distant line of the hills, blue and vague against the sky.On the walls there were a few shelves filled with books and all the old apparatus of a fencing school, broken masks, rusty foils, leather jackets and gloves with the  stuffing half out. It was there that the political prisoners had dinner together, adding to the inevitable soup and beef, fruit, cheese, and quarts of wine that Jean Francois was sent to buy at the canteen, tumultuous repasts, interrupted by violent disputes, and with songs sung in chorus at the dessert, the â€Å"Carmagnole† and â€Å"Ca ira. But they took on an air of dignity the days when they made room for a newcomer, who was at first solemnly greeted as â€Å"citizen,† but who was the next day called by his nickname. They made use of big words, Corporation, Solidarity, and phrases quite unintelligible to Jean Francois, such as this for example, that he once heard uttered imperiously by a hideous little hunchback who spent his nights s cribbling:   â€Å"Then it’s settled.The cabinet is to be composed of Raymond in the Department of Education, Martial in the Interior, and I in Foreign Affairs. †Ã‚  When his time was up, he wandered again about Paris, with the eye of the police on him, much like the cockchafers that cruel children keep flying tied to a string. He had become one of those fugitive and timid beings whom the law, with a coquetry of its own, arrests and releases, turn and turn about, a little like those platonic fishermen who throw back into the water the fish just out of the net so as not to empty the pond.Without his suspecting that so much honor was done to so feeble a personality, he had a special docket in the mysterious archives of police headquarters; his name and surnames were written in a large backhand on the gray paper of the cover, and the notes and reports, carefully classified, gave him these graduated appellations: â€Å"the  man named Leturc,† â€Å"the accused Leturc,† and finally, â€Å"the convicted Leturc. †Ã‚  He stayed out of prison two years, eating as best he could, sleeping in lodging houses, or sometimes in kilns, and taking part with his fellows in endless games of pitch and toss, on the Boulevards, out near the gates.He wore a greasy cap on the back of his head, carpet slippers, and a short white blouse. When he had five sous, he had his hair curled. He danced at Constant’s at Montparnasse; for two sous he bought the knave of hearts or the ace of spades, used as return checks, to sell them again for four sous at the entrance to Bobino; he opened carriage doors when the chance came; he led broken-down horses to the market. He always had bad luck, in the conscription he drew a good number.Who knows whether the atmosphere of honor which is breathed in the barracks, whether military discipline, might not have saved him? Caught in a haul, with a lot of vagabonds who used to rob the drunkards asleep in the streets , he denied energetically having taken part in their expeditions. Perhaps it was true. But his antecedents were accepted as proof, and he was sent up for three years to Poissy. There he had to make rough toys; he had himself tattooed on the chest; and he learned thieves’ slang and the penal code.Another release, another plunge into the Parisian sewer, but this time very short, for at the end of scarce six weeks, he was again compromised in a theft by night, aggravated by violence, a doubtful case in which he played an obscure part, half dupe and half receiver. At the end his complicity seemed evident, and he was condemned to five years’ hard labor. His sorrow in this adventure was to be separated from an old dog that he had picked up on a pile of rubbish and cured of the mange. This beast loved him.Toulon, the ball on his ankle, work in the harbor, blows, wooden shoes without straw, soup of black beans dating from Trafalgar, no money for tobacco, and the horrible sleep on the filthy iron bed of the convict, that is what he knew for five horrid summers and five winters with the whistling wind. He came out stunned, and was sent under surveillance to Vernon, where he worked for a while on the river; and then, incorrigible vagabond as he was, he broke bounds and came back again to Paris.He had his savings, fifty-six francs that is to say, time to reflect. During his long absence his old, horrible comrades had been scattered. He was well hidden; he slept in an attic, at an old woman’s, to whom he had given himself out as a sailor, weary of the sea, having lost his papers in a recent shipwreck, and wanting to try another trade. His tanned face, his calloused hands, and a few sea phrases he let drop from time to time, made this tale fairly probable.One day when he had risked a saunter along the streets and when the chance of his walk brought him to Montmarte, where he had been born, an unexpected memory stopped him before the door of the Brothers ’ school, in which he had learned to read. As it was very warm, the door was open; and with a single look the hesitating passer could recognize the schoolroom. Nothing was changed, not the crucifix over the desk, nor the regular rows of seats, with their leaden inkstands, nor the table of weights and measures, nor the map on which  were still the pins pointing out the operations of some old war.Heedlessly, and without reflecting, Jean Francois read on the blackboard these words of Scripture, which a well-trained hand had traced as an example of handwriting: â€Å"Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, who need no repentance. †Ã‚   It must have been the hour for recreation, for the teaching Brother had left his chair, and sitting on the edge of a table, he seemed to be telling a story to all the children who surrounded him, attentive and raising their eyes.What an innocent and gay expression was that of the beardless young man, in long black robe, with white cravat, with coarse, ugly shoes, and with brown hair badly cut rising up at the back. All those pallid faces of children of the populace which were looking at him, seemed less infantine than his, especially when, charmed with a candid, priestly pleasantry, he