New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-11-19
NEW ORLEANS REPUBIICAN SUNDAY NOVEMBER 10, 1876

SUNDAY, =
TIE Labor Qssssisa IN France.
The Labor Congress recently held In
Paris has brought to light some important
features relating to the industries of
France NOT hitherto generally known to the
public. Among those who addressed the
Congress Was delegate 1renee Danthier, .
labor. "Convents," he claims, "hsve be-
como manufactures, and the diminuti0n of
women's work, both In profits and quantity,
proceeds in part from the number of our
convents." Disclaiming ''sny attack upon
religion" the speaker continued BY assert
ing that ''0f late years converts have be-
come manufactures, whore . very brisk
business is done. Some of these establish
ments," he said, (which should be entirely
directed to religious meditation, are wholly
given over to money-making." And he
goes on to show in what way this is done:
several pious sisterh0ods are c0ntrac-
tors ON large scale. They have thousands
of young girls in their employment; the
work of these girls costs nothing and sells
for much; while they are really carrying on
m0nstr0us competition against their own
mothers and sisters. Nuns can undersell
other women also, because they have no
Cl0lu10 OU tuS1E O6IuAukSs AuOx A0v0 noAIA0A
parents nor children to keep, and they pay
few or NO taxes. In consequence OF the
murderous competition of nunneties, q
married woman who has her household
work to do, can hardly earn more than fif-
teen sous q day, if she tries till she breaks
her heart. Very often she can not make
half that sum. If the manufactures in con-
vents were suppressed, she could earn about
two francs daily. This difference is one
Tn terpt tho Ro-
ligious protectors of children are the Op-
pressors of their parents. Let us look in.
side the converts where crowds of
young women are shut up and forced
to work from six to eight hours daily
with needle and thread. We find that
girls of twenty have weak sight and
weak chests; they are unfit to be wives and
mothers; they are female machines who
say Patcr Noster when wound up. In the
prospectus OF the great shop called The
Louvre you will see written that no article
sold is machine made; everything is stitched
by woman's hands. A hundred and fifty
converts work exclusively for the Louvre.
Many other large shops deal with other
pioue communities. Moreover, knew, not
long ago, one NJ. Gamard. cure of Rebevil-
lier (Eure-et-L Loire, I think, who received
large cases of ladies' cbemises and drawers
from linen draper in the Rue du Sentier.
and this holy man caused them to be made
up BY the ladies of his congregation. l
that most Christian notion. He contracted,
in fact, to supply labor, which cost him
little or nothing, and could always find Q
market for it. At Morangis, near to Lon.
juneau, also there ie . convent of washer
women. They keep two horses to fetch and
carry dirty linen, and the worthy sisters
undersell all the women in their neighbor-
hood.
"If We leave the converts and enter the
prisons We find that the prices paid for fe-
male prlsoners' work 10 30 absolutely low
that the prisons are maintained by poor
rates. Prisons ruin honest female labor.
The Official reports published by the Minis
try of the Interior tor the year 1876 declare
that the prisons for women are: Auberise,
Cadillac, ClermOnt, Doulleus, Haguenesu,
Montpelier, Rennes and Vannee. In these
prisons all kinds of women's work is done
at prices against which it is impossible for
free labor to contend. Girls often commit
Grimes for want of work, and they are de-
prived of work by the composition of crimi.
malls. Finally, women are ehamelessly rob
francs il charged by dressmakers for the
fashion of q dress. The workw0man. who
really makes it, receives fifteen francs, and
her mistress pockets forty.fve."
The speaker closed his remarks amid
storm Of applause, and his address was
subsequently ordered to be published in
full, at the expense of the Congress.
A young woman, fair but thin in flesh.
from "overwork," as she declared upon the
stand, and from "0ver thought about to-
morrow's dinner" next addressed the Con-
gress. Her remarks we're listened to with
great attention, and she closed under q
round of applause from every part of the
hall. She declares that
1.-THE chief cause at work hostile to female
labor is the meddling Of men with feminine
occupations. Women who perform the
tasks left to them are underpaid. The
price current for making shirts is three
francs dozen. A good workwoman can
make six shirts in twelve hours. This gives
her . profit of one franc q day wages.
WOmehb drawers are made at two francs
per dozen. A workwoman who is active
can make four pairs day; gain, eighty
centimes. Handkerchief are hemmed at
fifty centimes q dozen. A very smart needle
women can hem two dozen and a-half in q
long day. This will leave her one franc
wages, after deducting the cost of her
needle and thread. Goods are delivered by
the workwomen to the shops twice q week.
About half Q day is lost on each
occasion. Total, five days labor for
the working week. Dolls shifts,
email size, q large article of ex-
port, are paid twenty. five centimes dozen.
About twelve Of them can be made in three
has had some ladies' morning gowns of a
new fashion made this season. They had
founces. and were trimmed at the pockets
and sleeves with seven buttons in front.
He paid fifty centimes each for making
them. Mechanical work is paid for at the
rate of five centimes per four yards. We
can not live by this labor, and women starve
on sewing machines. Moreover, they CON
tract terrible diseases, and there is malady
now known to doctors as the machine
Sickness Nevertheless, women who work
by the machine in shops are required to
labor Tor ten and twelve hours daily, though
science declares that it is impossible for any
woman to work at q machine more than
six hours daily without injuring herself
permanently. Three hours consecutive
work at machine is enough to exhaust the
strength of any woman. -Four women are
necessary to work one sewing machine for
q summer day of'sixteen hours; they should
relieve each other every hour, or they will
have hunchbacked or deformed children if
ever they become mothers. The dull sea-
son is q terrible thing for women; and also
q practice of taking credit, which is very
common between town and country houses.
All the summer and autumn we are obliged
to work not only at two-thirds of our win
ter prices, but we have to wait for our
money because the wholesale houses in
Paris are not pressed for delivery. We
must eat, and therefore are obliged to &C.
The large shops nave ruined all the dress
makers in q small way of business who had
q fellow-feeling for us, and unless we can
get emplovment in one of the big establish