The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-08-04
LABOR QUESTION
INVOLVING HONOR

BY FRANCES sHAFFER.


Among women who are employers o
labor in domestic affairs there Is well
defined. upwritten law that 1t is dis
honorable for any outsider to offer {
worker an opportunity for betterment in
the way of wage and of conditions.
They say, almost unitedly, that it II
not fair to the employer to go to maic
serving in any capacity and prefer hei
higher wages, shorter hours, and q
chance to go up in the scale OF service
The attitude they take is that to steal
the maids that, perchance, they have
helped to train is almost as bad as to
steal their tpurses. And it applies all the
way from washwoman up.
But are they right?
For women who work in the harder
fields, life and labor are none too easy
at best. and the opportunities for ad-
vancement are few and far between,
for the ordinary workers there.
And it seems that woman employers
ought to look at the two sides of the
question, and IL workers have chance
for improvement. to think Of the work.
ers and not of themselves. If it hap
pens that some one else can pay more
than they and can offer more attractive
conditions, they ought to be big enough
to make no protest, discerning enough to
understand that the contrast between
their condition in life and that of the
workers who serve them is sufficiently
great that they can afford to make con-
cessions.
Il 1t DishonOPable:
As a matter of honor, is it dishonor-
able for any woman. frankly and OPEN
~, to approach another, offering oppor-
hot To 70 harfarmanf1
is a woman that stands at each side
of the question. the one, the employer.
outside the wage-earning struggle, the
other in its midst 1t is a woman, too,
who steps in between; and IL it hap
pens that she can make it easier and
more lucrative for the worker. is 1t
human to open the door. or must she,
in honor, keep hands on?
Always remembering that, at best,
service in the home of others is not
easy and generally is far from attract
i've, one would say that 1t was human,
considerate. and nothing but kind to
open any way for improvement. in spite
Of the fact that the gain of the worker
might mean a loss to the employer.
And, more than that, it seems rather
selfish for the employer to stand in the
way or to resent the 'interference;"
seems. too, bit revealing of the man
ner of self under cover. For the wage
earning problem, hard enough higher
up in the fields of labor, becomes more
difficult the farther down one reaches.
But why, the protesters ask. should
these women who can offer better in
ducements try to lure a worker from
them when the world is wide and they
can find some one else il they look far
enough?
Well, it is the old question Of pro-
pinquity again, quite likely. Folk select
their workers. their friends-indeed, their
husbands and wives-from those with
whom chance happens to throw them.
That is the way things run7n the world
of business. Men look out at the army
of workers within, their observation, and
if they find one or more who seem par
ticularly capable and fitted for their
service, they do not count it dishonorabie
to offer them an opening to advance.
And it is hard to see why any one should
count it so, even though it meant the
loss of very good worker.
Don't Understand.
For it is this way:
Prosperous folk, to whom money comes
fairly easy and in reasonably comfortable
bulk, do not always realize what mighty
difference a few dollars or SO a week. or
even a month. may make to one whose
earning capacity is small. If they did
they might be more tolerant of any 'in- |
reference" that bespeaks a bit Of ad- |
|
And when one hears a protest because |
a worker has been drawn away by the |
lure of a higher wage, the thought is |
bound to come stealing in that back Of /
the protest there is a pretty marrow ma
ture.
In these days when a spirit of earnest
ness is in the air that women breathe /
and when they are looking about for new
fields of helpfulness, it is time to reckon /
longer and more seriously with some of |
the little things that in the observance