Conservative.
assigns her. The displacement of men
by women would not , afford occasion for
such serious alarm were it not for the
fncfc thnt a wicked nnd criminal design
underlies the system of pressing women
into the gainful occupations. Women
do not seek opportunities of enslave
ment. They do not enter the extra-
domestic fields to increase their bur
dens , but in the hope of relief. They
seek work , anywhere , because the con
dition is such that father , brother or
husbnnd is not able to provide sufficient
to meet the demands of their scanty
living.
The Canso of It.
The cold fact is this ! "Women are
chosen to labor in nearly every depart
ment of industrial activity for the pur
pose of reducing the earning power of
men. Women must submit to the re
duced wage , because they have no
means by which they might enforce
their demands for fair pay. The en
slavement of women and children is the
cruel answer that capital makes to the
demands of the striker. There was a
time when pauper laborers from Europe
and China were brought into this conn-
try to force down the wage standard of
the American workman. It has since been
found easier and more convenient to
pauperize our own labor. The reduced
wage at which girls are required to
work establishes the standard by which
the value of a man's labor is measured.
National disaster will certainly ensue if
the crime of employing women at re
duced wages to perform the work of
men , is not checked. They arc entitled
by every law of right and justice to
equal wages for equal work. The com
petition of women should not bo op
posed , but the competition should he
fair. In addition to her right to work
in any field in which she shall elect to
engage herself , the wage woman should
also enjoy the right to full and fair com
pensation for her toil. An informed
public sentiment will demand that if
women are to be employed they shall
be paid according to their work and not
according to their sex. It is to be hoped
that the people will soon awaken to the
fact that the system which rejects the
man because the woman is cheaper is
responsible for the low wages and the
consequent hard times suffered by the
working classes. It is a monstrous in
justice to the woman and a cowardly
scheme to reduce the earning power of
the man. Richard D. Kathrens.
SHIPPING SUIJSIDIKS.
The magnitude of the fraud sought to
bo perpetrated ou the taxpayers of the
United States by the shipping-subsidy
bill can bo best understood by making a
comparison of the sums actually appro
priated by Great Britain , for example ,
and thoEO proposed by the Hanna Payne
bill. By reference to recent reports of
the British Postmaster General and the
admiralty records , it will bo found that
the ships to which subvention was paid
by the British admiralty as reserve mer
chant cruisers during the past year were
as follows :
Himalaya , P. & O. Co 3,375
Australia , P. & O. Co 8,375
Victoria , P. & O. Co 2,438
Arcandia , P. & O. Co 2,438
Campania , Cunard Co 7,500
Lucania , Cunard Co 7,500
Teutonic , White Star Co 7,205
Majestic , White Star Co 7,390
To these may be added the three steam
ers of the Canadian Pacific Railroad
Company ;
Empress of India )
Empress of China > for the three. . 7,313
Empress of Japan )
Aggregate for the 11 steamers. . 48,6UO
For these payments the admiralty
have the first call on the ships , at nuich
lower rates than they would have to pay
if the boats wore chartered in times of
emergency , and they have also the first
call on other ships belonging to these
companies for which no subvention is
paid. In consideration of this payment ,
the ships were constructed under admi
ralty survey , and fitted with gun-decks
and the necessary adjuncts to enable
them to be readily utilized as armed
cruisers in case of need , the subvention
beiog paid , not only for the privilege
of a call upon the lines for the boats so
subsidized , but as compensation for the
additional expense in construction , and
for the additional weight and bulk
which they are obliged to carry in the
shape of gun-decks and other fittings.
In addition to this subvention , accord
ing to the forty-fourth report of the
Postmaster-General of Great Britain ,
the total amount paid for the carriage of
mails from the United Kingdom to New
York during the year ending March 31 ,
1898 , was 107,094 , or say about § 500,000 ,
which , added to the amount paid for
subvention , would aggregate a sum to
tal of about § 750,000.
In the Haima Payne bill provision is
uiado for the payment of subsidy to
American-owned steamers under the
British and Belgian flags , which is esti
mated to amount in the aggregate to
over $658,000 annually. It is also an
open secret that various foreign resi
dents doing business in New York have
filed notices within the prescribed time ,
which will enable them to comply with
the stipulations of the bill in securing
subsidy payments on a still greater
amount of tonnage now in course of con
struction to bo put into the American
trade later. Thus the estimated § 9,000-
000 for subsidy appropriation is likely to
be fully used , the lion's share going to
the International Navigation Company
and other owners of vessels which are
foreign built , though possibly under the
American flag , while the Pacific Mail ,
Ward Line , and other coastwise lines ,
strictly American , will divide among
them what is loft by their more greedy
claimants for the public mono ) ' . If this
Hauna-Prtyno bill , as hag been so fre
quently announced , is for the purpose of
reviving shipbuilding interests in this
country and the building up of an Amer
ican merchant marine , why not confine
the payment of the subsidy to strictly
American-built ships ?
Now let us inquire what would have
been the subsidy payments under the
Hamm-Payno bill for the fiscal year 1897 ,
if it had been in force at that time. Fol
lowing the actual cour.se of every ship
during that year , the amount paid from
the treasury would have been the fol
lowing :
International Navigation Co. ( un
der American flat , ' ) $1,803,331 57
International Navigation Co. ( un
der British and Belgian flags ) 053,701 44
Ocean Steamship Co 117,300 37
Pacific Coast Steamship Co. and
Oregon Improvement Co 01,209 12
Atlantic and Caribbean Steamship
Co 113,132 28
Pacific Mail Steamship Co 213,887 80
United States and Cuba Mail Co. . . . 800,601 07
C. II. JMnllory & Co 7,25(1 ( 87
H. B. Plant Steamship Co 12,605 82
W. P. Clyde & Co 25,000 83
Southern Pacific Co 21,898 57
Charles . Ilogaii 8,438 10
T. Hogan & Son 11,225 74
Alfred C. Bedford 31,100 18
L. and N. Railroad Co 881 09
Saginaw Steamship Co ! ' 1,497 DO
Pacific Steel Barge Co 9,592 85
Progreso Steamship Co ! 480 13
International Steamboat Co 409 53
Boston Towboat Co 1,25443
Total $2,890,2.J5 10
In addition to this the following extra
subsidies would have been earned :
International Naviga
tion Co. under
American flag $1,220,512 20
Under British and Bel
gian flags 480,703 -$1,707,280 84
Oceanic Steamship Co 117,390 87
Pacific Coast Steamship Co. and Or
egon Improvement Co 20.0CO 70
Atlantic and Caribbean Steam'p Co 91,048 00
Pacific Mail Steamship Co 95,281 88
C. H. Mallory & Co 2,202 83
Total $2,030,92474 ,
This makes a total of nearly § 5,000-
000 , against about § 750,000 paid by Great
Britain for like purposes. An interview
appeared in the morning papers , a few
days ago , in which the president of the
International Navigation Company was
made to say that the mail contracts
which now give the International Navi
gation Company in the neighborhood of
§ 1,000,000 per annum do not compensate
for the extra expense involved in sailing
under the American flag. Such state
ments may deceive the average member
of Congress , but cannot deceive mer
chants who are familiar with the sub
ject. We are informed that the subsidy
which would be earned by the Interna
tional Navigation Company under the
proposed bill would in itself amount
yearly to more than the gross earnings
that can bo made by either of the larg
est steamship companies now employed