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NEW YORK TIMES UPFRONT March 31, 2008, Vol. 140, No. 12, pp. 6+

Copyright © Scholastic Inc. March 31, 2008. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Cuba at a CrossroadsBy James McKinley Jr.

     • Does Fidel Castro's decision to step down after half a century in power open the door to real change for Cuba?

     When Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower was President, John McCain had recently graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, Hillary Clinton was an 11-year-old Girl Scout, and Barack Obama hadn't been born yet.

     So when Castro stepped down on February 19--after outlasting nine U.S. Presidents--it clearly marked a turning point for Cuba. The question is: What, if anything, will change?

     (See picture, "Cartoon: Fidel Castro Steps Down.")

     Poor health is what finally prompted Castro, 81, to step aside. Five days later, Raul Castro, 76, formally assumed the presidency from his brother.

     Raul had been acting President since July 2006, when Fidel underwent emergency surgery and temporarily ceded power to his younger brother. But Fidel remained active in running the government from behind the scenes.

Cartoon: Fidel Castro Steps Down

(Credit: Nate Beeler/Cagle Cartoons)

1

     (See picture, "Castro, Fidel and Raul.")

     In a speech to the National Assembly following his selection, Raul made it clear that he would make no radical changes and promised to consult his brother on every important decision. He said Fidel "is irreplaceable, and the people will continue his work even though he is not physically here."

     But Cuba's new President also says that the government needs to change to survive in the new era. He has talked about possibly working to improve relations with the U.S. And days after Raul officially took over, Cuba signed two important international human-rights treaties that Fidel had long opposed--the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International

Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. (Whether they'll be observed is anyone's guess.)

     (See picture, "Castro, Raul: Cuban President.")

     After decades of political repression and a moribund economy that has left most Cubans in poverty, many are skeptical of their new leader's ability to bring about real change. They are waiting for Raul to do something concrete to improve their lives, like raising salaries. "I am not expecting a father, omnipresent and omnipotent, but a President, [about] whom I can complain, freely, in public," wrote Yoani Sanchez, a political blogger in Cuba.

The Revolution

     Cuba and its 11 million people have been under Fidel Castro's control since Jan. 1, 1959, when he and a band of guerrillas overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. At

Castro, Fidel and Raul

(Credit: Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images)

Castro, Raul: Cuban President

(Credit: Ismael Francisco/AFP/Getty Images)

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the time, Castro promised to restore the Cuban Constitution and hold elections. Instead, at the height of the Cold War rivalry between the U.S. and the Communist powers, he aligned Cuba with the Soviet Union, embracing its repressive political policies, state-run economic model, and hostility toward the U.S.--which feared that Cuba would serve as a beachhead for Communist expansion in the Americas. Castro also nationalized, without compensation, all American businesses in Cuba. In response, Washington imposed a trade embargo that is still in effect.

     On April 17, 1961, 1,500 Cuban exiles backed by the U.S. and trained by the C.I.A. landed at the Bay of Pigs in a doomed attempt to overthrow Castro. Within three days, most of the exiles were dead or captured.

     In 1962, the Soviets deployed missiles in Cuba--which is just 90 miles off the coast of Florida--and the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the U.S. and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war. After an American naval blockade of Cuba and 13 days of tense negotiations, the missiles were withdrawn.

     Soviet aid kept Cuba's economy afloat until the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba went into an economic free fall.

Digital Resistance

     Fidel Castro has long blamed the U.S. embargo for his country's economic woes. And while he has been credited with progress in education and health care, his government's repressive policies have routinely violated human rights.

     Many older Cubans who remember life under the pre-1959 dictatorship do feel that Fidel Castro improved their lives to some extent. But 70 percent of Cuba's population today was born after the revolution. Many came of age during the 1990s, when the economy was collapsing; they have known mostly poverty and repression.

     While the government has long limited the public's access to the Internet and digital videos, a growing network of young people armed with computer memory sticks, digital cameras, and secret Internet hookups has been spreading news the government tries to suppress. University students recently challenged the president of the National Assembly over travel restrictions, the economy, and the lack of free elections.

     Some experts say that Raul Castro may be willing to open up Cuba's economy the way China and Vietnam have done with such great success--allowing elements of a free market to develop while the Communist Party maintains strict political control.

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     (See picture, "Map: Cuba.")

     Unlike Fidel, who wanted to manage every detail of government himself, Raul is willing to delegate authority. He has even encouraged a measure of public debate about government programs--something his brother rarely allowed.

     Raul has brought up issues that his brother never addressed,

criticizing farmers for being inefficient and denouncing the high price of milk. He has acknowledged that government salaries--averaging $19 a month--do not meet the minimum needs of a family, and he has bought hundreds of buses from China to try to improve Cuba's crumbling public transportation network.

U.S. Reaction

     Raul Castro's biggest challenge will be revamping Cuba's economy, and he has said that the government needs to be streamlined. But so far, his appointees are from the old guard, mostly men in their 70s. This has disappointed Cubans who had hoped a younger generation of leaders might rise.

     Washington is watching and waiting to see what will happen under Cuba's new leadership. President George W. Bush--the 10th U.S. President to cross swords with Fidel Castro--welcomed his resignation. But Bush opposes easing economic sanctions or restrictions on travel to Cuba without the country's transition to democracy.

     John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, says the U.S. must keep sanctions on Cuba until it allows free elections and releases political prisoners. Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton say they might lift the embargo if Cuba moves toward democracy.

     There are about 1.4 million Cuban-Americans in the U.S. Many fled Cuba at great risk, crossing to Florida on the flimsiest of boats. Miami today has more than 760,000 Cuban-Americans--a politically powerful community that produced the country's first Cuban-American Senator, Mel Martinez, who was elected in 2004.

     Reaction in Florida to Cuba's leadership change has been mixed. Some say that it means nothing and that Raul will continue Fidel's hard-line policies. Others maintain that it represents an important political shift.

Map: Cuba

(Credit: NEW YORK TIMES UPFRONT)

4

     "It's not the be-all and end-all, but it marks a turning point," says Joe Garcia, a Democratic candidate for Congress and the former executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation. "There's no question that the Cuban revolution is nearing its conclusion."

Cuba & the U.S.     1898--The battleship USS Maine explodes in Havana, killing 266 crew members. The explosion is never fully explained, but it helps precipitate the Spanish-American War, in which the U.S. defeats Spain and gains dominance over Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. A U.S. Naval Base is established at Guantananto Bay.

     1902--Cuba becomes independent. But the Platt Amendment, passed by Congress in 1903, keeps Cuba under U.S. protection and gives the U.S. the right to intervene in its affairs. The U.S. maintains that right until 1934.

     1903--The Cuban Treaty grants the U.S. perpetual control over the base at Guantanamo Bay.

     1959--The Revolution: Fidel Castro and his guerrilla army overthrow the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Castro becomes Prime Minister; his brother Raul becomes his deputy, with Che Guevara third in command.

     1960--Castro nationalizes all U.S. businesses in Cuba without compensation. The U.S. breaks diplomatic relations and imposes a partial economic embargo on Cuba. The Soviet Union offers financial support.

     1961--Castro announces that he is a Communist and strengthens his alliance with the Soviet Union. The U.S. sponsors the Bay of Pigs invasion--an unsuccessful attempt by C.I.A.-trained Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro.

     1962--Missile Crisis: President John F. Kennedy reveals that Soviet missiles are being installed in Cuba, Bringing the U.S. and the Soviet Union to brink of nuclear war. The crisis is resolved after 13 tense days, and the missiles are removed.

     1980--Mariel Boatlift: Domestic unrest prompts the Cuban government to allow anyone who is dissatisfied to leave; 125,000 Cubans flee to Florida.

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     (See picture, "Mariel Boatlift.")

     1991--The Soviet Union disintegrates. Castro loses his financial lifeline and Cuba's economy collapses.

     1996--Cuba shoots down two civilian planes flown by a refugee group in Florida, and President Bill Clinton tightens the trade embargo.

