El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-02-01
Wage Slavery and Vice
The Small Wages Paid Lead Girls
to Sacrifice Their Souls;
The Remedy.
by Dorothy DIX

1T chances that just now We are
hearing a great deal about a mini
= mum wage for girl workers, and the
vice situation 1t is fortunate that the
two subjects should be presented to
the public mind at the same time, for
in real life they are indissoIubly con
nected- They are cause and effect.
A police inspector, whose task it has
been for many years to clean uD' Ger
tain districts inhabited by these poor
unfOrtunates, told me recently that he
was convinced that 30 percent of the
girls who went wrong were forced into
doing so by their inability to make an
honest living.
Many of them were country girls
who went to the city with only a few
dollars in their pockets, with no
friends or influence to get them po-
sitiOn, and no conception Of the ex-
pense of life in a city. In few days
their money was all gone they could
find no work, and when they were cast
out on the street by their boarding
house keeper, and hunger began to
gnaW at their yitals they entered the
door of sin, which was the only door
that was open to them. Most of the
other girls that Joined these on the
downward journey, he said, were those
who were paid so little for their work
it did not suffice to keep body and
soul together.
The notwithstanding Thing.
To me the heartbreaking thing about
the working girl who takes the wrong
turn on the road is that she does not Go
so by choice. She wants to walk
straight She is conquered because she
has no weapon with which to fight; and
that 1t seems to me, brings the whole
question right up to the balance Of US.
We throw a little helpless, -untaught.
unframed girl child into the midst OF
the terrific modern struggle for exist
emHm
bound to do, the sin and the response
bility are ours more than hers
There is no other such crime in the
world today as the way we bring I'D
our daughters. We raise our girls on
the fairy book theory that it isn't
necessary for them to harden their soft
hands learning a trade, or bother their
heads about making living, because
a Prince Charming VIII come riding oy
on a milk white steed and bear them
off to be his bride, and live in a palace
and be happy ever after.
Yet we know that such a fate can
only befall very few, and that the
great majority of girls, Just like the
ereat majority Of boys, have got 10
support themselves ard help take care
Of the balance Of the family.
Why the Girl Falls.
We also know that when the ho1lr az
danger comes to the girl who has tried
to support herself, and failed. when
she is starving and freezing and IN
rags, that she viii be more than human
If she does not listen to the tempfer
who offers her food and drink and
warmth, at whatever cost to ber
morals
This state Of affairs is not the fau1t
of the girls. 1t is the fault of the mar
ents. in the first place, and of the
schools in the second place. Parents 40
not teach their daughters thar fbaiT
only chance to succeed in business is Nv
doing good work by being faitbf7If
and accurate and reliable
When you find a girl who goes into
a store determined to find out every
thing about the kind Of goods she sells.
who is alert courteous anxious to !
please, nobody has to work. about a
minimum wage for her, because she's /
soon getting a maximum salary.
Schools at Fault.
I also believe that it is just as much /
the business Of the government TO j
teach him or her how to read and I
write. and that if the public schools /
would lOp off all of the higher educa- !
tonai frins and put the money into |