New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-15
A CANNERY PROTEST
With Side Slap at Methods OF
Investigators.

To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: 1t has been great surprise to me
that you should lend the influence Of your
paper as a messenger for conveying to the
public an Incorrect and misleading impress
sion with reference to pending canning fac
tory bills.
Your editorials and cartoons are that the
employment of children is involved in these
bills. and such is not the case. Males over
sixteen, known to the law as minors, employed
in canning factories. have been excepted
from the general law for several years. The
present bill, as embodying new legislation,
has special reference to females over eigh-
teen.
The headline in large type of your paper
Senate Agrees to Let Children Work Sew
enty-two Hours is certainly misleading and
incorrect, and without any foundation what
ever Such headlines and other misleading
statements are unworthy such a tradition as
The Tribune has for reliability and incon-
sistent with the very high ideals Of The
Tribune OF to day, as reflected by its recent
articles on the truthfulness Of its advertise
ments as a condition for their publication.
You also convey the impression that the
women arc oppressed and are pleading for
legislative relief. The only relief these
women workers are pleading for, as you
would find if you investigated the situation,
is that they be permitted more hours than
are allowed by the present law, and that they
in fact be allowed to work as many hours as
they want to. to offset the many short days
and some days when there Is no work what
ever for them to do They average less than
nine hours a day for the canning season. By
TO work that number of hours unless they
want TO- but they do want to during the very
few weeks when the opportunity is offered
them.
Some two or three weeks ago, in an edi-
torial. you referred to the time worked by a
certain woman in a cannery as very long
number of hours, as represented by the time
card. The time on that card represented the
work of two sisters, and was forty-nine hours
more than the time worked by any other
woman. If those who are and have been for
years furnishing the public with this and
other misleading information had made in
qury either Of the woman or the canning
factory management es to the reason such
woman had apparently worked forty-nine
hours more than any other woman, the real
facts would have been ascertained, and all of
which are now substantiated by affdavits
No, the real facts were not desired. appar-
emily, the investigator having taken the time
card from the canning company's files with
out the knowledge Of the company and with
out making any inquiry, and rushed into the
public prints
The long hours per week, however, are not
involved in the present legislation, as the
weekly time is limited to seventy-two hours
In many of the canning factory localities
during the canning season females who are
employed either in the mills or at house.
work leave such regular employment and 20
into the cannery. This would not indicate
that the women are very much oppressed or
driven as slaves, as your cartoons would rep-
resent. Z. S. TRUESDELL.
Binghamton, ~ Y, April y, 1915