     2006--An ailing Fidel Castro temporarily cedes power to his brother Raul.

     2008--Fidel Castro resigns; Raul formally takes over as President.

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CRICKET Sept. 2000, pp. 37-43

Reprinted with permission from the author.

Mariel Boatlift

6

THE MYSTERY OF THE MAINE by Tracey E. Fern

     The U.S.S. MAINE bobbed gently at anchor in Havana Harbor. It was 15 February 1898, and the United States's new steel-hulled, steam-powered battleship--one of the first of its kind--had been in Cuba for three uneventful weeks. All was quiet this night, too. The only movement was the routine pacing of the night watch. The only sound was the last echo of evening taps.

     Then it happened.

     A roaring explosion jerked the huge ship out of the water. Seconds later, another blast slammed through the ship. Flames and molten metal shot 200 feet into the air.

     It was a catastrophe that killed more than 260 sailors. Many others were injured. And the MAINE, one of the largest warships made in the United States up to that time, and the pride of the U.S. Navy, was a twisted wreck on the harbor floor.

     The questions began immediately. Was the disaster a terrible accident or an act of terrorism? If it was an accident, what was the cause? And if the blast was deliberate, then who was the culprit? The answers sparked a war that changed the world and America's place in it.

     From the beginning, sailors had called the MAINE a "hoodoo" ship. Equipment broke. Foul weather followed the ship everywhere. Crewmen were lost at sea. So the crew wasn't surprised when the order came to set sail for Cuba. After all, the Spanish colony was smack in the middle of a revolution.

     Cuban rebels had been fighting an on-again, off-again war of independence from Spain for more than thirty years. In the winter of 1898, the fighting heated up into full-fledged guerrilla warfare. And it was no secret that America was rooting for the rebels.

     Officially the MAINE was on a peaceful mission, presumably acting as a friendly mediator of Spanish and Cuban tensions, sent only to protect American lives and economic interests in war-torn Cuba. More likely, the MAINE was sent to symbolize America's growing power, serving as a warning to European nations that Cuba was America's concern, not theirs, and America was strong enough to defend the island.

     Whatever the supposed reasons for the MAINE's appearance in Havana, the huge, armor-plated battleship, bristling with guns and cannons, didn't look very friendly. In fact, the ship looked ready, willing, and able to meddle in the Cuban revolution. And Spain had good reason to suspect that the ship's real mission was war, not peace.

     American expansionists had hankered after Cuba for nearly a hundred years, and as the nineteenth century drew to a close, America became eager to join the race to acquire territories and build an international empire just as Great Britain, Germany, and France had done. Cuba was important to America's defense, since it was located just ninety miles off the tip of Florida. And it was a perfect spot for an American naval base, where a growing fleet of warships could be repaired and refueled.

     And now the United States was sending an uninvited guest to the island--a battleship. Spain was worried. Germany, too, had ships in Havana Harbor and may have been alarmed by the MAINE's presence. Was the United States going to "protect" Cuba? From whom?

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     Sure enough, signs of trouble appeared as soon as the MAINE steamed into Havana. Spanish newspapers printed threats against the ship. While the guest of Spanish officers at a bullfight, the MAINE's captain, Charles Sigsbee, was alarmed by a Spanish handbill that read in part, "Death to the Americans." And one night, a small mine-laying boat of unknown allegiance crept furtively around the harbor. But for almost three weeks, all was relatively quiet.

     Then the MAINE exploded. Within hours, Captain Sigsbee scribbled a hasty telegram to President William McKinley: "MAINE blown up....Public opinion should be suspended until further report." But American "yellow journalists" weren't interested in being patient. They wanted to sell newspapers. And to do that, they needed sensational stories. So they made them up.

     Just two days after the explosion, William Randolph Hearst's NEW YORK JOURNAL screamed, "THE WAR SHIP MAINE WAS SPLIT IN TWO BY AN ENEMY'S SECRET INFERNAL MACHINE." The JOURNAL even had drawings that supposedly showed how Spanish spies had planted a bomb underneath the MAINE. Not to be outdone by a rival and chief competitor for New York City readership, Joseph Pulitzer's tabloid, the WORLD, pointed the finger at Spain, too, much as Hearst's JOURNAL had done. The only problem was that neither paper had any facts to back up its accusations. But the American public believed what it read, and people bought record-breaking numbers of newspapers. Soon angry Americans were chanting the war cry, "Remember the MAINE! To hell with Spain!"

     But President McKinley would not be goaded into war merely by popular opinion. He needed proof before placing blame. So he turned to the experts. The president ordered a crack team of naval detectives to find out what really happened to the MAINE.

     The investigation took four weeks. Divers probed the wreck with some difficulty, as Spain was reluctant to let Americans search the Spanish-controlled harbor. Investigators quizzed survivors. Photographers shot hundreds of pictures of the scene. Experts from all over the world offered their opinions. Then a naval court of inquiry led by Captain William T. Sampson mulled over the evidence.

     The court knew that the blast could have been an accident. The MAINE was a coal-fired ship, and every sailor knew that coal could begin to smolder spontaneously. If that happened in one of the MAINE's coal bunkers--deep under tons of coal--a fire could build up without anyone noticing. And the MAINE's coal bunker was right next to a magazine filled to the brim with ammunition. It was easy to imagine how even a small coal fire could have accidentally triggered enough ammunition to blow the MAINE sky-high.

     But Captain Sigsbee swore to the court that all safety precautions had been followed to the letter. And even though enough steam was constantly maintained in order to power the gun turrets--generating considerable heat in the process--Sigsbee had checked the coal bunkers himself just hours before the blast and found them at "normal temperature."

     The court found another important clue in the wreckage. The armor plating on the ship's keel was bent up and in, like an inverted V, suggesting that the first blast had happened outside the boat. This was the first--and only--evidence of a mine, but it was enough to convince the naval court of inquiry. Their verdict: a mine destroyed the MAINE.

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     But they left one part of the mystery unsolved: they couldn't find any evidence of who had planted the mine. The Spanish government and the Cuban rebels were prime suspects. But who was guilty?

     Spain controlled the harbor and had a history of using mines in warfare. But President McKinley and his advisers were puzzled. Spain just didn't seem to have any motive for blowing up the ship. The Spanish army had its hands full trying to maintain order in Cuba, so picking a fight with America would have been difficult for the Spanish military to manage. And the Spanish navy had actually rescued some of the MAINE's crew after the explosion. All in all--and in spite of the fact that diplomatic relations had been strained at times--the Spanish government had been helpful, not hostile.

     Cuban rebels did have a motive for planting a mine. If America blamed the blast on Spain, then America would surely send troops in to help the rebels, virtually guaranteeing a rebel victory. But the rebels couldn't gain access to the Spanish-controlled harbor, and there was simply no proof that they planted a mine. In addition, some rebels feared that America would eventually try to rule Cuba much as Spain did--even if America entered the war on the rebels' behalf.

     Some people even began to suspect that William Randolph Hearst was behind the disaster, charging that a war would help build up his newspaper's circulation. Shortly before the explosion, he sent a wire to one of his illustrators in Cuba, Frederic Remington: "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." While Hearst didn't start the war, his sensational and largely fabricated stories did fuel strong support for a war with Spain.

     Spanish experts were trying to untangle the mystery, too. And while America largely succeeded in preventing Spanish investigators from getting too close to the MAINE wreckage itself, they came up with some interesting evidence. A mine explosion usually shoots a geyser of water up into the air. But investigators couldn't find any witnesses who saw a geyser. And a mine would have killed hundreds of fish in the harbor, but there were no dead fish. A blast from a mine would have sounded like a muffled thud, but no witnesses heard a dull noise. What witnesses did hear was a loud, sharp sound, like gunfire--or exploding ammunition. Spain concluded that a coal fire had caused the explosion.

