"PRISONERS OF POVERTY"

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1696, 27 October 1887, Page 3

"PRISONERS OF POVERTY "

("Pall Mall Gazette.) It is always depressing to be deprived of a cherished belief, and from that point of view " Ptiaoners of Poverty " will depress a good many people. Readers of Miss Helen Campbell's vivid sketches of New York working women can no longer retain their belief m the American States as a home of peaoe and prosperity for the working classes. The authoress appears to have enjoyed exceptional opportunities for obtaining information fist hand, and the series of essays before as, which were originally written for the " New York Tribune," ore the resalt of much careful investigation and personal acquaintance with the facts All the sroial problems which have so far beflUd the ingenuity of politicians and philanthropists m the old country have appeared with Btartling acutenesa m the new. It is tb" Bame old Btory with which we are bo painfully familiar at home-* hopeless overcrowding m the labor market ; wages driven down to starvation pitch by competition ; the sweating system, with all his its tyranny, m full force ; employers who have recourse to every mean device by whioh an extra cent may be tamed, and woman slaving for 14 or 16 hours a day m their wretched homes. America, like England, ia suffering from bad times, sad women's wages have fallen nearly 50 per cent since 1380. The wages of the needlewomen may be taken as fairly representative of the earnings of all workwomen, ai of the 92 trades open to female labor 38 are connected with clothing, and one-third of the working women of New York — 200,000, exclusive of domestic servants — support themselves by the needle. Thus, In 1680, a machine operator, making nine shirts a day, the utmost a woman can manage, could earn 7dol 50c (30*) per week ; now m the same firm she can only earn 4dol 500, or even 3dol 50c, The wages for mattress making have fallen from 15dol a week to 9iol ; tor hat-prcaeiup, from lOdol to 6dol ; for tie-making, to 26c a dozen ; at jacket. making, all piecework, done at home, the highest wages are 3 50dol (14*) a week at 16 hours per day, aud a sewing girl never succeeds In making more than sdol (20s) a week. Suoh as they are, these figures are undoubtedly higher than the wages paid for corresponding abor m England, but it must be borne Id mind that the whole rate of living is distinctly higher. Thus, whereas m New York 6dol or 7dol a month seems to be a usual rent for a Birjglo room, and lOdol the rent of two rooms, the same acoomodation could be obtained m the East-end of London for 3s 6 J or 5s 6d a week — that is to say, nearly 50 per cent, cheaper. The food is of no better quality th^n m England ; bread, potatoes, cheap fish, meat only occaslonlly on Sundayß, and all washed down with unlimited tea, is the universal regime. Only one woman had mastered the simple fact that the water she bad boiled the cabbage m was good foundation for Boup, and Miss Campbell's attempt at imroduoing an equally oheap and more nutritious form of diet were met by the stolid incredulity with which the uneducated Anglo Saxou invariably regards culinary improvements Many of theße piteous taleß of grinding toil are rendered all the more pathetic by being given m the Bimple words of the sufferers. Bat if the Btate of the women workers is bad, that of the child workers is infinitely worse. In New York alone 9000 children nnder 12 are eDgaged m» factory labor. To be cure, they are excluded from factories up to the age of 13 ; but as the law does not touch mercantile house?, or trades oirried on m tenement houseß, aud as the education law only requires 14 weeks' oohool attendance In the year, children m«y be put to work at the earliest age. The youngest can sew on buttons and pick out threads. " I couldn't do as well." Bald one mother, "if it wasn't for Jinny and Mame there ; Mame's seven, and Jlnny'a going on six ; [.but Jinny's the smartest. She ooold sew on buttons when she wasn't but muoh ovar four." Of another haggard, wretchedlooking girl of nine, h was stated that ahe "had stwei on millions of buttons." But the most terrible results are to be eeen In the tobacco trade. From the cigar factories the children are excluded ; but several thousands are employed m tenement houses cigar-making, whero there is no sort of sanitary control, end where whole families live night and day m an atmosphere poisoned by nicotine and laden with every Impurity. Here children under 10 years of age do their 10 hours a day stripping the leavus. The result is physical degeneration In Its worse forma ; ekin diseaßes and every sort of nervona complaint are common, and too often consumption follows. Verily a new " Cry of . the Children " is urgently needed to stir men's souls to a true recognition of suoh horrors 1