a week, no matter how long the term of their service.
After learning from the employers what wages were actually paid, the Oregon investigators sought to determine the amount necessary to protect the health and morals of the women workers through an examination of market prices and a careful study of the actual expenditures of the workers. One hundred and sixteen department-store workers furnished the information for the following table of averages:
| Living at Home | Adrift | ||
| Rent | $315.51 | $118.00 | |
| Board | 196.25 | ||
| Carfare | 31.20 | 23.42 | |
| Clothing | 161.36 | 139.63 | |
| Laundry | 24.28 | 16.27 | |
| Doctor and Dentist | 29.23 | 23.82 | |
| Lodge and Church | 12.19 | 9.72 | |
| Recreation | 21.48 | 36.62 | |
| Books, etc. | 10.11 | 6.69 | |
| ———— | ———— | ||
| Total Expenses | $605.36 | $570.42 | |
| The total wages received in the average: | |||
| Total Wages | $459.50 | $480.57 | |
| ———— | ———— | ||
| Deficit | $145.86 | $89.85 | |
These figures show that a majority of these women actually received less than it cost them to live.
Investigations carried on in order to find how these women met the difference, disclosed that many of them, whether living at home or boarding, did extra chores in the morning before going to work and after work-hours in the evening. Others went into debt. And still others became "charity girls" — that is, they kept company with "gentlemen friends," who came up for the balance, sometimes under promise of marriage when these "friends" should feel able to set up a household. That such promises are not always kept and that the girls quite often sink to lower levels, are facts well known.
The first law embodying the principle of the minimum wage was enacted in New Zealand 25 years ago. From there it spread gradually to the other Australian States. In 1896 Victoria, the largest industrial State of Australia, passed the first act providing for special boards to fix minimum wages in different trades. Beginning with a few sweat-shop industries, the movement has grown by successive special acts, until, in 1916, there were about 150 trades or occupations in which minimum wages were set by special wage boards.
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