Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-08-05
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
Some Figures on the Textile Indus
try Which Form the Opinions OF
the Collective Mind Of
the Workers
BY SARAH ID. LOWRIE


l. has turned out to be SO practical as
well as pleasant for all concerned that one
wonders IL the plan will not become per-
manent one. No doubt the professors who
have given the courses have learned as much
as the working and business girls who have
studied under them l venture to say II
has materially sharpened the wits of the
professors and softened the prejudices OF
the scholars
My impression Of the modern factory and
business girl is that she has very short
shrift for any type Of thinker but her own
type. And her own type Is mostly impa-
ticnt Of civilization that deprives two.
thirds of the population Of most of the first
fruits Of its vintage.
For generations such thing as the "col-
lective mind for girls of this sort was
unknown. The conditions of life were so
abruptly varied that even in neighborhood
where the incomes of the families varied as
little as those Of college professors in small
college town, the family needs for the ex-
penditure of that income were seldom twice
the same, and statistics being unknown,
surveys being unheard of and outside cal
culations of what was and what was not
living wage based on the prices of com.
modities being an undreamed-o Of piece Of
paternalism, il was impossible for whole
stratum of the population to think alike ON
labor conditions. They could only feel alike
without any data to prove that their feelings
"SaS boSVu oh SOiu, hhiu buNeS'
T GIVE the figures which follow for what
L they are worth. They are not either
those Of the employers or Of the employees
in their arrangement. They are partly
those of the Philadelphia Bureau Of Munich
pal Research, partly those of the United
states Labor Bureau, partly those Of indi-
vidual manufacturers. They are put to-
gether for purpose, and that purpose must
be borne in mind as a possible bias. They
we're sent to me by the Woman's Trades
Union League secretary rs being on the
whole very good case for labor, and in
quoting them l have only space to quote
them In part, so naturally / choose the
statements that seem to me most pertinent.
But even in the hands Of so many cooks
they reveal, l think, two things First, that
the collective mind among employees Is
something to be reckoned with because they
have data to unite upon, and, second, that
1t ls matter of supreme Importance to the
employer class that that data should be
correct.
WEARS ago, when used to run a penny
l. bank up in Kensington, lots Of the mill
and factory families put their savings in
the penny bank rather than in the regular
one run by the factory owners, because they
did not wish their employers to know how
much they saved. And at the same time
the factory owners did not publish any
figures as TO their business because they did
not wish their employees to know how much
they made.
Now, for an instance what are some OF
the figures which the employees have been
provided with as facts on their side against
reduction of wages In the textile industry
Of Philadelphia?
The report l have from Miss Newman. of
the Trades Union League, since last winter,
is complied by the Labor Bureau OF New
fE ts. fnrt, Co. Al.
textile employees of this city. In reading
it, and in thinking over the figures, put
yourself In the position Of a textile empoye
Whether the figures actually state the case
or not is not so important to me as that the
textile employe believes that they do, and
acts accordingly.
"TNHE textile industry in Philadelphia, az
-, l. elsewhere" I quote from the report
has been affected to as great
degree as any other by the present busi-
ness depression. Every competent authority.
however, admits that this depression is tenn
porary, the natural reaction from unhealthy
wartime initiation.
'"The problem which the PHILADELPHIA
textile industry faces is this: which party,
capital or labor should bear the burdens
of this period of transition? The answer
lies In the history of the industry. for the
last six years. There are 625 textile plants
In Philadelphia, including the following
branches Of the industry: bags, blankets,
braids and tapes, carpets and rugs, cotton
goods, curtains, dyeing and finishing, hair
cloth, handkerchief, lace and embroideres,
hosiery and knit goods, horse blankets and
robes, shoddy, silk. thread, towels, under
wear. waste, wool pulling, wooden, worsted
and felt and yarn.
The accumulated net profits Of these 825
concerns during the years 1915 to 1919, in
elusive, were approximately, S4s9, 272 800.
During the year 1913 alone, the peak
year OF prosperity, the total profits amounted
to at least S182, 2,91S, 700. or an average of
S2l2, 2,66o per plant-counting big and little,
well and III managed alike.
1.-The profits of these 625 textile firms
averaged in 1913 as much as III per cent
Of the invested capital in the industry and
81 per cent Of the total cost Of production
for that year.
During these same FIVE years Of record
breaking prosperity for capital the &C, 900
workers In the textile mills suffered from
extreme poverty.
AT the end Of these FIVE years the textile
workers were relatively worse off than they
were at the beginning. While their wages
Increased, the cost of living increased faster
and left them In 1920 even further below
decent standard Of living than they were
before
The average annual wage received by the
Philadelphia textile worker in 1915 was
SAIL.
I'm 1915 the least possible amount upon
which workngman's family could live in
health and decency in the city Of Philadel-
phia was 1888.
1.-The average textile worker was, there
fore, receiving in 1918 wage that was
less than half the amount necessary Ia
maintain the health and decency of himself
and his family.
" In 1919 the average Philadelphia textile
worker received a yearly wage of $034
Prices Of necessitics had risen with such
rapidity In the meantime, however, that
In 1919 the living wage level had reached
$1SO3.
Tho textile worker in 1919, therefore
received $3.50 less than he needed to keeI
his family in health and decsncy.
The Protection afforded the Philadel
phia textile worker against squalor ant
disease In 1919 was less by 1927 than II
had been In 1915.
"The Bureau Of Municipal Research Sc,
the living wage level in August, 1920, a
$l9SS-SlS5 more than the previous year
| But the average wage Of the textile worker
has actually decreased since 1910