Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/785

 WORK AND PROBLEMS OF CONSUMERS' LEAGUE 771

of inspection and the use of a label that shall be recognized as a standard for certain conditions.

I have already outlined the two problems that confront the members of the Consumers' League. The first I have called national ; the second has been referred to as local. First in importance, so far as the organization of the league is concerned, is undoubtedly the local problem. The proprietors of stores must know that there is a body of people in the community who do care when goods are made under bad conditions, and who arc willing to sacrifice a little in order to secure goods made in the best factories. The local problem, therefore, divides itself into two parts. The first one we may call educational, the second economic in character. The educational problem demands first of all an investigation of the various mercantile establish- ments situated in the city. This necessitates conversations with employers on the part of the officers of the league, who in a friendly way will attempt to secure the point of view of the employer, in reference to the worker, and, if possible, learn what his position is in regard to the application of the standard to his establishment. But the investigation must not end with the con- versation alone. It must be followed later on with an investigation of the store in reference to its sanitary conditions, the position of lunch-rooms, toilet-rooms, and ventilation. To stop at this point would leave the investigation incomplete and undoubtedly inaccurate. The employes must be asked questions as to wages, as to the length of the working day, as to the burden of extra labor, and questions of fines, vacations, and salaries. Thus an investigation remains naturally of great importance in the estab- lishment of the Consumers' League.

How may this investigation best be made ? Can it be done by the members of the league in a most systematic way ? It is my opinion that the members of the Consumers' League have not the time, nor, as a usual thing, the training, to make a complete investigation of the conditions existing in the mercantile estab- lishments in a large city. I say this for the reason that in the various investigations that have been made many things have been ascertained, and oftentimes the employes' point of view has