ten to thirty cents for ten minutes' tardiness in the morning or
lunch hour, and for all mistakes. Cases are known of girls who have
been fined a full week's pay at the end of the week. In one store
the fines amounted to $3,000 in a year, and the sum was divided
between the superintendent and timekeeper; and the superintendent
was heard to charge the timekeeper with not being strict enough in
his duties.
"Bad sanitary conditions, bad ventilation and toilet arrangements
are common, and the sanitary laws are not observed. Children under
age are employed at work far beyond their strength, often far into
the night. The average wages do not exceed $4.50; and in one of our
largest stores the average wage is $2.40, in another $2.90. The
tendency in all stores is to secure the cheapest help; for this
reason school-girls just graduated are much sought for, as they,
having homes, can afford to work for less. But a large proportion
of the saleswomen either pay board or help support a family; and
how can this be done on $4.50 per week? The cheapest board in dark
stuffy attics or tenement houses is $3.00, fuel and washing extra;
and no woman can pay doctor's bills and maintain a respectable
appearance on what remains. How then does she live? There are two
ways of answering: The story of a woman who worked in one of our
large houses is one way. This woman earned $3.00 per week; she paid
$1.50 for her room; her breakfast consisted of a cup of coffee; she
had no lunch; she had but one meal a day. Many saleswomen must be
in this condition. The other answer is that given by more than one
employer, who when saleswomen complain of the low wages offered,
reply: 'Oh, well, get yourself a gentleman friend; _most of our
girls have them_.' Not long since a member of our society received
a letter from a salesman in a certain house which read thus: 'In
the name of God cannot something be done for the saleswomen? I am a
salesman in----, and I have walked in disguise at night upon
certain streets to be accosted by girls in my own
department,--girls whose salaries are so low it was impossible to
live upon them." A painter told us that in working in the houses of
ill-repute in the vicinity of Twenty-third Street, he was
astonished at the number of women whom he recognized as saleswomen
in different stores who frequented these houses. But what are they
to do? They are women without trade or profession, thrown upon
their own resources, obliged to make a good appearance, and unable
to do so and yet have sufficient food. We must all concede that
virtue and honor in woman are natural, and very few women resort to
such ways unless forced to do so; certainly not, when they yet have
sufficient pride to wish to maintain the appearance of
respectability. If men's wages fall below a certain limit, they
become tramps, thieves, and robbers; but woman's wages _have no
limit_, since she can always work for less than she can subsist
upon, the _paths of shame being open to her_. And the beggarly
pittance for which one class of women work becomes the standard of
wages for all women, and throws them out upon the world, there to
find a sure market. But we do not wish to insinuate, in stating
these facts, that the majority of saleswomen resort to evil ways;
on the contrary, they are the exception who do so. We know the
majority of women prefer to suffer, and do suffer, rather than do
so. But can we allow a few to fall? We of the Working-Women's
Society believe that we are so far our sisters' keepers that we
are responsible for their position.
"We believe that the payment and condition of those who work
(through their employers) for us is our affair, and we have no
right to remain in an ignorance that involves or may involve their
misery. We believe we have no right, having obtained such
knowledge, to refrain from seeking to remedy it, and urging all to
assist us to do so.
"In this belief we call your attention to the proposed 'Consumers'
League,' the members of which shall pledge themselves to deal at
those stores where just conditions exist.
"We have gotten together a number of facts which we shall be glad
to present to you with our estimate of a fair house, or one which
under existing conditions is eligible to admission to a white
list."
Preceding this appeal and the public meetings which ensued, came, in
1890, the formation of the Consumers' League, Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell
its President. Quiet and inconspicuous as its work has been, the best
retail mercantile houses in New York have accepted its prospectus as
just, and stand now upon the "White List," which numbers all merchants
who seek to deal justly and fairly with their employees. "What
constitutes a Fair House" expresses all the needs and formulates the
most vital demands of the working-woman; and the results already
accomplished speak for themselves. As a guide to other workers, it is
given here in full:--
STANDARD OF A FAIR HOUSE.
