Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-11
HARD Job, POOR PAY
Effects of SWeatshop Labor
Shown by Consumers League.
OBJECT LESSON SUPPLIED
Exhibit of Articles Manufactured
by Little People.
IMITATION ROSES AND PLUMES
Exposition Given as Means of Bene-
fitting Tired Mothers and
Their Children.

/ How the roses in little childrens cheeks
| are being robbed to make imitation roses
| for expensive and beautiful hats Is only
| one of the lessons which the Consumers
| League exhibit, which opened today at
| 1928 F street, is endeavoring to impress.
The lesson Is not confined to roses. There
are violets, like those which will perhaps
| soon be seen on Easter millinery; there
are pretty pink nighties of the
sort which seem too fine to wear; there
are scores Of everyday articles of use
| fulness and beauty. and every one tells
a distinct story of how some tenement
child or mother is being robbed of roses.
happiness and even life, it is declared. be-
cause competition has brought about
condition where the sweatshop appears
| to some manufacturers to be a neces-
| Sty.
To make the lesson local, any of the
young women who volunteer to be on
| duty during the week will enumerate the
Washington stores which have decided to
sell only goods which bear the Consum-
ers' League label meaning that the sweat
shop has been eliminated in their produc
| ton.
In addition to the exhibit. Mrs. Florence
sumers League. will lecture to the public
tomorrow afternoon at Rauscher's at AS
O'Clock. Her subject will be 1.-The Ma
tional Task of the Consumers League.
Miss Taft a Volunteer.
Miss Helen Taft is on the list of volun-
teer members of the league who will ex-
pound the principles Of the league to visi-
I'D II
dent of the league. Is the member Of the
committee in charge today. and others
who will be on hand throughout the week
are Miss Mabel Grandin, Miss Rawson,
Mrs. William Curtis Hill. Miss Edith
Wetmore, Miss Barbara Kaufman, Miss
Miss Schroeder. Miss Elizabeth Bryan,
Miss Ruth Noyes, Miss Elizabeth Noyes.
Miss L. c. Rugg, Miss Skinner, Miss Eff
fie Baker, Mrs Harvey Jester. Miss Con-
Katherine Denison. Mrs. Warner. Mrs.
W. G. Stuart, Miss Edith Goode, Miss
Alice Reilly and Miss Alice Stone
Although the explanations of these vol
one who sees the exhibit, the. mute story
Of the photographs, labels, signs and ar
ticles Of wearing apparel. 1t is claimed
would be enough to carry the EXHIBIT
without any conversation. One of the
striking lessons in objective form is a
!; willow plume-one for which a milliner
would charge anywhere from $40 to $40
: 1t is a proud bit Of plumage designed to
; make for beauty and jealousy, according
!; to the viewpoint. and under the plume is
: a placard which says that the worker is
paid IS cents for one feather, that 3.O7S
knots are tied in each plume, and that
there are 22S knots to an inch.
Skill Of the Little Ones.
And the pitiful part about it is that the
littlest children are the best at making
knots said the young woman, who took
time to explain things to a Star reporter.
Babies there are, of kindergarten age.
who work around their mothers kitchen
!; table in some awful tenement, tying bits
!. Of feather on inferior plumes, so that the
gorgeous willow may trail from some
!; womans hat. That's the sort of thing
!; the league is going to stamp out. If every
woman in Washington would ask TO see
the Consumers League label when she
!. buys hats, or underwear, or anything
else the stores would soon tell their man.
. ufacturers that 1t is Consumers League
label goods, without sweatshop work, or
no business.
Far from appetidng is the photograph
of a dirty Italian family picking and as
sorting nuts for sale in exclusive gro
ceries. Agroup Of Italian children work
is an exhibit akin to the story of the will
! low plume Another photograph shows a
!. step in the making of violets.
1t is quite possible to forget that VIC
let is one of the earth's most wonderful
flowers when gazing at this picture, as
it has the suggestion of something
frightfully foul. The babies are stand
. ing around q huge pile of material,
against background which could be
used for a prison scene anywhere, while
the story of play hours lost Is told in the
sign which says the children earn 4 cents
! for twisting and tying and finishing IA
! paid to milliners and the cents. said
the young woman, is the life of the
child.
i Roses and Carnations Also.
violets are not the only flowers made
in this way, according to the exhibit.
There are roses and carnations and
scores of others: and among them is a
spray of imitation holly. made for the
special purpose Of cheering up the world
! at Christmas. The sweatshop process
Of making the holly earns a worker 20
cents in fourteen hours. 1t is that sort
of thing the league strives to stop.
Warm flannel nightgowns, made entire
!, twelve hours Of work, according to the
!; exhibit, while the finer nightgowns and
white things Of all descriptions tell the
. same story. Common little elastic gar
|. tiers, made by children and hard-worked
mothers, are shown at the exhibit. with
! the legend beneath them which tells of
frightful hours and ill-fed stomachs at
an average daily pay of less than 30
cents, the days being twelve and fourteen
hours long There are babies socks.
which suggest mother kissing the pink
feet of a month-Old bundle of sugar,
while the fact is shown that the socks
were made at the cost of what sounds
like slavery at the tiny wage of l 2-3
cents an hour II the worker is rapid.
Il Contrast Pointed Out.
The Consumers League shows these
specimens of sweatshop practice. and
then the volunteer points to shelf Of