On this page
-
Text (1)
-
372 WOMEN AND CO-OPEBATION. '
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Biographies Of Noted Characters Abound I...
even the more modest desideratum of a fair day ' s wages for a fair day ' s work . There are many reasons to account for the
helplessness of workwomen as against their employers , of which traceable the chief , to are the , the limited ruinous number competition of occupations amongst themselves to them ,
and their total want of means and organization open to effect a , 46 strike , " whatever provocation may "be offered them . Here we
abuse may state the , power once for with all , which that b the y the poverty employers of their , who so han often ds "
which invests , we them may , we be do tolerabl not for y a certain moment , pays mean a the fair general price even public for ,
female work . Thus the bills of London dressmakers sometimes figure rather largely in Bankruptcy Courts , whilst of the state
of the poor girls who supply the items for them , the less said the better ; yet the little dressmaker of a country place contrives to live comfortably without ruining her health or her customers .
provision most This is largel enoug for y h a to to certain the show sad , number that statistics even of in qualified of the distress trade hands , that there ; contributes it is is amp onl le y
when the number of candidates for enrployment exceeds those for who h require aving dis them turbed , that the those equilibrium hundreds of must deman suffer d and unavoidabl supply y .
For Co-operation is not a Morrison _^ s Pill , to charm away evils occasioned by the faults and follies of more than one generation
though it can and will lend to those who possess resolution and , skill the strength necessary to render those qualities available .
The establishment of a Co-operative society of needlewomen and dressmakers would enable women , otherwise powerless
from their isolation , to compete successfully with the great London houses , which they would at the same time compel to treat their hands with more consideration , at the risk of
provoking a " turn-out . " Co-operators engaging in the ordinary even branches as compared of trade have with , however those engaged , many difficulties in forming to surmount " stores . " ,
Their dealings are not amongst themselves , nor even chiefly with their own classso that they have to make a business
connection without any , special advantages to counterbalance the distrust and suspicion which they are likely to encounter ,
in common with all other innovators . These and other similar insuperable impediments to would any entei prove _^ rising very women formidable who , mi thoug ht h try far by from the
help of Co , -operationto engage in branches of g employment , entirely new to their , sex ; but a society of the class we have
_suggested would , we believe , meet with every encouragement from the benevolent who patronize schemes far less likely to
help those whom they wish to enable to help themselves .
A glance at the history of the workmen's associations now
372 Women And Co-Opebation. '
372 WOMEN AND CO-OPEBATION .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1864, page 372, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021864/page/12/
-