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diff --git a/43040-8.txt b/43040-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 82627ac..0000000 --- a/43040-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3874 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Consumers and Wage-Earners, by J. Elliot Ross - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Consumers and Wage-Earners - The Ethics of Buying Cheap - -Author: J. Elliot Ross - -Release Date: June 26, 2013 [EBook #43040] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSUMERS AND WAGE-EARNERS *** - - - - -Produced by Caitlin Hesser, Odessa Paige Turner and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This book was produced from scanned images of public -domain material from the Google Print project.) - - - - - - - - - - CONSUMERS AND - WAGE-EARNERS - - - - - CONSUMERS - AND WAGE-EARNERS - - THE ETHICS OF BUYING - CHEAP - - - BY - J. ELLIOT ROSS, Ph.D. - - - NEW YORK - THE DEVIN-ADAIR COMPANY - 1912 - - - - - Copyright, 1912, by - THE DEVIN-ADAIR COMPANY - - - - - NOTE - - -J. ELLIOT ROSS is a member of an old and prominent Southern family. He -has long been an ardent student of economics, of sociology, and of the -enslaved condition of the Wage-Earner,--and _who, save the idle rich -and the social drone, is not a wage-earner_? Dr. Ross is a graduate -of George Washington University. The Catholic University of America -conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for this, his -excellent work in behalf of the Consumer, the Wage-Earner, and the -Oppressed. - - - - - TABLE OF CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I - THE POINT AT ISSUE 3 - - CHAPTER II - OBLIGATIONS OF THE CONSUMING CLASS 8 - - CHAPTER III - WHAT IS A JUST EMPLOYER? 38 - - CHAPTER IV - THEORY OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION 47 - - CHAPTER V - INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS: WAGES 66 - - CHAPTER VI - INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS: HEALTH 77 - - CHAPTER VII - INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS: MORALS 95 - - CHAPTER VIII - WHAT SHOULD THE INDIVIDUAL CONSUMER DO? 107 - - APPENDIX 133 - - BIBLIOGRAPHY 135 - - - - - - CHAPTER ONE - - THE POINT AT ISSUE - - -Have you ever stood in a country store and from the superior heights of -mature wisdom watched a chubby-faced, bright-eyed boy invest a penny in -a prize-bag? To you it is simply a paper enclosing a few nuts, a piece -of candy, and a variable quantity in the shape of a tin flag, an -imitation ring, etc. But to the child there is an excitement in getting -one knows not what. All the gambling instincts of the race that -squanders thousands upon the turf, all the love of adventure that -peopled our continent, are summed up in that one act. The child has, -perhaps, contentedly endured the routine of the farm for weeks in the -anticipation of this one moment of blissful joy when his anxious fingers -nervously reveal the delight or the disappointment. - - * * * * * - -Years have brought wisdom (or is it disillusionment?) and imitation -rings no longer have the same importance in our eyes. No matter how -wistfully we may look back, those days will never return. Yet prize-bags -may once again loom large in our intellectual horizon, though with a -difference. This time we look beyond the rosy-cheeked, healthy country -lad, bred amid the beauties of God's fields and nourished with -unadulterated home products, to the pale, nervous, over-worked girls who -spend their days filling these bags. In an ill-lighted, ill-ventilated -room, in a great dusty, dirty city they work feverishly for ten hours at -the rate of four cents a hundred bags. "They stand at a table with boxes -before them, from which they take peanuts, candy and prizes with quick -automatic motion. They turn down the corners of each bag, and string the -bags when full in long bulky curls of seventy-two."[1] - -Speeding to the utmost they cannot make enough to live on. A room in a -cheap boarding-house, morally and physically dirty, insufficient food, -and no chance for legitimate pleasures--this is the prize-bag life holds -for them. What wonder if the temptation to supplement these wages in the -way always possible for women prove too strong? Who is to blame? - -Is the little chap hundreds of miles away in the country, happily -unconscious of their existence, in any way responsible? This is the -question with which we are going to busy ourselves. - -Our little boy and over-worked girl are not, probably, typical Consumers -and Producers. Still they represent large numbers of the economic world, -and the solidarity of industry is such that one could not exist without -the other. In a way, the country lad is a shadow of President Taft -pressing a button to start the machinery of a world's fair. The child, -with wonderful effect on others, furnishes a portion of the nation's -industrial mechanism. In the satisfaction of his own desires, he is all -unconscious of this, and unconscious, too of the responsibilities of -power that modern social workers would thrust upon him. - -It was once, indeed, the object of reformers to excite a sense of wrong -in the oppressed. The fashion found expression in Thomas Paine's "Rights -of Man." Now their purpose is also to arouse a sense of obligation in -the powerful, and the change of front is indicated by Mazzini's "Duties -of Man." One duty after another has been forced upon the race's -conscience, and to-day the attempt is made to compel the final, and -some say the most powerful, element of the industrial world,--the -Consumer,--to shoulder his share of responsibility. - -Briefly, the line of argument is this: Laborers have a right to "a fair -wage for a fair day's work." If employers fail in their duty of meeting -this right, then the obligation neglected by the employers must be -assumed by those who also benefit by the laborers' work,--by the -_Consuming Class_. At first, the obligation is made abstract and -hypothetical in this way because of difficulties in establishing the -concrete content of the workman's right to a fair wage, and just what -line of conduct is incumbent upon the individual Consumer confronted by -this situation. Persons who readily agree that the laborer has a right -to a fair wage, and that if this right is violated the Consumer ought to -do something, will wrangle unendingly as to just what is a fair wage and -just what a Consumer ought to do. - -After fixing this general obligation upon the Consuming Class, however, -the other question as to whether the employers are actually neglecting -their duties towards their employees, and what the individual Consumer -can and should do, will be considered. - -The fixing of an abstract, hypothetical obligation for a whole class, -rather than a concrete duty for a particular individual, is not useless. -If it is proved, that, provided employers neglect their duties and the -Consuming Class can do anything to fulfill them, there is an obligation -upon the Consuming Class to carry out these duties--if this is -established, it is only necessary when a particular case presents itself -to ask: Have the men through whose labor this Consumer is benefiting -been unjustly treated by their employers, and can this Consumer, without -a disproportionately grave inconvenience, do anything to help them? - -Unless both questions are answered in the affirmative, this particular -individual Consumer can have no duty of fulfilling the abstract -obligation. This is much easier than working out the principle anew for -each case. It is the difference between blowing bottles and molding -them. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] "Women and the Trades," The Pittsburgh Surrey, by Elizabeth -Beardsley Butler: N. Y., 1909: p. 47. - - - - - CHAPTER TWO - - OBLIGATIONS OF THE CONSUMING CLASS - - -Practically all are agreed on the fundamental point that laborers have a -right to a fair wage for a fair day's work. Leo XIII has said, that -though contracts between laborers and employers are free, "nevertheless, -there is a dictate of natural justice underlying them more imperious -than any bargain between man and man, that remuneration ought to be -sufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner."[2] Later -in the same encyclical, he indicates that this wage should be large -enough to enable a workman to "maintain himself, his wife and his -children in reasonable comfort" (p. 237), and allow a margin for saving -against a rainy day. - -The present Pope, Pius X, has quoted these words of his predecessor and -agreed that workmen have a strict right in justice to a fair wage, time -to fulfill their religious duties, and freedom from work unsuited to -their age, strength, or sex.[3] The Rev. J. Kelleher, one of the most -recent and respected writers on the question, goes even further. "_The -right to work_," he says, "or some other right that will secure an -opportunity of providing for reasonable living to the less fortunate -members of the social body who do not happen to be possessed of -property, is an essential condition of any equitable economic -system."[4] - -Cardinal Capecelatro has said that each one has "a right to raise -himself towards the infinite, a right to the intellectual nourishment of -religion, and, therefore, a right to the time necessary for the worship -of God, a right to repose, a right to honest enjoyment, a right to love -in marriage, and the life of the home. In woman Christianity recognizes -with her function of child-bearing in Christian marriage, a right to the -time for the nurture of her children. In children it recognizes a right -to the supreme benefit of health, given them by God, but endangered by -overmuch work. In young girls it recognizes a right to such moderation -in their duties as may assure them health and strength. In all, -finally, it acknowledges the immortal soul, with its rights to -education, to salvation, to the time that these things need."[5] - -Now when Pope Leo and the other authorities quoted used the words -"right," "just," "duty," what did they mean? These words are often -employed vaguely and carelessly, but we may be sure that here they were -taken in a strict and well-defined sense, such as usually found among -Catholic ethicists. - -A right, as it is thus ordinarily defined, is "a legitimate power of -doing or acquiring something for one's own good."[6] - -The word power is not taken here in the sense of physical ability. It -means that moral potency or capacity without which nothing can be -acquired or recovered: for a person may have a right to do what he has -not the physical power to perform. "Legitimate" means granted by or -conformable to law: hence we have not a right to do everything for which -we have the physical power. - -Once we get this idea of "right" firmly fixed in our minds, the -concepts of "justice," "injustice," and "duty" easily follow. For -"justice," in a definition of Ulpian that has been accepted all down the -ages since, is simply the constant and perpetual will of giving to each -one his right.[7] And injustice, naturally, is merely a voluntary -violation of another's right. - -A "duty" is simply the obverse of a right, it is the obligation -corresponding to a right. Or as Bouquillon put it, it is "something -reasonably due from one person to another because of a necessary -connection between the end to be attained and the means used."[8] As the -end varies between justice and charity, so does the duty. In the one -case, our object is to fulfill the precept, "love thy neighbor as -thyself"; in the other, to give to each man what he has a right to have. - -The fundamental concept of a "right" may be looked at from four points -of view: (a) the _subject_, or who has the right; (b) the matter, or -_content_ of the right; (c) the _title_ or reason for the right; (d) and -finally, the _term_, or who has to respect the right. - -Asking these questions about the right at present under consideration, -we find that the subject of the right is each individual who -contributes to the production or distribution of the articles purchased -by the Consumer. The content of this right we have already given in the -words of Leo XIII and others. Briefly, it may be summarized as the right -to a decent living. - -On what grounds have employees these rights? By the very fact that they -are men; that is, intelligent beings destined for a supernatural end. -Therefore these rights are _connatural_, as belonging to them by their -nature; _inalienable_, because they cannot be renounced; _perfect_, -because so strict that the duties corresponding to them are matters of -commutative justice. - -And who has the duties corresponding to the workman's right to a decent -living? Primarily, the direct employer. He has a strict duty of justice -in the matter. If he fulfill it, then no one else is bound. But in the -case before us, we assume that the direct employer has failed to do his -strict duty of commutative justice to his employees. It makes no -difference whether the direct employer be formally guilty or not. He may -be unable to perform his duty, or he may wilfully neglect it. That does -not matter. _De facto_, he does neglect it. What then is the duty of -the Consuming Class? - -We think that the Consuming Class is bound to assume the obligations -that the direct employers have neglected. And we are going to support -this contention by four arguments. These arguments are: - -I. _The devolution of duty argument_: the direct employer has failed to -fulfill his duty, and this duty thereupon devolves upon the indirect -employer, the Consuming Class. - -II. _The value argument_: ideally, the buyer of an article is bound to -pay its value, and, as a general rule, if proper economy has been -exercised in its production, this must be sufficient to pay a living -wage to the men engaged in producing and distributing that article. - -III. _The co-operation argument_: the direct employer is guilty of an -injustice in which the Consuming Class is bound not to co-operate. - -IV. _The social argument_: it is for the common good that the average -employee should be paid a living wage. And since the Consuming Class is -merely the body politic, from one point of view, it is bound to -sacrifice the advantage of cheap buying for the sake of the rounded -advantage of the whole. - -I. We have explained briefly to what every employee has a right--that is -to say, what every employer must give his workmen, or commit injustice. -We have assumed, further, that the employee often does not get what he -has a right to have. - -Now, this is not always the employer's fault. Often an employer would be -glad to raise wages, to improve sanitary conditions, to shorten hours, -but the stress of competition prevents him. - -But the employer being unable or unwilling to pay a proper wage, etc., -what becomes of the employee's right? Does it cease? Has he no claim -upon anyone else? - -Those who would fix an obligation on the Consuming Class say that the -employee's right does not cease. He has a claim, they contend, upon all -who in any way benefit by his labor, the strength of the claim depending -upon the closeness of the relationship, the importance of the benefit -derived, and the injustice suffered. - -First of all, they point out, there is the rent-taker. But for the labor -of these men (assumed to be underpaid, etc.), there would be no return -out of which to pay rent. For the mere fact of ownership, which in -itself may not stand for any addition to the ground's productive -capacity, these men are allowed to take a part at least of what would be -necessary to raise the condition of the men producing the wealth to a -just standard. Therefore, because the rent-taker seems to receive the -most gratuitous benefit from the employee, the duty of the employer -devolves first upon him. If the employer fail, wilfully or not, to -fulfill his duties to his men, then they become binding upon the -rent-taker. - -Should he, too, fail, the laborer still has a claim. There is another -very important sharer in distribution--the interest-taker. It is true -that the product is the joint result of labor and capital. But when -there is the case of anonymous, impersonal capital receiving interest, -and living, breathing, human machines being under-fed and unprotected, -then humanity's claims supersede those of capital.[9] The inalienable -rights of the laborer, which Cardinal Capecelatro has so excellently -summarized, replace the alienable rights of the individual capitalists -based upon the mere possession of property. The interest-taker is bound -to give even the whole of his share to maintain a just standard of -wages, etc. And this principle is admitted in civil law by making wages -a first lien upon the product and exempting wages from legal action.[10] - -But if the interest-taker, also, be unwilling to fulfill his duties, -there is still an economic element upon which the laborer has a -claim--the Consuming Class. Production on a huge scale, the -interposition of wholesalers and middlemen of all sorts, shopping by -mail or telephone, should not disguise the fact that the Consuming Class -are really employers. It is only in an indirect way, it is true, but -still a real way for all that. If the direct employer, the rent-and -interest-taker refuse or are unable to perform their duties, then -(leaving aside the legislature for the present) these devolve upon the -Consuming Class _in so far as they benefit by the laborer's work_. - -This argument for the obligation of the Consuming Class is based upon -the devolution of duties. Here it may appear new and strange, because -applied to a new field, but it is admitted elsewhere as beyond -contradiction. If, for instance, parents will not or cannot support -their children, then the grandparents have just as real a duty towards -them as if they were their own immediate children. And if they, too, -neglect this duty, then it devolves upon collateral relatives until -finally it falls on mere neighbors. - -Likewise, the Consuming Class, it is claimed, if those whose duty is -prior to theirs refuse to perform it, must fulfill the duty that has -devolved upon them. The rent-and interest-taker may be unjust to the -employee and to them, but that is not a valid excuse. - -The same principle, though arrived at by a different process of -reasoning, underlies the dictum, coming to be more and more recognized -by legislators and economists, that the costs of production should be -borne by the Consumers. That is to say, that the risks of professional -hazard and accidents due to the carelessness of fellow-servants have -been transferred from the employee to the employer. Naturally then, the -employer compensates himself out of the price. - -II. This question of the duty of the Consuming Class towards the men who -make or sell the goods they buy, may be viewed from another angle than -that of the devolution of duties or the obligation of indirect -employers. Leaving out of consideration the idea of indirect employer, -it is further contended that the Consuming Class, simply as purchasers, -may be guilty of injustice in another sense. - -For what are the duties of the buyer? To pay the true "value" of an -article.[11] And what determines the true value of an article? Not -necessarily the price. - -This may be fixed by law, as is the case with bread in many large -cities. A loaf of a certain weight must be sold for five cents. Or we -may have the natural or market price, which is determined by common -consent. This is nothing more than the price resulting from the -interaction of supply and demand. - -But although ordinarily, justice is fulfilled if a person pay either the -legal or market price, neither is really based on justice. The price -fixed by law will come closer to being a just price. In a self-governing -community, it probably will not do a great injustice to either party for -any length of time. In this country its field is so limited, that it may -be disregarded in the present discussion. - -The market price, however, makes no pretense of being determined by -justice. It is the shrewdness of one man pitted against the shrewdness -of another, or even the greed of one against the other's need. One wants -to sell for as high a price while the other wants to buy for as low a -price as he can. When there are numerous buyers and numerous sellers, -all knowing their business pretty well, the result will be a close -approximation to what would be a just price, if the cost to the -entrepreneur producing the commodities or the person managing the -distributing agency were all that should be taken into consideration. In -a society where the actual producer sells directly to the Consumer, -where there is no production on an enormous scale employing hundreds and -thousands of hands who have no voice in fixing the price of the product, -then the price reached by the higgling of the market is likely to be -just. - -Under the medieval system of craftsmen and one or two journeymen or -apprentices who formed part of the household it was possible (by lack of -competition) to maintain the rate of reward by limiting the supply. "No -serious attempt was made to push trade or develop business, but only to -carry on each trade according to the habitual rate of reward. According -to this policy, the conditions of the producer were allowed to be the -first consideration, and the consumer had to pay a price at which these -conditions could be maintained."