New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-03-15
EXPERTS At ODDS OVER
WAGE INFLUENCING VICE
They Have No Connection, Says
Leonora 0'ReiIly, but Ernest
X. Coulter DiSSentS.
TWO REMEDIES ADVANCED
Woman Thinks Solution of
Problem Lies in Education
Man Declares Profit Shar-
ing Will Work Cure.

luS w III w vi Oul Z.
There are two people in New York city
who know sirls-not protected girls. but
The girls whose lives are a struggle. the
class whose condition is the subject Of Tho
investigation now in progress in Chicago
These two people are Ernest X. Coulter
and Miss Leonora O'Reilly OF course as
head of the Big Brother movement MIR.
Coulter speclalizes IN boys but he could
not spend the wears he did as clerk of
the Childrens Court without knowing
working girls and what they have to
meet.
rs for Miss OReillv. she has worked
for girls. as speaker and writer and as
an officer Of the Woman's Trade Union
League. ever since she stopped being a
factory girl herself She has worked
most Of all for better wages and better
labor conditions for them. But while Mr.
Coulter holds that there is a close and
distinct connection between immortality
and low wages Miss ORenly says there
is none.
4 have worked and lived on So a week"
she told The Tribune reporter Yesterday
Il have known what il was TO be hungry.
have had my feet on the sidewalk and
! say. as one who has lived like that side
by side with girls and seen some Of them
60 down. say when a girl sells herself
il is not for money. It is because she
cares for the man.
A group of people want 10 get a living
wage for working girls. and they must
use every argument. and they use this
They forget 10 reckon with emotionalism.
But anybody who knows wOmen-why.
they know.
1T is emotionaiism that brinss the
cirl's first downfall As for the man. he
knows he can get away with it. He has
been taught from boyhood that he can get
away with IL That j. the double stand
ard The girl-after her first fa.l-very
likely saws 10 herself, What's the use?
Women will have none of me'-and they
won't for the world" said Miss OReilly.
is hard After two thousand years OF
Christianity the Maedalene is still stoned.
Money Not the Incentive.
so the girl goes down: Dut in all my
experience ! have never known q girl
who in the FIRST instance sold herself for
money insufficient wages may Ne re-
halls. rowdyism. these may grow out Of a
starved life. hut not immortality.
ITO me prostitution doesn't mean
merely prostitution Il the body There
is the prostitution Of the lawyer who sells
his ,oul for gain: the prostitution of the
preacher The trouble is the world is
preaching Christianity and living com
merciaNsm. II We only could be honest
with on 'selves-all honest with ourselves.
'I wish these gin, who are being inves-
;eatod would rise up and say 10 then
investisators We are no more had than
you are. let rs alone,
81 do not believe that department store
girls are as class any less moral than
other girls ! believe there is less immor-
aHty among them than in some other
classes. Why don't people investigate the
thousands Of young people who are being
turned out by colleges with an education.
but with no real means Of earning a liy-
Ing
NO. We are up against group o.
people who are determined 70 use the
white slave argument as weapon 10 get
better wages for working girls Better
wages We must fight for. but not on that
basis. The world should be honest with
itself. and admit that the thing so much
deplored runs through all grades Of 500
cjety. The remedy IS 10 stop casting the
girl on the rubbish heap and eXonerating
the man. And the preventive. Of course.
is education Teach the girl the things
she should know 10 protect herself-dont
leave her 10 go out into the world igno-
rant Of herself, Of life.
Mr.. Coulter. as he talked to the re-
porter, held in his hand a newspaper
Clipping the statement Of the Chicago
man who said last week that low wages
had no relation TO immortality.
Il have no patience with this" he
observed THE man who. as the head
of a large business firm. makes this state
ment is either telling deliberate un-
truth for commercial purposes, or else
he is fool. And a man who Is the
head of A great business can hardly be a
fool.
There are too many rich men-they are
common in New York. this type and
lave no patience with them-too many
rich men whose names loom large on
lists of givers to charities. while they
screw their own employees down 10 less
who are responsible for the downfall OF
girls.
Advocates Profit Sharing.
Il notice that some Of the employers
assert that they couldn't possibly pay
better wages than they are paying-h
would ruin them. Wei. now. let them
prove that Let them inaugurate proht
sharing. Let them pay their To-" wages
through the year. but at the end OF the
wear let them open their books TO their
employees and say: You shall have a
share of the profits OF the years work.
If there were no profits 10 share that
would prove their contention But there
would be-and the employees should have
some
Il don't say" Mr.. Coulter went on. Il
don't say that the girl at the ribbon
counter should have as large a percent
age as the man in the managers Office
but she deserves part
Il have been within the last two weeks
through a large manufacturing concern
where social service features on rather