North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1869-05-05

The proceedings Of the convention al
working>women, held in Boston, last week, /,
reads more like some hideous invention
than like the facts Of the nineteenth cen>
tury, having existence in the modern
Athens Of the new world
Said Mrs. Warner 81 have canvassed
Gfteen cities OF the United States, and hay e
not, in any of them, found the condition OF
women so deplorable as in the city of Bos-
ton. How deplorable this condition is,
was abundantly shown. Miss Phelps said
there are 1900 needlc-women in Boston
who get only rs cents day, at the most.
Ona woman prosecuted sack full of shirts
which the Provident Aid society had given
her to be entirely made by hand, to be
hemmed, gusseted, telled, and button holed,
for 45. cents EACH DR.. Dio Lewis said
there are 2O,OU0 women in Boston who
earn their living by the needle.
Mrs. Houghton knew Of the cases Of wo-
men who make shir:s ut SO cents dozen !
Mrs. Warner took the liberty to remark
that, in the Eases Of many well-dressed
ladies present, Each costly dress makes
three prostitutes"
These revelations are few specimens
Of y multiplicity made during the conven,
ton. In considering them, two views Of
the subject naturally present themselves.
One of ihess is the case with refereRce to
Boston, and the other the case with refer
ence to working women generally.
In respect TO the FIRST division, it must
be said that the exhibition of Boston phil
anthropy, given during the convention, is
of the most execrable character. The ass
serti0Do Of Ms. Warner that Boston was
the worst of the fifteen cities whose cases
she had examined, proves that Boston is
responsible for the condition of these wo-
men, to the extent that their condition is
worse than in other cities. One reason
why It ID worse ID, that the modern Athen.
devotes it's muni6cent charities, and its ex-
quisite sympathies for suffering, to remote
objects. When the Cretans were in rebe..
Non, against q legitimate government, the
Bostonians founded society and period.
ical in their interest, and forwarded them
money enough to have rsised above the
level of starvation, for halfa-dozen oil
years, every one Of the 5000 needle wo-
men who are working for c5 cents day.
In the matter Of down-trodden Africans
living ,comfortably at government expense
these same Bostonians have been unusually
liberal. They have spent tens of thousands
of dollars annually in sending supplies te
negroes who did not need them and in
affording them spelling books and teachers
when thousands of their own women wer,
on the verge Of starvation, and had nc
choice between death from hunger VI .
lifeac Of infamy. What sort Of record il
this fora city which boasts Of being tn.
most enlightened in existence, which j.
the head centre Of missionary enterprises
hegropholist organizations, women's right
societies, and all other bodies having be-
nevolent, phiianthrophical, and charitable
objects as the base Of their formation
Despite this. its record Of crime, suffering
destitution, and oppression is worse thar
that Of any city in America. 1t is th'
precise whited sepulchre whose external
are beautiful, but whose interior is fllel
with decay, and dead mems bones.
In general sense, the condition Of
large per ceptage Of working women il
worse than it should be in u country il
which the government is-comparatively
and generally-so free, land 80 abundant
and labor SO much in demand. So lon,
a. there are millions Of acres of the publ,
domain unoccupied, there should not be
single case of starvatiou, unless under suci
exceptional circumstances as i'll health, OF
some other abuermai condition. Hence
one romedy should be, the more equal dis
tiibution Of population. They should b
taken fren crowded centres, where com
petition has reduced the price of labor, and
distributed over areas that are sparsely o,