LINES ABOUT LABOR

Evening Star, Issue 12819, 9 December 1907, Page 2

LINES ABOUT LABOR

SHOP TiAW AND SHOP GIRL. In the October ‘London Magazine’ Mr T. Spencer Hones hat; an article ou tho life of n shop girl. It might bo calk'd ‘The Living-in System Again.’ for this system is. lie says, the re m of all tho evils. ' London shop .issista-tto, it srens, arc mostly not Londoner?; hj. is from the country that l!;a employees of tee great shops arc mainly recruited. 'The regulations under which Hey ere com nolle;' to live are legion : —• 1 oung men irrest wear black coals and arsis and light hoofs; young ladies mush w-er bbick dresses, made lo dear the pround (show room young I’ldu s oxc-ptcd). while lit.oii ct>: : irs and rii!L->. and hair aii’ingal in a imat ami Wcoming manner. G'“y must he in their places at S a.m. ; t“ey must not go to nuals otlur than in te-’u’ right, parties, hall an lour being alniwed ;.;,r <!iur>r ((ii.irter of ,iu hour b-r t -i ; the;, must not gi’.’ .'ip or lounge; they must not outer or 'leave the pivmiv;; by any oi her than the appointed doors, under pain 'if dis; iissa.l; ~_n-1 they must he atteiii :ve aivi p.ilii,. ru'd tnithful tc> all enstomers.—and to fhe ehop -.v i!kers ! When the day,-; busiiays is over .’he arel-tunls arc warehoused—l. nsc iv.-or.l aKisMlv—in barracks and “hodgeT' A"d liare, again, they are in the, i-o,i <'f ■’i.ei iiw,' No pictures or photos ”’Ve to ‘ diuiigure’ the waifs. \r Ivd’viru.;t be cleared by ti a.m . when de v are closed l<‘r !iv rf, y. AaM-ie.; ti.ii-.i- not lean out 9’ wind,,ws. or loirer in tee parsages or deorsiep ; o- pavnicnts near the honre. and arc on u.» a, couni to h.ring s'runpers into tile house. No ii.overs tv i'v put in wafer pkfncs or b. 11Gs-sv a.ie imiinnorablo uliicv re ;ti’ii;i.:ciii.<, h,\-i ies line;,—one shilling ,i mo;” . i.»r e jo’.’.r.o ;e, vor played, one s;. :li:i;' ,i momii jor a iibrarv nevt r usid, and so f.■ r h---prod:it;iiiar in o:i“ o a,;:TMO a v • r rmenue to rhe linn, linguiibuy d;, 1" ’iteoy armngcineuis are a v. df--1 <T, if lil'Tß ill'.’ il l i'!' > ;l;’( i|i,|; ■ AlTl'llififfill i'lshtl. ■ AimtU t s'l’imi? troni.le it insufficient food, taken in stuffy dining remnin. The ioliowirg 1): 11 oi fare G said to he icr.ri'Fcntative : —lir-vakrust: Ikeml and butter anal tea. Hbuiei”. M; ,u d-adly ..-ookcil and carvedt. with potato.;- a-erved up in a dirty tin. not jv-Hcd, often rjnitre black) ; gr 'e'is scm-il orico a week, aiul pud<!i”g occasionally. Tea ; Bread and butter, v Mi tea stewed from an urn. Supper: .Bread and eliee.re and Beer. F.yrd is not supposed to be brought in; cons-; aientiy ah- re are immerou.; clandcsthte visits to (■ o:ae small “ tucksliops “ near bv. and hundreds of shop girls arc believed to spend a f|uarter of their wages on extra In same houses assistants arc liable tr> <] J. t‘«>r brinumc? in ;co*l from outsidv ; iu others ” ItlXUVi' d, Mkh TS bilCOll, * W-r’-Y THU, o:c.. are at rates about i’VmT'a J-rehuu nut in'itie. Much is abo odd ui ilos in tide about the extreme til 1 , fa‘.lean of the' sexes, th ■ most mnnci-nt relation;! being birr'd, and Hie con.-eijiiont evil effects on monhiv. NATIOXAL UNfON OF WOAfF.N V.'ORKKRS. _ The I’liintd confereiK-e of the National hj era' in ’/.omen \' < r. vai; f'irmaily c ; >n«tituti’d in M.aneiios:. r c.-n Oetubcr 22. l r ' 1 w o”h eta.es J’.uinf« r..! 4Y. representing 140 societies in ail pans of the kingdom. Mrs (.gorge (’adimry. in the course of .her president in! address, said that since th-e conference last, me!, the Government Lad restored wunvjn t'» incir pronor place in local oovn’miudita liffil prnli'cttH'l blvniv iai:*T)r m taoto riots, h;iJ tho work of r:i.hp“ the siomlitnl of physical life fur school cliiidren, and hud cstiibiished a .new lton: .aei.r \ (dement in our prison system, hut had not given i lie patUameiitarv Jri.mjf'.i-c to women. Dealing with the e' m,l it a ns under whic-h women worl;, site (•hemeo -, has the pnynimts to women tern ;■ were often inadequate, so that t-ea.em ; .v..-re led to take evening work in additav ■ t;. day work, .Sanitary insj.xtctors y.d h’.a'-!i visitors were often advertised J 'y -I f'f I.ho a year, though the work ws vxb. u ting and depressing. As for D”’ wen.' n engaged in what were called the sweated industries, the mind recoiled from t.;i H d irk, corselet'-s liver, and wrotclioc! conditions. Bhe war, afraid to tru.it liepsulf id .