The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-27
PLAY the Same Role as the Chinese
in the United States and the
Coolies in India.
THEIR LABOR is CHEAP
And 1t Is Used by Grasping En-
ployers to Force Down the
Wages of the Men.
PROBLEM IS SERIOUS
Effort to Better Conditions by Or
ganization Is Now Being Made
by Women.

by Women.
PARIS. Dec. 26-By entering the labor
market in France woman plays the same
role which has been played for years past
nv the Chinaman in America and the coolie
in Africa. She furnishes the capitalist and
employer of labor with a weapon 10 be
used against herself and against all en-
ployes generally. Her own urgent need OF
a means OF livelihood. and the limited
scope given her compel her TO cheaper all
labor by accepting a minimum wage for
the days work which she is only too eager
10 be allowed TO do. Such are the views
set forth by Nine Daniel Leseur, by Mile
Marie Laparceri and by other leaders OF
the womans movement in Paris.
Apart from the essentially feminine work
Of sewing. the opening up of the various
departments OF labor to women in France
is OF comparatively recent date. According
10 the latest census. the number OF women
now working in the country is, about $780,
900. OF these nearly 100000 are employed
in factories and about 100000 in trade. In
the cloth factories, the leather and paper
works. even ia the metal foundries. the
number of women employed increases
daily. This has. of course, been the case
for many years in the United States OF
America end Great Britain, but. essentially
conservative as the French are. the radical
change in the constitution of the home
wrought by the employment OF women out
side that home could only be effected
slowly In a land where the marriage ir-
stitution is based upon financial partrct-
ship, each Of the contracting parties con-
tributing his her share Of money 10
maintain the home, in the face Of the in
creasing poverty brought about by costly
women have found themselves reluctantly
compelled to become wage earners-if not
In order 10 insure marriage, at least TO help
support their families. While debarred in
almost every land from the heavier kinds
OF toll such work I'm mines. tending
furnaces, smelling works, etc, the intro
1uction in recent times of machinery into
every branch of manufacture has bene-
fitted women by providing a large amount
of comparatively light work i'm which care,
patience and suppleness are more essential
than physical strength. And for such work
French women are better fitted than
In thus entering the lists with men,
women have seriously reduced the market
value of all labor. and themselves the
greatest sufferers in consequence A COM
parisOn of the rate of wages paid to the
two sexes will show how heavily handi-
capped the weaker are I'm the struggle for
life. In agriculture the average daily wage
for man is from ] franc % centimes TO
francs 10 confines; for woman il Is from
80 centimes TO 2 francs In factories IL aver
ages for woman from l franc 20 confines
to 3 francs; for man IL is double. In
Paris the average is little higher than IL
is in the country, but the proportion re-
mains invariable. 1t is more particularly
in the textile manufactures where women
furnish more than half of the total labor
employed, that the is the worst paid.
The recent strike among the women weav-
ers on the Belgian frontier has made
known the painful fact that there are many
W ~
amounts to no more than francs. which
is the equivalent in United States money
to SLIGO.
But this pitifully inadequate wage is by
no means peculiar to France. In Belgium
nine-tenths of the women workers earn an
average daily pittsnce OF no more than
francs 80 centmes go cents)-the. is, one
half of the wage earned by men: in some
large cities of Germany the average wage
of the female employe is only l franc 20
centimes fer a day of eleven hours
The wages above mentioned refer only TO
the lowest form OF labor. Turning, how
ever, 10 skilled labor, performed by the
more cultured classes of women, the same
crying evil Is apparent-all are hopelessly
underpaid The teaching profession IS
worse paid I'm France, perhaps than any,
where else, and the modern extension Of the
high school system Qycees) has cut the
ground from under the feet Of large num-
Der of educated women who used TO sup
port themselves by giving private lessons.
Now II Is by no means uncommon 10 hear
i franc an hour 60 cents offered for q Ian
guage lesson, and many women have been
thankful TO accept plain needlework which.
by one wholesale house in Paris is given
out to ladies only" The scale OF remun-
Grafton paid by this apparently philan-
thropic firm is only equaled by the sweat
ing of certain firms in London. Handker-
chiefs TO be neatly hemmed by hand are
paid at the rate OF 10 cents a dozen: dust
ers. cents a dozen; buffers aprons, OF
hard, coarse cloth, at francs GO cents) a
dozen. French women claim that sucn
prices cannot be said TO represent a living
wage, and call loudly for reform.
he of hess a - arffa sa1rr
explained. 1t is generally said TO be based
on the fact that the needs Of women are
much smaller than those OF men. Mile.
Marie Leparcerle, who is foremost In the
woman's movement in France, declares
that this is only specifically true. While
II is the fact that women require less sub
stantial food than men, and that tobacco
and drink do not enter into their daily ex-
penditure, II Is also true, says Mile La
France has somebody dependent on her
aged parents, young children, helpless
brothers or sisters, and yet what employer
OF labor ever takes such considerations as
these into account The wage OF the wOm-
an remains stationary. Notwithstanding
her needs. In Mile. Laparcerie's opinion
the real cause is that the openings for
women are still too few. and that the sex
has not yet learned the value OF associa-
tlon. CONSCIOUS oiiy OF nj own pressing
individual needs, woman accepts the
starvation wage held out 10 her, and by 50
doing destroys herself and her sister work
The motto Of the French syndicates. TO
equal work. equal wage" must, perhaps.
under existing conditions, be considered
Utopian, and yet something might be done
by judicOus legislation. international treat
les like that Of 1889 in which Switzerland
took the initiative, or that of Berlin. which
followed shortly after, did something to-
ward regulating the conditions OF labor.
principally from the point OF view OF hy-
giene The labor conference at Basic during
last summer also accomplished useful work
The eN-minister of commerce. NJ. Mile
rand, has still more recently called public
attention 10 the urgent need OF further
regulation OF tine female labor market. and
in the front rank of reforms called for ne
places the question OF night labor But
until the women themselves make an effort
in the right direction little good will be-
achieved. The only real cure for the evil
is association. and this is the great prin-
ciple that now guides the womens move