Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-20
LIVING WAGE
DENIED GIRL
WORKERS|N
ALLAN "A
President Brady of Trades Fed
GRAFTON Exposes Conditions
in Probe Report
WILL PUBLISH NAMES;
SENSATION PROMISED

A working girl can not live
away from home on less than
So and remain honest Testi-
mony of EMPLOYERS and girls before
the Illinois white slave investigat-
ing committee
There are many women in
Atlanta who are working for
as little as SO a week, and in
some cases they have children
dependent upon them state
ment of Samuel H. Brady, president
Of Atlanta Federation Of Trades.
Samuel Fl. Brady, president OF the
Atlanta Federation Of Trades, today de-
clared that conditions appalling to the
| investigators themselves, who expect
ed and were prepared to encounter I'M
savory and inhumane features in their
work, have been unearthed by the spe-
cial committee Of the federation, which
! is completing an inspection of facto-
ries. mills and stores in Atlanta where
girls and women are employed.
He asserted that the probers' conclu-
sion was that the younger women ana
immature girls in alarming numbers
daily are being led into lives of shame
because of the deplorable wage condi-
tons under which they are forced to
work nine, ten and even eleven and
twelve hours a day
Employers of great numbers OF wonn4
OF, in, bo
partment stores gave So a week as the
lowest amount on which they consid-
cred girl might live away from home.
when testimony was being taken be-
fore the Illinois senate committee ap-
pointed to determine the feasibility of
minimum wage scale for women.
Some Less Than So Weekly.
Yet the Federation of Trades COM
mittee, headed by Mr. Brady, president
of the federation, has found that in
some of the Atlanta factories where the
worst conditions prevail, women who
have children partially dependent on
them are being paid as low as SO a
week. BY piece work some of the girls
and women are not able to earn even
this meager pittance.
is it any wonder that the girl wage
slave, after lighting the horror of a
life of vice until she is worn and weary
with the struggle, finally weakens and
sells her soul for money with which she
may buy herself food and clothing?'
inquired MIR Brady to-day In relating
some Of the startling discoveries made
by his committee, which will submit its
report to the Federation Of Trades in
the Labor temple at the meeting next
Wednesday.
That report is going to make a sem
satioI" he continued 1t is going TO
stir things up as they never have been
stirred in Industrial Atlanta before. We
will mention no names now. but we viii
then. our investigation has not been
aimed at any particular industry OF any
particular firm, but it has been abso-
Iutely impartial. Il has not been hys-
teTical nor venomous 1t has been con
Quoted quietly and calmly, with a view
of finding just where the fault lies. No
one has been spared.
Names to Be Published.
1T is unavoidable that the names OF
men will be involved who hold a high
position in the community Sometimes
they have been merely needless OF ig-
norant, careless of the welfare of the
army of workers who are laboring in
their factories or mills. In other in
stances the proprietors have deliber-
ately and despotically oppressed the
women and children in their employ.
Can any one absolve them of their
esponsibility for the shame and vice
which follow in the train of poverty?
1T is idle to say that vice and low
wages Of women are not related. The
members Of our committee have re-
ceiyed such demonstration of the falsity
of that statement as they never care TO
see again"
MIR. Brady predicts that persons who
have considered themselves closely in
formed on the working conditions in
the many industries of Atlanta will be
asJounded by the revelations contained
in the report Of the investigating com
mitJee.
The factories where women are paie