VOL. XIV., NO. XXVI.
BSTABLISHBD IN 1880
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:
g OBSERVATIONS.
u
1
The Ten Hour Law.
The object of the bill passed last
winter regulating the number of
hours' labor of female employes is
ambiguous. Under the guise of mak
ing it easier for women in shops and
otllces, the law forbids employers to
require more than ten hours work a
day from female employes, but does
not limit the number of hours which
a male employe may devote to the
service of his employer Therefore
when a merchant Is looking for a
clerk, he will naturally select the one
who has fewest disabilities and will
return the largest amount of service
for the salary ho Is able to offer.
Now the ten hour law applying solely
to females is a disability. There are
4 emergencies in every business and the
prudent merchant will be cautious
about employing help who can not
work for him, whatever happens,
more than ten hours a day without
giving that employe a chance to have
the law on him.
The law affects the drygoods mer
chant more than other employers
because they employ more female
labor than any other employers ex
cept manufacturers and there being
very few factories in the Mississippi
valley, the law as it affects factory
girls is of small local significance. I
think the law is a vicious one and was
either introduced by a hidden op
ponent to female labor or by a foolish
and short sighted friend. Very likely
it was the latter, for it is the over
zealous, friendly busybodles who pre-
T clpitate us into most of the uncom
fortable and awkward situations
which make us tired of life.
The quality and quantity of the
work done, not the sex of the hands
that did it and the head which
directed It should determine the
value of the labor, and it will, in
time. In the meanwhile there Is
great opposition in many and most
unexpected sources to female labor.
The people who discuss the subject
frequently refer to the depression of
wages consequent upon the entry of
woman into the labor market, the
limited number of jobs, the unlimited
number of females ct cetera, etcetera.
Hut when a woman and her children,
or other weak and dependant mem
bers of her family arc hungry, these
considerations do not seem especially
relevant to her.
Asa drygoods clerk, to speak from
tlic standpoint, of a customer.a woman
Is more valuable than a man. Ask
any woman and the women buy the
drygoods and household supplies
whether she prefers a man or woman
to show her shirt waists, lingerie,
hosiery, and the answer, except in
rare cases, will be in favor of a wo
man clerk. A man, unless gifted
witli unusual taste and artistic dis
crimination is out of place in most of
the departments of a drygoods store.
Every good and well bred woman
must first subdue natural objections
before asking a male clerk to show
her articles of made-up wearing ap
parjl. In any drygoods store of this
city anybody who cares to satisfy
himself on this subject may con
stantly see women waiting for the
services of a woman in the ready to
wear department. Proprietors of
men's furnishing stores have better
judgement. No women are employed,
not in Lincoln at least, and not many
any where, as clerks in clothing
stores. There are subtleties about the
lit of a coat, about the color and style
of a tie and about the shape of a hat
that no woman has ever fathomed.
There are occasionally men who know
when a skirt hangs correctly and can
prescribe the colors and style which
different types of women should wear,
but there are so few who attempt the
mission that succeed, that the mer
chant princo who thinks lie can pick
him out is worthy of his title.
As to the ten hours a day law, live
twelfths of a day is long enough for
any one man or woman to work ex
cept in case of emergency. The man
who has stood all day in a hot store
among hurrying women on the
hunt for bargains needs rest and the
society of ills own sex in the club, or
out in the open air. He needs it as,
much as the woman who ln.s stood at
the opposite counter and also ae
quired an uncomplimentary opinion
of her sex after the members of it
havo for ten hours pawed and rum
pled her carefully folded stock, A
law which makes it unlawful to work
the woman more than ten hours is un
just to the woman in that it confers
upon her without tier consent a disa
bility and it Is unjust to the man I lo
calise it Is an exemption which lie de
serves and has earned as much as the
woman.
