The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-04-04
SWEATER SLAVES.
DR.. BERkOWiTZ'S ELOQUENT DE-
NUNCiATiON OF THE SYSTEM.

It Takes Four Slaves to Make a Sweater:
The Tenement House Laborer, the Rack
Ing Landlord, the Employer and the
Greedy, Bargain Hunting Public.
The agitation 70. the abolition of the
sweating system SO fagrantly practiced
in Philadelphia has received fresh i'm
pulse within the last few weeks owing
to the fact that the factory inspectors
intend renewing the investigation inau-
gurated years ago.
The synagogue of Rodef Shalom, at
Broad and Mount Vernon streets. was
filled the other evening with an intelli-
gent audience that listened most atten-
lively while Rev. DR.. III. Berkowitz out
lined the terrible state to which sweaters
are reduced and told of the remedies
which might be applied.
He said that the present times were
giving a remarkable illustration of the
old text in Genesis iii, 10, I'm the sweat
of thy brow shalt thou eat bread till
thou return unto the ground" AS his
tory Of temptation there is nothing else in
simple as a record Of transgression and
punishment, nothing so stirring and
forceful. 1t is often supposed, but erro-
neously, that labor is appointed as a
curse. Not so. Sweat of brain and
sweat of brow''-these, as Carlyle SAYS,
care the divinest thing under the heav-
ems" Slavish, bestial drudgery is a
%
fitness of the ancient allegory to our
times, lies herein: While there are plenty
and beauty enough for every Adam and
Eve born into this paradise of existence,
yet the lust for the golden apple has be-
come an overmastering passion, binding
many to all else. The greed which de-
bases life into a scramble recoils upon
us with the curse of a slavish drudgery
in which thousands of our fellow crea-
lures are condemned to ''sweat'' that they
may eat.
''Sweating" has developed into ''sys-
tenn" 1t is system of slavery. 1t once
had its taskmasters, the subcontractors
who ruled with iron hand. whether his
slaves were Bohemian cigar makers,
Italian macarOni makers, German shirt
makers or Russian coatmakers. This
taskmaster was called the sweater. -
Today it takes four slaves to make a
sweater" The first is the tenement
house labOrer himself. The middleman
who secured the work has become fic-
ton, and his shop has for the most part
disappeared with him. He gets his work
direct, and so does it for less pay. He
saves the rent of the shop by doing the
work at home. He saves hire bv letting
his wife and children help. What mat
ter if the work be poorly done? He
What though he eat, wash, sleep, lie
sick or die in that same room and send
forth it's vermin, filth and infection of
measles or diphtheria? 1t matters not.
He can do the work cheaper than others.
He gets the ''greeners'' to help by teach
ing them the trade and giving them thus
start in life. He himself works hard
est. One man had counted 213 such
sweaters dens in Philadelphia.
The rabbi had spent the day before
on tour Of inspection and gave from
personal observations some pictures
which he declared to be foul blot on
Philadelphia and a charge against our
civilization which cries against us to
heaven.
"They do it themselves by their under
bidding, scaling down prices to starva-
ton wages. Yes, it is the greed which
recoils on them and yields them but the
bitter bread Of their own sweat to eat"
The doctor pleaded earnestly for pub
lie sentiment in behalf of such law as
Massachusetts has. Every tenement
house workshop in the state has been
stamped out by a simple law and the evil
eliminated. 1t requires that a tag or
label bearing the words Tenement
made be attached to all such goods. A
fine of $50 attaches to each violation.
mo merchant will advertise himself
as disciple of the sweating system by
selling such goods, and who would pur-
chase goods which represent such an in
famous system? The law further re-
quires a license to be taken out by all
shops. 1t has put an end to the filthy
dens by refusing the license. 1t has kept
guard over the spread Of disease by re-
voking the license when through the
board of health it was discovered as un-
reported.
1.-THE second slave to greed who helps
to make the sweating system is the rack
ing landlord. The ramshackle shanties.
for which enormous profits are coined
into gold out of the blood of the poor.
are stencil in the nostrils of decent hui
manity.
1.-The third slave in the sweating sys-
tenn is the employer. He has been called
hard names by many and no doubt
often deservedly. l am glad to know
that there are many self respecting en-
ployers today who would disdain to soil
their hands, corrupt their consciences or
blacken their souls by grinding down
the ignorant and helpless to scale of
life which is beneath that Of the brute
and make him labor under conditions
which put a premium on a prison CELL"
DR.. Berkowitz pleaded earnestly that
employers should follow up these labor
ers to the homes and see how and where
the work is done. Once this were done,
the evil would be remedied True, the
employers are also the victims of the &C.