The Washington times., 1922-07-21
WOMEN RALLY "
|. To HELP MEN IN
|. RAIL WALkOUT
Mates Take Up All Kinds Of
Tasks So Husbands Can
Keep Up Fight
By JAMES l.. KILGAILIEN.
International News Service.

CHICAGO, July 21.--When the
railway shopmen struck, their wives
went to work. Investigation today
in the great shop centers at Burn.
side, South Chicago, and Pullman
revealed that in many cases the
hand that rocks the cradle has been
turned to the task of earning
dollars.
Women who of necessity remain
at home have inaugurated a rigid
campaign of retrenchment.
"Stick by our men" is the com.
rnunity slogan.
Into the tallest buildings of Chi.
cngo scores of the hardy foreign.
born women are going as scrub
women: into the great Union stock
yards as meat packers and soap
makers; into the laundries as wash
women; into the factories OF every
description.
Mrs. Helen Petkewicz, storekeeper
of Burnside, whose husband is q
striker, epitomized the community
sentiment thus:
What else is there for us women
to do but work? Nearly every
family has a raft of kids. They
can't starve. Some one has got to
earn money-and the women are
going out and doing 1t"
Tradesmen Extend Credit.
The butcher. the baker and the
grocer, with sympathetic loyalty.
are extending credit to all but
known dead BEATS" she said, and
very few families have as yet felt
the pinch of privation.
But all the women can't work
her neighbor, Mrs. Rosie Tocylow-
ski, for example. Mrs. TocZylowski
has four kiddies. Josie, ten; Bennie,
seven; Lillian, six. and Helen, four.
But like other of the stay-at.home
mothers, she can't work-there Is
another kiddie coming.
IT don't know what I will do"
said the little mother dubiously. 81
no like strike. but 1 no like my
husband be a scab."
But" she was asked, how do
you manage to eatT'
Everything on tick" she smiled.
MY credit good. ! always pay my
bills somehow"
Only once has she been able to
save money-"When Mr.. McAdoo
run the railroads"
''Mr. McAdoo, he fine man, she
asserted warmly. HE give my hus.
band more pay than he got any
time during the twelve years he
worked at the railroad shops.
I thought at that time could
raise my children like the Ameri-
can children-nice clothes, good
education, all that. 1 dunno now.
Mister McAdoo go. Ny husband
get cut. Then another cut. Too
many cuts. Can't do much on $3.50
month. Then they lay my hus-
band off for six weeks. They did
that to a lot of other men. too.
They knew a strike was coming.
"I no go anywhere. ] never saw
picture show Josie, she goes to
the ten-cent show with the Ameri-
can kids-sometimes. have no
heart to keep her home"
Prices High Again.
The cost Of living-had Mrs.
Toczylowski noticed any declined
Yes, in March. but now prices are
as high as ever. Her rent is still
s16 a month. It takes $50 a month
to pay the butcher and grocer.
Then there is SO a month for the
gas bill, and an occasional dress
for Josie, shoes for the family,
albeit Bennie was contentedlv
romping in the yard in his bare
feet-payments on her husbands s
insurance policy. union dues. etc,
more than enough to eat up the
family pay check.
AS Mrs. Toczylowski talked. =
striker. Peter Traybza. broke In
with this remark: "I'll tell you what
my wife did. She's an American
girl. She said: I'm going home Ia
my folks You, Peter. stay on strike
Your life is worth more to me than
your job"
Peter Joseph Bernatowicz, promi
nent local union official and speaker
of six languages, said: We've got
to give the women credit. They're
sticking. They're going to hold a
big mass meeting in Pullman today