Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-09-04
penetits of the Republican Doctrine
10 the Women Of the United
States.
And the Miserable Condition Free
Trade Brings Upon the Sex in
Foreign Lands.
Testimony of Many Witnesses, Includ-
inc the Martyred Garfield, on
this Great Question.

mon of America should be protectionists
as we'll as the men, but seldom are they
presented to show that the republican
economic system really does clossly affect
tbp gentler sex. The condition Of women
in the United States, in all parts of the
country. receiving respect and considera-
tion nowhere else shown her, would of
itself be almost a complete answer to the
onestion whether protection helps women.
in this country only is the wife and moth
or. comparatively speaking, exempt from
coarse, physical toll. Here it is expected,
and the aim and purport of the protective
tariff Is to obviate the necessity of female
physical labor for the support of the fam
ily. that duty devolvlng almost universal
" upon the male members, fathers and
sons.
In order to clearly comprehend the con-
dition of things in the United States il is
essential that contrast be drawn, and the
condition of female labor in foreign coun-
tries shown up.
First, take England. In his Latter
Day Phamplets' Carlyle says
British industrial existence seems fast
becoming one hugeswamp of reeking pes
thence, physical and moral; hideous liv-
ing Golgotha of souls and bodies buried
alive; such Curtius gulf communicating
with the neither deeps as the sun never
saw till now. Thirty thousand
outcast needlewomen working themselves
swiftly to death; 3,000,0 900 paupers rotting
in forced idleness, helping said needlewo-
men to die; these are but items in the sad
ledger of despair Thirty thousand
wrecked women sunk in that putrefying
well of the denomination; they have oozed
in upon London from the universal Stygian
quagmire of British industrial life, are ac-
cumulated in the well of the concern to
that extent.
RELATIVE TO LABOR,
which means, in En- gland, female as well
as male the London Times says:
For whole generation man has been
drug in this country and population a
nuisance. 1t has scarcely entered the
heads of economists that they would ever
have to deal with a deficiency of labor.
The inexhaustible Irish supply has kept
down the price of English labor, whether
in the field, the railway, the factory, the
army or the navy; whether at the sickle,
the spade, the hod or the desk We be-
lieve that, for fifty years at least, labor,
cheaper in this country than in any part of
Europe, and that this cheapness of labor
has contributed vastly to the improve
ments and power of the country, to the
success of all mercantile pursuits, and to
the enjoyment of those who have money
to spend.
Of that coarse physical labor almost I'M
known to women in this country, but
which is common in England, we have
testimony by Englishmen which is start
ling, the result of Investigations made by
persons from actual observation. Here
follows an extract:
John Burnett. sent by the London board
Of trade to examine into the condition of
the nail and chain makers of England, re-
ported: 1T shows that
WOMEN STAND AT THE FORCES
all day long in warm weather, in con-
ditlOn of semi-nudity, making spike nails
as large as inches, inches and inches,
working the freddie of the heavy
Oliver, welding the hammer and blow
streams from their faces. With ten to
twelve hours per day of this work a
woman can save from Is Sd to As go cents
to Sl.25) per week Young girls placed
on beams above the heads of workmen
operate two bellows below them, one with
each foot, and this is kept up hour after
aour day after day, week after week.
loung women appear to have no feeling
Of shame in speaking of their Legitimate
offspring while homes are neglected, and
infants are rocked to sleep on the bellows
tops IN the sitting air of the forges.
Mr., James Park, Jr., OF Pittsburg de-
ceased, gave his testimony in 1882, after
visit to Europe. He said;
When | was in Europe last summer |
VISITED one of the largest iron and steel es-
ADJUSTMENTS on the continent. Through
out the works | noticed numbers of wo-
men whose bodies were covered with the
ragged, thrown-off clothing of their hus
oandS and brothers, and was told that
al this establishment, over 500 women
were employed, none of them receiving
over ! franc, or little over 10 cents per
Jay; These women were doing mems
WORK such work as our mill men receive
9l'53 tc 81 80 for performing. Those who
aauVo ate free trade doctrines would have
lue citizens of our republic work in COM
petition with those
POORLY PAID WOMEN.
le, when you call the attention of the dis
aP'e' OF tree trade to these facts and hint
them that their course if adopted,
would result in compelling us to paw
gIr same low prices for labor and engage
.l7 same classes to do the work that strong
l.e3 are hardly equal to, they cry aloud
9no deny 1t all, but cannot show how, IN.
ler me adoption of their doctrine, it could
oeavoided. -
non Abram s. Hewitt a, democrat free
I''gr and United States commissioner to
VIE fdrs exposition, reported: ''As a
ssnrraI rule the labor of the women and
,;.,ren Is required to exc out the SUBJ
',lrnce Of the family In Wales women
us t&tenslvely employed in the works. do
.as lne laoor for which a man would be
stl'red IN America, and earning from
pence to one shilling three pence per
Il! or rather less than one-half the wages
~al would be paid to man for the same
s mount of labor, which they perform
y. N the making of iron, etc, Mr.. Hewitt
= 1 IN Staffordshlre and in the north
england and in Scotland women and