The Boston Society for the employment of seamstresses, of which I know not the exact title, pays, as I am credibly informed, but ten cents for those shirts, thus limiting the ill-fated women to 90 cents per week, if fully employed, which is seldom the case. Rent of rooms in Boston is higher than here: but suppose it the same, there remain for food, drink, clothes, fuel, soap, candles, &c. 40 cents per week, or less than 6 cents per day!
- ↑ A similar statement has been signed by a number of ladies in New York and Baltimore
prices they receive for their work are inadequate for their support; that expert seamstresses, if fully employed, and unincumbered with children, cannot make more, working early and late, than eight or nine shirts, or duck pantaloons, per week; that the highest price paid here for those articles is 1212 cents each; which amounts only to one dollar twelve and a half cents per week: that the women in question almost universally pay 50 cents per week for their lodgings, which leaves but 6212 cents per week, or 9 cent per day, for meat, drink, clothing, fuel, &c., for an expert woman, constantly employed, and without children! that cases very frequently occur, of the above articles being made for 10, and even for 8, and sometimes for 6 cents; that these women are frequently unemployed; that many of them are widows, who formerly lived in affluence; that no small number are aged and infirm, and unfit for any other occupation; that the occasional want of employment, and sickness, make a serious drawback on their slender means of support; that many of them, but for the assistance they receive from charitable individuals and benevolent societies, would not only be unable to pay their rent, but be often sorely distressed for want of the common necessaries of life! Taking the whole of these afflicting circumstances under consideration, they strongly recommend their case to the consideration of the public at large, but more particularly to that of those by whom, they are employed, in the hope that some alleviation of the sufferings of this numerous class may be devised and effected. "Various other species of female labour are equally ill paid, particularly those of spoolers and winders of thread; but they have not judged it necessary to go into more particulars."[1]
Philadelphia, May 24th, 1830.
The ladies' names are omitted from motives of delicacy.
Testimony of leading citizens of Philadelphia, on the subject of the above certificate.
"It is impossible to peruse this statement without extreme regret and surprise, that such a state of things should have existed in this flourishing city, wholly unknown, as it must have been, to the mass of our citizens. That the case of the unfortunate women referred to calls loudly for a remedy, so far as may be practicable, cannot for a moment be doubted. That a complete and radical remedy is practicable, we do not flatter ourselves, while the demand for employment so far exceeds the demand for that species of labour. And we regret to say, that there are cases in which the competition among the sellers of the articles produced by those women, may have so far reduced their prices as to render it impossible for the employers to raise the wages without injustice to themselves. Yet we fondly hope there are very many cases in which the employers may be able to reconcile more liberal wages, with a due regard to their own interest. And when the extent and intensity of the suffering that must inevitably arise from the present low rate of wages are duly considered, we rely that every man of generous and liberal feeling, who can afford to raise the compensation for the labours of those women, will cheerfully obey the dictates of humanity and justice.
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CADWALADER EVANS, MATTHEW L. BEVAN, SAMUEL RICHARDS, HENRY KUHL, THOMAS LATIMER, ROBERT RALSTON, WILLIAM MEREDITH, ALEXANDER HENRY, Rev. G. R. LIVINGSTON, SOLOMON ALLEN, JAMES TAYLOR, COLEMAN SELLERS, ANDREW BAYARD, |
PAUL BECK, Jun. HENRY TROTH, J. K. MITCHELL, M. D. SAMUEL HILDEBURN, BENJAMIN TUCKER, JAMES GRAY, PETER HILL, L. P. GEBHARD, M. D. SAMUEL D. BREED, W. GARRIGUES, Jun. CHARLES D. MEIGS, M. D. MATHEW CAREY. "Philadelphia, June 10, 1830." |
