The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-06-23

anxiously and eagerly awaited by the league because the survey was the first ever made of industrial con- dttions confronting women of Ala hama. The five women government inspectors who are responsible for them, investigated these Alabama in- dustrial lines:
 There is no question that a good many women cotton mill workers lose time through illness called "absen- teeism." The problem is increased, if not caused, by the fact that wome n, through overwork, become so Tagged that they must take time off or fall ill.,
 Decrease of Hours Helps
 Wherever the study has been made of the subject of hours and "ab- senteeism," it has been found that a decrease in the hours to eight per day has resulted in regular attend anee of women at work. Where wom- en are so worn out. nature takes her turn at evening things up.
 Tn the industries. the report shows. that Alabama has no official work hour standard. A boss has a right to say his workers shall labor as long as he demands. They have no re- course except to work or be out of jobs.
 Alabama is one of the four states in the entire union which has no law regulating hours for women. Stand ards in other states are indicated by the fact that 22 states require, in some occupations. working day shorter than 10 hours, and In three states a working week shorter than 60 hours.
 Tn Alabama by far the greatest proportion of white women741.4 per cent-are scheduled for 10 hours or day, and 15. i per cent have schedule of more than 10 hours a day. This means that more than one-half of the white women In Alabama-56.5 per cnt--are scheduled for 10 hours .or more. These hours prevail chiefly in the textile industry. where the work CTS found no women are scheduled for as few as nine hours
 Both in the general mercantile houses and the and 10-cent stores. the prevailing schedule was nine hours. This does not include Saturday or overtime work.
 Only S-Hour Establishments
 "The only industrial group where thc investigators found the eight-hour day prevailing was that of the gar ment manufactories. In these, both men and women are organized into unions which demand such hours
 Thirteen of the 21 general mercan- tile stores had scheduled hours of 10 or more. Eight of these showed schedules of il and 12 hours"
 The custom of keeping the stores open Saturday night. Miss Dowd said, was responsible for the increase of hours in this group of working wom- en employees.
 This condition,~ she emphasized, was particularly noticeable in tho 5 and 10-cent stores, where in 12 of the 13 investigated by the government work 12 hours on Saturday"
 Miss Dowd said that the report did not include women employed In of- fices, since these, or the most part, have the eight-hour day, or even less.
 "srhe report concerns strictly the industrial woman, for whom we must get the eight-hour day and 4S-hour week.
 "These women. our present and future mothers, must also have the chance for development and initia- tive.
 Women Cannot Progress
 If they must work So many hours Der day, they naturally will become mere machines. The heart-rending part of the matter Is that they are not developing and progressing be- cause they usually are required to do the same things today, tomorrow and every day. Their work Is con- tiruous and intending and with very little recreation. Such conditions merely add to our states illiteracy. Each person has only so much time. If it Is not used rightfully, harm, results.
 We want the eight-hour la..- for tho sake of justice anc our future citizenship. It Is not privilege we ask. Potential mc .aerhood de- serves all safeguards, and our men must take care of that point of view. Men are particular about COWS and chickens. They should not be less so about their women. Alabama Is very often pointed out as the state that doesn't 60 good things rather than the state that does. Our lack of laws protecting working women Is one of the reasons why
 It has been 2 grsat deal of trouble to collect these figures but the League of Women Voters nas been able to get at actual facts by government statistics at last. 1t has been done because we did not