Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-06-20

ould stand beside the majority OF your
alesmen and dispose OF more goods. She
'ould go into your wheelwright shops and
,eat Re-half OF YQu- warkmen 2 making
arrlages. We talk about woman az though
ye had resigned to her all the light work.
nd ourselves had shouldered the heavier.
Bat the day OF judgment, which will reveal
he su6erings of the stake and inquisition,
will marshal before the throne of God and
he hierarchs of heaven the martyrs OF wash
ub and needle.
Now. SAY, IL there be any preference in
occupation, let woman have it. God knows
Ter trials are the ssverest. By her acuter
ensitiveness to misfortune, by her hour OF
nSsuish. demand that no one hedge up her
pathway 10 a livelihood. Oh the meanness,
he despicabIIity OF men who begrulSe
Voman the right 70 work anywhere in any
honorable calling!
I go still further AMI say that women
hould have equal compensation with men.
By what principle Of justice is it that women
many Of our cities get only two-thirds as
much pay as men. and in many cases only
Iali? Here IS tho gigantic injustlce-that
york equally well If not better done woman
'eceives far less compensation than man.
start with the national government. For
ong while women clerks in Washington got
1900 for doing that for which men received
1880.
To thousands of young women in our cities
Quay tnere Is only THIS alteFnaIlVe-5tarFii-
ion or dishonor. Many OF the largest mer-
hntile establishments OF our cities are ac-
essory to these denominations, and from
heir large establishments there are scores ol
ouls being pitched OF into death, and their
Employers know il
Is there n God? viii there be a Judgment
tell you, II God rises up to redress woman's
wrongs, many OF our large establishments
will be swallowed up quicker than q South
American earthquake ever took down city.
1od will catch these oppres5or5 between the
wo millstones OF His wrath and grind them
C pow Ter
hear from all this land the wall OF wo-
manhood. Man has nothing to answer to
hat wall but batteries. He says she is an
nigel. She is not. She knows she ia not
She is q human being, who gets hungry when
,he has no food and cold when she has no
Ire. Give her no more batteries. Give her
usticel
There are about 80, 900 sewing girls in New
FORK and BROOKLYN. Across the darkness of
his night 1 hear their death Groans. 1t is
lot such cry rs comes from those who are
suddenly hurled out OF life, but a slow,
grinding, horrible wasting away. Gather
hem before you and look into their faces,
oinchei, ghastly, hunger struck! Look at
heir fingers, needle prickei and blood
ipped See that premature stoop in the
shoulders Hear that dry, hacking, merci-
ess cough
At large meeting of these women, held
n a hall in Philadelphia, grand speeches
we're delivered, bJs a nee1le-woman took
he stand, threw aside her faded shawl, and
with her snriveled arm hurled a very thunder
BOLT OF eloquence, speaking out the horrors
of her own experience.
Stand at the corner OF a street in New
York in the very early morning as the wo-
men go to their work. Many of them had
no breakfast except the crumbs tEat were
eft over from the night beioro or a crust
hey chew on their way through the
streets. Here they come-tho work
ing girls OF the city These engaged IN
5eadwork, these IN flower making, in millin-
cry, enameling. cigar making, bookbinding.
labelling, feather picking, print colorlns,
paper box making, but, most overworked OF
all and least compensated, the sewing
women. Why do they not take the city cars
on their way up? They cannot afford the
Ave cents. II, concluding to deny herself
something else, she gets into the car, give
her seat. You want to see how Latimer and
Ridley appeared in the fire. Look at that
woman and behold q more horrible martyr
Iona hotter fire, more agonizny death.
One Sabbath night, in the vestibule Of my
church, after service woman fell in con.
yulslons. The doctor said she needed meli-
zine not so much as something to eat. As
she began TO revive, in her deirlum she said
gaspingly Eight cents Eight cents Eight
cents l wish could get it donel l am SO
:iredl I wish l could get some sleep, but 1
must get 1t done Eight cents Eight cents r.
We found afterward that she was making
garments at eight cents apiece, and that she
could make but three OF them IN a day. Hear
It! Three times eight are twenty-fOur. Hear
L, men and women who have comfortable
homes
Some of the worst villains OF the city are
the employers of these women. They beat
them down to the last penny and try 70
cheat them out OF that. The woman must
deposit 81 or 81 before she gets the gar
ments to work on. When the WORK is done.
it is sharply inspected, the most insignif-
cant flaws picked out and the wages refused,
and sometimes the 81 deposited not given
back, The Womsn's Protective Union re-
ports case where one Of these poor souls,
hnding a place where she couli get more
wages, resolved to change employers AMI
went TO get her pay for work done. The
employer says, 'I hear You ara GOiug to
leave me?' ''Yes," she said, "and l have
come to get what you owe me-" He made
no answer. She said, "Are you not going
TO paw me?' yes" he said, Il will pay
you, and he kic1ol her down stairs.
How are these evils to be erIdicatei?
What have you to answer, you who sell
coats and have shoes made and contract TOR
the southern and western marlets2 What
help Is there, what panacea, what reiemp-
lion? Some say, 'Give women the ballot.
W hat SlltCI SugsE DhllOl IllSlll nave On OslfE
questions l am not here TO discuss but
what would be the effect Of female suffrage
upon woman's wages? i do not believe that
woman will ever get justice by womnus
ballot.
Indeed, women oppress women rs much as
men do. Do not women, as muca as men
beat down to the lowest figure tbs woman
who sews for them? Are not women as sharp
rs men on washerwOmen and mtlliners and
mantua makers? If a woman asks 81 for her
work. does not her female employer ask II
she will not take ninety cents? You say,
"Only ten cents difference" But that is
sometimes the difference between heaven
and he'll. Women often have less commits
eration for women than men. II q woman
steps aside from the path OF virtue, man may
torgive-wOman never! Woman will never
get justice done her from woman's ballot.
Never will she get il from mans ballot.
How, thcn2 God will rise up for her. God
has more resources than we know OF. The
Raining sword that hung at Eden's gate
It's terrible edge her oppressOrs.
But there IS something for our women to
10. Let our young people prepare to excel
IN spheres of work, and they will be able
after awhile to get larger wages. II 1t be
shown that n woman can in a store sell mora
goods in a year than nan, she will soon be
able not only to ask but to demand more
wages, and to demand them successfuilv.
Unskilled and incompetent labor must take
what Is given. Skilled and competent labor
will eventually make its own standard. Ad-
hitting that the law OF supply and demand
regulates these things, 1 contend that tho
iemand for skilled labor is very great and
he supply very small.
Start with the idea that work Is honorable
md that you can do some one thing better
han anyone else. Resolve that. God help
ng, you will take care OF yourself If you
IRE after a while called into another relation,
rou will all the better be qualified for it by
Iour spirit OF selt-reliance, or if you are
,alled to say as you are you can be happy
md selt-supporting.
Poets are fond of talking about man as an
Dak and woman the vine that climbs it, but
laYe seen many n tree fall that not only
vent down itself, but took all the vines with
{. can tell you of something stronger
han an oak for an ivy to climb on, and that
the throne OF the great Jehovah. Single
>r afllanced, that woman is strong who leans
IN God and does her best. The needle may
oreak. the factory band may slip, the wages
nay fail, but over every good woman's head