Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-13
SHORTER DAY IS URGED
BY CONSUMERS LEAGUE
Making Aggressive Campaign in Be,
half of Working Women
Of District.
Endorses the La Follette-Peters Bill,
Pending in the House of
Representatives.

quarters of which are in New York,
has sent out statement in regard to
the bill now pending in Congress limit
ing the hours of work of women in the
District Of Columbia to eight a day,
with six days a week. The communica-
ton accompanying the statement de-
clai.e that THE National Consumers
League considers the La Follette-Peters
eight~hour bill for women employed in
the District of Columbia of so much
Importance that We wish to bring it
directly to the attention of the general
public.
The statement follows:
This measure was introduced. at the
request of the National Consumers
League, by Senator La Toilette in the
Senate and by Representative Peters
of Massachusetts in the House. Last
winter nine hearings were held upon the
bill before the committees of the House
and Senate. 1t was passed by the Senate
last February. but was blocked in the
House and failed to pass in spite of the
best efforts of Its friends. Now the bill
has again been passed by the present
Senate and recently it was favorabIy
reported by the labor committee of the
House. 1t remains, therefore, only to be
passed by the House of Representatives
in order to afford to women working
In the District Of Columbia much needed
protection from overwork.
District Not in Lead.
THE District of Columbia, the seat
of the capital of the nation, may reason
ably be expected to lead all the states
in measures for promoting public health
and welfare. Thirty-seven states, how
ever, are at this time far in advance of
1t in protecting women from excessive
hours of labor. The District has now
no such restrictions whatever. -Four
states-Arizona, California, Colorado
and Washngton-already provide the
eight-hour day for working women.
Representative Peters pointed out. in
his speech before the House last March.
that during nearly twenty years men
employed by the government as laborers
or as mechanics have had the eight-hour
day, and in this very Congress law has
been enacted extending this limitation of
hours for men to laborers and mechanics
employed by contractors doing work for
the federal government. This is largely
Physiological question. Since We con-
slider 1t wise to protect by an eight-hour
day. so far as we can, the men working
directly and indirectly for the govern
ment. how much more necessary it Is
that we make every effort to give SINH
lar protection to as large proportion as
possible of the future motherhood of the
citizenship of this country!
Women Worked Overtime.
THE investigation of the federal bu-
reau of labor showed that about 20 per
cent of the working women Investigated.
who were employed in the mercantile
establishments of the District. worked
overtime during the week before Christ
mas in the year 1872. Thirty-one per
cent of this number worked from sew
enty-five to eighty hours. Sixty-nine per
cent worked seventy hours or more dur
ing that week. Many worked fourteen to
fifteen hours the day before Christmas.
1nasmuch as the House Of Representa-
tives failed to enact the Peters bill, pre-
sumably the same overwork again exist
ed last month. The bureau of labor also
found excessive hours Of labor required
in the laundries and such factories as eX-
list in the District. Thus, instead of pro-
viding a model for the states to copy, the
District of Columbia lags in the rear.
Congress has power to apply the remedy;
the Senate has twice acted favorably.
Such national bodies as the National
Consumers League, the American Assoc
citation for Labor Legislation and the
American Federation of Labor are work
ing hard to insure immediate action by
the House of Representatives.
They feel that the conditions of labor
of women employed in the nations CAPT.
tai are the concern of the whole nation.
and in protecting their health and well
fare Congress cannot afford to do less
than the most progressive states have
already done.
Meeting Next Sunday.
Announcement is made of the plans for
a mass meeting in behalf of the ght-
hour bill to be held at the Columbia The
alter next Sunday at 3 pm. Mrs. Flor
ence Kelley, Miss Rose Winslow, Mrs.
Antoinette Funk and Miss Constance
Leupp are to be the speakers.
Held on Grand Larceny Charge.
f,haHnad NTH nrand laHnonu AIalnoIp,