With the progress of tlmo and the
development of metropolitan charac
teristics Lincoln and even Omaha
will probably get rid of some of the
country town habits which distin
guish them now. If the merchants
of New York and Chicago can close
six days of the week at 0 p. in. in the
winter time and in the summer
season at five o'clock on five
days of the week and at one
o'clock on Saturdays surely Lin
coln and Omaha merchants whose
rents are incomparably smal'er can do
so. The people in this Mississippi
region have got into the haMt in the
summer time of strolling down town
and in and out of the stores on Sat
urday night and insisting on being
shown things they do not buy by
pretty, tired shop girls and listless,
bored young men. All the stories of
goods bought by working men and
women on Saturday nights could be
discussed if for the next two months
merchants would keep track of these
Saturday night sales. I think they
form an Inconsiderable and trilling
proportion of the day's sales, which
when offset by the cost of light, is not
worth the trouble. Especially when
it is conceded that a woman who
wants a dress must see it by daylight,
and that if she has made up her mind
to purchase it she will do so when the
stores are open. If she can not buy
it Saturday night she will buy it on
Monday morning when the clerks,
refreshed by a ay's vacation will
drape the folds alluringly before her
critical eyes.
Trusts and the Tariff.
Mr. Henry O. Havcmeycr, president
of the sugar trust, embarrassed the
Industrial Commission somewhat,
when he called the tariff "the mother
of Trusts, ' but ho told the truth.
"He, the chief of a particularly high
handed trust, boldly declared that the
existing tariff bill and the preceding
one, have created and fostered all the
trusts, with scarcely a notable ex
ception, by providing them witli an
inordinate protection, to which they
have not the slightest right under
the sun. Mr. Havemeyer, it is well to
add, is not given to indulging in day
dreams concerning the rights of the
community, or the duties of wealth to
the state, or the ethics of competition
or any other tommy-rot of that sort,
as he would probably call it." Thus
writes i man who is acquainted with
Mr. Havemeyer and adds that "Mr.
Havemeyer found that the Sugar
Trust, witli its capitalization that
represents four or live volumes of
water, Is enabled, without the pro
tection accorded most other enter
prises, to earn fifteen or twenty per
cent per year on its inflated stock, and
with this fact in mind lie was in
evitably impelled to Impress upon the
Industrial commission the racts In
the case."
Jt the tariff were removed, prices
could not lie Ineonscqiiently raised
and the many could not be so easily
fed to the few, though the largeness
of the market and the different labor
conditions in other centres of pro
hibition, might find an occasional
victim among the few There Is no
way to make trusts unprofitable but
that of removing the tariff, levied on
the many for the enrichment of the
few. There is no reason why the
price of the poor man's coat should
contain besides the cost and profit of
raising sheep, the cost and profit of
making the wool into cloth, and the
cost and profit of making the cloth
into a coat, an additional bounty to
the wool mill owner for ills graclous
ncss in consenting to live in America
and buy and sell sheep's wool. In
spite of all temptations to belong to
ottier nations he lias remained an
American and we are opera bouffe
enougli to give up to him a con
siderable part of our sacred Incomo to
'encourage him to stay."
Any legislation that prevents men
from going into partnership and a
trust is only a large partnership Is
unconstitutional. Hut take away the
special prlvelcges granted to manu
facturers, and trusts, which work
oppression will disappear. The
trusts which have cheapened pro
ductlon, and whose products are sold
at a price based on that cost and not
on a protected market will not bo
permanently affected. Tito trusts
havo no special prlvelcges not granted
to all men except those bestowed by
the tariff.
Trusts havo raised the price of
paper, of lead and iron pipe, of bath
tubs and plumber's supplies and many
kinds or building material. The poor
man who could build a house if the
price of these tilings were in pro.
portion to liis wages and they would
be If the natural laws of commerce
and of supply and demands were not
Interfered with is unable to build
because the ricli men who supply
these tilings are artificially protected
from the natural result of an un
warranted raise in prices. Prices arc
like a vast body of water, which only
threatens to submerge the land when
men try to force it into an artlfical
channel, or restrain it in seasons of
expansion, Mr. Havemeyer, with his
knowledge of markets and causes of
high prices and low prices has given
competent testimony and legislators
will find it futile to legislate against
trusts while leaving the 'mother of
trusts" free to fill the country with
new progeny,
Taxes vs. Charitable Beques's.
When rich men dlo they frequently
leave large amounts to libraries, old
ladles' homes, hospitals, relatives and
other deserving objects. It is said
that Russell Sago who has always
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