Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-06-12

cWCiIy~ HVt ctnJS. edIluK Il piece U
bread at your loom, m dollar; also TO
sitting on stool, taking
drink OF water, and many trih
Ing things too numerous TO men.
ton" Some Of the worst villain,
ct our cities are~the employers of thes,
women. They beat them down TO tn,
last penny and try TO cheat them on
OF that. The woman rnust deposit ,
dollar or two before she gets the gar
ments to work on. When the work /,
done it is sharply inspected, tho most
insignificant flaw is picked out, and the
wages refused and sometimes the dol,
lar deposited not given back. The
Women's Protective union reports d
case whore one Of the poor souls find
ing a place where she could get more
wages, resolved TO change employers
and went to get her pay for work
done. The employer says: II hear
you are going to leave mep" '.Yes,"
she said, land l have come to get what
you W me-" He made no answer
She said: ''Are you not going to pay
me?' yes" he said, Il will pay
YOU" and he kicked her down
stairs.
never wore a word in all my life,
but | confess that when I read that
felt a stirring within me that was not
at all devotional.
''By what principle Of justice is it
that women in many Of our cities only
get two-thirds as much as men, and in
many cases only halfp Here is the
gigantic injustice-that for work
equally well, if not better done, woman
receives far less compensation than
man. Start with the national govern
ment. Women clerks in Washington
get 5000 for doing that for which men
receive 81, 800. The wheel of oppres-
sion is rolling over the necks of thous-
ands of women who are at this mo-
ment in despair about what they are
to do. Many OF the largest mercantile
establishments OF cities are access
sorry to these denominations, and from
their large establishments there are
scores Of souls being pitched off into
death, and their employers know it. Is
there a GodP Will there be a judg.
mentp tell you. if God rises up to
redress woman's wrongs, many of u
large establishments will be swallowed
up quicker than a South American
earthquake ever took down a city.
God will catch these oppressers be-
tween the two mill-stones Of his wrath
and grind them to powder.
"Why is it that q female principal in
a school gets only 1926 for doing work
for which a male principal gets 81 ,650p
| hear from all this land the wall of
womanhood. Man has nothing to
answer to that wall but batteries. He
says she is an angel. She is not. She
knows she is not. She is a human
being who gets hungry when she has
10 food and cold when she has no fire.
Give her no more batteries; give her
justice! There are IS, 600 sewing-girls
in New York and Brooklyn. Across
the sunlight comes their death groan.
1t is not such a cry as comes from
those who are suddenly hurled out of
life, but a slow, grinding, horrible
wasting away. Gather them before
you and look into their faces, pinched,
CHASTITY, hunger-struck! Look at their
fingers, needle-picked and blood
tipped! See that premature stoop in
the shoulders! Hear that dry, hack
ing, merciless cough! At a large meet
ing of these women held in a hall lin
Philadelphia, grand speeches were de-
livered, but a needle-woman took the
stand, threw aside her faded shawl,
and with her shrivelled arm hurled a
very thunderbolt of eloquence, speak.
ing out the horrors of her own expert
ence.
"Stand dt the corner OF a street in
New York at 6 or Z o'clock in the
morning as the women go to work.
Many of them had no breakfast except
the crumbs that were left over from
the night before, or the crumbs they
chew on their way through the street.
Here they come! The working girls OF
New York and Brooklyn. These
engaged in head work, these in
flower making, in millinery, paper
box making; but, most overworked OF
all and least compensated, the sewing
women. Why do they not take the
city cars on their way upp They cam
not afford the 5 cents. IL, concluding
to deny herself something else, she
gets into the car, give her a seat. You
want to see how Latimer and Ridley
appeared in the fire. Look at that
woman and behold a more horrible
martyrdom, a hotter fire, a more agon-
izing death. Ask that woman how
much she gets for her work and she
will tell you six cents for making
coarse shirts and ''fnds her own
thread"
1 speak more fifty of woman's
wrongs because she has not been heard
in the present agitation. You know
more of what men have suffered. |
said to q colored man who in Missouri
last March came into my room in the
morning to build my fire: "Sam, how
much wages do you people get around
herep" He replied: TEN dollars a
month. sirl" l asked: Have you a
familyP" EYES," said he, "wife and
children" Think of it; a hundred
and twenty dollars a year t o support a
family on. NV friends. there is some
thing in this world awfully a.twist.
When think of these things
l am not bothered as some of my
brethren with the abstract question as
to why God let sin into the world. The
only wonder with me is that God
don't smash this world up and start
another in place Of it.
l wonder how many tired people
there are in the house to-dayp A
thousandp More than that. Two