The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1912-12-10
The Cry Of The Children.

lllc Gry VI lllc GlIIlurGn.
Some of the evidence given late
ly before the New York State Fac
tories Commission Is burdened with
horror.
It has to do with the sweat
shops" of New York. and the wo-
men and children who work in those
Sweat shops" and the things that
are made in those 'sweat shops"
1t is an old story to district visi-
tors and settlement workers; but
it is new story to the public. And
1t shows condition that ought to
be done away with at once.
It is a cause in which there can
be no excuse for delay. And we
do not think that any court will can
eel legislative remedy on the
ground that it takes away property
without due process of law"
Here are some of the cases brou-
ght before the commission last
Monday and it is. unfortunately,
quite safe to take it for granted
that they represent a condition gen.
eral to the Outside" work in the
tenement house districts.
There are more than $4,000 wo-
men and children doing "sweat
shop work in those tenement
houses.
In one district where 1872 "sweat
shops" were inspected there were
people in seventy-nine of those
places suffering from contagious
diseases.
In some of those "sweat shops"
there were women and children en-
gagged in making monogram" ciga-
rettes for "the high-class trade"
In one two-room apartment" 10
men, women and children did their
work, ate their food, and slept when
they were not working.
In the room of one tenement
mother and four children were en-
gagged in running ribbons through
corset covers. In the same room
the father lay dying of tuberculosis.
In the room of alpther tenement
a number of women and children
were working on feathers. Four of
those trying to work were actually
suffering from typhoid fever.
A young woman was found max
ing dolls clothing. She had to keep
at It sixteen hours day to main
tain herself in Subsistence wages"
In the room in which she worked
and slept and took her food her
father lay on a cot dying of tuber
culosis.
The case of Mrs. Madiline Wit
riani was put in evidence as being
typical.
Mrs. Vitriani lives at 70 Sulli-
van street, which Is in the West
Side dock-tenement district of New
York.
She has five children. The young
est of them is aged five years. They
all work eighteen hours a day. Usu-
ally their combined labors bring
them SO cents day. On rare oc-
casions they earn Is cents a day.
Once they earned 81.
The children in these Sweat
shops" often fall asleep from ex-
haustion They are sometimes too
tired to work steadily. When they
are sleepy they are whipped to
keep them awake. When they are
tired they are whipped to speed
them up"
The whippings are not punish
ment. They are merely an tncen-
tive to labor efficiency.
It seems incredible, but it hap
pens to be true. 1t is true not
only of the cases cited here, but of
an economic condition that is gen.
eral among the women and children
engaged on "outside work" in the
"sweat shops of New York, and all
outside work of this kind is sweat
shop work.
And we think that the presenta-
ton of the facts should produce an
immediate remedy. Civilization can
not afford to invoke the penalties
that such a condition makes newt
able.
The instance of the women and
children working in the midst of
contagion at the making of mono
gram cigarettes for high-class trade
Is impressive. But that is because
1t needs no Imagination to realize
It's meaning.
Thousands OF other cases may
seem more remote, but they are
actually just as intimate,and there
Is no good reason why civilization
should keep company with such
industrial squalor.
We should put an end to this
whole shameful traffic in helpless
life.-Washington Times.
Table cutlery, carving sets,
tea and table spoons, gravy ladies,
sugar shells, butter knives. orange