The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1908-03-14
EVILS sNElTsH0|P||
!. I ne AlR / TO | ! ! DEFINE
Father Vaughan Says ,lts Far
saehing Evils Cannot Be
' z.ss,@ I. 3aExanUefated. -
:,
lit; Exists ii the United States
.. Today It is National -,
ss /. Curse. =::s. -


preacher and !: missionary, expressed
himself very strongly to a recent in
'terviewerA on the sweatshop~ evil as
1T exists In England and the United
States 80. : - 2 ; f. ..-
z.t*..You might as we'll ask my opinion
about slavery. tyranny, or homicide
ITSELF" he said. 1.-THE sweating sys-
tenn should never have been allowed
toA come into existence at all; yet
come 1t did In the early part Of the
last century. Consequently it is near
IL 81 hundred years old. Let it die, I
say, and give it pauper's funeral,
with the epitaph: He was only
sweater whom nobody mourns,'
1.-THE sweating set has no conscience
to shame it into penftence; its ears
are, as deaf to the cries GIFTS victims
as its eyes are blind to their unutter-
able misery. Truth to tell, when
man puts dividends where he ought
to put salvation, nothing will move
him but, the apparatus of & the law.
Till the force of law bears down upon
the sweater he will continue to sweat,
crying: -
THE pound of flesh, it's mine, and
will have it: r.:
If you deny me- file upon your law
What Is the sweatshoo? .
/ Sweating is more easily understood
than defined A parliamentary COM
mittee describes the system as: %
Unduly low rates Of wages 90 Elk
cessive hours Of work; (3) Unsani-
tary condition. Of the work places. Be-
lieve me, when tell you that the
vast majority of thes community have
no idea at all of the sweating prac-
tees that obtain in their midst.
.'"The sweating question has not
been exaggerated, because the iniqui-,
tous thing cannot he exaggerated. Let
me illustrate what / mean by giving
you g. single instance-a typical one.
I take it from Birmingham, which
proudly holds up it's head to the: en-
pire as the ideal Of everything: NUM-
Opal. Few persons realize that in
that metropolis of the Midlands there
are fifty button factories, and, if. /
mistake not, twelve other factories for
hooks and eyes. These buttons and
hooks and eyes, when: made, are us
ually mounted on cards, ready for the
inspection Of shopkeepers' customers.
Little do the purchasers imagine that
some 10000 Of the poorest of our poor
brothers and sisters are engaged the
ivelong day in novels called homes
sewing among other things, : these
| hooks and eyes upon show-cards; still
less do they realize that .2SS hooks
and 288, eyes have to. be. linked to-
gether and stitched to g. card for the
magnificent remuneration of four
/ farthingsLone penny. IT,. = :.:E ~
l:@'*-S& =: An Example. 49, d.
F let me emphasize the case In hand
i a ,slittle more. In a squaltd court
found a woman with her four child
rem, sitting on the floor of a fireless
room working in silence. The ages
Of the, children ranged from eight
down to two and half years old All
the little brood-God bless them!-
werer linking the hooks and eyes with
which the floor was Uttered, prepar-
+ ing them for mothers carding needle.
| From 6 a. m. to 10 p. M, or 1t may be
| till midnight with necessary Interrupt
| lions only, the whole family sat work
| ing, including even the husband, who
! was out of employment. What, you
| ask me, were the earnings of this in
| drstrious family? Five shillings
| ($l.2) week! Out of this sum halt
I had to go to the shack renter; SO
that for fire, for light. for food. and
I for clothing there remained the other
| half =
I o God! that rent should be SO dear
And flesh Sand blood so cheap!~ -
81, ar14 NIL how a
given from Birmingham by some hum
dreds Of thousands, and then you Will
begin to. appreciate the meaning of
that text OF Scripture, blessed is the
man who UNDERSTANDABLE concerning
the neesly and the poor Our dear
and blessed Saviour lived and moved
in their midst. ,.:..s~. =. }s.ss..fs:a. =
ITO understand, to reverence, and
7 to love the poor, you must go, like
Him, into their midst--not to patron
ize,z but. to ,sympathize and TO- help
National Suicide -
IF the nation efficiency depends
| upon the efficiency ;,of it's industries,
let me remind yeua:that- the efficiency
; of it's industries depends no less upon
:tVAhAGlSISJ - AAANNAoSA AeAA WA ~
| ers. To. defraud the laborer: of sus-
tenance wage, to my thinking. is a
| crime of, national suicide 1t is a
crime against the worker-nay y, 1t is
a crime against the majesty Of God
Himself, who by charging q, man with
a mission and deputing him to a work
in this :workaday world, 4 proclaims II
to be the sacred duty of the: state
to- secure for It's sindustria1 citizens
such wage: that upon 1t they may
he. able to live human lives, fulfilling
their threefold mission to- home, to
country, and to God their Father Al
mighty. If: the Wage-earning citizen
has duties, he has rights no less
the. first among them being the, right
in q Christian state to live a human
and Christian existence <&yZs5s. = !.
T r. TURNED QUITO sTARvE.
BY an act Of congress, just passed
working men, IN the employ OF thu