Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-01-10
RICH WOMEN INTO
FIGHT FOR GIRL
STRIKERS
Mrs. 0. H. P. Belmont and 9th
erS Enlist in BattIe-HOW
Workers Barely Live.

NEW YORK, Jan. 1o-Mrs. .. II. =.
Belmont. Mrs Rose Pastor Stokes and
other influential women. who have been
/ taking an active interest in the strike Of
/ the omen and girls in the mems gar
ment making trade announced today
/ that they would enlist their friends TO
aid the strikers who are struggling for
the betterment Of living conditions and
/ to uplift the womanhood Of the thou
sands Of girls and women employed in
the trade
Besides these women. there are on the
firing line today the abIest women or
ganizers and leaders Of such move
menJs in the world. Personally direct
ing the girls in their struggle for a
wage that will give them "a living pit
/ lance are Leonora O'Reilly. vice presi-
! dent Of the Women's Trade Union
( league; Gertrude Barnum, organizer of
! the international Ladies Garment
/ Workers union; Rose Schneiderman, Of
4 the executive committee Of the Wom-
| EMS Trade Union league Josephine
Casey and Violet Pike, also organizers.
Miss Bsrnum said today
10000 Girls to Quit.
The shirtwaist and skirt makers will
strike early next week This will add
approximately 10000 Ga large majority
Of whom are girls) to the army Of
strikers in the garment making indus
try
The object Of the strike is TO secure
an Improvement in the wages and work
ing conditions and to bring up the lower
/ levels Of the trade to the highest planes
possible, ] want to emphasize the fact
/ that what we are asking for these girls
will be of benefit TO a large degree to
the better class of manufacturers in
the industry
give dollars a week is the average
wage Of the women and girls who are
striking. Food. and shelter. it has been
found, cost At the minimum $3.50 a
week. This does not include carfare.
The result is that hundreds of these
girls walk forty and fifty blocks to and
from their work They can not afford
the ten cents a day carfare.
"Whcn the worker is the mother OF
children, she can not attempt TO sup
port them on what she earns. so sends
them TO institutions and the state sup
ports them Though many Of the work
ers earn $40 a week while busy, they
work only six months in the year,
Expenses Exceed Wages.
Talks with the strikers bring sto-
ries that are alike. Under such condi-
tions the women and girls are forced
to live in unlghted, unventilated rooms,
sometimes four and five sleeping in the
same room They pay on an average a
dollar week for their room. Their
meals cost 81.
"A typical story OF existing condi-
tons is that of Lucy Taddonio, of No.
$40 East One Hundred and Seventh
street
After working sixteen years in the
trade she said, 7 have averaged 50 a
week buttonhole making on mems
coats. / make $40 in the busy season,
but there are six months when We have
10 work out of my 81 week pay 81
for my room, $1.15 for food for myself,
and 60 cents carfare. Then it costs me
$3.50 10 board my baby. My three boys
are in charitable institution. [ fall
short 50 cents each week In my living
expenses"
Yetta Rosenberg, young girl worker,
said it cost her 81 week for rent, $3.50
for food and 60 cents for carfare. She
could buy no clothes
Rioting Continues.
The situation in the garment work
ers strike became serious today in con-
4 sequence of the continued violence.
Rioting in the strike broke out earlier
than usual when so pickets on duty on
Lafayette street engaged 90 strike
breakers in battle. Fifteen men were
hurt before the police dispersed the
rioters.
The most seriously injured person
was Patrick Cartone. leader of the
pickets, who received a six-inch slash
in the neck with a razor. Cartone told
the police the strikebreakers were the
aggressors.
Police methods in handling the strike
We're bitterly denounced by Miss Maud
Younger and Miss Martha Lesveu-
worth. two of the leaders, after 10
year-old girl striker had been arrested
for shouting "scab" at a strikebreakel.
The girl, Julia Murray. was locked up
fat. a rr.a ieyrrf,,rnf 1ata,,