[12] - -But conditions of business have changed immensely since the Middle Ages. -The Industrial Revolution has brought big scale production, driving out -of existence the small producer ministering directly and immediately to -the wants of the community. Department stores have supplied the same -principle in the distributing end of industry, and very largely replaced -the small retailer. The employees of the big producer and distributor, -the ones most concerned, have no voice in fixing the price of the -article made or distributed by their labor. As a consequence competition -will often depress the price below the point where it will yield a -living wage to them. Not their rights determine this point, but what -crude irresistible hunger will force them to accept. Many times it is -only a difference between starving rapidly or slowly. But competition is -inexorable. - -It is true, that sometimes the actual producers or distributors may not -be getting living wages because the entrepreneurs or the rent-or the -interest-takers are absorbing too much. But ordinarily it is probable -that stress of competition between capitalists and between managers will -keep their shares within fairly moderate bounds. Capital competes with -capital for a share in production just as one firm competes with another -to secure a market for its product. Hence it may be reasonably presumed -in any given case, when nothing is known to the contrary, that where the -laborers are insufficiently remunerated, it is because the price -obtained for their product will not cover just wages. Nor are -appearances always a safe guide. A man who owns and manages a factory -(thus drawing by himself alone wages of management, rent, and interest) -may seem able easily to afford higher wages. Yet to divide his whole -income among all his employees might give only an inappreciable increase -to each. - -Therefore, it would seem that the principle of the market price being -just, cannot be applied strictly to-day. On the contrary, many persons -are claiming that the market price fixed by competition is usually -unjust. A better principle, a more fundamental principle, one that -really strikes its roots down into justice itself, would be to say that -a just price is one that will yield a just return to all concerned--the -actual laborers who produce the commodities, the clerks in the stores -that distribute them, wages of management to the entrepreneurs -concerned, and interest on the capital invested. - -Certainly if this be not done, the equality between the "value" of the -article and the price is not preserved. And as Ballerini says, "when the -equality is not preserved, so that the seller sells for more than the -highest price or the buyer buys for less than the lowest ... injustice -is committed."[13] - -But even though the price asked were sufficient to pay the employees -just wages and the entrepreneur simply refused to do it, would the -Consuming Class be justified in buying the article? It is contended that -they would not. For one of the duties of the seller is to give a just -title. And it would seem clear that one who hires a person to make a -certain article, playing upon his necessity to avoid paying what his -labor is worth, has not acquired a just title to the object produced. -There is something in that article for which he has not paid. Human -flesh and blood that has not been compensated for have gone into its -making. The seller not having a good title himself, cannot transfer such -to another. Persons who buy from him do not, therefore, secure a just -title, and hence, it is argued, commit a grave injustice by buying such -an article.[14] - -III. The third argument adduced in favor of an obligation on the part of -the Consuming Class is, that the purchase of articles made under unjust -conditions is co-operation in the injustice. It makes no difference -whether or not the employers are formally guilty of injustice. They may -be forced by the competitive system, as many contend, to underpay their -workmen. Nevertheless, material injustice at least is committed, and the -Consuming Class have no right to co-operate formally in what may be -merely material injustice for another. Yet the Consuming Class by buying -goods made under unjust conditions does co-operate, it is alleged, in -three ways: (A) as the recipient of the result of the injustice; (B) by -furnishing the means for the act; (C) and by counselling the action. -"For a co-operator is one who at the same time with another is the -cause of the injury, whether secondary or equally principal, whether -positive or negative. For there is not the same manner of co-operation -in all cases, but this is common to all, that one person should concur -with another to commit an injury."[15] - -(A) One of the ways of positively co-operating with an injustice, is by -receiving the results of the injustice. Thus a thief will not steal a -bulky piece of silver unless he has a fence to receive it, and the fence -becomes guilty of the theft by receiving the article. So a business man -will not manufacture an article and thus commit an injustice against the -laborers whom he underpays, unless he is reasonably sure some one will -receive this article after it is made. The persons who receive it, then, -or the purchasers, it is argued, are in the position of the thief's -fence: They are receiving an article that was obtained by injustice; and -it matters not whether the article was stolen outright or the injustice -committed in a more gentlemanly way. Nor does the fact of the -manufacturer committing the injustice to increase his profits, rather -than (as has been shown elsewhere) to meet a demand for cheapness on the -part of the Consuming Class, alter the situation. For a thief steals -for his own enrichment, not for the advantage of the recipient of the -stolen goods.[16] - -(B) One can co-operate in an injustice not only by receiving the -results, but by furnishing the means for committing the injustice, and -it is contended that the Consuming Class co-operate also in this way. -Nor is this simply a different name for the co-operation just -considered. For in the previous case, the Consuming Class co-operated -with an act already performed in anticipation of this co-operation. -Whereas in the phase now under discussion they co-operate with an act to -be done in the future. A concrete example will make this clear. Mr. ---- -invests $50,000 in the shoe business. After paying for his plant, raw -material, and the wages of his men until he has produced marketable -articles, he has practically nothing left. His continuance in business -depends upon his selling these articles to gain money for current -expenses. The purchasers of these goods co-operate (by receiving the -articles) in the injustice under which they are assumed to have been -manufactured, _and also_, by furnishing the necessary means, in the -injustice he will commit by manufacturing more under the same -conditions. - -(C) Nor is the Consuming Class's co-operation yet exhausted. For they -may be looked upon as truly counselling, voting for this injustice on -the part of the manufacturer. The Consumers do not go personally to the -manufacturer and urge him to produce a certain article at a certain -price, nor do they vote as specifically as an alderman for a contract -with a factory, but their action amounts to practically the same thing. -They go from one store to another seeking the cheapest price, and the -manufacturer knows this. To meet this demand (a very real, though to -some extent impersonal) demand for cheapness, the manufacturer commits -the injustice of underpaying his employees. It makes no difference -whether you call this "demand," or "counsel," or "voting," it is the -real cause of the injustice, and hence the Consuming Class are guilty of -co-operation.[17] - -It makes no difference if the Consumer knows that the injustice will -continue whether he purchase or not.[18] In purchasing he is guilty of -a moral wrong. For as a man who buys a ticket for an obscene show, -co-operates in this obscenity even though his money be not necessary for -its production, so do they participate in the manufacturer's -injustice.[19] Or, to give Ballerini's illustration, if ten men suffice -to launch a ship and an eleventh helps, certainly he is truly said to be -helpful.[20] In the same way, Consumers who buy an article that was made -under unjust conditions co-operate in this injustice even though it -would have taken place without the money received from their purchase. - -For these reasons, it is contended, the Consuming Class, in buying goods -made under unjust terms, co-operate in this injustice by receiving the -goods, by furnishing the means for committing the injustice, and by -urging such production by practical financial support. - -IV. We now come to the _social argument_, that is especially popular -to-day, though it is by no means new. It was familiar to the -Scholastics, and it was pithily formulated by Suarez as, "Public is to -be preferred to private good."[21] Aquinas expresses it more at length: -"For any individual in respect to what he is and has is related to the -multitude, just as a part is related to the whole: whence nature -sometimes injures a part to save the whole."[22] Elsewhere, Suarez -confers upon the civil law the power of binding in conscience because -"this power is necessary for the good government of the republic."[23] - -Various extremely important and far-reaching rights and obligations are -fixed by this argument. It is lawful, for instance, for the state to -kill criminals "if they are dangerous and injurious to the -community."[24] Ballerini says it is lawful to kill a criminal in so far -as it is ordained for the safety of the whole society.[25] But only the -properly appointed persons have this right, because greater evils would -befall the _state_ if each one were the judge in his own case. (L. c.) -And not only may the state directly kill a guilty person, it may also, -when necessary for the _common good_ indirectly kill an _innocent_ -person.[26] Wholesale organized slaughter, called war, is right and -proper when the good of the state requires it.[27] Whereas sedition is -wrong, because it violates the good of "public quiet and civil -concord."[28] - -Again, while suicide is unlawful, because, for one reason, a man is part -of the community and whoever kills himself does an injury to the -community, a man may yet lawfully expose himself to certain death for -the _good of the community_. Similarly, though it is illicit to cut off -a member of the body, because it is a part of the whole and cannot be -removed without injuring the whole (Aquinas, l. c., Q. 65, A. 1), -Liguori approves of at least one form of serious mutilation for the good -of the community.[29] - -Private property is justified because it tends to the peace of the -state.[30] Lehmkuhl determines the gravity of an injustice not only from -the injury done to the individual, but also, "from the injury and danger -which the public good and security would suffer, if it were allowed with -impunity."[31] - -Social necessity, then, is widely recognized as a valid proof for a -right or duty. The binding force of civil law, the wickedness of suicide -and self-mutilation, the morality of executing guilty and innocent, the -righteousness of private property, are all settled by this norm. -Therefore, since the social necessity of the average workman getting a -living wage is beyond contradiction, the Consuming Class, who benefit -especially by the labor of these workmen, are especially bound to see -that these rights are obtained. - - * * * * * - -We have now considered the arguments advanced to prove that justice -binds the Consuming Class to see to it that goods are made under fair -terms. These arguments may be summarized as follows: - -I. Because as indirect employers the Consuming Class are bound to -maintain just conditions for those whom they indirectly employ. - -II. Because as buyers the Consuming Class are first bound to pay the -full value of the article, which must include sufficient to give the -persons employed in its manufacture and distribution a living wage, -etc.; and secondly, because the Consuming Class are bound not to buy an -article to which the seller has not a just title, the seller of an -article made under unjust conditions not having a just title since there -is work in the object for which he has not paid. - -III. Because the Consuming Class would co-operate in an injustice in -three ways: (A) by receiving the goods made under unjust conditions; (B) -by furnishing the means for committing the injustice; (C) by urging such -production by this practical financial support. - -IV. Because the Consuming Class are bound to seek the social good, and -that demands the payment of fair wages. - - - II - -So far we have considered only the arguments for an obligation of -justice on the part of the Consuming Class. But may there not also be a -duty of charity? - -Certain general considerations relating to this second of the two -greatest commandments, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," must -be referred to before answering that question. - -The precept of charity requires us to love our neighbor as ourselves. -And by the term neighbor we mean everyone. No religion, "race, color, -or previous condition of servitude" removes a man from the category of -our neighbor. A Christian's love must be all embracing. T. H. Green has -well said that progress in civilization has been an enlargement of the -meaning of neighbor and neighborliness. The meaning of these terms, once -confined to one's relatives, then extended to one's city, tribe, nation, -has now widened out until it embraces the world. - -But while we must look upon everyone as our neighbor, and love him as -ourselves, this does not mean that we must love each one in the same -degree. We must love him as ourselves, but not necessarily _as much as_ -ourselves. We must have a universal internal love by which we wish our -neighbor well in his spiritual, corporal, and material goods and succor -him in necessity. - -Yet the amount of good we wish him, and the strength of the obligation -to effect it, vary both with the special relationship existing between -us and our mutual conditions. By mutual conditions, is meant his state -of indigency and ours of prosperity. Almost innumerable grades of -necessity may be distinguished, but for present purposes four will be -sufficient: (1) extreme necessity, in which a person is in danger of -death, or will be very shortly; (2) quasi-extreme necessity, in which -one is in danger of falling into extreme necessity or a grave evil, -either perpetual or lasting for a long time; (3) grave necessity, where -one suffers a serious evil, but not for so long a period, or not so -great; (4) common necessity, when one experiences some inconvenience, -but not grievous inconvenience. - -The obligation varies, too, with the conditions existing on our part. -For if the duty of succoring our neighbor from our own goods is to bind, -we must be in possession of superfluous goods. Otherwise our own need -would have a prior claim. Material possessions may be superfluous to -life, that is, just more than enough to keep body and soul together; -superfluous to our state in life, or goods without which we should have -to sink to a lower social plane; or superfluous to the decency of our -state, those over and above what are required even for the proper -support of our family in accordance with the usual custom of those in -the same position, the education and starting of our children in life, -the giving of charity, gifts, entertainment of guests, etc. This last -class of goods may be called absolutely superfluous. - -Now, it would not seem rigoristic (especially in these days when the -right to any private property is seriously questioned) to say, that a -person in extreme or quasi-extreme necessity is to be succored from -goods that are necessary to the decent support of our station in life. -One merely in grave or common necessity need be helped only out of -absolutely superfluous goods. This would certainly be the minimum that -any Christian would require. - -But this obligation also varies directly according to the closeness of -our relationship with the person in want. A connection of blood, whether -direct as between father and son, or collateral as between uncle and -nephew, evidently produces stronger reciprocal obligations of charity -than simple kinship through Adam. So, too, there is a stronger bond -between those who have assumed artificial relationships, such as a -pastor to his people, or those of the same religious faith, or those in -the same social class, or those who have acquired, whether voluntarily -or not, associational or economic ties. A captain, for example, has -greater obligations of charity towards a man in his own company than -towards one in another company, towards one in his regiment than towards -one in another regiment, and so on. - -Certainly not least strong among these artificial relationships of -society is that of employer and employee. There was a time in social -organization, when the permanent subjection of Gurth to Cedric brought -out more clearly the mutual obligations. The ties of the relationship -seemed stronger because more lasting. Fortunately or unfortunately, the -right of free contract has abolished this permanency. Men wander from -one employer to another, from one city to another, from one country to -another. But no transitoriness of employment, no mobility of labor, -should obscure the fact that while the relationship of employer and -employee lasts, there also exist special and stronger obligations of -charity between the two. - -Not as strong, probably, as between master and serf, yet nevertheless -too strong to be entirely fulfilled by the simple payment of the current -wage. As Carlyle says, "Never on this Earth was the relation of man to -man long carried on by Cash-payment alone.... Cash-payment never was, or -could except for a few years be, the union-bond of man to man. Cash -never yet paid one man fully his deserts to another: nor could it nor -can it, now or henceforth to the end of the world.... In brief, we shall -have to dismiss the Cash-Gospel rigorously into its own place: we shall -have to know, on the threshold, that either there is some infinitely -deeper Gospel, subsidiary, explanatory, and daily and hourly corrective -to the Cash one: or else that the Cash one itself and all others are -fast travelling."