The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-02-21

UGeU UOuG, duU OtouOUCot IL aSp01o oSV
the cause Of much distress.
G. Others are too exacting. and
require more work than is necessary.
have read Of shop-girls in the great
cities who are required TO stand upon
their feet twelve hours each day, and if
one rests for moment by sitting down,
she is faed accordingly On the street
car lines. the horse works four hours,
and rests four, while the driver goes oD
for fourteen, and has to eat as he
travels over his route. In some of the
factories, girls and boys are looked
upon as machines, aud are required to.
keep step with putting engine. as if
their nerves and muscles we're made of
iron or steel.
"a In=nany cases,4.he employer
iss- guilty Of paying tooelittle for the
work done. I do not know that such
cruelty has yet reached US, but we read
of women 10 the cities who make
twelve shirts for seventy-ive cents, aud
finish off an elegant cloak for four
cents; of children who work twelve
hours day for one dollar week. Rev.
Mr.. Banks. of Boston, says he found
woman who made cheap overcoats at
four cents apiece. and boys pants at
sixteen cents dozen pairs.
This oppression drives many to mad
ness, and some to rain. Low wages
make It impossible for the laborers to
have homes of their own, and in the
New York tenements whole family
in thousands Of occupy single
room, for eating. sleeping and working.
and yet the records show that recently
over 81 600 men, women and children
were turned out into the streets because
unable to pay the rent of single roem-
''While ball costing $4,000 was 10
progress at Delmonico's, out on the
curbstone there shivered a~woman with
babe in her arms. A passer-by saw
her crying and spoke to her. She said
the little one was sick. He looked at
the child and saw that it had been dead
for some hours. 1t had starved to
death. y
8. The introduction of machinery
must be counted in among the other
causes of discomfort. 1t has come to
pass that the work which cannot be done
by machinery is not regarded as worth
the doing. and the invention Of each
new machine throws hundreds and thou
sands out OF employment. A type-set-
ting machine, for instance, will do the
work Of ten or twenty men. and when
it goes into operation, the printer has
lost his work and hence his living. A
car load of coal can be mined and made
ready for market and loaded on the
cars in one-half the time that it requir-
ed ten years ago Ore operative in a
cotton factory produces nearly four
times as much as he did fifty years ago
In Touring mill one maa does the
work opce given to four. A woman
with sewing machine can do as much
as six women once did. 10 shoe fac
tory one man makes daily as many pairs
as i've made Fifty years ago. A few
years ago, skilled workman could
make three dozen pair Of sleeve-buttons
per day; now boy at machine can
turn out 9, 900 pairs per day.
Thus we see that while machines fur
nish US With our comforts and put
money into the pockets Of many, they
really rob the laborer Of his living. aud
make it more difficult for him to find
work.
4. This opens up directly upon
another cause Of the peoples discomfort
liability to get work.
Of course this year and last are ex-
ceptional. and We must not base our
calculations upon what is now transpir-
ing. Some of our philosophers are
trying to solve the problem, and account
for the financial strait. On one hand,
We are told it springs from the currency
question on another from the tariff.
My opinion is, it has come as the direct
result Of dishonest dealing on the part
of the moneyed men who set up
corners" aud deal 10 Futures - and
compel the whole commercial world to
live upon an inflated and unnatural
basis.
At any rate. the crisis is here. Thou
sands are sleeping at night in the
Chicago churches because they can find
neither work nor shelter. The vain
search for work, and that, too. by an
honest man, is most disheartening
experience. Some are worn down by
disappointment, driven away and re-
pulsed by rudeness, and crushed to the
earth. uatil despair shothers all hope.
To this is added the gnawing pain Of
ouoger. the loss Of self-respect, and at
las, the spirit is willing to 60 out in
suicidal darkness, rather than live amid
q Thousand deaths Of want and suffer