     The United States and Spain had reached opposite conclusions. Who was correct? President McKinley didn't know how to respond. The last thing he wanted was to start a war over an accident. But Americans, largely fueled by misleading newspaper accounts, were losing patience with the president. They wanted revenge.

     Soon mobs were hanging the president in effigy. Congressmen called him a coward, but the assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy and future president, Theodore Roosevelt, came up with the ultimate insult: the president had "no more backbone than a chocolate eclair." Finally, President McKinley conceded to the nation's wishes. The Spanish-American War began on 25 April 1898.

     Fighting in Cuba lasted only until the end of summer, but the war continued in the Philippines, a Spanish holding that Spain finally ceded to the United States, along with Puerto Rico and Guam, in a peace treaty signed on 10 December 1898. The treaty also granted limited Cuban independence--under the watchful eye of the United States. New coal-fed, steam-powered, steel ships had proven decisive in the United States' victory over Spain's outdated fleet. The U.S. Navy had demonstrated that America was a world power. The MAINE disaster

9

truly sparked a war that changed the world. But even years later, no one could agree on what had really caused the blast.

     The points raised by the Spanish inquiry made more sense to many Americans once their anger over the explosion had cooled off. What if the explosion had been an accident? The MAINE had become a powerful symbol of American patriotism, but going to war over an accident was hardly patriotic. And so the U.S. Navy decided to investigate the mystery again.

     Another team of American naval experts visited Havana in 1911. The Army Corps of Engineers raised the wreck from the harbor floor and performed an autopsy. They searched every inch of the remains and examined every note, plan, and photograph of the MAINE. Finally they issued their findings: an external source--perhaps a mine--had sunk the battleship. The culprit: still unknown.

     Although questions lingered, the navy wanted to stop the endless debate over the ship. The wreck itself was now a grisly reminder of a decade-old war as well as a hazard to shipping in Havana Harbor. Engineers patched up the wreck so that it could float. Then the MAINE took its final voyage. A tugboat hauled the skeleton ship into international waters and sank it 3,600 feet under the sea.

     But the mystery didn't stay buried. It surfaced again in the 1970s when Admiral Hyman Rickover read an article about the historical whodunit. He was intrigued and assembled a third team of experts to examine the evidence using modern scientific techniques.

     This team found that the inverted V shape of the keel could have been caused by an internal blast aboard the ship. And they didn't believe Captain Sigsbee's testimony. Two ships under his command, the KEARSARGE and the TEXAS, had been labeled "dirty" during routine inspections--a serious charge, considering that a buildup of dirt and coal dust could lead to a fire in a coal bunker. Perhaps Sigsbee hadn't followed all safety precautions on the MAINE, either. And if the explosion had been caused by an act of terrorism, why weren't any clues found? Their verdict: a coal fire probably caused the blast. But they couldn't rule out a mine.

     Today you can still catch a glimpse of the famous battleship's remains. Its mainmast towers over the burial site of the ship's crewmen at Arlington National Cemetery. The foremast stands near the sea wall at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Other relics from the wreck are scattered in museums around the country.

     And, of course, the mystery of the MAINE remains. Historians continue to debate the causes of its destruction. Who was to blame? Did the Spanish-American War begin over an accident? Whatever happened on that calm, tropical night over one hundred years ago, one thing is certain--the course of American history was altered forever. The sinking of the MAINE propelled the United States into the Spanish-American War, from which it emerged a global power, a nation equipped for a new century.

     * * *

     HOODOO means bad luck, cursed.

     GUERRILLA WARFARE means surprise attacks!

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     EXPANSIONISTS believe in increasing their country's economic or political power over other countries!

     ALLEGIANCE means loyalty.

     GOADED means forced.

     FABRICATED means invented, made up!

     An EFFIGY is a crude representation or someone or something. It is usually ridiculed and destroyed in public.

     Here, CONCEDED means gave in to.

SIRS Discoverer ® on the WebCopyright © 2009 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.

TIME FOR KIDS WORLD REPORT EDITION (Vol. 12, No. 3) Sept. 15, 2006, pp. 4-5

Used with permission from Time For Kids Magazine, September 15, 2006. For more information about Time For Kids, call us at: (800) 777-8600 or send us a fax at: (800) 777-3400.

11

A Larger-Than-Life PresidentBy Nellie Gonzalez Cutler

• Theodore Roosevelt took office 105 years ago this week. He changed America

     Theodore Roosevelt stares down from Mount Rushmore, in South Dakota. He is surrounded by giants: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt is the only 20th-century President whose face is carved on the mountain. He was sworn in as the 26th President on September 14, 1901. At age 42, he was the youngest man ever to hold the office. Today, 105 years later, changes made during his presidency still influence foreign policy, business, environmentalism and more. Who was this legendary American?

     (See picture, "Mount Rushmore.")

The Making of a Hero

     As a young boy, T.R. suffered from asthma. He was considered too "delicate" for school and was educated at home. His father, Theodore Sr., insisted that T.R. exercise. "Make your own body," he urged his son. T.R. took up boxing and wrestling, and built up his stamina.

     Throughout his life, Roosevelt was drawn to challenges (see The Self-Made Man). At 22, he climbed Matterhorn, a 14,692-foot mountain in Europe. As a police commissioner in New York City, he took on bad guys. During the Spanish-American War, he led the charge at the battle of San Juan, in Cuba, and came home a hero. After he left politics, he set out to explore the Amazon rain forest.

     (See picture, "Roosevelt, Theodore.")

     T.R. was more than a politician. He was a writer, a historian, an explorer and a naturalist. He was the first President to make protecting the environment a political issue. He created the U.S. Forest Service and set aside for generations to come 150 national forests, 51 national wildlife refuges, 18 national monuments and five national parks.

A Square Deal for All

     Early in his presidency, Roosevelt, a Republican, decided that it was the government's responsibility to control big business. He went after the railroad companies and other corporations that were competing unfairly. "We must demand that big business give the people a square deal," he later wrote. In his second term, T.R. pushed through the Pure Food and Drug Act and a meat-inspection law. Both laws still help consumers.

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A Man, a Plan, a Canal, Panama

     During T.R.'s presidency, the U.S. emerged as a world power. In 1904, he proclaimed the Roosevelt Corollary. The U.S., he said, "must keep order" in North and South America.

     Roosevelt believed that the U.S. should be a global force, too. After Russia and Japan went to war, T.R. persuaded the two nations to send representatives to peace talks in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He convinced the countries to end their war, and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

     But, as T.R. saw it, "by far the most important action" he had taken in foreign affairs was building the Panama Canal, a vital shipping shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 1903, the U.S. signed a treaty with the new nation of Panama. It took 10 years and $387 million to dig the canal across 50 miles of jungle. "This is one of the great works of the world," Roosevelt told workers at the construction site. "It is greater than you yourselves at the moment realize."

     At that moment, Roosevelt may not have realized how great a President he had become. "I have used every ounce of power there was in the office," he wrote. "I do not believe that any President has ever enjoyed himself as much."

With TIME reporting

The Self-Made Man1858

     On October 27, Theodore Roosevelt is born in New York City.

1886

     Two years after the birth of his daughter Alice and death of his first wife, T.R. marries his childhood friend Edith Carow. They will have five children: Theodore Jr., Kermit, Ethel, Archibald and Quentin.

     (See picture, "Roosevelt Family.")

1898

     At the start of the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt resigns as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to join the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. They are known as the Rough Riders. Later that year, T.R. is elected governor of New York.

1900

     Roosevelt runs for Vice President on President William McKinley's ticket. After McKinley's assassination in 1902, T.R. becomes President.

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1904

     Roosevelt is elected President.

1905

     T.R. establishes the U.S. Forest Service. Later, he signs the National Monuments Act, which allows the President to protect sites like California's Muir Woods.

     (See picture, "Roosevelt, Theodore, with John Muir.")

1906

     With his wife, Edith, T.R. visits construction of the Panama Canal. He is the first President to leave the country while in office. On December 10, T.R. wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending a war between Japan and Russia.

