The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1888-09-19
WOMEN AND THE TARIFF.
what Protection Has Done for Fe-
male Laburers.


WAsnISGTos, Sept. lS.-The pro-
ceedings of the senate subcommittee
on the tariff this morning were in re-
fTeshing contrast with the average oi
the lat two months. About Is we'll
dressed, fresh-looking ladies made
their appearance at the doors OF the
committee room at IL O'Clock, headed
hy Mrs. j. Ellen Foster, president of
the Nomen's Christian Temperance
Union of Iowa, and were introduced
by Senator Al ison 10 his fellow-mem-
bers as a delegation who wished to be
heard in respect 10 women's especial
interest in protective tariff.
Mrs. Foster addres, the committee
eloguently and at considerable length
on the advantages women have IN this
country in the way OF earning a living,
compared with the countries of
Europe, and attributed IL to q protec-
tive Ia i'll. She then introduced tie
ladies with her, who she said were OPP
eratiyes in cloth and other mills m
New England and New York. whom
she had invited TO come before the
committee and relate their experience.
They were women who had worked il
England and other European coun-
tries and unanimously declared the
vastly superior conditions of life which
they were able to secure in this coun-
try were due t. the tar II.
Mrs. Foster said she had been Into
the mills and workshops of New York
and New England, and with the con-
sent OF tie employers Invited some
OF the female employees to come to
Washington with her and tell the
committee how they were situated.
Her companions were then briefly
questioned by members OF the COM
mittee.
Mrs. Bohner, German lady who
worked in a factory In the Fatherland,
had been employed about 20 years in
Rockville, Conn, in weaving cloth for
mems clothing Her weekly wages
were 81 TO $40, compared with
marks in Germany She laid up
money here and had three times visited
her birthplace, paying the expenses
from her savings.
Miss White, Miss Pitts and Mrs
Stenfield, all born in. England, were
also employed in the mills al Rock
vile. Conn, but no two we're from the
same mill.
The rest tod similar stories to that
OF Mrs. HOhner, OF the superior wages
and superior advantages of their pres
ent condition 10 that in which they
lived in the old country. They de-
claresi themselves with enthusiasm TO
have become Americans In the fullest
sense OF the word.
Mrs. Gallagher and Miss Dempe-
wolf were from mems clothing houses
in New York City. Miss Jennie Chee-
yer. Mrs stndd and Niss Clark were
from the mills OF Ware. Mass. There
was but little variety in the stories,
briefly and mode lily told Of their re-
speeiive locations. and that thes were
earning a comfortable livelihood bg
the work OF their own hands.
The appearance of the ladies, how-
ever. was the most convincing part oi
the evidence received By the commit
tee, which carried conviction irrespec-
tive Of the tariff views Of the commit
tee.
Senator Harris, who represented
tariff reform doctrines on the commit
tee, calamity contented himself in de-
veloping the facts from each Of the
Rockville witnesses that the foreign
born element largely predoininated
among their fellows and from the
others that il about equalesi that oi
native birth IN the New York shops.