The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-05-08

! Mrs. Brown, lady from Worcester, said
| wouid like 70 ask whether there is any real
necessity for our confnlag ourselves to nee.
dlework when there are other kinds OF work
to be got Here 10 general house-wofk,
more honorable, more healthful and more
profitable. II arl8 f4h ~
Mis- Jennie Collins--That question ID
very easily answered. There are a great
number Of girls who work in Kitchens tina,
understand their business thoroughly. But
IN applying for 9 situation, it is necessary
for them 20 bring q recommendation from
their last plaza, and this, of course, work
ing-wOmen cannot do. A girl going from 9
shop would have no chance at all.
Mrs. Parker was called upon and said
My mission, for the last few years, has beer
70 visit the sick the low, and the degraded
and have had ocviar demonstration that
there IRE thousands Of women 10 Boston who
are suffering from want Of food, clothing
and shelter And | have found that wheI
poverty comes IN at the door, respect Otter
leaves this class of people. know this ID
not always the case Many who can bar,
live are as respectable a. any persons. Nam
women can earn only 80 TO so cents day.
But that 10 not the worst of it. know that
would sooner eat a cracker, with the smile.
OF my friend to sweeten it, than the most
savory food without love or companio ship.
Miss Phelps-Tne question has been ask.
cd how many women IN Boston are working
at 20 or % cents a day. believe that IN
aerstand the number. ] believe may hon
estly say there are /, 100 such The needle
women's society have been making Inquiries
on the subject, and have taken manufaetu-
Ters' figures, which are always favorable to
themselves. Girls are employed on Federal,
Washington, and other streets, in numbers
Of 40, so and 60 in = shop, at less than 50 80
a week. Sewing machine operators average
S. 80 a week in those shops.
A gentlelnan-B1t how do they live on
THAR
Miss Phelps Four or five in a garnet
bedding, clothing, all OF the poorest. As for
warm underclorhing, which women so much
need, they DO not have it. And then often
work is slack, and then the poor creatures
have to 60 aud beg-er worse. These things
are no stretch Of fiction. | wish to God they
were. You may see them in those shops
seated in long rows, crowded together in a
hot, close atmosphere, woIking on piece
work, so, 40, GO or 100 girls crowded togeth-
er, working At 20 and rs cents day. There
are great many such shops IN the city.
Shops which pay good prices are the excep-
ton. do candidly believe, from what have
seen going from shop to shop when Obliged
to do 50, that 1000 or 5000 women, to say
the least, are dependent upon these starva-
ton prices for clothing, food and shelter.
\ Dr.. Lewis-Ahss Phelps, what proportion
Of tho workingwomen Of Boston work by the
week instead of the piece
Mss PhelPs--lt is hard TO tell, but 1 should
say about one quarter.
I DR.. Lewis-And how many of that quar-
get more than "a a week.
/ Miss Phelps-As near as can judge, one
tenth.
DIR. Lewis-How many get more than So :
Miss Phelps should say one-t rrd.
Mss Colllns-Those are employed by the
week who are the best workers, and upon
whom most can be piled.
| DIR. Lewis-And are all these girls work
ing at IS, 81, and s. a week obliged to live
"a this higglety- way that Mise
Phelps describes
Miss Collins--lt is all true. No pen Gao
describe il. "Uncle Toms CabinH Is IL idy
Of Lyons" play compared 70 IL.
Mrs. Daniels mentioned the case of girl
who worked from 7 in the morning till $50
at night for "a week, and bad to pay it All
out for beard. | know a soldiers widow
with ii children, who has been, last winter,
on the Verge Of Starvation. Ia Stoughton,
a short time since, found soldiers widows
who were 10 the same condition. Even in
/ Washington the same is the case. Gentle
meI ask me why do not these women 20
west and take up land. You might almost
as well ask why they do not 90 TO the moon,
with scarcely penny, or even clothing suf-
/ icient so keep them warm. IL is utterly i'm
possible. They cannot 90 out Of the cisy
without aid.
Miss Phelps was expecting some repre-
sentation from the shoe trH- here, but il
may be that they cannot come. | know
that, in one place at least, the girls were
told that they must not come here, and |
know that at one house, where three or four
are lodged, they were told they might look
Tor other lodging places II they did 90.
Girls working at shoes might make s to
81 % a day, # they had steady work, but,
on account Of waiting for work, they really
only make from 20 to 30 cents per day.
They get just enough work TO Keep them On.
The work a. very dirty, and ruins their
clothes. And yet there are about 1000
girls employed in il in this city at these
rates.
Mrs. Warner, in reply 70 the question pro-
posed by DR. Young, said that she estimated
that there are 10000 workingwomen in
Boston. She Judged that q 600 u these
had been reduced 20 working 10 shops or BY
the piece, by the var. OF bonnet-makers
there are from 700 to 500 in the city Of
1stoo who get from &c 60 So week, but
their work onAu parr Of tho
There is a firm here, on Pearl street, that
employees from loo TO $50 girls to sew straw
hats. The girls get eight cents each, and
buy their own straw. One lady in my house
worked three weeks on these straw bats.
and goI 81 cents for it, Lawyers and hrok
ers employ women to scrub their rooms
once q week, and give them 80 cents a day.
Other women, some of whom ait before me,
go out washing ali day for so or 60 cents a
day. l have canvassed & teen cities Of the
United States, and have not, in any Of them,
found the condition of the women 80 deplo-
rable as in the city of Boston.
Mr.. Ezra s. Hayward, president Of the
New EhgIand Reform league, In brief
speech, was very hard on Boston and all
New England. The spirit Of New England
toward fthe sonth he characterized az ex-
pressed by tae words, "Receive the gospel,
or We will kill you," and Der missionaries
went down there feeling themselves com
missioned to shoot the gospel into every
creature.
In answer to an inquiry from Mrs. Curtis,
Miss Phelps gave number Of instances Of
women engaging very successfully in gard
ening, in some cases clearing several hun
dred dollars, IN the first ear or two. Miss
Phelps expressed very strongly her belief
that to give oil women the opportunity Of
engaging in gardening upon land Of their
own would redeem most Of the fallen Of her
sex. ~s.s-
STILL MORE STATEMENTS.
Mrs. Batehelder, NJ D., Of Boston, related
a case which came under her eye In the dis
charge Of her professional duties. IL was
that Of a woman who ad lived for the last
year of her life by making oyeralls, for
which she got only 20 cents day.