+Wages.+
A fair house is one in which equal pay is given for work of equal
value, irrespective of sex. In the departments where women only are
employed, in which the minimum wages are six dollars per week for
experienced adult workers, and fall in few instances below eight
dollars.
In which wages are paid by the week.
In which fines, if imposed, are paid into a fund for the benefit of
the employees.
In which the minimum wages of cash-girls are two dollars per week,
with the same conditions regarding weekly payments and fines.
+Hours.+
A fair house is one in which the hours from eight A.M. to six P.M.
(with three quarters of an hour for lunch) constitute the
working-day, and a general half-holiday is given on one day of each
week during at least two summer months.
In which a vacation of not less than one week is given with pay
during the summer season.
In which all over-time is compensated for.
+Physical Conditions.+
A fair house is one in which work, lunch, and retiring rooms are
apart from each other, and conform in all respects to the present
sanitary laws.
In which the present law regarding the providing of seats for
saleswomen is observed, and the use of seats permitted.
+Other Conditions.+
A fair house is one in which humane and considerate behavior toward
employees is the rule.
In which fidelity and length of service meet with the consideration
which is their due.
In which no children under fourteen years of age are employed.
+Membership.+
The condition of membership shall be the approval by signature of
the object of the Consumers' League; and all persons shall be
eligible for membership excepting such as are engaged in the retail
business in this city, either as employer or employee.
The members shall not be bound never to buy at other shops.
The names of the members of the Consumers' League shall not be made
public.
Later, one of the ablest workers in this field, Mrs. Florence Kelley,
formulated a basis for every society of working-women, as follows:
I. To bring out of the chaos of competition the order of
co-operation.
II. To organize all wages-earning women.
III. To disseminate the literature of labor and co-operation.
IV. To institute a label which shall enable the purchaser to
discriminate in favor of goods produced under healthful conditions.
V. 1. Abolition of child labor to the age of sixteen.
2. Compulsory education to the age of sixteen.
3. Prohibition of employment of minors more than eight hours daily.
4. Prohibition of employment of minors at dangerous occupations.
5. Appointment of women inspectors, one for every thousand women
and children employed.
6. Healthful conditions of work for women and children.
The foregoing to be obtained by legislation.
The following to be obtained by organization:--
1. Equal pay for equal work with men.
2. A minimal rate which will enable the least paid to live upon her
earnings.
A little later, the statement which follows, became necessary:--
"Certain abuses exist in the dry-goods houses affecting the
well-being of the saleswomen and children employed, which we
believe can be remedied. In fact, in different stores some of them
have been remedied, which gives us courage to bring these matters
to your attention.
"We find the hours are often excessive, and that these women and
children are not paid for over-time.
"We find that in many houses the saleswomen work under unwholesome
conditions; these comprise bad ventilation, unsanitary toilet
arrangements, and an indifference to considerations of decency.
"The wages, which are low, we find are often reduced by excessive
fines; that employers place a value on time lost that they fail to
give for service rendered.
"We find that numbers of children under age are employed for
excessive hours, and at work far beyond their strength.
"We find that long and faithful service does not meet with the
consideration that is its due; on the contrary, having served a
certain number of years is a reason for dismissal.
"Because of the foregoing low wages, the discouraging result of
excessive fines, long hours, and unwholesome sanitary conditions,
not only the physical system is injured, but--the result we most
deplore, and of which we have incontrovertible proof--the tendency
_is to injure the moral well-being_.
"We believe that to call attention to these evils is to go far
toward remedying them, and that the power to do this lies largely
in the hands of the purchasing classes.
"We think that 'the payment and condition of those who
work--through their employers--for us, is our affair, and that we
have no right to remain in ignorance of the conditions that involve
or may involve their misery.'"
