St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1896-07-11
OPELoUsAs, LOUISIANA, SATURDAY, July Il, 1896
They beg for these places ana ret them,

/ but why women should not be paid q
mucn as men for similar service I can
not understand. My information i
that they are paid about half and til,
employers excuse is that competition
is very great and as others cut rate
| they must do so, too, for labor is wortl
| only wI1a 1t will bringand a woman.
labor can be had cheaper than mans
That is not good excuse. It is not t.
| the interest of the employer to getlabo
on such terms. Twenty dollars a month
will not keep young woman in gooe
| health and good clothes ard leave any
| thing for sick mother or a child, q
| for doctors bill A big -bearted, gen
erous man will inquire into the condi
tion of every female employe he has
and as far as possible make it his owI
concern. They are, as it were, hi
wards for the time, and he cannot .eg
cape the responsibility.
Before the war there were no shol
girls, but for 80 years this great
transition has been going on, and now
the south, like the north, is full of work
ing girls. The children and grand
children of those who once were proud
and independent are now forced TO be.
come their own bread-winners. There
is 10 exception for them. 1t is daily
food for daily labor. The rich are
growing richer by short cuts and aues
tionable means, all Of which in their last
analysis come from the earnings of the
toilers and grind the faces of the poor
Widows and orphans whose husbands
and fathers left them stock or bonds in
q great railroad, have lived to see il
wrecked by unscrupulous scheuaers and
by the time the Wreckers had done with
it their stock and their bonds were
worthless. Daniel Webster got a fee Of
$4,000 for making a speech in the Myra
Clark Gaines case, and it was noised by
the press as an enormous fee, but now a
common lawyer gets $4,000 for bring,
ing the money of a.wrecked railroad in
to court. An Incorporated company
aecumulates a million dollars surplus
and asks the court what to do with it
There was no fight, no contest, but the
/ lawyers who took the decree are award
ed $4,000 for bringing the money into
court. Receivers and lawyers prey upon
the earcasses of corporations like buz-
yards upon the carcasses of brutes, and
but little is left for creditors or stock
holders. These are the things that fill
the people with tlistrust and disgust
and paralyze industry and intimidate
capital. I knew a lady, and she is sit
ting near me now, whose father left her
$4,000 of stock in q railroad in Ala
bama. It was good stock and had good
prospects, but the seheiners got it into
court and had receiver appointed and
it was wrecked and she lost everything
but the certificate When she comes
across it now among her archives hear
her humning that sweet old song:
This world is all a f1eating show /, But
let the working girls cheer up and al
ways look on the bright side. If they
can't get married let them look around
and see how much misery marriage
brings-how few women are happily
mated. Encourage cheerful disposi-
slO1is eaald Il BCu Seal1 UC 6fss
happy as you can. Trust in the Lord
and do good. 1t is not all of life TO live
nor all of death to die. There are many
blessings that cost us nothing. Inever
pass my neighbor Mrs. Fields front
yard, that is radiant with beautiful
flowers, but what think how cheap
they are to me. It is q good idea to
sometimes think of that poor little boy
whose mother covered him with straw
one bitter night and put an old window
shutter on the straw to hold it down.
Mother" said he, 1T isn't every little
boy that has a shutter to hold down his
straw--is it ?" And there is some COM
fort in Persian proverb that says:
BLESSED are they who have but little,
for they shall not be envied- Bill Arp,
in Atlanta Constitution.