1907

     Roosevelt orders the "Great White Fleet," 16 Navy battleships, to sail around the world. The 14-month journey shows off U.S. naval power.

1909

     After leaving office, T.R. travels to Africa with his son Kermit. They spend a year hunting animals.

1912

     Roosevelt runs for President on the Progressive party ticket. In October, he is shot while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but survives. Democrat Woodrow Wilson wins the election.

1913

     T.R. and Kermit set out to explore Brazil's "River of Doubt."

1919

     On January 6, T.R. dies at his home, Sagamore Hill, in Oyster Bay, New York. He is 60 years old.

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TIME FOR KIDS WORLD REPORT EDITION Sept. 14, 2007, Vol. 13, No. 3, p. 2

Used with permission from TIME For Kids Magazine, Sept. 14, 2007. For more information about TIME For Kids, call us at: (800) 777-8600 or send us a fax at: (800) 777-3400.

14

A Plan for Panama's Canal     In the small Central American country of Panama last week, an explosion blasted away part of a hillside. And then cheers and balloons went up! The blast was the first step of a plan to enlarge the Panama Canal. Politicians from several countries, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, were there to celebrate the groundbreaking.

     Since 1914, the canal, a narrow man-made channel, has been a vital waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The 50-mile-long canal was the most expensive and ambitious construction project of its time. It took more than 30 years to complete. Tens of thousands of workers had to battle blistering heat, accidents and tropical diseases as they dynamited their way through rain forest-covered mountains. To allow ships to navigate the channel, engineers also built dams and lakes and created a series of huge concrete holding tanks called locks.

     (See picture, "Container Ship in the Panama Canal.")

     Before the original canal was built, a boat traveling from New York to California had to go all the way around the tip of South America. The canal cut three weeks and 9,000 miles off the journey! Back then, ocean-going ships were smaller. When the new canal is complete, today's larger ships will also be able to take the shortcut.

     The work will take eight years. "We are witnesses to an exceptional and unique act," said Panama's president, Martin Torrijos, just after the ceremonial blast.

KNOW YOUR WORLD EXTRAFeb. 2, 2007, Vol. 40, No. 8, pp. 8-9

Copyright © Weekly Reader Corporation. Feb. 2, 2007. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

On the Fence• Should the U.S. government build a fence on its border with Mexico?

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     Immigrants have played a large part in this country's history. However, illegal immigration is a problem. Illegal immigrants come into a country without permission. An estimated 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States. More than half of them are from Mexico.

     In 2006, President George W. Bush signed a law authorizing the building of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border. The fence is meant to stop illegal emigration from Mexico. It could cost $2 billion and wouldn't be finished until 2008.

     (See picture, "Map: Proposed Areas for U.S.-Mexico Border Fences.")

     Some people don't want the fence built. They say it will cause deaths if people try to climb it and fall. Critics also say that it won't solve the problem of illegal immigration. Douglas Rivlin, the spokesperson for the National Immigration Forum in Washington, D.C., told Extra that a fence "doesn't make much sense" because people will go over or around it.

     Others say a fence can protect our country. Jesus Rodriguez, the spokesperson for the Border Patrol in Tucson, Arizona, wants a fence to be built. He says it is possible for illegal immigrants to bring in drugs and weapons of mass destruction. He believes that a fence will help protect this country.

     What do you think? Should the United States put up a 700-mile fence on its border with Mexico?

No!

     A fence is going too far.

     • If people really want to get into the U.S., a fence isn't going to stop them.

     • Cameras and patrol cars are cheaper than a fence.

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     • People should be allowed to seek better lives in this country.

Yes!

     The U.S. needs to protect its borders.

     • Immigrants should come here legally.

     • The fence will help keep out illegal immigrants.

     • Illegal immigrants can bring crime and drugs into the United States.

Know Your Words     The words defined here are in the story above.

     immigration (ih•mih•GRAY•shun) the act of coming into a country

     emigration (eh•mih•GRAY•shun) the act of leaving a country

CRINKLESMarch/April 2004, pp. 39-42

Copyright © 2004, CRINKLES. Published by LMS Associates LLC. March/April 2004, pp. 39-42. http://www.crinkles.com.

The Irish Potato FamineIt struck suddenly and silently. It quickly turned deadly.

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By Denice Baldetti

     In 1845 the isle of Ireland was hit with the greatest disaster ever. Tragedy struck the island when Ireland's potato crop failed. Ireland, an emerald green country located west of Great Britain, depended upon the potato as a staple food crop for their poor. When a potato blight ruined the potato harvest for several years, the results were catastrophic. Over a million people in this small country died of starvation. Within six years, over one million more people had abandoned their country in search of new lands.

The Potato Blight

     In the fall of 1845 the potato blight struck. A mysterious disease attacked the potato crops. The upper leaves of the potato plant were covered with black spots. White mold grew underneath the leaves. The potatoes themselves looked normal on the outside. However, the insides of the potato quickly turned to a stinking black mush. The fungus spread quickly from field to field when spores traveled by wind and insects.

     The blight first reached Europe in the spring of 1845, probably traveling though shipments of infected seeds. When the late potato harvest was gathered in October, it was discovered at least a third of the crop was ruined by the blight.

     Not all the potatoes were destroyed in the harvest that fall. Most people made it through the winter. The following spring, in 1846, farmers replanted their saved potato tubers. However, what they did not know was that some hidden fungus strains still remained. When the weather turned warm and rainy, the blight reared its ugly head once again. The warm, moist conditions proved ideal for the blight to spread. This time three quarters of the crops were lost. 1847 was the worst year of the blight. It earned the bleak nickname Black '47.

Famine

     Loss of potato crops resulted in hunger on a grand scale. Along with hunger, came starvation and disease. The pains of hunger quickly spread. Families desperately tried to save what few potatoes they had left by peeling away the rotting sections, and making them into potato bread. But this bread caused horrible stomach cramps and dysentery (an infection of the intestines that causes severe diarrhea). Next, families were forced to kill their pigs and cows for food. When the animals were gone, they turned to eating snails, seaweed, weeds, flowers, or whatever they could find.

Diseases Strike

     As people became weaker, their bodies fell prey to horrible and often fatal diseases. Typhus (a bacterial disease with symptoms of high fever, headaches, and a dark red rash), yellow fever (an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of a mosquito), and dysentery were common diseases. Scurvy and exophthalmia were two of the most dreaded diseases. Both of these diseases were caused by a lack of vitamin C and vitamin A.

     The hardest hit were Ireland's poorest peoples. However, even middle and upper class people were affected, when they tried to aid the sick. Doctors, priests, public employees, and concerned citizens, all who came into contact with diseased folks, were affected by the horrible consequences of the potato blight.

     How were famine and diseases related? When starving and exhausted people became too weak, they couldn't clean their homes, their bedding, their cooking utensils, or themselves. The growing build-up of dirty living conditions encouraged the spread of disease. When people became very sick, they were much too weak to plant new crops. No crops meant no food.

Escape by Sea

     As people in Ireland began to realize the horror of what was happening, they searched for an escape route. Many chose emigration. In 1846, 51,752 Irish people immigrated to the United States. The next year that number had more than doubled. Between 1846 and 1851, over a million people were driven out of Ireland, seeking a new life. Many Irish sailed to Canada, England, Wales, Scotland, and Australia. But the greatest number made their way over to the United States.

The Price of Sea Travel

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     The story of the great Irish Potato Famine has another sad part. Many people crowded to get on board ships sailing to a new country. However, conditions on board most ships were very bad. Passengers were supposed to take food on board for their journey. Very few had any food. The ships were crowded, hunger had struck again, and there were shortages of clean water and sanitary facilities. As a result, many thousands of emigrants died along the way from starvation and disease.

     The most illnesses at sea occurred in 1847. The death rate aboard ships was usually around 15 percent. In 1847, the numbers rose to 40 percent in some ships. Typhus fever spread in the overcrowded hulks, killing thousands of people who tried to make the voyage. This high death toll earned the ships the frightening nickname of "coffin ships."

