The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1901-05-02

\ League label, and by promoting mo
l humane labor laws. The advisory boal
, and various committees work contin
ously with tho factory inspectors, ar
ny patient insistcnCc succeed in son
, measure in having tho labor laws q
1 forced.
Their standard Of Fair House r
gulates tho wages, working hours, tinc
holidays, vacations and physical cond
tions Of all employees The White Lii
is published list Of all retail hous
which conform most closely to tho sta
dard Of Fair House.
The Consumers League label is the
trade mark, as 1t were. and Is used
enable tho purchaser to distinguish ga
ments made in factories approved by tt
| League, from those made undor otht
conditions
The National League, leaving tn
local organizations to adopt such line
| Of special work as seem most needed |
its locality, has confined itself to an in
! vcstigati0n Of tho conditions OF til
manufacture Of white muslin underwear
to tho promotion Of tho use Of tho Label
and most largely to tho education 0
purchasers by means Of lectures, litcra
ture and organization. twenty-five
factories have adopted tho use Of The
label, and a glance at their names i.
convincing & proof that the very best goods
arc made by thom.
Tho work Of creating Il steady demand
Tor labeled goods duvolvcs upon tho
State leagues and upon tho effort Of in
diyidual members. This work ia boinp
most thoroughly accomplished in Now
England, Massachusetts and Rhode
Island being far in advance Of other
states. In Pennsylvania, tho State
League is making constant effort TO in.
uucc merchants to use label bearing
GOODS, and is doing much educational
work among the shoppers.
In Illinois the State League has direct.
cd its best effort to the discussion of the
power and duty of the purchaser. l. has
vigorously supported tho effort Of the
custom tailors to secure from their en-
ploycrs, the merchant tailOrs, the con.
cesslon or comfortable wOrkrooms, thus
"idlng most effectively in this revolt
against tenement house manufacture.
In Kentucky, tho League is attempting,
IN addition to the usual work Of tho or.
gnnl%"tlon, TO quietly find n Just solution
OF That problem which is just now con-
1ronllnS SO many Of our Southern States,
The child labor question.
Such in brief is an outline of thc Can.
sumcrs' League, AS it exists today, an
outline of its work, It's aims and rcspon
sibilItics ~'i''"
Tho League has now shown ia that
thcrc IL urgent need OF reform and help
ana sympathy for these white slaves y
as tho Governor Of Canada calls thee,
tollcrs, and the question arises how can
we AZ individuals help them ? Does orr
ordinary buying Of things carry with il
any moral responsibility
DO we by buying products made in
unwholcsomc surrounding, help pcrpct
uatc these evil conditions? Can we buy
so as TO increase the worlds good work
and lessen its bad work L?
Wlhln the last few years social eco.
nomists have devoted much time to The
question OF consumption Tbcv en-.
phaslHc wehlIh.using as fully rs they do
wealth making, and the text books now
tcach IN natural sequence, Production.
Distribution and Exchange. They Law
cmphatlc strcss both on the influence OF
consumption upon production, and OF
thc moral duties involved uDon society
and the individual.
These questions as to individual RI
sponsibility can be most clearly answer.
ca by the economists themselves. Prof.
i"'tch' tho most learned authority on
consumption in America, says: "The
principle upon which the Consumers
League is based is sound have great
faith in educating tho consumer, and in
ING social changes which Il higher typo
VIII bring. The producer is merely an
agent Of the consumer, and if tho latter
IL persistent in demanding bo,tcr thinps
ana condition, society will be at length
rcmodclcd and transformed"
president lladlcy, Of Yale, says: "As
years 80 on, | am more and moro i'm
pressed with tho idea that economic re-.
form Is likely to come through tho
agency OF the consumer, rather than from
any other source"
from German school we read: "rhe
producing man is essentially the servant
or the consuming man, and the final d.
rcctlon or industry lies with tho con
snmcrs And again, "Thc industrial
world ls our servant, and like any good
servant Is only forcstalling our wishes u
Such conclusions from such authori
tics provo that tho consumer is the
creator. The artistic boot maker, who
admircs the normal foot, hates to make
the pointed, high hcolcd boot, but hi.
customers demand them and his duty il
TO serve them. If tho public did no
read the yellow journals, their publica
tion would soon coase. The Andubo,
society is teaching women tho cruel 70 i
OF wearing birds on their hats, and g.
the preservation Of birds is accom-
| p ishcd.
The stores arc very sensitive to tn
demands Of tho buyers. They keop /
stock what you ask for. If, then, I'll
merchant is so kecnly alive to the whiu
OF every class Of buyers, would he n,
be more so to the jnsistcnt intclligo
demands of an educated public? Al
30 tho League purposes to educate III
public, these every day consumers,
meetings, by lectures, by leaflets, and
Systematic investigation. 1t must
made plain that the consumers hope
move on, very slowly at first, from swe
shop conditions to such factory indr
tries as exist under the humane laws
some Northern States. 1t must also
made plain to all classes that facto
made products are not more expo 1si
than sweat shop goods. The League
not a movement against chcapnoss
8 choapness. Tho modern factory, wit
: labor saving appliances, can produt
!, cheaper articles, even with higher wage
10 and shorter hours, than como from tch'
mcnG industrics. A great variety
II goods can bc traced directly TO tho Dc'
l. paid workers Would not such price