Page:May Walden - Socialism and the Home (1900).pdf/11

 Rh long as there is a girl in the United States who wants a ribbon and can't have it (and I know of some who never have had one) so long it is not true that we are suffering from over-production!

What is the matter with us then? Why is it that thousands of people work in sweat-shops making clothes that they can never wear because they haven't enough money to pay for them? It didn't cost these manufacturers much to have the clothes made, that is certain. Why is it that thousands of other workers stand over counters day in and day out, selling this sweat-shop clothing, and do not and cannot earn enough to keep soul and body together without selling their virtue too? It is because of profits, my dear friends, profits! The workers are not paid what they earn. They are paid only enough to keep themselves alive. They get only one-fifth of what they produce. They are not supposed to want or to need luxuries, such as eight or nine hours sleep every night, three good meals a day, new clothes frequently, and homes of their own! No, such things are for the rich people—the upper classes.

We are told that one way to prevent the evil of the sweat-shops and the adulterations of food and other goods is to establish Consumers' Leagues. These are made up of the middle and capitalist classes, and the object is self-protection. They promise to buy goods only at such places as are healthful, so the consumers may not run the risk of disease from eating and wearing things that have been made in foul places. This protects the upper classes—about one-fourth of the people. But how about the poor people who are three times as many? They must buy where things are sold cheapest and certainly that is not where the best materials are used. So all of the Consumers' Leagues in creation will not REMOVE THE CAUSE of this evil.