The times., 1897-09-19
NONE LIKE THEM.
What the Free Air of Our Country
Does for the Factory Girl.


What the Free Air of Our Country
Does for the Factory Girl
I'VE heal d good deal of talk about
Labor troubles iii this country" said the
manager Of a New England mill to me-
That's all very wen. and l believe in
them up to certain point 1 don't be-
lieve man or a woma n either is worth
anything who hasn't a little spunk and
doesn't stick up for his rights. There
is something in the atmosphere OF this
country that gives Us all restless spirit.
j have been often surprised to see how
quickly the foreigners who come to yors
in this mill imbihe it. In a few months
they are u.o longer content to live i'll
a Uwo-roonI tenement. They want things
as the Americans have them, and they SCI
out to get them.
''You watch the girls as they come
out this noon and compare them wita
the girls that come out of an Ell elisll
factory, and you VIII See what differ
enCe American restlessneSs, American
equality. education and wages make. II
you aren't satisfied with your country
tie masses any chance"
So | watched them as he had sugges ted.
Most of the yolng women hadhatstrimmed
With considerable taste They wore bright
shirt waists, with collars and neatly tied
bows. and skirts of good quality of
cloth some II them ad capes, some boas,
and they looked fresh aud healthy, as If
they had enough to eat anG We're not re
Jrp To IN la. hrD tuI In,
England the; would have worn shawls
over their heads and dirty gown OF the
cheapest stuff. They would have returned
home to bread ard cheese for supper, ana
mavhe u glass Of beer.
IL you .lad shown the group of meriCan
girls that ! saw to Ell English factory
manager, lie would have said that the,-
must have come from seminary II you
had convinced him of the truth, he would
have said WHAT do factory girls want
such things for?' 1T doesn't help theu,
to work, does it?" To this there is the
reply: what does anybody want such
things for? Why does anybody want to
lie Eappy?"
Nov, III tell you another thing, said
this American manager. do You knu%
that these American girls do more and bet
Ter work than the English girls? There
- sense Of discipline and pride about
them. You never see them intoxicat
though 1t is very common To see women
drunk in an English factory town There
are lo,0d0 factory hands in d radius OF
five miles in this vicinity. ana there IS
| only one Fawnshup. should like to know
| of an area similarly populated III England
that hadn't ten pawnshops.
English factory girls 20 to a pawn
shop every pay duy and ge out their clothes
and all The yaluahles they have. Then the
| poor creatures 20 back on Monday morning
| after theiI Sunday night ale dehauch, ana
| p1f them ia pawn again When " have
been listening to the talk OF foreigners
| we Americans wonder sometimes If we
have anything 10 be proud Of. ten you,
| thesa factory workers are something TO be
| proud Of
I If the English factory girl reads at all
! it is the chcapesr and most Objectionable
! Of fiction papers, II she ever goes to a pIAy y
| it IS OF the lowest ana cheapest yariet y.
| Tnc American factory worker goes To the
! thearer about five times as often as the
! English Girl, and selects plays OF a superior
! class. is a mistake 10 suppose that All
! factory girls read Lara Jean Lbbev: they
| don't. There has been a great change in
this respect iu tie last Few years Each
factory mas its public library, and there
the factory girl finds a better class ui
hooks
l went into a librar at one factory town
and found that nine tenths OF the readers
were actual workers, ana that the library
did not keep Laura Jean Libbey There are
| factcry workers who get as much pleasure
out OF our test works Of modern fiction as
the SOILS and daughters of the rich
AndttentncIactory worker iuourcountr )
does not consider himself dependent be
| ing. As rule, he is an owner Of real es
tate, and a deposition in the savings tank
| Give hiia wcrk, and in The ma iurity Of cases
he saves money. Girls do not consider il
a hardship to work in q well-ventilatel
| factory aver a clean loom Many of them
| would rather do it than clerk Often
| the father and his two or three daughter,
and two or three sons all have places, an,
together earn $40 or $50 week At fhi,
rate they soon have enough saved to huy a
home. This is more than a thousand gener
ations of their ancestors have accomplished
1t is not uncommon for two OF three per
sons il a factory workers family To have
bicycles. 4 Afactory-Sorkeri in England will
bicycle wculd tc curiosity