The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-06
GIRL MOTHER FEEDS
SIX ON 81 A WEEK
She Tells Commission Of PIT.
lance Earned as Garment
Finisher.
WAGE OF so CENTS A DAY
15-Year-0ld Child Wife ArOuses
Sympathy for East Side
TOilers.
WAGE OF so CENTS A DAY

The United States Commission on IN.
dustrial Relations. at Its hearing In IN.
City Hall yesterday. listened to an unusu,,
story OF the struggles OF finishers on mems
garments TO earn a living In their tone.
ment homes, as told by Mrs. Mary Mnora
a child mother Of a slx-months-old baby.
whose husband II out OF worf. Mrs
Minora will be 10 on September ( ncst
She has been married for two years
II was announced that before the com.
mission resumes It's sessions next Mon.
day some Of the members will visit sweat.
shop tenement homes to see conditions
for themselves.
Mrs Mnora said through an interpro,c-
that she started 20 do finishing WORK a
long time ago she was then 10 years Old.
and obliged to leave school because hyr
parents needed her help. Her husband
and father have been out Of work fn-
nine months. she said. and she and her
mother have been supporting n family -
six She said that by working hard she
WAS able TO make from so to co cents a
day, and that her mother earned about
the same wage.
They pooled their resources, She said
and sometimes were able to spend "A dollar
for food from pushcarts In one week
They also tried she said. to put I'VE
cents a day aside for clothes. They o..
ways tried to do the best they could. she
added, but sometimes II was hard.
The little mothers face beamed a she
left the room with her SO witness fee and
her baby.
Mrs Falzoni. another tenement house
worker with three children and a mother
and father dependent upon her. told ~
long hours OF work and meagre returns
How do you pay for your food out OF
the little you earn?' commissioner
asked
"Oh. as God provides" was the r,p.,
Meyer Shoenfeld. special agent and ad-
wiser OF the American Clothing Mluu.
fscturers. asserted that much of the ties
tlmony OF witnesses TO the effect that
tenement house work X stil going 1870
and that working conditions and wages
are bad is greatly exaggerated. lie said
that the stntements OF members OF labor
unions as to conditions OF tenement house
work were inspired by sentiment"
Shoenfeld said that Miss Lillian ID.
Valid OF the Henry Street Settlement
House, who testified as to bad conditions
In tenements where women do the finish
ing of mems garments was guided by
her good heart more than by her Judg
ment. perhaps"
Shoenfeld insisted that Il was a fad 10
20 TO the East Side and magnify anything
bad In order ito play to the galleries
The witness was formerly an organizer
for the brotherhood OF Tanors. He was
the leader OF the brotherhood's strike ten
years ago.
Joseph Gold. chairman OF the board OF
directors OF the Brotherhood OF Tailors
said conditions OF flnishers In tenements
were just as bad as Miss Valid had pic
tured them.
Il. A. Larger. general secretary OF the
United Garment Workers OF America, said
he 10 in favor Of abolishing the contract
system OF labor because II tended to in
crease the number OF unemployed.
william Smiths Lead John smiths.
CINCINNATI. June Sin the new city
directory. issued to-day, the name Of
William Smith Is printed 115 times. with
John Smith only So.