BLACKWELL FAMILY ELIZABETH BLACKWELL Printed Matter[*Alice Stone Blackwell*] THE Women’s Union Journal. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN’S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. VOL. I. 1876 PUBLISHED BY THE WOMEN’S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE, And to be obtained at the Office, PRICE ONE SHILLING.WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. Contents of Vol. I. No 1. Feb. 1876.--Illegal Reduction of Wages of Machinists.--Report of Women's Union Meetings--Announcements &c. No. 2--Leading Article by L. A. A. S.--Letters from Professor Ruskin on Women's Work--report of Meeting of London Machinists and Formation of Society-- Factory and Workshops' Legislation : Report of Royal Commission ; Summary of Recommendations--Correspondence, Notice of Meetings, Employment Notices, &c. No. 3--Sewing Machine Work in Manchester--Mademoiselle Lucienne's Story-- Report of Meeting of Society of Women employed in Bookbinding--Right Hon. J. Stansfeld on Trades' Unions--Correspondence, Notices, &c. No. 4-- Women's Union Movement in the North: Reports of meetings held in Sheffield and Manchester, for the formation of Unions--Society of Upholsteresses: Report of first annual Meeting: Speeches of the Hon. Auberon Herbert (Chairman) Miss Frances Power Cobbe, Mr. F. Verney and others--mademoiselle Lucienne's Story told by herself (Translated from the French of E. Gaborian) No. 5--The Risks of the Disorganization of Women's Work (by the Rev. Stewart D. Headlam).--A Woman's Work in the National Association of Ironworkers-- Different Conditions of the work of men and women--File Scouring by women in Sheffield--Extract from Reports of H. M. Inspectors of Factories--Mademoiselle Lucienne's Storyt. No. 6--Union for Present as well as Future Advantages by C. E. W. --report of Second Annual Meeting of the Women's Protective and Provident League: Speeches of Sir Harcourt Johnstone Bart. M.P. (Chairman) Rev Septimus Hansard, Mr. Hodgson Pratt, Mr. F. Verney, and others--Mademoiselle Lucianne's Story. No. 7--Union in Holidays--reports of Women's Union Excursions to Epping Forest and Hendon--Report of meeting of Society of Sewing Machine Workers of Manchester-Letter from a member of the Upholsteresses' Society on the advantages of Union among Working Women--Women's Trade Unions, from the "Dispatch"of July 2nd 1876--Women's Hotel for New York--Report of meeting of Society of Shirt and Collar-makers--Mademoiselle Lucienne's Story. No. 8--Antiquated Objections to Women's Unions.--Straw Trade at Luton.--Poetry: "A Hint."--The work of the Women's protective and Provident League.--Books presented to the League Library.--Mademoiselle Luciennés Story. No. 9--report of Trades Union Congress.--Second Annual Meeting of the Society of Women Employed in Bookbinding.--Correspondence.--Books presented to League Library.--Shirt Makers Society.--Mademoiselle Lucienne's Story. No. 10--Leicester and Leicestershire Seamers and Stitchers' Union.--The Trades Union Congress and Restrictions on Women's Work.--London Sewing Machinists Society.--Poetry: "To Day."--Upholsteresses' Society.-- Mademoiselle Lucienne's Story.--Correspondence.--Soiree of Upholsteresses Society. No. 11--The Church and Trades Unions.--Women's Unions in the North.-- Conference on Proposed New Laws Affecting Women's Work and Memorial to the Home Secretary. No. 12--The St. Austell Clay Workers.--Mr. John Morley on Trades Unions.--Poetry: "A New Year's Wish".--Social Meetings at the League Rooms.--Society of Women Employed in Bookbinding.--Society of Upholsteresses.--Society of Shirt, Collar and Ladies' Underlinen-makers.--Mademoiselle Lucienne's Story (Conclusion).-- The Angel of the House (a Tale).--The China Clay Dispute.The WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. The organ of the Women's Protective and provident League. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. No. 1 February, 1876 Price One Penny. Introduction. The work of establishing Protective and Benefit Societies among women employed in various industries, commenced by the Women's protective and Provident League in July 1874,--has met with considerable response from the women on whose behalf it was undertaken and may therefore be considered to have justified its initiation and continuance. The Societies already formed under the auspices of the League are making good progress and others are about to be established. As the movement extends, the want is increasingly felt of some means of periodically recording its progress,-- of facilitating intercommunication between persons interested in it, and especially of collecting and diffusing information about the condition of the different trades engaged in by women. It is hoped that this want may be met by the monthly publication of a journal mainly devoted to the purposes indicated, although admitting, when practicable, informa- tion relating to other interests of working women. The commencement here made is a very humble one, but it is confidently believed that the numerous friends of the League will readily assist in developing both the dimensions and circulation of the Journal. Any suggestions with this view, also letters, articles or reports, for publication in future numbers would be gratefully received by the Editor, at the Office of the League, 31, Little Queen-street, Holborn. --- REDUCTION OF WOMEN'S WAGES WITHOUT NOTICE. The urgent need of combination among women employed in trades is strongly brought out by the case of City Skirt machinists heard at Guildhall in December by Sir Thomas Dakin and widely reported in the newspapers. For five weeks the women had been receiving a certain payment, 4s. 6d. per dozen for embroidering, such skirts as are sold at about 6s. 11d. cach. At this rate the workers could earn as much as 26s. and 28s. per week during the busy season.WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 2 it must be remembered, however, that this season lasts but a short time, three or four months, and that during the remainder of the year the earnings average only 9s. or 10s. per week. The employers, in the case above referred to, have brought prominently before the public the mode in which women are treated, by suddenly, and as it proved, illegally, reducing the rate of payment from 4s 6d. to 2s 6d per dozen; thus reducing the average earnings during the best season to about 14s. per week, and of course proportionately reducing the totally inadequate wages of the remainder of the year. After working at a certain rate for five weeks, the women on going to receive the fifth week's payment were offered four shillings, five shillings, and in one case six shillings less than they had calculated on receiving, and were told that the forewoman had made a mistake in the previous prices. Sir Thomas Dakin promptly decided that the reduction of wages without notice was illegal, and ordered the full payment to be made* The statement repeated by the employer in Court, that the forewoman made made a mistake in the prices (for which he had dismissed her), was not confirmed in any way by the evidence; and we here reprint rom the "City Press" of December 18th, her letter contradicting it. --- * The courageous conduct of the machinists met with with warm approval from Members of the Women's Unions, some of whom commenced a subscription to defray the legal and other expenses incurred. L.6 17s. 6d. has been subscribed. The mere omission of legal notice which has enable the women in this case to obtain redress, is of trifling importance when compared with the very serious question of the lowering in the payment for women's work continually going on. The introduction of the sewing machine did in the first instance, as it was hoped it would, increase the earnings of the workers,--the harder labour and greater skill required by it being rewarded by a greatly increased production. A process is, however, going on by which these earnings are being gradually brought down to the same starvation point as in the old days of the "Song of the Shirt." It is only by union among themselves, which would enable them to interchange trade information and agree upon some reasonable rate of payment to be demanded for their work, that women can obtain permanent benefit from the aid of the machinery which at first appeared to give so much hope for their future. EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYED.-- To THE EDITOR OF THE CITY PRESS-- Sir,--Will you grant me a small space in your columns to correct some misstatements in reference to the above case at Guildhall, wherein my employer stated the mistake was mine? Truthfully I assert that all work was given out by me, the prices I copied from a written list kept in my room, and that Mr. F. Bliss agreed from the first that the price for the skirt in dispute should be 4 1/2d., and which has been paid by them for five weeks, allow- ing 1 1/2d. for deep embroidery and 3/4d. for curling; there were two rows of each pattern. I can truly say I never received any intimation to WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 3 alter the prices from any of the firm, and I have nothing whatever to do with the paying of the young women; there is a clerk kept. I must add that I have faithfully discharged my duties as forewoman for over twelve months. The number of hands returning to their machines was only five. I consider it an injustice that I was not called to give my evidence, having been suddenly dismissed for an error that was not mine.--I am &c., F. Robinson, late forewoman to Messrs. Bliss Brothers, Aldersgate-street. Societies Of Women. SOCIETY OF WOMEN EMPLOYED IN BOOKBINDING. The fifth Quarterly Meeting of the above Society was held at the rooms of the League on Tuesday January 11th. About seventy members were present. From the financial statement presented it appeared that the funds in hand, accumulated entirely by the member's payments amounted to £120. Since the first annual meeting of the Society, in October 1875, when 120 members became entitled to receive benefits, the allowance of 5s. per week had been paid to three sick members, but there had been no claims for out of work payments. Applications from employers for workers were frequently made to the Society. The number of members enrolled since the formation of the Society in October 1874 had reached 297. SOCIETY OF UPHOLSTERESSES. The Third Quarterly Meeting was held at the offices of the League, on Thursday, January 13th. The report read showed that 102 members had been enrolled since the establishment of the society last April and that £40. had been received. The first annual meeting will be held in April; and payment of benefits will then commence. SOCIETY OF MACHINISTS. Preliminary meetings, with a view to the formation of a Society of Machinists, have been held at the Offices of the League and at 25, Finsbury Place, during the past month. It has been agreed to form a Society, and several machinists have already enrolled their names as members. A large meeting, to which he proposed rules will be submitted, is to be held on February 16th, in the Bishopsgate School- room, by kind permission of the Rev. Wm'Rogers, M.A., (rector of Bishopsgate), who has also consented to take the chair. WOMEN'S UNIONS FOR SHEFFIELD. At the Meeting of the Sheffield Trades' Council held on January 12th, it was unanimously resolved that the Council should endeavour to get up a large meeting of the purpose of bringing before them the advantages of union. SOCIETY OF WOMEN EMPLOYED IN BOOKBINDING.--A Soiree was held by the above Society in the Co-operative Institute Hall, Castle-street, on Tuesday evening. Several songs, recitations, and pianoforte pieces were given by Miss Nelson, Mrs. and Miss James, Mr. Barnett, Miss Waterer, Mrs. Heatherley, Misses garrett, and others. Mr. S. Foreman played a solo on the hautboy. A song entitled "Stand by the Union," adapted specially for Women's Unions, was sung with much spirit by the audience. Mr.WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 4 Hodgson Pratt presided, and gave a short address on the objects and highly satisfactory progress of the Society. Upwards of 400 persons were present. Dancing from 10 to 12 o'clock concluded the entertainment. --Beehive, Jan. 22, 1876. SHIRT AND COLLAR MAKERS. On Wednesday night a meeting of women engaged in the shirt and collar making trade was held at St. Martin's Schoolrooms, West Strand, under the presidency of the Rev. S. D. Headlam. Mrs. Paterson, hon. secretary of the Women's Protective and Provident League, stated that, under the auspices of the league, a society for the benefit and protection of shirt and collar makers was formed six months ago, and since then as many as forty women had enrolled their names as members. The rev. chairman congratulated the meeting on the change in public opinion on the question of union amongst work people which had taken place. A few years ago such a thing as a trade union for women was hardly thought of, and if thought of, the idea was scouted by a good many respectable members of society. The fact that the vicar of such an important district had twice granted the use of his school- room for the purpose of advocating women's trade's unions was a proof of the change of public opinion. Miss Brown, Miss Wilkinson, and a number of other speakers addressed the meeting, and spoke of the necessity of union amongst work- women. The Rev. J. Johnston, Mr. paterson, and other speakers having strongly supported the movement, a number of the women present gave in their names as members of the society. "Dispatch," Jan. 9, 1876. List of Societies Already formed: The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING.--Established September 1874. Monday 7.3o to 9.30 p.m. The DRESSMAKERS, MILLNERS, and MANTLEMAKERS. -- Established February 1875. Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. The UPHOLSTERESSES.-- Established April 1875. Monday from 8 to 10 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLAR Makers. -- Established July 1875. Monday or Wednesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. The office of the League, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned The HAT TRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS.