The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-24
UNION LABEL HAS A MISSION.
VIII Abolish Evils of Sweat Shops
and Prison Labor.

If there is a mission for good in the
labor movement 1t is i'll the suppression
OF the sweat shop system in the manu-
featuring of garments, for as long as
greed for gain exists this blighting curse
will last unless through the thorough in
PRODUCTION of the label it is wiped out.
That it has not been stamped out long
before this is owing to the fact that few
outside OF the different unions under
stand that the union label attached to
any article is guarantee that the ar
ticle in question is neither the product OF
prison or sweat shop labor, and so soon
as the purchasing public demand only
union made goods, then and only then
will these evils cease to exist. In this
connection those who should be teachers
the members of unions,- are not living up
to their profession, for if they, the great
army of purchasers. had in the past de.
manded only union made articles, the
battle for the union label would long
since have been won.
An investigation has been made of the
sweatshop system in Chicago, and 1t
was shown that ere Italian woman
worked ten hours day, six days in the
week and made
FORTY CENTS PER WEEK,
"a rate of two-thirds of a cent
an hoUrD, ana she could make so a
year. Another woman, q pants finisher,
worked eleven hours per day and made
80 cents week Many of the workers
made less. than q dollar week; many
more were earning less than 500 year,
anu IN many families the whole inCOmS
. was from 500 to 5000.
The investigation was conducted by
Miss AutGl, a graduate of Wellesley
college, who came to Chicago to carry
On her studies in economics and socio-
logy, and her interest in vital questions
concerning Industrial conditions, has led
her to consent to undertake a personal
Investigation of the sWeatshops, where
mems suits, cloaks, and other gar
ments. The average wage of the machine
operators among the Poles was So; the
t hfand i9 s. the ae opressers 1918, and
Miss Auten has taken up the change
in wages and prices during the last few
years, and she has round it worthy a
detailed report. For instance, a con-
tractor gets 90 cents for IL child's coat,
and out of that amount he must pay
for the making and get his Profit For
coat he gets so cents, where five years
ago he received $1.25, and ten years ag }
rs much as 81 so; for cloaks and suits he
gets from 81 to 81 40. One contractor
receives 8 cents a pair for knee pants.
and that is a cent less than last year
And vet at these prices in many cases
the contractor makes good living with
out much effort Prices in coats arc one
half what they We're a few years ago,
and the Boheplian coatmakers find the
prices still slipping.
1t was found that the average weekly
wages in sweat shops was as follows
Dressmakers. 9gc; pants finishers, $1.31 !;
Eeamstresses, 81 03; pants makers, $2.13;
miscellaneous. $2.77; tailors. &c. %.
FEEL THEIR RESPONSIBILITY
Miss Auten does not wish to be re-
garded as desiring a violent subversion
OF existing society" but rather urges
tractor. distributor and Consumer
should be made to feel their responsible
ity. She does not point out how this
may be dcne. but she is hopeful that