The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume], October 26, 1892, Page 10, Image 10

About The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1892-1894

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10
TIIIU AX5VOOiLTm
"YOU OAWT 4 AOSE US."
fasti That Ouht to Silence the Bucfc
eye Tire Alarm.
To the Editor of Thb Advocatb:
Among the bannprs carried la the
People's party parada at MrPnereon on
Saturday, October 8, 1892, was one bear
ing the above quoted Inscription. I know
not who wrote the banner, or first orig
inated the idea that such a banner should
appear, but doubtlefs the party or parties
had some knowledge of the condition of
the poor factory laborers In Mr. Fora-
ker'a own etate, and the robber eyw m as
described by the labor commissioner of
Ohio In his report to the general assem
bly, through the governor, the Hon. J.
B. Poraker, In the year 1880, being the
last year of the ex-governor's administra
tion. Considerable attention was paid to this
banner. Many of our republican friends
thought it whs only used to cast reflec
tion upon their honored guest. Whatever
the Intention may have been I do not
know. As to Ifs appropriateness, I shall
leave that entirely with the reader after
he has carefully read the following evi
&6nc coming directly from an officer of
the ex governor's administration. I have
been Informed by reliable republicans
that the main part of the gentleman's re
marks related to the tariff and the great
benefits of the protective system to the
American Hborer and agriculturist
Much has been said by republican ora
tors In every part of Kansas about the
preamble to the People's party platform;
that Its declarations were false and en
tirely without foundation; that our lead
ers are guilty of gross misrepresentation
whioh should receive the condemnation j
of every free American citizen at the polls
In November. That the reader may fully
understand tbeee objectionable feitures
of the platform, I quote a few extracts
which have been branded as Infamous
falsehoods by republicans, and then I ask
that this commissioner's report be care
fully read In order to determine If there
is not some foundation for the statements
made in the platform.
What Is true In Ohio must likewise be
true In other states, as Ohio Is in no
worse condition than her sister states.
The following are some of the declara
tions so bitterly condemned:
The condl-itns whl'h surround ns best justify
our otvnperntton ; wrt mi In th midst of a na
tion nroujfht to Mm y rge of moral, poll'l-al and
material ruin; the pnit are demoral
ized; labor ImpnverMied ami the land
conofntratlnsr In the bands of th capitalists-
the fruits of the toll of million are bodily
stolen to build up cnilrtssal fortunes for the few;
from the same proline womb of (jovern
mental injustice, we breed two great classes
tramps aiid millionaires.
While the people of McFherson and
surrounding counties have been electri
fled with the beauties of protection, and
have been told that the present system
carries Jy into every home whose In
mates secure employment at the hand of
protected industry, I am sorry to say
there Is another side to this question
which, If Gov. Foraker bad seen fit to
present It, would have shown his hearers
that there Is just cause for complaint.
Upon the women of this nation largely
depends the perpetuity of our govern
tnent, and therefore the condition of the
woman wfcrlura of Ohio, which Is like
wise the condition of the same class In
other states, appeals to every Christian
mothe. sls'er and daughter in this land
that O 3. in his Infinite mercy, may re
veij a remedy for this condition ; that
tvee slaves of plutocracy may be eman
ofTtfed and once more enjy the bless
tiirt of liberty. Now, without further
comment! . rpy the following from the
republican labor commissioner of the
state of Ohio:
8tati of Oaio, )
BusiAtJ or Statistics r Labob.
Columbus. 0-, Not. 15, 1889. J
mlt to the general assembly, through you,
the thirteenth annual report of the bureau
of statistics of labor. A. D. Fassitt.
In submitting this, the thirteenth and last
annual report of the bureau of statistics of
labor, I bare but little to say in we way oi
introduction.
The year 1889 has been one of (Treat pros
perity and commercial activity. In thi con
nection it is pleasing to note that there have
been but few strikes or look-outs, and the
relation of employer and employe has ben
as friendly and harmonious as it is possible
for them to remain under the present over
crowded condition of the labor market.
Oa page 14, he says:
The average number of willing workers
out of employment is fully equal to 15 per
cent, of the whole number' of laborers,
bkilled and unskilled.
On page 63, the commissioner quotes
Carroll D. Wright, commissioner of the
United States bureau of labor statistics,
who says that fully 1,500,000 willing
workers are out of employment
Concerning the discontinuance of the
office, the commissioner says:
I had expected to remain in office until
February 15, 1891, the date when my com
mission expires. On February 24, a bill was
introduced in the house of representatives
by Mr. Oaurner. of Kiohlaud county, chang
ing the name of this department from the
bureau of statistics of labor to the bureau of
labor statistics. This bill passed the house
March 13, and the senate March 27.
The slight obange in the law bad the effect
of legislating the office of commissioner of
statistics of labor out of existence, an well as
my official connection with it. Upon the
signing of such bill, my term of office ex
pires. Some of the tables deduced from the in
vestigation of woman wage workers could
not be completed in the three days allowed
me. Several strike and look-out
tables are omitted for the same reason, and
a number of the counties must be left out of
the industrial census table. I offer this as
as explanation of some of the shortcom
ings that appear in this report.
The reader will readily see in whose
interest the law was changed. Under the
bureau of statistics of labor, the commis
sioner was required to make a correct
statement of the following facts :
1. Number of establishments employing
labor.
2. Amount of investment.
3. Number of hands employed.
4. Amount paid hands.
5. Amount paid for material.
6. Total amount of produots.
Thus it was an easy matter to ascertain
the net profit to the manufacturer, how
much each employe earned for the em
ployer, and the share of this profit that
labor received, as 1 shall show from some
of the quotations that follow. The im
position wastoo glaring to allow the peo
ple to be further Informed upon that
subject. Hence the change The people
must not be permitted to obtain this kind
of Information.
