The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-30
. ..S'WT EATING
ts%7
The T System is
Opposed By
CONSUMERS CLUB
Honest l7,9 Wages and Fair
Conditions for Workers.
se1Iaas1c sat

Conditions for Workers.
,.q
stThe existence of Consumers Leagues
In Boston, New York, Chicago and 9th.
er large American cities, and the at.
tention which is everywhere being Civ
en- to the allied topics of production
and consumption, is sufficient excuse
for this article. which lays no claim t.
originality, but is rather an attempt
to set forth the principles upon which
the Consumers League rests and the
practicability of it's enforcement, as al
ready stated by Prof John Graham
Brooks of Cambridge Prof. Brooks is
one Of the foremost social economists
he has been a leader in the work of
organizing Consumers Leagues and in
arousing public opinion with regard to
the enorfnftles of the sweating system.
and is a recognized authority upon in
dustIial and economical questions AS
what follows is practically condensa-
ton OF one Of his pamphlets, no quota
tion marks will be used.
A Consumers League, according to
Prof. Brooks definition, is an associa-
ton of persons who desire, so far as
practicable, to, do their buying in such
ways as to further the welfare of those
who make or distribute the things
bought. It Is perhaps little unusual
to use the word consumer in the
same sense as the word buyer" and
It we chose to call d Consumers
I,0l 1F u. IN
answer quite as well, provided we
meant by buyers just such people as
crowd the stores from day to day-if
we meant ourselves, purchasing and
using such things as food, clothing, pic
lures and books. Understanding the
word consumer" simply as buyer and
user, the question arises at once, does
our ordinary buying of things carry
with it anything like moral RESPONSE
bility?
That is true in the most metter-of-
fact way. No one will doubt who is
willing to think. The buyer fcopsumer)
may be, In the very act of buying, a
creator. The shoddy buyer is shoddy
maker. In a very real sense, to buy a
harmful thing is to help make that
thing. Still more than this is true; to
buy products made by laborers work.
ing in unwholesome surrounding is to
If fact so important as this were
once clearly seen and admitted, there
would be little need of further explana-
tim, If, in the worlds economic pro-
deSses. to buy an ugly thing is to get
IT made; if to buy sweated garments is
to become partner of the sweater, we
should readily concede that buyers
have a responsibility as definite as it is
serious. A swarm of doubts and per-
ability of applying this principle Of
buyers responsibility. We should not
question the moral responsibility. Be
fore touching the practical side of the
problem let Us meet this first issue. Ia
it true that as consumers buyers and
users) we are creators of things and
of conditions? If ! buy what Kingsley
called things cheap and nasty" do [
by that very act make the cheap and
nasty" Do l further, as buyer and
user, help perpetuate cheap and
nasty" surroundings for the laborers?
While the whole question of con
sumption3's is comparatively modern,
the leading economists of the day in
England. America, Germany and
France agree that in Consumption"
lies the key to the whole economic
problem. Space does not permit the
necessary quotation; it must suffice to
say that men like the late Gen. Walker,
Prof. Jevons, Prof Ely, Prof Marshall
of Cambridge University, and Prof.
Smart of Glasgow University unite in
saying that the producing man is es-
sentially the servant of the consuming
man, and that the final direction of in
dustry lies with the consumers. The
economists are clear upon this first
-uoO sQl QoIqM uodn 9Id!0uIId 10 lu!od
sumers' League rests.
What now can be said of that swarm
OF practical difficulties which arise tc
plague us in our attempt to carry this
principle into practice. In our daily
shopping an we buy (consume) as in
dividuals OF as a group, in SUCH way as
to,sliangt4Cn the wholesome and hope
ful conditions of life? Every indica-
tim of this economic principle is that
we can learn so to direct our purchases
as to elevate though ever so slowly
the lifesof the laborer, and to add some
What to the excellence of the product
At the points where the retail sale o.
goods is carried on, it is already proved
that consumers may exercise an ihflu-
ence in their buying. They may induce
employers to correct certain obvious
evils imperfect sanitary arrangements
lack of seats and the appropriating OF
fines by the firm instead of turning
them yintofthe benefit funds.
But the deeper and greater evils are
not at the selling points, but where
the goods are made. Can we gel
through the store to the sweaters den.
Can we, organize our buying so as tC
make the pinched and meager life OF
the sweated worker Gotten of the sweat.
er as Weld more tolerable and more
hopeful? If it is true that we make
what-ve buy and determine in large
neasure the conditions of labor from
whb-b the product comes, can we make
pyactical use of the fact? Can we apply
the principle in our shopping and il
our spending so as to stimulate the
production Of better and more hones
products. together with the improved
conditions of labor that usually accom-
many better workmanship and better
goods? This is the heart of our ques
Probably no large store could b.
found that did not have goods made
under verN wretehed conditions. Ever
the heads Of departments have very
tnlrarfect idea, or are wholly ignorant
of the sources of manufacture. Their
is al present no business reason VIII.
the employer should ask where cloaks
uighteowns. or children's garments arr
mode At one of the largest and bes
STORES in the United States. Prof
\ Brooks was told that no sweated good
were permitted on their counters. Thi
A was said with great confidence ant
dou'btiess with sincerity. BY the hell
Of. 4 factory inspector, goods iS .ssS'
4 quantities. marked for this same store