The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-06-24
"DEspoTI>M OF THU NEEDLE"
A Few Thoughts Suggested BY Rev. Dr. Ia
IMAGES Sermon.

Miss Matilda Hindman, in the Pittsburg CONNER
cial s;azette.1
There are 90. 900 sewing women struggling
for a living i'm New York and Brooklyn"
says DIR. Talmage in his sermon on the ''De>-
potism of the Needle" over the necks of
thousands of these the wheel OF oppression is
rolling while they in despair know not what
to do. Many of the largest mercantile estab-
lishments are accessory TO the abomination
of cruelty cheating and defrauding these pow
erty-stricl<en ones"
Can these statements be correct? Here, in
these cities of untold wealth, it is stated null
titudes of women are starving while vainly
striving to make am honest living. Instance
after instance is given showing the terrible
injustice done this class of women. One of
the multitude employed by large establish
ments To make shirts for eight cents each
and find their own thread, fell one evening
in the vestibule of the Doctors
church in commissions. As she revived,
in her delirium she gaspingly ex-
claimed:
Eight cents! eight centsl ! wish / could
get done, am 80 tired want sleep. Eight
cents. eight cents The doctors said it was
food She needed, rot medicine. These wo-
men can make three shirts, 20 cents each, in
one day; working every day they can make
So wear each. We are told that even of
this pittance, they ere, by some employers,
robbed These men beat them down to the
of that. Before the woman gets the work
she mast deposit a dollar or two; when it is
done the most insignificant flaws are picked
out the wages refused and sometimes the dol
lar deposited not given back.
What efforts have been made to right the
wrongs of these poor women? Nothing To Sc
cure better remuneration, but the "WOman's
Protective Union which is doing divine
work for tOiling womanhood has by inveS
tigating and enforcing the laws, compelled
many dishonest employers TO pay the pit
tance they were trying to cheas the SEWN :
women out of. one would suppose when
such dreadful wrongs are perpetratcd in a
Christian land the whole cry among those
who desire to see justice done would be to
eradicate these evils; that meetings would be
held. plans adopted and measures taken 10
save the victims from such barbarous cruelty.
But il is not 80. 1t Is the same old cry OF the
centuries. hut still no remedy. DIR. Tai
to be eradicated." Not by W.
mans ballot says the divine. Il do not be
lieve women will ever get justice by womaa's
ballot Women Cypress women as much a.
men 10. If woman steps aside from the
path Of rectitude man may forgive her. W.
men never. Woman will never get justice
done her by women's ballot, and neither viii
she get il by man. ballot.
How them
God will rise up for her. God has more
resources than We know of. The flaming
" ord that hung at Eden's gate when woman
w. driven ont Will cleaVe with terrible edge
Ter CppressorS' SAYS Il e Brooklyn preacher.
THUS does Dr. Tain, ge expect miracle to be
perfo. med To avenge the sewing woman :
wrong. Whether not he others expect
wrongs TO be r;ghted by other than common
sense human agency-the certainty Is, II new
er wi be done. And though men are accus-
toned to say that women are not the friends
of women and that help will not come fro IN
that source everything goes TO prove that wO-
man is womans friend Public opinion must
sustain an action that the law does not com
pei. Women have never been free to help
each other. Women know very well that
their social standing is much more TO them
than is mans social standing 10 him. wo-
man To have good social standing must have a
good moral character. Not so with man. A wo-
man of good moral character loses caste a
soon as il is known she treats the women
who has taken even one step from abe path
of rectitude with kindness. Public opinion
will not sustain her in il. Her own father
and husband forbid it, She is not free to
put into acts the sympathy of her heart. If
she undertakes 10 save these women by law
she finds there is no law by which she can
help them, and she is powerless to have such
laws made or enacted if made. Her hands
are tied. She has but little TO do in forming
public opinion. Those who control the
press, occupy the pulpit and make the laws
mould public opinion. That which is legal
j. right-so the masses believe. Ninc-tenths
of the people accept "a true that which is in
dorsed by the press, or preached from the
pnlpit.
Give women equal freedom with men to
express their opinions through these chan