Shocks Await New Arrivals

     The Irish people making the journey across the sea, encountered more shocks upon their arrival in a new land. Swindlers regularly cheated new arrivals out of the few possessions they had brought with them. Living conditions in crowded city slums were very bad. There was much hostility from Americans. Workingmen saw the Irish men as rivals for their unskilled jobs.

     Boston and New York were two major port cities where many Irish immigrants landed and settled. For a while, the crime rates in these areas were very high.

An Irish Legacy Today

     Many of the Irish newcomers chose to remain close to the spots where they had first stepped ashore. They didn't have money to travel farther inland, nor were they willing. They chose to remain close to their fellow Irishmen, rather than venture into a country where people were unfamiliar to them. They lived their lives in poverty in crowded slum conditions.

     However, some newcomers were willing to travel. They learned to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new lands. They were hard workers and took on any type of job they could find. Men worked in factories, mines, mills, and sewers. They joined work crews and dug ditches, built homes, factories, and dams. They laid out city streets, installed lighting systems and even shoveled up the droppings of horses. Women were hard workers, too. They worked in textile mills, sewed clothing, cooked and washed dishes in restaurants, and scrubbed office-building floors. Many women even found work as household help in wealthy homes.

     For decades the Irish struggled to work and survive. Their battle for survival was made even more difficult because of their religion. They were Roman Catholic. In the mid-1800s, the primary religious group in the United States was Protestant. The American people greeted incoming Irish Catholic people with hostility.

     As the Irish-American communities took root, they began to better themselves. Eventually the Irish immigrants earned their place in America, as they became more prosperous and gained the respect of Americans.

DALLAS MORNING NEWS(Dallas, TX)April 13, 2006, n.p.

Copyright © 2006 Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services. April 13, 2006. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

Two Teens Talk About Immigration

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By Nancy ChurninThe Dallas Morning News

     Waving Mexican flags and holding signs, hundreds of Dallas area high school students marched out of school last week to protest proposed laws that would crack down on illegal immigration.

     

     There are more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., according to the Pew Hispanic Center. (That's more than the entire population of Portugal, 10.6 million people.)

     Illegal immigrants can come from all countries. They arrive by plane, boat, car or foot. Many cross the Mexico border, a 2,000-mile stretch, and enter Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or California without the U.S. government's permission.

     In December, the House of Representatives approved a resolution that would treat illegal immigrants as felons, or serious criminals. The proposal calls for a 700-mile fence to be built along the U.S.-Mexico border. The House also proposed harsher penalties for those who help illegal immigrants.

     (See picture, "Fence Between Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico.")

     Last month, people around the country, including more than 500,000 in Los Angeles, 50,000 in Denver and 20,000 in Phoenix, protested the proposed immigration laws. In Dallas, about 4,000 students protested on March 27 and hundreds more took to City Hall the next day.

     The immigration debate continues as the U.S. Senate considers programs that would make it easier than the House proposal for illegal immigrants to live and work in the United States legally.

     Two students who feel strongly about the immigration issue shared their stories with Dallas Morning News staff writer Nancy Churnin and explained how they chose to stand for their beliefs.

Antonio's Story

     Antonio, 17, of Irving, Texas, does not want his full name published, because he is not in the country legally.

     "I decided to walk out because the immigration laws that are trying to be passed are criminalizing children who were brought here for a better future. I was brought into this country when I was 11 years old. My mother did what she thought was best for me, to have a better education than I would have in Mexico. I had no choice whether to come here or not.

     "When I heard about these laws in the news, I was outraged, I was shocked, I was saying, 'How can they do this when this country was founded by immigrants trying to escape religious persecution?' On Tuesday

20

morning at school, my friend goes, 'Do you want to walk out?' I asked, 'What are we walking out for?' She said, 'Immigration protest.' So I said, 'Sure.' As soon as the bell hit 8:15, we walked out.

     "One of my friends had a Mexican flag and one of my friends had an American flag. I thought my purpose was a peaceful one. It was about standing up for what you believe and speaking your mind. But I regret that some people did not know why they were walking. Some people made fools of themselves with horseplay. I did not walk out again.

     "My mother is afraid. She is thinking about going back to Mexico. But I told her I want to stay in the United States. I want to be a citizen. I don't feel I am Mexican. My life is here. I want to stay here.

     "I want to go to college here. I want to get my education. I want to become a registered nurse and give back to my society here. I have wanted to go to Texas A&M since I was in 10th grade. I have worked my tail off to get in the top 10 percent. I'm taking all these AP classes, and I stay up until 2, 3 and 4 in the morning to study for tests. But now my hopes are going down because I'm not legal and because of the cost. Some people in Congress never think about the students and about who is going to build the economy 10 years from now. Those people are me. Those people are the ones who walked out and knew what they were walking out for."

Miriam's Story

     Miriam Reyes was upset when she heard on the radio about the newly proposed immigration laws.

     "I thought it was unfair to the people who come to the United States looking for a better life," says Miriam, 18, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas.

     She heard about students walking out of school in protest, but she didn't feel that was the right thing to do. She talked to other students, and she talked to her principal. Together, they came up with the idea of an all-day assembly to explain the issues. She and a half-dozen other students spent days organizing the assembly.

     "I felt great afterwards," Miriam says. "I said my opinion, which is that I am against the bill. And I stated all the facts, and how the bill was going to criminalize many people. It's kind of scary to get up there in front of all those people. But I felt really good that our principal was supporting us 100 percent and we were doing the right thing by staying in school."

     Miriam was born in Mexico. She has a green card, making her a legal U.S. resident. She is looking forward to playing soccer at college in the fall, probably on a scholarship. She's deciding among three schools.

     Now that she's turned 18, she can also apply for citizenship. She's looking forward to doing that as soon as possible. But she worries about others who aren't as fortunate.

     "People come here with their dreams, trying to succeed. It's unfair not to give them the opportunity of becoming a United States citizen in the future."

Some Key Events in U.S. Immigration History     The Chinese Exclusion Act: Passed in 1882, it barred Chinese laborers from entering the country for 10 years. The Geary Act extended the ban another 10 years, and other laws extended the ban further. Exclusion laws were repealed in 1943.

     Ellis Island: New immigration station opened in 1892 in New York. For more than six decades it would process nearly 12 million people.

     Immigration Act of 1924: Established quotas that favored those from Britain, Ireland and northern Europe. Greatly reduced the numbers of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. Barred immigration from Asia. The quotas did not apply to Mexico, Canada and other countries in the Western hemisphere.

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• Source: www.ellisisland.com, www.usconstitution.com, www.prdcd.org, www.rapidimmigration.com, www.ourdocuments.gov

CRINKLESNov./Dec. 2002, pp. 16-18

Copyright © 2002, CRINKLES. Published by LMS Associates LLC. November/December 2002, pp. 16-18. http://www.crinkles.com.

The Growth of the Assembly Line in the 1900s

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     Meat packers had used them. In the 1800s, overhead trolleys moved the carcasses along so that butchers in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois, could cut the meat to sell to people in smaller butcher shops.

     The major use of the assembly line really took off with the automobile industry. It was Henry Ford who is credited with full use of the assembly line to produce more inexpensive automobiles. Ford designed his own form of the assembly line in 1913. He felt that such a system should do three things:

     • Move the product through the shop in an orderly and continuous process;

     • Deliver the work to the workman; and

     • Analyze the work so that the operations would be in the right order.

     In order to make the assembly line process work, Ford experimented to make sure he had the correct operations to complete a task. On April 1, 1913, Ford had one workman complete a magneto in the usual way. It took twenty minutes. Then he analyzed the steps and, with the assembly line, was able to cut the time for assembly of the magneto to only five minutes.

