The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-12-04
DON'T PAY GIRLS
Five and Ten Cent Stores In
dicted in State Report.
Seyenty-Fiye Per Cent ON Less
Than Sc Week.
ONLY So WEEKLY TO SOME
Impossible to Live and Eat on
Such a Wage.
Only One Girl Given More
Than So a Day.
ONLY So WEEKLY TO some

Wages inadequate to provide a girl
a comfortable living" is the indict-
ment which Miss Lima Bresette has
returned against Kansas five and ten
cent stores, in a biennial report to be
sent this week to Governor Capper.
AS state factory Inspector and secre-
tary of the welfare commission, Miss
Bresette declares that rs per cent of
the girls working in five and ten cent
stores in this state receive less than Sc
a week. In view of the present high
cost of living. Miss Bresette is con-
fident the present scale is not liv-
ing wage,
1t is probable the report on five and
ten cent stores will be used as the
basis for some drastic wage legisla-
ton. Copies of the report-covering
wages to women in all classes of
legislature some time during the cur
rent month.
Investigation of five and ten cent
stores by Miss Bresette revealed the
fact that in nearly every instance man
ayers of the stores refused to accept
live at home. A majority of the girls
working in these stores live at home,
Miss Bresette reports. Pointing to
the demands of store owners for girls
who do not pay their own way, Miss
BreSette declares the rule is "a frank
confession that these stores do not pay
a living wage Investigations in
three stores showed that thirteen girls
were on the pay rolls who did not live
at home. These girls were forced to
pay their own room rent, buy clothes,
eat and provide themselves with rec
reation money at a wage of less than
Sc a week.
Less Than $3 a Week.
Records gathered by Miss Bresette
show that forty-eight girls working in
and 10 cent stores receive less than
So a week. A majority of these girls
work less than forty eight hours
week. Such hours are mentioned in
the report as partial time" In addi-
ton to the record of forty-eight girls
receiving less than IS a week, Miss
Bresette found sixteen girls working
full time who received more than So
week and less than 81 week.
Wages of more than 81 and less than
IS a week affect 126 girls in 10 cent
stores, while 161 girls receive more
than IS and less than Sc a week. Wage
scales of more than Sc and less than
81 a week affect seventy-five girls
The record reports wages paid 40
girls in and 10 cent stores. Of this
number 351 receive less than Sc a
week. Fourteen girls are shown to
receive between SIS and SO a week,
while twenty receive more than 81 and
less than IS. Five girls are paid more
than 50 and less than $40 a week.
while four girls draw pay checks of
| between SO and $12 a week. Just
one girl was found whose pay check
was in excess of S12-and it was less
than SIS a week.
Miss Bresette reports that ventila-
ton in these stores is poor and that
complaints have brought few changes
in conditions. Wage scales in the
various stores are based on sales the
report recites. Nearly all of the and
10 cent stores of the state are links
in chains of stores. Managers of these
stores are allowed a stipulated per
cent of gross sales to be paid for
clerk hire and store help.