[32] - -That infinitely deeper Gospel is the teaching of Christian charity. This -tells us that there is another bond between employer and employee than a -mere "cash-nexus." The needy employee has a claim upon his employer in -preference to others, and the employer must discharge it before -dispensing charity to those in no greater necessity who stand in no such -relation to him. Charity begins at home, and the employee is closer home -than one related simply by the tie of a common nature. - -Of course, the relation between the direct employer and his workmen is -more obvious than that between the Consuming Class (which we have called -the indirect employer) and these same men. But the relation of the -latter is none the less real and important for being obscure. -Ordinarily it will probably be less close than that of the direct -employer, but circumstances are conceivable in which the situation would -be reversed. - -And certainly it would seem that the benefit which the laboring class -confers upon the Consuming Class is such that there is some special -claim arising upon their charity. Not labor in itself but consumption is -the object of work, and this terminus of all activity, the Consuming -Class, would seem to be bound both in justice and charity to see that -their own satisfaction is not attained at the cost of the comfort and -happiness of those who minister to it. - - * * * * * - -We may conclude, then, that if the direct employers fail to fulfill -their duties towards their employees, that the Consuming Class, as being -a beneficiary of the work done, are bound to assume these duties. As -yet, however, the obligation is abstract as being fixed upon a class and -not some particular individual about to purchase an article; and it is -hypothetical as simply assuming that employers neglect their duties. - -The further question now presents itself: Do employers actually neglect -their duties, and what can and should the Consumer do? - -FOOTNOTES: - -[2] Great Encyclicals of Leo XIII, "On the Condition of Labor," p. 236: -N. Y., 1903. - -[3] "Pope Pius X on Social Reform," London, 1910: p. 8. - -[4] Kelleher, "Private Ownership," Dublin, 1911: p. 174; cf. also p. -179. Italics added. - -[5] "Christ, the Church, and Man," p. 74: St Louis, 1909. - -[6] Gury: "Compendium theologić moralis," n. 579: De just. et jure: -Ratisbon, 1874. - -[7] See Appendix, 1. - -[8] See Appendix, 2. - -[9] Cf. John A. Ryan, "The Church and Interest-Taking," p. 31: St. -Louis, 1910. - -[10] Cf. Bull. U. S. Bur. Lab., Jan. 1, 1911, pp. 876, 878, 881. - -[11] Cf. St. Thomas, Summa, 2a 2ae, Q. 77, A. 1-2; St. Alphonsus, Lib. -IV, Tr. V, n. 793. - -[12] W. Cunningham, "Christianity and Social Questions," p. 114: London, -1910. - -[13] See Appendix, 3. - -[14] Cf. Liguori, l. c. - -[15] See Appendix, 4. - -[16] Cf. De Lugo, XIX, II, 4-5. - -[17] Cf. De Lugo, L. c., XVII, II, n. 37. - -[18] L. c., n. 16, n. 19. - -[19] Liguori, Lib. IV, Tr. IV, n. 427. - -[20] Ballerini, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 696-7. - -[21] See Appendix, 5. - -[22] See Appendix, 6. - -[23] See Appendix, 7. - -[24] Aquinas, l. c., Q.64, A.2. - -[25] L. c., Pt. I, Tr. VI, Sec. V, n. 49. - -[26] Liguori, l. c., Lib. IV, Tr. IV, n. 393; Ballerini, l. c, n. 62. - -[27] Liguori, l. c., n. 402. - -[28] Ballerini, l. c., n. 126. - -[29] Liguori, l. c., n. 374. - -[30] Aquinas, l. c., Q.66, A.2; Noldin, l. c., De Sept. Praec., n. 368, -ed. 8a. - -[31] See Appendix, 8. - -[32] "Past and Present," Bk. III, Ch. X. - - - - - CHAPTER THREE - - WHAT IS A JUST EMPLOYER? - - -The terms "fair wages," "reasonable comfort," "living wage" have often -been used in the previous discussion. No attempt was made to make them -more definite because it was not necessary at the time. Employers were -simply assumed to violate the standard represented by these expressions. -But if we are going to decide _de facto_ that employers are actually -neglecting their duties, we must manifestly have some norm by which to -judge them. - -What is this standard? - -At first sight, this may seem easy to define. But its apparent ease is -an illusion. Even the simplest and least questionable standard, that of -bare subsistence (and to simplify it still further, restrict the -consideration entirely to the question of food), is extremely elusive. -Of course a man needs some clothing, a certain amount of fresh air, and -a shelter from the weather. But we shall have a sufficiently -complicated problem without introducing these factors. - -How much food, then, does a man need to repair the daily waste and keep -him in good physical condition? This depends to some extent upon the -character of the work he does. A stevedore needs more food than a clerk. -It will depend, too, upon the climate. Those in northern latitudes -require more food, and usually of a more expensive kind, than those -living in the tropics, and they ought to have more in winter than in -summer. Again, racial characteristics must be taken into account. A -Chinese coolie may get fat on fish and rice, or an Italian may do well -on cheese and macaroni, while an Anglo-Saxon would starve on such a -diet. - -In addition to all these points, there is an individuality about the -digestive organs that must be weighed. With our exact chemical science -it looks simple enough to calculate how much muscle and blood and -nervous force are lost in doing a certain amount of work, and just how -much food would be required in a given time to make good that loss. This -would be easy if we could buy muscle and nervous force done up in neat -packages and simply apply them where needed just as we apply a coat of -paint to a weather-beaten house. But, unfortunately, we cannot do this. -The brawn and nerve must be bought in entirely different forms, broken -up by certain interior organs, and gradually sent by a long and -complicated assimilating process to the point requiring them. And what -becomes of the subsistence standard if the organs of some people refuse -to assimilate what those of others heartily relish? or if at different -periods, and for no apparent reason, the same man can get no strength or -satisfaction from what he formerly craved? - -But if we cannot tell what mere subsistence requires are we not getting -even vaguer when we add an indefinite "more" to it? When people talk of -"frugal comfort," "decent livelihood," "living wage," etc., what do they -mean? Do these terms mean to-day just what they did fifty years ago or -will mean half a century hence? - -A little reflection will show us that they do not. They are largely -relative. When the gentry scorned to read and write, farm hands could -hardly consider it an injustice not to have instruction in the three Rs; -and when everybody went barefoot, it would have been foolish to riot -for shoes. As means of production are perfected, as we get away from the -danger of starvation, always threatening primitive nomadic peoples, the -standard of living of the more fortunate rises, as does that standard -which they are willing to allow the lower classes, and which the lower -classes demand. - -As a consequence, what is looked upon in one age as just and generous, -may in another be considered thoroughly unfair. Concrete standards of -justice vary with the time and are soon superseded by others. This is an -important fact, and it must be mastered before one can use the current -standard with honesty or intelligence. The principle of justice upon -which the changing concrete standard is based, the moral right of each -individual as a human being to the fullest development of all his -faculties consistent with such rights in others, is doubtless -unchanging. But it is conditioned by the stage of production that -society has reached, upon how much there is to go round; and the wage -necessary to secure this standard is conditioned by governmental -supplement such as free education, insurance, etc. It would seem -impossible, therefore, to determine the exact wage that a particular -individual is entitled to until we can determine the total net product -and this individual's contribution to it as compared with other -individuals. We are not aware that this has been done. - -The attempt has been made, however, to establish both the absolute -minimum standard and this relative standard. In the sixteenth volume of -the report of the United States Bureau of Labor on "Woman and Child -Wage-Earners in the United States," the former is fixed at $400.00. But -have we an absolute minimum below which wages could not fall without -endangering existence when a girl of ten and a boy of six are allowed -more money for clothing than their mother? - -Upon the relative living wage, whole volumes have been written. But they -would seem either to deal with the concrete expression of the standard -of a particular class, or, if they do attempt to establish the right of -individuals here and now to a particular remuneration in money, they do -not quite prove their contention. - -But there are people who believe that the right of the laborer to a -specific wage (and hence the employer's obligation of paying it) can be -demonstrated. Dr. John A. Ryan, whose treatise on "The Living Wage" has -attracted marked attention, has made such a claim for an estimate of -$600.00 as a family living wage in cities of five hundred thousand or -over in the United States.[33] - -This was in 1906 and the cost of living has advanced considerably since -then. Dr. Ryan would probably, therefore, not consider too high the -estimate of the Bureau of Labor (l. c.) of $600.00 for cotton mill -operatives in the South. Under this standard, the father supports the -family, the mother stays at home looking after the house, and the -children go to school. It includes insurance. - -Now for the sake of argument let us assume that laborers have a strict -right in justice to a standard represented by $600.00 a year in a -Southern mill town. I must reluctantly admit that $600.00 cannot be -proved conclusively to be the sum to which all laborers have a right. -But for the time being we shall take it for granted, and from the -standpoint of this assumption judge the justice or injustice of -industrial conditions. - -I have said that I do not think that this obligation can be _proved -conclusively_, that is, as conclusively as a proposition in geometry. -But I do think that it is capable of the same proof that we have for -many other moral truths that pass unquestioned. We must beware of -applying to new propositions that corrosive logic which, if impartially -exercised on old and new alike, would destroy the very basis of -morality. - -This principle, that moral truths cannot be absolutely demonstrated, is -generally admitted and many concrete examples could be given from -prominent ethicists: thus De Lugo in speaking of so fundamental a -question as the unlawfulness of suicide, does not hesitate to say: "The -whole difficulty consists in assigning a reason for this truth: for -though its [suicide's] turpitude is immediately apparent, it is not easy -to find the foundation of this judgment: whence (_a thing that happens -in many other questions_) the conclusion is more certain than the -reason adduced by various authors for its proof."[34] - -Again, Ballerini, in treating of the unlawfulness of one of the sins -mentioned by St. Paul in the sixth chapter of his first Epistle to the -Corinthians, remarks that "it is most difficult to assign a reason for -this." Then, after rejecting all the reasons usually brought forward, he -adds: "It must be admitted that there are some practical truths -necessary for the right association of men with each other, which men -feel and perceive by a sort of rational instinct, whose reason, -nevertheless (at least a demonstrative one), when these same men seek it -analytically, they find it hard to discover. It would seem that nature, -or the Author of our nature, wished to supply the defect of the exercise -of reason by an instinct or rational sense of this kind: ... Among the -truths of this nature, the one of which we treat happens to be -found."[35] - -If unquestioned authorities like Ballerini and De Lugo admit their -inability to prove such fundamental and important obligations (it will -be noted that De Lugo says there are _many_ such) as those of -refraining from the above mentioned sins, it need not surprise us to -find that the obligations of Consumers cannot be proved _apodictically_. -It would be foolish, therefore, to claim absolutely to demonstrate this -obligation. All that can be done is to adduce the same proofs that -Aquinas, Suarez, and other master minds have used to fix other duties, -and show that they have equal force in the present discussion. It is -simply the familiar argument _a pari_, and the claim would seem -reasonable, that any objectors meeting these arguments on purely -rational grounds, must show that they do not equally apply to this -obligation, or else deny their force as proof for the other duties. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[33] Others have approximated this estimate, though possibly without -giving it exactly the same ethical implications as Dr. Ryan. Thus -Chapin, "Standard of Living in New York City," N. Y., p. 245, claims -$800.00 as the minimum for New York City. Miss Butler, "Women and the -Trades," N. Y., p. 346, says $7.00 a week for a single woman in -Pittsburgh. The United States Bureau of Labor in the third volume of its -report on "Woman and Child Wage-Earners in the United States," p. 560, -declares for $2.00 a week per capita. - -[34] See Appendix, 9. - -[35] See Appendix, 10. - - - - - CHAPTER FOUR - - THEORY OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION - - -Modern industrial conditions may be considered either _a priori_ or _a -posteriori_, either theoretically or _de facto_. We may examine the -principles of economic organization, and conclude that they will or will -not lead to low wages; or we can go to the facts themselves, and decide -from an examination of actual conditions whether or not wages are low, -etc., always remembering the standard we have adopted. - -Beginning with the first method, we may, speaking roughly and with -sufficient allowance for monopolies, say that we live under a -competitive system. Men compete with others for their share in the -product of industry. Goods are not put in one general fund and -distributed according to each one's needs. Nor are they awarded to suit -the whim of some ruler. Undoubtedly our present industrial organization -is individualistic rather than socialistic, and its chief characteristic -is probably a rivalry between its various members. Some assume that -competition is universal and unrestrained. Then they draw conclusions as -to the present system from what would happen if such competition -prevailed. Others forget that competition is as universal as it really -is, and that it exists not only between laborer and laborer to get the -job, but between capitalist and capitalist to secure the laborer. - -To subscribe to either of these errors will vitiate any conclusions as -to social policy. For if unrestrained competition have certain evil -tendencies, we cannot therefore assume that the present restricted form -will have such results. And the fact that competition exists between -capitalists as well as between laborers has very wide-reaching -implications. It means no less than that competition may raise wages as -well as lower them. - -The average person is apt to look upon an object as drawn only to the -earth by gravitation. He forgets that the same force is also pulling at -it in an opposite direction. And in the same way the average person is -likely to forget that competition is continually pulling wages both up -and down. If we imagine some object suspended between the earth and the -moon, and being constantly drawn towards each according to some power -inherent in them which varies from time to time so that the object now -approaches one and now the other, we shall have a rough illustration of -how competition affects wages. - -We can look upon the amount of wages as the object of attraction between -competition on the part of laborers and competition on the part of -capitalists. According as competition among capitalists is keen as -compared with that among laborers, wages will rise, and vice versa; just -as when, in our illustration, gravity was strong in the moon, the object -rose towards it, and when it was stronger in the earth the object fell -towards that body. But in both cases the result is due to the same -force, though acting from different points. It would be an error, -therefore, to attribute all the evils of our present system to -competition, and all the good to some other agency. Competition has good -results as well as bad, and this two-fold influence must always be -remembered. - -Doubtless absolutely unrestrained competition between laborers with no -corresponding rivalry between capitalists would depress wages. But such -competition does not exist. Competition is not absolutely unrestricted. -It is limited by organization among the workmen, by legislation, by -natural ability, and in various other ways. As a result, the effects are -limited in various ways. If a bricklayers' union is strong enough -practically to eliminate competition between this class of laborers -while capitalists compete with each other to obtain their services, then -the working out of competition has been modified in such a way as to -have an upward effect upon wages. - -Competition, then, is not necessarily bad. In many cases, competition is -not only the life of trade, but the builder of character as well. As a -whole, those who have to earn their living amid keen business rivalry -are more energetic, quickwitted and resourceful than those government -employees who live in a somewhat listless, non-competitive atmosphere. -And the superiority of Western to Eastern civilization and character may -be due to the fact that there competition has been too much limited by -caste systems, repressive legislation, and unchanging custom. - -Under the restricted form of competition existing to-day, many employers -pay living wages and treat their employees fairly in every way. Indeed, -the entrepreneur sometimes finds it to his advantage to give his -employees even more than strict justice would demand. When competition -for workmen is keen between employers, certain inducements may be -necessary to prevent experienced men leaving and to avoid the consequent -loss of breaking in new laborers. - -At any rate we find that many employers do all that can reasonably be -expected. For instance, in contrast with the conditions of the garment -trade prevailing in many places, the Pittsburgh Survey found two -factories in that city to be run on excellent lines. They were -well-lighted by large windows, the ventilation was good, the walls newly -whitewashed, and the floors swept and scrubbed. In one, indeed, the -upper windows were opened at intervals, and the work-rooms had windows -on three sides. (Butler, l. c., p. 109.) Nine others were good because -they were swept daily and exhibited a manifest standard as to a -work-room (l. c., p. 107). One firm, too, was found to allow its -employees to share in its progress. Thus when new buttonhole machines -were introduced a few years ago the girls could turn out a third more -work than formerly, but they were paid at the same piece-rate (l. c., -pp. 119-120). - -The variation between individual stores as regards wages will be shown -from the following table, adapted from page 121 of the first volume of -the Pittsburgh Survey: - - -------------+-----------+---------------+-------- - | | Weekly wages | - Article | No. of +-------+-------+ Average - manufactured | operators | Min. | Max. | - -------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------- - Shirts | 15 | $ 6 | $12 | $ 7 - Shirts | 1 | 10 | 10 | - Shirts | 3 | 8 | 10 | 8 - Shirts | 24 | 6 | 8 | 8 - Shirts and | | | | - Overalls | 39 | 4 | 12 | 8 - Overalls | 26 | 6 | 10 | 8 - Overalls | 75 | 6 | 10.5 | 7 - Shirts | 5 | 7 | 11 | - Shirts | 18 | 7 | 14 | 10 - Shirts | 51 | 5 | 15 | 8 - Shirts | 7 | 6.5 | 12 | 8 - Pants | 114 | 4 | 14 | 9 - Pants | 37 | 3 | 12 | 8 - Pants | 6 | 3 | 9 | 7 - Pants | 284 | 4 | 9 | 7 - Pants | 10 | 4 | 9 | 8 - -------------+-----------+-------+-------+-------- - -Such differences are reproduced in all the needle trades.[36] - -Similar distinctions are also found in laundries. A very few have -properly constructed plants, with wash-rooms on the upper floors and -some arrangement for carrying off the inevitable steam (Butler, l. c., -p. 170). In one, however, there are "exhaust pipes over the mangles, and -fans in the walls, and there are windows along the side. The feeders are -seated while handling small work, and the folders have comfortable -benches" (p. 174). Wages, too, are considerably higher here than in -other laundries. Four laundries in Pittsburgh have adopted an improved -cuff-ironing machine which saves the operator from the extreme physical -exertion of the old style (p. 182). A North Side laundry has set aside a -bright sunny section of the building "for a lunch-room; there are -attractive dishes, tables covered with white cloths, comfortable chairs. -The noon interval is an hour and a half" (p. 312). - -Turning to mercantile houses we also find a great contrast. Some provide -only half a dozen chairs for five hundred girls, while others do not -allow chairs to be used at all.[37] Many stores have a working week at -Christmas of from seventy-two to eighty-four hours without extra pay -(Butler, l. c., p. 303). "Some employers are generally reputed among -salesgirls to assume that their women employees secure financial backing -from outside relationships, and knowingly pay wages that are -supplementary rather than wages large enough to cover the cost of a -girl's support." (L. c., p. 306.) Indeed, some employers frankly admit -this and advertise for sales-women, "preferably those living at -home."[38] - -Compare with these stores the one that "exemplifies a higher standard at -each point under discussion; in the comprehensiveness of its ventilating -system; in its observance of the spirit of the law in providing an -average of four seats to a counter for its employees; in the fact that -it has no Christmas overtime; ... and finally in its wage standard.... -Seven hundred girls are paid $7.00; ... one hundred girls are paid $8.00 -to $10.00, and sometimes $15.00 in the case of a head of stock." -(Butler, l. c., p. 304.) - -Some glass factories furnish shutters over the leer-mouths to protect -employees from heat;[39] prevent radiation from the melting tanks by -various devices (l. c., p. 79); provide blue glass screens at the glory -holes (ib.); artificially cool the shops in summer (l. c., p. 80); work -shorter hours (p. 98); eliminate night-work (p. 104); provide hoods and -exhausts for the etching baths (p. 322) and the sand blasts (p. 317). In -one woolen factory the milligrams of dust in a cubic centimeter of air -were reduced from twenty to seven by the installation of an -exhauster.