     Ford looked at other parts of the process, such as putting the chassis together. Other experiments allowed Ford to place conveyor belts at different heights for more convenience to the workers. Other functions were examined and the assembly line was applied. As the jobs were analyzed, time for production was lowered. As the parts of the automobile took less time to make, the labor costs of making automobiles were reduced. This meant that automobiles could be made more affordably. Many more people might be able to have an automobile.

     Ford's objective was to create affordable cars. He was able to do this on a mass basis with the use of the movable conveyor belt in an assembly line. When other industries saw that Ford made this work and reduced prices, they adopted the process. This helped create an atmosphere of more inexpensive goods in the United States. With more people able to drive, it changed how Americans would live in the twentieth century.

Something to Think About...     Ransom E. Olds had an assembly line in 1901 to improve production of his Oldsmobile. If this carmaker was already using an assembly line, why do history books credit Henry Ford with the development of the assembly line? Hints: Read more about how Henry Ford developed the assembly line. What role did conveyor belts play? What were interchangeable parts?

What Is an Assembly Line?     In the encyclopedia, an assembly line is described as an arrangement of machines or equipment, materials, and workers who complete a job or product in a continuous sequential flow of work.

Many Uses Were Found for the Assembly Line in the 1900s!

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MONKEYSHINES(On Great Inventors)1997, pp. 2-3

"Copyright (c) 1997, by Monkeyshines Publications, P.O. Box 10245, Greensboro, NC 27404, (910) 292-6999. Reprinted with permission. Send for a free catalog."

WHAT IS AN INVENTION? Something Created That Did Not Exist Before.

     Before Thomas Edison created the light bulb, or Alexander Graham Bell began his idea of the telephone, neither item existed. This is part of the definition of an invention.

     It is a new product, device, or process that did not exist in nature before its creation. Inventions usually come about as a result of some human need or an inventor's attempt to make living easier. Inventions do not only come from America, but many different parts of the world.

     INVENTIONS ARE OFTEN CONFUSED WITH DISCOVERIES.

     A discovery is a product or process that already exists, but it is unknown until someone discovers it. For example, rubber is a discovery. It comes from a rubber tree and therefore already existed in nature before someone discovered it.

     A tire, however, is an invention. Charles Goodyear used rubber, a discovery, to make the tire, an invention. Discoveries often lead to important inventions. These inventions in turn can help lead to even more discoveries!

     MOST INVENTIONS ARE A COMBINATION OF OTHER INVENTIONS.

     Our heroes like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Ben Franklin did not just take tools and put together a masterpiece. They improved on other people's ideas and made them useable for a wide number of people.

     Most inventors are not successful with their first attempts at an invention. However, their work enables others to perfect the idea and improve on it.

     Many times the person given credit for an invention did not come up with the idea, but successfully made the idea work. Inventors use creativity, imagination and sometimes luck to invent.

     Inventions go beyond just technology; things like toys, food, sports and musical instruments can also be considered inventions.

     Today most inventions are created by teams of people. Could you imagine someone coming up with the concept of Nintendo or Sega all by themselves?

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UPIJune 17, 1999, n.p.

Copyright (c) 1999 United Press International. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

REPORT: EINSTEIN'S BRAIN WAS LARGERby Michael Smith

     HAMILTON, ONTARIO, JUNE 17 (UPI)--Albert Einstein was smarter than most of us--possibly because a part of his brain involved with visualizing spatial relationships was 15 percent larger than normal.

     Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, discovered the father of the theory of relativity had the unique size and other changes after comparing his brain to 90 normal brains preserved at McMaster.

     McMaster neuroscientist Sandra Witelson reports in Saturday's issue of The Lancet, that the parietal lobes, which are linked to the ability to visualize spatial relationships, are 15 percent wider than average.

     Located just under the crown of the skull, the parietal lobes in Einstein had another unique feature: The part that's normally divided in two was joined together in Einstein's brain.

     "I would term this anatomy unique," she said.

     Other researchers agreed the discovery was unique.

     "The fact that Einstein's brain is so different was really surprising," said Guy McKhann, a neurologist at the Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University.

     But McKhann added that if differences in brain structure imply differences in mental abilities, it makes sense that someone like Einstein--whose mental abilities were highly unusual--would have a noticeably unusual brain anatomy.

     "Here's a person who's at an extreme in one area," McKhann said. "Is his brain different? It turns out that it is." But that finding may not account for the differences between people of more normal abilities, he said.

     Witelson also cautioned against taking the finding too far. "This is one case....All we have is one extraordinary mind and a brain that has one unique feature," she said.

     Witelson said the finding may spur more research into the links between brain structure and intellectual abilities, which is her major area of study. But she said researchers are unlikely to find simple links, such as brain size or volume.

     "If we're going to try to relate brain anatomy or chemistry to particular aspects of intelligence, we're going to have to look at subsections," she said.

     Einstein, who overturned classical physics with his general and special theories of relativity, died in 1955 of a ruptured aorta. His brain was removed and preserved by Dr. Thomas Harvey, who worked with Witelson on the new study.

     Since Einstein's death and the initial examination of his brain, Witelson said, there has been no overall study of its anatomy. A 1985 study looked at the microscopic structure of two regions, the frontal and the parietal lobes.

     The bank of preserved normal brains that she and colleagues have collected at McMaster made the most recent study possible.

26

     "We had an excellent control group," she said--something that has been missing in earlier attempts to link intellectual abilities to brain structure.

     Using parts of the preserved brain, as well as measurements and photographs taken by Harvey in 1955, Witelson showed that a major feature--horizontal grooves on each side called the Sylvian fissures--was unusual in Einstein.

     In the control brains, the fissures turn upward into the parietal lobes, dividing an area called the supramarginal gyrus into two parts, she said. But in Einstein's brain, the fissures turn early and don't divide the area.

     "This arrangement...strongly suggests the connectivity within the region may be somewhat different," Witelson said. "That could have conferred some sort of advantage" to Einstein's scientific thought, she added.

     The general theory of relativity was primarily a new idea of how space and time are constructed, so that it made sense that if there were differences in Einstein's brain, Witelson said, they might be found in the parietal lobes, because of their links to spatial imagination.

     Einstein himself once said that his way of thinking about physics used "more or less clear images" rather than words.

     Although the anatomy of the brain is more or less complete at birth, Witelson cautioned against taking the finding to mean that genetic inheritance is all there is to intelligence. "We're not born as a tabula rasa, with all things possible," she said.

     "There are constraints. But there's no question that environment is a relevant factor in intelligence and learning." She said the effects of environment might be found in microscopic studies of brain tissue.

     Witelson added that modern imaging techniques raise the possibility of correlating brain structure and intellectual abilities in living people.

     She also said that understanding such links may someday improve medical care for people who suffer strokes, which can cause serious brain damage, usually to just one side of the brain.

     "Why doesn't the comparable region on the other side take over?" she said. "We don't know." But a clearer understanding of the brain might point the way to inducing other regions to pick up the slack for damaged areas, Witelson said.

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JUNIOR SCHOLASTICNov. 24, 2003, pp. 8+

Copyright © Scholastic Inc. November 24, 2003.  All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Teens in SweatshopsBy Victor Landauro

• Who made the clothes you're wearing? Was it someone your age?

     "Rats were running all over the place. It was impossible not to step on them," Erica C. remembers. When she complained, she says, her boss told her to "shut up, get back to work, or quit."

     In 2000, Erica, then 18 and an illegal immigrant from Mexico, had few options. So she stayed at her job as a seamstress. Erica worked in a garment (clothing) factory in Los Angeles, California, that supplied shirts to Forever 21, a teen-fashion company.

     Earning $250 dollars, or less, for a 50-hour workweek meant that survival was a struggle.

     "I'd work 12 hours a day without any break," Erica told JS. "The bathrooms were disgusting and full of cockroaches. But I had to work. I needed money for rent, for food."

     Erica was later fired from her job after working 60-hour weeks during the Christmas shopping season. She says she was dismissed for complaining that she did not receive her overtime pay.

