The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-04-19
BY w. G. Shepherd.


Ii the American consumer has
to pay 20 cents more a dozen for
hose and stockings, who's going
to get the money.
1t won't go to the factory girls.
I'VE WON'T RAISE THE
WAGES OF THE FACTORY
HANDS," SAID f. w. SIMONS TO
ME. MIR. SIMONS OUGHT TO
KNOW. HE is PRESIDENT OF
THE NATIONAL ASSOCIA.
TION MANUFACTURERS.
Salaries won't be raised il the
tariff on hosiery is increased, :"
said F. Park Moore. He's the
chairman of the tariff committee
of the national association above
mentioned.
well, where will the worker
benefit?" I asked him.
They'll get steadier work." he
replied.
And that answer is enough to
give you the horrors, after you
have seen the knitting district.
"Steadier work." That means
more hours cramped up, over
knitting machines. 1t means few
er holidays. 1t means less rest. 1t
means all these things to 10000
women and girls in the Philadel-
phia factories.
No more wages; no fewer hours.
For goodness sake, whom is the
proposed tariff on stockings to
protect?
Here's little Anna Morgan, for
instance. Her parents are poor
and her father is i'll; he gave 20
years of life to the factories.
I've been working 10 weeks in
the factory" said Anna, proudly,
as she was on her way to work
the other morning at quarter to 7
lo'clock. "The first week I
worked for nothing. 1 was learn
ing then. but the next week l
earned 81. The third week 1
earned SO, and after that got a
steady salary of $4.2O a week.
When l get older I'll get more
money, like the big girls do.
Anna's face was bright and
smiling. The fact that she had to
work until quarter past 6 that
Ievenfng didn't seem to worry her.
1t was all new and exciting to her.
She said she was Is years old.
Down the street I saw coming
the terrible thing that Anna
ought to be protected from; the
terrible thing that these million
laire hosiery manufacturers manu-
facture, that no tariff protects
A GIRL WHO HAD LOST HER
SMILE!
That's the second stage Of the
factory girls life. This girl, in
the second stage, was wan and
worn. Her eyes were still bright,
as IL there was just tiny bit of
sunshine that simply couldn't
leave them until her last hope had
gone.
But her face was immovable.
Little Anna had smiled when the
photographer took her picture.
This girl was willing to have her
picture taken, but she didn't
smile. There was something ter
ribly old about her. Hope was
departing from her; a few more
looks in the glass would drive ii
away forever.
I saw hundreds of these girls
go up the stairs to the factory
doors, in the sunshine of the
early morning, to bury themselves
in work in their fight for life.
L
Then there were the women in
the third stages. Their faces told
the stories of their hopeless lives.
They moved like machines.
When the photographer turned
his camera on them they stood
stolid and expressionless.
| What do you want the picture
for?" asked little Anna, who had
an interest in life, smoothing her
hair.
81 don't look dressed up" said
the girl in the second stage.
| But this woman in the third
stage didn't seem to care what
! the picture was for or whether
she looked well.
And, in view of these terrible
isights-these little working girls.
these girls who have lost their
smile. these hopeless, machine
Iworaen--the masters of these
mills even while they are crying
to congress for protection, confess
THAT their protection" will give
these women NOTHING more than
steadier work.
II saw girls who are as good as
murdered, I told Mr.. Simons,
after / had visited the factories.
Their lives are crushed and ruin
ed IL they remain in the factories.
VIII more work protect them?"
| cit will give them more mon
ley" he said.
"Do they think they'll be pro
Itected?"
"Well, I'll admit a lot of them
lare free traders" Then he add
ed, "They read so much in the pa
pers about free trade that they
lbegin to believe It's best"
He showed me letter In which
la fellow manufacturer asked him
how, In the midst OF his tariff agi-
ltatfon. he kent his help content