The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-12-08
LESSONS FOR women
At BARGAIN COUNTERS
Great Evil Of the Day in Promot'
ing Sale of Sweat Shop
Goods.
Union Label Will Make Existence
Of Unsanitary Institutions
Impossible.

I
| Hustling for existence is not con-
ductive to a conscientious study Of
| ones theology, hence the tendency
| Of progress for some time has been
to lessen the Importance Of the moral
law Of human obligation. one with
another. Force of circumstances
! compels allegiance to the almost
supreme law. of supply and demand
that keeps the machinery of the world
in motion.
Today. we stand in the crowd and
watch the tide Of humanity ebb and
flow, and surge around the bargain
counter. Bargains!' Ready to-wear
garments at remarkably low prices!
They are, indeed, "bargains,' but back
Of these bargains are what? Have
you ever thought about it? No, very
likely you have not. Comparatively
few have given the subject a thought.
! That is one good. reason why the
world has lost sight Of the golden
| rule, and selfishness has gained the
supremacy over righteousness.
Finding results satisfactory, the
| busy public has no time to investigate
causes.
AS to cause and effect, judging from
| the eagerness of the shoppers, around
| the counter, regardless of cause the
| bargains are a satisfactory effect.
The public is only beginning to
learn the meaning and Importance Of
the union label on ready-made goods.
The shoppers give no thought to the
history of the bargains they are after.
The lesson of the label is one that
the major portion of our population
Is beginning to learn in a practical
way, and learning in the school Of ex-
perience is certain education.
The pressure of circumstances has
made industrial conditions a personal
matter, with the great multitude of
the self respecting, estimable middle
class. and that class is the majority
| from which the great army of working
women and girls have come in the
last generation, =: .s:...>.
When our own*sSpeeious children,
through necessity, become wage
earners, We begin to get a practical
knowledge Of sweat-shop bondage, and
to learn the meaning Of the term
Child slavery" 'Tis then we begin
to desire clean, and; wholesome condi-
tions Tor the workers., and to require
proof Of such, conditions. The great
American masses the toilers-if-
Guiding the bargain hunter, who seems
at present indifferent to industrial
conditions, must soon, through per-
sonal interest, il not from sympathy,
re alize the meaning and Importance
| Of the union label. When personal in
terests are endangered by existing
conditions, human nature is not usual
ly slow to protest, though kindliness
would avoid conflict if possible:
Like the patriots Of the Revolution,
trade unionism has made it's declara-
ton ct Independence, and like them
must say, "All experience hath shown
that marktnd are more disposed to
suffer where evils are sufferable than
to right themselves by abolishing the
forms t. Which they are accustomed"
Fror, the great white fields of >"raw
material" past the southern factories
whore l.vr:';ern capital and southern
chil'!-slav'ry PFC duce goods at wage
30 per cent less than in the Mas
sachusetts mills on and on through
the miserable basement sweat-shops
Of New York, where the crowded and
filthy pauper element Of every foreign
nation sews fifteen hours a day, until
the rea 1y: :rade garments are laid on
the bargain counters, the evolution of
the "flecty staples" Is a progressive
game of Skin" and be skinned. Busi-
ness is business, and whenever capital
is inves led it is on a basis that prom
ises maximum profit. Labor is only
a means to that end capital Is look
Ing out for its own interests and If
labor does not look out for itself it
must take the consequences.
Anywhere that the supply of labor
exceeds tine ce!nand, and no legislation
restricts the conditions regarding the
hours Of toll or the age of the toiler,
that place is the field Of Opportunity
for the manufacturer. The very rules
Of trade, as we'll as the selfish in
stinct of human nature to profit on
another's necessity requires him to
lose sight Of everything but increased
profits and the advantages of business
opportunity. Industrial conditions are
brought about by the natural methods
and law of business, and the "fittest
must survive" whatever becomes of
the Incompetent.
The world is ,noney-mad, and in the
mighty concentration Of capital al
most trr .Dareb.t hurt has come to
the nation You would ssk how. It
Is estimated that more than one-mil-
lion and half children are wage
earners in the United States. This
in itself is a blight upon our people.
Could the law OF righteousness arrest
the greed and sin Of business prin-
ciples now, the intellectual, moral and
physical life OF at least two genera
tions to come would show in imper-
feet development the blight that has
fallen llnor, n11r masses