Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1910-09-15
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THE GIRLS IN THE
ST. LOUIS BREWER1Es
By cynthelia 1sgrig Knefler.

+bo+ hos heen successful in ITS de-
mands is the subject of congratpla-
tons by unionists and anti-unlonlsts.
one pauses to inquire the reason. FOR
so large a public to agree, must MAJ
the recognition of the fact that o1lJ
through a trade union can certain
plorable industrial conditions
changed. The organization OF te
girls in the St. Louis breWerles ny
demonstrated the fact that onE
through a trade union could they bl
effectively reached.
The brewery workers Of St. Louis
organized their first unions on Novem-
her 70. 1899. By wise and careful man
agement these unions have steadily
grown in strength and numbers unell'
for several years, every man, sK1lleo Oh
unskilled, has carried his union caro-
Conditions have been much Improved
and wages increased.
But what of the girls? The prev
cries opened their doors to the girls
about nine years ago, at time when
there were no child labor laws, and a.
children could do labelling, foiling and
wrapping, they were put on In great
numbers. The breweries were noted
for their child employees After the
child labor laws were enacted stores
of children under age being. employed
in large numbers were still afoat one
hears it even now almost every tim
the breweries are mentioned.
Three breweries in St. Louis employ
girls and women in the bottl1ng de
partments. They label, foil and wraE'
which sounds simple enough until
upon inquiry, you are startled to leart
that a machine girl labels from tWelve
to sixteen thousand bottles of beer per
day. for which she receives $3.50 pei
week; a team Of two hand labelers la
bel thirty-five hundredAsbottles per hour
for $3.50 per, week; foilers and wrappers
g. 400, bottles per day for $500 per week
and shippers the same number for
$3.50 per week. The fourteen-year-olo
girls are generally put on as shippers.
But while the speed in the bottling de-
partments is tremendous there Is YET
another danger, that of exploding bee1
bottles, the glass many times flying
fifteen and twenty feet. No count Is
kept of the number of bottles exploding
in a day. but the fact that one girl Il;
employed in each department to sweep
I'D broken glass and another to wipe
I'D spilled beer tells the story. 1t Is
also significant that one girl is en-
ployed to bind up wounds. Almost al
the girls carry the marks of their trade
in SCARED hands, arms, faces and
necks, and when, on call for hands
of all who had been "sewed," an ap
palling number went up. Three girl;
have each lost an eye.
In only one brewery are women en-
ployed in the washhouse. These are az
Hungarian women, speaking no Eng
fish, working in the winter In wooden
shoes. and in the summer bare-footed
They not only work in the water bu-
stand in water all day.
In February the members Of Beer
Bottlers' Union No. 1877 called upon the
Women's Trade Union League to help
them in organizing the girls. Weekly
meetings were called and the Response
was gratifying. From twelve or four
teen the number ran up to one hundred
and fifty, two hundred, two hundred
and fifty-not women and girls but.
children and girls. There were never
as many as fifty women. present, Many
not looking the fourteen years they
claimed, a large per cent under sixteen
and most Of the others under twenty.
1t was an unframed. unaffected, re-
freshingly natural lot gof children.
Largely of German parentage, living
in the district around the breweries
under almost a feudal system, thesa
girls are different from the girls in. the
factories and shops. Theirs is the
heart of the child with the response
bility of the woman. There is a dis
play of spirit out of keeping with their
pale faces as they romp about the
room. The joy of youth is there, n \
matter what the pressure.
To stand before an audience Of sucn
pale children and tired young girls and
try to explain to them the industrial
scheme; the part they play; the heavy
responsibility they carry-to max
them think as the robust adult thinks
was most pathetic thing. Again
the response was gratifying. They
were eager to learn, and anxious t
have union of their own.
s In the organizing it was the mer
who did the actual mechanical part,
thinking ahead and laying the plans,
and the women, speaking the language
Of women and children. explained, an
sWered questions and explained again