New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-12-19
THE STARVATION LINE.

Mrs. Helen Campbcl's article in to-day's
| TRIBUNE will be found particularly interesting
| and moving She deals with the most dis
| couragng and pitiful phase OF the great labor
| problem the condition, namely, of those work.
| ing-w who are incapable OF any other
industry than sewing, and who toll necessarily
| to no better purpose than keeping starvation at
arms length. The life Of this class seems to be
an almost hopeless slavery. Sixteen hours
day for three dollars and half week That
il their existence. No time for even meals.
These must be taken-snatched, rather-stand-
ing. When the long, e1hausting day is over
the women throw themselves upon their
wretcheL pallets and sink into a sleep that is
almost stupor. The instant their eyes open
in the morning they must resume work, and
this Is the rontine 60 long as there is any work
to do. Sometimes the supply fails, or the
season ends, and then good many of the work
ers must starve. for it Is not possible for them
to save an, ling out of the pittance they earn.
1t is useless to talk of domestic service for
this class. They are not capable of it. Their
helplessness is of that dense kind only to be
found in modern cities. They are product of
city life a sort of vitalized machines, fitted
only to do q certain mechanical work, and
disabled from any other industry, mainly be-
cause they have been fastened to che sewing
machine ell their lives. The wages they earn
are apparently regulated in two ways only; by
the pressure of competition above, and by the
starvation line beloS. 1t is not possible for
them to fall beneath the latter limit, but short
of that they always lend to sink. These women
clearly cannot free themselves from their
present condition. They have no time to
reflect upon anything. Even if their exhausted
brains could find leisure to think, their ex-
perence has been too narrow to afford any
useful suggestions. They really know of No
other lite than the one they lead. II let alone
they must finish as they have begun. Existence
for them literally offers no advantages what
ever beyond those possessed by the street-car
horses. Yet they are inhabitants. of a O-called
CHI istian country, and the period in which
they vegetate is popularity supposed to be that
of the highest civilization the world has known.
1t is nonsense to talk of sending these poor
creatures intn the country, or out West, or
transpanting them after any of the staple
methods. They are utterly unfit for any life
requiring self-drection, resource. adaptability
to new conditions If they could be secured
better pay and fewer hours of work probably
How to effect these two reforms is the crucial
question. Perhaps it cah be done only by in
direction; by tightening the pressure on the
labor market to begin with. There are other
working women more elastic and capable of
adaptation. These mi ght be removed to moro
encouraging conditions, and the result would
be to relieve the pressure upon those who are
sure in any event to remain in the cities VI
course all suggestions looking to better things
must be tentative. The subject is one of great
difficulty, and the most embarrassing features
o. it arise from the ntractability of the suffer-
ers themselves. Society, however cannot
leave them to the miserable fate which clrcum
stances have imposed upon them. Their un-
happy lives are indictments against the civiliza-
ton and the religion on which we plume our
selves. The throngng churches whose spires
punctuate our avenues are deprived of the
spiritual significance which should clothe them
by the grim, unrelieved paganism, the soul
destroying squalor and indigence Into which
Christian society forces its weakest members.