The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-02-25

IL one visits any of the headquarters
of the striking shirt waist makers one
can not help feeling. as the prologue
says in. "Pagliacci,'' that acre Is a page
torn from the book of human life.
You see large room filled with young
women. and handful of young men
who keep their hats on and at the
same time studiously respectful on
other points of etiquette in the person
Al relations with the preponderatinB
feminine contingent. The men are
those who have deserted the cutter S
table and other higher and better paid
positions to make common cause with
the girls who are earning from f.50
to $14 a week at the less profitable EN-
ployment OF trimming waists and maxi
Ing furbelows and, founces upon their
swiftly whirling machines.
Few OF these girls have any educa-
ton other than that which Is free 10
all corners in the university OF adver-
sity. Many of them have not been here
lone enough to assimilaie either our
ways or our language. They are very
grateful to any one of their number
who reveals the capacity for leadership,
and they trustfuliy commit their cause
to the hands and heads OF these more
eloquent spokesman.
The girls who will talk to you about
their common grievances, while others
gather In ring to listen and to nod
their confirmation. are so full of the
sense of their wrongs stands them in
stead OF the liberal education; ignorant
OF the rules of rhetoric. their talk is
vigorous and picturesque because they
find in their cause an Inspiration. OF
course. the principal abuse that seems
to them to cry-alnnd- for rectiicatinn
is the starvation wage that is paid
them but that is-not everything
They declare that one of the hardest
features of their lot is to be regarded
by the "boss" as though they belonged
to an Infinitely inferior order OF be.
ings. They have no privilege OF direct
appeal. all negotiations must be con-
Quoted through the .'forelady." that Is
what she Is there for. The boss" Il
merely viewed in the light of a relent-
less taskmaster, who occasionally puts
darkens the working day,&demandins
that the needles shall NY faster. OF
making the unwelcome announcement
of reduction of wages One girl wells
her forehead with her arm and salaams
deeply to Indicate the reverenttal at
titude she mentally assumes whenever
the boss comes near her.
Others admit that their boss" Is
kinder. that he would pay them more
and be more lenient II Ii were not for
cutthroat competition. 1T IL not every.
boss" who sets the hands OF the clock
back for half AN hour at the end OF
the wearisome day. 1T " not every
boss" who makes his girls pay for
drinking water or for the soap they
use. or inquiries when they rise from
their chairs why they are leaving their
work. Some Of the shirt waist manu-
facturers are scrupuiously careful to
provide well lighted and well ventt-
lated work rooms. with proper sanitary
accomm odations 1t is not against the
Just and scrupulous employers that the
complaint Of some several Thousand
young working women Is directed.
II you are earning 81 a week and
had to pay $3.50 out of that sum for
board. your system OF ethics might
erumble and your character might de-
tcriorate. The wonder Is that some of
these girls have not become SO puzzled
by the riddle OF their painful existence
as to lose all faith In human nature or
in Themselves. That they stiil hay.
they have their moral code to which
they infexibly adhere. their public
opinion which Furnishes the infraction
of nnwritten laws They are poor, but
they have not lost the struggling in
sttnct toward neatness and refinement
In their apparel They take pride in
their personal appearance until their
need has brought them to the last
stage OF recklesstdsdance, which is but
seldom in evidence. They admit that
the police ought to enforce the law and
they do not maintain that every arrest
Is unjustifiable. They do resent the
sarcastic and jeering comment In which
and they e hold. not Without i reason that
In some Instances the police have been
officious and have made arrests for no
apparent cause,
1t is easy to say that girl who
earns from ~ to 50 week and Is the
mainstay OF family OF perhaps half
a dozen would do better to enter tho
menfaf seryfca OF d household, since IN |
many homes there ts q EARNING vacan-
cy for the fast disappearing type OF
maid OF all work. The reason why
more factory girls have not chosen en-
pioyment as domestics liz not merely
that In nther neople's homes they Will