The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 27, 1919, Page 3

' $15 HELD LIVING “'wages in stores appear _ This is a rude jolt to the ,provxsion of the hours- - —of-work law is being re- . Inthe interest . of a'square deal for the farmers Official Magazine_ of the National Nonpartisan League A magazine that dares to print the truth ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, OCTOBER 27, 1919 VOL. 9, NO. 17 : WHOLE NUMBER 214 North Dakota’s Minimum Wage Law New Statutes Already Make Marked Change in Working Conditions— Investigator Reports F 1nd1ngs—quds $15 L1V1ng Salary -~ BY E. B. FUSSELL = JILAVEN will protect the working girl,” the world used to say piously, and having wished this job onto heaven the world went _ on about its business and for- got all about her. have happened in recent years its eyes. It is-being brought gradually to the world’s" attention ' that the next generation will be a poor lot if the girls and women of this generation are not able to have proper food: énd clothing: _ that a woman can not properly fulfill her functions - as'a mother if she is compelled to work on her _ feet for 10, 11 or 12 hours a day. . ;What are you going to do about it?” the world asks “The answer of the last North Dakota legislature -'was to pass a minimum wage law to insure every female worker a fair living wage, and to limit the - hours of labor to the eight-hour basis, six days a - week. The new laws have already made a marked change in the city and town life of North Dakota. Stores used to open their doors at 8 or 8:30 in the morning and keep open until 6:30 or 7, and to 10 o’clock or later on Saturdays. They could have closed earlier, without any material loss of busi- ness, but Green’s department store was afraid that if they closed a few minutes ahead of time Black’s department store might sell somebody a spool of _thread and win a customer away. Today, almost without exception, the stores are open from 9 to 6, and on Saturdays from-9 to 9, with a double shift of girls. They all do the same business that they: did before and the incgease in expenses,-due to the Saturday double shift, is negligible. - The legislature, in passing the minimum wage law, empowered the workmen’s compensation bureau to determine what was a fair living wage, after . proper hearings, and then to put it into effect. To make ‘a preliminary investigation the commission recently sent a deputy, Miss Helen Farkasch, “throughout the state, to learn what wages were being paid generally and what living = expenses were, WAGE IN.STATE Miss Fa.rkasch has sub- mitted a detailed report to the commission. In substance it shows that while the minimum cost of living in- the average city or town in North- Dakota ‘is around $156 a week, many ' stores are paying .as low as $7.50 per week., The average to be from $10 to $12 per week. Most of the hotels pay about $30 per month, furnishing their ‘help meals and lodging. “Heaven will protect the ‘working girl” theory. The eight-hour day ,‘pected generally, Miss Farkasch . fin But things . that. have made the world rub The world is also coming. to realize ers, especially hotel and restaurant proprietors, are disregarding the feature of the law that limits em- ~ployment to six days in the week. The compensa- tion bureau expects to start, in the near future, a number of prosecutions as the result of the evidence sécured by Miss Farkasch on this feature. The following notations are taken from the re- port of Miss Farkasch on Fargo employers, the name of -the employer or business being thhheld at the request of the commission::~ : Hotel—Girls work eight hours, seven days, for-$30. - These girls room and board else- where; no’ restaurant. - Hotel—Girls work eight hours, six days. Waitresses, $35 and board; pantry girls and ~ chambermaids, $30, board and room. Hotel—Girls work elght hours, seven days, $40. > Department store—Glrls work eight hours, . six days, wages $10 and up. Girls receive com- - mission on, sales but percentage is small. Chain store—Elght hours, six days, wages $7.50 and up. The report adds: “It is specified _.that girls dive at home. Store seems to be a general loafing place for people of ill-repute. « - Moral conditions poor.” Cafeteria with several branches — Eight hours, six days, $40 and board. Confectionary—Eight hours, six days, $10 to 312 per week. Telephone company-—Elght hours, -six days, $1. 60-$1 80 per day, scale rising with increased experience. Department store-—-Elght hours, six days, $10 to $12, few receive as much as $15. Steam laundry—Eight hours, six days, $11 to $15 per week, latter wage for marker. “Con- ditions are bad in the summer; electric fans should be installed in greater number.” Miss Farkasch notes that she was informed that one or two banks work the girls laté at night, until 11 or 12 at times. In regard to living conditions at Fargo, sts Farkasch reports: “Rooms - are almost -impossible to fmd, pnces Two of the many: types of women workers. in North ‘Dakota.” The woman shown on the telegraph pole is in charge of a- ‘mutual telephone company. She does a: ‘man’s work and gets a man’s pay. The other are lanndry workers. Their average wages will run around $10 to 312 a week. Investi- ¢ d $15 ” varying from $16 a month for single room and: up- ward; some double rooms can be obtained for $16 to $20, cutting expense to $8 and $10. In few of " these places are any laundry privileges afforded. Laundry expenses vary from 85 cents to $2 per week, depending to a large extent upon the occupa- tion of the girls. In one or two places the girls’ aprons are laundered by the_ establishment but® usually not. ‘Board costs from $6.50 to $8 a week. Meals at cafeterias-usually cost $1.25 a day and the few available boarding houses will not take girls for less than $8 a week. Estimates received for. : clothmg expenses varied from $125 to $226 a year, averaging about $160 a year, or $3 a week. ROOMING PROBLEM FOR GIRLS CALLED GREATEST “Conferences were held with Miss Duffy, matron, and Mrs. Bow, United States employment agency secretary, and details in regard to living expenses and rooming facilities were discussed. In- regard to the former both were very definite in statements that $15 was the lowest possible amount for which girls could live decently and conserva= tively in Fargo. ° “In regard to rooming facilities,- the great problem is that while rooms are let in almost any kind of place, not one of the proprietors : : affords any facilities for the girls receiving guests. ™ As this is closely allied with protecting: the moral conditions of-girls while at work we went into the matter at some detail. In only one place, out of 17 rooming houses visited, . was there a parlor where girls could re- - ceive company. In other places they either had to receive their company in their bedrooms or on the streets. This same condition prevails also in Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Minot and seems to be one of the most serious prob- - lems confronting the working' girls who do not live at home.” : The conditions in North Dakota are no worse than in other states. The only difference is that North Dakota has had the courage to face these condi- tions and will try to rem- edy them. Other states are trying to ignore con- ditions or to cover them up. Farkasch found quite generally throughout the state was thig: Where the girls were organized into unions, wages were better and there were few, if any, violations of the eight-hour, had no one to speak for them, tion of the law. - words, the workers has resulted ple believe, gator of social” condi tions, estimated th police. One thing that Miss six-day law. Where the workers were unorganized and employers - were | found in flagrant viola- | In other organization of - - in the law being obeyed, and not in lawlessness, as:some opponents of the - unions try to make peo-' After her survey: of"