Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-06-05
WHERE ALL CAN HELP
Mothers Congress of Women Tells
Condition of Factory Employees.
ALSO HOW EVERY CONSUMER CAN AID
Sad Conditions I'm Some of the South.
ern FactorIes-All May Help
BY the Influence of
Their Patronage.

/
Des Moines, May ef.-"Every pur-
chaser Of ordinary cotton cloth can
find out whether it is made in New
England or in the south" said Florence
Kelly, of New York, in speaking Of
her work of Investigation of the con-
ditions of factory employees turnout
the country. Mrs. Kelly was commits
stoned by the Consumers League to
visit factories and ascertain the con-
ditions under which the employees
worked, and especially as to whether
children We're employed contrary to
law She had previously been fac
tory inspector in Chicago for four
years, and she thoroly understands
her business. Mrs. Kelly lived in Hull
House with Jane Adams for a num-
Der of years. Then she went to New
York, where she lives in the tenement
district among people she is trying to
help. She was one of the most con-
| spicuous, as well as one of the most
practical women who attended the
mothers congress. She is certainly a
woman with message message
which interests all people with hearts
and sympathies.
'If this cotton cloth is made in
New England continued Mrs. Kelly, |
sit is made under wholesome condi-
tons in clean factories by fairly well
| paid labor, and these factories are sub
| ject to rigid laws, well enforced. If
it is made in the south, where they
now boast that they can undersell the
north, it is made by The enslavementt
of little children and women under
conditions that are disgraceful in the
extreme, and it can be made cheaper
there because of the cheaper labor
that is used. So / say that every wom-
an who wants to contribute to the
cause of humanity can do so by re-
fusing to buy southern made cotton
| goods, which are produced without
any restriction upon the employment
of child labor or Of the hours of labor
or wages to any one. The great diff
ficulty in curing this evil is that wom-
en- do not seem to care Tor anything
but the quality and price of the goods
/ they buy. 1t is difficult to make man
i ufacturers believe that there is new
attention upon them and compel them
to recognize the right of the child 20
education and health.
: ey to philanthropy, but we can at
least contribute our influence thru
what we buy. We can insist upon
, having articles that are made under
!, wholesome conditions. The Trouble
is we have not felt the duty+of know
ing these things. 1t is an astonishing
: fact, but it is true, that the trade
which is best protected in this way,
where the workmen are employed IN
: der the best conditions, is the cigar
makers trade. Thru the labor organ
izations the cigarmakers have made
themselves felt. Workmen are nearly
all smokers and they have needed the
appeals to buy only such cigars as are
made by workmen who have a decent
place to work in and are paid fair
wages. 1t is not pleasant for women
to think about, but it is fact, that
cigarmallers are better cared for than
any of those employed in the needle
trades. If you will watch two immi-
grants arriving III New York, one u
cigarmaker and the other a garment
maker, you will find that in a few
years the cigarmaker rs doing we'll,
supporting his family comfortably,
s keeping all his bills paid, keeping up
\ his life insurance, and his non-employ-
: ment insurance, he and his family are
healthy and happy, and at the same
time he is helping to take care of
the garmentmaker and his family.
Both are equally Industrious, equally
skillful in their trades, but the gar
mentmaller works under such wretch
ed and such unsanitary conditions for
such poor pay that he must forever
, be a slave until the women of the
WV har
r selves to improve his condition by re-
3 fusing to buy goods that are made in
: sweat shops"
e Mrs. Kelly told of Jewish jour
: teyman tailor who was her back-door
$ neighbor in New York, The tailor, she
: said, was very slSillful and indus
!, trious workman who made the fine
garments sold in Fifth avenue and
: there claimed to be made on the
: premises" and fancy prices paid TO.
them accordingly. He could afford
to have but one room with light. IN
this he must do his work, his wife
: must do the cooking and the washing,
5 for it was the only place she could see
u and the children, who were faithfully
kept in school, must do their study
ling. She said she never went to bed
ESQ late or got up so early that this
y mans machine was not running. II
Is this connection she paid a high trib
/ ute to the Jewish working people
5 who, she said, were the most temper
# ate, industrious, thrifty and law-abid
s. ing of all the working classes. These
S conditions, Mrs. Kelly said, prevail
e in all the clothing trades Her mis-
sion is to stir up the women and the
working classes and organize agains