Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1906-03-15
AN APPEAL FOR JUSTICE.
Mrs. J. G. Phelps Stokes Crlticlses Care.
less Women of Wealth.


! The women Of wealth who wear dia.
monds, Careless where the purchase
money comes from. when the cost
means the misery of their working sis
ters," received especial mention in an
, address by Mrs. ]. G. Phelps Stokes.
who was Miss Rose Harriet Pastor, be-
fore the Peoples Meeting at the
Baptist Church of the Epiphany in
New York City.
Mrs. Stokes was one of q notable list
of speakers, the others being the Rev.
DR.. II. S. Macarthur, of Calvary Zap
tist Church; Mrs. Frederick Nathan,
President of the Consumers League;
the Rev. DR.. Madison G. Peters, pastor
of the Church of the Ephphany, and
Mrs. Harriet Stanton Blatch.
"Working Womens Wrongs was
the subject, and the miseries of the
women of the greater cities, whose
lives are spent in the sweatshops un-
der inhuman masters who drive them
to consumption and early graves, were
discussed. Mrs. Stokes address re.
CelVeu earnest HttclltlOH.
Educating the wealthy to sympa'
thize with the condition Of the work.
ingwomen," "giving the workingwom.
en- the right Of the ballot and having
them form unions" and Legislation
against employers who pay insufficient
wages" were some of the remedies
suggested.
The men who amass wealth by pay
ing starving wages, and whose minds
are never disturbed by any thought of
justice toward their employees, also
came in for criticism.
"The Bible utters its anathema
against such men," Rev. Macarthur
said. "The cries of the wrOnged toll.
ers have entered into the ears of the
Lord, and the gold and silver of such
accumulation is cankcred. tainted and
hopelessly condemned"
Mrs. Stokes was introduced by Rev.
Peters as "young woman whose
name on the lower East Side is a
household word for sympathy and hui
manity."
"What say I know to be true from
my own experience of twelve years in
factory" Mrs. Stokes said. "a great
deal of the discomfort among working
women is due not so much to any spe-
cific wrong, as to the general feeling
of absolute Indifference as to the vel
fare evidenced by employers.
'People who draw dividends should
know where the dividends come from.
They should know the conditions from
which these earnings spring. What
would Jesus say to the women who
wear diamonds, when the cost is untold
misery and all health on the part of
their less fortunate sisters? | think
l could guess, and so can you
Mrs. Stokes was questioned about
this declaration by one of her audience
and she said:
II do not mean women should not
wear diamonds. l have no objection
to the wearing of jewelry by women
who work for the money which buys
them.
Happiness is impossible for the
working girl who sees herself handi-
capped in the struggle toward strong
err nobler wOmanhood; who cries out,
or Is terribly silent, when she finds
herself held Gown. ignorant weak and
helpless, in the pitiful struggle for
bread, and by the intensity Of brutal
disregard and industrial competition
over which she has not the slightest
control.
"All possible joy is generally ex-
eluded from the workshop" Mrs.
Stokes continued, "by the rigid rules
against talk and intercourse among the
workers. Under such conditions. life
becomes mere monotonous drudgery,
and work becomes absolutely hateful
Mrs. Stokes declared that "one-third
of all workinSwomen between the ages
of twenty and forty-tive die annually of
consumption, because of the conditions
under which they are employed