The wageworker., 1907-08-23

-ssss.'S,.. handicapped by tn e ir
physical weakness and un-
RHH0S2 accustomed environment.
4EH3 Yet they have entered our
sharply competitive indus
trial system, and must
often take up single-handed strug-
| gle for existence in which the war
ware is no less sharp because the
weapons are the tools of manufacture
and the stake the supply or failure of
their daily bread.
The fact that they have been able
to do this without loss of virtue, and
with an increasing degree of justice
from the men who are their cOmpeti-
tors and employers proves chivalry
to be something more than beautiful
dream of the past.
The great army of men represent
ed by the American Federation of
Labor are pledged to the fulfllment
of these vows, not only by the ties
which the human heart holds most
sacred, but by the fundamental prin-
ciple underlying the organizations,
and the stern economical necessity
that gives persistence and force to all
their efforts.
Whose little ones gather the spools
| and watch the endless threads of the
cotton mills, or run to and fro on
the countless errands of the great
stores? These are not the carefully
protected children of the capitalist or
professional man. The frail young
girl who stands long hours behind
the counter or sacrifices health and
eyesight in some basement work room
is the daughter and sweetheart of a
wageworker. In proportion as the
conditions surrounding the working
mans life become less brutalizing, his
finer human sentiments urge him to
insist on the protection of those
bound to him by the tenderest of hui
man ties.
The labor organizations are not
only pledged to the protection of
women and children workers by these
most primitive and potent of human
ties, but by ideals that give deeper
meaning to the movement.
Economists assure us that wages
are largely determined by the stand
ard of comfort demanded by the
workers. The high standard of the
American workman is threatened, not
alone by the competition of foreign
ers, unable to adopt it, but also by
the more insidious inroads due to
child labor, or to some forms of fe
male competition. How is child
whose immature mind and body have
been stunted by the deadening round
of machine tending to learn pride OF
race or attain the manly vigor neces
sary to claim and defend the priv
ilege of his class? Occasionally one
of exceptional strength may overcome
. the difficulties of his youth, but the
majority grow up to reinforce thai
class of incompetents, mentally, NOR
ally and physically, who prove heavy
burdens within the unions, or with
out them menace their fellow-work
men more seriously by their short
sighted readiness to accept the lowel
standard against which the unions are
; struggling.
Dr. Englemann, in recent in
vestigation of the health of women O
the professional and working classes
finds that women who have undergon,
the severe mental training necessar.
for a professional career suffer mucl
less from the ills peculiar to womel
than the working girls, with thei
long hours of standing and confine
ment Direct observers, like the Val
Vorsts, lay great emphasis on the uni
versally unsanitary conditions unde
which women work, and the resultin
prevalence of anaemic and distorte,
physiques. These women will be tn
. mothers of the next generation O
= American wOrkmen. The most el
fective and far-reaching efforts t
promote class and national welfar
will begin with their protection.
In the closing paragraphs of an al
ticle in the Annals of the America
Academy of Political and Socia
Science, Walter Macarthur says:
"The attitude of the America
trade unionist is that of appeal to tn
spirit of independence and to real
, zation of the truth that the worker
are themselves the sole repository {
power to better their lot. The solem
lesson of history, to-day and ever
. day of our lives, is that the worker
must depend upon themselves for tn
improvement of the conditions of /;
Dor"
Aside from inherited incapacity fc
, organization, women have been d.
tered from any systematic and pc
sistent effort to better their conditio