The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-05-27
Observation-Disclosures.


| dowuy beds nor fare very su'ni'tao"''S' ="
.hss deIec.able Isrt of the !vossd was tne
ss,,.,,s;n Or sympathy WITH tho foor''ifegFa.
M, ';n,tbinsr would Stay tic. 1 fief Of the
amop,e there iirlil the chains were knocked
Of, the siayc--the slave who descended from
| tbe captive African purchased by the ances-
tor OF these philanthropists for quart ci
New England rum.
We do not desire to open old sores or to
renew idle arguments; but it is instructive
| 10 observe the condition of social econom!
amongst the plilanthropists who have shed
| so many tears over the poor negro.
We have received the third annual report
Of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics OF
Labor for the year ending March the LIST. ii
| comprises volume of nearly six hundred
| pages. We copy paragraph or two taken
at random from this book:
" heckties..-Wages in this employment are
| lower than in most other branches, ana the
seasons shorter, those employed largely re-
presenting other branches Of industry, work
| ing nj this only ut intervals during vacations
| in their own special employmentS. Inc
| highest wages, 81; the lowest, ''3 cehts.the
latter having been received by about hfty-
four girls. Forty-nine received about ~ per
week, they having sought this business from
necessity to earn something, and in prefer
encc 10 ideness, during the vacations III
| their special employments."
"Paper Collars.---WaSes of paper-collal
| makers vary from $3.50 to IS per week. The
greater number get $3.50 per week. All
work by the piece, and all are expected 10
work ten hours per day. The busy season
| lasts thirty weeks. Most OF the employees
| live in lodging-houScs, occupying rooms WIN
! three and four persons, and living prtici'
pally upon bakers food, to bring their hvlns
EXPENSES within their average wages ofSl.'o
per week.
some instance came to our notice OF four
persons occupying an attic room OF ordinary
| Size. with but one window with two broken
| panrs Of glass, the door without fastening,
The mastering broken of in several places
| furniture consisting of two beds, one WASH,
stand. one bureau, three chairs, and cracked
mirror: each occupant paying $50 rent per
week. There were no conrenicnces lor u
ire, and they took their meals Of bakers cold
tJ;,d in their own room. > They could
not obtain better accommodations. because
their work was not sufficiently remunentive
10 furnish more comfortable homes. This
happens, in most cases, amongst that class OF
worker, whose season OF work does not eN-
coed twenty weeks per year.
The report represents the sanitary condl-
ton of most boarding and lodSinS-llollScs in
which these lOw-paid workingwoincn are
obliged to live as bad, and recommends that
law be passed prohibiting such houses alto
gether by compelling landlords owning
them, who cXtort such cXortitant rents, TO
"put them in as comfortable condition ashe
"siadles Of Mrtr h6rsis." Who would have
expected such thing III Massachusetts,
and, worse still, in Boston! Men who de-
sired 10 pat our late slaves above lis are
anxious that landlords in Boston shall lodge
their human tenants ut least as well rs they
do their horses!
We extract paragraph concerning the
bcttcr-paid class of female laborers:
Sirts.--In one shirt factory there are
employed from four to five hundred women,
the greater portion Of them working by The
week. Machine operators all work by the
piece, with wages from : loo to 81 per week.
Price of board in boarding.hollseS, $500; in
private families, 81.
"Thc Work-roonls III this factory are low
and badly ventilated"
Looking at the list, we ilnd that four
of the five hundred get S12 per week, twenty
get $40, and then the wages fall to IS, S., 50,
and so Oh, until we come to - per week.
which is paid to 1877 women.
In the departments of clothing, where
wages are still better, the report, after Civ
ing the facts, concludes thus:
"rhe frugal, industrious workingwoman,
with close application from twelve to fiji
teen hours per day, has no prospect of re-
ceiying wages sufficient to enable her TO live
us she ought for she ought not to live as
many of them are compelled to live, in places
ami rooms wholly unfit to protect them from
cold, settled disease, or daily contact with
degrading associations, which the average
health of body and mind is incapable of long
resisting, though it is not to he denied that
some Of the most sks!fuL and regularly
enlpioyed are able and do save what is coll
sidered by their associates to be considers
Die SUN vi AuOucS, IL ID uli uiy HcScsoais w
suggest here that this lack of steady employ
ment and proper pay for women leads to
| results that manifest their dreadful work In
every large city of the civilized world-ti-
| ing the ranks OF class :is surely destined to
the brief life Of utter olltc;lsls---a life Of
hopeless misery and pollution-,s poison
| leads to DEATH"
This report is very interesting. 1t is the
work Of Board established by the State OF
Massachusetts In Il laudable effort to better
the condition Of the laboring classes but it
exposes u state Of extreme poverty and dis
comfort which the slaves of the South be-
| fore the war never knew.
| g a@
| Our respects 10 General KELLY, Of the
! Fredericksburg Herald. Let him calm his