-- Established May 1875. Monday from 8 to 10 p.m. Temporary Office: 154, Southwark Bridge Road S.E. A CIRCULATING LIBRARY Has been formed at the Office of the WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. from which Books are Lent on the following terms: -- To Members of Women's Trades Unions, ..............6d per Quarter. To Women who are non-Members of Unions, on giving a satisfactory Reference or depositing is Security, 3d. per Month. The Library includes Works of History, Biography, Travels, &c., and a large number of Novels and Magazines. A Catalogue is now ready, PRICE ONE PENNY. Contributions of Books would be gladly accepted. THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. The organ of the WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn No. 2 March, 1876. Price One Penny. Much has been written and said, generation after generation, respecting the duties and responsibilities of women as wives' mothers, daughters and sisters-- How little has been taught them of the still higher duty, they owe to each other and themselves, as women! All classes and grades of men cleave to, and assist each other in difficulties and privations. Artisans, mechanics, and labourers have for long years, endeavoured to aid and support one another in life's battle with need and destitution, by means of combination in some form or other. Individually there are countless instances of self sacrifice, self immolation on the part of women for husband, lover, family or friend, but they have been lamentably deficient in achieving or attempting aught which would improve their own condition as working women. To submit with patience to oppression or tyranny, to accept with meekness, or resignation, a dole falsely styled wages, and upon which in many cases life could not long be sustained,-- seems to have been considered a position from which escape was impossible. An effort has at length been made in the right direction. If women will persevere and devote to their own cause that energy and self devotion, which most of them possess, such cases as that of "Ada Files and sister" will become of comparatively rare occurence. By such a course women will not only ameliorate the condition of their own sex but will also benefit humanity. L. A. A. S. --- All Letters or Articles intended for insertion in the Journal should be sent not later than the 10th of each month to the Editor, at the Office of the League. --- LETTERS FROM PROF. RUSKIN. To the Honorary Secretary of the League. Corpus Christi College, Oxford. June 10th, 1875. My dear Madam,--I have entire sympathy with the motives which urge the present endeavours to enable women to obtain due wages,-- but they are complicated with the infinite error ofWOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 2 endeavouring to make the sexes independent. If you will look at "Fors Clavigera" passim, you will find its constant principle is that the men of a country must maintain their women or they are worse than beasts. truly yours, J. Ruskin. The above letter was received from Mr. Ruskin las June on his being asked whether he approved of the Women's Union movement. To a recent request for permission to publish the letter in the Journal Mr. Ruskin has given the following reply. Corpus Christi College, Oxford. March 11th, 1876. My dear madam,--I wish my letter were better worth publishing, but there is a great deal in "Fors" on the subject, if you like to look for it. But fix your thoughts on this one point,--that all persons, men, women or children, should in a Christian State be employed usefully, during the hours of the day when they can healthily work; by such work should have their daily bread and nightly roof secured to them; and farther, by human sympathy should be provided with the means of innocent play when the hours of serviceable labour are fulfilled. I should strongly recommend the translation and publication of the story of Mdlle Lucienne (told by herself) in Emile Gaborian's novel of "L'argent des autres."* You are of course at liberty to make any use you think fit of my former letter or of this. I am, My dear madam, Your faithful Servant, J. Ruskin. The maintenance of all women by men advocated by Mr. Ruskin, seems to be very far from possible * We shall endeavour to publish in future numbers, a translation of the French tale recommended by Mr. Ruskin. at present, but the question of whether it would be beneficial if brought about, might usefully be considered. We should be glad if some members of the Women's Unions would give us their views on the subject. Would it be for the good of women, that they should not enter into any employment for which they would receive payment, (for this it appears to us is what Mr. Ruskin's proposition would amount to) but should look for their entire support to their fathers, brothers, husbands uncles, cousins or other male relatives? With Mr. Ruskin's second letter we entirely agree, and we think that the Unions will do much to bring about the good he desires. --- FORMATION OF A SOCIETY OF LONDON MACHINISTS. A Meeting was held at the schoolroom, Bishopsgate Church- yard, on Wednesday evening February 16th, under the auspices of the Women's Protective and Provident League, in order to form a society amongst female machinists for the protection of their trade interests and for making some provision against sickness and want of employment. The room was crowded by workwomen of all ages. The Rev. W. Rogers was to have presided, but his health not permitting him to be present, the chair was taken by Mr. F. W. Verney, M. A. a member of the League. After a short introduction by the chairman, Mrs. Paterson (the Hon secretary of the League) stated that a letter had been received from Sir Harcourt Johnstone, M. P., who regretted that, owing to an engagement with his constituents at Scarborough, he was unable to attend the meeting that night. He, however, in his letter stated that WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 3 "women must co-operate for their own good, and men should help them." Mrs. Paterson said that the principal object of workwomen's unions was to promote a fair remuneration for labour, or, rather to prevent a depression of wages, which had been going on for some years. Other objects were affording help in times of sickness and want of work; the registration of vacancies for workers, by which much trouble in searching for work might be avoided; and the interchange of useful trade information. The interest in the formation of the society now proposed had been considerably quickened by a case which had occurred lately, in which a large reduction of wages without notice, attempted by a firm in the City, had been successfully resisted by the workers. In that case it had happened that the law had been infringed, so that redress could be obtained by appealing to a magistrate, * but had the legal notice been given the reduction might have been equally objectionable and oppressive and then union alone could have protected the workers. There were present, representatives of two very successful unions, the Women Bookbinders and the Upholsteresses, which had both accumulated in a few months considerable funds entirely from the members' payments. The work of the Women's Protective and Provident League was to help to form such societies kept up by benevolent people outside the trades would not meet the wants of workwomen. The Society when --- * Particulars of this case are given in the February number of the Journal. once started must be supported and managed by the members. With this view, thirteen ladies engaged in machine work, would presently be invited to form a Committee to transact the business of the Union. Rules similar to those which had been found to work well in the other societies would be submitted and full consideration of them would be invited. Miss Simcox moved the first resolution which was "that in order to protect their trade interests and to make provision against sickness and want of employment, all women working for wages should unite together in protective and benefit societies." Miss Simcox spoke at length of the recent rise of the sewing machine trade, and of the importance of prompt measures to prevent its falling into the same depressed and unhealthy state as some other feminine employments. Women would never think of combining to impose arbitrary or mischievous restrictions on each others' labour, but a comparatively small number of unskilled workers might ruin a trade by working under price and the only remedy was for the large body of competent machinists to unite to resist undue reductions. Miss Simcox compared the conduct of masters who refused to employ hands who had prosecuted a former employer for breach of law to that of thieves who should conspire to ruim an honest tradesman because he had once sent a pickpocket to prison. But the great majority of respectable employers had no interest in lowering wages and were only compelled to do so by the competition of cheap shops and she believed that they would see, in the long run that a society which set its face against cheap work and against bad work was one of their best friends.4 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. Mr. GRAINGER seconded the resolution, and said he was glad the Lord Mayor had acknowledged the usefulness of trade unions, particularly for women. Miss BROWN urged, that no improvement was likely to come from consumers, because, if they patronized the dearer shops, in hopes of benefiting the machinist, the profit would only go to the shopkeeper. Again, no improvement would come from the shopkeepers and manufacturers, because they were bound down by competition. All that was left then, was for the workers themselves to take the matter up, and raise their wages as men had done. The resolution was carried. Mrs. GROUT (a member of the "Women Bookbinders' Society") then moved. "That a Society of Machinists, for the purposes indicated in the foregoing resolution, be now formed; that thirteen ladies in the trade be invited to give their names for a provisional committee, and that the rules now submitted be provisionally adopted." Mrs. GROUT said, that a fair day's wages for women was as much as would keep them in reasonable comfort and enable them to dress respectably. A fair day's work was very differently estimated by different people. The Government considered that twelve hours a day was a fair day's work for women in workshops, while their own office staff only worked six or seven hours, and retired on a pension at about fifty. Many people said that married women ought not to work; but what were they do to if their husbands did not earn enough enough to keep a family? Let women work heartily together, and they would obtain all that they were reasonably entitled to. The Society to which she belonged had now been established fifteen months, and was proving to be of much benefit to the members. Mr. Messent seconded the resolution, earnestly counselling the intending members to try and keep up the quality of their work, and admit none but good honest workers to their society. The resolution was unanimously adopted after being supported by Mrs. WOOD and Miss WILKINSON (members of the Upholsteresses' Society); Mr. H.R. KING (Treasurer of the London Trades Council); and Mrs. HEWETT, who said, that many years' experience in machine work had led her to feel strongly the need of such a society as that now formed. Better payment for the work was, in many cases, much needed, so that girls need not be obliged to work so many hours as they now did. The Rev. STEWART D. HEADLAM, B.A., in proposing a vote of thanks to the Chairman, commended the conduct of the machinists who had so courageously resisted the illegal action of their employer, and said he was glad to learn that several of them were present, and intended to join the Society. The vote of thanks to the Chairman was seconded by Mr. A. GRAINGER and carried unanimously. Several members were then enrolled. Meetings of the Committee have subsequently been held at 25 Finsbury Place (by kind permission of Mr. F.W. Evans); and in future the Provisional Honorary Secretaries will attend, with two Members of the Committee, every Wednesday evening to enrol new Members and receive payments, at No. 30, Wilson Street, Finsbury, where the use of a room for this purpose has been kindly granted to the Society by the Rev. F. Wills. WOMAN'S UNION JOURNAL. 5 FACTORY AND WORKSHOPS LEGISLATION. Many members of the Unions will remember two closely packed Meetings held last April at the rooms of the League, when they were invited to attend to confer upon the Factory and Workshops Acts, a Royal Commission having then just been appointed to inquire into the working of these Acts. The Report of the Commission is now published.* It is signed by six out of the seven members of the Commission. The seventh Commissioner, the O'CONOR DON, M.P. has declined to sign, and gives a separate report, being unable to concur with this colleagues in their recommendation on certain points, the most important of which, as affecting women, are the proposed extension, to all workshops, of the factory restriction which limits the work of adult women within a certain fixed period to 12 hours, and the proposal that the Factory Inspectors should be assisted by the Police. We hope to give in future numbers several extracts from both Reports, and also from the Appendices and Evidence. The Commissioners make 113 recommendations of alterations in the existing law. The following are some of the most important: "The word 'Factory' should be defined so as to include the Factories now under the Factory Act of 1874 (textile factories), and the word 'Workshop' used to cover all other places of work within the Act. The definition of work to be regulated by the Act should include labour in or incidental to the washing, cleaning, or furnishing any article. (Laundries, hitherto exempt from regulation by the Act, would then be brought under it.) The Act should not interfere with employment by the occupier of a room used also for the purposes of a --- *Reports of the Union Conferences appear in the Appendix to the Report of the Commissioners and some notes of the Discussion taken by Sir GEO. Young, Secretary to the Commission who was present at the second Conference* dwelling house, if there are no protected but adult women employed, and if they do not, in addition to inmates, exceed to in number. The limits of the hours of labour should be, in al Factories and workshops 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. 6.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. or 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. all the year around. Of the 12 hours within which the hours of labour must be included, two hour should be reserved for meals in Textile Factories, and one hour and a half in workshops, thus making the hours of labour ten in the former and ten and a half in the latter. The meal hours should be so distributed that not more than four and a half hours in Factories, and not more than five in workshops, should elapse between them. The rules as to distribution of meal hours should not apply to domestic employment; that is, employment in business carried on by the occupier in a room used for the purposes of a dwelling house, and employing none but inmates. There should be a relaxation allowing the twelve hours limit of work to be fixed as late as 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the following trades: - Printing, Bookbinding, Tailoring, Dress and Mantle Making, Millinery, Shirt and Collar Making, Straw Hat and Bonnet Making, Fringe and trimming Making, Skirts Stays and Underclothing Making, and warehouse occupations; and the Secretary of State should have power to extend this relaxation to all occupations in which earlier hours are not customary: also, in any trade where this same condition exists, to allow the limits to be as late as from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Alternative relaxations giving power to employ young persons over 16 and women for 14 hours a day or else young persons over 14 and women for 13 hours, upon not more than five days in the week or 48 days in the year subject to the limits of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. and to the giving half an hour extra for a meal after 5 p.m. should be permitted to all trades liable to emergency from sudden press of orders; such over time to be subsequently deducted, within six months, from the legal 60 hours per week at the rate of not less than half an hour per day. Permission to work under any relaxation of the law in respect of hours of labour should be made conditional upon the adoption of sanitary provisions to the satisfaction of the inspector. All working overtime should be registered and reported to the inspector. Assistance by way of information and evidence should be supplied to the inspector by officials with local knowledge, engaged in kindred duties, such as sanitary officers or school board visitors, and also by the police. It does not seem probable that any Bill embodying the recommendations of the Commissioners will be brought forward by the Government during the present session of Parliament. During the time that elapses before next year's sitting of Parliament, the women whose work is regulated by the Acts should carefully consider the various recommendations, and be prepared when the Bill is introduced, to6 WOMAN'S UNION JOURNAL. petition Parliament against any proposals which they may judge to be contrary to their interests, or in favour of those which they may consider to be desirable. The recommendation that overtime worked by permission to be given to certain trades for 48 days of the year, shall be paid back in time within six months, at the rate of not less than half an hour per day, appears to us to especially require consideration. Such a recommendation seems to touch closely a question of wages, although in another part of their Report the Commissioners deprecate any interference by legislation in such questions. We should be glad to know whether the plan suggested has ever been adopted as regards men's overtime. Women sometimes stay only a few weeks in one shop, and if during that period the overtime was being worked, they would on leaving the shop lose repayment of their time. Since "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" it might be more satisfactory to them to receive fair payment for their overtime, than to wait for it to be repaid in the manner suggested. 