Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-02-20

enacted which have held the rest OF ths
country under the excuse that they wouio
Indeed said Mrs. Harriet Pickering,
one OF the most intelligent OF the strikers
"there is suffering among the poor. Inere
Is pride among the weavers. ana tney
would not have their poverty known, pu'
live on q crust and look smilingly az the
world. But yesterday a neighbor or mine,
the father OF family, fell upon the floor
in dead faint. DR.. HUFF was sent Tor.
and he said: Poor man, It's only the
hungerr My GodP' exclaimed the lady,
wringing her hands IN a paroxysm or
grief, 1.-The world does not know now we
are starving even now, while We walk
around and try to look cheerful"
POORLY-PAID OPERATIVES.
When the Arkwright Club speaks OF
starvation" wages in the South IL should
not forget the incidents here narrdeu,
which go TO prove that instead OF oeiis
we'll paid the New England factory hands
are underpaid, because the conditions OF
living in this section are such that even
the highest wages which IL Is possible 70
pay for labor here would not maintain
them against the rigors Of climate ana
attendant natural causes. To put 1t In a
sentence. The profit is not In the bust
ness TO make ii pay here, and IL must take
it's flight to the place where the naturai
conditions supplement- the hand OF artl-
flee. On this point the views or one OF
the Wamsutta mills will be read with IN
terest: -
For twenty-three years." said he, 81
have worked in the Wamsutta Mills, en-
tering as a sweeper and going up to be a
lOomfxer | have witnessed the erection
OF three new mills to the system, Nos. D,
6, and 7. The line OF goods made by these
mills have varied, so as to meet the re-
quirements of the trade, and In conse-
quence have called for operatives or the
highest skill at wages often in excess OF
the union scales in order TO get the help
from elsewhere. Competition from any
source did not hurt this mill, and In the
worst OF seasons it never failed 10 pay
dividend of per cent. Now In sucn
mill as this, where operatives have had
the best of showing, Notwithstanding
what treasurers claim to pay, the weavers
have not been able to make over So.O a
week. How can man ecOnOnlze on sucn
wages as this? We have laws against
child labor-that is. making the age OF IA
the limit-but the continued inaDlnty OF
families TO live on the wages MADE mas
forced fathers and mothers into wholesale
perjury in regard TO the ages or thelr
children. so that they may go to work. II
YOU would go into a mill while az WORK
you would see the smallest-sized 14-year,,
old girls and boys in the world. TO tell
you the truth. they are counted years
old at birth, and raised so 10 regaro
themselves. -,
Now" continued the speaker, II VIII
tell you how we have to live There are
only three months of the year. wnen We
can do without coal, and even tnen W.
must have a fire in the evenings. hsIu
coal costs us here $3.50 ton, and IL taxes
seven tons a year TO see family OUT, not
counting some wood, which has 10 20
with it, Flour is $5.50 TO $3.50 barrei, anu
my family of four empty a DarIel even
nine weeks. Climatic conditions mere caii
for great consumption of meat. FROM an
this it will be seen that we are In Dau
way. even at our best House-rent IS from
81 TO s. a month but that means tpe
poorest kind Of a shell, which the tenant
has to take his own money 20 1T "P -
keep out the frost and snow.
NOT MORE THAN 1875 THE YEAR
ROUND.
Asked as to what was the averase
wages for the year 'rounu With the
possible for a weaver to MAKE INC
speaker said: -,
'sIt Is very combining work, and one must
have a rest some time. so that from the
$3.50 a week which it is possible TOT
weaver 10 make here you should deduct
one month out of the year. But worse
than that is the filming system Tor So
called imperfect work. These lines amount
TO 80 per cent. OF the wages. ana SO haru
are they to escape that weavers o, even Sn
ought to know their business. hnd II
common thing to have their $3.50 week
cut square in two, and walk home with
only 1926 i'm their pockets. From the fine
there is no appeal, and it must be borne
in silence"
scale true of the other working depart
ments?"
"Before God It is" said the man fer
vently. while the scale seems TO be
higher on paper, there are inside means
by which such scaling is done that they
might we'll keep open the free fish mar
ket and soup-hou~ even while we are at
work p. j. MORAN.