United labor bulletin., 1911-03-16


the rights" of women to work as maj
Finally, T. E. Williams desires to have
this proposed law killed because the
manufacturers who employ female labor
are very charitable and contribute
literally to Charitable Institutions.
T. E. Williams puts the right of bust
ness, the getting of the dollar, above
the health, morality and decency of the
commonwealth The manufacturers want
nothing more than money, power, con-
sideratiol-in word, success, of their
greed for gold, and they seem to be in
hurry and are not particular as to the
means they employ
The plea has been made that the pro-
posed measure, providing for an eight
hour day for female employees flinders
the growth of the manufacturing indus
tries in this state
II is certainly worthy of note that the
Colorado Manufacturers association and
the Denver Chamber of Commerce de-
sire ito upbuild the state" at the expense
of public health and morality. These
gentlemen opposing this proposed law
are very patriotic. It is far more i'm
portant for them to produce goods with
the exploitation of women labor, and
have these women after they become
disabled in the service of their employ
ers go to a charitable home" where
they are quite willing to send the
smallest part of the profit they have
made by the long hours of female labor,
than to grant them justice to which they
are entitled.
Good-hearted and benevolent manufac-
turers. Thou givest bread to the
hungry. but better were It thar none
hungered and thou hadst none to give
to him..
If the manufacturers of this state can
not give the women the eight-hour work
day because it will ruin their business,
let them shut down their business. The
working people Of this state do not want
industries that cannot afford to protect
those who produce the wealth of the
state.
Business demands results" and cares
little how they are produced. But the
real question of profit or loss in any
business can be settled only by taking
into consideration the more remote and
more important results recorded in that
social ledger called the census, and by
studying the marriage rate and juvenile
crime rate in connection with women in
industry.
This new departure of industry needs
TO be studied in its effects on the health
of the women, both physical and moral,
and its influence on the commonwealth,
home and the family.
Evils. in alarming proportions, have
appeared in connection with women in
industry which can be removed only by
such protective legislation to which Mr..
Williams and the manufacturers are OPP
posed because it endangers their profits.
Mr.. Williams, in his address. says that
because the manufacturers are charit-
able and treat their female employees
r.. i n. II
they want. therefore the law should not
be enacted. This sort of argument
can only be considered in favor of the
bill.
1t is hardly necessary to prove that
the maximum working day of eight
hours cannot be obtained merely by the
efforts of the workers in self-protection.
nor by the general goodwill of the en-
ployers, as Mr.. Williams tries to make
us believe-without the enforcement by
enactment or regulation. Investigation
proved that most of the manufacturers
are unwilling even to maintain the short
ening of the normal working day neces-
sary to health; again there are those
who possibly would be willing are pre-
vented by what they term competition
so long as the minimum working day of
eight hours is not enforced generally
and uniformly by enactment, or regula-
ltOu III every uTduCu Oh WHICH
female workers are employed.
The maximum working day of eight
hours for women wage earners is abso-
lutely necessary not only for married
women but more SO for girls. work
day, if over eight hours, is highly unde-
sirabie from the point of view of family
life. Girls employed in excess of eight
hours never become good housewives.
and women so employed can never fulfill
their maternal duties. The evils result
ing from the lack of an eight-hour law
the number of women workers Is in
creasing
This matter of shortening the work
ing hours for women wage workers con-
Germs all the people. Those who labor
should not live in a way which make
life wretched and short. which enfeebles
the body and pollutes the mind.
1t must, then. be admitted that where
health is concerned the state legislature
is justified in interfering with the con-
tracts OF the individual.
The following states have so far en-
acted laws protecting women wage work
ers from being employed longer than ten.
and in most cases eight. hours: Massa-
chusetts, Rhode Island. Louisiana, Con-
necticut. Maine. New Hampshire, Mary
land. Virginia. Pennsylvania. New York,
Nebraska. Washington, Wisconsin, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, New
Jersey and South Carolina In most OF
these states the laws have been tested