New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-25
Lady Bountifups Mismanage.
ment of Welfare Work

bv the force Of a remarkable personality,
practically secured this position. Miss LII
liam Barker, for example, the Florence Night
ngale of this war; is actually. though not IN
theory. one of the works managers at Wool
wich Arsenal and il is largely the scope and
importance which this position gives her that
have made her work there brilliantly and
consistently successful and at last far TOO
generally recognized as necessary TO De
classed with philanthropics.
I'm few other munitions works luck
rather than dsccrnment has brought TO the
directors welfare supervisors almost equally
capable and enthusiastic enough 70 work LOT
contemplate salaries. But in the great ma
iorty of factories the theory that welfare
work is a benevolent compensation Tor the
suspension of trade union regulations ana
the excessive toll demanded Of women en-
ployes has kept DOWN the pay and Importance
of the supervisors has consequently made
the position less desirable 70 women OF abii-
ity. and has blinded employers TO the fnan-
cial loss to themselves involved IN appoint
ing supervisors with no special capacity.
Directors OF some of the largest MUM
tions works have appointed their wives and
daughters, their family friends and proteges
women who frequently have no qualifica-
ton for the work except their connection
with the firm and habits of suspicion and ex-
hortation which they have acquired under
some charitable society. So the degradation
Of attention TO the health and comfort OF en-
ployes from a part OF the decent manage
ment of a respectable firms factory into
complacent benevolence of generous employ
ers has inevitably lowered the quality of that
attention itself.
"The Lady Bountiful supervisor is more con .
cerned with the worthiness of the recipients
Of her bounty than with the worthiness OF
the bounty. She has to discover not merely
whether the workers for whom she is. respon-
sible are physically fit for their work, but
also whether they are morally deserving OF
her patronage. There are factories where
the questions put to the women munitioners
by the welfare supervisors are far more cruel
and impertinent than those for which the
Fabian forces smote the Charity Organiza-
ton Society hip and thigh.
"In one Of the largest munition works in
the kingdom the welfare work was for a long
time-and probably still is-controled by
the wife of one of the directors, woman
deeply suspicious of the workers and entirely
out of sympathy with their points of view.
She was in the habit of asking the married
women questions about their relations to
their husbands 70 which as these women
complained to their trade union officials, they
were ASHAMED 10 listen Her catechism oil
the Young girls under her charge must GER
tainly have put into their heads many ideas
which would not otherwise have come there,
and some Of her methods Of enforcing bru-
tally rigid moral code cannot be described
with decency outside a blue book
"The welfare supervisor of another but
smaller factory dedicated much of her time
to visiting the homes of the workers and In
curing into their use OF their leisure hours.
She made il her business to discover any
lapses from virtue but on the ground that
a child!ess wonsn could not possibly have
been guilty of anything worse than firta-
tion-reserved the punishment of dismissal
for those whose sin was followed by the birth
of an illegitimate child.
"These are extreme cases, but they are,
nevertheless, examples of the mischievous
sbsurdities into which welfare work can de-
generate when it is managed on charitable
instead Of business lines"