Newspaper Page Text
'era -would regard such recommenda
tions, or not, after deliberation. .
C. F. Hunt
THERE'S A DIFFERENT STORY IN
THE MAKING.OF THE GLOVE
"When you passalong the aisles of
the Marshall Field department store
you see thousands of wonderful man
ufactured products. All these things
for sale come from the fingers of
women and children, the hands and
the machines of men.
"I wish shoppers could see pictures
behind the things they buy. Pic
tures of workers making the bargain
articles. Pictures of workshops
where people stand at their jobs. Pic
tures of homes where the working
people live.
"You stand, for instance, among
the while pillars and the beautifully
arranged spaces of Field's. It's all
clean and spick and span and smart.
"Well, you buy a pair of fine gloves,
the best domestic gloves to be pur
chased. Would it interest you to
know how the domestic gloves sold
by Field's are made?"
Thus spoke 'Agnes Nestor, presi
dent pf the Woman's Trade Union
league ana omcuu ul me giuve wurn- ,
ere" international union. She then
told how most of the high-grade j
gloves of this country are made in I
Fulton county, New York, and 7,000 J
glove workers tnere witnout a union
or a treasury or officers went on a
strike six months ago in blind, reck
less revolt against wages and work
ing conditions. Wage raises and bet
ter conditions went into force this
month as a result of the strike. A
union is ndw in the field
."Not a raise on wages was given
these workers in 17 years, though the
cogfrofcKving doubled,' said Miss Nes
tor. "The average wage of a glove
worker in this district was $13.30 a
week. It's a trade that takes three
years to learn. Men and women
work at it. In hundreds of homes 1n
Fulton oouaty workers have ma-
chines in their feomes. and cany the
gloves to and -fro between the fao;
tones.
"The 100 glove factories at Glovers
ville and the 50 at Johnstown near by
is the glove center of America. It's
a long workady, and a wage far under
the average of $13.30 a week for a
majority of the workers has prevailed.
Of the 7,000 'workers only about 1,500
were earning a decent living wage.
"I know that gloves I have seen
on sale at Marshall Field's and at
Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. and Man
dels were made in the midst of brutal
conditions. The testimony of women
before the N,ew York factory com
mission was not exaggerated. Some
of them, -with their men out of work,
toil f eyerishly to finish 20 dozen pairs
of gloves at 25 cents a dozen inside
of a weet. , ,
"I am Bore that some Chicago
women of imagination, and brains
would be haunted if they could know
the human cost pf gloves they buy on
State street. The Gloversville woman
who testified she dreams of gloves at
night and the evergreen trees look
like mitts to her, that she has sac
rificed her life irom the time she was
a girl of ll till now she is a woman
of 33, 1 say that WQnian.Is( a terrible
accuser it the industrial system of
today."
The Chicago, glovje industry em
ploys about.1,000.. Of thee a major
ity are organized, Miss Nestor said.
6 O r
MAYBE
Mrs. Whimper John, if; I should
die, would you marry again,?
Whimper Perhaps,- if thetrap was
set differently
y-O ,-e '
According to an. astrologer, wealth,
fame and political eminence await .
the Sayre' haby. Likewise mumje''
and measles and sundry and various
black eyes, if he's a real boy.
o o
If the Congregationalism keep on
criticizing Billy Sunday for being so
noisy, some New York restaurant
will hire him.
