Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-19
LIVING WAGE.
DENIED GIRL
WORKERS|N
ALLAN IA
President Brady of Trades Fed
GRAFTON Exposes Conditions
in Probe Report
WILL PUBLISH NAMES;
SENSATION PROMISED

"A WORKING gIl Can not i've
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 II, Brady, president
Of Atlanta Federation Of Trades.
Samuel II. Brady, president OF the
Atlanta Federation of Trades, today de
elared that conditions appalling to tho
investigators themselves. who expect
ed and were prepared to encounter I'M
savory and inhunane features in their
work have been ,unearthed by the spe
cial committee OF the federation. which
is Completing an inspection of faeto-
ries. mills and stores in Atlanta where
girls. and women are employed
He asserted that the probers conclu-
sion was that the younger women and
immature girls in alarming numbers
daily are being led into lives of shame
because of the deplorabIe wage condi-
tons under which they are forced to
work nine, ten and even eleven and
twelve hours day.
Employers Of great numbers of WON.
en- in the Chicago mail order and de-
partment stores gave So 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 a
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 tho girls
and women are not able to earn even
this meager pittance.
rs il any wonder that the girl wage
slave, after fighting the horror of a
life of vice until she is worn and weary
with the struggle, finally weakens ana
sells her soul for money with which she
may buy herself food and clothing
inquired Mr. 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 SEN
sation." 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 will
then Our investigation has not been
aimed at any particular industry or any
particular firm, but it has been abso-
Iutely impartial. 1t has not been hys-
terical nor venomous. 1t has been con-
Quoted quietly and calmly, with view
of finding just where the fault lies. No
one has been spared.
Names to Be Published
Iii is unavoidable that the names OF
men Will be involved who hold a high
position in the community. Sometimes
they have been merely needless or ig-
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
responsibility 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-
ceived such demonstration of the falsity
of that statement as they never care to
see again"
Mr.. Brady predicts that persons who
have considered themselves closely in
formed on the working conditions in
the many industries of Atlanta will be
astounded by the revelations contained
in the report of the investigating COM
mittee