Newark post. (Newark, Del.) 1910-1969, 1916-12-06
NOTED SOCIAL WORK
Err IN NEWARK
Continued from page l

any right even to enquire about
such employment.
For women, too, the working day
was unlimited, and could extend
throughout the night. Not only
was work at night permitted, but
the same person could be required ,
to work all night after having
worked all day.
After the New York City League
had been at work some years, SIM
liar leagues were formed in Bos
ton. Philadelphia and Chicago; and
on May /, 1899, the National Con-
sumers' League was made by unit
ing the four city leagues. 1t no"
embraces 80 leagues, of which "a
are in universities, colleges and
schools. They are in 10 states.
There are now Consumers Leag-
ues in France, Germany, Switzer-
land and Belgium. international
conferences have been held in |
September, 1908 and 1918.
The first task of the National
Consumers League was to estab"
lish a label for use on underwear, .
both for women and children. This !.
label, which is now used by 81
factories, guarantees that gar
ments which carry it are made in
establishments in which no child
under the age Of 16 is employed,
no goods are sent out to tenement
houses to be worked upon, night
work never occurs, and the Labor
law of the state is obeyed in all
it's particulars. This label has
been found by travellers in a little
store in the icebound city of
Juneau, Alaska. The writer has
seen it on goods offered for sale
in Portland, Oregan, Los Angeles,
California. and New Orleans.
Wherever the shopping public per
sistently demands it, the merch-
ants buy and sell goods with the
label attached. Everyone can help
by taking trouble to insist upon
having the label.
1t soon became clear, however,
that this guarantee could cover
only the factories in which the
garments are put through the last
proccss-stitching factories and
workshops. Behind these readily
accessible factories lurked tene-
ment shops and homes, cotton mills
and bleacheries, and the cotton
fields. If the shoppers conscience
is to be quite clear, it is not enough
to deal in we'll regulated stores
I'd buy goods carrying the Con
sumers' League label. Beyond
these is a vast, largely unknown
region to which the ordinary per,
son has no direct access.
Here the method of persuasion
cannot be applied. Tenement
house laws, swoatshop laws, child
labor statutes, and measures fol
a short working day and for stop
ping night work are necessary t
protect the shoppers conscience
as we'll as the health, welfare, in
telligence and morals Of the work
ers with whom the shoppers, a
such, never come in contact Fror
wear to year, therefore, the actiT
tiles of the League have brOadeneC
as it's membership and funds in
creased, and much work has bee
done in getting and enforcin
labor laws. The National Chill
Labor Committee is direct ou'
growth of the work Of the leagu'
several of whose members al
trustees of the committee.
The most truly national part
the work of the National Consun
ers' League has to do with Coz
gress and with the United State
Supreme Court. In Februar
1914, President Wilson signed
bill, passed by the United State
Congress. restricting the W0rkin
hours of women in the District (
Columbia to eight in one day ar
forty-eight in one week. This a
plieed to all occupations, exec
household service, nursing tt
sick, and office work. 1t is IL
hope of the league that the Distri
of Columbia may serve as an e
ample for all those states, especis
" in the south, which have hithe
to placed no restriction whatev
upon the working hours of wome
The District of Columbia is Il
first place in the east to establi
the statutory eight-hOur worki1
day for women, though in the we
it is in force in Washington, Ca
fornia, Arizona and Colorado. T
action of Congress was due to t
efforts of the National Consumer
League. Miss Josephine Col