The wageworker., 1909-09-11

thirteen hours i day. seven days a
week That is neither humane. Chris
tian or American. and the church peo-
pie OF this city owe it TO themselves
and to the street car men TO help
them get one day OF in seven"
Miss Mary Mcdowell made this
statement in the most emphatic man
ner from the pulpit Of the First Bap-
sist church last Sunday morning. and
she repeated 1t from the pulpit of St
Paulrs NJ. E. church in the evening,
Until the Christian people of this
city help the trades unions secure a
Saturday half-holiday they have no
right to object to Sunday sports and
amusemenSs."
When Miss Mcdowell made that
statement shs spoke from the expert
eaee of one who has studied the labor
problem from the inside. and she
loolSed straight at the great congrega-
ton that frooted her in the First Bap-
tist church.
Miss Mcdowell wss 20 have spoken
At the Labor Day celebration in Lin
coin. but the weather man inserfered
and the celebration was called on. But
the committee in charge OF the cele-
bration had planned wisely. and Miss
Mcdowell did speak in Lincoln. and
10 the very people that the commit
tee most desired 10 reSch-the church
goers. the employers and the profes-
Sional men. Sunday morning she
spoke ut the First Baptist church. tax
ing tor her subject, "A Human View
OF the Labor Problem" and for forty
minutes she held the close attention
OF her hearers with her simple yet
foreeful plea for humanity. Miss Nc
Dowell INDUCES in no oratorical pro-
technics She clothes her ideas in
simple language. but what she says
comes direct from 2 heart that beats
in sympathy with the weak and the
oppressed. She pointed out that the
lshor problem meant something more
than mere hours and wages. II means
more for the future of the republic
than any other problem. Unless it is
solved rightly it means that America
is to become brutalized; that the
American home life is to be lowered
that our republican Institutions are to
disappear before an aristocracy OF
wealth and leisure. She declared that
the solution of this problem demanded
more attention from real womanhood
than did the affairs of the Daughters
OF the Revolution or the Colonial
Danes.
In plain and simple language she
detailed the conditions under which
thousands of girls are working ani
living. She told of the hopeless strug
gle men and women are making
against conditions not of their Owl
choosing and she urged Christian mel
and women to arouse themselves II
the evils. The fact that little chill
dren are being robbed of the playtim,
of youth and made old before thei
time by forced labor in mills ant
of the American people. Men who ar,
touched by the spectacle of individual
suffering are Indifferent to the suffer
ing caused by perverted industrial
system. The hitching of steam Il
machinery has forced a huge problem
upon the people. and the problem
must be solved or the republic i
doomed. A century ago the weaving
and spinning and sewing was done il
the homes today it is done in tn
sreat factories and women have fol
lowed the work from the home TO tn
factory. Today six million womel
and girls are in the industrial world
earning their own living. What thi
means TO the home life of the natio
time alone will tell. but Miss McDov
eo believes that it must mean ever
taal good or God would not allow
to be.
Miss Mcdowell did not attempt pla
upon human sympathy: she conten
ed herself with an appeal to justic
and patriotism. She pleaded for ju;
tice to the children. for justice to tn
young women, for justice to the owe
worked and underpaid men Sh
asked that they be given such wage
and conditions and hours that the
could make homes for themselves an
their families, educate their childre
aad make provision for old age.
After Miss Mcdowell had conclude
Rev, Mr., B&tten save hearty endors
naeat 20 what she had said, He wei
further in speaking OF the railway 81
ration and declared that every d