Democratic messenger., 1894-06-09


only two-thirds rs much pay as men,
and i'll many cases only half? Here is
the gigantic injuSticc-that for worl,
equally well if not better done woman
receives far less compensation than man.
! Start with the national government
For n long while women clerks in Wash
ington got 5000 for doing that for which
men received 81, 500
To thousands Of young women in our
cities today there is only this alternative
starvation or ,lishonor Many of the
largest mercantile establishments OF our
cities are accessory 10 these abomina-
tions, and from their large establish
ments there are scores of souls being
pitched off into death. and their en-
ployers know it!
The Wall of womanhood.
Is there God: Will there be judg-
mcnt: tell you. if God rises up To re-
dress woman's wrongs. many of our
large establishments will be swallowed
up quicker than II South American
earthquake ever took down city God
will catch these opprcssors between the
two millstones of his wrath and grind
them to powder!
hear from all this land the wall Of
womanhood. Man has nothing to an
swer TO that vail but batteries He says
she is an angel. She is not. She knows
she is not. She is a human being. who
gets hungry when she has no food and
cold when she has no fire. Give her no
more batteries. Give her justice!
There are about so. 600 sewing girls
in New York and Brooklyn. Across the
darkness of this night hear their death
groan. 1t is not such cry rs comes
from those who are suddenly hurled out
| of life, but slow, grinding, horrible
wasting away Gather them before you
and look into their faces pinched, ghast-
ly, hunger struck! Look at their fingers.
needle prickcd and blood tipped! See
that premature stoop i'll the shouldersi
Hear that dry. hacking, merciless cough!
At a large meeting of these women,
held in hall i'll Philadelphia, grand
speeches were delivered, but n needle
woman took the stand, threw aside her
faded shawl, and with her shriveled
arm hurled very thunderbolt of elo-
quence speaking out the horrors of her
own experience.
Pathetic Picture.
Stand at the corner of street in New
York in the very early morning as the
women 20 TO their work. Many of them
had no breakfast except the crumbs that
were left over from the night before or q
crust they chew Oh their way through
the streets. Here they comc-the work
ing girls of the city! These engaged i'll
beadwork, these i'll flower making, in
millinery. enameling. cigar making,
bookbinding. labelling. feather picking.
print coloring, paper box making. but,
| most overworked Of all and least
compensated, the sewing women. Why
do they not take the city ears on their
way up? They cannot afford the
cents. If. 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 n more
horrible martyrdom-a hotter fire,
more agonizing death.
One Sabbath night, i'll the vestibule
Of my church. after service woman
fell i'll commissions. The doctor said she
needed medicine not SO much as some
thing to eat. AS she began to revive,
in her delirium she said gaspingly:
Eight cents. Eight cents! Eight centsi
wish | could get it done! am so
tired! l wish l could get some sleep,
but must get it done! Eight cents!
Eight cents We found afterward
that she was making garments Mt S
cents apiece, and that she could make
but three of them in a day. Hear It'll
Three times s are "a, Hear it, 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 to cheat them out of that. The
woman must deposit 81 or So before she
gets the garments To work on. When
the work is done, it is sharply inspected,
the most insignificant flaws picked out
and the wages refused, and sometimes
the 81 deposited not given back The
Women's Protective union reports a
case where one of these poor souls, find
ing place where she could get more
wages, resolved to change employers and
went TO get her pay for work done. The
employer says, Il hear you are going to
leave me-" Yes" she said, land ]
have come to get what you owe me. "
He made no answer. She said, Are
you not going to pay mc:' Yes. he
said, II will pay you, and he kicked
her down stairs.
Women Against Women.
How are these evils to be eradicated?
What have You to answer, you who sell
coats and have shoes made and con-
tract for the southern and western mar
kets? What help is there. what panacea,
what redemption: Some say, Give
women the ballot" What effect such
ballot might have on other questions !
am not here 10 discuss, but what would
be the effect of female suffrage upon
woman's wages: | do not believe that
woman will ever get justice by woman's
ballot.
Indeed women oppress women as
much as men do. Do not women as
much as men beat down To the lowest
figure the woman who sews for them:
Are not women as sharp us men on
washerwomen and milliners and man.
tua makers? If woman asks 81 for her
work, does not her female employer ask
if she will not take 80 cents? You say,
"Only 10 cents difference. But that is
sometimes the difference between heav-
Ell and hell Women often have less
commiseration for women than men. If
woman steps aside from the path of
virtue, man may forgive-woman never!
Woman will never get justice done her
from woman's ballot.
Never will she get it from mans bal
lot How, then? God will rise up for
her God has more resources than we
know of. The flaming sword that hung
at Eden's gate when woman was driven