The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-31
CHICAGO GIRLS TALK
THEORIES OF REV. SAM
SMITH
THEY WAX SARCASTIC

Claim That Labor Is "a Blessing for
Both Men and Women. and That
Factory Life ExceIS That of Many
Homes They Could McntIOn-Pny
for WOmen's Work in Chicago
Generally Good.
The Chicago Inter Ocean of Sunday,
Dee. p, contained the Following list of
interviews with Chicago working womar.
anent the recent addresses made by Rev.
Samuel G. Smith, opposing the employ
ment of women in competition with IL IN
in the field of manual and professional
labor:
1T might be a wholesome thing If the
Rev. S G. Smith, of St. Paul Mimi, could
hear what Chicago working women are
saying about him. His recently achieved
notoriety would undoubtedly seem less
satisfying
Il think 1t IS very likely, remarked
forewOman of a Chicago shirt factory,
that We make the most of his clothes
for him. I am sure we do, unless he gets
q great deal more money than he earns
in telling other people how they ought u
earn a living. We make his shirts,
women in & factory block up the street.
manufacture his winter fannels, over on
Jackson street they fix his neckties, and
in plenty of places they are sewing on
the broadcloth suits and the calfskin
shoes he wears. Women make his sus-
penders, women hem his handkerckiefs,
women put the gloss on his high silk hat,
and make the bandboX in which the hat
ter sends It home to him. And are we
raising a fuss about It? Not much! Ac-
cording to the Bible-and 1 believe the
BibIe-the world is about 5000 years Old,
isn't it? Well, for 5000 years women have
made the cloth and fashioned the gar
ments and kept the human race clothed
decenJly. It's our work, along with
good many other things. We don't mind
the work; you can say that for me. But
we do object to a snippy parsons advice
about doing work that we've done to eV-
erybody's satisfaction for 5000 years"
The Rev. S. G. Smith is pastor OF the
Peoples church, at st. Paul, MINI. For
the last month Mr.. Smith has been de-
livering a series of sermons on wOmen's
work. He has inveighed against what he
terms the enormous increase of women
labor, and especially against The factory
system. He advocates the barring OF
women from 100 of the occupations in
ii
We are devouring the future strength
of the nation by draining the lives o.
its future mothers" says Mr.. Smith.
''Forty-five per cent of the manufacturing
in the United States is now done by
women. The women produce; the men d.
part of the selling. When the discovery
Of machinery and the factory system took
the place of man and the tool. greedy
employers bade the delicate fingers of
women and the dimpled hand of childhood
grasp the fallen task.
ON THE ROAD TO sAvAGERY.
The problem Is red with the nfeb cod
of the nation. War is a curse and an
evil. But it is sometimes better than
cowardice and dishonor. There is need
for wCman's work, and good in it, but as
society is at present organized, the evil
far outweighs the good. We are fast on
the road TO new savagsry.
The tendency toward the enormous IN
crease of woman labor, and of Immature
young women, IS the economic, social,
moral and physical evil OF cur time, and
it is the most serious menace to the ma
tons life. Four states forbid women
to work in mines. These laws should BE-
extended TO about 100 of their present o.
cupatons.'
IF Mr.. Smiths theory could be put
into immediate practice" said one of
the result would surprise him. Telephone
would not ring in Chicago. Do You kncw,
by the way, that men can't act as tele-
phone operators? They have been tried
and failed. Well, our telephones wou dn't
ring Nine-tenths of Chicagos business
letters would remain unwritten, $4,000
children would come home in Chicago
alone and tell mother that school wouldn't
keep. The spindles in the mills of the
world would stop, and one day would
make the clothing supply Of the world
short for year. Half the people on
earth would go hungry. But there's no
end TO this thing. The idea is absurd.
Why should more than half of the human
species cease twO-thiTds of its work and
become parasiticaL Women, l imagine,
will be the last to thank Mr.. Smith"
MAKE MERRY WITH THEORIES.
For the purpose of finding out how
women themselves regard MIR. Smiths
suggestions, a reporter for the Sunday
Inter Ocean made the rounds of dozen
Chicago factories, employing from so TO
500 women each. The places visited in
Guided grades of work running from mere
Child's play to complicated operations
requiring a great deal of dexterity. In
all of these a large proportion of the
women had read what the Rev. Mr.
Smith had been saying. At a question
the shuttle in a machine would be held
fer an instant or a bobbin checked in
its ceaseless whirl.
What is he going to do about it?' ask
ed the working woman impartially.
In general there was a disposition to