Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-15
Address by Miss Perkins.

Miss Perkins address was the princi-
pal one of the meeting. She said, in part:
The Consumers League has stood for
the principle that If women are to con-
tinue to enter into industrial life-and
there are 5000, 600 of them in it in this
country now-we must adapt industry to
women and not try to make women over
to fit the machines of modern conditions
The work of these women can be done
under conditions which make for health
welfare and happiness. and 1t is our duty
to bring those conditions about When
we face we face the problem Of protec-
tive legislation nowadays we must take
into consideration the fact that the
women Of today are to be the mothers of
the next generation.
THE limiting of the hours Of labor Of
women is now admitted as being a social
necessity. We must bend our energy
toward caring for the girls and women
age, for that is the formative period Of
a womans life, and influences then have
their greatest effect.
During thu white goods strike in New
York this winter it was found that that
appeal was one of little girls. of from
fourteen to sixteen years of age They
struck to get a shorter day and Sat
urday half holiday. The legislation we
are asking for today Is legislation prin-
cipally for the benefit of such little girls.
Physical Failure at Age of Twenty.
case in New York of girl brought up
ON farm. who went to work when she
was seventeen, and she was brought into
that hospital when she was twenty
ready, as he expressed 1t, for the scrap
heap. She was bred on a farm, mind
you, which meant that she had a good
physical background. for she had the
I Il,
and good FOOD. But when she left school
81 sixteen and went to New Yc-l, 20
+ "Crk. She worked ten hours Il day nor
rally, and during periods just before
!: christmas, eacn year, twelve hours a
cay. from l pm 30 a. m. SO that after
t.?r;ee years. notwithstanding her con-
st;tut.onal advantages. she was 'on the
scrap heap. 1t is pitiful to think Of
The physician who told US of this cas-
told us there We're two common ailments
among such working women-chronic
anenia and fatigue heart-and he said
they were so common in the hospitals in
New York now as to no longer excite at
tention''
Miss Perkins declared that long hours
play an important part in the moral de-
linquences of employed girls. abiding to
the reports being daily printed of the in
vestigation of the Illinois vice commits
sion
These long hours" she said, .are
mainly responsible for pushing working
women into q life of immortality. They
are worn out when they finish their
work at the end of the day that they have
no defense against temptation The mora!
defense of all of us is less strong when we
are tired out. If you work girls ten and
twelve hours a day when are they going
to get their fun-the right of youth? And
when they do not have this inalienable
right granted them, is it not natural that
they slip into the wrong path. tired out
as they are, and weak?
There is no longer any question about
the right and duty of the state under it's
police powers to set up barriers against
| temptation A model law here in the Dis
| trict would help. and it rests with us as
| individuals to initiate and urge the re-
| forms we know to be necessary"
District Legislation Discussed.
| Miss Perkins was followed by Repre-
sentative Peters, who told Of the present