Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-03-07
LAUNDR|ES LIFT RATES
: FOR ALL FLAT WORK
Enactment of Eight-Hour Law At
fects Women's
Labor.
Local Employers Advance Prices
Rather Than Reduce
Wages of Help.

Several laundries of Washington, it
was announced today. have raised their
prices for washing and ironing what Is
known as fiat work. such as bed
spreads, table cloths and sheets. This is
sad to be in consequence of the recent
enactment of the law which prohibits
women working more than eight hours a
day in the District of Columbia in certain
industries, of which Iaundrying is one.
fhe result will be. according to state
ment made today by householder who
did not care to have her name mentioned
that colored laundresSes, who have not
been able in the past to compete with
laundries doing large quantities of fiat
work at low prices. will be employed to
a larger extent than they have been en-
pl6Sed i'll the past.
The manager of one of the laundries
witch has raised its prices for this char
aGtcr of work said today:
.lIt is true that we have raised the
prices of certain laundry work in conse-
qhence of the new eignt-hour law for
women, In future shall charge 10
q. hts for laundrying bedspreads for
which we formerly charged 10 cents. For
table cloths we shall charge cents,
against "A previous rate of ) cents, and for
sheets we shall charge ) cents, against a
previous rate of :, cents.
I'VE did not desire to reduce the wages
of amy girls employed in our laundry.
although it will be necessary for us to
pay out more money in wages, in con-
sequence of the new law. 1t is at the
same time necessary for us to continue
tn,give our patrons the same good quail
itkr OF work that we have given In the
past. We have never made any money
worth speaking of on flat work at the
low prices charged in the past, and par
ticularly in view of the latter fact we
have been obliged to raise prices on the
three articles mentioned.
More Women to Get Work.
Miss Constance Leupp, president of
the Consumers League, the organization
which had most to do with the passage
of the new law. has issued a statement
in which she says that great many
more women will be employed in the
District of Columbia because of the pas
sage of the act. Miss Leupp's state
inent is as follows:
Ever since the President signed the
La Toilette bill prohibiting the employ
ment of women in any industry in the
District of Columbia for more than eight
hours day. we have heard nothing but
complaints as to the harm this humane
and necessary piece of legislation Is do
Three years ago, when California
passed a similar law. it was discredtted
in the same way. When the new child
labor law came into effect in Massachu-
sets five or six months ago, the same
thing happened there.
NO thinking person will conclude that
because the adjustment to reform
measure is difficult that therefore we
must leave bad industrial conditions to
continue forever
nd oh % q.
tected. We have been very slow In
getting this law on the statute books
in the District of Columbia If we had
left it still longer the adjustments
would have been still more difficult.
Will Correct Abuses.
The District Commissioners wrote
last year to the chairman of the COM
mittee on the District of Columbia rec
ommending the passage of the bill:
The employment Of women is on the
increase here. as elsewhere. and legis-
lation enacted now will not only tend
to correct such abuses as exist. but to
prevent their further development
page :. hearings before the committee
on the District of Columbia, S. 1929
The fact is that the adjustment will
not be nearly so difficult as the en-
ployers are giving US to understand
Where work must be done for more
than eight hours in any one day we
have pointed out that 1t can be ar
ranged by a shift system. having some
Of the women come on a little later
than some of the others.
After the eight-hour law had been
in effect in California for two years 1t
was voted success by a large num-
Der of the employers who had originally
opposed it. The records of the Cali
fornia bureau of labor show that very
few women were replaced by men as a
result of the law, but that a great
many more women were employed
where the shift system was put into
effect.
The same thing. we have every rea-
son to believe. will result in the Dis
trict of Columbia