Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-01
WOMEN AND THEIR WAGES
TOLD OF BY HASKIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j.. Haskin

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1:-What to
do about laws establishing a mini
mum wage for women il one OF the
important questions that will bob
up when Congress reconVenes, and
from all present indications it bids
fair to be a troublesome one. Num-
erous organizations are actively en-
gagged in trying to determine what
should be done, and how to do it,
and Senators and Representatives
will discover that they must do m
thing, or be prepared to Withstand
the heaviest kind Of a bombardment.
ment.
The situation is all the more in
teresting by reason of the fact that
a national election is al hand and
Congress must act with a full under
standing of the possible political
consequences of its action. Women
are voting these days and as one
party leader of a practical turn puts
it, they vote as they ~dodgasted
pleasei" Which is one way of say
ing that ome take party affiliations
lightly and are disposed to use the
ballot as a means of registering their
approval or disapproval Of official
action in matters in which they, as
women, are especially interested.
And women are interested in the
minimum wage idea. They believe
that the woman who is forced to
become a wage Garner or elects to
become one should be assured of
earnings sufficient to support her,
and through their organizations they
are saying that the only way to make
certain of that is by the enactment
and enforcement of a minimum wage
law.
When the Supreme Court of the
United States says hat such a mini
mum wage law is unconstitutional,
as it did early last April in the case
of the law which applied to the
District of Columbia, the women are
not inclined to accept that decision
as final. On the contrary, there is
abundant evidence that they regard
it as a gage of battle. More recently
a Federal Circuit Court has grant
ed an injunction restraining the en-
forcement of the Arizona minimum
wage law, and this has aroused the
women more than ever.
At the Women's Bureau of the
Department of Labor it is pointed
out that in the States which have
been working under laws similar
to that which Congress enacted for
the District of Columbia thus far
there has been no indication of a
desire to recede from their positions.
These States seem to be unani-
nous in their intention to continue
to enforce their respective laws as
in the past" says a statement issued
by the Bureau. Some States have
-. 49,. yaaraI.y E4nFd 4hafr
ground and have assumed an atti-
tude of active support OF constltu-
tional changes which would put the
legislation already existing on a more
secure basis.
THE California legislature has
gone so far as to adopt a resolution
memorializing Congress to amend
the Constitution so as to permit of
a minimum wage law for women.
Not only the legislature but the In
dustrial Commission of the State as
we'll has shown its Intention to con-
tinue with the present legislation
through it's action in handing down
new wage awards after the Supreme
, Court had laid down its ultimatum
for the District"
Organizations Get Busy
Organizations which have more
than a local interest in the minimum
wage situation have been marshal
ing their forces that they may be
ready to render the greatest service
!, to women workers wherever needed
First of these to get busy was tn
National Consumers League which
called a conference on April 20 o
individuals interested in the wei
fare of the working women and
similar conference was held short
~ thereafter under the auspices o
{ the American Federation of Labor
AT this latter meeting a permanen
" conference for the protection or ia
rights and interests of women wag
earners was organized, and plan
were inaugurated for a campaign o
union organization to be started i'm
mediately among ome worker
in the District of Columbia.
A month later the Women's Trad
4 Union League called a conference 4
Washington at which 81 organiza
y lions were represented. includin
trade unions, religious societies
. welfare organizations, research blu
reaus and other groups interested
the industrial woman's problem /
particular and the broader field c