The Washington times., 1918-01-28
LOW PAY FORCES
D. c. EMPLOYEES
FAMILY TO WORK

Salaries being paid to employees of
the Government of the District of Co
lumbia are so low that the wife and
children of one OF these employees have
to work to aid the husband and faith
er bring the total weekly income up
to $50. according 70 a statement to
The Times today by Joseph II. Hur-
ley, president of the District En-
ployes' Union. Mr.. Hurley says:
I'm these strenuous days, when CO.
ordination of effort seems TO be the
slogan, l am going to tell you of a
case where poverty has made 1t neces-
sary that a father and employe of the
District OF Columbia, mother and
their children, put into practice ALSO
lutte unity OF effort in order that the
wolf may be kept from their door.
Their workday begins at 4 a. m,
when the mother calls the two little
boys, aged nine and eleven, respec-
lively. These youngsters carry a
newspaper route and must get out at
this early hour to serve their custom
ers. A little later she prepares fru-
gal breakfast for the family, and
makes ready for reporting to her job
as an alteration hand in one of the
by S o'clock. The husband by this
time has tucked his lunch of dry
bread under his arm and is hustling
for his place OF work. The boys
have gotten in from their routes and
get their share of the now cold re-
past, and, together with their little
sister, aged seven, get ready for
school.
And you mothers in more comfort
able circumstances can understand the
pitiful effort of these children to make
themselves presentable before their
schoolmates when left to their own
resources.
Make see Per Week.
after school the boys carry an
evening route. and the little girl gets
a dollar a month for taking care of a
neighbor's baby for a couple of hours
each day. Thus from o'clock in the
morning until the darkness of night
this family is Joiling and their COM
bined effort results in the muniflcent
sum of S26 per week, scarcely enough
to feed and clothe them.
What heartaches the acquisition OF
this money must mean to a devoted
father, to be forced by circumstances
to deprive those little ones of a
mothers love and care at such a
tender age that she may help supply
the difference between his pay and
a living wage. And what must be his
emotions as he sees his babies robbed
OF their childhood and plunged into
the maelstrom of life's works that
their hunger may be appeased and
their nakedness clothed.
This is not an isolated case by any
means, nor is it overdrawn in the
slightest degree. II is extremely dis
tasteful to me TO be compelled to pres
ent as a public spectacle the abject
misery OF many OF those who toll
faithfully in the city's service. in or
der that justice may be done them,
but these instances are almost equal
to the number OF employees and make
1t obligatory that attention be direct
ed thither in the hope that conditions
may be bettered.
Hears Many PItIfuI Stories.
Occupying the position in their or.
ganization that / do, have become the
Of more pathetic stories Of
misery and anguish resulting from the
Inability Of the head Of the family 20
provide the necessities OF life out Of his
meagre wage, and the piTitul eNtremi-
ties to which they resort In ordsr that
an appeal to charity may be avoided.
than a Father confessor in a parish
made up OF extremely poor foreigners.
81 feel very deeply for them be-
cause 1 know their worth, their in
telligence, and the unequal struggle
they are making. and am constantly
them TO leave the service
and get into other lines where the
return is certain to be greater, but Il
seems the pinch of poverty has made
OF them, and they would
sooner endure the ills they know of
than risk others their imaginations
paint as lurking in wait II they should
lose their jobs. paltry as they are.