The Washington herald., 1913-09-04
BY FRANCES suAFFER.

Awhile ago the Consumers League Of
if possible, who is at fault for the short
rush season during which the hours OF
work Of women, and of men and children
rs well, are pushed far into the night
and then for the long periods Of en-
forced idleness when they sit around
waiting, nearly starving for work.
And, in order to reach the very source
OF the trouble, they invited a sweat
shop girl, manufacturer, a contractor,
and a merchant and asked them to go
over the ground together and tell their
views of the question.
First. the girl was questioned and
she said that she and other workers OF
her kind get their work by fits and
starts from the contractors, sometimes
SC much that they must crowd two days
work into one, then-nothing at all.
Next they turned to the contractor,
and the reply was the same. When
the season was on. the manufacturers
would send orders in with a mighty rush
and everything must stand aside till the
work was all cleared away. For the
orders must be finished on time-after
that, nothing but idleness.
Customers TO Blame.
So they interviewed the manufa cturer:
but il was not his fault. he said. His
calls came from the merchants, and his
business was to follow their bidding.
II their demands fairly tumbIed over
themselves. what could ne do but fill
them. even though they came in ex-
Cessive amounts? He could not let the
business go by. and when the push was
he
when there Were no orders to fill. In
deed, the trouble was not with him.
Then the league appealed to the
merChant-what had he to say for him
self?
The answer was quite simple: 1t was
his customers who stood back of the
rush They want what they want when
they want it," he said
And his customers, you know. are
women.
He explained that women with money
TO buy what they want are in a hurry
10 change with the seasons, and they
do not stop to think what their haste
may mean. 1t does not occur to them
that by placing their orders before the
rush season they would make things
vastly easier all along the line, for con-
tractor. manufacturer. sweatshop worker
and merchant Quite likely many of them
do not know, because they give it no
thought, that when the brief rush sea-
son is over, the tired workers have dis
Couragingly long periods of iIdeness.
with their earnings shut of with the
orders.
San.e Old story.
1t is the same old story of the Christ
mas rush. BY concentrating their buy
ing in the few mad days, instead of
taking it comfortably and sanely for all
involved, the pressure becomes terrific
for all who are forced 20 bear it. The
buying public is slowly becoming edu-
Gated to this feature of the season, and
in time, as the sermons grow more
numerous, even the worst offenders may
be led to think of the consequences.
Apropos, there is the fur coat in need
of repair. Do you know that furriers
fairly plead for a chance to do such
work during the dull seasons when time
is more plentiful than money and when
there is not an avalanche of orders bear
ing them down? But the wearers do
not think of them. or their helpers, and
they will not think until the frost is in
the air and the nipping cold sends them
on-all together.
And dressmakers-we thoughtless folk
often complain that they promise and
promise when they know very well there