[40] - -The fact, too, that organizations such as trade unions and consumers' -leagues can allow the use of their labels to certify that an article has -been made under fair conditions, is a striking confirmation of the fact -that some manufacturers do maintain proper factories and treat their -employees justly. - -Nevertheless, competition has a black as well as a silver lining. It is -self-evident that for any length of time laborers cannot get more than -the total product of their work coupled with the necessary capital. Nor -will it be denied that capitalists will always be in a position to -appropriate a part of this joint product, how much depending very -largely upon the relative supply of capital and labor and the keenness -of competition between them. The share that is left and which goes to -the laborers is not divided equally. It is distributed competitively. -Those who are economically strongest seize what they can, and the -weaklings must be content with the remainder. Frequently this is not -sufficient to afford them the standard we are considering, but they are -helpless to remedy matters. - -And there are some things that tend to keep this share at a minimum. -Industrial organization is not simply a case of competition between -capital and labor, but capitalists are competing with capitalists as -well as with laborers, and laborers with each other as well as with -capitalists. The result is that the weakest parties to this fray get hit -hardest, and their only hope would seem to be the addition of some other -check to competition that will prevent the present distressful -consequences. This is not to say, as Socialists argue, that competition -is to be abolished entirely, for we have seen that it may really have -excellent effects for the workman. Rather it is to be harnessed and -guided into beneficent channels, as a miller directs a stream to turn a -wheel. He does not destroy the stream but makes it do his will. - -An analysis of industrial society will show, I think, that despite the -good work the stream of competition is doing, there is a little eddy -undermining the bank and working havoc in some places. The description -of one phase of competition, even though it be isolated from the rest, -will probably give a correct enough idea of how this force while working -out to the advantage of some, is resulting in harm to others. The -considerations that must be omitted in a short sketch do not change the -matter essentially. They limit the hardship wrought, but they do not -prevent a considerable number of workmen from being mercilessly ground -down. - -Modern industry, then, is organized for sale, not use. Business men care -nothing about what they manufacture so long as they can find a -profitable sale for the article. The typical employer makes shoes not -because he likes to, as an artist may paint a picture. He does it -because he thinks a sufficient number of purchasers will want this -commodity at a price paying him for his trouble. - -But to get these purchasers he must (unless he have some sort of -monopoly) offer his product at a price no higher than other -manufacturers are willing to take for the same article. If he deviate -only a few cents, the expert buyers of retail stores will know it and go -elsewhere. There is a constant demand for cheapness, a universal -eagerness to "get your money's worth"; and factories and retail firms -must meet it, or see their trade taken away by competitors. The intense -desire of individual buyers for minute savings of a cent here or a -fraction of a cent there, becomes, in the aggregate, an irresistible -Demand with a capital D, "a blood-power stronger than steam," compelling -the retailer (who in his turn reacts upon the manufacturer) to sell -cheap. "The phenomena of sweating are a standing warning against the -dangers that are inherent in unregulated competition.... The underlying -cause of the evil," affirms a noted English economist, "is certainly to -be found in the indiscriminate preference of the public for that which -is low-priced."[41] - -The seller, then, must meet the Consumer's demands; and since these are -for cheapness, he must sell cheap. But how can cheapness be obtained? -Only by cutting down the expenses of production. Other manufacturers -possess the same machinery, about the same advantages of location, and -approximately the same talent. Given a system of unrestrained -competition, each firm will have to count costs to within a fraction of -a cent and reduce expenses to the lowest possible amount. To this end -wages are often cut, workmen speeded, and the health of employees -endangered. - -"No one of us," says the manager of a big department store in St. Louis, -"has any particular consideration in the purchase price of goods; the -ease of communication and the large amount of advertising make it -impossible for us to have any serious advantage over others in point of -selling price. The women can go from one store to another, effectually -preventing one store from being materially higher priced on the same -goods than another. - -"The great struggle is over the expense account. This brings up the -whole question of salaries, the amount that can be paid to employees -directly, the amount that is spent by us in caring for them, -compensation for length of service.... All these have to be handled from -the expense account, and it is on this point that some of the most -delicate questions of morals arise, and they involve both the employer -and the customer in the treatment of the employee."[42] - -It is true that some economists have maintained that the price of an -article must cover its cost of production.[43] But as Professor Carver -says, such an opinion "is probably the source of more error and -confusion in economic discussions than any other mistake." (Loc. cit.) -It may be granted, indeed, that the price will never be much below the -_expenses_ of production, understanding by "expenses of production" what -the entrepreneur must pay out in wages, interest, etc. Yet even this is -not because the expenses of production directly govern prices. They -affect the price only indirectly by limiting the supply. For no -entrepreneur will long continue in business if he be not able to sell -his product at a profit, and his going out of business will decrease the -supply and so raise the price by the well-known law of supply and -demand. - -But "costs of production," being the sum of the efforts and sacrifices -of all concerned in making an article, are very different from "expenses -of production."[44] It is by no means true, as Professor Sidgwick -pointed out twenty-five years ago, that the amount necessary to enable a -laborer to keep himself in good physical condition and reproduce himself -forms a minimum below which the self-interest of an employer will not -allow wages to fall.[45] - -For in the first place, there is no assurance that a laborer is going to -spend his wages for this purpose. How, then, can it be to his employer's -advantage to pay him more than he is willing to take, when the surplus -may be squandered in drink? And even assuming that the generality of -laborers must receive such an amount in order to meet the demand for -workmen, still they need not all receive it from their employers. An -industry, such as the department stores, may try to get girls who obtain -part of their support from fathers or brothers employed in other -businesses.[46] Or wages of large classes may be supplemented by public -or private alms. This was long the case under the English Poor Law. As -the land-occupiers paid the greater portion of the rates, it was to the -Manufacturers' advantage to have wages really come partly from the -parish. - -And the numbers of laborers can be kept stationary without each workman, -or even every class, receiving enough to perpetuate himself. For their -ranks can easily be recruited from an over-supply of some higher class. -There is a constant pressure upon the upper strata, forcing down the -unfit, and it is readily conceivable that these failures should take the -places of still greater failures below. - -There is, then, no physical or economic necessity forcing employers to -pay fair wages to each individual worker, in the sense in which we are -using the word "fair" for the sake of argument. "The effort to organize -business with a view to cheap production, may be carried on in such -fashion as to press unduly on those who work for wages; employers are in -a position in which they may be able to drive hard bargains as to hours -of work and rates of pay, and to pass on the risk of loss, which arises -from fluctuations of business, to be borne by those who are thrown out -of employment."[47] And not only may this, but there is every inducement -and almost necessity urging that it should, be done except where the -workmen are organized. No employer can afford to pay a workman more than -his surplus over and above what would be produced without him, and it -will be to his advantage to pay less. He is a purchaser of labor, and -like every other purchaser wants to get that commodity at the lowest -figure. And there are several differences between him and the purchaser -of any other commodity that give him a distinct advantage in the -bargain. - -In the first place, not merely increased profits, what would be -represented by a housewife's saving in shopping, urge him to buy cheap -labor, but his own industrial existence, which will be lost if he does -not get his workmen as cheap as his competitors. Having a greater prize -at stake, he develops a greater skill. He has a wider view of economic -conditions, a better knowledge of the state of trade elsewhere, and so -he can outbargain the unorganized laborer. - -Again, the laborer is in a worse position than the seller of almost any -other commodity. For what he does not sell to-day disappears absolutely. -If he does not dispose of it now he cannot to-morrow. A fruiterer can -keep his oranges until the next day, if he is not satisfied with the -current price. But to-day's labor can be sold only to-day. And if it be -not sold, it is probable that the workman will be physically less fit -to-morrow. Yet even if he does accept the wage offered, and it is less -than enough to repair the daily waste of force, the same result will be -brought about gradually. He is, therefore, confronted by the dilemma of -taking what the idle are willing to accept, or becoming idle himself. - -It needs only the imagining of one's self in the position of the -unemployed to see that there is hardly any limit below which the wages -of the weakest may not fall. A man without special skill and without -savings, with not only himself but others to look out for, will be glad -to get even what he knows will not completely support him. - -"Without organization and by means of individual bargaining, wages are -drawn downward toward the level set by what idle men will accept, which -may be less than they will produce after they receive employment and -will surely be less than they will produce after they have developed -their full efficiency. When labor makes its bargains with employers -without organization on its side, the parties in the transaction are not -on equal terms and wages are unduly depressed. The individual laborer -offers what he is forced to sell, and the employer is not forced to buy. -Delay may mean privation for the one party and no great inconvenience or -loss for the other. If there are within reach a body of necessitous men -out of employment and available for filling the positions for which -individual laborers are applying, the applicants are at a fatal -disadvantage."[48] Such is the opinion of a conservative economist with -an especially kindly feeling towards the competitive system. - -It would seem, therefore, that the competitive organization of industry -has a tendency to crush out the weaklings. How numerous are these -weaklings, we shall now discuss. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[36] L. c., pp. 121, 122, 134, 152; U. S. Bur. Lab., "Men's Ready-Made -Clothing," p. 303. - -[37] Butler, p. 301; U. S. Bur. Lab., "Women Wage-Earners in Stores and -Factories," pp. 109, 178. - -[38] U. S. Bur. Lab., l. c., p. 22; Report Minneapolis Vice Commission, -1911, p. 127. - -[39] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Glass Industry," p. 54. - -[40] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Industrial Hygiene," 1908, p. 79. - -[41] W. Cunningham, "Christianity and Social Questions," pp. 122-123: -London, 1910. - -[42] "The Socialised Church," p. 120, address on "The Relation of the -Church to Employees in Department Stores," by Hanford Crawford, B.S.: -St. Louis, N. Y., 1909. - -[43] Cf. T. N. Carver, "Distribution of Wealth," p. 31: N. Y., 1908. - -[44] Cf. H. R. Seager, "Introduction to Political Economy," pp. 53-54: -N. Y., 1908. - -[45] H. Sidgwick, "Principles of Political Economy," p. 297: London, -1887. - -[46] Cf. "Wage-Earning Women in Stores and Factories," p. 22: U. S. -Bureau of Labor, 1911. - -[47] W. Cunningham, "Christianity and Social Questions," p. 118: London, -1910. - -[48] J. B. Clark, "Essentials of Economic Theory," pp. 453 and 456: N. -Y., 1907. - - - - - CHAPTER FIVE - - INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS: WAGES - - -What has been said regarding industrial conditions is not mere -theorizing. Private, state and federal investigations into actual -conditions confirm the contention that there is a large margin of -unemployed, and that a considerable portion of those who do find -employment are overworked and underpaid regardless of life and limb. -Anyone who studies the various official reports on this subject, must -conclude that Dr. Devine's summary of the _Pittsburgh Survey_ was well -within the truth and is applicable to practically the whole country: - - "Low wages for the great majority of the laborers employed by the - mills, not lower than in other large cities, but low compared with - the prices--so low as to be inadequate to the maintenance of a - normal American standard of living; wages adjusted to the single - man in the lodging house, not the responsible head of a family. - - "Still lower wages for women, who receive, for example, in one of - the metal trades, in which the proportion of women is great enough - to be menacing, one-half as much as unorganized men in the same - shops and one-third as much as men in the union. - - "The destruction of family life; not in any imaginary or mystical - sense, but by the demands of the day's work, and by the very - demonstrable and material method of typhoid fever and industrial - accidents; both preventable, but both costing in single years in - Pittsburgh considerably more than a thousand lives, and - irretrievably shattering nearly as many homes."[49] - -Assuming, throughout this discussion, that $6.00 a week ($1.00 a week -less than Miss Butler's estimate), or $312.00 a year is the lowest fair -individual wage; and $11.00 a week, or $572.00 a year is the lowest fair -family living wage:[50] it is easy to show from reliable reports that -scores of thousands of individuals and heads of families fall below this -standard. But in considering any figures quoted here, or to be found -elsewhere, it should always be remembered that the actual wage may be -much below the rate of wage. One employed at the rate of $6.00 a week -may not make anything like that because of loss of time. - -How much is lost through unemployment, it is hard to say. The United -States Industrial Commission was of the opinion, that "it is impossible -to collect statistics of any value whatever relative to the unemployment -of unorganized labor, among whom lack of employment is a much more -serious thing than it is with skilled or organized labor."[51] It would -seem, however, that in the clothing trades, the employees lose at least -one day in every six.[52] According to a Federal report issued in 1911, -in Baltimore one-fifth of the force worked between five days and full -time; one-tenth between four and five days; one-seventh between two and -three, and five per cent, two days or less.[53] A report of the New York -State Bureau of Labor for 1906[54] contains the following suggestive -table regarding the unemployment of certain classes of _organized_ -labor. It may rightly be assumed that among unorganized workmen -conditions are worse. - - TABLE I. - - NO. AND PROPORTION OF UNEMPLOYED WAGE-EARNERS - - ----+--------+--------+--------+-----++---------------------------------- - | No. of | No. of |No. idle|Per || Per cent idle - Mon.| unions | memb'rs| at end |cent |+------+------+------+------+------ - |report'g|report'g|of month|idle || 1905 | 1904 | 1903 | 1902 |1902-5 - ----+--------+--------+--------+-----++------+------+------+------+------ - Jan.| 191 | 84,539 | 12,682 |15. || 22.5 | 25.8 | 20.5 | 20.9 | 22.4 - Feb.| 190 | 85,155 | 13,031 |15.3 || 19.4 | 21.6 | 17.8 | 18.7 | 19.4 - Mch.| 192 | 25,956 | 2,952 |11.6 || 19.2 | 27.1 | 17.6 | 17.3 | 20.3 - Apr.| 192 | 90,352 | 6,583 | 7.3 || 11.8 | 17.0 | 17.3 | 15.3 | 15.4 - May | 192 | 91,163 | 6,364 | 7.0 || 8.3 | 15.9 | 20.2 | 14.0 | 14.6 - June| 192 | 92,100 | 5,801 | 6.3 || 9.1 | 13.7 | 23.1 | 14.5 | 15.1 - July| 195 | 94,571 | 7,229 | 7.6 || 8.0 | 14.8 | 17.8 | 15.6 | 14.1 - Aug.| 195 | 94,220 | 5,462 | 5.8 || 7.2 | 13.7 | 15.4 | 7.1 | 10.9 - Sep.| 195 | 94,290 | 5,252 | 6.3 || 5.9 | 12.0 | 9.4 | 6.3 | 8.4 - Oct.| 195 | 92,052 | 6,383 | 6.9 || 5.6 | 10.8 | 11.7 | 4.2 | 9.8 - Nov.| 195 | 93,042 | 7,052 | 7.6 || 6.1 | 11.1 | 16.4 | 14.3 | 12.0 - Dec.| 195 | 93,318 | 14,352 |15.4 || 11.1 | 19.6 | 23.1 | 22.2 | 19.0 - ----+--------+--------+--------+-----++------+------+------+------+------ - Mean for year| | | 9.3 || 11.2 | 16.9 | 17.5 | 14.8 | 15.1 - -------------+--------+--------+-----++------+------+------+------+------ - -Other deductions that must be made from the apparent wage are the -withholding of pay for long periods, exorbitant prices and rents -obtained through company stores and houses, fines, and increases in the -cost of living. - -Therefore, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the per diem or -weekly wage rate as given by the Bureau of Labor and other reports, -affords, by itself, an accurate statement only of the maximum yearly -wage. This should always be remembered in judging any facts hereafter -adduced. - -In the fifteenth volume of the bulletins of the Bureau of Labor will be -found many interesting tables bearing on this question of wages. But as -it is impracticable to quote them at any length here, a few of the more -salient facts must suffice. Laborers in the flour mills of the South -were working twelve hours a day for 11c. an hour.[55] Women in the -carpet factories of the North were getting no more.[56] In the factory -product of the clothing trade great numbers received less than 10c., -11c., and 12c. an hour (p. 35), and the compensation in sweatshops was -much less. Male boarders in the knit-goods factories of the -North-Central section were averaging less than $387.00 per annum. Women -in the same factories were getting much less, some even as low as 7c. -and 8c. an hour (p. 43). Silk-spinners in the North-Atlantic section -were making only $5.00 a week, or less than $260.00 a year, for a nine -and one-half hour day (p. 58). Male cigar-stemmers in the same section -were making $6.00 a week (p. 59). In Michigan, in 1905, there were 3414 -boys between fourteen and sixteen earning on an average 77c. a day, and -1725 girls making 64c. a day. In 1904, the average yearly earnings in -the food preparations industry was $441.00; in salt production, $451.00; -on tobacco and cigars, $393.00 (p. 334). - -In New Jersey, in 1904-5, the average earnings in the cigar industry -were $316.70; silk-weaving, $480.11; woolen and worsted goods, $373.43. -In the same State in 1903-4, there were 1985 adult males receiving less -than $3.00 a week; 3234 between $3.00 and $4.00; 5595 between $4.00 and -$5.00; 6037 between $5.00 and $6.00; 12,406 between $7.00 and $8.00; -14,300 between $8.00 and $9.00, though $9.00, working full time every -week, would be only $468.00 a year. - -The very latest reports available confirm these figures. In the cotton -textile industry alone, 29,974 employees, or 53.77% of the total number -investigated (11,484 men and 18,490 women) were being paid at a rate -less than $6.00 a week.[57] If we take the $11.00 rate, or family living -wage, we find that 19,382 men (89% of the total) fall below it (l. c.). -And as only 55% of the men employed in this industry were single (l. c., -p. 132), at least 7285 of these men must have been married, and hence -receiving less than the normal family living wage. It must be -remembered, too, that these figures are based upon the assumption that -full time is made. Could we get the actual wages, these groups would be -much larger. This is shown by the table on page 329 of this report, -where actual wages average $1.32 less than computed full time earnings. - -If we turn to the clothing industry, we find conditions even worse. In -the five cities investigated (New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Rochester, -and Philadelphia), 6788 employees, or 37% of the total (1217 men and -5571 women) were being paid at a rate less than the individual living -wage of $6.00. Taking the family living wage of $11.00 as our standard, -3499 men, or 62% of the total, fail to reach it.