On page 23 of this report, I find the
following:
This brings me into a consideration of
the second suggestion the demoralization
of the gentler sex. In handling this branch
of a moat painful subject, I must necessarily
wound the feelings of many worthy persons,
but what I say shall be said in a spirit of
kindness, con a dent that a brave statement
of the truth will benefit most those wounded
deepest. I shall proceed with this investiga
tion in the spirit that the surgeon uses bis
knife on the patient he would restore to
health.
Public sentiment can only be aroused in
opposition to great wrongs by opposing
them. Slavery could never have been
abolished had the conscience of the nation
not been quioxened by exposure of the hor
rible details of slave life; and so of the hor
rors of factory life. Slavery itself was
soaroely more degrading. Its horrors scarcely
more revolting, and its effects scarcely more
damag'ng to good morals and good govern
ment than is fast becoming the result of the
displacement of men in the workshops with
women. As will be seen by ref erenoe to the
tables, a large majority of the women are re
ceiving less than $200 per annum, an
amount wholly insufficient to feed and
clothe them.
It has been clearly shown how this com
petition reduces the male wage worker to
the same conditions. This in itself is suffi
cient to quicken the conscience of the pub
lic to the dangers that are associated with
this system; but however horrible this pic
ture may be, the oorrodisg and corrupting
tendencies of the system are more alarm
ing. .
Continuing on page 24, the commis
sioner states ''that the women grow, to
learn that their presence is hateful to the
Joetvh B. Foraktr, 0mmor of Ohio:
L Bra: I have the honor to herewith trans-J men, and they reciprocate In kind. So
the essential element for social advantage
Is wanting."
Mr. Editor, shall I shrink from my task
to prove the terrible condition of the fac
tory hand, or shall I quote the language
of Gov. Foraker's commissioner of labor,
where he continues to say:
Men and women are often employed In
the same shops making immoral goods and
goods that suggeet immorality; they know
the character of the goods and their usee,
whioh only inoreaso the moral degradation.
(See preamble )
Many of the workshops where the sexes
are commingled have but one water-closet
for both. (See preamble). Slavery fur
nished few soenes more demoralizing than
are constantly occurring and recurring in
such shops men waiting to reoeive the key
of the closet from women, and vioe versa.
(See preamble). Such scenes and others so
revolting that a mention of them here would
subject this bureau to criticism, help to
divest women of thoee charms with whioh
nature has so richly endowed her and that
shine with such resplendent brilliancy while
filling the sphere she naturally adorns.
After deploring the condition of the
poor factory women, the commissioner
remarks:
I find it much easier to criticise than to
suggest a remedy. Legislation possibly can
avail nothing except in a few minor casts.
Something of the kind might; be
done by legislation that would smooth the
rough surface over a little, but the cancer
remains, gnawing its way deeper and deeper
into our social system. (See preamble). It
is indeed Bad to contemplate the degrada
tion to which this system is tending and be
forced to admit in that connection that no
adequate remedy oan be suggested. The
woman wage worker has come, and I fear
has come to stay. She has not come as an
angel in disguise, bearing blessings, but like
a dreadful frost in midsummer, blighting,
withering and destroying. She is in nearly
all the factories working at starvation
wages, displacing men wherever she appears.
(See preamble). She is not only in the
cigar, stogie, and tailor shops, but every
where that wheels are moving in workshop
or factory. She is in the glass f aotories, the
planing mills, carriage and iron works, and
wherever she is found she is doing the work
of man at one-half man's wages. (See preamble.)
I have purposely or otherwise omitted
the following sentence of the commis
sioner's report found on page 24:
I am not prepared to recommend the en
actment of a law that would remove women
from the workshops of Ohio as competitors
of men. Such a law would be unjust to
Ohio manufacturers, who must compete
with manufacturers outside the state per
mitted to employ women; and yet it seems
that nothing short of such enaotment will
remove the coil. It is sad, indeed, to con
template the degredation to whioh this sys
tem is tending, and be foroed to admit in
that connection that no adequate remedy
oan be suggested.
Can it be possible that proud America
and the loyal sons of freedom have
allowed a system to be built up in their
mid at that has for its victims the inno
cent mothers and daughters of our fair
land, dragging them down to the level of
the beast, 'and no hope for them in the
future? Then If there is no remedy for
this, Christianity has fallen far short of
its mission.
On page 28 I find the total number of
women employed in the factories of Ohio
to be 40.000, "working at starvation
wages, displacing men wherever they
appear." (Pege25. See preamble.)
On page 31 I find that these 40,000
women are supporting 13,000 dependents
on "wages wholly Inadequate to feed and
clothe them." (See page 24) Think of
this horrid state of affairs In Ohio, while
the ex governor is in Kansas preaching
the beauties of the present system.
On page 135 I find "General Summary
of Industries." From this I take but
two Illustrations the woolen and mis
cellaneous. The following figures will
assist those seeking information to ascer
tain the beauties of protection to the
manufacturer:
WOOL HOS1IBT AKD KiTO-flOODS.
Averaze number bands cmnloved 819
Capital $547 100 00
Araonnt paid to nanus , 14&2OS0O
Value of mttertal MSinooO
Value of produrts 843,040 00
Avraze amount paid each hand 178 S3
Average earning of ea-h hand 449 M
Average nei profit to manufacturer... 270 64
Or a net profit of $221,032 on an lnvest-
; " (Continued on pagt 11.)
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