"SWEATED" INDUSTRIES AND "WORKERS' PARENT."

Evening Star, Issue 12699, 27 June 1907, Page 5

"SWEATED" INDUSTRIES AND "WORKERS' PARENT."

TO THB EDITOR. Sir, —" Workers' Parent " has the <-idvantage over me, seeing that I have to pay for publishing my reply to his charge that because I am selling a line of goods at 11 id somebody must be " sweated.' 7 Nevertheless, in justice to myself, and to prove to the workers that mv goods are bought from the most reputable firms, most of •whom are colonial, I must, at -whatever cost, state the facts.

"Working Parent" teems to be one of those- persons who could make a lot of money by minding their own business. It I sell goods marked at "absurdJy" low prices, surely that is my business. If I lose by it, I lose. The oilv other persons who lose are those who do not take the opportunity of buying. For anvthing I know " Workers' Parent's " own" children may have helped to make some of the goods I am selling, and judging bv the if ell-dressed, well-fed, and happy appearwce of the workeii we see trooping to and from our factories, I do not think they are "sweated." Your correspondent's logic is weak. If a saddle is found under the bed, that is no proof that the patient has eaten a horse. Neither is the cheapness of my goods proof of " sweating." In the first place, the sweaters noted by your correspondent are from the renowned firm of J. and R. Morley, of London; the braces and gloves came from the same house. Tho sol *i>o from Ross and Glendining (do they sweat their employees?) The shirts arti manufactured in Dunedin, is the trade mark nhows. The brushes and towels are from Rylands and Sons, London. Tho Dr Jim hats are all of English or colonial manufacture, and the firms which make them aro not "unscrupulous employers." Let your correspondent name any other article, and I will undertake to prove that it came from a reputable source. " Workers' Parent" may possess his soul in peace. I owe too much to the support of the workers to. deal in goods made in the den of the sweater. There are fluctuations and losses in every business, and if I get an opportunity to take advantage of these, and pass the benefit on to my customers, neither a worker nor a workers parent should blame me.

Let " Workers' Parent " come along. He will not find the door "banged, barred, and bolted," but wide open to welcome him. But he will have to come quick. And if he does come he will find that he can do better than writing to the papers on the strength of mere assumptions. I am afraid be is one of those fossil business men who are always wondering "how that fellow does it."—l-am, etc., Abtbtub Babjtett, 100 George street. June 27, 1907.