The Labor enquirer., 1885-04-04

4 prevent us from assuming our rights and
bidding defiance to that iniquitous sys-
tenn which we must uproot ereit plunges
this our loved country into physical
/ revolution compared to which the French
revolution was but child's play.
| JAMES J. CALLAHAN
RIGHT OF woMEN TO WORK. ,
Wives Have the Same Right to Earn
Their Living Outside the Home s.
| that Husbands Have.
For the Enquirer. ~
Erred Haller, of New York, secretary of
the executive board of the Cigarmakers'
Progressive union, spoke at Tnnette's
hall last Thursday night. He said that
although the population has doubled
and the productive capacity, owing to
labor-saving machinery, has increased
ive-fold, yet it is harder to make a liv-
ing now than thirty years ago. Men
have been displaced by women and
children, and so long as that kind of
labor is allowed men cannot find en-
ployment at living rates. The head of
the family is displaced by his wife and
.children. Legislation is necessary to
remedy the evil, which can only be
done by prohibiting the employment of
women and children. He urged wage
workers to unite for Independent po-
liticaI action, as it was only by united
action that successful resistance could
be made to the continuous encroach-
ments of capital" .g$ss j..
| Iclipped the above from the Labor
Leaf / Ihate to find fault with anything
published in that daring little sheet
which, like a king-bird, makes up in
pluck what it lacks in size however, l
am not sure that the editor indorses
that form of idiocy displayed by the
speaker quoted, and / am sorry to say,
by many others who have on most sub
jects outgrown their baby clothes, and if
he does cannot help it, for, like Dinah
Morris, ait is borne in upon me" to speak
my mind. "
A certain class of would-be reformers
have never outgrown the stupidity of
supposing that labor-saving machinery
is curse to the laborer and that laborers
are curse to each other. In effect their
cry is always, "the least of us the better
fewer mouths and better filed" One
would suppose their idea of happiness
to be an opportunity to labor eighteen
hours day in a wilderness settled in
the proportion of one to the square mile.
What is it they really want; more
work, or better pay? Some workers
showed out and others worked on double
time, or all employed on short hours and
long rewards ? If a man can earn So in
six hours. why should he be eager to
work twelve hours for the same sum?
What they all want is practice, OF
course, but thereis too superficial rec
ignition of what Justice really is. 1t is
not Justice to rob women in order to give
men chance.
THE head of family is displaced tc
give his wife and children chance
That sentence contains as much false
philosophy as could have been crowded
into so small place. First. Man is not
or should not be, the ''head" of q
family. Husband and wife should stand
together equal, In the family, and neithe,
should presume to lord it over the other
Second. The women who go out to dc
battle with the world are not ALWAYS
wives with able-bodied husbands; they
may be widows, or unmarried women,
or wives of cripples or invalids, obliged
to work or starve. Third. Wives have
the same natural right to earn their liy.
ing outside the home that husbands
have. Very often their husbands refuse
to make them equal partners. and dole
out necessities to them in such mean
tgrudging way that self-respect demands
that they be financially 1ndependeht oi
their husbands. 49,
Many women prefer other work to
housework they are no more born to
keep house than men are born to peg
shoes. Why should women be slaves Of
slavesa Is not the condition of the
laboref appalling enough without forg.
ing the chains that have never yet been
quite broken from woman's hands2 Dear
brothers, it is unmanly to lift yourselves
by standing on the necks of women.
Be assured your new civilization can
never rise higher than its mothers.
You would save women from the ne.
cessity Of toll Self-respecting women
strong women, can never consent to be
pensioners. They will earn their own
living and in their own way. They
must not be hindered by meddlesome
laws. With equal Justice for all. the
labor necessary to insure a livelihood
| will not be burdensome even to women.
CLARA DIXON DAVIDSON,