48 hours at 6d. per hour would produce £1 4s od. and the possession of that sum in the bank with the interest upon it would be something more tangible than payment in time. The interference of legislation with the work of persons who are supposed in all the matters to have come to years of discretion, opens up many difficulties and we therefore heartily concur in an opinion expressed by the Commissioners in their Report that the "Factory Acts with all their beneficial results, constitute a chapter of legislation not necessarily permanent; but such as we should be glad to think, may gradually become superfluous." Correspondence. [The Editor is not responsible for Opinions expressed by Correspondents.] The following letter has been received from a lady in Manchester:- "I have been asked by a friend who is a mill owner in a beautiful and healthy valley in Lancashire, if some of the London workwomen who are on starvation wages could be got to learn the weaving. He has over 100 looms standing for want of workers. Women with families of young children could earn enough to live very comfortably. If any were sent they would be taught the work and maintained until they began to earn, but money would have to be subscribed to transport them. If an emigration scheme could be organized it might do good, and ultimately become self-supporting. It would cost about £1 or 25s. per head for the journey; and the workers might agree to repay the advance by weekly installments when they began to earn. See the enclosed table of wages." Wages | per week. s. d. Males under 13 years of age Half time ... ... 3 | 6 " over 13 and under 16, Full time ... ... 10 | 6 " over 16, and under 20, 15 | 6 " advanced places 25s. & 30 | 0 Females under 13, years, Half time ... ... 3 | 0 " over 13, under 16, Full time ... ... ... 9 | 6 " over 16, under 20, 16 | 0 " advanced placed 19s. & 22 0 Married women ... ... 18 | 0 WOMAN'S UNION JOURNAL. 7 EVERY TRADE in which WOMEN are Engaged should have its PROTECTIVE AND BENEFIT UNION The Objects of such Societies are:- 1 - To protect the trade interests of the members by endeavouring, where necessary. to prevent the undue depression of wages, and to equalise the hours of work. 2 - To provide a fund from which members may obtain allowance weekly in sickness or when out of employment. 3 - To arrange for the registration of employment notices, so that trouble in searching for work may be avoided, and to collect useful trade information. 4 - To promote arbitration in cases of dispute between Employers and Employed. --- The members of each Union arrange the rates of payment and other Rules at their general meetings. In some of the Societies the subscription is 2d. or 3d. per week, the entrance fee is 1s. or 2s., and the allowance in sickness or non-employment is 5s. per week, for from one to eight weeks during the year. The business of each society is conducted by a Committee of the members, subject to approval of quarterly meetings of members. THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE, affords advice and information as to the formation of unions, provides places for holding Trade Meetings and Conferences; the temporary use of the Office; the personal assistance of Provisional Honorary Secretaries, and assist in defraying the preliminary expenses of organization. A List of the Societies now Established in London is given at page 8. Enquiries may be addressed to the Hon. Sec. of the League, MRS. PATERSON, at the office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. Societies of Women. SHORT & COLLAR MAKERS' SOCIETY. The Third Quarterly Meeting will be held on Thursday, April 6th. The Chair to be taken at 8 p.m. Further particulars in handbills. SOCIETY OF UPHOLSTERESSES. The FIRST ANNUAL MEETING of the Society will take place on THURSDAY, APRIL 27th. The Chair will be taken at 8 p.m. by the HON. AUBERON HERBERT Full Particulars will be given in handbills. SOCIETY OF WOMEN EMPLOYED IN BOOKBINDING. The Half Yearly Meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 11th, in the Clerkenwell Free Church, St. John's Square. The Chair will be taken at 8 30 p.m. by HODGSON PRATT, ESQ. Several Members and Friends of the Society will address the Meeting. PROPOSED SPELLING BEE. Some Members of the Shirt Makers' Society have suggested that a Spelling Bee should be organized in which the competitors, should be members of the Women's Unions, The Committee of the League have considered the proposal and are willing to carry it out if not less than 40 names of intending competitors are given in at the office.8 WOMAN'S UNION JOURNAL. List of London Societies Already Formed; Date of Establishment and Meeting Nights: The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING. - Established September, 1874. Subscription: Monday 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: Second Tuesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS and MANTLEMAKERS. Established February 1875. Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month. The UPHOLSTERESSES. - Established April 1875. Subscription: Monday, from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: Second Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLAR MAKERS. - Established July 1875. Subscription: Monday or Wednesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League, 31, Little Queen Street. Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned. The HAT TRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS. - Established May 1875. Subscription night, Monday from 8.30 to 10 p.m. Temporary Office: 14, Great Suffolk Street, Borough, S.E. The MACHINISTS. - Established February 16th, 1876. Subscription: Wednesday, night, 8.30 to 10 p.m. Committee: Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8.30 p.m. Temporary Office: 30, Wilson Street, Finsbury. WANTED Several Book Folders and Sewers; also a Collater and Placer and a Headbander. A Wheeler and Wilson Machinist for Shirt work. Toppers, Tackers, Machinists and Buttonhole makers for Shirt work. A Thomas' Machinist for Upholstery work. Particulars may be obtained at the Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. MEETINGS of the LEAGUE COMMITTEE are held at the Office on the first and third Friday of each month, at 7.30 p.m. A CIRCULATING LIBRARY HAS BEEN FORMED AT THE OFFICE OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. From which Books are Lent on the following terms: - To Members of Women's Trade Unions, ..... 6d per Quarter. To Women who are non-Members of Unions, on giving a satisfactory Reference or depositing 1s Security, 3d. per Month. The Library includes Works of History, Biography, Travels, &c., and a large number of Novels and Magazines. A Catalogue is now ready, PRICE ONE PENNY. Contributions of Books would be gladly accepted. THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31 Little Queen Street, Holborn. No. 3 APRIL, 1876. Price One Penny, or post free Three Half-pence. Sewing Machine Work in MANCHESTER. The condition of sewing machine workers is the subject of a very interesting correspondence in the "Manchester Guardian." We reprint the letter signed "A Sewing Machine Girl" by which the correspondence was opened, and also give extracts from other letters. We are glad to find that the Manchester machinists are becoming aware of the urgent need of union in their trade. Some startling revelations of inadequate payments and other difficulties have been made to us by members of the Society formed by the London Machinists at the meeting reported in the March number of the Journal. We are told, for instance, that from 10d. to 1s. 4d. are prices commonly paid for machining throughout one of the Holland costumes sold at from 12s. to 14s. Bad as matters are in London, however, it appears that in some Northern towns there are still lower depths. London machinists frequently told, as an excuse for a reduction of payment, that the work can be done at a lower rate in Manchester, and it is therefore obvious, that Union among the machinists of that place and of other provincial towns would greatly strengthen the London Union. One of the Correspondents of the "Manchester Guardian" is in communication with the Committee of the League, who have gladly promised to give the fullest assistance in their power in efforts to bring about this very desirable extension of the Women's Union movement. --- All Letters or Articles intended for insertion in the Journal should be sent not later than the 10th of each month to the Editor, at the Office of the League. --- SEWING MACHINE WORKERS. To the Editor of the Manchester Guardian. (of April 10) Sir, - I wish you would allow me to ask the sewing machine girls and women of the United Kingdom to try and gather themselves together into some sort of an organization for mutual protection against the heavy oppressions under which they labour. The miserable tyranny with which we are tortured is vividly described in Hood's immortal "Song of the Shirt," only it is doubly in-10 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. tensified in our case. We are compelled to get to our work by a certain time every morning, only to find in many cases that the door is locked, and then we have to stand shivering in the cold and wet until the one in authority arrives, unlocks the door, and lets us enter the warehouse. And we have but the choice of two evils in this - either to be there by a specified time or be heavily fined for not being there. When once in the warehouse we are very often forced to wait for hours before we can get any work. We are not told when work will be ready, and allowed to go and attend to other duties - such as house-work for instance, - but must wait and wait until one's very heart grows sick at the work deferred, the small amount earned, the long weary tramps one has to take reach it, and the many little jobs that have to be neglected in order to obtain this much-waited-for work. I have many times had to be away from home the best part of a day and have scarcely had sufficient work to occupy the best part of an hour. And then the prices our work has got reduced to is something appalling in its paltriness, considering that ours is "skilled" occupation, requiring much money, much practice, and much more patience in its attainment. Our "lords of creation," through their trades' unions, can command any price, any hours, any terms almost. for occupations that are not one whit more "skilled" than our own. It is not the fingers only that are "weary and worn" in our business; it is the feet, the legs, the body, arms, hands, fingers, and head. All have to be actively and incessantly employed while manipulating such a delicate instrument as a sewing machine. And this is the rate of pay we get, taking overskirts as an instance; In making one class of these articles we have, first, to join up the six lengths of stuff necessary to form a flounce, join them together, hem them, gather them up in plaits, and attach this flounce to the skirt. For this work we get the magnificent sum of twopence! And this, too, at one of the best houses. What, then, must it be at the worst? Surely it is high time for some one to take us in hand, organise us, and drill us into some kind of a "union" that will give us the requisite strength to resist such prices and such punishment. I appeal especially to such ladies as Miss Becker, and the various associations that have the best interests of our sex so sedulously at heart. And I appeal to you, sir, and your contemporaries of the press, to aid us in making our wants known, by, if possible, saying a few words in our behalf in that peculiarly powerful manner which it is alone the privilege of the press to possess. By doing so you will earn the thanks of thousands of aching hearts, and heads, and hands, as well as the gratitude of yours, &c. A SEWING MACHINE GIRL. In the "Manchester Guardian," of April 18th, Miss Becker, after directing attention to the work of the "Women's Protective and Provident League," and describing its operations goes on to say: - "I would strongly urge the machinists of Manchester to follow the example of their sisters in London, and for further information I refer them to Mrs. Paterson, honorary secretary of the League, at the office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. Many general questions of the WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 11 highest social interest are suggested by the letters which have appeared, but the exigencies of time and space forbid their discussion. I would, however, observe that while the sewing machine is an invaluable boon in domestic unpaid needle-work, where a definite amount of sewing has to be done, it has been in many cases disastrous to women who depend on sewing as a trade to live by. If a woman has a mile of stitching to do, she will accomplish it more easily by the machine than by hand; but if she is compelled to labour a given number of hours per day, irrespective of the quantity of work turned out, she will be much less fatigued by spending those hours in needlework than in driving a sewing machine The machine has not raised the wages of the seamstress in proportion to the increased toil and cost involved to the worker, and hence the evils complained of by your correspondents. The remedy for these evils appears to lie in the direction pointed out by "An Employer of Sewing Machine Girls," namely, the use of steam to turn the machines. As hand looms have been superseded by power looms so may treadle machines by superseded by steam machines. One of your correspondents, with painful truth, remarks, "It is not the fingers only that are weary and worn in our business; it is the feet, the legs, the body, arms, hands, fingers and head. All have to be actively and incessantly employed while manipulating such a delicate instrument as a sewing machine." This is surely a transition stage, and we may expect to see a change in the condition of the labour of the seamstress analogous to that which has taken place with regard to the occupation of the "spinster." Formerly all spinning was done by women at home; now it is done by steam in factories. One noteworthy effect of this change has been the transfer of the spinster's occupation from women to men. It is not likely that such a result would follow from the universal adoption of steam-power sewing machine. Meantime, women have possession of the sewing machines, and a monopoly of the skilled labour required for working them, and if they will organise and combine their labour, they will, no doubt, be able to secure a substantial amendment in the conditions of their trade. - Yours, &c. LYDIA E. BECKER." From a letter signed "An Employer, Manchester Guardian, April 11th." "But now, to touch upon the most important part of "A Sewing Machine Girl's" letter, viz, the prices which are now paid for work done, I cannot deny but that they have got to a very low level indeed, but in this the employe's have chiefly themselves to blame. About two or three years ago, when the prices paid were on the average very fair, and a good worker could easily make from 20s. to 25s. a week, a number of small employers started business with a few machines, and as they had to sell their skirts considerably under the regular price to get orders they were obliged to get them made cheaper, and this system of cutting competition having been repeated every season since, is chiefly the reason that piecework is now so badly paid; but I can assure your correspondent that the deficit in the wages does not go into the employers' pockets, as