-leak (it tile' owners of stum pron.-rtv I.m in London alone there were ‘ from ,:i.1.(.ij0 to _ 400,000 people whoeo homos Co',.d::ted of (.niy one room. The' women livuig under those conditions were unable to hj. iii tiieniselvea, so resort must be had to the drainic reie-dy of h-giMation. ,M;uiy cmphyciv; wr.ufd pay higher wages if they wi re not fated by compel it ion ; bub, whilst their eompoLitors were paying low wages, titey must do the same until legislation put ,;U end to the present stain of things, M oat. vniplojurs could do was to sec that the work rooms wen: large and well-venti-lated and the hours oi work limited, and the foremen and forewomen chosen for their high characlar. and not for their driving power, and they could establish a foelinrj of co-oporation b,-tween thcmsolvos and their employees. Mrs Cadbury passed fl SU’.tTC CTUlCkill! Upon wealthy manufacturers who knew nothing of their workpeople ami lived apart from them, but were' well-known as doners to charitable objects. An employer's first duty was to the men and women who had provided his wealth. —(Cheers.) Miss Clementina Black spoke on the position of women in unskilled work, i !•■' ■? unii.nisin. she said, could not do for ..a. u:;s.Ulled trades and the sweated indus- ' what it coind do mr other trades, end they must look to tlm law for protcci ion. Miss Irwin, secretary to the Scottish Council for Women's Trades, fa voted wages boards as a. remedy for low-na.id women’s work. Mrs Ramsay Macdonald doubted tho efficiency of those boards tor this country, though favoring them iu principle. Miss Margaret- Beer, in a paper on skilled industries, attributed the advantage winch the women and girls in the cotton trade enjoyed to their more effective combination in trade unions us compared with those engaged in the other textile trades. Of the total number of women trade unionists, 90 per cent, were found in the textile trades. I’.ietoiv legislation mm done much to improve the general conditions and to shorten hours in the textile factories, but tho intensity of la.-or had increased/ RoVuwmg the condition? of women's emoloy111< nt, in many ether trades, ; noli a.-. dVeA;. iwiking, miH:n> yv, corset-making, and iipl.oxii'Ty, he (•'•limed that generally in tec shilled trad'* a woman's maximum was a man's mil-;mum, and there remained a glaring dure-cueo in th« rate of rcimmera t ion. 1 'k Die discutiion wincli followed some' of the spi iiko;:’. favore-d tile exclusion of married woim-n from r icU/iies and State ] tot is ion for widows.—Mrs Barfield opposed tlit-f.o proposal-;, mging that thev would he a Greer to the effieienev Af vyomen'.s work. It limy yreio convinced tiu’ib man ’.age . would end tnc-r onpor'v.nities of advancement in timir ■mlustrv, wonren would have no eucouragement to train thcmvclvto specially.-Mrs Sheldon \mos tire heavy taxation of e.iijiloyeas of enud lal;oi’ a-ni the tiiciit snhsiily of rnoiheiT.ood. Motherhood. Ho vtiid, w a? the only inevitably unskilled ; bur in tho (Ounirv, and it would always be sweated. “ CONCILIATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. ‘The r.lrrth b;.’ the Llng-Lsb .TJoard (| f '/Tin i)i jii'oro,Glints uudtM' Ihu LW-Cil-rttio. Dif/piilCS/ -YcL ; 1395, in, acioi'di: -.'o .villi pr.ieD.,e. J ua l s wkk'iwo “'til by. from -Inly 1, 1905. lo dune ..■a, Ib j,. iiw report states that the numbi r ol i !;<lc:i!i wiik in the two years i oven ..I y ii, report was fifty-one, of v.l'.itli tA’«’uly-lhr«:<: occurred in the last rex me li b , ol Hm period (.January to June, 1007). .i iie man her of cases in which a stoppage of work oeeiirrod was sixteen. J he tot H iiiiiuii-T ol cases dealt with under iho Coinhliuiiou Act, between August. 1836, -.rhmi ii cairn; into force, and Juno 5o! 1907, is 252._ and of Hicse, 168 cases (or 72 per cent, of the cases dealt with) wore settled under the Act. Since tho end of dune, 1907, ten additional cases havo been dealt with under tho Act. Among the cases settled during the period covered by the report, two are of special importance—the Nottingham lace trade dispute and the music hall dispute, both of which were settled by Mr G. JR Askwith alter .prolonged negotiations .with.

