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7. The employers said they would call a mass meeting of employers' some
time in the near future,-at which they would, lay dowrrtheir ideas as to what
the legislature ought to do about a mijiimum wage law.
"Dapper Jimmie" Simpson, vice president of Marshall Field .& Co.;'
E. J." Lehmann. of The Fair.-and JoseDh Basch. 'of Sie?el. CooDer & Co. (a.
fine gapgj, were spokesmen for the employers. - t
t ''Dapper Jimmie" Simpson brought forward a plan of the.employers, still A,
further to enslave their girl employes. . - (gjl
By this plan a million-dollar "Home" will be erected not by the em- f
ployers, but by public subscription in which the girl3 vyill belcept.
Simpson.said that prices in this "Home!'- would-be cost" and that a girl 1 1
would be able to get room and board there for about $2.75 or $3. ;
To show how generously Marshall Field & Co. would support this !
"Hpme," .Simpson said, in an off-hand way:
"John G. Shedd, president of Marshall. Field & Co., will contribute $1,000 1,
toward the building of this home, and the firm will contributeinother f ,
$T,000. So, of 'course, there will be no trouble about-raising the necessary
million dollars." , r
P'resum.ably, Simpson 'means by. "this that when people saw, the gfor- .i
ious names of Marshall Field & Co. and John C. Shedd at the head of the
subscription listfthey would just rush to pour their 'money into the fund.
Simpson did not go into how much' such a million-dollar "Home"
wojild cut down the liberty of the girls, whom the employers .would own
body and soul under that arrangement. t '
There were thirty-eight employers' represented at the secret meeting.
V , including nearly all of thope who were grilled before the commission during
ine jow wage inquiry.
The meeting was held in the forenoon, and did not last forany great Z
length of time.
Only the members of the commission and the- employers'-themselves
know all that happened behind the closed doors, of coarse.
But the general attitude taken by. the employers Js kno.wn. That at- "i
titude .was that the commission had better qujt investigating the evils of
low wages and go play tiddlewinks or some safe ganYe like that, and that ,
the commission had better tell the legislature that the" legislators would be
in real bad if any laws were passed which would interfere with the greed
of Big Business. , x - ,
Presumably the State Street Sjtore. Owners' union approved -this at
titudebefore Simpson," Lehmann and Basch made it plain to the commis
sion. ' -r
The State Street Store Owners' union, of course, is run by Marshall j
Field & Co. ' x I
The employers were not altogether a unit in thjs attitude, however, for'
apparently there was one or two human beings among them this morning.
These two or three employers told the commission that the commis
sion's investigation had revealed conditions in thejr own store that had been
undreamed pf by them, and that they were'thankful the commission's in
vestigation had revealed-these conditions to. them so they were, able tp
remedy them. ' ,"'
But there were only two or three of theid. , I
After the meeting with the employers, the 'senate commission ad- '
journed. v It is not likely to meet again until next Friday. , !
Lieufc-Gov. 0.'Hara defended himself for holding today's meeting in'i
private. " .