broke out with a good and frank laugh, which showed his teeth sound and well-ordered, a laugh so contagious that all the scholars broke out noisily in their turn and it was simple and sweet, this group in the joyous sunlight that made the clear eyes and the blond hair shine.Jean Francois looked at it some time in silence, and, for the first time, in this savage nature, all instinct and appetite, there awoke a mysterious and sweet emotion. His heart, that rough and hardened heart, which did not start when the heavy cudgel or the weight of the whip fell on his shoulders, beat almost to oppression. Before this spectacle, in which he saw again his childhood, his  eyes closed sor rowfully, and restraining a violent gesture, he moved away with large strides. The words written on the blackboard came back to him. â€Å"If it was not too late, after all? † he murmured. If I could once more, like the others, eat my white bread honestly, sleep my sleep out with no nightmare? The police spy would be very clever to recognize me now. My beard, which I shaved down there, has grown again, thick and strong. A man can hide himself in this big ant-heap, and work is not lacking. Whoever does not break down soon in the hell of the prison, comes out agile and robust; and I have learned how to climb ladders with a load on my back. There is building going on everywhere, and the masons need helpers. Three francs a day, I have never earned so much. If they will only forget me, that is all I ask.   He followed his courageous resolutions; he was faithful to it; and three months later, he was another man. The master for whom he labored cited him as his best workman. After a long day passed on the ladder, in the full sun, in the dust, bending and straightening his back to take the stones from the hands of the man below him and to pass them to the man above him, he came home to get a meal at the cheap eating house, dead tired, his legs heavy, his hands burning, and his eyelashes stuck together by the plaster, but satisfied with himself, and carrying his well-earned money in the knot of his handkerchief.He went out now with no fear of anything, for his white mask made him unrecognizable; and then he had observed that the suspicious glance of the policeman does not often  fall on the real worker. He was silent and sober. He slept the good sleep of fatigue. He was free. At last, a supreme reward; he had a friend. It was a mason like himself, called Savinien, a little peasant from Limoges, red-cheeked, having came to Paris with his bundle on the end of the stick over his shoulder, who kept away from the liquor dealers and went to mass on Sunday.Jean Fran cois liked him for his wholesomeness, for his innocence, for his honesty; for all that he himself had lost long ago. It was a deep passion, reserved, and betraying itself by the care and forethought of a father. Savinien, himself easy-going and selfish, let things take their course; glad only that he had found a comrade who shared his horror of the saloon.The two friends lived together in a furnished room, fairly clean, but their means were very limited; and they had to take in a third companion, an old man from Auvergne, somber and rapacious, who found a way of saving out of his meager wages to buy land at home. Jean Francois and Savinien scarcely ever left each other. The days of rest they went on long walks in the environs of Paris to dine in the open air in one of those little country inns where there are many mushrooms in the sauces and innocent enigmas on the bottoms of the plates.Jean Francois then had his friend tell him all the things, which are unknown to those born in cit ies. He learned the names of the trees, the flowers, the plants, the date of the different harvests; he listened greedily to the thousand details of a farmer’s labors, the autumn sowing, the winter work, the splendid feasts of harvest home and vintage, the flails beating the floor, and the  sound of the mills by the edge of the water, the tired horses led to the trough, and the morning hunting in the mists, and above all, the long evenings around the fire, shortened by tales of marvel.He discovered in himself springs of an imagination hitherto unsuspected, finding a singular pleasure in the mere recital of these things, so sweet, calm, and monotonous. One fear troubled him, however, that Savinien might come to know his past. Sometimes there escaped him a shady word of slang, an ignoble gesture, survivals of his former horrible existence; and then he felt the pain of a man whose old wounds open again, the more particularly as he then thought he saw in Savinien the awakening of an unhealthy curiosity.When the young man, already tempted by the pleasures, which Paris offered even to the poorest, asked him about the mysteries of the great city, Jean Francois feigned ignorance and turned the conversation; but he had then a vague doubt as to the future of his friend. This was not without foundation; and Savinien could not long remain the innocent countryman he had been on his arrival in Paris. If the gross and noisy pleasures of the saloon were still repugnant to him, he was deeply troubled by other desires full of danger for the inexperience of his twenty years.When the spring came, he began to seek solitude, and he wandered at first before the gayly lighted entrance to the dancing halls, through which he saw the girls going in couples, without bonnets, and whispering with their arms around each other. Then one evening, when the lilacs were in bloom, and when the appeal of the music was more entrancing, he crossed  the threshold. And after that Jean Franc ois saw him change little by little in his manners and in his looks. Savinien became more careful of his dress and he spent more; often he borrowed from the poor savings of his friend, which he forgot to return.Jean Francois, feeling himself deserted, was both indulgent and jealous; he suffered and kept silent. He believed he had no right to reproach, but his penetrating friendship had cruel and unconquerable forebodings. One night when he was climbing the stairs of