The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-01-19
Women's Wages.
MRS. MARY L. GRIFFITH.

The horrors of the system of starva-
tion wages are such as wiring the heart
merely to think of. Miss Craig, of Ed
inburgh, writes, "It is well known how
brief is the career that our female Grim
inals run. How they are recruited it is
not hard to guess in a country where
there are fifty thousand women working
for less than a six-pence a day, and a
hundred thousand for less than a shill-
ing" A few years ago, a committee
appointed to investigate the condition
of friendless women in Chicago, found
two great causes for crime among them
-'the first is the terribly prevalent
and everywhere tolerated licentiousness
of men. Over aud against this stands
the almost equally colossal one of pow
erty, and the exclusion of women from
ordinary fields of labor"
Mrs. Dale, in college, Market and
COurt,n published in 1868, tells the story
touchingly, terribly. We can only
quote a few sentences from her dreadful
chapter on "Death or Dishonor." !"
"'Why not choose death, thenH So l
asked once of woman thus pressed to
the wall. 'Ah, madam she answered,
Il chose it long ago for myself; but what
shall / do for my husband and child q
Out of two thousand women
who work for their daily bread in New
York, five hundred and thirty-four re-
ceive a dollar a week. How many
mem? asks DR.. Chaplin, would keep
of death and conquer the devil on such
wages? One woman had to do it by
making caps at two cents each! Think
of this, women who like to buy things
cheap; for if the veil could be lifted you
would see-the angels do see-on your
gay white dresses many a crimson
stain; and, among the dewy flowers
with which you wreathe your hair, the
grass that grows on gravesr .
Seven thousand eight hundred and fifty
ruined women walk the streets of New
York. The average length of the lives
they lead is just four years. Every four
years, then, seven thousand eight hun
dred and fifty women are drawn from
their honor, many of them from simple,
rural hearths, to meet this fate. Out OF
two Thousand cases in the city of New
York, five hundred and twenty-five
pleaded destitution as the cause. A po-
lice officer testified of one girl, She
struggled hard before she fell; living on
bread and water, and sleeping in station
houses. In three years 1 have known
more Iudu uiGy Sucu cases.
Said one, Il am the daughter of a min
lister Of the gospel; and 1 pledge my
word sOlemnly and sacredly, that it was
the low price paid for my labor that
drove me to sin. L could make only
thirty-four cents a week at shirts, and
should have starved but for the street.
The details of her story are most heart
sickening. She pawned almost every
garment, and tried to get to the work.
house. When, starving and freezing,
she reached it, they would not take hel
in without an order' Finally she OBJ
tanned employment at service with a
family, who, after eight days, spoke in
high terms of her honesty, Industry and
modesty."
Do you ask the remedies for those
evils? We answer, let 10 woman of leis.
ure work for low wages just for pin.
money. 1t reduces the standard o
woman's wages, and takes bread from
the starving. Open every avenue o.
employment, every profession, art anC
trade to women. Teaching, sewing
aud house-work are overcrowded. Let
them have the broadest latitude o
choice. Never fear that they will select
what is most unsuited to them. Let rich
and Influential young women set the
example by learning trades and profess
sions, always demanding an amount
adequate to their labor. Let woman's