The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-09-20
MEETING LAST EVENING

MEETING LAST EVENING
--.------,>,-ar-.,,.--.----,s-s
Seated in SAMSON Street Hall last evening, at a
meeting of the Working Women's Relief Associa
ton, one could not help rumina.ing over that
couplet Of Tom Hoods
20 Godl that bread should De 20 dear,
And flesh and blood SO cheapl'
There they sat, some two hundred women
respectfully clad the most Of them, yet all wiGh
the indelible marks of want and prlyatiOn i'm
pressed upon their countopances.
In surveying the audience the enigma presented
itself how they manage TO live at all, Tor forty
cents, II will be admitted, is hardly sufficient
compensation for a single meal, let alone for a
day sustenanCe; and these are the wages that,
for many long and weary months past, these
women have worked for daily. Look nc the scale
Of prices, dear public, ye who 1--we In marblc
palaces, and whose daily fare consists OF the luNu
mes of all climates
Haycrsacks ION cents. BY inccssant labor four
of these can be made day.
Panalouus sixteen cents. A days labor.
Heavy OvercOnts forty cents each, with ten
cents additional for making twenty five button
holes. A days labor also.
Do YOU wonder then that the working women
met en- UldSSe last even for the purpose of adopt
ing measures to right their wrongs aud TO com
pei those tcnds in the shape Of mcn-Goyern-
mCnt ContraCtOrs--who, by their inhumln con-
duct are driving ten thousand working women
into the very jaws Of he'll, to 10 justice, ut least,
to those whom they have so long cnslaved
1t may not be generally known that some
months since a Working Women's Relief AssO.
citation was started in this city by a number Of
philanthrupic ladies, for the purpose of aiding and
protecting those OF the sex whom poverty had
compelled to occupy the position of sewing
women. Plainly CnOu IN was ii presented 70 the
minds of these ladies that the sewing women Of
Philadelphia had borne their lot in meokness and
humility that they had suffered their rights to
1, ,nlf tva1a fNnF nv fNr0 a NJ
necessity for a determined and vigorous action
to rescue them from the thradom under which
they existed.
lt is the design of this association to assist, not
alone the sewing women, but the working women
OF this city in numerous ways To secure them
legal protection from fraud and imposition free
OF expense to appeal respectfully, but firmly, to
employers for wages prOporuoned 70 the cost 0t
living; also, To- shorten the hours of labor that
they may conform to the re IuirGmcnts Of health
and mental culture to open new aud appropriate
spheres Of labor in departments not now occupied
by women; to adopt system by which the de-
serving poor may he relieved when In distress,
and those out of work secured employment; aud
TO appeal to the women not neCcssltatel to work
for living 10 abstain from working for pin
money, so that their needy sisters may be enabled
TO earn n respectable livelihood for themselves
and little ones.
As an initatory movement, n short time since
petition was presented to the Secretary of War,
by this association, signed by thousands of work.
luN NOUtU, HrhluN luhl prices IOE bONtIuIltUL
work be advanced until they should approximate
to the cost of living, and that the facilities for
giving out work be greatly increased, so that
many more women might receive the benefit of
the work direct without being swindled by con-
tractors.
The petition met with partial success. The
Arsenal superintendent has given notice that
from one thousand 10 two thousand more women
will hereafter receive work direct from the Gov
ernmout, and that an advance Of twenty per cent.
will hereafter he paid.
Besides this It is the intention Of the Associa-
| tiOn TO sustain registry Office where women
| seeking employment can obtain sltultions ~ all
! kinds of business free of charge; to open Work
| Room where all articles, both of male and female
apparel, can he made Gt a fair price, the profit of
the labor going into the hands of the ewing
women themselves 10 is also hoped that fund
| may be raised that will enable them to dispense
| aid, in the terrible winter approaching, TO those
| suffering from hunger and priyltiJu. Protective
associations will likewise be organized in the
different wards Of the city, and every effort will
be sed TO effect the objects for which the society
| has been instituted.
In course of time a work room will be opened,
| where all sorts of sewing will be executed.
| Ladies' gcntlemen's and childrens clothing will
also be made, with despatch, AT moderate prices.
In order to carry out this intention the society
| needs pecuniary aid and the public is beseech-
! ingly appealed to, to aid so humane an effort.
| Singular as tmay appear it is nevertheless true
that since the outbreak of this war the price paid
while every article of use, be il fool or raiment
| has inCre eased q hundred per cent, making re-
duction of one hundred aud thirty per cent. il
| wuman's labor.
| 1t will be readily admitted that this state oil
| affairs should not exist, when mems wages have
| been increased So as TO bear relative proportion
| TO the cost of living. Some will reply that il is
the result of the inevitable laws OF trade viz. -
| that when the supply exceeds the demand, wages
| must decrease. Ii such was the case now, We
| might deem 1t worth our while 70 argue thi:
| point; but as it is not true Of this country, w
| dismiss it, simply remarking that any one that
doubts the fact that the supply does not equal the
| demand, need only read the advertisements fol
| hands in the papers Of the day to convince them.
| selves.
There is a deeper cause than this, and II may
| be found in a combination of employers 70 pay
starvation prices. We do not wish 10 be under
! stood as saying that these men have deliberately
| and designedly entered into any such agreement
| or compact; but we do say that such Is the prac
tical result of their plan of operations that thi,
| is the fruit Of the course they now pursue; and
further affirm that it, instead of satisfying theil
! inordinate desire for gain in the starving prices
| they pay for labor, they would make their profit
| out of the consumer, be IL Government or indi
| vidual they would lift a heavy burden from
| the backs of these people, and so distribute tht
/ work that II would, like the effects of pebbls
| thrown into the ocean, be impsrceptible.
| As an evidence of the fearful decrease OF price,
| since the war broke out, we append Il statiSt ca
| table of wages received for work at the ArsGna
| in 1861 and 1864, and the prices paid ~ tht
| present time by contractors -
| LgsenaL Arsenal Contractors