The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-06-19
WAGES OF WOMEN.
House Committee on Labor
Looking Up the Question
Of the Work of Women and
Children.
A CHEERFUL VIEW.
Chairman McGann MOreHOpeful
Than a Few Weeks Ago.
CHEERFUL VIEW.


Chairman McGann of the house commit
tee on labor takes a more cheerful view OF
things in general than he did few weeks
ago and considerably more SO than do
most OF the members whose districts have
recently been raidcd by strikers and swept
by tho militia. The prospect that the
great coal strike draws near an end and
the slightly improved condition of labor
in general account for part of the increased
cheerfulness, but much the greater part is
due to the fact that the senate committee
has got to work, and dozens of Organiza-
tiOns extending over the country are in
vestigating the labor question with more
earnestness than ever before. The various
measures before the committee have been
reduced to very compact form, and it is
the intention to complete the committee
work entirely within a week or 10 days
and then ask the house to set a time when
its propositions shall he taken up and dis
cussed scriatim- 1t on the 10th of
May that this committee gave General
Coxey hearing and then completed it's
report in favor of joint committee of the
two houses to investigate the industrial
and financial depression.
Eject of WOman's Work.
Another measure of this committee has
been the subject of very earnest study and
is recommended TO the house for passage.
This is resolution for an exhaustive in
quiry on the work and wages of women
anu CnlltlrDQ ana InC cuecI upon
labor in general. So far as can be gath
cred from the statements of members most
interested in the subject, it is probable
that this resolution will be considerably
enlarged in it's scope in it's passage through
the house, and that if special committee
is appointed its work Will extend over a
long period, certainly to near the close of
this congress and possibly over the vaca-
ton, ending in general report to be con-
sidered by the Fifty fourth congress.
The literature the subject is of a
mass to astOnish one who has not looked
into it and to appall the average journalist
1t appears that about the time Victoria
became queen the condition of laOoring
women and children in the mines and fac
tories of England had sunk to a state of
degradation that would now be incredible
If we had not positive proof of it. The in
quiry ordered by the house Of commons
was the most minute and exhaustive ever
made on that subject, and the result of it
appeared in the successive factory acts,
and now the condition is SO much i'm
proved there that the statements of old la
borers are regarded as false by the younger
generation. The house committee does not
contemplate so exhaustive an investigation
here, but thinks q tOlerably thorough in
quiry necessary, and that with due dill
gence it can be completed in time for some
definite action next winter.
Effect of One Machine.
committee is not nearly so unanimous is
that for an inquiry into the effects of ma
chincry on labor, as to which a member of
the committee says: This investigation
ought to DC made ut once, as before long it
will be impossible to make it thorough.
The old men who have had experience in
both kinds of production are fast. pass
ing away, and yet there are enough for
our purpose who did what is commonly
called hand work in their younger days
and are now doing machine work. The
young men brought up to the machine
cannot tell US what we want to know
There was ono man here who said that a
machine now turns out as many horseshoe
nails in day as so men could when he
learned the trade Possibly there is 0ne
exaggeratiOn in this, and of course il it
wero true it would not make the nails so
times rs cheap, for the material counts for
a good deal, and the inventor and maker
of the machine must have something. and
as the man who runs it is a skilled labOrer
he gets much higher wages than the old
hand worker did Yet it is good illus
tration and is enough to put US upon in
quiry as to tho question whether machin-
cry may not be introduced so rapidly to
work great evil. -
The so called Hayes bill for adjusting
accounts arising under the eight hour law
is also favored by the committee. This can
apply only to the government employees
and provides that they shall have the right
to sue singly or in groups and that appeals
may be taken even to the supreme court,
the government having the same right of
appeal 1t is not now possible to forecast
action as to the many petitions and propo-
sItlOnS in regard to the products of con-
Wet labor. Tt is a subject ON which the
variety of opinions is simply amazing. 1t
is alleged on tho ono hand that the entire
product of all the convicts-that is, in
manufactured gOods-is so small that if
given away it would not affect prices the
fourth of per cent, and on the other that
in some states it is the one factor con-
stantly operating to depresS wages The
loudest complaints and the most positive
statements appear to have come from
Pennsylvania, and the figures presented
by the makers of doormats were some
thing Of a surprise. 1t is alleged that the
mats used at the senate doors were made
in the penitentiary, and dealer in this
city when questioned declared that in that
line his entire supply for some time had
been tho product of convict labor.
Matchmaking the Coal Business.
The senate committee at its first meeting
issued a notice that it had no power to
send for persons and papers and invited
all interested to present their testimony
in the most condensed form possible. After
getting through with individuals the com
mittee will grant hearings to the accredited
representatives of organizations, whether
for business or labor. In the meantime
requests have been received from labor
bodies that congress shall consider the
question of nationalizing the coal mines
of the country, and Senator PETER has in
troduced n resolution to have the judiciary
committee inquire and report whether the
government can constitutionally take
charge of the coal mines, giving reasona-
BILE compensation to present owners II
is not easy to get definite opinions from
congressman as to any of these proposed
= 4