Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-02-01
The Governor in His Message Over
looked One Field of Bndeav0r.
WORKING WOMEN NEED HELP.
Their Average Earnings Scarcely Keep
Body and Soul Together.
FALSE PRIDE RESULTS IN HARDSHIP
rwp1rrES FOR THE DISPATCH.

| forbids extortion. oppression and unfair dis
elimination, yet these evils exist and -four
ish in our midst none the less-that while it
aims to prevent monopolies and to make
corporations subservient to law, yet even
under the broad seal of the State these
WELD power notoriously to tie disadvan-
tage and injury of the best interests of the
| people.
He then dilates upon the abuses of the
ballot-how the industrial and political
bosses trample upon the rights of good citi-
zens, how brutal coercion and corruption
prevail at the polls, destroy the sovereignty
of the people. and subject them to the rule
of unscrupulous leaders who, by their
''gangs of organized ignorance and pur-
chased vice." carry out their schemes for
self-interest by making 1t their aim to over
throw virtue, liberty and independence.
His Opinion of Taxation.
But as if all this was not bad enough, he
asserts that unjust discrimination and un-
fair taxation are working untold evils to the
farmers of the State; that under the present
corrupt system of administering the laws
the rich are exempted from their fair share
of taxation, and the poor are oppressed by
extortion, and that such manifest evils are
day by day establishing unfortunate social
distinctions that are foreign to our principles
of government, destructive of the happiness
and energies of men, and blasting the hopes
that we have all prayerfully entertained of
our country becoming the home of a con-
tented and happy people.
Altogether the Governor has presented us
with a very melancholy picture of the con-
dition of our grand old State and the nation
at large. With corruption, bribery, extortion,
oppression, injustice everywhere rampant
in defiance of law and gospel, with the iron
heel of the despotism of the dollar crushing
out the happiness and contentment of the peo-
pie, it seems likely that the Governor con-
sidered the condition of affairs at present too
gloomy and dark for him to add further
blackness by even passing allusion to the
additional sorry fact that half of the citizens
OF the Commonwealth are
Denied Voice and Vote
in their own behalf-that they are subjected
to system of what Lord Camden calls rob-
bery-that the laws under which they are
defrauded and wronged constitute an
abuse of power that finds no excuse or
support in the principles of democracy,
and has not a prop to stand upon
save prejudice. How anxious the worthy
Governor is to preserve the workiugmen
and the farmers from the tyranny of capital,
Of soulless corporations, of political trick
cry and unjust taxation is plainly to be
seen in his speech; but it is amazing to note
how utterly silent he is regarding the wrongs
of the citizens whose money is taken with
out their consent, who are subjected to un-
just laws in which they have been allowed
no voice, who are legislated for as if they
were imbeciles. Governor Pattison mourns
over the wrongs of the farmers, who have
power to protect themselves if they chose,
but he expresses not a shadow of sympathy
for the other people, who are denied any
choice.
Although women constitute three fourths
OF the mem bership of the Methodist Church,
Brother Buckley. and others of his stamp,
cannot see any sense in permitting women
delegates to sit in the General Conference.
He is obstinately opposed to allowing Fran
ces Willard or Mrs. VankIrk or any other
woman either voice or vote in church mat |
ters. His heart and soul and conscience are |
unanimously against woman saying her say |
in either church or State. Brother Pattison |
is of the same mind. In his estimation
The Women of the State
have no wrongs to bother about. He |
has nothing TO say as to the betterment of |
the working women of Pennsylvania, who |
have their share in the industrial conflict in |
which the world now appears to be engaged. |
Carroll d. Wright, who mas won reputation
as master of statistics, testifes that he |
made most careful and searching investi- |
cation among working women-not includ-
ing those engaged in housekeeping and
domestic pursuits-to ascertain their physi-
cal and economical condition. AS class,
he says in his report, the working women
are virtuous, industrious and are engaged in
a heroic struggle to support themselves upon
the smallest wages under the most trying
His figures were made upon his study of
the industries of Massachusetts,, but they
will apply as we'll with little variation to
Pennsylvania and other States. The aver
age income of the working woman in Boston
from all sources is S269 o. Out of this
small sum she has to find her expenses of
living and clothing, which, by his state
ment for positive necessities, amount to
S261 80. leaving the wide and extravagant
margin of 81 n for religious purposes, doc
tors bills, books amusements and sundries.
For Three Dollars a Week.
Without the figures to show, it can fairly
be inferred that the working women in the
mills, the factories and workshops of Penn
sylvania are not a whit better of. There are
plenty of women working in the stores and
workrooms of Pittsburg to-day for So a
week. If the most of these did not live at
home, it is not hard to see that their strug-
gle for an existence would be arduous in
deed When such condition of little more
than half starvation Is imposed upon work.
ers in this country OF Smiling plenty" and
abundant prosperity, can it be wondered at
that the long smoldering fires of justice
begin TO blaze, and that revolution is pre-
dicted?
The royalty and nobility of France needed
not the murmurings of poverty and discon-
tent They laughed and danced and feasted
on the banks of the volcano ''After us the
deluge," said Louis XIV. The deluge came
in blood The despotism of wealth is no
less hard to bear in this country than that
Of ROYALTY and nobility founded on heredity
and alleged blue blood.
Parts of a Machine.
Helen Campbell, who has spent more than
wear in investigating the condition of the
working women of New York, says that the
'slop work" in the clothing establishments,
1t which thousands OF women are employed,
includes every form Of oppression and out
rage that workers know. The closeness Of
competition has sharpened and hardened the
Christian until he has acquired every art
md device OF extortion, and he "grinds his
victims with composure born of the idea
that they are merely parts of the great pro-
jucing machine" In order to save rent. |
light and heat the manufacturers now in
list that each worker shall do her work
It home, and thus these expenses come out |
If her scanty pay. Then the proprletors
evolved a way to make another little profit
or themselves by insisting on sending the