[58] - -Again it must be repeated, that the actual wages are from 7-1/2 to -20-1/2% lower than these figures (l. c., p. 161). In one New York -special order shop, the earnings for December fall to 55% of the -average (l. c., p. 178). - -These figures, however, are for shop-workers only. The _average_ wages -for home-workers are: Chicago, $4.35; Rochester, $4.14; New York, $3.61; -Philadelphia, $2.88; and Baltimore, $2.24. "Here again the caution must -be borne in mind that home-workers' wages, low as they are, often stand -for the earnings of more than one worker. Sometimes, as reported on the -books of the firm, it represents the earnings of more than one week" (l. -c., p. 139). Ninety-eight per cent. of the married shop-finishers, and -practically all of the home-finishers, too, earned less than $350.00 a -year (l. c., p. 226). The average yearly earnings of home-workers are -given as varying from $120.00 in New York to $196.00 in Rochester. From -page 235 to 239 inclusive, the details of the earnings, size of -families, and number of those working is gone into at great length. It -must suffice here to say that families of five are recorded whose total -yearly earnings are less than $100.00. One family of eleven is -chronicled whose yearly income was $445.00, sixty-five dollars of which -was earned by home-work. Working six days a week for ten hours a day, -the home-worker cannot hope to make more than $156.00 a year.[59] - -Seventy-six per cent. of the women employed in the glass industry earned -less than six dollars a week.[60] Their average annual earnings, in -fact, are stated as ranging from $163.00 for those sixteen years old to -$292.00 for those from twenty-five to twenty-nine (l. c., p. 544). -Nearly one-third of the female department-store employees receive less -than $6.00 a week.[61] Yet many of them had other persons depending upon -them (l. c., p. 55). One family, consisting of a mother, -seventeen-year-old daughter, and three younger children, was supported -by the daughter's $5.00 a week. They managed it by living in two rooms -and eating practically nothing besides bread and tea or coffee (l. c., -p. 56). - -In New York State in 1906,[62] it was found that even among organized -laborers reporting to the Bureau of Labor, 6078 men and 2011 women were -earning less than the lowest individual living wage ($300.00), and -59,226 men and 8881 women (17.6% and 63.8% respectively) were earning -less than the lowest family living wage ($600.00). If conditions were so -bad among union men, they were probably much worse among unorganized -workers. - -In Pittsburgh, in the canneries, 59% of the girls make only $6.00 a -week, or less (Butler, l. c., p. 38). Of those employed in the -confectionery trades, only twenty-one earn as much as seven dollars (l. -c., p. 50). And these two trades have inevitable dull seasons that cut -wages much below these figures. Seven hundred out of nine hundred girls -in the cracker business receive less than $6.00 a week (l. c., p. 70). -Laundries are amongst the worst paying establishments, and there is -practically no chance of advancement. The shakers-out never earn more -than $4.00 a week, and usually only $3.00 or $3.50 (l. c., p. 170). No -mangle girl makes more than $6.00 and most between $3.00 and $5.00 (p. -173). Broom-making often gives only $2.50 a week, and the highest is -$5.00 (p. 252). Many box-makers earn only 60c. or 80c. a day, and 80% of -the girls are being paid less than $6.00 a week (p. 261). Packing -soap-powder in stifling rooms pays $4.50 (p. 270). Nearly 50% of the -girls in the printing trades are below the $6.00 standard. - -These, then, are the facts concerning wages. But no social fact can be -entirely isolated. It is always intimately connected with many others, -and no treatment of wages can be at all satisfactory without going to -some extent into the ramifications of this subject along other lines. A -chapter, therefore, will be devoted to the question of health and of -morals as affected by industrial conditions and low wages. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[49] Report of annual convention of the American Sociological Society, -1908, or Charities and the Commons, now the Survey, March 6, 1909. - -[50] Cf. p. 36f for discussion of fair wage. - -[51] Vol. XIX, p. 754. - -[52] Loc. cit., p. 755. - -[53] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Men's Ready-Made Clothing," p. 113. - -[54] P. XI. - -[55] Loc. cit., p. 37. - -[56] P. 31. - -[57] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Cotton Textile Industry," p. 305, 1910. - -[58] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Men's Ready-Made Clothing," p. 129. - -[59] L. c., p. 301; cf. also 20th Annual Report Bureau of Labor -Statistics of N. Y., pp. 66-67, here quoted. - -[60] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Glass Industry," p. 405, 1911. - -[61] U. S. Bureau Lab., "Wage-Earning Women in Stores and Factories," p. -46, 1911. - -[62] Report of Bureau of Labor Statistics of New York for 1906, p. XXXI. - - - - - CHAPTER SIX - - INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS: HEALTH - - -The inevitable result of low wages is poor health. Bad housing -conditions and insufficient food must follow upon the heels of scanty -pay, unless the wages are supplemented in some other way; and that means -anemia, tuberculosis, typhoid, and general physical debility. "In the -New York block" bounded by E. Houston, Mott, Prince, and Elizabeth Sts., -"one of every nine children born dies before it attains the age of five -years. The death and disease rates are abnormal. The death rates for all -ages in the City of New York in 1905-6 was 18.35 per thousand, and for -those under five years it was 51.5; but in this block it was 24.0 for -all ages and for those under five years it was 92.2."[63] "Nothing could -be added to or taken away from these homes to add to their squalor." (P. -296.) - -The conditions of many workers' homes can be learned in detail from -pages 254-259 of the Federal report just quoted. Here only a few of the -leading facts can be mentioned. Thus in Pittsburgh 51.1% of the families -investigated had as many as three persons per sleeping room.[64] Eleven -per cent. of female factory and miscellaneous employees and nine per -cent. of store girls are rated as having "bad" housing conditions and -bad food.[65] Very few girls doing "light housekeeping" get proper -breakfasts (l. c., p. 18), or, indeed, any other meals. It is not -because they can't cook, but because they have to keep food expenses to -a minimum in order to buy clothes, pay room-rent, doctors, etc. - -"'You see I'm dieting,' said a frail slip of a department-store girl as -she held out her tray upon which the cafeteria cashier, in the presence -of the Bureau's agent, put a two-cent check, covering the cost of the -girl's lunch--a small dish of tapioca. She may have been dieting, but -the evidences were pathetically against the need thereof, and there were -some things telling other tales to a thoughtful observer. The girl's -shoes and waist and skirt were plainly getting weary of well-doing, and -to hold her position as sales-woman they must soon be replaced" (l. c., -p. 17). - -The tables on pages 80 and 81, to one who practises the "great -transmigratory art" (as Charles Reade calls it) of putting yourself in -another's place, tell pitiful stories of making ends meet (l. c., pp. -54-55). - - NUMBER OF WOMEN WAGE-EARNERS KEEPING HOUSE - CLASSIFIED BY COST OF LIVING AND WAGE GROUPS - - ------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------- - | No. of women with average weekly cost of living ($) - | (food, shelter, heat, light, laundry) - ------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------ - Average |Un- |1.00|1.50|2.00|2.50|3.00|3.50|4.00|4.50|5.00|5.50|6.00|6.50| - weekly |der | to | to | to | to | to | to | to | to | to | to | to |and |Total - earnings |1.00|1.49|1.99|2.49|2.99|3.49|3.99|4.49|4.99|5.49|5.99|6.49|over| - ------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------ - $1.00: $1.49| .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 3 - 1.50: 1.99| .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 - 2.00: 2.49| .. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 6 - 2.50: 2.99| .. | 1 | .. | 2 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 4 - 3.00: 3.49| .. | .. | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 7 - 3.50: 3.99| 1 | .. | 1 | 2 | 1 | .. | 3 | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 9 - 4.00: 4.49| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 13 - 4.50: 4.99| 1 | 5 | 4 | 6 | .. | 5 | 3 | .. | 2 | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 27 - 5.00: 5.49| 2 | .. | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 19 - 5.50: 5.99| .. | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | .. | 2 | .. | .. | 17 - 6.00: 6.49| .. | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | 20 - 6.50: 6.99| .. | .. | .. | 2 | 1 | .. | 1 | 2 | 2 | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 9 - 7.00: 7.49| .. | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 16 - 7.50: 7.99| 1 | .. | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | .. | .. | 2 | 1 | 1 | 22 - 8.00: 8.49| .. | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 23 - 8.50: 8.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 5 - 9.00: 9.49| .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 2 | .. | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .. | 1 | 10 - 9.50: 9.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | 1 | 1 | 1 | .. | .. | 1 | .. | 5 - 10.00: 10.49| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 2 | 4 - 10.50: 10.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 - 11.00: 11.49| .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | 1 | 3 - 11.50: 11.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 2 - 12.00: 12.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 2 | .. | 1 | 1 | .. | 5 - 13.00: 13.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 - 14.00: 14.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 2 - 15.00 & over| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 2 - ------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------ - Total | 7 | 17 | 29 | 32 | 26 | 36 | 29 | 19 | 16 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 7 |236[A] - ------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------ - -[A] 16.6% of those for whom the information necessary was secured. In -the cities investigated (New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, -Boston, Minneapolis, and St. Paul) there were, in 1905, 400,000 women -employed in stores, mills, factories, and other similar establishments. - - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - NUMBER OF WOMEN WAGE-EARNERS KEEPING HOUSE WHO HAVE SPECIFIED - NUMBER OF PERSONS WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY DEPENDENT - ON THEM FOR SUPPORT, BY WAGE GROUPS - --------------+-----------------------------++---------------------------- - | No. of women having || No. of women having - | wholly dependent || partially dependent - | on them || on them - +-----------------------------++---------------------------- - Average | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | || 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | - Weekly | per-| per-| per-| per-| || per-| per-| per-| per-| - Earnings | son | sons| sons| sons| Tot.|| son | sons| sons| sons|Tot. - --------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----++-----+-----+-----+-----+---- - $ 1.00: $ 1.49| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || .. | .. | .. | .. | .. - 1.50: 1.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || .. | .. | .. | .. | .. - 2.00: 2.49| .. | .. | .. | 1 | 1 || 1 | 3 | .. | .. | 4 - 2.50: 2.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 2 - 3.00: 3.49| 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 2 || 2 | 1 | .. | .. | 3 - 3.50: 3.99| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || 1 | 2 | .. | 1 | 4 - 4.00: 4.49| 2 | .. | 1 | .. | 3 || 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 - 4.50: 4.99| 1 | .. | 2 | 2 | 5 || 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 11 - 5.00: 5.49| .. | .. | 1 | 1 | 2 || 7 | 1 | .. | 2 | 10 - 5.50: 5.99| 2 | 1 | .. | .. | 3 || 4 | 1 | .. | .. | 5 - 6.00: 6.49| .. | 1 | 1 | .. | 2 || 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 - 6.50: 6.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || 4 | 1 | 1 | .. | 6 - 7.00: 7.49| 3 | 1 | .. | .. | 4 || 1 | 1 | .. | 1 | 3 - 7.50: 7.99| .. | 3 | 2 | .. | 5 || 10 | .. | .. | 1 | 11 - 8.00: 8.49| 6 | .. | 1 | .. | 7 || 4 | .. | 2 | 1 | 7 - 8.50: 8.99| 2 | 1 | .. | .. | 3 || 2 | .. | .. | .. | 2 - 9.00: 9.49| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || 2 | 2 | 1 | .. | 5 - 9.50: 9.99| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || .. | .. | 1 | .. | 1 - 10.00: 10.49| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || 2 | .. | .. | .. | 2 - 10.50: 10.99| .. | 1 | .. | .. | 1 || .. | .. | .. | .. | .. - 11.00: 11.49| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || 1 | .. | .. | 1 | 2 - 11.50: 11.99| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || .. | .. | 1 | .. | 1 - 12.00: 12.99| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 2 - 13.00: 13.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || .. | .. | .. | .. | .. - 14.00: 14.99| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || .. | .. | .. | .. | .. - 15.00: over | 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 2 || .. | 1 | .. | .. | 1 - --------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----++-----+-----+-----+-----+---- - Total | 24 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 46 || 54 | 21 | 15 | 11 | 101 - --------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----++-----+-----+-----+-----+---- - -But bad food and bad housing are not the only enemies of the workman's -health. The nature of his daily toil and the conditions under which it -is performed are often against him. Even ventilation becomes important -when one has to spend ten, eleven, or twelve hours a day in one room, -and yet this is almost entirely neglected. - -In 1908 a special officer was appointed in New York State to make tests -of the atmospheric conditions in places of business. One hundred and -thirty-six factories were examined, and in some printing establishments -as many as forty parts of carbonic-acid gas (CO_{2}) in ten thousand -volumes of air were found, though a legal limit of twelve is -recommended. One cigar factory, with windows partly open, had eighty -such parts. The following table will exhibit the results of this -investigation.[66] - - ------------------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- - Parts of CO_{2} in| | | | | | | | - 10,000 vols. air |5-12|13-20|21-25|26-30|31-40|42-60|65-70|75-80 - ------------------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- - Factories in | | | | | | | | - each class | 82 | 166 | 80 | 67 | 30 | 8 | 3 | 3 - ------------------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- - -Sometimes the exigencies of the trade require that there should be no -draft, as in the handling of carbon filaments for incandescent lamps, -and then the conditions of the atmosphere become acutely unhealthy. In -addition, in some of the rooms numerous bunsen burners are always -lighted and all currents of air carefully excluded to prevent their -flickering.[67] - -Elsewhere, the process of manufacture often vitiates the air, as the -"blow-over" in bottle shops. "In some factories, at times the air is so -full of this floating glass that the hair is whitened by merely passing -through the room. It sticks to the perspiration on the face and arms of -the boys and men and becomes a source of considerable irritation. -Getting into the eyes it is especially troublesome" (l. c., p. 66). -Something similar occurs in etching glass by a sand-blast. Unless a -hood and exhaust are provided, a pressure of from fifty to ninety pounds -scatters fine sand and glass dust through the air and is breathed in by -the operator (l. c., p. 440). Even worse, however, is the acid etching, -as the fumes of hydrochloric acid cause severe irritation to the throat -and lungs (l. c., p. 442). - -Even when there is no such irritant in the air as just mentioned, -extreme differences in temperature between the work-room and the -outside, or between various parts of the shop, may be a source of -serious danger to health. In the glass industry, many persons have to -work in temperatures ranging from ninety to one hundred and forty -degrees, and as high as fifty degrees above the outside air (l. c., p. -75). Industries where an artificial humidity is required, such as silk, -cotton and flax spinning, are likely to induce rheumatism, pleurisy, -etc. After working ten hours in a room filled with live steam to prevent -breaking of threads, to pass into a New England blizzard is apt to -produce serious results. The boys in bottle-making shops are obliged to -pass continually from a temperature of 140 degrees at the "glory-hole" -to one of 90 degrees or less in other parts (l. c., pp. 49ff.). - -And even if conditions of atmosphere and ventilation are good, the mere -fact of continuing work for thirteen hours seven days a week tells -seriously upon the physical endurance of the strongest.[68] When night -work is required in addition to the day's labor, as in the glass -industry, the consequences are likely to be worse, especially where -children are concerned.[69] Night work frequently means a presence in -the factory of at least twenty hours out of the twenty-four. "During the -course of the investigation there were found two cases of recent death, -both children, which could be directly attributed to exhaustion due to -double-shift work in the furnace room" (l. c., p. 122). - -In the clothing trade, "some piece and task-workers reported that they -commonly worked seventy-two and even seventy-eight hours a week during -busy periods" (l. c., p. 115). "There were instances where women said -they worked from 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning to 9, 10, or 11 o'clock -at night" (l. c., p. 241). For store girls, "thirteen and one-half hours -on Saturday is not only excessive but works considerable hardship."[70] -"One girl worked 24-1/2 hours at one stretch with but two half-hour -intermissions for meals.... Four girls working in one establishment on -the 'night force' one day for each week reported their 'longest day's' -labor as 16-3/4, 20-1/4, 22-1/2, 24-1/4 hours" (l. c., p. 205). On the -elevated railways in Chicago, at the time of the investigation, 1907-08, -women worked for 80-1/2 hours a week (l. c., p. 208). - -When the business requires the maintaining of practically one position -all day, whether standing or sitting, such long hours are bound to have -a bad physical effect. This is the case, for example, in department -stores (l. c., p. 178); in the glass industry where many growing boys -are cramped before the furnace holes all day long;[71] in many processes -in the manufacture of incandescent lamps (l. c., p. 482-483); and -numerous other occupations. - -But there is frequently added to mere length of hours a feverish haste -in working induced by starvation piece-rates or by the necessity of -keeping up with a machine. When a woman perforates 3100 bulbs a day and -welds tubes to them, there must be a constant nervous tension to attain -such rapidity (l. c., p. 469). The even more complex operation of -stem-making for these bulbs proceeds at a rate varying from 2600 to 3500 -a day (l. c., p. 467). Three thousand stems and bulbs are assembled each -day (p. 470), while in one day, an expert will test the candle-power of -5000 lamps (p. 472). The operation of mounting Tungsten filaments in -small copper wire is very much like threading an exceedingly small -needle. If one imagines this repeated 3000 times a day, with thread that -has to be handled with the greatest care to prevent breaking, he will -have some idea of the strain on eyes and nerves (p. 478). Twenty -thousand completed lamps are tested daily at a piece rate of 6c. per -thousand lamps (pp. 486-487). - -Very frequently, too, these long hours at an intense strain must be -spent at work positively dangerous on account of the process, such as -matchmaking[72] or painting lamps.[73] Chemical poisoning is frequent in -hatters' and furriers' work, and plumbism, which is very similar to -phosphorous poisoning, besets any trade in which lead is used. This is -the case, in the production of white, red, or yellow lead, industries in -which goods dyed with them undergo the process of building, winding, -weaving, etc., and such an apparently innocuous occupation as the -manufacture of earthenware and pottery. "One of the first symptoms of -plumbism is a blue gum, followed by loosening and dropping out of the -teeth. Blindness, paralysis, and death in convulsions frequently follow. -Besides plumbism there are serious indirect results from lead-poisoning -in a number of industries."