our profits were considerably better when we paid the high scale of prices than they now are. I, for one, should be glad to see the sewing machine girls of Manchester organize themselves into a trade union, as I am sure they would soon discover at whose door the blame lies, and act accordingly."12 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. MADEMOISELLE LUCIENNE'S STORY, (Told by Herself.) From L'Argent des Autres by Emile Gaborian. "It was in a village in the neighbourhood of Paris, called Louveciennes," began the young girl, "that I was brought up. My mother had placed me out to nurse there wit honest marsh gardeners - poor and burdened with a family. At the end of two moths, hearing nothing from my mother, they wrote to her, - she did not reply. They betook themselves then to Paris, to the address she had given them. She had just left it, and it was not known what had become of her. There was an end of that - they could no longer count on a farthing for the care they might bestow upon me. They kept me all the same, saying to themselves, that one child the more would not make them much poorer. I know nothing, therefore, of my parents, except through these good peasants; and as I was still quite a child when I had the misfortune to lose them, all that they told me on the subject remains very dimly in my memory. I just recal, that, according to them, my mother was a very young working women of rare beauty; and that probably she was not the wife of my father. It comes back to my recollection also, that my kind foster-mother, a short time before her heath, having had occasion to spend a day in Paris, came home in a great rage, saying that she had met my mother magnificently dressed, driving in a superb carriage and pair - that it seemed unlikely, but that it was true all the same - that she was very sure of it - that she had known her again quite well, and that my mother must have no more heart than a rock to forget her daughter when she had met with good fortune. If was ever told the name of my mother, or of my father, if I ever knew it, I have no longer any recollection of it. I, myself, had no name; my adopted parents called me the "little Parisian." I was none the less happy with these worthy people, and was treated absolutely like their own children. In the winter they sent me to school. In summer I helped to till the garden - I led a sheep or two along the road, or I was sent to the wood Brule, or into the forest of Marly, or under the chestnut trees of Saint Cloud, to gather violets and strawberries, which a woman (a neighbour of ours) went on Sundays to sell at Bougival. That was the happiest time of my life; or, rather, the only happy time in my life - the only time to which my thoughts take refuge, when I feel overtaken by discouragement. Alas! I was only eight years old when, in the same week, the poor gardener and his wife were carried off suddenly by the same complaint - an attack on the chest. On one icy morning in December, in this house just visited by death, we, six children, the eldest no yet eleven, were to be found crying in grief, fear, hunger and thirst. Neither the gardener nor his wife had any relations and they left nothing behind him, but a few miserable pieces of furniture, the sale of which scarcely brought in enough to pay for their burial. The two youngest children were taken to the poorhouse; some neighbours charged themselves with the others. A head laundress of Marly took me - I was very tall and very strong for my age - she made me her apprentice. She was not a bad woman, and from certain traits which come back to my memory, I am inclined to believe she had a good heart; but she was extraordinarily violent - brutal and harder WOMEN´S UNION JOURNAL 13 than her own wooden beater. She overdid me with work, - work too, which was beyond my strength. Fifty times a day I was obliged to go from the river to the house, carrying on my shoulders enormous bundles of napkins or of wet table cloths - to wring or spread them out, and then to run to Rueil to connect dirty linen from the customers. I did not complain - I was too proud to complain; but when I was ordered to do something that seemed to me too unjust, I obstinately refused to obey, and then I was striped with blows. In spite of every thing, I should, perhaps, have become attached to my mistress, if she had not had a disgusting habit of drinking. Every week regularly, on the day (it was Wednesday) when she took the linen back to Paris, she got drunk - and then, according as gaiety or anger mounted with the wine to her brain, there were either vulgar merriment, or scenes of atrocity on her return. When she was in this state she horrified me; and one Wednesday, when I showed my disgust too plainly, she struck me so savagely that she broke my arm. I had been with her twenty months. The injury she had done me sobered her at once. She was frightened, and set about overwhelming me with caresses, entreating me to tell no one. I promised this to her, and I faithfully kept my word. But it had been necessary to send for a doctor. The scene had been witnessed by those who spoke about it. The story spread from neighbour to neighbour all along the Seine as far as Bougival, and even to Rueil. So that, one morning, the brigadier of gens d'armes presented himself at the house; and I do not know what might have happened if I had not positively maintained that I had got this injury by falling downstairs. (to be continued.) SOCIETY OF WOMEN EMPLOYED IN BOOKBINDING. The Second Half Yearly Meeting of this Society was held on the evening of Tuesday, April 11th, in the Clerkenwell Free Church St. John's Square, the use of which was kindly given to the Church Committee. The Chair was taken by the Treasurer, Mr. HODGSON PRATT. The following financial statement was presented: Receipts from October 11th, 1875, to April 3rd, 1876; from members' entrance fees and subscriptions £40 14s. 4d: sale of cards of membership and Rules, Profits of Soirée, &c. £6 17s. 10d. These amounts, with £99 6s. 10. brought from last year's accounts make a total income of £146 19s. 0d. for the eighteen months during which the Society has been established: deducting the payments (£14 17s. 6d.) a balance of £132 1s. 6d. remains. Eleven members have received sick allowances amounting in all to £11 10s 0. Total number of members enrolled, 323. Notice had been given to the members that the following proposition would be submitted to them at the meeting: "That on the retirement of Mrs. Paterson from the office of Honorary Secretary, of which notice was given at the Annual Meeting, one of the members of the Society be elected Secretary, until the next Annual Meeting, at a salary of 5s. per week: the mode of election to be by ballot at the half yearly Meeting." Miss Whyte and Mrs. Gruneisen had been nominated as candidates. Each member present, on producing her card of membership, was supplied with a ballot paper. The chairman, on examining the votes, announced that Miss Whyte had been elected Secretary, by a considerable majority. The Meeting was addressed by14 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. Mrs. Gruneisen, Miss Whyte, and Miss Sweet (Members of the Society); Miss Downing, Mr. T. Pagliardini, Rev. S.D. Headlam, (Members of the League); Mr. Mitchell of the Day Working Bookbinder's Society, Mr. Goddard (of the Consolidated Bookbinders' Society) and Mr. Duvergier. Votes of thanks to the Chairman and to Mrs. Paterson for her services as Honorary Secretary were passed. --- Correspondence. [The Editor is not responsible for Opinions expressed by Correspondents.]. To the Editor of the "Women's Union Journal." Madam, - The theory which Mr. Ruskin seems to uphold in his letter, that the men should maintain the women, opens up a serious question for consideration, viz. - would it be desirable that it should be so, would either men or women profit by such an arrangement? He says that the motives which urge the present endeavours of women to obtain due wages, are complicated with the infinite error of endeavouring to make the sexes independent. Does it not strike him that the entire maintenance of women by men would lead to the still more serious error of making the one sex entirely dependent on the other? If it is desirable that the women should become so much plastic clay in the hands of men, to be moulded to whatever form they choose, that women should be degraded into slaves, for what slavery is worse than that of the mind, then it is desirable that women should look to men for their support. This sounds harsh, perhaps, but has Mr. Ruskin never thought of the evils of dependence, has he never heard of women who have sold themselves body and soul, not, it is true, as Lady Hatton is said to have done, to His Satanic Majesty, but to the highest bidder in the matrimonial market? Of women who marry for the sake of subsistence? Have such marriages a tendency to produce good moral results? Let social history answer that question. A man who is of sound mind and body is looked upon with a certain amount of contempt if he allows himself to be dependent upon others for his support, is regarded as having a tendency to become slavish and cringing, and as with individuals so with bodies of men. When authors were dependent upon the smiles of the great for their bread and butter how many noble aspirations were crushed, how much independent thought fettered; and this same feeling of dependence has sullied the memory of some of our greatest names. Oh but, say you, the dependence of men upon men and of women upon men is quite a different thing. Why so: in what are the minds of men and women so different that dependence should not have as evil an effect upon the one as the other? No, the liberty we have let us keep, even though the struggle for bread be a hard one. Mr. Ruskin need not fear that the sexes will ever be independent of each other to the extent of doing either sex an injury: because a women is not dependent upon a man's pocket it does not follow that she will not desire a companion, that she will not need the love of father, husbands, son, and that the natural affections will not have fairer play when they are unfettered by mercenary considerations. Yours faithfully, J.G.W. A Member of one of the Unions. WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 15 EXTRACTS from the SPEECH of the RIGHT HON. JAMES STANSFIED, At the Presentation of a Grant of £150 to a Member of the Society of Iron Founders who had been disabled by an Accident. (March 18th, 1876.) "Mr. STANSFIELD, M.P., who on rising was received with loud applause, said he could not imagine a better occasion for bringing forward the claims of such societies as these than the payment of large sums to Members who had become incapacitated for work by illness or accident. They must not expect from him an intimate knowledge of the rules and operations of such societies. He had been looking at the rules of the societies, and gleaned from them sufficient to enable him to confirm what the chairman had said about them as to the utility of such associations, and that the true and hopeful aspect of such societies was to be derived from the wide and generous, rather than the narrow and limited, view which was supposed to characterise them. There were many considerations, which should lead us to recognise the value of these societies to society at large. The first of these, and one which had naturally occurred to him from the part he had had to play of late years in public life, was the influence of such associations upon the burden of poverty, upon the rates, and upon the administration of the poor law. Every friendly society such as these was in effect a society in aid of and in relief of local rates, and it did more than all those local committees of which so much is heard in agricultural districts, and of which the only object appeared to be to take the burden off the holders of land and put it on to the ordinary taxpayer of the country. (Applause). He also considered that these societies helped to prevent poverty and pauperism, which is worse than poverty. Pauperism means not only poverty, but a condition of mind which permeates a class which is just above the range of absolute impecuniosity - which induces a man not to endeavour by honest labour to maintain himself independently and to hold up his head before the world, but induces people for generation after generation, by a kind of hereditary and transmitted taint, to seek to hang upon the rates, and to live upon out-door, and even in-door, relief. A greater benefit resulting from such societies is that they beget a spirit of independence which disinclines their Members to go upon the rates and thus effects an indirect saving to the country far greater in amount than the direct saving represented by the amount they give in relief. --- "On the Friendly Societies' Commission he was called as a witness to give evidence of his convictions, founded upon his poor-law experience, of the immense value of these societies, and he retained the opinion he then expressed. There were plenty of respects in which these societies were worthy of admiration. They were not merely mutual insurance societies, but Trades' Unions. As the chairman had said, it was now too late in the day to object to them as such. In his (Mr. Stansfeld's) opinion there never was any reason to object to such societies on that ground. He had said that the greatest Trades' Union that ever existed was the union of the landlords to try and keep up the price of corn. No doubt all people and all societies made mistakes, and working men's associations were learning, either through their own former mistakes or through other people's mistakes. They found in16 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. the report of the Carpenters' and Joiner's Society a passage of great interest and significance, referring to the condition of the relations between employers and workmen. The report stated that their claims for additional wages and reduced working hours were generally, as the result of conference and conciliation, courteously conceded, and thus their disputes had been few and unimportant. A sincere trust was expressed that an amicable relationship between employers and employed might be permanently maintained. He held precisely the same opinion. He believed that nothing can, in the long run, whatever the natural difficulties in the relations between capital and labour have been or may be, be better calculated to minimise those difficulties and harmonise those relations than that employers and employed should associate together to consider their respective interests, and discuss them upon a friendly and reasonable footing. (Applause.) He believed that such organisation and such proceedings were better than the absence of all that organisation. He believed that such a course was better than to leave trade disputes to arithmetical calculations of the value, at a given moment, of a man's labour with regard to the law of demand and supply. --- A MEETING OF WOMEN Employed in Trades will be held in THE TEMPERANCE HALL, TOWNHEAD STREET SHEFFIELD, on MONDAY, MAY 1ST, to consider the desirability of forming Women's Unions in Sheffield CHAIRMAN MR. J.D. LEADER: Speakers: MRS. WOOD, (President of the Dewsbury and Batley Woolen Weavers Union), MRS. PATERSON (London), Messrs. W. ROLLEY, E. MEMMOTT, J. HIMSWORTH (of the Sheffield Trades' Council) and others. List of London Societies Already Formed: Date of Establishment an Meeting NIghts: The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING - Established September 1874. Subscription: Monday 7.30 to 9.30 p.m., Committee: Second Tuesday in the Month, 8 p.m. THE DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, and MANTLEMAKERS. - Established February 1875, Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month. THE UPHOLSTERESSES. - Established April 1875. Subscription: Monday, from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: Second Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLAR MAKERS. - Established July 1875. Subscription: Monday or Wednesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled, and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned. HATTRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS. - Established May 1875. Subscription night, Tuesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Temporary Office: 14, Great Suffolk Street, Borough. The MACHINISTS. - Established February 16th, 1876. Subscription night: Wednesday, 8.30 to 10 p.m. Committee: Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8.30 p.m. Temporary Office: 30, Wilson Street, Finsbury. --- Advertisements. WORK FOR WOMEN, "The Labour News and Employment Advertiser" contains weekly notes, from all parts, on the above subject, indicating any new openings for Female Labour that arise. Price One Penny Weekly, or copies for one month (post free) for Sixpence, from the Publishing Office, 15, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London. --- WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE JOURNAL. - Edited by Lydia E. Becker. - This Journal is published monthly, and contains full information of the progress of the movement for removing the Electoral Disabilities of Women; accounts of public meetings and lectures; correspondence, and original articles on the subject. It also records and discusses other questions affecting the welfare of women - such as education, employment industrial or professional, and legislation affecting their property and personal rights. The Journal furnishes a medium of communication among the members, and a record of the work done by the different branches of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, and by other persons and societies interested in improving the condition of women. Friends of the cause are urged to endeavour to aid it by promoting the circulation of the Journal. Price for one copy, monthly (post free for one year), 1s. 6d. Communications for the Editor, and orders for the Journal, to be addressed 28, Jackson's Row, Albert Square, Manchester. London, Messrs. TRUBNER & CO., Paternoster Row. --- Women's Co-operative Printing Society, Limited 38, Castle street, Holborn, E.C. THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. NO. 4 MAY 31, 1876. Price One Penny, or post free Three Half-pence. Women's Union Movement in the North. THE Meetings held on May 1st, and 2nd are reported as fully as space will permit in this number of the Journal, but as they are of much interest in showing the progress of the Union movement among women, a few remarks about them may not be considered superfluous. The facts that the Meeting at Sheffield was under the auspices of so important a body as the Sheffield Trades' Council, and that the President and several Members of the Council took part in it, are very encouraging. We have more than once heard a fear expressed that the women's unions might be supposed to be antagonistic to the unions of men. In proof that they are not so regarded by working men it is satisfactory to be able to point to help such as that now alluded to; also to that of the Bookbinders, Upholsterers, and other men's societies in London, and to the cordial reception given to women delegates at the Trades' Congress in Glasgow last year. The meeting in Manchester was most enthusiastic and interesting. The unanimity of opinion among the large number of sewing machine workers present as to the need of a Protective Union, and the sympathy expressed when any statement of bad payment was given, showed that there must be good foundation for the complaints made in the correspondence reprinted in this Journal last month. It was sad to hear one of the workers, a young girl who spoke with much earnestness and good sense, relate that when she ventured to remonstrate with her employer about some fresh reduction of payment she was told that if she was not satisfied she had better take to an immoral course of life; and to learn from another, a widow, that in the busiest time her earnings were only 13s. a week, out of which sum she was obliged to pay 4s. 6d. to have her children minded while she was away from home. One cannot but think that much of the deep degradation into which some women drift may be caused by inadequate wages and that the ladies who work in18 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. "Woman's Mission to the Fallen," and other similar Societies would do well to consider this. Public sympathy and help were very readily given to the Agricultural Labourers, when the facts of their depressed condition became widely known, and surely women who determine to demand for their work payment of which, at least, they can decently support themselves, need not fear that their efforts will be disregarded and unaided. COMBINATION OF SHEFFIELD WORKWOMEN. IMPORTANT MEETING. A meeting of working women was held last night in the lower room of the Temperance Hall, when the question of the desirability of women forming themselves into trades' unions was considered. Mr. J.D. Leader presided, and there were also present Mrs. Paterson, of London, Hon. Secretary of the Women's Protection and Provident League; Mrs. Wood, President of the Woollen Weavers' Union at Dewsbury, two ladies who attended to give their opinions upon the advantages of unionism to women. Mr. Rolley and Mr. Memmott were likewise on the platform. The CHAIRMAN, after briefly stating the object of the meeting, introduced Mrs. PATERSON, who said she had felt for some years that union was strongly needed amongst women. Working men had been enabled by means of union to get their wages raised, and they had also obtained shorter hours of labour, as well as other advantages, by combination. The price of the necessaries of life had risen considerably within recent years, and working men had required, and got increased remuneration to meet that advance in prices but she had not found any corresponding increase in the wages of working women; in fact, in many cases there had been a decrease in the rate paid to females, whose wages had been lowered rather than raised. She did not see any hope of permanent improvement without union, such as that adopted by working men. There were four principal objects to be gained by union amongst working women. The first related to higher wages. She did not urge the necessity of union with the smallest idea of promoting strikes, but it seemed to her that without union there was not a proper means of promoting a peaceful settlement of difficulties, such as by arbitration. (Hear, hear.) Frequent reductions had been made in the remuneration paid to females, and any one knowing anything at all about the question, must be aware that in most cases the earnings of women were not sufficient to support them respectably. That such should be the case was a disgrace to society. (Hear, hear.) Many of the workwomen of London were half-starved and half-clothed, looking like outcasts, who had committed some crime, rather than honest hard working people; but the fact was that women living by vice were far better off so far as material comfort went, than those who obtained their livelihood by industry. She did not see that it was any advantage to society for women to go on making these experiments as to how little they could live upon. (Laughter.) It was important that they should foster a spirit of independence amongst their own sex, who really ought not to be thankful for the smallest possible amount of wages. They did not wish to be antagonistic to the employers, but without union they could do very little, for if one master were willing to give a higher rate of wages he could not do so, because another employer, getting people to work for less wages, would be able to undersell him. It had been affirmed that women should be paid less wages than men because their wants were fewer, but she had been trying for many years to discover that her wants were fewer than those of a man. (Laughter.) She had failed to make that discovery, for she found that she needed food, and clothes, and housing just as much as a man did. (Laughter.) Women had not WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 19 and subscriptions, with the idea of commencing a union, and some also gave subscriptions towards the preliminary expenses of organisation. The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the Chairman. (Abridged from the "Sheffield Independent" May 2nd, 1876). --- PROJECTED UNION OF MANCHESTER SEWING MACHINE WORKERS. A meeting of sewing machine hands, convened by a circular which earnestly invited the attendance of all sewing machine workers who were interested in "higher wages, regular work, and less fines," was held on Tuesday evening in the Temperance Hall, Grosvenor-street. About 500 persons were present, nearly all of them girls, and the chair was taken by Mr. Malcolm Macleod. Mrs. Paterson, hon. sec. of the Women's Protective and Provident League, London, and Mrs. Wood, Dewsbury, delivered addresses, with the object of inducing the sewing machine girls of Manchester to form a Protective and Benefit Union. The Chairman in addressing the meeting, said he believed that all the respectable employers in Manchester would be pleased to see some organisation among their machine hands as a means of protection against those employers - of whom there were many - who were disposed to deal unfairly. (Hear. hear.) The unscrupulous employers would be prevented, if a union were formed, from taking advantage, by unfair competition, of others in the trade (Applause.) It was necessary for the workers to show self-reliance in seeking a remedy for their grievances, and then he was sure public sympathy would not be withheld from them - (Applause.) Mrs. WOOD, in the course of her speech, appealed to the audience to say what wages they obtained. (La Lady on the front form cried out that she could earn 30s. a week.) - Mrs. WOOD, continuing her speech, said she was credibly informed that in slack times the machine hands of Manchester earned from 8s. to 10s. a week, and in busy times from 10s. to 16s. a week; and that the hours of work were usually from seven in the morning till six in the evening. The20 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. CHAIRMAN said it was perhaps possible for some girls to earn 30s. a week by working very long hours but others obtained only five shillings. (Loud surprise.) These inequalities formed an argument in favour of a union. (Cries of "Yes, yes," "That's it,") - Mrs. Wood, resuming her remarks, said they did not advise Manchester machine hands to form a union for the purpose of striking from work but in order to obtain justice in a peaceable manner. A Committee of Woollen Weavers in Dewsbury with which she had been connected had been able last year, by holding conferences with the employers, to come to a satisfactory arrangement as to prices; - and the same thing might be done and many other advantages might be gained by women in other trades through the power of union. Mrs. PATERSON, who began by expressing a hope that the energy displayed by the meeting would be directed to the formation of a union - (applause), said she had read with the greatest interest some letters which had recently appeared in the Manchester Guardian touching the position of sewing machine workers. Such a union as she was not advocating, had been formed in London but if the London machinists complained of the low rates of payment, they were informed that the work would be done in Manchester for less money than they required. The letter signed "A Sewing Machine Girl" ought to be read far and wide. They in London had reprinted it, and every rich and idle lady who thought that women were well cared for should read it to see what some of her sex had to content with. (Applause.) It was impossible for them to live upon 8s. or 10s. a week in the present day, and they ought not to be dependent on their fathers and brothers. Instead of so much money being given away in the charity and poor rates to women, let the employers pay them fair wages. ("Hear, hear," and applause.) She suggested that the meeting should appoint a committee to organise the union. (Hear, hear.) She was sure that the League of which she was the honorary secretary would be glad to pay for the use of some room in Manchester as an office once or twice weekly. (Applause.) - Mrs. Paterson then have some information of the operations of the League which she represented, and of the advantages which had arisen in London from the Unions, which the League had formed among Women in the Bookbinding, Upholstery, Shirt and Collar Making and other trades. The Chairman having asked for statements of personal experience, considerable excitement ensued. A deafening buzz of conversation arose, in the midst of which occasional peals of laughter could be heard; and several times the whole meeting rose like one woman to look at volunteer speakers. - The Chairman (shouting): Ladies, do be quiet. I never presided over so many speakers before. - Several girls eventually stated what wages they obtained on the average, and it appeared that while a few could earn from 20s. to 30s. a week, others could only obtain 5s. One speaker said she saw skirts last week quilted throughout for 6d. (Hisses and cries of "Fivepence" and "Fourpence.") She had even known costumes to be done for 4d. or 5d. (Shame.) Other speakers, who said they were earning good wages, wished to see a union formed for the sake of the many who were ill-treated. - (Cheers.) - A machine worker said that employers in Manchester differed greatly in the treatment of their employes. An employer once said to a girl, who complained of her earnings, that if she was not satisfied she might devote herself to a less reputable calling. - (Cries of "Shame.") The Chairman asked for a vote in favour of a protective union of sewing machine workers, and in response a forest of hands was held up, only five or six being shown against the proposal. The above report is mainly taken from the "Manchester Guardian" of May 3rd and the "Manchester Examiner" of May 4th, but the reporters having left before the close of the meeting a few private notes may be added. A great deal of excitement was caused by the presence of an employer or rather by his action in bringing with him four of his work women who, one after another, assured the meeting that they could earn from 25s. to 30s. per week. Most of the workers present seemed to regard these prices a fabulous WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 21 and instead of there being no speakers from the body of the meeting as it was at first feared would be the case, the platform was soon crowded with women eager to relate their own widely difference experience. Of course, we must put aside the insinuation made that the women who said they were so well off had ben bribed to over state of their earnings, but in any case it was evident that the badly paid workers formed an overwhelming majority. A forewoman who had been many years in the trade said that she had been grieved to see the prices going lower and lower, and had often wishes that a Society such as that now proposed could be formed. Her own employer was a just, good man but there were many others who would take every advantage of the present defenceless position of the girls. Another lady stated that the average earnings in the busiest season now were 7s. less per week than they were two years ago. Another said that the system of fines and deductions had become most oppressive. Frequently work of the better class was given to girls who had not been long enough at the trade to do it properly and then heavy deductions were made from their wages for spoiling the work although, notwithstanding this, the bad work was often palmed off upon the public at the usual prices. Several other similar statements were made but the meeting was afterwards brought to a practical issue by the appointment of a Provisional Treasurer, Secretary and Committee. Fifteen names of machine workwomen were readily given in for the Committee. Members of the London Unions may be interested in learning what the ideas of the "Lancashire Lasses" are about the appropriate conclusion of