the parties. In the former dispute Mr Askwith found that the lace trade of Nottingham had a system of “ cards ” or price lists framed when lacc-making machines were much lest, complicated than those of modern construction; and tho extras charged when additional “bars” wore used seriously alfoctcd tho manufacture of many kinds of lace in the city of Nottingham itself, where these “cards” were in use. These restrictions, however, were not in ,force in the sfuallcv towns and village;, surrounding Nottingham, to which manufacturers were accordingly migrating in largo numbers. Mr Askwith entirely aholisaed the old “cards.” which were tweiuvono in .number, and substituted fifteen oilier “cards, ’ simpler in const!action end 110110!’ adapted to modem conditions. The music hall disp.de was also of great imjwrtapce, as it affect, d the fm lire terms of engagement of all m.isic. hall artists throughout Great Tlril :in am! Ireland, end the wages, hours, and roiuluheen ol service I of all musicians, stage ha'"!:;, eeroeihci’s, j etc., employed a.t music halU in jxaukm. I Of tin' thirteen cases in the boot ami shoe j industry, four had reference to applications j made ley the workpeople for a minimum | wage to he lixed, or for ihe raising of a,. ; minimum already in cxiaremo. Theawauis i made lie; a mini mam w, go rer Testers and J limsbers in J.omlon. for clickcis and press- j liven at IVcttf ling, and for a!! classes of j adult male hoot and shoe oper l fives at. j Ansley and at Slain ni. home of tho | building trades <• a;-es were ah-a. of import- j anec. neeitiing. as I hey d'd. i;m wages, j hours, or i■>>:i.!i-i;i.i of •■■■;..pliynu’iit of I various <ei eases oi worknmn in. the building } trades :»i t.ond-eii. MancTr, ;(or, Glasgow, j Birkenh'ad. V ake'iekl, and. Covcntrv. • Among tile caws which occurred in t!m printing and pnlilisliing Ir.uhs were those at 1 onihm. I Vni.-ga.w. Itfim, ami Beading. Tire awaid in i Ire Cla.cgow case lixca the rremnmiaiii.u of compositors employed on ns W-.spa per work: and that in the Bolton c-'igo t Lo Ki'iiinid-,.! K.u ol printers' auNLbU MVIXM IN CANADA. V. riling on his trip lomul (he world. .Ur \ J. Keir iln-ilio, deals with ihe cost 1 of living in I'anaiT'. Ho says: “The head 1 o, iy who earned l.COdol a mouth in iu3l would rcijuii, l to uni I‘l4dol in 1906 I to he as well oil'. Neialh.-s to say, there 1 ha? bean no such iiu roasv. Item has al- j m 0..,; doubled in ilia P n year;;. Fintiier j West it has trebled uni i(uadniplcd. The j great i'iaa> hj ~s b„,>n tho ireaire way in i which iiu l Government has permitted gambling in hind, hj ini: and again 1 met | men who a few ;.vais ag.> vase penniless. | an<l who non r -t-kon tin ir foMuncs hr tho ; hundred thousand dollars. ' j “The mod us operandi is pints simple, j .Say a now township is f- on to in- .v.rnu.d. i thereupon ill- hind iia.iis.ss swoej, down j UpOll the i.p.ot. ami buy ii’i.-m dm Govern- j ment sveiy available ;mro. The price paid. ! may I , ■■ from one las id;i ns dollars an acre, j This liny may either hold and sell out to i settlers, as Uiese come along, or they mav Kell at_ a substantial profit lo a second gang, of sharks. Whatever tho process, the end is the same ; the settler has got to pay from "GO to 1.5C0 dollars for a piece of land which was originally bought for as many cents. .-Vs the l town grows Live price keeps mounting. " Money is freely spent in booming the I place, and all sorts of more or loss bogus I inducements an- held out to lornpt unwarv | emigrants to come first there, and on to j them the land is unloaded with its flnan- i cial burden. Then, bavin:- extorted the ' Inst- farthing out of the rilme, the gang ' move on to repeat. the oiki ration elsewhere. I and the real working jet tier is left to meet , tiro condition of things which the sharks : have created, and to pay bv hi; toil for the fortunes which the swindlers Im v r> carried off. If saddens one,” in vs Mr TF.irdie. in the 'Labor Louder.’ "to see a gn/,‘

continent, teeming with natural wealth, bled white by a hoi'do of unscrupulous speculators.”