[74] Readers of George Bernard Shaw will -remember that Mrs. Warren adopted her profession through fear of -contracting this disease. Her sister had fallen a victim to it and the -frightful ravages made among her friends drove her to this course. In -other industries such as wool sorting, blanket stoving and tentering, -and warp dressing, lock-jaw is an incident. - -Closely allied to a question already discussed, that of ventilations, is -the insidious injury wrought by dust in the air. Some trades in which -this condition is pronounced, seem materially to shorten life, as shown -by a bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor for May, 1909, on -"Mortality from Consumption in Certain Occupations." The proportion of -those reaching the age of 65 and over among tobacco and cigar factory -operatives was 1.8%; glove-makers, 2.3%; bakers, 2.4%; leather curriers -and tanners, 2.9%; and confectioners, 3.1%: as against 4.7%, the average -expected normal on the basis of all occupied males in the United States -(l. c., p. 623). - -Eighty-nine per cent. of the clergymen who died in 1900 were over 44, -and 55% over 65 years of age; 76% of the lawyers dying in this year were -over 44, and 41% over 65; 73% and 41% of the physicians had passed these -respective ages; 80% and 37% of the bankers, officials of companies, -etc., were over 44 and 65: yet more than half of the compositors dying -in the United States for the year were under 49 years of age. About -one-half of these died of pulmonary tuberculosis. Only 18% were over -60.[75] Between 1892 and 1898, 32% of the deaths of glass bottle-blowers -were due to tuberculosis, largely induced, probably, by the strain on -the lungs, the "blow-over," and conditions of temperature.[76] - -Industrial mortality insurance statistics show that 23% of the deaths of -those employed in trades exposed to organic dust are from consumption -and 14% from other respiratory diseases, as against 14.8% and 11.7%, the -expected respective averages for the United States.[77] The following -table taken from the bulletin just quoted will probably exhibit the -results more strikingly (p. 626): - - -------------+-------------------------------------------- - | Per cent. of deaths due to consumption - | among: - Age at death +---------------------+---------------------- - | Occupations exposed | Males in registration - | to organic dust | area, 1900-1906 - -------------+---------------------+---------------------- - 15-24 years | 40.1 | 27.8 - 25-34 years | 49.0 | 31.3 - 35-44 years | 35.3 | 23.6 - 45-54 years | 21.6 | 15.0 - 55-64 years | 11.0 | 8.1 - 65 and over | 4.5 | 2.7 - -------------+---------------------+---------------------- - -It will be seen from this table, that deaths from consumption in these -trades exposed to organic dust were more than half again as much as -might reasonably have been expected. And it must be remembered that -statistics indicate, "that general organic dust is less serious in its -fatal effects than mineral or metallic dust, and as a result the -proportionate mortality from consumption and other respiratory diseases -in this group is more favorable than in the groups of occupations with -exposure to mineral and metallic dusts" (l. c., p. 627). - -More evident dangers of occupation, because more directly traceable to -their causes, are industrial accidents. Manufacturers and employers -sometimes wantonly, sometimes through ignorance, neglect the precautions -and appliances necessary properly to safeguard their workmen. The -introduction of complicated machinery, the use of high-power explosives, -the strenuous conduct of production, without corresponding efforts to -offset the natural tendencies of these conditions and tools, has made -peace more horrible and dangerous than war. - -Of all such sources of accident, mines are probably the most prolific. -"The percentage of miners killed in this country is greater than in any -other, being from two to four times as large as in any European -country."[78] "Every year of the past decade," 1890-1900, "has seen from -500 to 700 Pennsylvania miners killed and from 1200 to 1650 injured. By -comparing these figures with the total number employed, it will be found -that on the average about one man in every 400 employed in the mines is -killed yearly and about one out of every 150 injured."[79] - -In 37 New England cotton mills in 1907, 1428 employees were injured.[80] -The Bethlehem Steel Works alone had a record of 927 accidents in -1909.[81] In New York State, during a year of industrial depression, -1907, there were 14,545 accidents recorded,[82] and we know that they -are more numerous in prosperous years. - -Time and again we find in the succinct official reports such terse -statements as: "While working on top of boiler was overcome by gas: dead -when found," "struck by pieces thrown from bursting emery wheel, died -from injuries ten days later," "heavy piece of machinery was being moved -by crane which broke, allowing machinery to fall against tank, which in -turn fell against deceased, crushing his legs and injuring him -internally: death occurred one hour later," "caught in belt and whirled -around shafting; death occurred before machinery could be stopped," -"struck in face by broken belt; eyeball broken: death ensued two days -later at hospital from effects of anćsthetic," "broken elevator shaft -caused elevator to fall with operator; skull fractured and ear -lacerated: death ensued later at hospital" (l. c., pt. I, pp. 109-113). - -Such are the official reports. They give no idea of the suffering of the -families, the struggles of widows and orphans when the head of the -family has been struck down; they do not show the carelessness or greed -that subjects men to the danger of working with worn-out cranes, or -defective emery wheels, or weak belting; but they do show, in connection -with the other data quoted, in a cold official way, that hundreds of -thousands of men and women in this country are working for excessive -hours, amid unsanitary surroundings, and without proper protection from -the dangers of their work: judging by the standard which for the time -being has been accepted as just. - -Such conditions are hard enough for grown men and women to face, they -are harder still for children. And by taking children away from school -and putting them at work, frequently beyond their capacity, they are -handicapped mentally and physically for making enough later on to -support a family. The percentage of children so injured cannot be -definitely arrived at, but they are employed in considerable numbers in -a large variety of occupations. Sweatshops, glass factories, the making -of neckties, cigars, paper and wooden boxes, picture frames, furniture, -and shoes are a few of the widely different trades that take their -quota. In the Southern cotton mills, twelve appears to be the age at -which children are ordinarily expected to begin work; but some of the -mills employ children under that age, now and then, in fact, as young as -nine, eight, and even six years.[83] - -"Probably the most serious and far-reaching effect of child-labor is the -prevention of normal development, physical and mental. Besides being -deprived of the schooling they would otherwise get, children are injured -by confinement and sometimes worn out by work. In other cases the work -is demoralizing because it does not call out the best faculties of the -children, or leaves them altogether idle for a part of the year. - -"It has been found that children are much more liable to accidents in -factories than adults. Thus a recent report of the Minnesota Bureau of -Labor shows that boys under sixteen have twice as great probability of -accident as adults, while girls under sixteen have thirty-three [_sic_] -times as great a probability of being hurt as women over sixteen.... It -has also been found that overstrain of the muscular or nervous system is -much more serious in children than in adults, and that children are also -more susceptible to the poisons and injurious dusts arising in certain -processes than grown persons."[84] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[63] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Men's Ready-Made Clothing," p. 297. - -[64] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Glass Industry," p. 607. - -[65] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Wage-Earning Women in Stores and -Factories," p. 134. - -[66] Cf. Report of Commissioner of Labor of New York for 1908 Vol. I, -pp. 76-93. - -[67] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Glass Industry," p. 500. - -[68] U. S. Commissioner of Labor, "Strike at Bethlehem Steel Works," p. -10, 1910. - -[69] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Glass Industry," p. 118. - -[70] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Women Wage-Earners in Stores and Factories," p. -127. - -[71] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Glass Industry," p. 48. - -[72] U. S. Bur. Lab., Bulletin No. 68, Jan., 1910: "Phosphorus Poisoning -in the Match Industry." - -[73] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Glass Industry," pp. 485-486. - -[74] U. S. Indus. Comm., Vol. XIX, p. 901f. - -[75] Rep. N. Y. State Bur. Lab., 1906, pp. CVII-CXXXV. - -[76] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Glass Industry," p. 240. - -[77] Bull. U. S. Bur. Lab., May, 1909, p. 626. - -[78] "Monthly Catalogue U. S. Public Documents," Nov., 1909, p. 184. - -[79] U. S. Indus. Com., Vol. XIX, p. 906. - -[80] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Cotton Textile Industry," p. 383. - -[81] U. S. Commissioner of Labor, "Report on Strike at Bethlehem Steel -Works," p. 121. - -[82] Report of Commissioner of Labor of N. Y., 1908, pt. I, p. 62. - -[83] L. c., pp. 45, 65, 83, 85, 86: U. S. Bur. Lab., "Cotton Textile -Industry." - -[84] U. S. Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, p. 917f; cf. also U. S. Bur. -Lab., "Cotton Textile Industry," p. 385f. - - - - - CHAPTER SEVEN - - INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS: MORALS - - -Industrial conditions, as at present constituted, not only injure the -health of the body; they also endanger the soul. The Chicago Vice -Commission has thus summarized these influences: "Among the economic -conditions contributory to the social evil are low wages, unsanitary -conditions, demoralizing relationships in stores, shops, domestic -service, restaurants and hotels: the street vending of children in -selling papers and gums, collecting coupons and refuse; the messenger -service of boys, especially in the vicinity of disorderly houses, -vicious saloons, dance halls and other demoralizing resorts; employment -agencies which send servants to immoral places; the rest rooms or -waiting places where applicants for work resort; too long hours and the -high pressure of work; the overcrowding of houses upon lots, and of -persons in single rooms" (Report, 1911: p. 230). - -When inability to secure decent lodging forces men and women to occupy -the same sleeping rooms, there must be an inevitable lowering of moral -standards. One case is recorded in "Packingtown," where eight -persons--men and women--were sleeping in a room approximately ten by -fifteen feet.[85] When a woman pays less than $1.50 a week for board and -lodging, as many are forced to do (see page 71f) she can have no -privacy. "If there are men lodgers in the house, the entrance to their -room is sometimes through the girl's room, or vice versa. In one house -visited, the women received the agent about nine P.M. in the room of a -man lodger who had already gone to bed. This seemed to be the only -available sitting room and disconcerted no one save the agent" (l. c., -p. 62). - -The girl who lives away from home in a cheap boarding house is no myth. -In Pittsburgh, "in the garment trades she numbers 38% of the total -force; in the wholesale millinery trade 10%; in the mercantile houses -20%. On the lowest estimate, there are 2300 of her kind in -Pittsburgh."[86] - -It is not only low wages, as leading to a lack of decent housing, that -has a bad moral effect. All are born with a natural craving for -happiness, and long hours of work under a nervous strain intensify this -desire. Economic conditions have kept most of those in the grip of such -a situation from developing the higher side of their nature until they -can find pleasure and recreation in a symphony concert or an epic poem. -The jaded nerves need a stronger stimulus to cause pleasure. "The desire -for ecstasy," says Algar Thorold, a keen psychological observer, "is at -the very root and heart of our nature. This craving, when bound down by -the animal instincts, meets us on every side in those hateful -contortions of the social organism called the dram-shop and the -brothel."[87] - -As a consequence of this insatiable longing for pleasure and the -inability to pay for it, thousands of young women in our big cities -patronize public dance halls and other questionable places of amusement. -The code of their social set has come to sanction accepting tickets for -such places, refreshments, etc., from men met haphazard at these -resorts.[88] - -Dance halls are such a serious menace to public morals that legislation -has become necessary. Elizabeth, Paterson, Newark and Hoboken, New -Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Louisville, -Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco, Kansas City, and Cleveland are all -agitating the question of their regulation (Survey, June 3, 1911, p. -345). A. B. Williams, general secretary of the Humane Society of this -last city, is quoted as declaring that "one out of every ten children in -Cleveland is born out of wedlock. In nine out of every ten cases that we -handle, the mothers tell us, 'I met him at a public dance'" (l. c., p. -346). - -In Chicago alone there are about 306 licensed dance halls and nearly 100 -unlicensed. Among these, "one condition is general: most of the dance -halls exist for the sale of liquor, not for the purpose of dancing, -which is only of secondary importance. A saloon opened into each of 190 -halls, and liquor was sold in 240 out of 328. In the others--except in -rare instances--return checks were given to facilitate the use of -neighboring saloons. At the halls where liquor was sold practically all -the boys showed signs of intoxication by one o'clock" (l. c., p. 385: -Louise de Koven Bowen). - -And just as women who have toiled hard all day long, crave some strong -excitement such as can only be afforded by the dance hall or a similar -place, so men in the same circumstances naturally turn to the saloon. It -is in the cheerfully lighted, comfortably heated gin-shop, in the -temporary stimulus of liquor, that insufficient food, unhealthful -surroundings at home and at work, a cold, uninviting house are -forgotten. It is often said that workmen would have enough to live on -comfortably if they did not squander their wages in drink, and that to -raise their pay would only be to increase the profits of saloon-keepers. -In some cases this may be true. But in the vast majority, it is probable -that to increase their power of getting the comforts at home that they -find in the saloon would be to lessen the drink evil, rather than -increase it. The marvel is not that laborers who come home day after day -from hard, long toil to poor food, cold rooms, a generally comfortless -home should seek out the gin-palace, but that they drink as little as -they do. - -These are some of the indirect, though important, moral results of -economic conditions. Oftentimes the direct influences of a person's -occupation also make for evil. The messenger boy, for instance, on the -streets at all hours and in all sections, can hardly fail to see and -hear much that no parent would want a child of fourteen, sixteen, or -eighteen to know. Indeed, a great part of his employment at night comes -from those indulging in debauchery, and it is his most profitable source -of tips.[89] - -From the nature of the case, women are probably more exposed in their -work than men. Such occupations as will occur to every one, are manicure -parlors where girls are peculiarly exposed to danger and insults. But -most important, because employing the largest numbers, are the -department stores. It has been charged over and over again, that many -employers knowingly pay wages that are insufficient to support a girl in -the expectation that she will be subsidized by some "gentleman friend." - -How far this is true is hard to say; and it is just as difficult to -determine how many department-store employees are really immoral. The -report of the United States Bureau of Labor on "Wage-Earning Women and -Children" combats the idea that immorality among them is widespread. -Nevertheless, there is a strong opinion that store girls are not all -they should be, and many careful observers have enumerated quite a -startling array of individual instances where a girl's fall can be -largely traced to her employment as a sales-woman. - -An investigator for the Chicago Vice Commission, for instance, gives in -the report of that body quite a number of cases which are said to be -typical. "Violet works in a department store, salary $5.00 per week. Was -seduced and left home. Baby died and she solicits on the side to support -herself.... Mag 18 years old. Works in department store. Salary $5.50 -per week. Tells parents she receives more. Helps support parents and -'solicits' at dances for spending money. Father is sickly.... Marcella -(X913), alias Tantine (X904). Came to (X905) about three years ago, and -started to work in the (X916) department store. One of the managers -insisted on taking her out, which she finally had to do 'to hold her -job,' as she asserts" (pp. 187, 195). - -Miss Elizabeth Butler, investigating for the Pittsburgh _Survey_, -reports the same thing in that city. "Vera ----" she says, "is twenty -years old. Four years ago she was employed as a salesgirl at $3.50 a -week. After a year she left for another store where she was employed as -a cashier at a salary of $10.00 a week, for making concessions to her -employer. After two years she left the store for a house of -prostitution.... Jennie ---- came to Pittsburgh from Akron, Ohio. She -had no friends in the city and was obliged to be self-supporting. She -obtained a position at $6.00 a week as a sales-woman. After five months -in the store she consented to be kept in an apartment in the East End. -She still keeps her position in the store.... A girl whose father was -killed by an electric crane was the only one of the family old enough to -work. Forced by financial needs to accept a wage fixed by custom at a -point below her own cost of subsistence, much more below the cost of -helping to maintain a family of dependents, she drifted into occasional -prostitution."[90] - -These are only particular instances, it is true, and one must not -generalize too widely. But there is undoubtedly considerable foundation -for the charge so often made and so firmly fixed in the public mind. And -if many of the girls exposed to such dangers have hitherto remained -pure, we must thank the sterling characters inherited from those raised -under different conditions, not conclude that the system needs no -improvement. - -All these and certain less tangible economic influences making for evil -have been well summarized by the Minneapolis Vice Commission. It points -out that the advent of great numbers of young girls into industry has -produced conditions that lead to the blasting of thousands of lives -yearly. "The chance for the making of promiscuous male acquaintances, -the close association of the sexes in employment, the necessary contact -with the general public, the new and distorted view of life which such -an environment compels, taken with the low wage scale prevailing in so -many callings and affecting so many individuals, combine to create a -situation that must inevitably weaken the moral stamina and lead to the -undoing of many. The fault is plainly not so much in the individual; it -is rather the results of the industrial system. The remedy lies in large -part in the reforming of the system" (Report, 1911, p. 126). - -Some of the remedies suggested by this commission are higher wages, -better sanitary conditions, and "_the education of public opinion in -this field to the point where it will demand a living wage and proper -working conditions and social conditions for those who serve them in -industry_."[91] - -Nor is this commission alone in attributing a great moral influence to -economic conditions and in looking to the public for a large part of the -remedy. In fact, it was simply following in the steps of the New York -and Chicago Vice Commissions.