The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-01-29
WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE?

gore the rounds of the press without
comment, We propose to somewhat
brihfy refer at the lesson it incuicates !:
The New York Times" Of late date, sass
HeSe are some notes from the short and sim
pie annals Of the poor" in this CITY. enough to
give one the heartache 10 read: Mrs A. makes
vesss at eighteen cents apiece for . wholesale
house. She can earn IS month by working
fourteen hours a day, including SUNDAYS. She
pays 80 month for her attic, and has two
smdl children to support She hss eaten meat
oncs only, and then it was given to her since
Th1Dksgiving day Another case Kate A.,
"6pisher" Of fne shirts, makes about 81
Wesk, working hard for it She has grand
mother to support, and has often lived for
we11ks on bread and water, in order TO afford
tho old woman a little broth every day (" The
STAR" which is enabled to describe these cases
frcln the diary of lady who has visited them,
giVes a still more painful instance Of the hard
ships caused by scarcity of employment or in
adequate wages. And yet we have been as
sufed that in this city there is no necessity to
OrNanize societies for the relief Of distress
WIZ Well-meaning ladies are at a loss TO know
hoy u do any good in the world.
Nearly five years ago we published,
frem the pen Of valued correspond
er4, an expose Of the system which pre-
vGEled in New York, Boston, and sew
eGal Of the towns and cities in Chris
tim, philanthropic New England,
which was largely copied at the time,
b which the working women Of these
localities were starved or driven
literally driven-to prostitution, and
a&imadverted somewhat severely on
that pseudo philanthropy which could
affect to yearn for the welfare of the
oppressed in other lands, while it vir-
ITALY endorsed system, at home,
equally repulsive both in the sight Of
God and man; and believing that the
truth will afford to be told twice, we
can only repeat what we then stated
that, for the sakes Of the scoundrels
referred to, we hope there is a here
alter, with a good, old-fashioned, or
taodox hell attached thereto.
Workingmen, capitalists, tradesmen
Of America, think of it for a moment,
L you are not lost to all sense of shame.
Women-virtuous, industrious women,
the equals Of your mothers, wives or
daughters, working for fourteen long,
weary hours per day for g. per week.
Ut is narrated that a courtezan, who
Had agreed to spend the night with
Tom Paine, repented on learning the
aame and character of her companion,
On the plea that, lost and degraded
though she was, she had still some hope
of reclamation, which would be forever
crushed were she to associate with
ouch man. So we believe there is no
crime in the decalogue so heinous, so
worthy of punishment, SO unlikely to
re forgiven, as that of rObbing the
satherless and the widow, Of presuming
sn their defenceless condition; and
This is just what hundreds of thousands
Of our protesting Christians are doing
today, under the very droppings Of
She sanctuary, while enriching them
selves. This, too, of all sins, is the
sin which a venal, subsidized pulpit is
blinking at and virtually encouraging.
How often do we listen to harangues
from those who claim allegiance to a
1God Of justice, that our national faith
! requires the payment Of the Shylock's
claim to the last farthing, who seem to
s5e oblivious to the fact that the laws of
God and man alike proclaim that the
3aborer is worthy Of his hire who
3ander to the basest of appetites, who
accept an increase Of salary with the
tacit understanding that, like the slave
drivers Of old, they arc expected to
bbcy the behests and do the dirty work
bf their masters Yet these same crea-
lures will TAate with parrot-hke naivete
pm the crime Of prostitution, demand
ing that the evil must be checked at
all hazards, while they refuse or neg
!ect to bring to the bar Of public
opinion the authorS-thc real instigators
Of the crime.
We are no reviler Of religion. God
forbid yet we assert, without fear Of
Successful contradiction, that were the
partisan, subsidized clergy of the coun-
try swept from existence, this evil
would soon decrease or disappear from
our midst. We refer more particularly
TO this class because they affect, and
have affected, to be the representatives
Of a God Of love and justice, and AFRO
gated to themselves a position which
they have proved themselves unworthy
to fill.
But we have no desire to do injus-
tice. Workingmen themselves are, in
a great measure, responsible for this
state Of things. Until they demand
the same wages for women, for the
same quality and quantity Of work, as
they claim for themselves, that respon-
sibility will rest upon them. A mean,
narrow, selfish policy is sure to react
to their own disadvantage. Let them
throw around the defenceless the pro-
lection of our unions, and they will I
themselves materially there b