LABOUR TROUBLES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 29, 4 February 1913, Page 8

LABOUR TROUBLES

CHILDREN IN,,THE FACTORIES. . (From, Our , Own. Correspondent. )■ ,' '" -;" i "SAN\F ; BAN v ClSqO,', ( Bt'h I Jan.; , I The • laet day .of the ' old y«ar , 'was characterised by .then commencement v - of a -widespread s strike ' of ' the garment workere of . New ' York Ci£y. v " Men 'and women to the 'numberj of ,425,000 ,quitted, work,- closing „ down-- • nearly factories.' ■ ' The dperativefi demand i' an | eight^hour day,' 20 pcl 1 "cent, increase in wages, - w'ith'.ajminimusn,tof . £2 a week for 'girli} and -£3 4e od. for meii, -abolition of child, labour, a'ndj abolition -of work mi tho ■ tenemehte.- " The "is.'connned I afc .present*' to the 1 makers :ofr men's 4 and. boj6'-- clothing. • 'The 1 , Ladies' ► Garment Workers' - Union is • stated" tc^ be • organising" it« • forces • > preparatory tb ; striking for better; conditions,' and 'that a* strike of 70,000 additional- workers -will shortly be called "to -enforce, their 'demands. The total- value of the- product, of linen's and, boys' clothing 'manufactured in New Yock • annually '• is. ' estimated- -at-£?o,ooo,-000. ■- --:-.• Recent- investigations" in-. New *York show that child labour and^workr in the tenement*; -against .whibh» this* strike <.■ is J >rgely directed, ; is , prevalent * in - that ! j State ,to• an alarming \ extent; 'and * not alone in * the .garment trades. Artificial feathers, willow- plumes, etc v -are. made by,- women and children in the tenements to t such van extent that,- the owners- of factories found' themselves • unabte to cojnpet c, ■ and were - forced '■ to, - close down . The r highest average ' income from • this source was found by- Mies Elizabeth »C. Watson, an- investigator' for* the ' Factory Commiseioii, to be £110s a week,' and to earn this - twelve hours' ■ work a day j is' necessary. Mary. Louisa Chamberlain, a, trained investigator, worked ae.ari employee in various' fruit and xvegetable canneries in the i sapie • State, and discovered almost unbelievable condition*. Some canneries employ children from foun years' up, and Jiiany of these children work regularly .in the rush* season from -4 a.m. until* 10- p.m.', and sometimes until midnight. Their work -is snipping beans, cutting- corn, .or- sorting peas and beans. '•'The people of the j State would be. appalled, indeed, Jf they ,were to see these ' children at work on cold • mornings, shivering .in blankets, scarcely awake/ said Miss Ctiamberlain. 'Some of the little ones, '&h"e cays, would fall asleep; others' would cry, i and want to stop work; "buf T hay« seen them whacked .by their parents and compelled to stay at their tasks," These children earn ' for them, parents as - niuclv as 12s and-lfe a week. ■ • >