What Is a Sweatshop?

     U.S. laws protect worker safety and guarantee minimum hourly wages (currently set at $5.15 an hour for most U.S. jobs). Still, many businesses operate "sweatshops" to increase company profits at laborers' expense.

     "A sweatshop is any business that uses child labor, pays substandard [below minimum] wages, or creates an unsafe workplace," says Darlene Atkins of the National Consumers League, a nonprofit

advocacy (support) group. "It involves a lot of different products, not just clothing. There are sweatshops for shoes, toys, jewelry, sporting goods, fruits and vegetables, and just about any kind of product."

     Today, most U.S. sweatshops employ adults and illegal immigrants. The increased scrutiny (attention) from U.S. authorities has deterred sweatshop owners from hiring child laborers. According to Atkins, young workers are used mostly in sweatshops in Asia and South America.

     (See picture, "Maquila: Sweatshop in Guatemala.")

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     "Many of the countries in those areas do have child labor laws. But there's not a lot of political will to enforce them," says Atkins.

     In recent years, several well-known clothing brands, including the Gap, have been accused either of operating or profiting from sweatshops in the U.S. and overseas.

     "No factory is perfect," admits Dan Henkle, a Gap Inc. executive.

     In response to charges that the Gap profits from sweatshop labor, the company designed a "Code of Vendor Conduct" to ensure workers' rights. Should a manufacturer fail to comply with these principles over time, Henkle told JS, the Gap will cease to do business with that factory.

"People Are Afraid"

     Jeanne Zhuo's family immigrated to New York City from China in the 1980s. At age 13, she began to work at the same garment sweatshop as her mom, aunt, and other relatives.

     "It was very crowded," Jeanne says. "In the summer, there was no [air conditioning]. A lot of machines gave off heat, [and] the windows were always closed. It got so hot, it was hard to breathe."

     Today, Jeanne works as an investigator for the New York State Department of Labor. She inspects garment factories throughout New York City.

     "I know how bad life can be [in a sweatshop]," she says. "People are afraid to speak up, to stand up for their rights."

     According to the department, about 50 percent of the city's 4,000 garment factories violate (break) the minimum-wage laws. Last year, the department recovered more than $3 million in back wages for sweatshop workers.

The Struggle Continues

     Today, Erica C. is 21 and continues to work as a seamstress, but for another company. She likes her new job and says that she is paid fairly. In 2002, Erica won part of a legal settlement from Forever 21.

     But many other sweatshop workers are not as fortunate. In 2000, Antonio M. worked in a garden-hose factory in Brooklyn, New York. An illegal immigrant, Antonio, 42, was earning about $300 dollars a week for 50 hours of work.

     One night, he went to the hospital with a bloody nose. Doctors told him that exposure to the factory's toxic chemicals had damaged his kidneys.

     "No one ever warned me about the chemicals," says Antonio. "A friend I worked with is now dead [from the exposure]. Another is dying in a hospital. I need a new set of kidneys or the same will happen to me."

     Make the Road by Walking, an advocacy group in New York City, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Antonio. Any financial award or settlement he receives will go toward his urgently needed transplant.

     "This is injustice," says Antonio. "What happened to me shouldn't happen to anyone. They didn't pay me much when I worked there [at the factory]. And now, I'm the one who's paying."

Global Exchange     www.globalexchange.org

Your Turn

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Word Match

     1. garment               A. support     2. substandard           B. attention     3. advocacy              C. break     4. scrutiny              D. below minimum     5. violate               E. clothing

Think About It

     Were the clothes, games, or sports equipment you bought recently made in a sweatshop? How could you find out?

Background     Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. The set of laws established a minimum wage and eventually reduced the workweek to 40 hours for most U.S. employees. The act also required that laborers who worked overtime got paid wages at a rate of 1½ times their regular pay scale. In addition, the act banned children 15 years old or younger from working in factories during school hours.

Thinking Skills     Main Idea: What is a "sweatshop"?

     Making Connections: Why do some businesses operate sweatshops?

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WEEKLY READER SENIOR EDITION(Vol. 84, No. 18)Feb. 10, 2006, pp. 2+

Special Permission granted by WEEKLY READER ®, published by Weekly Reader Corporation. Copyright © 2006, by Weekly Reader Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

The

Ghosts of Angel Island• A new museum will shine light on the lesser-known story of Chinese immigration to the United States.

     In 1934, 12-year-old Wong Kai Chong leaves everything he knows in China and travels to the United States to join his father. When he lands in San Francisco, he is detained on Angel Island, an immigration station off the coast of California. Kai is shoved into crowded barracks and fed soggy rice.

     (See picture, "Hospital at Angel Island Immigration Station.")

     During his stay, Kai is interrogated. "What is the name of your village in China?" the immigration officer barks. "How many rooms were there in your house? What did the chairs look like?" Kai knows that his answers must match what his father said before him. If they don't, he will be sent back to China.

     Kai's experience is detailed in the book Kai's Journey to Gold Mountain. The story depicts the difficult passage of more than 175,000 Chinese immigrants through Angel Island from 1910 to 1940. The people suffered harsh conditions to immigrate to the United States.

     In December, President George W. Bush signed the Angel Island Immigration Station Restoration and Preservation Act to help commemorate the immigrants' difficult journey. The legislation provides up to $15 million to establish a museum and research center on the island.

Hospital at Angel Island Immigration Station

Ailing immigrants bunked in this room in the Angel Island hospital. Officials plan to renovate this building.

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On the Border

     Chinese people didn't always have difficulty entering the United States. The earliest Chinese immigrants arrived during the California gold rush in the late 1840s and 1850s. They called their new home Gam Saan, or "Gold Mountain."

     But as the number of Chinese immigrants rose, Americans became less welcoming. In 1882, the U.S. government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, making it almost impossible for Chinese workers to enter the United States.

     Immigration officials detained newly arrived Chinese families at Angel Island while they decided whether the people should be allowed to enter the United States. The process was dramatically different from that of Ellis Island--the New York entry port for European immigrants.

     (See picture, "Map: Angel Island, California.")

     On Ellis Island, more than 90 percent of travelers were processed immediately and allowed into the country. On Angel Island, however, Chinese immigrants were held for weeks, months, and sometimes years. After interrogation, more than 30 percent of those immigrants were sent back to China.

Powerful Poetry

     Angel Island's doors closed in 1940 when China and the United States became allies during World War II (1939-1945). The island's main immigration station was scheduled to be demolished in the 1970s until a park ranger found poetry engraved in its walls.

     "The Chinese immigrants used poetry...to leave their mark on the island," says Charles Egan, a professor at San Francisco State University. "When you walk through the hallways of the immigration station, you are surrounded by the ghosts of these people."

     The poems describe the despair, frustration, and sadness that many people felt at Angel Island. Because the poems were written in Chinese characters, immigration officers had dismissed them as graffiti and covered them with paint. Since 1980, Egan and his team have uncovered more than 60 poems. (See The Poems They Left Behind.)

A Brighter Future

     Next year, Angel Island's main buildings will reopen to the public, and the poems will be illuminated for all to see.

     Angel Island Immigration Foundation members also hope to create a museum and visitor center to help tell stories like Kai's.

     "Angel Island shows a different, but equally important, side of immigration," foundation member Erika Gee told Senior Edition. "We hope that Angel Island becomes a bookend to Ellis Island."

The Poems They Left Behind     Historians recently found this poem carved in Chinese characters on a wall on Angel Island.

     It's been a long time since I left my home village

     Who could know I'd end up imprisoned in a wooden building?

     I'm heartsick when I see my reflection, my handkerchief is soaked in tears

Map: Angel Island, California

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     I ask you, what crime did I commit to deserve this?

     --Li Hai of Nancun, Taishan

Before You Read     Ask students: What are reasons people immigrate? What are some of the obstacles that immigrants face? Have you or anyone in your family moved to the United States from another country? What was the immigration experience like?