Two points still remain untouched, both of them vital elements in the
just working of the social scheme,--profit-sharing, and a board of
conciliation and arbitration for the adjustment of all difficulties
between employer and employed.
For every detail bearing upon the education bound up in even the attempt
at profit-sharing, as well as for the actual and successful results in
this direction, the reader is referred to an excellent little monograph
on the subject, "Sharing the Profits," by Miss Mary Whiton Calkins,
A.M., and for very full and elaborate treatment of the question, to the
invaluable volume by N.P. Gilman, "Profit-Sharing between Employer and
Employed." In all cases where the experiment has had fair trial, it has
resulted in a marked increase of interest in the work itself; an actual
lessening of the cost of production, and of general wear and tear,
because of this increased interest; and a far more friendly feeling
between employer and employed. It is certain that justice requires
immediate attention to every phase of this question, and that its
adoption is the first step in the right direction.
For the second point, we have as yet in this country only an occasional
attempt at arbitration, yet its need becomes more and more apparent with
every fresh difficulty in the field of labor. A little volume by Mrs.
Josephine Shaw Lowell, at the time of writing,[50] going through the
press, who has given much time to a study of the question, contains the
latest results of English and French legislation, and of special action
in this direction. Any history of the movement as a whole, hardly has
place in these pages. It is sufficient to say that the system had
practically no consideration till 1850, when the first Board of
Arbitration was formed in England, owing its existence to the
determined efforts of two men. Mr. Rupert Kettle, lawyer and judge,
approached it from the legal side; Mr. Murdella, a manufacturer, and
himself sprung from the working-classes, went straight "to the practical
and moral end implied by the word 'conciliation,' ... both routes of
this noble emulation converging, each affording strength to the common
conclusions."
The Nottingham lace manufacture, in which numbers of women and children
as well as men are employed, has, for thirty years and more, been
governed by a Board of Arbitration, the result being an end of strikes
and all difficulties of like nature. If no more were accomplished than
the bringing about a better understanding between employer and employed,
it would mean much, since mutual suspicion and distrust rule for both.
Organization among women, and the sense of mutual dependence given by
it, lead naturally to the formation of a board able to judge
dispassionately and disinterestedly of the questions naturally arising,
many of which, however, are at once dissipated on the adoption of the
system of profit-sharing.
The practical steps already taken sum up in the forms just given; and
there remains only the question constantly asked as to the final effect
upon wages of woman's entrance into public life, this question usually
shaping itself under three heads:--
1. Why are they in the field?
2. How does their work compare in efficiency with that of men?
3. What is likely to be the final effect on wage of their entrance into
active life?
The first phase has already had full answer in the general survey of
trades and their rise and growth. As to the second, personal
observation, long continued and minute, added to the very full knowledge
to be obtained from the reports of the various State bureaus of labor,
goes to prove beyond question that, given the same grade of
intelligence, the work of women is fully equal to that of men.
Descending in the scale to untrained labor in all its forms, the woman
is at times of less value than the man. The Knights of Labor, however,
settled definitely that this was seldom the case, and in their
constitution demanded equal pay for equal work. For both sexes
machinery is more and more superseding the labor of each; and as women
and children are quite capable of running much of it, this fact, of
course, brings the general wage to their standard. This, added to
various physiological and social reasons, makes woman often a less
dependable worker than man, and tends to keep wages at a minimum.
As to the final effect on wages, I regard the whole aspect of things as
purely transitional, and must answer from personal conviction in the
matter.
The entire movement appears to me a part of the natural evolution from
barbaric law and restriction, and a necessary demonstration of the
spiritual equality of the sexes. I regard it also as the nurse and
developer of many small virtues in which women are especially
deficient,--punctuality, unvarying quality of work, a sense of business
honor and of personal fidelity, each to all and all to each. But I
cannot feel that it is a permanent state, or that when the essential has
been accomplished women will have the same need or the same desire that
now rules. I believe that wages must necessarily fluctuate and tend to
the mere point of subsistence when either child labor or the lowest
grade of woman's labor exists, and that the only way out of the
complications we face is in an alteration of ideals. Statistics and
general reports show the demoralization of family life where such work
goes on, and the fact that in the long run the workman loses rather than
gains where his family share his labor.
