, 1877-08-11
Result of Adequate Causes.

Many who rail against the unequal con
,ditions under which women contends IN
the struggle for existence, and who desire
to see her position improved, ought to
arrive at more accurate appreciation OF
the facts involved, and TO understand that
woman's position in the labor-held IS the
exact result of definite and adequate
, causes. and that this result cannot be al
tered by sentimental appeals for lnstice'
by dennnciation of employers, or by any
means that does not reach the root OF the
matter. Whenever all the conditions be-
tween the sexes IN regard to work are
equal, the rewards are equal but involved
in this statement the question OF competi-
ton must not be omitted. The law OF
wages is, that they always tend to the
lowest point that will support llte. one
great pressure of society is for cheapness
and women, as consumers, probably en-
ploy this pressure more than the other
sex. Capital is always bidding for lower
wages, labor is always struggling for high
.er wages or, in other words, production
as always aiming for higher price and con-
sumption for lower price, and hence the
very class that, as laborerS, are among
the forces that serve to lift up wages, as
consumers are among the forces that press
them down. In the struggle for wages,
special skill commands its own, because
,competition is greatly narrowed mere
i;anscle commands the lowest price, be-
cause here the competition is the broad
est and most general.
In the general struggle, all those who
are inferior rs laborers must accept less,
because in this way only can they obtain
waaes at all and in addition to this, all
those who can afford TO accept less on ac-
count of fewer personal needs VIII be
sure 10 do SO. Women, III literature, IN
art, on the stage, III music, as modlstes
and milliners, are as well paid as men,
because all the conditions are equal but,
in other employments, they are not, be-
cause, first. they are, as class, inferior
rs laborers second, because they compel ;
,-uinously with each other, neglecting to
organize and combine as men do IN order
to prevent hmtful competition third,
because as class, requiring less for their
needs, they can afford to accept less. The
agitatOrs of this question ought to know
how completely women herself breaks
down wages in every trade in which she
appears as a laborer, and to understand
that her entrance in many pursuits IS
sternly resisted, because her appearance
there is sure to ruin the business for male
operatives All over the country farmers
daughters will make coats, vests, and
other articles of apparel, at merely NOM
inal price Why! Because they have
no rent to pay, no light, fuel, or food, to
consider, and are glad to earn little pin
money at any expenditure of labor OF
time Against this condition of things
women who have to maintain themselves
and their families are compelled to con-
tend
In nearly all trades this unfortunate
competition more or less enters. If wo-
men really mean to lift the rewards OF
female labor to the level of mems, they
must begin by rectifying these evils. The
only women laborers in the country who
have had wit enough TO keep up prices
are the kitchen servants, who, by combi-
nation and cooperation, sustain the dig
nifty and ages-rate of their craft. Our
women declaimers stun us with ignorant
and empty rhetoric. Like their sex they
persist in in the last word, but never
dream it is incumbent upon them TO know
anything about their subject.