, 1891-03-25
A TELLING CONTRAST.
IN THEIR OLD LIMITED SPHERE
WOMEN ARE WELL PAID.

Used to He Called Mems work.
The working woman's sphere used to
be confined chiefly TO household work.
And it is a notable fact that in those
days the newspapers contained no stories
about women dying of starvation and
overwork in tenement houses. If any
body died from these causes it was a
man.
Descriptions of the agonies of starving
workingwomen and their families are
now a feature of the penny papers. Only
a few days z a woman in Jersey City
who had worked in a big tobacco fac
tory and was thrown out of employment
by her advanced years and inability to
handle the tobacco leaf as deity as the
younger generation locked herself up in
her room to wait till the pangs of hunger
snapped the life cord. She almost sue
ceeded.
Such an occurrence twenty years ago
would have been commented upon by
the newspapers and statesmen all over
the country, and the philosophers would
have philosophical to the extent of a
book on the subject; but so common
have such events become in these days
since "the extension of women's sphere"
that they attract little or no attention.
Perhaps some newspaper may, for the
purpose of advertising itself, get up a
subscription fund to buy a few necessa-
ries for the support, but the average cit
izen reads the little story without emo
ton. 1t disturbs him no more than 4
view of the dirty streets or a struggle to
get a seat in m elevated train.
WHERE WOMAN NEVER ARv
And right here it may be asked. in
view of the present condition of work
ingmen, Has any one ever heard of a
woman, sticking to tho old limited
sphere of working women-dOmestic
service-suffering for lack of the neces-
saries of lifeY' TIL newspapers record no
such instances. One would be such a
novelty that the ambition of the museum
men to secure unhcard of curiosities
would be aroused.
The fact is that the oniy women de-
pendent on their daily work for subsist-
ence who are comfortably situated, with
a few exceptions, are the domestic serv-
ants. Al lhc thrifty oues nave their
baul; accounts. and theg don't know
what it is a. want for fUOd or clothes.
Moreover, Their labor is comparatively
light, and they have real homes,
So thoroughly is this fact recognized
that the societies devoted to improving
the conditions of working women and
helping them in their difficulties with
employers exclude ~ervaut from their
range of work.
Mrs. M. j. Creagh. sup, rintendent of
the Working Women's Protective union,
gives the reason, as follows:
1.-THE working women in stores, fac
tories and Offices need all the assistance
the union can give, for they are the suffer
ers. Women who work as domestics
may sometimes have reasonable grounds
for complaint, but their condition is so
far above that of the other working
women that they can always get along
comfortably. They can get places when
even they val them, receive good wages,
don't know what hunger is, and are well
acquainted with the looks of 4 bank
book. They dou't need help.
1T is this poor saleswomdn, the over
worked factory girl and thssewing WON
an that has to be helped to live.
IRIS CREAGH's OPINION.
Considering the board matter, they
do not get one-half or oue-third as much
as the servants and have to work longer.
Besides, they are often cheated out of
their scant earnings, If they are sick
for a time they lose their little pay, and
perhaps their places are filled before they
recover The ervant girl, on the other
hand, gets her wages right along, and
if she is in a good family she receives
such medical and other attention as the
store girl cannot receive. She is, in fact,
settled, while her sisters in the world of
business depend on their weeks salary
for food and lodging the following week,
and a few days sickness mean to them
starvation and inadequate attendance or
a journey to a charity hospital.
Therefore this society gives all its at
tention to women outside Of domestic
service. As go further and fur
Their into the business world we have
more to do than ever. Every day we
have brought to our notice cases where
rich employers try to beat women out of
sums varying from twenty. five cents to
$50.
1.-THE records here show. better than
anything l know of, the slavery into
which women have been brought OF late
years. Employers know that women
have not the money to pay lawyers to
sue for them, so they take advantage of
their helplessness whenever they can. 1t
is remarkable, however, that they settle
up with great rapidity when the women
come here to complain. Our counsel
conducts worthy cases free Of charge
and has got verdicts in the civil courts
for more than $4,000 since the union be
gan its work"
When Mrs. Creagh vas asked why the
wages of girls in factories, stores and of
fees were so small, she answered in al,
most the same way as Miss Van Etten
did.
Women, she said, took the places of
men in many occupations without or
ganizing themselves to obtain fair com
p~ensation. They took anything they
could get. They expected to get married
some time, and their work was a tempo
rary expedient, at first, to obtain pin
money. Now many of them find that
they have really to support themselves,
and their meager wages won't do it.
Still they bear their hardships, waiting
ever for the gay cavalier who is to come
along and relieve them. With some
work is a necessity, with others it is not.
But Few of tncm seem to consider that
men nave suffered il consequence of the
lower standard OF waTes,-New York
Commercial Advey isaT.
TWENTY DOLLAR GOLD PIECES.
Mrs, John Curtis of Peoria, ILL.,, writes
Used one box of Usage Pills previous tc
my second confinement; they worked like