The lowering of wage may be considered, then, as in one sense remedial,
and the present state of things as in part the mere action of inevitable
and inescapable law. But it is impossible to make this plain in present
limits. Having passed through every stage of feeling,--sick pity,
burning indignation, and tempestuous desire for instant action,--I have
come at last to regard all as our education in justice and a demand for
training in such wise as shall render unskilled labor more and more
impossible. So long as it exists, however, I see no outlook but the
fluctuating and uncertain wage, the natural result of the existence of
the lowest order of workers.
For them as for us it is the development of the individual from the mass
that is the chief end of any real civilization. No Utopias of any past
or present can bring this at once.
"Each man to himself and each woman to herself, such is the word of
the past and the present, and the true word of immortality."
"No one can acquire for another, not one;
No one can grow for another, not one."
Despair might easily be the outcome of a first glance at these
conditions; but the stir at all points is assurance of a better day to
come.
Legislation can do much. The appointment of women inspectors, lately
brought about for New York, is imperative at all points, since women
will tell women the evils they would never mention to men. Law can also
demand decent sanitary conditions, and affix a penalty for every
violation. Beyond this, and the awakening of the public conscience as to
what is owed the honest worker, little can be said. Enlightenment, a
better chance at every point for the struggling mass,--that is the work
for each and all of them, and for those who would aid the constant
demand, and labor for justice in its largest sense and its most rigorous
application. With justice on both sides, abuses die of pure inanition.
The tenement-house system, every evil that hedges about special trades,
every wrong born of cupidity and ignorance, and all base features of
trade at its worst, end once for all, and we see the end and aim of the
social life, whether for employer or employed.
A generation ago Mazzini wrote:--
"The human soul, not the body, should be the starting-point of all
our efforts, since the body without the soul is only a carcass,
whilst the soul, wherever it is found free and holy, is sure to
mould for itself such a body as its wants and vocation require."
It is this soul-moulding that is given chiefly into the hands of women.
It is through them that the higher ideal of life, its purpose and its
demands, is to be made known. No present scheme of general philanthropy
can touch this need. It is growth in the human soul itself that will
mean justice from the employer to each and every worker, and from the
worker in equal measure to the employer; and this justice can be
implanted in the child as certainly as many another virtue, into the
knowledge and love of which we grow but slowly.
Never has deeper interest followed every movement for the understanding
and bettering of conditions. Never was there stronger ground for hope
that, in spite of the worst abuses existing, man's will is to join hands
at last with natural evolution toward higher forms. Faith and hope alike
find their assurance in the increasing sense of the solidarity of human
kind, and the spirit of brotherhood more and more discernible, which, as
it grows, must end all oppression, conscious and unconscious. The old
days of darkness are dying. Man knows at last that--
"Laying hands on another,
To coin his labor and sweat,
He goes in pawn to his victim
For eternal years in debt;"
and in knowing it, the first step is taken in the new life wherein all
are brothers; and the law of love, slowly as it may work, ends forever
the long conflict between employer and employed.
FOOTNOTES:
[49] Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of
Social Science, 1857, p. 554.
[50] July, 1893.
APPENDIX.
* * * * *
FACTORY INSPECTION LAW.
PASSED MAY 18, 1886; AMENDED MAY 25, 1887; AMENDED JUNE 15, 1889;
AMENDED MAY 21, 1890; AMENDED MAY 18, 1892.
* * * * *
CHAPTER 409, LAWS OF 1886 (AS AMENDED BY CHAPTER 673, LAWS OF 1892).
An act to Regulate the Employment of Women and Children in
Manufacturing Establishments, and to Provide for the Appointment of
Inspectors to Enforce the Same.
