The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-05-13

violetsT l asked q bright-looking little
glr IN q shop where artificial flowers
We're made.
No, she said. emphatically; I wish
God had never made flowers
Think OF a child embittered so: thus
early cut off from the beauty and en-
Joyment of lifei She received for making
those Vl0lets - cents gross. On the
other hand, if you have read The Long
Day. the story of a New York working
girl as told by herself. you will remem-
Der that her period of pleasantest employ
ment was in mandatory of artificial
flowers. Now these cOntrasted expert
ences illustrate the fact that there are
factries and factories-sOme which evade
the law, which coax. threaten or bride
children to work overtime: and others
where there S good ventilation. light,
cleanliness and a spirit OF cheerfulness.
me purchaser then. should determine to
discriminate far possible; to in
form himself as to the sources whence
goods come, and to pay higher price,
X necessary, to encourage the manufac-
turer who has regard for the well-being
of his employees. and discourage all forms
,of the sweating system. One may say
that ii is difficult in all cases. to make
sure of the conditions. But do we try,
as well as we might, to find out? When
you congratulate yourselves, ladies. ON
some remarkable reduction in ordinary
prices, do you stop to put the question
where these things came from, what
may have caused the low price? You
may not always find out, but the very
tendency to ask such questions is in it
self a step toward correction of abuses.
In the east there is a>Consumers' league,
which has a label that it puts upon ar
tieles manufactured under the conditions
that il regards as satisfactory. and a
white list of merchants who treat their
employees fairly. If there is a branch
Of that league in Salt Lake, / have not
heard of it? Why not start one? Write
to headquarters and find out exactly
40
Of the best and Wisest men and women
are at the head of it; the c. A. l. l.. is
affiliated with il. Combined action of
this kind is quite in the line. of present
the thoughtless to conditions which
ought to give rs pain. and it goes some
way toward practical Improvement.
The Union Label.
ION these same grounds the principle
of the union label is to be defended. There
has been wrong-headedness, there has
been injustice, in its applications; but 1
believe that the union label, on the whole,
has helped to elevate the standard of re-
enumeration, hours conditions in work
shop, and so forth; and has tended to
awaken the public conscience as to the
responsibility of the purchaser in such
matters. There is such a responsibility;
that is the point / am contending for.
We are members one of another In
Alton Locke Charles Kingsley long ago
inculcated this truth. The method of
realizing such responsibility and making
it tell is a question of detail. a ques-
ton to be answered largely by expert
ence. No union label or white list or
any other device. frees a man from the
necessity of using his common sense. As
to the consumers responsibility, Profess
sOr Ryan, the author of a recent book on
Living Wage well says:
4" He is not directly responsible for low
prices and low wages. for he takes no
active part in the making of either Yet
he encourages the continuation of exist
ing bad conditions when he seeks out and
patroniZes the dealers in cheap goods. re-
CARELESS of the wages that have been
paid to the producers. The fact that he
is not primarily responsible does not &C
quit him of all responsibility and all OBJ
LEGATION