Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07
CONTINUED From First Pase)

She owes more to industry and faith
than to subtlety or cleverness. and she
tactics--a characteristic, this latter,
which has got her into hot water more
than once.
Her politics are simply explained.
They are also her religion. She regards
socialism as the exemplification Of
Christianity. Useless to argue with her
about the weak points OF the Socialist
creed applied to industrial and business
life. AS well try to start q debate with
a priest about his god
One of Eleven Children. =,
One of the II children of Son1er-
setshire lacemaker, she was born into a
world where the right of every man to
do what he liked with his own was
asserted to the hilt and beyond it. Con-
ditions for the factory hand and hired
help generally were fierce. The work.
ers were rather worce on under the new
rule of the industrial magnates than
they had been under the paternalistic
rule of the old feudal lords.
Shop assistants were especially help
less. They were inadequately protected
by law, and as most of them were
boarded like domestic servants they were
cut off from the benefits of the work.
mems compensation law. Members OF
the ruling class would get up pertodi-
cally in Parliament and solemnly de-
clare that If the workers were not kept
at it for IL hours at least a day they
would become debauched and take the
road to ruin.
Margaret Bondfield served her APP
premiership in q little dry goods store
and was graduated to a large store
where the help became numbers" and
hands
She was IA. The working hours Of
this growing girl were from 7:3o am;
to 8 pm. Once a week she got half
day. of. Once or twice a week there
would be a late night, and then every
one worked till 10 or ii o'clock.
On Saturday shops stayed open till
midnight The one Margaret Bondfleld
worked in was owned by a prominent
church member. He was very stern
about the sanctity OF the Sabbath. and
insisted on the shutters going up at
1850 sharp on Saturday night to avoid
the accusation of Sunday labor.
Girls Average Income.
The girls average working week was
"a hours, and her pay was SIPS year.
Even this meager wage was cut into
by the living-in system, by which an
employer provided board and lodging as
part payment. Overcrowded, insanitary
bedrooms and poor and insufficient food
were the main characteristics Of the
system.
Conditions like this-worse in the
factories-were fertiliZing the. trade
union soil. The shop assistants union
came late upon the scene shop assist
ants not being of the stuff of which
labor pioneers are made. Margaret
Bondheld no sooner heard about the
union than she joined it and started to
form a woman's branch.
She was educated, quick, hard work.
at1r nPcyaV 1i1nr YSHA
prominent in the union very rapidly.
At % she was on the district council
of its London branch and writing in its
little journal, The Shop Assistant"
She had a happy journalistic touch in
those days. Later, her style became
more dry. more concerned with figures
and statistics. She was not con-
cerned with appeals to the heart. Her
job was to marshal the facts of indus
trial life, conduct patient researches,
evolve concrete arguments backed by
mathematically precise statements.
Called to Another Field.
She was kept busy collecting informa-
ton about housing conditions and COM
piling figures and measurements. Then
the woman'S cooperative movement en-
gagged her in another field of inquiry
So she laid the foundation for her
future campaigns for shorter shop hours,
trade boards and national health serv-
ices.
Her frail, dininutive figure. perched
on wooden kitchen chair, would pop
up at street corners. The earnest face.
It's bright eyes glowing, its long, thin
mouth precisely articulating became a
familiar sight on platforms and in main
streets. At moments notice the
young union leader was prepared to
take train or bus TO meeting and get
and d0ifyep 80
200 words a minute.
she extended the field of her activ-
lilies. She raised funds to get decent
lodging houses established in various
centers Tor working girls. An expert
ence OF her own gave added ginger to
her efforts and she used to relate 1t
WIN great effect at appeal meetings.
IS She mad gone up to big steel city
late one night, and. having nowhere to
sleep, she asked policeman if he could
direct her to cheap lodging or a clean
pace OF some sort. He sent her IN n
local hotel for girls. 1t was 1890 pm.
Sne knocked, explained her plight-that
she was stranger and had nowhere to
go-and asked If she could have a bed.
certainly mott" snapped the matron
and slammed the door in her face.
Il shall never forget the feeling of
utter helplessneSs which possessed me-"
confeSses Miss Bondfeld when she tells
this story of the bad old days of yes
terday.
Serves Union as Secretary.
She was IS when she was appointed
assistant secretary of the union of shop
assistants, clerks and warehousemen.
and rs when she attended her first
trades union congreSS-the first wom-
an to do so.
= Her union wasn't exactly a powerful
pooy then. In fact, It numbered no
more than 1000 members. In 10 years.
however, the membership was driven
up TO 10000 by the united efforts of
Margaret Bandfield and her associate,
the evangelist of the movement. the
late Mary Macarthur.
They founded the National FEEDER
alton OF Women Workers, and when it
merged with the General Workers
onion 1of which Clynes, the new
nome secretary, was the architect and
president) 1t added $4,000 women to
The unions membership roll of SOC .OOO.
Margaret Bondfield has been secretary
OF the woman's section of that union
since then, varying her Office lob with
Lectures and attendance as labor rem
resentative at various international
labor conferences in Paris, Berlin,
Washington and Geneva.
Her outlook on life and the woman's
movement blends old and new ideas
The mixture at times has proved
explosive.
Modern Woman Not q Model.
She deplores the modern woman's at
t/ude toward mating and homemaking.
sIhey simply want to express them
selves, she says, and have a good time.
They don't regard It as vocation-and