Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1897-12-02
Our Factory Girls.
THEY ARE FAR AHEAD OF
TIE ENGLISH GIRLS IN
EVERYTHING.

THEY ARE FAR AHEAD OF
TIE ENGLISH GIRLS IN
EVERYTHING.
&" You watch the girls as they come
out this noon and compare them
with the girls that come out of an
English factory and you will sec
what difference American restless.
ness, American equality, education
and wages make" said the manager
of New England mill to me re-
Gently. eff you aren't satisfied
with your country ii is because you
don't believe in giving the masses
any chance"
So L watched them as he had sug-
geSted. Most of the young women
had hats trimmed with considerable
taste. They wore bright shirt waists,
with collars and neatly-tied bows, and
skirts of good quality Of CLOTH
Some Of them had capes, some boas,
and they looked fresh and healthy, as
if they had enough to eat and were
not returning home to an ale-housc
brawl. In England they would have
worn shawls over their heads and a
dirty gown of the cheapest stuff. -
They would have returned home to
bread and cheese for supper, and
maybe glass Of beer.
If you had shown the group of
American girls that saw to an Eng
liSh factory manager, he would have
said that they must have come from
a seminary. If you had convinced
him of tho truth he would have
said: What do factory girls want
such things for? 1t doesn't help
them to work, does it?" To this
there is the reply: What does
anybody want such things for?-
Why does any body want to be
happy?"
"Now, I'll tell you another thing"
said this American manager. Do
you know that these American girls
DO more and better work than the
English girls? There is sense of
discipline and pride about them -.
You never see them intoxicated,
though 1t Is very common to seq WO-
men drunk in an English factory
town. There are ten thousand fac
tory hands in radius of five miles
in this vicinity, and there is only
one pawn shop. | should like to
know of an area similarly populated
in England that hasn't ten pawn
shops.
English factory girls go to pawn
shop every payday and get out their
clothes and all valuables they have.
Then the poor creatures go back on
Monday morning. after their Sunday
night ale debauch, and put them in
pawn again. When we have been
listening to the talk of foreigners we
Americans wonder sometimes if we
have anything to be proud of.
tell you these factory girls are some
thin to be proud of.
If the English factory girl reads
at all it is the cheapest and most OBJ
jectionable Of fiction papers. If she
ever goes to play, it is Of the low.
est and cheapest variety. The
American factory worker goes to the
theater about five times ~ often
as the English girl, and selects
plays Of superior class. 1t is mis-.
take to suppos that all factory girl,
read Laura Jean Lebbey they don't
There has been great change in
this respect in the last few years
| Every factory town has its public
library, and there the factory girI
finds better class of books.
l went into a library at one factory
town and found that nine-tenths OF
tho readers were actual workers, and
that the library did not keep Laura
workers who get aS much pleasure
out of our best works Of modern fic
ton AS the sons and daughters of the
rich.
And then the factory worker in
our country does not consider him
self dependent being. AS rule
he is an owner Of real estate and 8
depositor in the savings bank
Give him work and in the majority
of cases he saves money. Girls dc
not consider it hardship to work ir
well-ventilated factory over 8
! clean loom. Many of them would
rather do it than to clerk. Often
the father and his two or three daugh.
ters and two or three sons all have
places and together earn $40 or $50 9
week. AT this rate they soon have
enough saved to buy home. This
is more than a thousand generations
OF their ancestors have accomplished
II is not uncommon for two or
three persons in factory workers.
family to have bicycles. a factory
worker in England with bicycle
would be curiosity.