Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-10-29
WAR BEARS HEAVILY
ON WORKING WOMEN
Of GREAT BRITAIN

i|oAiNS3 wv. 80 A'S -
suits of war have fallen heavily on
ih2 women wage earners Of London,
of whom ova $1,000 have been dis
charged from employment since Aug
us. first. In the single district OF Is.
.inston, 500 were discharged the past
week by two bottling works, which
were forced 10 close down because
their supply Of bottles from Germany
had been cut off. While the ponder.
Ii machinery OF Queen Mary's Fund
to give work to womean is slowly
making ready, the Society of Ameri-
al Women in London has started a
small knitting factory OF its W in
this populous district.
Mrs. Joseph Wilcox jenkins start
ed the factory. She walked n day
into a labor exchange where 600 wo-
men were registered and asked for
those who could knit. They were
then put to work knitting by hand
socks and %comforters, and paid on
the union scale Of three pence an hour.
This insures a weekly wage of $3.50
for forty hours work.
Pitiful Cases.
Funds for running the factory are
obtained by the sale of socks, caps
and belts, which are knitted express
ly for the soldiers and sailors. The
purchaser is expected to present the
same to the men at the front. Other
funds are obtained by contributions.
One of the employees in the Ameri-
can factory is a woman with a hus-
band out of work, a paralyzed sister
to care for and seven children ranging
in age of three to sixteen years. Her
eldest, a girl, earns go cents a week
in a shop, and the war relief fund
gives seven shillings a week. to the
family. Since getting a place in the
American factory, the mother a
brought the family income up to S4.S5
q week.
A delicate girl of % years, a typist
out of work, is the sole support OF her
mother and invalid sister. In addi-
ton to her earnings, she gets five
shillings a week from the war relief
fund, which helps defray her weekly
rent of s1.S5.
"A pdLll0lkC case ID LILO W q OAS
eyed girl, for whom arrangements
have been made to buy a new glass
eye, as ,..o enamel had Wor off the
old one.
It has been brought to the notice Of
Mrs. Jenkins that there is great suf-
fering among middle class women en-
gagged in the arts. A music teacher
said she had earned but $1.00 in a
week.
Meals Served.
AS soon as permanent quarters are
found, the committee expects to
branch out. Meals at two pence each
will be furnished and a nursery for
cheldren. Already the homes Of the
workers are visited and second hand
clothing given according to the needs.
The American women have won the
gratitude Of many families in lsling-
ton by their prompt methods. Queen
Mary's Fund is %equipping a factory
with machinery out of its 10000
| pounds, but it's members do not seem
to understand that what is needed is
aid right now, and not when the war
is V Recently the ladies of Green
wich raised a fund to equip a factory,
and unable to obtain financial assist
nee from the Queens fund, turned to
the Americn Womens War, Relief So
ciety, which straghtway agreed to ad-
vance SIS a week for wages. The
factory is now running.
The resident American women back
ing the Islington factory are Mes
danes Jenkins, E. Richard, Curtis
Brown, G. Mower, Arthur Fay, Robert
Mcclellan, G. II. Short, Reed Will
liam's, Lorin Woodruff, E. C. Darling,
James Mitchell, C. A. Knight, II. i.
Keene and r. W.. Wilcox.