England's Sweated Women Workers.
"i'o   Kclitor :vf the Democrat anil  Chi'ouit .!':
Sir:    The    antics  of    the   extremist among tJio suffragettes in Kugland have 'ties: meal:" for the flippant paragrapher . on both sides of the Atlantic, but sincgjj the  "Song    of the Shirr"  was written* "mere  man''  in  the  British   Parliament :hs had ample opportunity to do a great den! for the sweated women workers and has  failed  to  do  so.     I  enclose   an   extract of a letter from  a friend of wine in  Scotland,   who  with  her  husband   is deeply interested in adult classes which are  being  established   in  Britain   uitd(>r the auspices of the  Society  of   Friends.
The classes fire  nndenorninaiional  ai:'l ; have for their object the helping ol: the pool" to  help  themselves  along   Ilie   line of food values, sanitary mailers, aud  in obtaining   better   conditions   of   employ- j went and woman suffrage.    I  hope you ; will publish it: as ii: may give .voiir large : circle  of  readers   an   idea   of   wliai    : Ii" V moderate aud saner of tho women  who I desire the suffrage are striving for. Say* j the  writer:                    '                               !
"To-day everybody    knows  about.  Hie sweating system.    We have had a   Koyal j Commission   and  a  seleet  committee   al \ work,  bu(-  so  far     very   lillle  has   licit  done  to lighten   ihe  i-oiidilions  "f   i.h<i>e most   concerned,     viz:   ihe   unroriunuie victims  of  the   swelling   tirms.     V\~.   .1. ; Hobson  in  his   book.   Problem   ni'   ]\iv erty/   shows   u.s   thai,   the   evils   ul'   ih" ; system,  press     more" heavily   on.'women than,  on   men.     '.The     hours   worked   in I home  industries are often over ten. and j very often  as  many  as  fourteen  hears per day.    These hours represent only a part  of   the   woman's   working   day.   ss she i usually cook and housekeeper besides, ;in-:J in most eases has to take her work io and from   the workshop or factory.
"The sweating business is mainly ear- j ried on in what are known os the unpr >- j tectwl trades,   ruder this heading come I
''s making shinning. (,,rset ,n,,k-
'-     1-okk,,,,,,,,,.,     ,,1(l     ,IlllU;1V,0lll.m
-.,.   ,,,;ls.         nirmingham and n,osf:
""n   .ilr- '"""<  ''--'V"  l""jr  had   (hou-
"; "'   ^veal,',!  workers,  and  now <!.
 r vf v ""'us Ji;irfi fiiow''1^- 'H
,   Z^:'t         OVh* ni1^ f'e astern. "    '"ilk   oJ   who,,,   Hv<.  cheerless  lives
vl1.^."", '1:1'-''   '"' "   m,,v  pittance,     in
'J, '.'"'"   <[<:  <   il.e  .hief  home  in-
,         '" s   ;V""-'1 = "? I.....ks and eyes. Vevv
I "'"' ih" llIik"^  wo:-!,;,^ (ill n,,.;, ,j,(,..
,'"' -'';": i>]<-<<^- .-i.id ihci,- ,.Ves Fll;v
j- Me,He .-..... paid is Scents, (heaver-
I ;'".'   "'J'Kly earunig* ,,r a  v.-oiu-.u  .-.,.-,]..,. |S;'.V!'(-l!IT    ""  '   Mcnowofi,
,   '".......>-      ''"'   iiiakin-      iadies'    i.j.-;,!   !
^'sses. inll'-d.-md I n,,,,,,,,!  wil 1, feather' r,    in','"   lriTnii"--   ">"   ^...U.M-s   r,,eiv,
.tn,",:-1;::1;;";';::; .';;", tr!;-1^!
<l Per dojjea  trinnm'cl.'and'plain!  ^' I "   r1 (-eil(s Per dozen: il,,. women nsi,," ^r^fr-^'-'^ineandUn'e^'A
1" ' 'i  a  poor 1,-oman >vl,o has ). ,,.,v           "-WHlMhn, c,,i!,,ren.     Since  i,',: |
    ."^"-    J(11    Jierst-U    iiiid    iilile   one-    I,.- '
ln makia-    Swinw ...-u-lr i,, ,., m.(l.  ' I.
nV^v"rvli;rht;iEii:pM';K
!                   '      '   ''     S1"'   souiermies   mr-as i.
onl: eighteen dozen shirts jiev week, mid | 1 hj> wa.cos slip gels .fi'oni a   reckless  ::eii-erous Iimi  is at   Ihe rate of  )<> <-fiiis ])i'r doze".
"Anoliier puui: woman with an invalid husband and four young children had jjM|^*n)U;- to keep the wolf from riie." ^^^^HP s'r'r' making, and one day. ll^^^nr ' of des])eralioii, Ihe ciiidioai'd being bare and the children starving, slio pawned part of the work she had done, hoping to be able io redeem ii in iirne to lake to the factory. She was, however, unable to do so and was nrrosred for theft. Suffering from nervous exhaustion, brought on by want of food .and want of sleep, ignorant and terrified, she was unable to explain the situation and was sentenced to serve two months in prison.
