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324 NEEDLEWOMEN AT NEW YORK.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
We Have Received Two Long 1 Extracts Fro...
before the courts for proper adjudication . There are many legal gentlemen of standing who would render _imjaortant
services in such cases free of charge ; and the generous community in which you livewill turn do deaf ear when called
upon to provide means for _, room-hire , clerks , etc . The next step will be the enlistment of public sympathy in your behalf
by making known the wrongs and hardships to which you are subjected , through a course of public lectures , and by means of
widely circulated publications . " Such legal protection , and such moral support , would , Mr . Beach considered , affect even
the " vilest employers , " and induce them to mend their ways * It was then stated that the Carpenters' 50 dollarshanded in
since tlie writing of the above letter , raised the fund , to 210 dollars .
The four female Secretaries afterwards reported the names of 53 delegates presentand of a number of other girls working
in establishments where , they had not yet appointed delegates . It was stated that hereafter meetings would be held two or
three times a week to perfect and widen the organisation . An executive committee of five was appointed to call meetings ,
and do other business of the society ; and _" The Working-Woman's Union" was adopted as the name of the organisation .
One lady then stated that at the shop in which she worked the hanHs were well paidand the employers had promised to
help the working girls in , their efforts for just wages . It was but fair that such cases should be mentioned . A sympathising
letter from another lady was then read ; alluding to the u monstrous evil of tyranny and oppression" exercised in
" this free land of liberty , health , and the , pursuit of happiness ; _" and a vote of thanks was offered to the press for
its influence in favor of the cause . The meeting then adjourned until the following Tuesday evening . ;
Having thus laid before our readers this singular report _^ showing that American work-girlswith a very little assistance
from men of their own classand , one or two members of the press , are competent to create an , organisation for self assistance ;
we imagine that the said readers will ejaculate , And what of Political Economy ? " If the wages fund of New York will
allow only a certain sum by division to each claimant , how will a union tending to " strikes" increase that sum ? We hit here
against one of those fundamental truths of economical science _,, to controvert which language is of no avail . Butas we said
in a late article on Political Economy , these truth , s and laws , however irrefragablenever do include the wholenay the half
of the problems in , which living beings are concerned , . If these girls learn to combine in a respectable and intelligent
manner , they will " keep each other _up" in many indirect ways .
324 Needlewomen At New York.
324 NEEDLEWOMEN AT NEW YORK .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1864, page 324, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011864/page/36/
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