a meeting. After three cheers had been proposed and given for the Chairman and three cheers for the speakers, one of the girls struck up "God Save the Queen," in which there was a hearty chorus. SEVERAL Meetings of the Committee and a General Meeting of the Manchester Machine Workers Society have been held since May 1st. We are glad to learn that 230 names have already been enrolled. Further information regarding the progress of the Society will be given in our next number. SOCIETY OF UPHOLSTERESSES. FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. On Thursday, April 27, the First Annual Meeting of the Society of the Upholsteresses (former April 8th, 1875) was held in the Cambridge Hal, Newman Street. The Chair was taken by the HON. AUBERON HERBERT. There was a good attendance. From the Report an Financial Statement read, it appeared that 119 members had been enrolled; £47.6s. had been received up to the close of the financial year, March 24th, and £3.9s.7d. since that date. The expenses connected with the formation of the Society had been paid by the Women's Protective and Provident League. The Chairman, after congratulating the member on the establishment and progress of the Society, said that he was very glad to find that women were awakening to a sense of the enormous power of the union. The first step having been taken, they would soon be made aware more and more distinctly of the great power for good which associated would place at their disposal. As to the question of wages, although a Union could never raise the rate of payment beyond that of the highest market value it could at least bring up to that rate of "loiterers" i.e. any employers who pay less than the market value. There were many other advantages to be derived from association, such as obtaining the redress of any trade grievances, finding out where labour is most wanted, and promoting emigration if this should appear desirable. An important matter in which union could be very useful was the regulation of the hours of labour. This was at present undertaken, for women, by Parliament but he would advise them not to trust to legislation, which could never be so satisfactory or so effective as the united agreement with the employers. Among the indirect advantages to be gained by union would be the facilities for combining for other purposes, for recreation, for instance. They might have clubs and Reading Rooms for resort in leisure hours, musical classes, excursions and many other pleasures which were only possible to individuals if they happened to be rich, but which, through association, might be available to all. Miss Frances Power Cobbe said that it seemed to her that the difficulties which men had to contend with in the struggle for subsistence were but small compared to those of women. Many women were compelled to work at the miserable business of constant needlework by which they earned only a small pittance. She feared that in many22 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. cases they did not even have enough to eat during the day. As if to aggravate the difficulties of women laws had been passed which not only limited the hours of their employment but which also, by saying that they should not be engaged in any night work, even excluded them from certain occupations such as that of newspaper folding. There was no doubt that women could do much to improve their position by uniting together to support one another. They were classed by the law with children and they had sometimes been compared to sheep, but it was consoling to remember that even sheep could do something by all running together. She remembered once seeing a gentleman who had gone out finely dressed for the hunt return all bespattered with mud and dirt. He had been run over by a flock of sheep who had met him in a narrow lane and had determined to pass him. It was neither necessary nor desirable that women should run over men but they might as least try to get a little nearer the greater advantages and especially the better payment for work, which men enjoyed. The adoption of the Report and financial statement, which had been moved by Miss Cobbe, was then seconded by Mr. Hodgson Pratt, supported by Miss Wilkinson, (a member) and carried. The following resolution was proposed by Miss Mears (a member): "That the Members present at this meeting, whilst viewing with great satisfaction the progress of the Society during the past year, express their determination to make renewed efforts for the further promotion of its success. Mr. F. Verney, in seconding, dwelt upon the advantage of the facilities afforded by a Society for obtaining increased knowledge of the conditions of the trade and of the customs of the various shops, and also for the registration of the wants of both employers and employed. The resolution was unanimously passed. On the motion of Mr. Taylor, seconded by the Rev. S.D. Headlam, who mentioned several recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Factory and Workshops Acts which he thought it would be well for members of the Unions to consider before the introduction into Parliament of any new Bill on the subject, - the Committee consisting of thirteen members was re-elected for the ensuing year, and the Teasurer, Mr. F. Verney, and the Honorary Secretary, Mrs. Paterson, were also re-appointed. During the evening, Miss Mears, on behalf of the members, presented Mrs. Paterson with a rosewood inkstand and stationary case combined, bearing an inscription acknowledging her services. Mrs. Paterson heartily thanked the members for their good wishes and handsome and useful present, and said that she would be happy to continue to give her trifling services as secretary to the Society for three, or perhaps, six months longer, but after that time she hoped the Society would appoint a secretary from among the members, a the Women Bookbinders' Society had now done. In her opinion it was essential to the permanent prosperity of the Unions that the secretarial work should be carried on by women who had thorough knowledge of the various trades. Votes of thanks to the Treasurer and to the Chairman were proposed and seconded by Miss Wilkinson, Mrs. Cannell, Mrs. Wood and Miss Mears and were unanimously carried. --- SOCIETY OF LONDON MACHINISTS. The first quarterly meeting of the above Society was held on Thursday May 17th, in the Bishopsgate Schoolroom; (kindly lent by the Rev. Wm. Rogers) Mr. Hodgson Pratt presided. Most of the members and a large number of other sewing machine workers were present. Miss Simcox, Mrs. Paterson, and others, addressed the meeting. By arrangements made by the League Committee the proceedings were varied by Songs, Pianoforte Music and Recitations in which Miss Hamilton, Miss Shury, Miss Luck, Mrs. Macroll, and Mr. Hodgson Pratt kindly took part. --- MADEMOISELLE LUCIENNE'S STORY, (Told By Herself.) From L'Argent des Autres by Emile Gaborian (Continued from page 12 of the Journal.) Thanks to my obstinate denials my mistress was not molested. But the truth was known, and her reputation, already not good' became altogether bad. An interest in me sprang up. The same people who, without lifting their eyebrows, had seen my twenty times carrying burdens of linen heavy enough to injure my chest, which was very terrible, began now to pity me prodigiously for having broken my arm, which was nothing. Things came to such a point that many of our customers put their heads together to take me out of a house in which it was said the end would be that I should fall a victim to such bad treatment. And after many attempts, an old Jewish lady very rich, a widow without children discovered at La Jonchère, who consented to take charge of me. I hesitated at first to accept the offer made me. But having perceived that my mistress ever since she had injured me had taken an increasing dislike to me, I decided to leave her. It was on the day that I presented myself WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 23 to my new mistress that I discovered that I had no name. After she had examined me at great length, turned and re-turned me, made me walk and sit down; "Now" said she "what are you called." I opened my eyes very wide, for in truth I was then like a savage not having the vaguest notion of the simplest things of life. "I am called the "little Parisian" I replied. She burst out laughing as did another old lady one of her friends who was present at my presentation and I remember that my little pride was much offended by their mirth, I thought they were making fun of me. "That is no name" they said at last "only a nick name" and there and then they set themselves to seek for a name for me "Where were you born?" said my new mistress. At "Louveciennes." "Well" said the other "you must called her Louveciennes." A long discussion followed which irritated me so much that I longed to run away and at last it was agreed that I should be called not Louveciennes but Lucienne, and Lucienne I have remained. There was no question of baptism, as my mistress was a Jewess. She was an excellent woman although the grief she had felt at the loss of her husband had slightly affected her intellect. As soon as it was decided that I should remain with her she wished to look through my wardrobe. I had none to exhibit - possessing nothing in the world but the rags I had on my back. Whilst I was with my old mistress, the washerwoman, I had worn her old cast-off dresses and I had on my feet the wooden shoes which the workwomen gave me when they had done with them. I had never worn any linen but that which I was authorized to borrow from from the customers, an economical system practised by many washerwomen. My new mistress was in such consternation at my half-naked condition that she sent for a sempstress and desired her at once to provide me with something to wear as well as to change. This was the first time since the death of the poor marsh gardener that anyone had taken any heed of me except to make me useful. I was moved to tears, and in the excess of my gratitude, it would have been delightful, it would have been delightful to me to die for this kind old lady. This feeling enabled me to put up with her peculiarities without disgust. It was not easy. She had the most singular whims, the strangest fancies, and often made the most ridiculous or excessive demands upon me. I did my best to yield to them. And she had two servants, a cook and a lady's maid. I had no definite duties to fulfil towards her, I went out with her on her walks and drives, I helped to wait on her at table and at her toilet, I picked up her handkerchief when it fell and more especially sought for her snuff-box which she was continually losing. My docility pleased her, she grew interested in me; tp enable me to be her reader she got me taught to read, for I scarcely knew my letters. The old worthy who was engaged by her as my master, finding me intelligent, took a pride in teaching me all he knew, I fancy, of French geography and history. The lady's maid on the other hand had been charged to teach me to sew, to embroider and to do all the other kinds of woman's work, and she brought all the more zeal to her office when she found she could gradually devolve upon me all her most tiresome duties. I should have been happy in this pretty house if they had not so completely forgotten my age. I was naturally serious and reserved as all children who have had to contend with wretchedness, but still I was only twelve and I suffered from always living among old women, who scolded me if I made the slightest stir. What would I not have given to have been allowed to go and run and play with the little girls whom I saw passing in flocks on Sunday along the road. And yet could I expect better circumstances? No. It was soon my fate to learn this very cruelly. My old mistress became from month to month more and more attached to me and strove to give me proof of her attachment. I took my meals at her table instead of waiting upon her as at the beginning. She ha dressed me so well that I could go and be presented everywhere with her. She went on repeating to every new comer that she loved me like a daughter, that she would provide for me, and that she should certainly leave me a part of her fortune. She said all this too loudly unluckily for me; so loudly that the news reached the ears of the nephews she had at Paris, men on the Exchange, whom I saw at her house from time to time. They had hitherto scarcely noticed me. This rumour opened their eyes and becoming fully alive to the progress I had made in their Aunt's favour their greed took alarm. Trembling lest the inheritance which they had looked upon as theirs, should escape them, they resolved to cut short their Aunt's generous intentions by prevailing upon her to send me away. For nearly a year however all the clever maneuvers dictated by their hatred were useless. The instinct of self preservation sharpened by wits I perceived their designs, and struggled against them with all my strength. They only came once a week to the house. I was always present and was still victorious. I often heard my mistress forbid them to speak to me, and even threaten to close her doors to them if they persisted in tormenting her about me. I should probably have defeated them buy that my poor mistress fell ill. (to be continued.)24 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. The Committees of the Society of WOMEN Employed in BOOKBINDING and the SOCIETY of UPHOLSTERESSES have made arrangements for a joint EXCURSION to HIGH BEECH, EPPING FOREST, To take place on Saturday Afternoon, June I7, TEA WILL BE PROVIDED At the "Robin Hood" Hotel, High Beech, At 4.30 p.m. A Special Train will leave the Liverpool Street Station of the Great Eastern Railway for Loughton at 3 p.m. The Return Train will leave Loughton at 9.30 p.m. Price of Tickets, including Return Railway Fare and Tea, Members Is. 6d. Non-Members Is. 9d. Tickets may be obtained up to June I5th at the office of the Women's Protective and Provident League, and of any Members of the Committee of either Society. If more than 250 tickets are sold a profit will be gained, and will be divided between the two Societies in proportion to the number of tickets sold by each A CIRCULATING LIBRARY HAS BEEN FORMED AT THE OFFICE OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. From which Books are Lent on the following terms :— To Members of Women's Trade Unions, ......... 6d per Quarter. To Women who are non-Members of Unions, on giving a satisfactory Reference or depositing Is Security ; 3d. per Month. The Library includes Works of History, Biography, Travels, &c., and a large number of Novels and Magazines. A Catalogue is now ready, PRICE ONE PENNY. Contributions of Books would be gladly accepted. List of London Societies Already Formed: Date of Establishment and Meeting Nights: The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING —Established September I874. Subscription : Monday 7. 30 to 9. 30 p.m, Committee : Second Tuesday in the Month, 8 p.m. THE DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, and MANTLEMAKERS.—Established February I875, Subscription : Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee : First Wednesday in the Month. THE UPHOLSTERESSES.—Established April I875. Subscription : Monday, from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee : Second Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLAR MAKERS.— Established July I875. Subscription : Monday or Wednesday from 8. 30 to 9. 30 p.m. Committee : First Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled, and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned. HAT TRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS. —Established May I875. Subscription night, Tuesday from 8. 30. to 9. 30. p.m. Temporary Office; 14. Great Suffolk Street, Borough. The MACHINISTS.—Established February I6th, I876. Subscription night : Wednesday, 8 30 to 10 p.m. Committee ; Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8. 