The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-07-06
i The sewing.a1achiise Companies and
the Aanufss II teSrsa. & y -

-. the 8eaVfS 81 fe6EcA. ~ NJ ~"
The. Invention OF the sewing machine has
not been an unwixed blessing to those WHO
live by the needle. An engine driver is not
a more enviablc person than the driver Of
an old-time stage-coach: Il The machine ssWs
nc rate TINT fingers cannot compete with:
1t has brought needlework within the
things requiring capital. Its has made the
possession Of q sewing hine, necessity
to MI seanastresses. The tools that could bel
had three for a cent have been raised into
ansarticsc costing siSty-fve to seventy: dob
lars,, or representing the entire wages.0f
from eight TO eighteen weeks; The struggles
necessary on the part OF n poor girl a., Awo-
man TO pay, this extortionate sum fOrssa, ar
ticte not costing the manufacturers more
than one fourth the. amount can SRly be
family depicted in words. No description
would do 5astiee to the pinching process
By which, week after week, in the face OF n
hundred rseds, the mite Is put brso pay the
insialmens on the machine whichthe glozing
agent sold her on ssich '.easy terms" So
easy, indeed, are hc terms thas If she by
sickness or loss OF work fails In a payment
he will Shave the company mes, armed with
| "a Tepse3in, come xnIt carry OF THE machine
and :ecfuse to,Nturn her cent OF WIKI
she has paid, even though, like Bridget
Barss-, she has paid fifteen Cellars more than
the cash selling price: Otter and often shls
has happened syithout weed OF complaint
ftem the poor, starving creatures, sTho
ftlsnk that there is no redress for them Ehen
Iarich comrany sets its saaSyer to wetk at
tshsir cases Surely they think the rich
leompany, Il it has NO ssore heart alan q
fstone. would not 60 outside the law They
Y have paid all they could, sand in some; way
4 which, IT, be sure, shey cansfbt un-
derstand the Justice of--they are to
lose wssst they have, paid. Az they
do not know how the rich company has
counted on their poverty and their lgno,
rance. Well, as there came a Isan called
] Alexander, who sett5ed the Gomiian knot
by cutting it with the edge OF the sword,
there came, in momsnt of dcspsiring mad
ness, a woman named Bridget Barry, VINO
, settled the sewing-mschinc demon Win the
J first paving stone that came to her mana;
. The crash of the Esate-glass that followed
the flight of that paving stone has maze
!, known her wrongs and those OF her slSteIs
in suffering to the world. - -"
Now, what the exposure Of her sad case
teaches is this, that the poor women VINO
have entered into these contracts should not
, submit to having, every penny they nave
pa;d withheld from them in case, ny stress
of circumstances, they should be unable 10
eamplcte their payments. The poor women
should not sign contracts that place theDa
absolutely at the. mercy Of the sewing ms
chine cormorants, whose manners are pleas
ant until the payments cease. 1t should not
I he difficult to tind charitable and welEif-
, Horned persons to look over these contracts
, ss,efore they are signed. But there is anotser
!, point to which Bridget Barry's case calls ct
lfention-namely, the huge privileges enjoy
led by the monopoly through Congress,
!, (which, by extending. patent rights, has esa-
Il bled the manufacturers to prey on the peor.
1.-THE inventors have been long ago ampfyAre-
|; awarded, and no application for the extern
,i1sion of sewing-n,achpe patent should he
l. entertaincd. Congress has already refused
a3to extend some important patent, and this
-3practice should Ike Iagidly followed In all
4 futnre cases. 1t is time that this business
A was limited to the profks which are reeog-
1nzed as fair in every:other business-aee1
4 YOrE Herald. -. ... pa