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Newspaper Page Text
AS USUAL, THE LAW IS RIGHTING WITH THE SIDE OF WEALTH NOT THE SIDE OF RIGHT BY JANE WHITAKER It was bitterly cold. I stood as close as I could to a fat "fly cop" in the hope that some"of-he chill wind might focus on him, but my feet became lumps of ice that gradually lost all feeling; my nose was stained as red as that of the "copper," chills chased up and down my back, and at the end of less than an hour I was defeated and sought a warm place where I might thaw out. , Yet, for two hours eight girls walked up and down and up and down in that freezing, biting, penetrating wind for the sake of a principle. They are the waitresses on strike at' Henrici's restaurant. If you have been reading the expensive advertisements Henrici's are running in the trust newspapers, you will declare there is no strike of the waitresses there but there is. Mabel Waumbaugh, one or the girls hurt by a cowardly officer in the, employ of Henrici's, is a girl who formerly worked in Henrici's., Moreover, she was pointed out to a detective by Collins, manager of Henrici's, who excitedly exclaimed: "Get that girl away from here." And, shortly afterward, an officer caught Mabel Waumbaugh by the arm and) twisted it so that when she reached the police station, her shoulder was wrenched and she had to go to a hospital. The principle these girls are fighting for is a living wage, and they have fixed tnis wage at wnat tne O'Hara .Welfare Commission calls "just above th bread line," $8 a week for six days' work; They tta not get this at Henrici's. They are paid $7 a week for seven days' w?rk. Out of this starvation wage fivelients.a day is taken by the employer for laundering aprons, and an average of thirty cents a day is paid by each-waitress to a bus boy, an employe jhose duty it is to re move the used' dishes from the table. As his, own, wage is also a "starva tion" one, the waitresses supplement it by tips, and ffie" girl who doe's not tip liberally sets poor service. . If 3waitfess makes a mistake in taking an order, or even perhaps you are gossiping with. a friend-ahd give your order carelessly only to decide Vhen it is served that you wanted roast beef and not roast mutton, the girl is forced to pay, out of that beg garly wage of $7 a week, the cost of the food you refused. "This is one cute little joker. You might ease your conscience by imag ining that since she pays for the food she is at least permitted to eat it or to take it away, but that would defeat the scheme of Henrici's and other restaurants who have this clever plan in operation. The order is either serv-. ed again to another customer, or you may get it served up in hash the next day. In some restaurants, if you want another piece of butter and the wait ress goes back to get it, she is fined ten cents for that extra piece of but ter that you consume. In Childs' restaurant, referred to by Carrie Alexander of the Waitresses' Union as the "six million-dollar trust," because it is backed by $6, 000,000 capital, Miss Alexander says that a girl is .fined 25 cents if you haven't your check when you get rip; that she is fined' 10 jcents if she has a crooked heel on her shoe, and that before she is employed she must buy uniforms from the six million-dollar trust at the cost of $8. In Henrici's the girls are require ' to do porter work inthelr spare tinK. The dining rooms contain 325 chairs.