* * * * *
_The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and
Assembly, do enact as follows_:
SECTION I. No person under eighteen years of age, and no woman under
twenty-one years or age, employed in any manufacturing establishment,
shall be required, permitted, or suffered to work therein more than
sixty hours in any one week, or more than ten hours in any one day,
unless for the purpose of making a shorter work-day on the last day of
the week, nor more hours in any one week than will make an average of
ten hours per day for the whole number of days in which such person or
such woman shall so work during such week; and in no case shall any
person under eighteen years of age, or any woman under twenty-one years
of age, work in any such establishment after nine o'clock in the evening
or before six o'clock in the morning of any day. Every person, firm,
corporation, or company employing any person under eighteen years of
age, or any woman under twenty-one years of age, in any manufacturing
establishment, shall post and keep posted in a conspicuous place in
every room where such help is employed, a printed notice stating the
number of hours of labor per day required of such persons for each day
of the week, and the number of hours of labor exacted or permitted to be
performed by such persons shall not exceed the number of hours of labor
so posted as being required. The time of beginning and ending the day's
labor shall be the time stated in such notice; provided that such women
under twenty-one and persons under eighteen years of age may begin after
the time set for beginning, and stop before the time set in such notice
for the stopping of the day's labor; but they shall not be permitted or
required to perform any labor before the time stated on the notices as
the time for beginning the day's labor, nor after the time stated upon
the notices as the hour for ending the day's labor. The terms of the
notice stating the hours of labor required shall not be changed after
the beginning of labor on the first day of the week without the consent
of the Factory Inspector, Assistant Factory Inspector, or a Deputy
Factory Inspector. When, in order to make a shorter work-day on the
last day of the week, women under twenty-one and youths under eighteen
years of age are to be required, permitted, or suffered to work more
than ten hours in any one day, in a manufacturing establishment, it
shall be the duty of the proprietor, agent, foreman, superintendent, or
other person employing such persons, to notify the Factory Inspector,
Assistant Factory Inspector, or a Deputy Factory Inspector, in charge of
the district, in writing, of such intention, stating the number of hours
of labor per day which it is proposed to permit or require, and the date
upon which the necessity for such lengthened day's labor shall cease,
and also again forward such notification when it shall actually have
ceased. A record of the amount of over-time so worked, and of the days
upon which it was performed, with the names of the employees who were
thus required or permitted to work more than ten hours in any one day,
shall be kept in the office of the manufacturing establishment, and
produced upon the demand of any officer appointed to enforce the
provisions of this act.
§ 2. No child under fourteen years of age shall be employed in any
manufacturing establishment within this State. It shall be the duty of
every person employing children to keep a register, in which shall be
recorded the name, birthplace, age and place of residence of every
person employed by him under the age of sixteen years; and it shall be
unlawful for any proprietor, agent, foreman, or other person in or
connected with a manufacturing establishment to hire or employ any child
under the age of sixteen years to work therein without there is first
provided and placed on file in the orifice an affidavit made by the
parent or guardian, stating the age, date, and place of birth of said
child; if said child have no parent or guardian, then such affidavit
shall be made by the child, which affidavit shall be kept on file by the
employer, and which said register and affidavit shall be produced for
inspection on demand made by the Inspector, Assistant Inspector, or any
of the deputies appointed under this act. There shall be posted
conspicuously in every room where children under sixteen years of age
are employed, a list of their names with their ages respectively. No
child under the age of sixteen years shall be employed in any
manufacturing establishment who cannot read and write simple sentences
in the English language, except during the vacation of the public
schools in the city or town where such minor lives. The Factory
Inspector, Assistant Inspector, and Deputy Inspectors shall have power
to demand a certificate of physical fitness from some regular physician,
in the case of children who may seem physically unable to perform the
labor at which they may be employed, and shall have power to prohibit
the employment of any minor that cannot obtain such a certificate.