The Davenport daily gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1869, 1857-02-11
THE DAILY GAZETTE.
NIScTIIANEODS.
] - - From the n Y. fines
HOW THE SEWING WOMEN ARE
TREATED.

Little tyrants are always the most
tyranical. 1t ID = generally received
opinion that the laborer 10 worthy OF
khis hire, and worthy, too, OF . due de.
gree Of consideration and respect with
x. Yet It 10 an undeniable fact that
there. are men in our large clothing
stsres, "clad in q little brief authority"
Who exercise contemplate species OF
petty tyranny over the woman who
depend on their work for their daily
kbread, which 10 strangely 1t variance
with tie difference and courtesy Of
which poets delight to sing; It is
tesrtain chat the mass Of the women
Who dspsnd on their needle for . sub.
kisteucS Sare forced to submit to enough
;nsolence, harshness and coarse famil-
isrity to weaken their self. respect and
blunt the fnel feelings Of their nature.
One woman, who has left hard earn
a dollar az security for the work she
hss undertaken to make, 10 coolly in.
formed that it dosen't suit, and that
her pledge 10 forfeited for some pre-
landed fault in it. Another tees the
earnings Of weeks swallowed up in
some feigned pretext. Another is
sent homo with huge bundle Of
work BY the supercilious clerk, who
scarcely knows seam from button
hole, TO make soms alteration suggest
ed by his caprice, regardless oil her
time and trorble.
The lot Of the sewing woman is
hard one. She must work at the
lowest rates, submit to insolent treat
msnt from fellows who are Of no pos
sible consequence outside their work
ahops, and then run the risk of being
defrauded out Of her hard earnings.-
There are now twenty thousand women
in our Christian metropolis whose
average earnings do not exceed three
dollars per week. How many ofthe
epmfusts and luxuries Of life can be
bought with such sum, our house
keepers can Judge.
Thsre 10 asystem, too, OF sending
work into country places where living
i cheap and money scarce which
weighs heavily upon our needle wo,
men. We have an establishment
|now in our eye in which the proprie-
|ton pay Ave cents each for making
|shirt, ten cents for pants, and twelve
lcents per dozen for collars, thus reduc,
ling the cost Of making up to q nom
|inal item in the lrice Of q garment. -
And the fact that hundreds Of workers
accept these prices proves the extremi
( ties to which they must be reduced,
Then there are many who fail to
obtain work at any price. lis scarce
" q year since two women deliberate
" committed suicide in this city be
cause they could not obtain bread
It is but . few months since a woman
Was brought before our Police Courts
who had assumed male attire because
she could not earn an honorable live
lihood - . WOMAN.
There are thirty thousand women
now in New York who hold their
lease Of life by the tenure OF q needle,
and the work sfthe whole might cas-
lily bs done by, ten thousand
The sewing machines are rapidly re-
ducing this estimate, and what 10 to
be done with the unemployed There
can be no direct legislation on this |
subject except the legislation OF pub
lie opinion; and we know otno other
method of meeting this exigency,
than to open now avenues Of industry |
to women, and to give them fair re |
muneration for their work. We are
fully persuaded that there 10 no more
sfsctnsl measure for fnrthering moral
referm than that Of giving our work
ing women every facility for earning
IN honorable subsistence.