30 p.m. Temporary Office : 30, Wilson Street, Finsbury. Advertisements. WORK FOR WOMEN, "The Labour News and Employment Advertiser" contains weekly notes, from all parts, on the above subject, indicating any new openings for Female Labour that arise. Price One Penny Weekly, or copies for one month (post free) for Sixpence, from the Publishing Office, 15 , Russell Street, Convent Garden, London. WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE JOURNAL.—Edited by Lydia E. Becker.—This Journal is published monthly, and contains full information of the progress of the movement for removing the Electoral Disabilities of Women; accounts of public meetings and lectures; correspondence, and original articles on the subject. It also records and discusses other questions affecting the welfare of women—such as education, employment industrial or professional, and legislation affecting their property and personal rights. The Journal furnishes a medium of communication among the members, and a record of the work done by the different branches of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, and by other persons and societies interested in improving the condition of women. Friends of the cause are urged to endeavour to aid it by promoting the circulation of the Journal. Price for one copy, monthly (post free for one year), Is. 6d. Communications for the Editor, and orders for the Journal to be addressed 28, Jackson's Row, Albert Square, Manchester. London, Messrs. TRUBNER & Co., Paternoster Row. Women's Printing Society, Limited, 38, Castle street, Holborn, EC. THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. No. 5. JUNE 30, 1876. Price One Penny, or post free Three Half-pence. The Risks of the Disorganization of Women's Work. (By the Rev. Stewart D. Headlam.) THERE could hardly be a more horrible proof of the necessity for the organization of women's work than that given at the Manchester Meeting reported in the last Journal. That an employer should dare to tell a girl who complained of a reduction of wages, to supplement what he gave her by selling herself, is a fact which should rouse us Unionists to continued and renewed effort. It is a fact, too, which ought to wake up all sorts of people to unite in helping women to become strong enough to resent such foul insolence. I know that the Manchester employer does not stand alone, I could give proof of similar brutality in London. Let us not shut our eyes to this ugly fact ; let us be sure of it that in the present disorganized state of women's work, we run the risk of being clothed not only at the cost of the damaged health and sadly meagre education of those who make our clothes, but also at the cost of their purity and honour. This thought ought to make our lives a burden to us till we find some remedy : I can see but one way out : only in proportion as the workers are organised shall we be sure that they will be strong enough to resist and resent such degradation ; only by doing all we can to encourage the union of workers shall we be able to free ourselves from the risk of being clothed at such a horrible cost. It becomes therefore a duty for all women who work to unite in their work : and let not any keep back on the miserably shortsighted and selfish plea that they are not in immediate need of better wages, or shorter hours, or more respectful treatment ; it is just those whose wants are not immediately pressing who can afford the means to organize themselves, and so lead the way for their sisters whose wants are immediate and pressing ; and though there are very few, I take it, who would not be the better in their own business for a union, still just now I urge the 26 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. duty of Unionism in all, on account of their common sisterhood with those who are worse off than themselves; and on the ground that while women's work is disorganized, all of us are running a terrible risk simply whenever we buy clothes. Let then all women who work regard it as a sacred duty to their fellow-workers, the public, and themselves, to get united and organized in their work; to become Trades' Unionists, and encourage Trades' Unions; and if any women of leisure who, as far as making clothes go, are worked for, rather than workers; if any who lead society, or help in a small or large circle to form public opinion, should see this paper, I ask them to make it a sacred duty to do all they can - and they can do a little by the creation of healthy public opinion, and otherwise - to encourage Trades Unions for Women: and, above all, to remember that they run the awful risk, at present, of buying their clothes, not only at the cost of the diminishes health and education, but also of the purity of those who make them. --- A WOMAN'S WORK IN THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF IRONWORKERS. It will be seen from the following extract from the "Ironworkers' Journal" that Mr. John Kane, the late Secretary to the National Association of Ironworkers, whose recent death has been so deeply and widely lamented, received from his wife much valuable assistance in the arduous duties of his office. We may add to Mrs. Kane's modest account of her work a fact which she does not mention: on one occasion when a large meeting of members of the Association has been called, at some important trade juncture, and Mr. Kane was detained on a journey so that he could not be present, Mrs. Kane addressed the meeting, expressing as far as she could, what she knew to be his views upon the subject under discussion. At the Annual Conference of the Ironworkers' Association, held in Sheffield in June, it was decided to centralize the funds of the Association, and the confidence of the members in Mrs. Kane was then shown by her appointment as joint trustee with Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, of Birmingham and Mr. David Dale, of Darlington. The Conference also decided to subscribe £500 to be added to the £500 subscribed by ironmasters in the North of England towards the purchase of an annuity for Mrs. Kane. The "Ironworkers' Journal" for May contains a letter from Mrs. Kane to the members of the Board of Arbitration, the National Association of Ironworkers, and other friends who have tendered to her their expressions of sympathy on the death of her husband. She writes: - "You, as well as myself, have lost our best friend. He was always reliable. In him there was no shadow of turning; work and duty with him was paramount, and if he succeeded in gaining for you a fair day's wage, he always taught you to give in return a fair day's work. He had no patience with any man who would neglect his work. He considered it a theft to waste time or materials belonging to the employers. All who knew him whilst working will know this to be a fact - that he never lost a day's work in his life through neglect, and this made him so bitter with any of you if WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 27 you did so. May you never forget the lessons he gave you is my earnest prayer. I think this is a fitting time to let you know why my name has been so mixed up with the affairs of the association. There are many of you at a distance who don't know much about the work at the general office, who may have thought that my name has been too prominent in your association, and I think a brief out-line of our work since we came to Darlington may be necessary. When my husband was appointed paid president in 1864, he devoted the whole of his time to the work, he visited every works connected with the association whenever he was required, and had very few days in the month at home. After Mr. Millington left, in 1868, and you appointed my husband as secretary, he was then your only paid agent, and you still required his services as your president, for he was still sent for to all the works; whenever there was any dispute or meetings to be held he had to be there. Then the work of forming the Board of Arbitration commenced, and how he worked night and day is only known to myself. The dream of his life was fulfilled. He had seen the foundation stone laid of the grandest structure to his mind that could be erected - where man should meet man, not as enemies, but as friends, and deal with the difficult question of capital and labour, without resorting to the cruel law of strikes and lock-outs. Since the board was formed he has never been absent from the board meetings or standing committees but once, and then he did not arrive in time from Wales, where he happened to be when the meeting was called. He visited every works when telegraphed for, and in most instances settled whatever dispute was there, the masters never refusing to see him, and the men (I think I may say this much for them) that they always gave in to his decisions. Whilst he was thus kept so busy travelling, and working for the association and the board, you had no one left at the general office to attend to your books, receipts, and correspondence. The Journal also was brought out regularly once a fortnight, and one man could not possibly do all that you put upon him to do. This was how I was brought into your affairs. I had to take the books, and as much of the correspondence as I could manage when he was from home. What I was deficient in knowledge as to book-keeping I acquired from my son, who came home at the end of every week and assisted me, so that you had the work done without any extra expense to your association. The society was in a very low state when we took the books in 1868; there were but twelve lodges, which numbered not more than 500 or 600 members, and they were all in the North of England with the exception of one in Sheffield. How we worked to raise the workmen once more and give them an interest in themselves, will be seen by the increased number of lodges and members we had at the Birmingham Conference in 1872, when an assistant secretary was appointed. We had then above 200 lodges with over 20,000 members, and we had them not only in the North of England, but in North and South Staffordordshire, Wales, and Scotland. The appointment of Mr. Edward Trow took the correspondence, for he became corresponding secretary, but the management of the books and all moneys, with the responsibility attached thereto, still remained with us. My beloved husband was cut down at a moment's warning, but 'his house was set in order.' It never was an idle boast that you could send any one at any time to take possession of the general office, for he knew his affairs were all right; there was no double dealing, or anything to hide; he never tried to enrich himself, or make himself great in worldly wealth; 'he believed his bread would be given him, and his water would be sure;' what he believed he practised, and he considered it wrong to lay up for himself treasures on earth whilst one poor brother needed support; all the time you have suffered through depression of trade, he charged me to tale from his salary just what would keep us, and let the rest go to the unemployed; and this was always done if you required it. He believed in the universal brotherhood of man, and he tried to carry it out as fully as possible. And now I charge you by the devoted life which he has laid down for you, and left me sad and lonely, not to weary in well doing, don't give up the cause which he so loved; don't let the seed which he has sown fall upon stony places, but let it bring forth much fruit. You will see by the Welsh agent's report of his last days on earth how he pleaded the cause of the men of Wales with Messrs. Brogden, having five hours consultation over the men of Tondu and Maesteg. Oh, that the Messrs Brogden would re-consider the verdict they gave, and grant unto their workmen what John Kane laid down his life in trying to obtain for them; surely honour would rebound to them; and if spirits know what takes place here, it woul be a comfort to him. This may be the last time that I may ever address you, and I must be faithful to the trust reposed in me; try to make your homes as happy as he made his; let you wives and families be your first consideration; let me urge upon you all to live true and manly lives. How many hundreds of you can better yourselves if you like; make your homes the resting place for your weary bodies; shun the public-houses and the28 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. gambling saloons as you would a pestilence; it is no use disguising he fact, or trying to gloss over the real cause of most, if not all, the misery which attends our ironworkers; it is too well known to be hidden, and that is their drinking customs; you will never be better, nor profit by the teachings of any man, be he ever so great, until you determine to overcome this evil which is amongst you; and by the memory of one who looked upon you all as his brethren (for part of his creed was the Fatherhood of God, as well as the brotherhood of man), I charge you to lay aside this evil, which does so easily beset you; and let his example, who lived and died for your benefit, be ever before you." --- DIFFERENT CONDITIONS OF THE WORK OF MEN AND WOMEN. It has been suggested by a friend of the League, that in order to avoid all appearance of antagonism, the unions of women formed in trades in which men also are engaged should invite men to become members. We should be gad to receive any expressions of opinion about this suggestion, but since it is one of the most essential elements of effective organization that there should be some kind of similarity between the rates of wages and other conditions of the work of the members, it seems scarcely likely that men would welcome the proposal. The wages of men are, as a rule, at least three times as much as those of women, and their power of working overtime when they wish to do so is not restrained by law. We doubt whether men would work at such a rate as that paid to women who scour files, of which we give particulars; or whether they would like to have such close scrutiny about their work as an extract which we give from the latest Report of the Factory and Workshop Inspectors shows that women are subject to. --- FILE SCOURING BY WOMEN IN SHEFFIELD. One of the branches of women's work in Sheffield is that of file scouring. In answer to inquiries about the payment for his work, made by the Honorary Secretary of the League when visiting some Sheffield workshops, one woman said that she had been in the trade for twenty years but that he payment had remained nearly stationary. At the present time it was threepence for scouring and tempering fourteen dozen files (fourteen to the dozen, making 196 in all). The tempering is done by dipping the files into molten lead, and it is not every scourer who can temper also. So expert had this woman become that she could turn our eight three-pennyworths of work in the day, giving a total of 12s per week. The work involves standing close to furnaces of considerable heat. --- EXTRACT FROM THE REPORTS OF H.M. INSPECTORS of FACTORIES For the half-year ending Oct. 31st 1875, pp. 90, 91. "Several complaints had been made to Mr. Johnston of the persistent way in which Jacob Cohen, a Jew tailor in Gooch Street had overlooked a girl named Sarah Goldwater. Mr. Johnston had tried, without success, to prove a case against him. And during his (Mr. Johnston's) absence, he sent me another complaint, asking me to see what I could do with it. I accordingly, asking me to see what I could do with it. I accordingly arranged that, on Thursday the 11th instant Mr. Cairns and I should pay Mr. Cohen's workshop a visit at night. On arriving there at 6.4 p.m., I learned that he had two girls then at work. I could see the workroom lighted up, and hear the sewing machines in full operation. There are two entrances, one in front, and one at the back. Mr. Cairns went to the front, and I went to the back door and knocked. After knocking for several minutes, WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 29 an upstairs window was opened, and Jacob Cohen wanted to know what was the matter. I told him I must come in. A further lapse of a minute or two, and then the door was opened. I ran straight up to the garret workshop, only to find two men there. I then