The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-12-07
WOMEN, SWEAT SHOPS FOE.
THEY DISCUSS THE DANGERS AND
EVILS 1T ENsENDERS.

Germe OF disease, Thcy say, are Corrtcu
Into the Homes of the Rich by Dainty
Garments Made in the Tenements-LiveIy
Session OF the Society for Political Study.
The Society for Political Study gave it's at
tention to q number OF topics yesterday after
noon. Among them we're imperialism. the
bargain counter. immigration. the trousers of
the Duke OF York. and woman suffrage. Mrs.
4. st. John GaHrney presided at the meeting
and the guest OF honor was Mrs. Stanton
Blatch. O daughter OF Mrs. Elizabeth Cady
Stanton. The speaker OF the day was Miss
Harriette A. Keyser. Secretary and organizer
OF the Church Association for the Advance
ment OF the Interests of Labor. or her sub
ject. the sweating system. Miss Keyscr said:
1T is a reproach TO us all that Il is necessary
to have thisd discussion to-day. but Il does seem
necessary. for we women still 70 in the spirit
o. meekness and buy our garments. not know
ing whether they are or are not nude in
sweat shops. We do stop occasionally and
speak OF the people who mako them as poor
slaves. forgetting that we are slaves TO the
manufacturers One general cause TO which
the sweat shop Is attributed by economic ex-
perts is high rents. 1t is said that rents here
can never be lowered because this island is so
narrow. 1 do not believe IL. What Glasgow has
done New York can do, and Glasgow has
municipal tenement houses and workshops
and is q model for the world.
Now, the goods made in these sweat shops
are not kept there. You find them in the Sixth
avenue. Broadway and Fifth avenue shops.
Germs are not daunted by wealth and position
they are not aristocrats: neither are they pie
beians. They seek all sorts and conditions OF
men. drawing no social distinctions. Perhaps
nothing has ever shown more clearly that we
are all one family than the recent strike Of the
ladies' tailors. Their employers said that they
,hA,,II n4t nnr,htpn for. fhnir Industrial
interest. although they themselves were
combined. This strike seemed to have
nothing to do with sweating. but it
did. and 1 believe that it will do more to down
the sweating system in New York than any
thing that has happened before. Why Be-
cause New York women are getting thoroughly
aroused to the fact that what is good for
the rich is good for the poor. In a republic
where we believe that every man is born free
and equal. We ought to see. especially in the
case of unpurchasable things, such as sun
light, and air, that the poor have as much as
the rich;
sweaters three-fourths Of the women assist in
the. support of the family. and yet, we hear it
they only support themselves. In the sweat
shops women are not protected properly by the
factory or mercantile laws; DO not know
iell should have to remark: 1t is a wrong thing
for women to have, to work from 2 o'clock In
o prohibition against goods made in tenements.
Ask where your goods are made. The time has
FIJI Pima manage %esn my M@b BUSINESS Sda sss as $ f,PPRIeiasss.''A n You Sa can
now say: No. you cannot; When you starve
s sSss s smp eoSsssi sSdy os ssd the fS1I Whole S6f sorr q S.f it
is the peoples business I'm glad to tell YOU
that many ladies' have subscribed and oyer
Tailors' Cooperative Shop. The stock is only
$40 a share. 1t seems to me you might, help il
and I think, when the 400 is Interested in such
thing. we ought to help them. Then women Of
m moderate p %eess and Sa fee FL t6a ff th y ars free ieer from ns
germs. Isometimes make fun of the 400. but
Tb beHe heats rssi have been iett oucSed BY The suffer.
ings Of these operatives. as we'll as alarmed by
The danger OF eontaGi9n: appeal to yon to
the worst feature Of industrialism and the one
touching the most people. -
triumph for labor in one way. He is, a man
who always e~nforees the law. and from him we
bother about inspecting the sweat shops. That
has been done enough; they've been inspected
sicken your souls with what you see there.
I've heard that the three requisites OF oratory
are action and action md action. and the requi-
Mrs. Gafney asked Mrs. W. G. brewster to
take the chair. and Mrs. Almon Hensley opened
the manufacturers want. but, what the con-
sumers demand, that viii solve the problem
THE fact that the most unsanitary and least
improved real estate Is the best paying in our
city" volunteered Mrs. Annie 7. Rotter. lis a
| menace to our marble churches and o satire
on them. think. before we set out to civilize
| the Philippines. we had better give an object
lesson in what 70 are pleased to call the homes
worst 'sweatshops in the world" said
Mrs. Blatch. ARE In London. and rents in
London are enormously lower by compar-
ison with those here. so do, not be-
lfsy' evil fhat The has laws snEI n Rsw e York 40 are T not
stringent enough. You have the best law on
the globe to copy. l refer to the Massachu-
sets law. Pressure is being brought to bear
In England to have the next Parliament copy
the MASSACHUSETTS, law. and l hope that New
York will follow suit"
Mrs. Batch caused a general laugh when she
said that attention was first directed TO the
sweating system in England when the Duke Of
York discovered that his trousers were being
made in a sweat shop where there was a case
Of scarlet fever.
Mrs. Van Beal expressed sympathy for the
| manufacturers. She declared that il was not
they. but the middlemen. who are the-ones at
fault.
| ney. that is ths simple way out of all this.
Beware OF bargain countersl l think we can
influence trade best by being willing TO pay q
fair price for things. II every woman here will
weigh the absolute cost OF every garment and
| abide by her figures 1t won't take long to abol-
/ iah tho awaiting SvStam -