his lodging, absorbed in his preoccupations, he heard a dialogue of irritated voices in the room he was about to enter, and he recognized one as that of the old man from Auvergne, who shared the room with him and Savinien. An old habit of suspicion made him wait on the landing, and he listened to learn the cause of the trouble. Yes,† the man from Auvergne was saying angrily, â€Å"I am sure that somebody has broken open my trunk and stolen the three Louis which I had hidden in a little box; and the man who did the trick can only be one of the two companions who sleep here, unless it is Maria, the servant. This is your business as much as mine, since you are the master of the house; and I will hale you to court if you do not let me at once go through the valises of the two masons. My poor savings! they were in their place only yesterday; and I will tell you what the Louis were, so that, if you find them, you will not accuse me of lying.Oh, I know them, my three fine gold pieces. One was a little more worn than the others, of a gold a little greener, and that had the portrait of the great Emperor; another had that of a  fat old fellow with a pigtail and epaulets; and the third had a Philip with side-whiskers; I had marked it with my teeth. I am not to be cheated, not I. Do you know I need only two more to pay for my vineyard? Come, let us look through the duds of these two comrades, or I will call the police. †Ã‚     Ã¢â‚¬Å"Very well,† said the voice of the man who kept the hou se. We’ll search with Maria. So much the worse if you find nothing and if the masons get angry. It will be because you forced me to it. †Ã‚  Jean Francois had his heart filled with fear. He recalled the poverty of Savinien, the petty borrowings, the somber manner observed the last few days. Yet he did not want to believe in any theft. He heard the hard breathing of the man from Auvergne in the ardor of the search; and he clenched his hands against his breast as though to repress the beatings of his heart. 28  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"There they are! suddenly screamed the miser, victorious. â€Å"There they are, the Louis my dear treasure! And in the Sunday waistcoat of that little hypocrite from Limoges. See there, boss! They are just as I told you. There’s the Napoleon, and the man with the pigtail, and the Philip I had bitten. See the mark. Ah, the little rascal, with his air of innocence. I should more likely have suspected the other. Ah, the villain. He will have to go to prison! †Ã‚   At this moment Jean Francois heard the well-known step of Savinien, who was slowly coming upstairs. He will betray himself,† he thought. â€Å"Three flights. I have the time! †Ã‚   And pushing the door, and pale as death, he entered  the room, where he saw the man who kept the house and the stupefied servant in a corner, and the man from Auvergne on his knees amid the scattered clothes, lovingly kissing his gold pieces. â€Å"Enough of this,† he said in a dull voice. â€Å"It was I who took the money and put it in the comrade’s trunk. But that is too disgusting. I am a thief and not a Judas. Go get the police. I shall not run.Only I must say a word in private to Savinien, who is here. †Ã‚  The little man from Limoges had in fact just arrived, and seeing his crime discovered and believing himself lost, he stood still, with his eyes fixed and his arms falling. Jean Francois sprang to his neck, as though to embrace him; he glue d his mouth to Savinien’s ear, and said to him in a low and beseeching voice:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Hold your tongue! †Ã‚  Ã‚  Then, turning to the others:  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Leave me alone with him. I shall not go away, I tell you. Shut us up, if you like, but leave us alone together.    And with a gesture of command, he showed them the door. They went out. Savinien, broken with anguish, had seated himself on a bed, and had dropped his eyes without understanding. â€Å"Listen,† said Jean Francois, who came to take his hands. â€Å"I understand. You stole the three gold pieces to buy some trifle for a girl. That would have been worth six months of prison for you. But you do not get out of that except to go back again; and you would have become a pillar of the police courts and criminal trials. I know all about them.I have done seven years in the  reform school, one at Sainte-Pelagie, three at Poissy, and five at Toulon. Now, do not get scared. It is all settled. I have taken it on my shoulders. †Ã‚   â€Å"Poor fellow,† cried Savinien; but hope was coming back to his cowardly heart. â€Å"When the elder brother is serving with the colors, the younger stays at home,† Jean Francois went on. â€Å"I’m your substitute, that is all. You love me a little, do you not? I am paid. Do not be a baby. You cannot refuse. They would have caught me one of these days, for I have broken my leave.And then, you see, that life out there will not be so hard for me as for you; I know it, and shall not complain if I do not render you this service in vain and if you swear to me that you will not do it again. Savinien, I have loved you dearly, and your friendship has made me very happy, for it is thanks to my knowing you that I have kept honest and straight, as I might always have been, if I had had a father to put a tool in my hands, a mother to teach me my prayers. My only regret was that I was useless to you and that I was deceiving you about my past. To day I lay aside the mask in saving you.It is all right. Come, now, good-by! Do not weep; and embrace me, for I hear the big boots on the stairs. They are coming back with the police; and we must not seem to know each other too well before these fellows. †Ã‚  Ã‚  He hugged Savinien hurriedly to his breast, and then he pushed him away as the door opened wide. It was the man who kept the house and the man from Auvergne who were bringing the police. Jean Francois went out on the landing and held out his hands for the handcuffs and said, laughin; â€Å"Forward, bad lot! †Ã‚  Ã‚  To day he is at Cayenne, a prisoner for life, as incorrigible.