The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-11-27

service, contrasting cOn0ltlOnS
Of today with those in 'thc good
old days" and showing what We
have to be thankful for. Today
Cation tells of the working girl
Of nearly century ago.
BY BRUCE CATION
The Thanksgiving of old New Eng
land is an American tradition. Most
Of us, no doubt, would give good
deal to be able to dip back three
quarters Of century and live
through a Thanksgiving Day in the
quaint, whole-hcarted manner of pre-
Civil war Boston or Salem.
1t would be splendid experience.
1t might, for example, teach us that
those glorious old days were founded
on substratum of misery and suf-
ferirg that would provoke riot and
rebellion if they were to be dupli-
Gated anywhere in the United States
today.
1t has already been pointed out
that the workingman Of SO or IS
years ago had mighty tough time
of it, existing in absolute poverty.
Now we might glance at the con-
dition of the women and children
of that era.
In the early sos Of the last GEN.
tury, while the carpenters of Phila-
delphia were striking for wages Of
$l.75 day, the New England cot
ton mills-the chief field for a girl
or woman who wanted to earn her
own living-were paying their wom-
en- employees an average Of some
what less than three dollars a week.
In most trades then the men had the
lO-hour day; the women in the cot
ton mills were working 1919 or -.
Women, did l say? Wonderland
children.
In the year Of grace 1882 it was
estimated that two-fifths of the to-
tai number Of persons employed in
factories in Massachusetts were
children under the age of 16. In
countless instances youngsters were
taken from the poorhouscs and put
to work in factories as apprentices,
whether they liked it or not.
\
Child labor was most prevalent in
| Rhode Island, whose textile mills
made vast fortunes for some of New
England's proudest families. The
first Rhode Island mill, founded by
Samuel Slater in Pawtucket, had a
working force Of seven boys and
two girls, ranging in age from z to
IL years. BY 1853 the Rhode Island
mills were employing 50 children
under Q years of ago, 62l between
the ages of and Il, and lit be-
tween II and Is. Almshouses and
poor farms furnished many of these
recruits; Dickens could have made
"Oliver Twist" even darker if he
could have peeked into some of
Americas textile factories.
Lowell, Mass, was in those days
the leading New England cotton
center. The Lowell factory girls had
a regime like this:
| At in the morning they were at
their places in the mills. They
worked until or 1880, when they
had half an hour Cor breakfast. Their
work was resumed, continuing until
noon, when there were 30 to As min
utes for lunch. After lunch work
extended to 1880 in the evening. Ir
the month Of April. the rush" month
Of the year, another working hour
was tackled on to that schedule.
. The snappy comeback of 1925
would be land outside of that, {
, girls time was her own" But i
wasn't-far from it. The mills were
owned by pious, upright old Puri
tans, who did not propose to burden
, their consciences with the thought!
t that their female employees might in
3 dulge in any misconduct in thei
q leisure hours.
II Girls who worked in the Lowell
; mills were required to live with rel
!. atives or at the company's boarding
+ houses-and, since most of then
were recruited from farming region
r or from the poorhouses, the vast ma
jority> fell into the latter classified
ton.
!. In these boarding houses the girl
\ were often herded six to a room
r three to bed was common ar
! rangement. They were required t
v go to church every Sunday, and ha,
!. to pay pew rent for the privilege
v They were discharged for any form
e of misconduct, which included ba
E language, disrespect for their su
e periors, and attending dancin,
classes. When DISCHARGED thew ver
e blacklisted and could not get jo
n in any other factory.
n In addition, they must work on
n full year for the company first en-
n gaging them before they could &c
: an honorable discharge" withou
. which they could not hope to fin
x work in any other factory. But tn
e company was under no obligation t
a keep them for a year, and if it chos
/, to cut their wages the day after
e hired them there was nothing tn
3 girls could do about it.
q Even in the best mills the Ion
e hours and the utter disregard of fas
IS tory sanitation made the work e,
h tremely unhealthful. The textil
! manufacturers began carly in til
n business of speeding up work an
cutting wages; and in Rhode ISLAM
r other words, As per cent has bee
y taken off of the floods and AT pt
J. cent added to the low water. TIL
h has been done on the North Plat