New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-08-23
prpx1Ns,s RESPONSIBILITY

pERKINS'S RESPONSIBILITY
Mr.. Perkins says that rectlfyine con con,
ditions at his good trusts Auou' :"
mill ..is all part of the Weiiare wv, N
(Which every corporation should pe
.huildinc up" He cannot douEe me
norsrnol responsibility like that. MS
money. or part of IT, comes i.v"i
that mill and from other similar Il'''''
ror trust which has one such paw
os that has others. His prohls "''
,,roater because women work ionS
hours and at night for StarNallon
wages in dark and dust choKed la'
tories. where 50 little regard Is SNOW !"
for their welfare that even the mace
ouotc laws for their protection are VIZ
lated And his responsibility Is greater
than that of the ordinary business
mon. inasmuch as for several years
nc has profeSsed to be giving up MS
buSinp>s activities in order TO deNote
his time 10 lettering conditions soc'a'
and industrial. Yet when he Is re
minded that women workers are
cruelty exploited in his own WORKS all
no has TO say is that this is lnat'er
for some department to take up
What has Mr.. Perkins done hlhSeiI
and what does he mean 10 do I" emu
Sucb inbuman conditions OF employ
mcut as exist in the Auburn mil: Mt.
Perkins is n director Of the Harvester
trust and determining policies toward
vooc carnerS is the directors business.
No one but those in authority can put
y stop to the labor Of women al nlSht
i'm thc good trusts mills. or 10
those conditions which make 1t neces-
sary. in order TO support the iamlE'
for the mother of children TO work al
night while their father works III 'ne
DAYTIME. No welfare department.
can cure fundamental evils like that'
or like the deliberate. greedy VlOia-
tion of the laws made for the protec
tinn of women workers. "Neltare
work" is a mere salve applied 10
sore The chief ease that it IS likely
IN rive i'm the case Of concern whose
nclicy toward it's workers is no more
enlirhtcncd than that Of the good
trust" in its Auburn mill, is to the
cmnlovcr's conscience He is able To
Doint ia .'vhat he is doing for his
workers" and to refer to the eXpendl-
lures for welfare work" rs Mr.. FER
kins does when he is confronted by the
facts about his cruelty used employees.
The women whose health is wrecked
Standing ten hours day, handling I'M
aided $50 pound bales, working in dust
checked. dark rooms, in the good
trusts" Auburn mill. never feel the
effect of those "welfare" expenditures
50 self-approvingly set forth Ill the
annual reports.
Colonel Roosevelt owes it to the
women who have been attracted to
his support by the promises which his
nlatform makes for the betterment OF
industrial conditions for women 70
disavow Mr.. Perkins. Is the Progress
sivc cause 10 be supported with the
profts Of what is as near slavery as
exists in this country today? The
COIOlpI IS pTpteStinS 'i"I hN
the aid of tainted money in 1904. was
anv that was offered 10 him then a
bit worse tainted than that which
comes from mills where women slave
day and night as they do in the good
trusts" mill at Auburn, especially
when that money is 10 he spent for
The emancipation of women? Further
more. Mr.. Perkinss statement practi-
cally makes it certain that all of his
Harvester trust money is Of similar
sort. for he ascribes the situation
at Auburn not TO exceptional cODdi-
tions but TO the attitude of the gov
eminent. (which makes il impossible
"for managers Of large industrial con-
Germs 10 know whether they are
"afoOt or on horseback" The effect
which would proceed from such a
cause as that would be general. not
local. Colonel Roosevelt has denounced
night work for women and denounced
the courts for preventing the Iegis-
lature of this state from fOrbidding 1t.
What does he think of his national
executive committee chairman as cor
poration director employing them not
only at night but for more hours at
night than the law allows?