The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1913-12-26
(By MRS. THERESA MCMAHON,
Member Industrial Welfare Com

| (By MRS. THERESA MCMAHON,
Member Industrial Welfare Com
mission.)
of this state see to it that the women
workers-working eight hours a day
and six and sometimes seven days a
week-receive sufficient remunera-
tion for their labor to live, and to
work under conditions not detrimen-
tai to their health, it lis equally i'm
portant, if not more important, that
we protect the children of this state
from economic conditions detrimental
to their future citizenship.
So much has been said about the
working women of this state that we
have almost forgotten the children.
That there are children in this state
many of them-toiling day after day
in our industries when they should be
in school, is unknown to many people
interested in social welfare of all the
people.
| Any class of workers, whether i'm
migrants or our own people, who, on
entering the industrial field, underbid
the workers by offering their labor at
smaller price than those already at
work, is a menace. 1t means that the
standard of living and the standard of
comfort, If not the standard of de-
cency, must be lowered to the level
of the incoming peoples, if the supply
of labor is in excess of demand. Some
times the evils experienced, from some
conditions are temporary, in so far as
new industries come into existence,
draw off the labor surplus, relieve the
congestion of the labor market, and
allow for rise in the plane of living
to it's former level.
In an economic sense, the effect of
introducing child labor into the indus
tries of the community, is more dis
astrous to the economic welfare of
that community, than the introduction
of large number of Orientals into the
community While the Oriental has
a lower standard of living, and does
not respond to our American stand
ards as rapidly, or in the same way as
our European neighbors, children re-
present subsidized labor in that their
small earnings are supplemented by
the earnings of the adults in the
family.
The introduction of child labor into
industry causes the displacement of
adult workers. Men and women walk
the street in search Of work while
the children's labor is at a premium.
Why? Because of the ingenuity of our
business experts this country leads
the way in the development of our
industries. Tasks, formerly perform
ed by skilled men, have been so split
in two that unskilled workers can
perform both parts of the work at a
great deal less cost than it could be
done formerly by one man. The divi-
minutely that many of our industries
can now be carried on by mass of
unskilled workers under the super
vision of a few skilled workers. The
skilled workers time is so scientifical-
ly managed that no effort of his is
wasted in performing tasks, or part
xf oIy hnf hn nrfo cd hty
cheaper labor. Thus the triumphs of
our industrial development; the big
human inventions that spell progress,
are accompanied by all the social evils
which arise out of the exploitation of
human labor Women have taken the
place of men in many of our indus
tries, not only because they are cheap
er labor, but because they, in part,
represent subsidized labor.
Let us illustrate. At every one of
the conferences held by the Industrial
Welfare Commission in various parts
of the state the employers of cheap
women labor justified themselves on
Tic 6IOuHQ tACJ WCiO lOt
ing; that the men of the family con-
tributed to their support, and that
they were not dependent upon their
own earnings. In fact, only on occa-
sions when girl partially supported
by her home people, could not be
found, was a self-supporting girl en-
ployed.
In other words, self-supporting
women compete with men, and the
men are worsted in the economic con-
flict. The women who receive finan-
cial help from another source can,
and do, compete successfully with the
women who must depend upon them
selves for their support. In other
words the self-supporting women are
at a serious disadvantage in that they
must bid for work at a lower price