South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-03-06
HERE'S REAL HISTORY

HERE'S REAL HISTORY
II may be more dramatic to watch the meeting
% Statesmen in Washington they make and
rsnake laws, more interesting follow with the
se OF imagination the struggles OF Ireland for real
freedom or OF Furne decide its nationality. but
for real history turn 10 Topeka, in the state Of
Karsas
That commonwealth among its other progressive
measures that have come from the inspiration Of
william Allen White and his colleagues in humani-
tartan movements. has a minimum wage law for
It Is carefully planned law. with a commission
empowered to decide the lowest wage that may be
paid 10 woman employed in any Industry the
theory that it is unsafe for society TO permit
its potential mothers to Live a wage that is not
I'D 10 the standards OF good living.
The commission IS trying 70 decide just what that
wage shall be-the lowest level. the highest
At which a woman may live respectfully and health
lily and not be driven look questoningly down
tho path marked the easiest way"
The employers furnished expert testimony They
asserted that any get along on $3.50
worth OF clothes each year. and high saaried
woman went into details. pointing to the fact that
Il IS now possible TO purchase very comfortable
cotton stockings for % cents a pair
The answer was emphatic. What described
a. "rnobs" gathered at her store next day, mobs
composed OF working girls. who wanted to see
into. The wires that they tore cp the exhibits
offered and declared that they would never 90
back to that sort OF raiment
Economists and hnanciers learn moro from
that demonstration in Topeka than they can ever
find out from the voumlnous statistics gathered
by the federal trade commission.
Legislators wise ones, will discover the real basis
on which laws must made in the future-for it
represents attitude Of mind which is not con-
fined 10 America but il worldwide.
During the war. labor and especially woruan's
labor. reached a high peak OF reward. In
London. for instance the muntion makers. drawn
from domestcs and shops. earned more money in
month than they had before obtained in half
years work
dustry found themselves with more money than
they had dreamed there orgy OF
spending that startled with it's garish lavdshness
It became matter OF news that wives o. workers
were the big customers for furs and for silks and
that there was no demand whatever for cotton
stockings for women. All able TO buy silk
and liked the touch Of silk against their flesh.
These working girls Of Topeka learned in those
days. too. what the touch of silk stockings meant
and It was no longer a jest among women that
woman WIS lady. even If she did them.
What the women OF Topeka and Kansas are say
ing Is what the women OF London and Paris and
Berlin and Moscow thinkins-that they intend
20 keep on In the level OF ne WHICH tney hdo
reached in the war days They do not intend TO
go back To cotton-neither the girls who work f9r
wages nor the wives OF workers, who demand the
things to which they became accustomed.
It may be unfortunate for the world but It hap
pens be
Those who direct and plan world affairs must
take that emotion OF this feminine Kansas mob
into their calculations. It is quite important
as the rise OF value Of pounds sterling Of the
Ira or the franc.
II Il means more work for the men OF the world,
the male portion OF the industrial world may
well resign themselves to work.
It means inventions. greater labor
saving devices, greater production OF everything
that goes into what called civilization. the situa-
ton might as well be faced
The revolution in Kansas against cotton stock
ings Is a bit of world psychology-perhaps not
altogether unfortunate trend, II uncomfortable
at present If It illustrates a determination never
TO surrender any cln cras captured in the drive
towards higher civilization.
SILK stockings may be just a symbol and you
put it down as truth that what turks in the minds
OF these Cornflower maidens is fermenting and
fomentlug in the brains OF their sisters in the
Strand. the Linden the Rue de Ia Paix
Read more Of this revolt It's the real thing