[92] And all merely voiced a widespread -conviction among social workers and the public generally. - -"Are flesh and blood so cheap," asks the Chicago Commission, "mental -qualifications so common, and honesty of so little value, that the -manager of one of our big department stores feels justified in paying a -high school girl, who has served nearly one year as an inspector of -sales, the beggarly wage of $4.00 per week? What is the natural result -of such an industrial condition? Dishonesty and immorality, not from -choice, but necessity--in order to _live_. We can forgive the human -frailty that yields to temptation under such conditions--but we cannot -forgive the soulless corporation, which arrests and prosecutes this -girl--a first offender--when she takes some little articles for personal -adornment.... Prostitution demands _youth_ for its perpetration. On the -public rests the mighty responsibility of seeing to it that the demand -is not supplied through the breaking down of the early education of the -young girl or her exploitation in the business world" (Report, pp. -43-44). - -This insistence upon the _public_ as being really responsible for these -economic and moral conditions is significant. For the Consumers are the -public. Each individual of which the public is composed is, in one -aspect, a Consumer, and it is important to notice how widespread is an -insistence upon his responsibility in the matter. - -From this discussion it may be reasonably concluded: (1) that many -persons in many industries are receiving less than a living wage, in the -present acceptation of that term; (2) that many persons are being -injured in health and limb by long hours, unsanitary workshops, and -improperly guarded machinery; (3) that the conditions of work often tend -to produce vice. - -The treatment has been largely statistical. No matter how thorough, -therefore, it is subject to the limitations of this method. Sissy Jupe -long ago called statistics "stutterings," and newer editions of -Gradgrind have not perfected their articulation. Statistics are -necessarily quantitative. They do well enough for computing rainfall, or -something of the sort, but human life with its pleasures and pains, its -joys and tragedies, refuses to be labeled and ticketed. It is intangible -to such gross systems of classification. - - "All the world's coarse thumb - And finger fail to plumb" - -the depths of happiness and suffering in the least of human creatures. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[85] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Women Wage-Earners in Stores and Factories," p. -119. - -[86] E. B. Butler, "Women and the Trades," pp. 320-1. - -[87] Preface to "Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena," p. 13: London, -Kegan Paul, 1896. - -[88] U. S. Bur. Labor, "Women Wage-Earners in Stores and Factories," p. -75. - -[89] Cf. Report of Chicago Vice Commission, p. 242f, and unpublished -reports of the National Child Labor Committee, Washington, D. C. - -[90] "Women and the Trades," pp. 305-306, 348. - -[91] Italics added. Cf. pp. 114, 115, 126. - -[92] Survey, Apr. 15, 1911, p. 99; May 6, 1911, p. 215. - - - - - CHAPTER EIGHT - - WHAT SHOULD THE INDIVIDUAL CONSUMER DO? - - -The question now arises, even supposing the conditions are bad and that -a duty of improving them rests upon the Consuming Class; what is the -individual Consumer bound to do? Making all due allowances for the fact -that we have assumed what is a just or unjust wage, and without any -intention of forcing this standard upon the conscience of individuals, -there will be times when a particular Consumer is convinced, e.g. that -those employed at stores he patronizes are not being paid anything like -what they have a right to receive. What should he do? Does any -obligation devolve upon him? - -In answering this question, the general principle must be kept in mind, -that a Consumer is not bound to act under a disproportionately grave -inconvenience. He is not bound to sacrifice considerable personal good -to do a very little good to the laborers making the articles he buys; -nor is he obliged to put himself to any inconvenience if no good -whatever is going to follow. - -But if he can conveniently buy goods made under just conditions rather -than under bad, and the price is no higher, then he is bound to do so. -And if he is well off and can easily afford to pay a little more for the -justly made goods, he ought to buy them, provided he can be reasonably -sure that the increase in price will go to maintain good working -conditions and not simply to swell the manufacturer's profits. - -As Father Cuthbert, a Capuchin, says, not the employers only are -responsible for the oppression of workingmen, "but all who patronize -such labor contribute to the sin. The insatiable yearning to buy cheap -without any thought as to how cheapness is obtained, this is the -incentive which tempts men to buy cheap labor and to underpay workmen. -Were people in general not willing accomplices, there would be no -sweating system, no unfair competition. The sin falls not on the few -[manufacturers] but on the many [patrons] who too readily condone the -sin of the few for the sake of the resultant advantage to themselves. -They pay half a penny less for a pound of sugar or a shilling or two -less on a ton of coal: what does the public care that the shop -assistant or the miner is unable to get a human wage?"[93] - -The purely individual action of Consumers, however, can have but little -effect for good. For only comparatively few have sufficiently developed -social consciences to realize the desirability of such action; and even -if more had, their means of discovering which goods are justly made are -so limited as seriously to hamper their activity. - -The remedy for this difficulty would seem to be organization among -Consumers. There can be little doubt that if they united in sufficient -numbers in patronizing only those shops that maintained good working -conditions their action would exert considerable pressure. The labor -unions have shown that the boycott is a powerful weapon. How efficient -it can be, may be guessed from the sums spent by employers in opposing -it. Astute business men do not tilt at windmills, and if they have -fought the legality of the boycott in every tribunal in the land, -including the Supreme Court, it was only because they realized the -compelling power it placed in labor's hands. - -But some greater animus than pure philanthropy seems necessary to make -Consumers band together in this way on a large enough scale. They need -the class spirit, the enthusiasm of industrial warfare afforded by the -trade unions. For though an organization of Consumers has been in -existence now for more than twenty years, it is forced sorrowfully to -admit that the good accomplished simply through the economic pressure of -its members has been but slight. - -But if it had been possible so to unite Consumers in a powerful society -for the collection of information and the distribution of patronage, it -has been asked: Would it not have become wofully corrupt? Can we safely -trust an irresponsible club with such power? And, therefore, is it wise -for conscientious individuals now to join this league? For either it -will remain practically powerless, or else it will become so strong as -to be a menace. - -The answer must be that if the Consumers' League ever does become strong -enough to exercise a great influence in the industrial world, it will -probably abuse and sell its power. Rich unfair firms may be able to -bribe those in control to give them a recommendation they do not -deserve, and various other kinds of corruption will most likely creep -in. But such an argument proves too much. If we are to give no authority -where it will not be misused, we shall come to anarchy at once. For have -not political parties, and states and employers and trade unions--all, -at one time or another, abused power. Seldom have men enjoyed power for -long without using it for selfish ends. - -But we must not, therefore, destroy all authority and power. Rather we -should embrace the dictum of de Maistre, that power must be balanced -against power, one organization set to watch another. And if it should -happen that a league of Consumers became too strong and abused its -strength, it would be time enough then to set about checking it by -building up power somewhere else. - -So far, however, there has been no danger of such a contingency. The -Consumers' League has been active, earnest, and honest--and sufficient -for the day is the evil thereof. The League has embraced all work that -came to hand whether strictly within the economic field first marked out -for it, or extending to other preserves. Its activity in the Legislative -domain has not been inconsiderable, and it is probable that the -influence of Consumers will be most marked here in the future. - -There is much talk now of minimum wage legislation to guarantee laborers -a certain standard. If we look upon compulsory arbitration as -practically the same thing, we can say that it has already been -extensively tried. Canada, England, Australia, and New Zealand have -shown that it is possible in some fields but the controversy always -aroused by a new project has not yet subsided sufficiently to enable one -to speak definitely concerning its success. The elaborate system of -state insurance against sickness, accident, old age, and unemployment, -now in operation in England and Germany is another governmental attempt -to secure a certain standard of living for all. And the public-schools, -in which rich and poor are put on a plane of equality regarding -elementary education, are so familiar that we are apt to lose sight of -the fact that they are really only one link in this chain of state -intervention to provide the means for everybody enjoying certain -advantages that have come to be looked upon as necessities in our -civilization. - -In our own country during 1911, there was much discussion, some action, -and every prospect for still further activity along these lines. A -conspicuous feature was the movement to introduce a more equitable -system of compensation or insurance for industrial accidents.[94] There -was a non-compulsory minimum wage law passed recently in Massachusetts, -and several States prescribed the rate of pay for public work done by -contract. An amendment to the Charter of San Francisco fixes the minimum -of employees on street railways at $3.00 per day, with one and one-half -pay for overtime. Vermont, Wisconsin and South Dakota have given wages a -preference over other debts (l. c., pp. 876, 878, 881). - -It would seem then that the legislative field is the one in which most -success is to be expected. And since the Consumers are the beneficiaries -of labor's exertion, they are especially bound to effort in this -direction. Those who have influence and leisure are more bound than -those who have but little power or opportunity, but all are obliged to -do something. - -The results of our examination of this question may be summed up in the -following conclusion: - -I. Assuming that employers are violating the rights of their laborers -then there is a duty incumbent upon the _Consuming Class_ to do what -they can to secure these rights. - -II. Employers are violating the rights of their employees to such an -extent as to create a serious social problem. - -III. The individual Consumer is bound to do what he can without serious -inconvenience to remedy these conditions. He can act individually, by -joining an organization, and through legislation. - -Should it be asked which is the most effective way, the answer would -certainly incline towards legislation. If we survey the industrial -history of the last quarter century, we can see gain after gain by this -method;[95] while the Consumers' League, in its strict capacity of an -organization of _purchasers_ has done but little. What it has -accomplished has been largely through the advocacy of legislation, -rather than by merely economic pressure. And so, while Consumers could -doubtless effect tremendous changes if they wished, it seems impossible -to get them to co-operate in sufficient numbers. - -Nevertheless, the Consumers' League is founded on a great and noble -principle, and for the moment I want to put aside the judicial attitude -and enthusiastically chronicle what it has done, and what could be done -along the same lines. The Consumers' League is unique in the field of -philanthropy as affording an opportunity to everyone no matter how big -or how little. For by its original principle of buying only goods made -under fair conditions, it gives a chance to the unimportant individual -to share in a great philanthropic movement, somewhat as a private does -in an imperial army; and by its activity in the legislative field, it -opens up an opportunity for those who have the time, and talent, and -position necessary for effectiveness there. - -And whether or not we look upon the dictates of charity and justice as -clearly indicating a duty, whether or not one's "moral resonance" -responds to what has been said, surely we cannot deny that here is a -splendid opportunity. Here is a practical way for each and everyone to -play the Good Samaritan. Not all of us can meet men along a road who -have been set upon by thieves, bundle them into an automobile, and carry -them to a hospital. We cannot all give thousands in charity. We cannot -all engage in publicly urging reforms by legislation, nor give -generously of time in philanthropic ministration to the poor. But we can -see to it in the way already outlined that some at least of our -expenditures go to ward off misery rather than foster it. We can see to -it that we prevent misery from spreading at least in one little sphere. - -[96]This is no mere theory. Reforms have actually been accomplished in -some places by the Consumers' League. Realizing that to be effective -they must be organized, it is the object of members of this League to -act as a sort of inverted megaphone gathering up the weak whisperings of -each individual purchaser and blending them with thousands of others -until they all become one mighty concerted shout that must be heard. - -Laborers have known the strength of combination in fighting industrial -conditions for more than a generation; the aggregations of capital have -been growing larger and larger; why should not the most powerful of all -the elements of industrial society, the Consumer himself, learn by their -experience? - -Organized in 1891 in New York City, the Consumers' League now has almost -a hundred branches in eighteen of the United States, in France, -Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. To Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell is due -the credit of its inception. An investigation during 1889-90 into the -conditions of work among sales-women and cash-children, which she -directed for the Working Women's Society, forced upon her the futility -of starting reform from the producing end. The competitive system of -industry ties the hands of the employer, while it seems impossible -successfully to organize a union among women. There was but one element -of the economic world left to work with--the Consumer. - -Therefore, in May, 1890, a public meeting was called in Chickering Hall, -New York, to discuss the organization of this all-powerful factor of -industry. It was decided to found the Consumers' League upon the -following platform: - -"I. That the interest of the community demands that all workers should -receive, not the lowest, but fair living wages. - -"II. That the responsibility for some of the worst evils from which -wage-earners suffer, rests with the Consumers, who persist in buying in -the cheapest markets, regardless of how cheapness is brought about. - -"III. That it is therefore, the duty of Consumers to find out under what -conditions the articles they purchased are produced, and to insist that -these conditions shall be, at least, decent and consistent with a -respectable existence on the part of the workers. - -"IV. That this duty is especially incumbent upon Consumers in relation -to the product of women's work since there is no limit beyond which the -wages of women may be pressed down, unless artificially maintained at a -living rate by combinations, either of the workers themselves or of the -Consumers."[97] - -The first step taken to carry out these objects was to prepare a "white -list" of stores coming up to a certain standard. Since it is illegal to -boycott, or to urge persons not to deal with stores placed on a "Black -List," the Consumers' League accomplishes the same results by -persuading persons to buy from firms on a white list. Once published, -merchants feel the effects of such a list, and, to get the patronage of -the League, volunteer all the good points about themselves, not to -mention the bad ones about their competitors. The list itself thus -becomes an invaluable means of getting information not otherwise -obtainable. - -Necessarily this list had to be somewhat elastic and considerably below -the ideal. The people at the head of the Consumers' League were -practical persons of wide experience and they went on the principle that -half a loaf is better than none at all--that every little bit helps. -After consultations with the employers and the Working Women's Society, -a standard was adopted from which no retreat has been made. Whatever -changes have been made, have been on the side of greater strictness. -To-day it stands as follows: - - - WAGES - -A Fair House is one in which equal pay is given for work of equal value, -irrespective of sex, and in which no sales-woman who is eighteen years -or over--and who has had one year's experience as sales-woman receives -less than six dollars a week. - -In which wages are paid by the week. - -In which the minimum wages for cash-children are three dollars and a -half per week, with the same conditions regarding weekly payments. - - - HOURS - -A Fair House is one in which the number of working hours constituting a -normal working day does not exceed nine. At least three-quarters of an -hour is given for luncheon. A general half-holiday is given on one day -of each week during at least two summer months. - -A Vacation of not less than one week is given with pay during the summer -season. - -All overtime is compensated for. - -Wages are paid, and the premises closed for the seven principal legal -holidays, viz., Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and New Year's Day, -Washington's Birthday, the Fourth of July, Decoration Day, and Labor -Day. - - - PHYSICAL CONDITIONS - -A Fair House is one in which work, lunch and retiring rooms are apart -from each other, and conform in all respects to the present Sanitary -Laws. - -In which the present law regarding the providing of seats for -sales-women is observed, and the use of seats permitted. - - - OTHER CONDITIONS - -A Fair House is one in which humane and considerate behavior towards the -employees is the rule. - -In which fidelity and length of service meet with the consideration -which is their due. - -In which no children under fourteen years of age are employed. - -In which no child under the age of sixteen years works for more than -nine hours a day. - -In which no child works, unless an employment certificate issued by the -Board of Health has been first filed with the employer, and the name, -etc., of the child has been entered on a register kept by the employer. - -In which the ordinances of the city and the laws of the State are obeyed -in all particulars. - -When it is remembered that in 1891 only eight stores in New York were -eligible for the standard (then less strict), while to-day there are -more than fifty; that then overtime was never paid for, and fines often -reduced the pay to almost half, while to-day fines go to a benefit fund, -and overtime is paid for, or a corresponding time off is given; that -then the child-labor law was openly violated, and many grown women -received less than four dollars-and-a-half, sometimes less than two -dollars, a week, while the standard now is six; that the chair law, -providing one seat for every three girls, was disregarded, or the girls -never allowed to use them, while to-day inspectors of the State Labor -Bureau strictly enforce its regulations; that the year after the -influence of the Consumers' League passed the Mercantile Employers' Bill -providing for the essentials of the above standard, there were twelve -hundred infractions reported, and nine hundred under-age children -released from drudgery as shipping clerks, etc.: when this advance -towards a decent standard of living, and the considerable part of the -Consumers' League in bringing it about, is kept in mind, the power of -the purchaser is seen to be no day-dream of an idealist, no mere pretty -theory of an arm chair economist. - -As one reform after another was accomplished, the League turned itself -to new labors. To-day it is agitating strongly against the cruelties of -such seasons as Christmas, that should mean peace and joy to all. "Glad -tidings of great joy" sounds like a hollow mockery to the sales-women -and children who work from eight in the morning until midnight. -Therefore the League sends out thousands of post-cards, and advertises -in newspapers, magazines, and street-cars, urging persons to shop early -out of consideration for the employees of stores. The first large -success from this movement came in 1910 when the leading department -stores of Philadelphia, employing 35,000 persons, decided to close at -six o'clock during the entire Christmas season. Late on the evening of -December 1, the head of one of the largest retail firms in the city -called up the Consumers' League to say that he had good news. "I thought -that you should certainly be the first to hear that we are going to -close early," he said. "I congratulate you and the women you represent -on what you have enabled us to do."