Word Watch     barracks--large buildings for temporary occupancy

     Ellis Island--an island in New York Harbor that was the main reception area for immigrants entering the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Share Information     • The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first law in U.S. history to target a specific ethnic group. Beginning with the Chinese Exclusion Act, a series of laws, including the Immigration Act of 1917 and the Immigration Act of 1924, prohibited the immigration of certain nationalities of Asians. Although all Asians were affected, the greatest impact was on Chinese immigrants.

     • U.S. officials could not keep out Chinese who had become citizens of the United States because their fathers already were citizens. Hence, any Chinese person who could prove U.S. citizenship through his or her father could not be denied entry. Some of those without true fathers in the United States bought false papers identifying them as children of American citizens.

     • In 1941, the immigration station at Angel Island was turned into North Garrison of Fort McDowell. When the United States entered World War II (1939-1945), the old detention barracks became a prisoner-of-war processing center, and German and Japanese prisoners were processed there before being sent to permanent camps.

     • In 1943, Congress passed the Magnuson Act, which repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Magnuson Act allowed Chinese people to become naturalized citizens, but it limited Chinese immigrants to 105 a year until the Immigration Act of 1965 was passed.

     • In 1997, the Angel Island Immigration Station was declared a National Historic Landmark. In March 2000, California voters passed a state bond measure that set aside $15 million specifically for restoration of the Angel Island Immigration Station.

Think Critically     How did immigration in the past differ from immigration today? Should the U.S. government restrict immigration today? Why or why not?

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TIME FOR KIDSJan. 31, 1997, pp. 4-6

Used with permission from TIME for Kids Magazine, January 31,1997. For more information about TIME for Kids, call us at:(800) 777-8600 or send us a fax at: (800) 777-3400.

REACHING FOR THE AMERICAN DREAMTough New Laws May Make It Harder forImmigrants to Make It Here

     Traveling at night and in secret, the small group walked for hours in the bitter cold. A smuggler had promised he would get them into the U.S. safely. But the travelers grew tired and weak. The smuggler, who had taken their money, abandoned them. Two weeks ago, their bodies were found in a wilderness area not far from San Diego. The three Mexicans had lost their lives in a centuries-old struggle to achieve the American Dream.

     Every day people brave hardships to enter the U.S., legally or illegally. They come by car, plane, boat and on foot. An immigrant arrives in the U.S. every 42 seconds. The U.S. offers the promise of wealth and freedom--but the journey is hard. Sometimes the reality of life here is harder still.

     Last summer a government report revealed that nearly 1 in 11 Americans were born in a foreign land--the highest proportion since 1940. Many Americans were alarmed by this news. The increase in immigration was the result, in part, of a law passed in 1990. This law made it easier for people with more education and skills to enter the U.S.

     But along with legal immigration, there has been an increase in illegal entry. Some 300,000 illegal aliens slip into the U.S. every year. They place a burden on the country's resources by collecting welfare benefits and attending public schools. Many Americans complain that illegals rob Americans of jobs and often do not pay taxes.

     Laws are getting tougher. A new welfare law makes it more difficult for immigrants to receive benefits. On October 3, President Bill Clinton signed a bill that makes it harder to enter the U.S. legally and harder still for illegals to gain legal status. Congress has given the nation's immigration agency a record $3.1 billion budget. Some of the money will be used to police U.S. borders and keep illegal immigrants out.

     NEW TARGETS, OLD PREJUDICES

     Although the President has signed stricter laws, in his Inaugural Address he warned this nation of immigrants: "Each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt...have nearly destroyed us in the past. They plague us still."

     Manuel Barreto, 39, who arrived from Ecuador 10 years ago, is concerned about the tough new laws and attitudes. After years of struggling, Barreto has found a job and a house near New York City. He has brought his wife and 14-year-old son into the U.S., but they are here illegally. He worries every day that someone at his son's school will report the boy as an illegal immigrant. He fears that new laws will make it harder than ever to become an American. "I feel afraid of the people who are against immigrants," he says.

     Generations of newcomers have shared this fear. Until 1820, the government did not keep track of immigration. The first immigration office was created in 1864 to encourage immigration. In the 1880s laws were passed with the purpose of controlling immigration and keeping out undesirable aliens.

     Between 1815 and 1914 more than 30 million Europeans settled in the U.S. The percentage of foreign-born Americans in 1910 was 14.7%, the highest ever. Many newcomers were met with hatred. Irish people looking for work were often greeted by the sign NO IRISH NEED APPLY. Hostility kept the Chinese from many jobs. They couldn't become citizens. A 1790 law stated that citizenship was for whites only.

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     FINDING THE DREAM

     Now immigrants are being met with renewed hostility. In California anti-immigrant feelings are especially strong. Two years ago, Californians voted for a law intended to deny illegal immigrants health-care services and public education. "California," says immigration lawyer Elaine Morley, "is sending a message that certain foreign people are not welcome here."

     Joy Chang (not her real name) is fortunate. It looks as if she will be permitted to remain in the U.S. Chang was born in China and arrived in the U.S. last year. She has applied for "political asylum." Asylum, or shelter, is given to refugees who face persecution in their native land. China does not allow families to have more than one child. Chang had a daughter and was pregnant again. She faced a tough choice: stay in China and be punished or leave.

     The Xiquin (Chee-KEEN) family also sought asylum in the U.S. Carmelita, 35, and Mariano, 39, are Mayan Indians from a small city in Guatemala. They fled their country because they feared government persecution of Mayans. Carmelita and Mariano were forced to leave behind their four children (Julio, 15; Maria, 13; Juana, 12; and Angela, 11). This year, after many struggles, the family was reunited.

     The Xiquins have found the American Dream. They just moved into a three-bedroom house in a working-class neighborhood in Houston. Their four-month-old baby Edy is an American. Maria and Juana are honor students. "Life has been hard, but our dream is to have a normal home and not be scared," says Carmelita. Mariano agrees, "I have my dream now that we are together."

                               * * *

     AMERICA'S NEWCOMERS

     30,000 B.C.

     WHO: Paleo-Indians     WHY: While searching for shaggy bison (for food), America's first settlers walk across the land bridge that connects Asia to North America.

     A.D. 1565

     WHO: Spaniards     WHY: Adventurers and explorers seek the New World's treasures and build the first permanent European settlement in St. Augustine, Florida.

     1607

     WHO: Britons     WHY: The British also want the New World's riches. They build their first permanent settlement in Jamestown, Virginia.

     1600s

     WHO: Africans     WHY: They are kidnapped and forced to work in the British colonies. The slave trade continues until 1808.

     1750

     WHO: Welsh, Germans, French, Swedes and Finns     WHY: These immigrants want religious freedom. They settle in Pennsylvania, the Carolinas and Delaware.

     1830-1870s

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     WHO: Germans, Irish, Britons, Canadians and Chinese     WHY: Looking for a better life and freedom, newcomers settle along the Eastern seaboard and in the Midwest. Large numbers of Irish flee the misery and starvation caused by a famine in Ireland. Chinese newcomers seek their fortune on the West Coast.

     1880-1920

     WHO: Italians and Eastern Europeans     WHY: The new arrivals seek wealth and freedom. In 1891 the first federal immigration agency is started. The bureau opens 24 inspection stations, including Ellis Island in 1892.

     1921

     WHO: Canadians, Mexicans, Germans and Italians     WHY: Congress passes a law limiting the number of immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. from specific countries. These limits, based on the existing U.S. population, are called quotas. They give special treatment to the ethnic groups that already have a large population in the U.S.

     1952

     A new law called the McCarran-Walter Act is passed. The total number of immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. is set at 154,657 a year. Some nationalities are more welcome than others.

     1965 TO PRESENT

     WHO: Mexicans, Cubans, Asians (Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Koreans), citizens of the former U.S.S.R.     WHY: Quotas by country are ended by the Immigration Act of 1965. The doors open for a new wave of immigrants searching for greater opportunity and freedom.

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