"Alas for our boasted Christianity. Disclosures were made . some' time ago in Scotland that even the Bibles sup-Xilied to some of our foreign missionary societies were being finished on the sweating system, by women, whose earning ranged from $.1. to $2.50 per week. Barely u "Jiving wage" for helping to spread among the heathen the knowledge of the '"living Iruth." ,\rany ol: Ihe sweated  workers  are  poor  widows,  and
j single women: married women with families also, because of low wages, or sickness, or because* their husbands are among   tlu-  unemployed  are  driven   into
j these   industries,   trying   to   eke   out   the
! family income in order to pay rent, and
I buy   food,   fuel   and   clothing.
j       "The   iiriiue.   causes   of   tin1   sweating
j evil are fhe competition of employees wiih each other Cor trade, and the competition of  ihe workers  with  each  oilier
I for broad.    The charges usually  thrown a!  these pour people arc, lack of cleanliness   in  themselves     and   I heir so-called homes; and it is no use denying the fact, that in the main  ihese charges are true: indeed  it  would  be strange if  they  we-c not.     With such hard  work and  low pay can we "wonder ihai  tin1 slum  homos are  untidy   or   dirty,   and    I hat   the    vorkei's  suffer  in   health   and   spirits';     Can   we ! reasonably expect them  to show any in- I tarest or energy for anything beyond ihe I dreary grind  of their daily  i.'ii-kV    It  is ! easy' to keep  clean   when   everything  is ' at  hand  to encourage clanliness of person and home; but when every penny of earnings   is   needed   to   keep  body     and j soul together, and when water has to be ! carried up three or four flights of stairs i after   a   hard   day's   grind,   the  proverb that   elca nliness is.UiiX-tto  (lni-lliii< '><>-comes something of a mockery.
"Again. Mr. Hobson in his work say.-: 'We cannoi go to the lowest, of our shim i population, and exhort: them to be clean,  | thrifty,   industrious,  moral  and  religious, ;
.until  we  have  taught   them   how  io  se- j cure  for   themselves   the   industrial   ron- j ditions  leading   Io   healthy physical  lite. | Wha!    ihey   need     is     better     food  and j plenty   i'i!   it,   better  wages   and   shorter j hours  of  labor,   a   little   recreation,   aud, I in   short,   more   humane"   (ivatnieni.'        i   | "Wo can iind plenty of compassion lor I our poor sislers     in   China.    .Africa     or Turkey:       nr   ;;ny    place,    which    is    !'ar enough   :\\v;\y;   bul   our   equally   nnf'^'LU-i!;!ie   sisiers   ;ii    'mine.   loiling   .!: y   after day     in  loathsome     slums,   are     treated wilh comparative indifference.-  We must convin.ne  to look   to the public conscience expressing iisell' through just legislj i ion : and   though   the   siory   of   ;h>'   sweated women  workers  has ofien  ueon fold, ivo must   keep  telling   ii   until   that blackest stain   on   England's  character   is  i'oivi.vr washed awav,    ......, .:.,..,,-M-^                         ,
".Some  sell  their   lives   for  bread;              I
Some  seli  their souls  Cor gold;                j
Some  seek  the  river bed;
Some  seek   the.   workhouse  lnouiil.
Su< 11   v-   |H'Oiid   l'jtighiafi's   sway, W'hei'e wealth may work its  will.
WliHe  IJesli  is  cheap  te.-day.
AVniiu   souls   ere   eheapei-   siili."
Sir: The above exlrai.'r ii 'will be noticed does .not ireai of ihe woni"n workers in mills and i'adories where, even with a factory act. eoriditiou.-i ;;.:e deplorable: bul: with a fins- oi' i he jioc.--est: of ihe poor, i.icitlier iazy 'tor intemperate, but %rln light to Hie iast diich to escape Ihe dreaded poorhouse. or H:e stigma, ni1 pauper relief from the workhouse olficials. Is il a. wonder tluil all over Britain there is a deep rooted agi-! laliou f:or women suffrage and women j representation in  1 'arliamenl V                    i
|                                 A,   MASON   IjROW.V.      |
       Rochester.   X.   V..   .Ian.   21.   100!*.
-                    " ~ ~ The year" 1809 wairsi
Planning       tl^e   greatest   suffragi; a   Suffragist   reviTal   iu   the  histor CampaJfin.     of the country, accord ingr to the horoscope re realed  by Mrs.   Cobden    Sanderson,    ol Tjondon, who is now in this country, bent on stirring up her    sisters    in the good cause.    Leading suffragists will come here from  Australia,  New Zealand,    Finland, the Isle of Man, Norway, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Sweden and Canada to give us a boost in the matter of universal  suffrage.     Colorado,     Utah,   Wyoming and Idaho have given  women  the right to rote, .but since 1896and that is
a long time ago^no .state   lias followc -these pioneers.    In    the    meantime    tlij cause of woman's suffrage has progresse_ by leaps and bounds abroad,    and    Mr, Sanderson and the other ladies who ha\ fought, bled and been imprisoned on th,' other  side   of  the  Atlantic    think it  i high time     something    was    done  hew Such an array of talent ought to bo a!bl to  make  it  extremely  uncomfortable  fo;| the men who have blocked the wheels oij progressif that is the proper term. George Meredith Predicts Viclo^T
But Not by Rowdy Tactics. Lomlon. Mrch 7.-Ge  ">*
Garett Anderson,. xvli >V^e            boW
o  good manners  and  me      ^^e
Meredith 0,nt(ul"es'sr,ite of much to be
fine them to the .domestic c             ees.
BtRntly rnplrnlcUenr^ith   logical Women have to    contcnu
creatures.                         ,.  e  alKi for a
-The vote will co.ue u. tim^mping of time there is ^.^^^ of ^7 iibernlism and a ^^ will pass with dastical Pretensions that ^l   P          .r
the  enlargement   of  women s tlie  new atinosnhere.