Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-05-15

to appear before their assembly an&
discuss the situation. Daniel did no;
walk into the lions den with less feal
Z than the Rev. Mr.. Campbell. i Like Dan
lei, he also came off victorious III a
sbold and fearless indictment, he pro-
duced facts and figures which were in
II con troyertible. Many managers, who
had refused TO consider the question
before, had their eyes opened, and. at
the end of the meeting, the Drapers'
not only concurred in his scathingG cen-
i sure, but even offered to co-operate
/ with him in his campaign against the
! system. This was certainly a moral
! and intellectual victory on the minis
| ter's part, and has amounted to a COM
| plete. reversal of opinion among the
heads of firms who, up6to this time
have shut their eyes to the wrongs of
| their employees.
| OuTGROW,TH OF. OLD SYSTEM.
Living-n, as carried out today in
England, is an outgrOwth of the early
! apprentice system, when workers We're
bound over without pay for a term of
years to certain firms. In those days
| Young girls and boys came up from the
country to London and other large
cities where they We're to learn their
trades, and the parents We're pleased to
think that their children would be. as
it were, under one roof and free from
IL Is DbiltIluH EnlS IDltSrfal
buiWark that shopkeepers today take
refuge. maintaining that theN IRE the
guardians of those under their care.
and making plea on the ground OF
morality for the penning up OF their
assistants in veritable prisons But
the living-in system today has lost all
It's early advantages. The alleged pa
ternal care does not extend any fur
Their than barring the doors at a Ger
tain hour each nisht-in some places
10 O'clock in Others 11--and shutting
out all who may be . moment late.
ploye has no influence and girls fre-
squent1y find theselves shut out
though only three minutes late. No
member of the firm takes the trouble
to ascertain whether or not girls are in
their dormitories, ana it is q, general
practise for excluded assistants to re-
main out all night in case they should
be late.
HARD ON THE GIRLS.
In some cases the locking out Of
these girls has led to serious conse-
.quences. For instances, not long ago |
a girl from the country who had been |
employed only a few weeks in II big |
drapery establishment found herself |
locked out in the streets of London !
She had no money, and did not know /
where to go. She was compelled to |
ing she made q. row. demanded her
faro back to her native village and |
forced the firm into compensating her
for the outrage. In many cases, how
ever, girls do not Worry themselves
about being locked out, and the
out rule thrusts upon them a
freedom of which they
often take advantage. To show how
easily the system may be worked to
the moral detriment of the victims.
Miss Bondtield, an active member OF
the Shop Assistants union gave be-
fore the government commission EVIL
aence of her own experience.
UNDESIRABLE COMPANIONS.
when / was a young apprentice
myself she said. Il was employed in
a house in Brighton. For the purpose
IF sleeping their assistants, they took
various houses in back streets Ny
sleeping room was on the ground floor.
With the window facing on to the
street, SO that one could step into the
street from the window and back into
he room from the street without going
Trough the door at all. was put in
o a room with a woman of mature
tge who led life Of a most unde-