Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-04-23
WHITE SLAVES OF new YORK.
Their Future Being Made Radiant by
no Star. They Patiently Endure
Their Hard Lot.
Hours of Labor are Excessive, and no
Remuneration Given Them for
Any Overtime.
FaithtulHeSS no Guarantee of Per.
manent Position, Many Being Dis
charged After Five Years.

| know of no lives so essentially heroic
as those OF the working girls of our great
cities. who have almost nothing on the
social side Of life, whose very existence is
bleak as winter in the Arctic; whose flu
ture is made radiant by DO star; who, day
by day, hour by hour, patiently endure the
slow grinding of hopeless poverty; before
whose life, dread of want, fear of sick.
ness, and the awful blackness of the pot
ter's field, hang q perpetual cloud-and
yet who, despite all these tragic infiuen ce:
than which nothing is better calculated tc
crush and destroy, endure their lot I'm.
compIainingly, never swerving from the
highway of pure, honest life, though tenn
tation invite at every step. He who feels
the fire of enthusiasm swell in his breast
when a life is In peril in great Are ant
risks all to save a stranger, or he who, I'm.
der the intoxicating spell of battle, rushe:
to death at the lannon's mouth, though
brave, knows nothing of that sublime
herolsm which suffers without nope, which
labors patiently ON starvation wages, en-
dures the steady strain on body. brain and
soul, and spurns all temptations, illustrat.
ing how strong is woman's honor. how
deep-rooted in chastity is the every fibre
of her being.
Much is written about reducing the
time of mans daily work from ten to light
and nine hours, and this is well; but how
little is written or spoken about the hours
of woman work Though she labors fol-
less than one half as much as man receives,
she is compelled to work ten, eleven,
twelve fourteen, and in very busy times
which are yearly enacting numerous IN
from which in turn favors are expected
and who trim laws to catch votes, take lit
tie interest in the wages or conditions Of
the working women and girls, because
they do not vote, and votes weigh fai
more than the great fundamental princi
pie of justice Ia the estimation of the
ordinary politician. Thus are our working
girls lett to the rapacity and greed Of
men.
In the future when women shall be fully
emancipated, when the great army OF
bread-winners will have voice in law.
making, and will stand side by side with
man in the enjoyment of larger freedom
and more perfect justice than she has hith-
erto known, we will &C ne to appreciate the
brutality of a system which insists that
woman is frail. delicate, and weaker than
men, yet demand that her days work be
far longer than the common artisan.
though she receives less than half his
wages. Then also we will appreciate how
unhealthy is public sentiment which
pays homage to the men who grow rich
through white slave labor; while il
brands with disgrace the poor, starving
girl who finding herself confronted with
starvation or sin, chooses the latter. Miss
Alice S. Woodbridge, the secretary of the
working women's society of New York,
after recent tour of investigation, sums
up the result of her observation, in the
following words:
Il found that the hours in stores are ex-
cessive, and employees are not paid for
overtime. Some stores in Grand street
open at 7:30 a. m. and close at 6 p. M,
with half hour for lunch, except on Sat-
urday when the closing hours are 10 and
II p. m. The Saturday half holiday is
not observed. In the majority of stores
are kept after 6 o'clock to arrange stock,
the time varying according to the season,
from fifteen minutes to four no IRIS nightly.
VI UuIce VI lOuI WcthS Cllllticu IcluhlH
until II or II o'clock at night without
supper or extra pay,
''In engaging employe the employers
do not contract for certain number of
hours day, but stipulate for such time
as the firm requires their services. Thus
a child on a salary of So week may be
obliged to work sixteen hours day at
at certain seasons of the year and is forced
to go long distances. through questionable
localities late at night, and is thus render
ed liable to Insult and immoral influ-
ences.
81 discovered, that long and faithful
service does not meet with consideration.
On he contrary, service for a number of
years is reason for dismissal. 1t has
become the rule in some stores not to
keep any one more than five years, because
the employers fear that employees who
have served longer than that will get an
idea that they have claim on the firm
and may ask for an advance of salary.
know of instances where women have been
discharged for no other reason than this
the firm stated that they did not like to
have women too long In their employ.
A double injury is done to these discharg-
ed women, for it is almost impossible for
them to obtain employment in other
houses.
'The wages paid to women average be-
tween 81 and $3.50 week, and are often
reduced by unreasonable and excessive
fines. The little cash girls do not average
81 week. In one large house the aver
age wages for saleswomen and cash
girls is s2.40 a week. In many fashion
able houses the saleswomen are not al
lowed to leave the counter between the
hours of IL a. m. and p. M, except for
lunch, and if saleswomon has customer
obliged to remain and wait on the GUS
Quoted from the lunch time.
''If mistakes are made, they are charged
to the saleswomen and cash girls General
and slide down to the floor below. If a
check is lost, the goods are charged to the
saleswoman, although it may be the fault
OF the shipping clerk.
''In some stores the fines are divided be-
tween the superintendent and tlme-keeper.
In one store where these fines amounted
to s., 600, the superintendent was heard to
reproach the time-keeper with not being
strict enough.
Mems wages are very low, but it seems
that they cannot fall belo the point where
existence is possible. Women's wages,
however, have no low limit, since the
paths of shame are always open to her.
The very fact that some of these women
receive partial support from their brothers
and are thus enabled to live on less than
they earn, forces other women who have
no other support, either to suffer tor ne
cessaries or to seek other means of sup
port. Cases ight be cited where frail,
delicate. women, unable to exist on the
salaries they earn are forced to crime or
suicide. The story of Mrs Henderson,
who threw herself from an attic window
of lodging house some time ago, is the