Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-12
w. G.. 7. u.
BY JULIA A. GARRISON


| ficials of the Woman's Christian Tenn
| perance union it was interesting to
note that as each superintendent made
her report she endeavored to impress
! her hearers with the idea that her
department of work was more impor-
tant than that of any other depart
/ fent of work conducted by the w. c..
T. u. This is as 1t should be. Every
| worker in the ranks should be thor
| oughly In love with her special de-
| partment and give it her best energies
and most devoted service. With so
| many subjects of Importance pressing
| for notice, so many that should be
| heard and understood by the people in
order to secure their cooperation, 1t
is q difficult matter to decide which
should come first. One thing is pos
| itiVely essential to the success of any
public enterprise-that is, public sentt-
ment in favor Of 1t must first be Gre
ated and then the demand for 1t Will
follow. For the purpose of creating
sentiment, of arousing interest and
setting in motion the wheels of prog
ress, the people must be reached, and
in no way can this be done so effectu-
ally as through the medium of the
press. The great dailies are the mes
sage bearers to the people of the peo-
pies needs and of the measures ad-
vocated to meet their demands.
IMPORTANT DEPARTMENT
The press department, therefore, is
very important one for the educa-
tional and propaganda work of the
| w. c. T. u. Its superintendent
should be women who have had some
experience in newspaper work II pos
sible to secure, them. 1t is the aim OF
this department to secure the publ
cation in all the papers and periodicals
available the latest and most import
ant news of w. c.. T. U. work; to
keep constantly before the reading
public facts, statistics and quotations
which will be Helpful in educating
the public mind and conscience along
reformatory lines and thus advance the
cause which is pledged to the greatest
of all reforms, the cause OF temper
ance and right living.
Just now, when the shopping season
for the holidays is approaching,
word to prospective shoppers may not
be amiss. That word has been f1tly
spoken by Mary E. Garbutt, the w. G.
T. u. state superintendent of temper
ance and labor, In the September is
sue of The White Ribbon, from which
1t is reproduced in this column, that
The Herald readers may learn some
thing of the scope and Importance of
the work the women of this organtza-
tion are engaged in and that it's ef-
IOrLS are IlOI COUAlIlcu W IAO SAOoAhS
of saloons alone, but extend in every
direction from whence comes the cry
of human suffering and human need.
Mrs. Garbutt writes sas follows:
Fifty years ago. yes, twenty-five
years ago, conditions were very diff
ferent from what they are today. The
evolution of industry has largely
worked these changes. Where there
was one woman wage Garner fifty
years ago there are thousands now.
Today the army of women who are
competing with men for a job num-
bers 100000. Necessity compels them
to sell their labor power. We are con-
tinually told that the home is wom-
ans rightful place, and yet conttnu-
ally women are going out from the
home. Social and economic forces are
more powerful than public opinion,
and 1t is these forces that are making
women important factors in the worlds
work.
WAGE WORKERS INCREASING
"The question that concerns us as
members of an organization that seeks
to make the world more homelike,'
is our relation to the woman who tolls
and our duty toward her.
"In Southern California, where there
are no great manufacturing towns, the
problems of the working women are
not Drought TO our III tiiS dSulO
form we see them where there are
large mills and factories, as In many
of the eastern and southern states.
We have, however, our girls by the
thousands behind the counter and In
the office, our women in laundries, In
canneries and the business world. Is
it not our duty to inquire into the
conditions under which they do their
work, their hours of labor, their
wages, whether they are paid for over
time, whether supplied with seats, rest
rooms, sanitary toilets, etc? By united
effort our large body of white rib
boners could create sentiment for
improvement along all these lines.
SEATS FOR CLERKS
"California has a law requiring seats
to be provided for girls working in
stores. In many cases these are not
provided or in insufficient numbers
and in almost every store the use of
them in moments of leisure is frowned
upon by the proprietors, in many stores
SO great is the crowd of buyers all
of the time that the minutes of leis-
ure never come. During the holiday
season all these girls work over hours,
largely due to the thoughtlessness of
purchasers A petition for early. gift
buying should be circulated by our
unions to educate the public on this
point.
am our canneries and laundries con-
ditions are often very unsanitary and
hours of labor long. 1t has been
shown by thorough investigation that
the long hours and bad conditions un-
der which women work, especially In