The Washington times., 1917-07-15
WOMAN AIDE
GOTF:ACTSOF
BUREAU FOR
MISSRANK|N
Miss Watson, Supposed SeCre-
tary, Is Experienced InVesti-
gator - Once Underwent
Prison Life and Worked In
CannerieS.
Continued from First Pass.)

the bureau produces results under
Ralph directorship even his enemies
will admit. Miss Rankin and Miss
Watson alegA. however, that women
should work overtime voluntarily and
not by conpulsion; that the bureau
employees are entitled to Saturday
haf-holidays and annual leave, and
are further entitled to transfer to
other departments under the Civa
Service.
Investigator by Preference.
There is q prospect today that their
contentious will be supported by thN
MeAdoo committee now investigating
the bureau. The committee already
has ordered the eight-hour day.
Now as to Miss Watson: She is an
Investigator by preference and long
training. She has probably been in
more factories, tenement houses and
humble homes than any woman of
her years. She had the nerve to spend
q week in Auburn prison as q woman
convict and made q report to the
State prison commission. which point
ed out some of the things since rem
edled in that famous institution.
About two years ago, when the child
labor bill was pending in Congress,
Miss Watson went down from Balti-
more as an oyster shucker and can
ner. In the oyster and shrimp sea
son carloads OF men, women, and
children-mostly foreigners-set out
for the Gulf Coast from Baltimore and
other cities.
When Miss Watson arrived at the
oyster canneries she was readily ac-
eepted as q woman seeking lowly EN-
ployment. She wore her hair braided
from New York's East Side. On the
Gulf Coast she earned about 80 cents
q day. She was not an adept at Dys-
ter canning, and they pay so much
per can.
Miss Watson says she found many
children working in the canneries
amid unsatisfactory surroundings and
at q low wage. Her report was mad
TO the National Child Labor Commit
tee. then interested in legislation to
bar the products OF child labor from
interstate commerce.
Tells Of Prison Evils.
In her investigation OF conditions at
Auburn prison. Miss Watson repre-
sented the State commission on prison
reform. Miss Watson and Miss Made
lin Doty entered the prison as G m
victs. crly the warden and the State
superintendent OF prisons knew of
their identity. Prior to this Miss
Watson had become rather famous as
an investigatorsof the New York State
factory commission and child labor
committee.
Although / was in Auburn prison
three years ago" said Miss Watson.
my hair has never fully recovered
from the crude oil treatment II receiV-
ed there. I was listed as a cJnYI.t
and treated as one.
AT the very outset the matron took
pains to inform me that was moth
ing but a convict. iii learn you
your place" she said, and she kept
repeating IL. 'One day she ordered
me to stand with my face to the wall
for fifteen minutes, and when II
looked down q moment at the prison
cat the matron upbraided me.
The worst thing about Auburn
was the silence. We were not per-
mitted to talk TO one another. When
the women were exercised II5 of
them walked round and round in q |
ring without saying a word. Tho |
window glasses were covered with |
white paint, so that from our cells |
we could not even see the walls Of the |
prison yard.
women who grew hysterical un-
der the strain and became hard TO 1
manage were put in solitary conflne
ment cells. You know the SUPER
stition OF the average negro. Well.
hysterical negro women were pun
ished by confinement in a cell ada
cent to the prison morgue.
These and many other things were
shown in our report Many OF the
evils, l am glad to say, have been
corrected now. Most women get
into prison because they are weak
and lack leadership. In prison thew
are still dominated by matrons, and
their weakness is increased"
Saved Tenement Children.
Miss Watson began her career of
Investigation nine years ago as a set
Element house worker in New York.
She was with the national child la
Dor committee in its long but finally
successful agitation for Federal childl
labor legislation. One of Miss Wat
sons hrst achievements was an in
vestigation in the tenements of New
York where children of tender years
were found making willow pIumes.
flowers and other things.
Miss Watson assisted in staging the
|
in 1909. As Investigator
for the State factory commission her
Inquiries covered a number of indus
tries, and her Investigations were a
part Of the campaign resulting in the
New York prohibiting the working of
tenement children under fourteen
years Of age in the making OF cloth
Ing.
Later she was loaned" to the Mas
sachusetts minimum wage commits
sion, and conducted an inquiry in the
department. stores. laundries, and
candy factories OF Massachusetts,
That State now has a minimum wage
law for women. Throughout her
career Miss Watson has been a cru
sader for better working conditions
Tor women and children. I
Miss Watson has participated in one {
,oal strike investigation. Posing as :
he wife OF q miner, she went to West [
Pa. and conducted an In. I
Iuiry for a wealthy woman who de- c
tired to bring about publicity regard
ng the causes Of the strike and to IL