Evening star., 1899-03-10
LIFE In FACTORIES
Women and Children at Work in
Massachusetts.
A FEMALE INSPECTORS STORY
Mrs. Ames' Testimony Before the
Industrial Commission.
IMP ROVED CONDITION S

Not many states employ ladies as factory
| inspectors, but Massachusetts is an excep-
tion to that rule. Mrs. Fanny p. Ancs of
Boston was fer seven years factory inspec
tor in Massachusetts. ana today she ap-
peared before the industrial commission
| and testified in interesting ard exceed-
| ingly intelligent manner conce rning condi-
| tions in industrial affairs in her state.
Mrs. Ames said that women were en-
, ployed factory inspectors because it
| was supposed that women would confide in
| them regarding violations of the law when
| they would not do so if they had to lay
| their grievances before men. This anucipa-
| ton, she said, was realized
Mrs. Ames testimony was given in a
| prompt manner her answers always quickly
| following the questions put to her. and
| showing her great familiarity with the
! work she has performed. She said it was
| extremely rare to find a child in factory
| in Massachusetts under fourteen years of
age, and did not think the children were
| overworked. Physically they were not in
jEred, but she did not think the training
/ Trey usually received was of advantage.
either mentally or morally. The state pro-
/ vides manual training schools for children
| between fourteen and sixteen years. and
| she thought they would receive better
| training in such schools than in the facto-
rieS, the result being that the state would
secure more intelligent class of working
| people. The value of law fixing ,he age
| limit Of labor TO sixteen years woIid not
| be secured unless there A com ttulSory
school law. because if not obliged to attend
! school then exCiusio from factories would
| simply mean that they would be thrown on
| the streets IN idleness.
Children in Department Stores.
Mrs. Ames thought that children in de-
| partment stores were not under as desir-
| able conditions as in textile factories. The
children in the stores were not given such
| skilled labor is frequently found to be
| the case in the factory. Their wages We're
| about the same-S3 a week. The employ
ment of children in department stores. she
| said. was lesSening because of the use of
| the modern cash carrier. She said the fac
| tories are now provided with proper pre-
cautions against danger to life and health,
and the conditions today. she said, We're
very much better than they were twenty
years ago. She did not think that employ
ment in factories caused immortality among
them.
Il consider it unjust attitude" Mrs.
Ames said ''Of men toward factory women
to assume that such women are immoral.
These women are generally exceedingly
moral. They are supporting younger chill
dren or a mother aged father. They
are equal in respect to morality to any
other class in the community. They are
not always agreeable in outward manners
but when it comes to the real body of vir-
tue they will compare favorable to any
class of women
She said that for some reason this state
ment could not apply to the French Ca
naGians in the Fall River factories, though
II did apply to French Canadians in other
parts of the state
Morality of Working Women.
Mrs Ames said that what she said of
the morality of women in factories applied
to women in mercantile establishments.
She had made extensive inquiries in Boston
and New York on which she based this
statement.
These women" she said. have a hard
lot in life, and they bear it very brave.y.'
She said she did not think that machinery
was disp.9 cling labor, but IL was merely
changing the character of labor There
was also competition between hand labor
and machinery.
Mrs. Ames said she had studied these
questions in France, Germany and England
and she found that in France the people
are paving more attention to developing
the higher brand of labor of the working
people, ard because of failure of the peo-
pie of this country to develop such labor
thlS country is not providing the higher
grades of such products of labor though 1t
might % so, because she believed the most
Intelligent and best cared for working neo-
PIE OF the world are to be found In Amer
lea For this reason she believed in keep
lntS the children in the training schools mn
I'll sixteen years of age. instead of allowing
them 10 go tc work at fourteen years.
She said that American girls in Massacbu-
setts are generally filling places outside the
factories. They are becoming educators
and doing typewriting, etc
Conditions Abroad.
Speaking of conditions abroad, Mrs, Ames
said that conditions were very far below
what are found in Massachusetts The
wages We're lower the hours of labor long
er ana The sanitary conditions worse than