Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-05-17

working women In the Unlted StaJea
This report will be found none the less
| interesting from the fact that IL is main
ly the work of the young ladies, whose
| tack and zeal carried them over diff
culties which would have proved insur-
mountable to inquiries of the other sex.
/ They discovered at once that working
women usually resented at first what
seemed To them merely an impertlnont
curiosity. Some of them were afraid
that an exact statement of facts might
offend their employers, and occasion
ally the employers did actually attempt
10 render the investigation fruitless.
But the young ladies, to whom We have
referred. preserved and sooner or later
succeeded in eliciting the information
of which they were in search. They
visited Boston, Brooklyn, Newark,
Cleveland, Chicago, st. Paul, st. Louis,
Louisville, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Phil
adelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta, Savan-
nah, Charleston, New York, Indiapo-
lis and Richmond, spending in each city
from three weeks 10 five months. They
visited the working women in their
shops and factories, and at their homes,
aud they made note of their age, ma
tiyity, conjugal relations, wage and
hours Of work, and health as affected
by work.
Ii is pleasant to record the verdict of
these investigators, which is that the
condition of the working women in this
country has undergone n marked i'm
provement within the last ten or fifteen
years. Only few years ago it was
estimated that there were only twenty
five occupations open TO women, and
now il is said that this number has in-
creased 10 four hundred. 1t is not
difficult to find many cases Of hardship
even yet, but the Commissioner Of
Labor will report that there has been
distinct advance in the right direction.
We trust that these statesmeuts have
not been painted i'm the color OF the
rose by the brush of an optimistic
fancy. Not long ago we heard a pretty
story Of New Orleans woman who re-
fused 70 purchase some article of dress
because it was no cheap. 1t was Of
good material, il .,,t, well made, but it
was too cheap. II would have been
dearer If some poor woman had not
been overworked and underpaid. The
sentiment was just; but, unfortunate ",
if the price were raised the difference
would 90 into the employers pocket
and not into that of his employees.
Wages do not rise or fall with the price
of goods. They are determined by the
application of the law of supply and
demand TO labor Wherever there is
combination between capitalists and
competition between laborers, wages
are low.
This Is tho general rule, but it is
especially rigorous and hard where
working women are concerned; for th
woman eau rarely ever succeed in a
competition Of that sort against the man
unless she will consent to accept lower
wages, and usually she must accept
what will afford her a bare subslst-
ence. As an abstract principle it will
be admitted by everybody that the
woman ought TO be paid just as much
as the man for doing the same amount
OF work and doing it as well. But in
reality nine employers out of ten will
procure labor at the lowest possible
rates and without regard u the we'll
being OF the labOrer. and there appears
TO be no remedy for this unless the
wages could be regulated by law. The
abuse grows out Of the cUpidity OF en-
ployers, who in most eases would never
have employed the service Of women
but for the fact that it was TO be at a
less cost. As long as there is'a super
abundapce of laborer5 there can be no
absolutely successful combination to
put up wages.-New Orleans Picayune.