[98] - -All this activity, however, is concerned with the retailer; in the -meantime manufacture was not neglected. The League early saw the evils -prevailing in many factories, and therefore decided to carry the -white-list idea under a slightly different form into this field. After a -thorough investigation by its own representatives and consultation with -the State factory inspectors, the League, where the situation is -satisfactory, allows the use of its label guaranteeing that the goods -are made under clean and healthful surroundings. The conditions under -which the label is issued are: - -1. The State factory law is obeyed. - -2. No children under the age of sixteen are employed. - -3. Work at night is not required, and the working day does not exceed -ten hours. - -4. No goods are given out to be made away from the factory. - -Similar to the Consumers' League label are the labels of various trade -unions. These latter, indeed, were in the field many years before the -Consumers' League was even organized. They are based upon exactly the -same principle. When a factory maintains the conditions demanded by the -union, it is allowed to use the label on its goods. Anyone, therefore, -who buys union-made goods at a store where the employees are protected -by the retail-clerks union can be sure that those engaged in both the -production and distribution of these articles have obtained their just -rights so far as this is possible. - -By having firms on the white list handle labeled goods and, recently, by -establishing a store of its own in New York, a market is created for -them among the members of the League. The practicalness underlying the -whole management of the League is very clearly shown here both in the -dove-tailing of its activities in manufacture and distribution and in -the appeal made to the self-interest of purchasers to buy white goods, -wrappers, etc., made in clean factories rather than germ-carrying -sweatshops goods. It has been the aim of the League all along to make it -to the Consumer's personal advantage to buy labeled goods at white-list -stores. The idea is to give him a better article and better service for -the same money, the increased cost to the manufacturer and retailer to -come out of the increased sales. - -In 1898 the various local Leagues that had sprung up in different -sections were united into one national organization and the activities -became even more important. The sweatshop, child-labor, excessive hours -for women, were attacked with considerable effect. In many States the -public conscience was sufficiently aroused by reform agencies with which -the League zealously co-operated to pass stringent laws, and the -League's representatives, either as private individuals or as honorary -inspectors of the State tried to see that they were carried out. If New -York to-day has the strictest child-labor law in the United States, a -good share of the honor is due to the untiring labors of an enlightened -Consumers' League. - -Here one concrete instance of these activities must suffice. England had -as early as 1844 enacted laws protecting women, but, owing to the -Constitution of the United States various State Supreme Courts had held -that any restriction of the right of free contract of adult women was -unconstitutional. Therefore when the State of Oregon proceeded against a -laundryman for violation of a State Law by working women longer than -allowed by that Law, the laundryman promptly appealed from the State -Court to the United States Supreme Court. The local Consumers' League -thereupon notified the National League, with headquarters in New York -City, that information concerning the effect of work upon women was -necessary to win the case before the highest tribunal of the United -States. Expert counsel was obtained, and Miss Josephine Goldmark, of the -League, was detailed to collect the information. She employed ten -readers, some of them medical students, and special privileges were -granted her at Columbia University Library, the Astor Library of New -York City, and the Library of Congress in Washington. The result was a -sweeping verdict sustaining the State. - - * * * * * - -There are two great classes of the poor--those who for some reason or -other do not work, and those who, while working, do not receive enough -to support themselves and their families. To the former the Church has -been a staunch friend. It is one of her glories that her enemies accuse -her of fostering pauperism by too lavish charity. Her hospitals and -orphanages, her homes for the fallen and aged, her refuges for the sick -of soul and body are dotted over the whole land, and are administered -with a devotion and self-sacrificing heroism compelling the admiration -of all. As John Boyle O'Reilly said, hers is not - - "Organized charity scrimped and iced - In the name of a cautious, statistical Christ." - -But what are we doing for that other great class of poor, those who work -but do not receive a just compensation? What are we doing in the way of -preventive philanthropy, to keep these men from becoming utterly -destitute? It is for the sublime struggle of the underpaid workman that -our sympathies need now to be aroused. No Crusader ever fought for the -Sepulcher with more heroism than many a poverty-stricken laborer to -support himself and family. Day after day he takes up the hopeless task, -while nearer and nearer yawns the slough of pauperism where four million -human beings who were once self-respecting workmen like himself, now -crawl in lethargic content.[99] No waving pennons and blare of trumpets, -but a factory whistle at 6 A.M. and a chimney puffing black smoke summon -him to battle with powers stronger than Saladin in his might. What -Robert Southwell wrote of himself during imprisonment might to-day be -applied to millions of wage-slaves: - - "I live, but such a life as ever dies, - I die, but such a death as never ends; - My death to end my dying life denies, - And life my living death no whit amends." - -Yet notwithstanding the workman's almost superhuman efforts to avoid -pauperism, once he reaches that abyss he loses all desire to rise from -it. You cannot drive him back into that industrial war which is daily -crushing better and stronger natures. - -Such being the situation, is it not an inspiration to the Consumer who -longs to do something for humanity to feel that he is contributing his -mite to keep some workmen from becoming paupers? There are persons, I -know, to whom their utter helplessness in the face of all the social -evils oppressing us to-day, has been the keenest suffering. To them this -doctrine of the responsibility of Consumers and the plans of fulfilling -it have come as a gospel of good news. They have felt that they could -now find rest from their tortures of conscience: they have felt that -they could now have a purpose in life worth living for. - -And what if in our sober moments we must admit, that the good we -individually accomplish as regards the workman be small? What if we are -tempted to look upon it as useless? Let us take courage from the fact -that we are members of an organization, that everything that the group -accomplishes is in some way attributable to us. One hundred men -associated together can accomplish much more than those same men -working separately for the same ends. This fact is evident in the case -of a religious community. If the members of these communities were -scattered as individuals over the earth, how paltry would be the results -of all their self-sacrifice and devotion compared with what it is -to-day. And so each individual Consumer, banded with others in an -organization, can feel that all the work of the whole body is to some -extent his. His powers of doing good are multiplied, and the mere fact -of his association with others multiplies their capacities too. - -But even if this were not so, the mere fact of realizing this principle -and co-operating with other noble-minded persons in its fulfillment will -be an immense gain to ourselves and will finally result in unexpected -good to society. Simply to know that we are accomplishing some little -mite in the field of preventive philanthropy will be an inspiration in -our lives. - -To ask ourselves, not whether a hat be exactly the latest style, not -whether it be absolutely the cheapest we can get, but how it was made, -what effect is our buying it going to have upon the workers and society -in general, will beget an invaluable spirit of self-effacement. A -social conscience will be generated and grow until it becomes a dominant -note in our lives. And from us this gospel of charity and justice, this -good news to men of good will, will spread until it becomes a mighty -force for social amelioration. - -We have passed through ages of autocratic tyranny; the individualistic -democracy of the last century is waning; there is approaching an era of -social effort, social morality, a recognition of social interdependence. -"The quick and sensitive ear," to quote Miss Scudder, "hears the beat of -a new music, to which men begin to rally.[100] It is a concerted -harmony, no mere solitary bugle call; and those who march to it are more -or less consciously swayed by a new rhythm. For it is notable that the -rhythms of life are coming more and more to connote harmony rather than -melody, or rather to weave many melodic phrasings into one complex -whole. Association--or to use the fairer word, fellowship--becomes a -term of increasing modern cogency." - -What matter, that to any but the superficial observer, the situation -looks dark. It may be that the more we study it, the blacker it grows. -As we look back upon the history of man's strivings for some better -social organization, the conflict may seem hopeless. We may be tempted -to reflect with William Morris, "How men fight and lose the battle, and -the thing they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when -it comes it turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to -fight for what they meant under another name." - -But it is nobler to say with Mrs. Browning: - - "We will trust God. The blank interstices - Men take for ruins, He will build into - With pillared marbles rare, or knit across - With generous arches, till the fane's complete. - This world has no perdition if some loss." - -FOOTNOTES: - -[93] Father Cuthbert, O.S.F.C., "Catholic Ideals in Social Life," p. -211: N. Y., 1904. - -[94] Bulletin of U. S. Bur. of Lab., Jan. 1, 1911, p. 869. - -[95] Cf. Mrs. Florence Kelly, "Some Ethical Gains through Legislation," -N. Y., Macmillan, 1905; Bulletins of U. S. Bur. Lab. giving resumé of -labor legislation. - -[96] The next few pages appeared substantially as here given in The -Month, March, 1911, under the title "The Consumer's Opportunity." The -author thanks the editor of this magazine for kind permission to -reproduce this matter. - -[97] "Historical Sketch of the Pioneer Consumers' League," p. ii, -Consumers' League of New York City, 1908. For further information -address Mr. V. P. Kellogg, 105 E. 22nd St, New York City. - -[98] Cf. _The Survey_, Dec. 17, 1910. - -[99] Cf. Hunter, "Poverty," New York, 1906. - -[100] Hibbert Journal, Apr., 1909. - - - - - APPENDIX - - - 1 Constans et perpetua voluntas jus suum unicuique tribuendi; - voluntaria laesio et violatio juris alieni: De Lugo, De just. et - jure, Disp. VIII, Sec. I, n. 1. - - 2 Debitum rationale ex necessaria connectione mediorum cum fine - necessario resultans: Theologia moralis fundamentalis, ed. 2a, - Bruges, 1890, p. 188. - - 3 "Quoties aequalitas non servatur ut venditor ultra supremum - pretium, vel emptor emat infra infimum ... injustitia commititur." - L. c., Tr. VII, n. 380. - - 4 In hac re cooperator est, qui simul cum alio est causa damni, - sive immediata sive positiva sive negativa. Non enim in omnibus - eadem est ratio cooperationis, sed hoc est omnibus commune, quod - cum alio concurrant ad damnum seu injuriam damnosam. - Ballerini L. c., Tr. VII, n. 128: cf. De Lugo, L. c. XVII, II, 37. - - 5 Praeferendum est enim commune bonum privato. Pt. I, Tr. III, Tom. - IX, Sec. IV, p. 1171. - - 6 Cum enim unus homo sit pars multitudinis, quilibet homo hoc ipsum - quod est, et quod habet, est sicut et quaelibet pars id quod est, - est totius; unde et natura aliquod detrimentum infert parti, ut - salvet totum: 2a 2ae, Q.96, A.4. - - 7 Haec potestas est necessaria ad bonam rei publicae humanae - gubernationem. - Op. cit., Pt. I, Tom. V, Lib. III, Cap. 21. - - 8 Ex damno et periculo, quod bono publico publicaeque securitati - inferretur si impune id agere liceret. - Theol. Mor., Pt. I, Lib. I, Div. II, Par. 4, n. 761. - - 9 Tota difficultas consistit in assignanda ratione hujus veritatis: - nam licet turpitudo haec statim appareat, non tamen facile est ejus - fundamentum invenire: unde (quod in aliis multis quaestionibus - contingit) magis certa est conclusio, quam rationes, quae variae a - diversis afferuntur ad ejus probationem. De Just. et Jure, Disp. X, - Sec. I, Num. 2. - - 10 Fatendum est esse aliquas practicas vertitates humano convictui - necessarias, quas homines instinctu quodam rationali percipiunt et - sentiunt, quarum tamen rationem prorsus demonstrativam, cum eam - iidem analytice quaerunt, difficulter inveniunt. Videtur voluisse - natura sive auctor naturae hujusmodi instinctu aut sensu rationali - supplere defectum rationis se exercentis: ... Inter hujusmodi - veritates haec quoque forte, qua de agimus, invenitur. Theologia - Moralis, Tr. VI, Sec. VI, Num. 119, Vol. II, pp. 727-728. - - - - - BIBLIOGRAPHY - - - J. Kelleher, Private Ownership, Dublin, 1911. - - Capecelatro, Cardinal, Christ, the Church, and Man. St. Louis, - 1909. - - Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, secunda secundae. - - De Lugo, Cardinal John, De Justitia et Jure. - - Bouquillon, Theologia Moralis Fundamentalis, ed. 2a, Bruges, 1890. - - Liguori, Alphonsus, Theologia moralis. - - Noldin, H., Theologia Moralis, 3 vols., 8th ed., N. Y., 1911. - - Ballerini, Antonio, Theologia Moralis. - - Cuthbert, O. F. M. Cap., Catholic Ideals in Social Life, N. Y., - 1904. - - Cunningham, W., Christianity & Social Questions: London, 1910. - - Clark, J. B., Essentials of Economic Theory, 1907. - - United States Bureau of Labor: Report on the Condition of Woman & - Child Wage-Earners in the United States, 19 vols., 1910-1912. - - Charities Publication Committee, The Pittsburgh Survey. - - Minneapolis Vice Commission, Report, 1911. - - Chicago Vice Commission, Report, 1911. - - Seligman, E. R. A., The Social Evil, N. Y., 1912. - - United States Bureau of Labor, Industrial Hygiene, 1908. - - Kelly, Florence, Some Ethical Gains through Legislation, N. Y., - 1905. - - Hunter, Robert, Poverty, N. Y., 1905. - - Le Play, F., La Reforme Sociale, Tours, 1878, 3 vols. - - Missiaen, Berthold, O. M. Cap., L'Appauvrissement des Masses, - Louvain, 1911. - - Clark, J. B., The Distribution of Wealth, N. Y., 1889. - - Woods, Robert A., ed., Americans in Process, Boston, 1903. - - Bliss, Wm. D. P., ed., New Encyclopedia of Social Reform, N. Y., - 1908. - - Clark, Sue Ainslie, & Edith Wyatt, Making Both Ends Meet, N. Y., - 1911. - - Streightoff, Frank Hatch, The Standard of Living among the - Industrial People of America, Boston, 1911. - - Butler, Eliz. Beardsley, Saleswomen in Mercantile Stores, N. Y., - 1912. - - Ryan, John A., A Living Wage, N. Y., 1906. - - Devine, Edw. T., Principles of Relief, N. Y., 1904. - - Bousanquet, Helen, The Standard of Life, London, 1908. - - Chapin, Coit, The Standard of Living among Workingmen's Families in - New York City, N. Y., 1909. - - Journal of Political Economy. - - Economic Journal. - - Quarterly Journal of Economics. - - Journal of the American Sociological Society. - - Annals of the American Academy of Political & Social Science. - - The Survey. - - International Journal of Ethics. - - - - - INDEX - - - Accidents: 90ff. - - Alphonsus, Saint: See Liguori - - Aquinas: 11, 18, 28, 29, 46 - - - Ballerini, Antonio: 22, 27, 28, 29, 45 - - Bouquillon, Thomas: 11 - - Bowen, Louise de Koven: 98 - - Browning, Eliz. B.: 132 - - Butler, Eliz. B.: 4, 43, 51ff, 67, 96, 101, 102 - - - Capecelatro, Card.: 9 - - Capital punishment: 28 - - Carlyle, Thomas: 35f. - - Carver, T. N.: 60 - - Chapin, Coit: 43 - - Charity: - Consumers' obligations of, 31ff; - duties of, 11 - - Cheapness: demand for, 58ff. - - Chicago Vice Commission: 95, 100, 101, 104 - - Child-Labor: 93f. - - Child-Labor Committee, National: 100 - - Clark, J. B.: 65 - - Common good: Scholastic conception of, 28ff. - - Competition: 19ff, 47ff, 55f. - - Compulsory Arbitration: 112 - - Conscience, Social: 131 - - Consumers: - Duties of, 13ff, 16f, 129ff; - individual action, 107, 109, 114; - organization among, 109, 110, 130; - responsibility of, 5ff. - - Consumers' League: 110, 111, 114ff. - - Consumption (disease): 88ff. - - Co-operation in evil: 13, 23 - - Costs of production: 60ff. - - Crawford, Hanford: 60 - - Cunningham, W.: 20, 58, 63 - - Cuthbert, Father: 108 - - - Dance Halls: 97f. - - Dangerous occupations: 86ff. - - De Lugo, Card. John, S. J.: 25, 26, 44 - - Department Stores: 100, 103 - - Devine, Edward T.: 66f. - - Dust: 87f. - - Duty: - definition of, 11; - devolution of, 13ff. - - - Employers: - duties of direct, 12; - liability of, 17 - - English Poor Law: 62 - - Expenses of production: 59ff. - - - Food, Insufficient: 78ff. - - - Goldmark, Josephine: 127 - - Green, T. H.: 32 - - Gury, J. P.: 10 - - - Hibbert Journal: 131 - - Hours of work: 4, 84f. - - Housing conditions: 77ff, 95f. - - Hunter, Robert: 128 - - - Industrial Commission, U. S.: 68, 87, 94 - - Injustice, definition of: 11 - - Innocent: indirect killing of, lawful, 28 - - Interest: 15 - - Interest-takers, duties of: 15 - - - Justice: - Consumers' obligations of, 13ff; - definition of, 11; - duties of, 11 - - - Kelleher, Rev. J.: 9 - - Kelley, Florence: 114 - - - Label: See White List - - Labor, N. Y. S. Bureau of: 68f, 74ff, 88 - - Labor, N. Y. S. Commissioner of: 82, 91 - - Labor, U. S. Bureau of: 16, 42, 43, 52ff, 61, 68, 70ff, 77ff, 89ff, 96, 97, 113 - - Labor, U. S. Commission of: 84 - - Law: binding force of civil: 28 - - Lehmkuhl, Aug.: 29 - - Leo XIII: 8 - - Liguori, Saint Alphonsus: 18, 23, 27, 28, 29 - - Living, Standard of: 9, 38ff, 66 - - Lowell, Josephine Shaw: 117 - - - Maistre, de: 111 - - Mazzini, Giuseppe: 5 - - Mercantile Employers' Bill: 122 - - Middle Ages, Medieval system: 19f. - - Minneapolis Vice Commission: 54, 103 - - Morris, William: 132 - - Mouth, The: 116 - - - Necessity: definition of, 33 - - Neighbor: meaning of, 31 - - Night work: 84f. - - Noldin, H.: 29 - - - O'Reilly, John Boyle: 127 - - - Packingtown: 96 - - Paine, Thomas: 5 - - Pittsburgh Survey: 51, 52, 66 - - Pius X: 8 - - Poisoning: 86f. - - Poverty: 127ff. - - Price: 18ff, 57f, 60 - - Property: - justification of private, 29; - superfluous, 1, 33 - - Prostitution: 95, 101ff. - - - Rent-takers: duties of, 14 - - Right: definition of, 10ff. - - Ryan, John A.: 15, 42f. - - - Saloon, The: 99 - - Scudder, Vida: 131 - - Seager, H. R.: 61 - - Sidgwick, H.: 61 - - Social argument: 13, 27ff. - - Southwell, Robert: 105, 128 - - Speeding-up: 85f. - - State: authority of, 28 - - State-Insurance: 112 - - Suarez, Francisco, S. J.: 27, 28, 46 - - Subsistence standard: 39 - - Suicide: 29f. - - Survey: 67, 98, 101, 104, 123 - - - Thomas, Saint: See Aquinas - - Thorold, Algar: 97 - - Title, just: 22f. - - Tuberculosis: 88ff. - - - Ulpian: 11 - - Unemployed: 66 - - Unemployment: 68f. - - - Value: 13, 17ff. - - Ventilation: 79ff. - - - Wage, Minimum: 42, 46, 112, 113 - - Wages: 4, 48ff, 62ff, 66ff, 70ff; - right to living, 9; - standard of living, 8, 9 - - War: 29 - - White List: 55, 118, 124, 125 - - Williams, A. B.: 98 - - Women: - conditions of work, 4; - hours of work, 4; - wages, 4, 67 - - Work: - conditions of, 4, 51ff; - right to, 9 - - Working Women's Society: 117, 119 - - - * * * * * - - - - - _Just Published_ - - - My Unknown Chum - - "_AGUECHEEK_" - - Foreword by Henry Garrity - - - _What critical book-lovers say of this book_: - - "The best book in the English language." - - "A treat for those who are regretting that graceful, delightful - English is a lost art." - -Rev. CHARLES A. CASSIDY, World Traveler and Lecturer on Art and -Literature: - - "I have read it with the greatest of pleasure, and have turned to it - often. I could read it a hundred times. It is a great book. Its fine - humor, its depth, its simplicity and high ideals commend it to all, - especially the highly educated--the scholar." - -Dr. J. C. MONAGHAN, the well-known Lecturer and Educator; for many years -U. S. 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