asked Cohen where Sarah Goldwater was. He said she had gone home at 9 o'clock; she never remained after that hour. I looked at my watch; it was then 9.55 p.m. "Mr. Cairns then came in, and said that, while I was knocking at the back door, the light on the first floor had been put out. Thinking this might be a workshop we demanded admittance, and gained it. The room was in darkness, except where the light from outside fell on a bed; and seeing a suspiciously large swelling out of the bed clothes, I turned the top of them back, and disclosed the head and shoulders of Miss Sarah Goldwater. She had all her clothes on, just as she left the workroom. "I summoned Mr. Cohen for employing this girl after 9 at night, though I had very little hope of getting a conviction; but I thought it well that these Jew tailors should see that we were in earnest. "The case was dismissed. Miss Goldwater's evidence was upsetting. By Jehovah she swore, that she had not done a hand's turn of work after 9 that night; but that having a headache, she had gone under the bed clothes, at that hour, just as I found her. I have been since told by a neighbour that the other girl who is employed y Cohen was hidden away in the cellar during our visit. Any comment is unnecessary. "I am, Sir, "Yours very truly, "CHARLES R. BOWLING." "Robert Baker Esq. Mr. BOWLING, the Sub Inspector who gives the above account, says that any comment on it is necessary. Some women may, however, feel inclined to comment on the exceedingly inquisitorial nature of this inspection and to ask whether the protection supposed to be gained by legislation s not too dearly purchased by enforced submission to such a system. --- MADEMOISELLE LUCIENNE'S STORY (Told by Herself.) From L'Argent des Autres by Emile Gaborian. (Continued from page 23 of the Journal.) In forty-eight hours she was at death's door. She preserved her consciousness, but precisely because she knew her danger, did the fear of death make her half mad. Her nieces had installed themselves round her bed. I was forbidden to enter her room, and she no longer dared to have her own way. The relations saw their opportunity and felt that now the time to get rid of me altogether. The Doctors were induced to tell my poor friend that the air of country house was fatal to her and that her only chance of recovery was to go to Paris and live with one of her nephews, she should be carried there, they added, and that she would soon get well enough to be able to confirm her health in some Southern town. Her first word was for me, she would not be separated from me and was determined to carry me with her. Her nephews gravely represented that this was impossible, that the idea of being encumbered with me could not be entertained, that the simplest way was to leave me at the country house while they engaged to place me in good circumstances. Long did the invalid struggle with a courage of which I hardly thought her capable; ten times I was so sorry to see her suffer so much from this cruel contest, that I wished to put an end to it by running away. But the others were determined. The Doctors continually repeated to her that they could not answer for anything if she did not follow their advice. She feared to die, and gave way at last in tears. The very next morning a sort of litter bourne by eight men stopped at the door, my poor mistress was placed in it, and she was carried off without even granting me permission to embrace her for the last time. Two hours afterwards the cook and the maid were dismissed. As for me, the nephew who30 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. had promised to see about me, put a ten shilling piece into my hand, said, there are your wages, pack up your clothes and be off. I never saw my old friend again; every attempt I made to get at her proved fruitless. She no longer resides at Paris, I wrote to her, my letters were unanswered, I believe they never reached her, for something tells me she has not forgotten me. However, when I was thus cruelly dismissed I had nothing to do but to go. I packed up all my clothes, and all the little presents given me by my poor mistress, in two boxes. The man who had treated me so unkindly had waited for me. He helped me carry them boxes outside the gates then shut them and locked them behind him. An omnibus was passing, he hailed it and just stopped before he got into it to say with a sneer "good luck to your ladyship!" This was on the 9th of January; I was just thirteen. I have had many terrible experiences, and have found myself in other very desperate difficulties, but never do I remember to have felt myself so utterly cast down, as at that moment when I found myself alone on that high road not knowing where to go or what was to become of me. I sat down on one of the boxes. The weather was cold and gloomy, the passers by were very few: as they came by me they slackened their steps wondering no doubt what I was doing there and they turned their heads to look back at me long after they had passed. I was crying, I had the feeling that my poor friend had really done me a bad turn. She had deprived me of the habit of fighting with daily misery - She had made my hand soft and idle which had once been hardened by the wooden beater - While opening my mind to noble and generous ideas and waking me in the feeling for what was good and beautiful, while giving me what I never but for her should have had - a heart, she had at the same time lessened the power of suffering. Poor dear Mistress! She had dismissed me and my battle was beginning again. When I thought over all I had undergone with the washerwoman, my heart sank within me, and the idea of all the torture and humiliation that the future might have in store for me, made me wish for death. The river Seine was near - Why not fly to it - Why not end this wretched existence? Such were my reflections when a woman from Rueil, whom I knew by sight as a hawker of vegetables, came by, pushing her little vegetable cart through the muddy street. When she caught sight of me, she tried to say in a softer voice than usual, what are you doing there. my dear. I commanded my sobs sufficiently to tell her in a few words, what had happened. She seemed more surprised than touched. Such is life, said she, with its ups and downs, and coming near she asked me what I was going to do. Her sudden familiarity might have enlightened me as to the horror of my come down in the world. I replied that I did not know. You cannot stay here, she continued, you will be taken up by the police. Come with me, we will consult together in my house, and I will give you my advice. I was at one of those time of despair when I had neither strength nor will. What was the good of reflecting, had I any choice? The offer of this woman seemed to me one last favour of fortune, I will do what you like, Madam, I said. She put my luggage on her cart, we set off and we were soon at her home - What she called by that name was a sort of cellar a good foot lower than he street, lit only by a glazed door, many of the panes of which were broken and were replaced by paper - The filth was revolting and the smell was enough to sicken one. On all sides there were heaps of vegetables, cabbages, potatoes onions. In a corner lay a pile of rags which she called a bed. In the midst there was a little stove the pipe of which, eaten up by rust, let out the smoke. Here is a home for you, she said. I helped her unload her cart. She stuffed some coal into the stove and then instantly declared that she would examine my wardrobe. My boxes were opened and the woman cried out with astonishment as she unfolded and handled my dressed, my petticoats, and other thins. Upon my word, she said, with a sneer, they mad you very smart. Her eyes glittered so that all sorts of fears were awakened in my mind. She seemed to consider all this property as a kind of unexpected booty, her hands trembled again when she touched any of my ornaments, and she pulled me to the light that she might better examine and see the value of my earrings: when therefore she asked if I had any money I was resolved at any rate to dissemble as to the fifteen shillings, the whole of my fortune, and I answered boldly "no". That's a pity, she growled out. But she desired to know my history and I was obliged to relate it to her. One thing alone surprised her, my age, and it was true that through only thirteen, I might have passed for fifteen or sixteen. When I had finished, never mine, she went on, you have had the good luck to find me; here you are sure at any rate of something to eat, for I adopt you; I am getting old, you shall help me to drag the cart, of you are as sharp as you are well-looking we shall earn a lot of money. Nothing could be less to my taste but how could I resist? She spread on the floor some rags for me to sleep upon, and next day, dressed in my worst gown, my feet in wooden shoes which WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL 31 she had gone out and bought for me and which hurt my feet frightfully, I was obliged to drag the cart after me in a kind of leathern harness which tore my shoulders and my chest. She was a horrid creature and was not long in discovering that her repulsive countenance only too well betrayed her low instincts. After having led a wicked life, now that she was old she had scarcely any of the woman left in her; disliked and despised by every one she had taken up the trade of hawking vegetables and she just did enough to earn her daily bread. She felt it as a kind of revenge for her own fate, which she resented, to have a poor young girl like myself quite at her beck, and she took a vile pleasure in heaping illusage upon me and even in trying to make me as wicked as herself. How gladly would I have run away had I known where to go. But this horrid woman took advantage of my ignorance to persuade me that the first step I took by myself I should be arrested by police. I knew no one to appeal to for protection. Time went on and I staid where I was. The old hag had gradually sold all my clothes, dresses, linen, ornaments and I was reduced to rags almost as miserable as those I had worn when an apprentice. Each morning through wind and rain, snow and ice, we set out dragging our carry and crying our vegetables all along the banks of the Seine, in the villages and at the doors of country houses. I could see no end to this life, when one morning the Superintendent of Police came and ordered me to follow him. He took me to prison and I found myself in the midst of a hundred women whose faces, words and gestures, in either gaiety or anger filled me with terror. The hawker of vegetables had committed a theft and I was accused of being an accomplice. Happily it was easy for me to prove my innocence and at the end of a fortnight the Jailer opened the door and said to me, off with you, you are free; I was free, it is true, but what could I do with my freedom. I kept asking myself this question as I went along the streets of Paris, for it was a Paris I had been imprisoned. I soon got frightened with the bustle and the noise and with the glances of the Police which followed me with suspicion, dressed as I was in rags and my head wrapped up in a checked handkerchief. I hurried on to the gates, out on the high road. Instinct seemed to carry me to Rueil, I felt as if I should feel less forlorn and safer in a familiar neighbourhood where everybody had seen me pass by a hundred times dragging the truck. I had a hope also that I should find shelter in the lodging which I had occupied with the Huckster. (To be continued.) --- EVERY TRADE in which WOMEN are Engaged should have its PROTECTIVE AND BENEFIT UNION. The Objects of such Societies are: - 1 - To protect the trade interests of the members by endeavouring, where necessary, to prevent the undue depression of wages, and to equalise the hours of work. 2 - The provide a fund from which members may obtain allowance weekly in sickness or when out of employment. 3 - To arrange for the registration of employment notices, so that trouble in searching for work may be avoided, and to collect useful trade information. 4 - To promote arbitration in cases of dispute between Employers and Employed. --- The members of each Union arrange the rates of payment and other Rules at their general meetings. In some of the Societies the subscription is 2d. or 3d. per week, the entrance fee 1s. or 2s., and then allowance in sickness or non-employment 5s. per week, for from one to eight weeks during the year. The business of each society is conducted by a Committee of the members, subject to approval of quarterly meetings of members. THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE, affords advice and information as to the formation of unions, provides places for holding Trade Meetings and Conferences; the temporary use of the Office; the personal assistance of Provisional Honorary Secretaries, and assists in defraying the preliminary expenses of organization. A list of the Societies now Establishes in London is given at page 32 Enquiries may be addressed to the Hon. Sec. of the League, MRS. PATERSON, at the Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn.32 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. List of London Societies Already Formed: Date of Establishment and Meeting Nights: The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING. - Established September 1874. Subscription: Monday 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: Second Tuesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, and MANTLEMAKERS. Established February 1875. Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month. The UPHOLSTERESSES. - Establishes April 1875. Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: Second Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned. The HATTRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS. - Established May 1875. Subscription night, Monday from 8.30 to 10 p.m. Temporary Office: 14. Great Suffolk Street, Borough, S.E. The MACHINISTS. - Establishes February 16th, 1876. Subscription: Wednesday, night, 8.30 to 10 p.m. Committee: Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8.30 p.m. Temporary Office: 30, Wilson Street, Finsbury. A CIRCULATING LIBRARY HAS BEEN FORMED AT THE OFFICE OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. From which Books are Lent on the following terms: - To Members of Women's Trade Unions, .......... 6d per Quarter. To Women who are non-Members of Unions, on giving a satisfactory Reference or depositing 1s Security; 3d. per Month. The Library includes Works of History, Biography, Travels, & c., and a large number of Novels and Magazines. A Catalogue is now ready, PRICE ONE PENNY. Contributions of Books would be gladly accepted. ADVERTISEMENTS. WORK FOR WOMEN, "The Labour News and Employment Advertiser" contains weekly notes, from all parts, on the above subject, indicating any new openings for Female Labour that arise. Price One Penny Weekly, or copies for one month (post free) for Sixpence, from the Publishing Office, 15, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London. --- WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE JOURNAL. Edited by Lydia E. Becker. - This Journal is publishes monthly, and contains full information of the progress of the movement for removing the Electoral Disabilities of Women; accounts of public meetings and lectures; correspondence, and original articles on the subject. It also records and discusses other questions affecting the welfare of women - such as education, employment industrial or professional, and legislation affecting their property and personal rights. The Journal furnishes a medium of communication among the members, and a record of the work done by the different branches of the National Society of Women's Suffrage, and by other persons and societies interested in improving the condition of women. Friends of the cause are urged to endeavour to aid it by promoting the circulation of the Journal. Price for one copy, monthly (post free for one year), 1s. 6d. Communications for the Editor, and orders for the Journal, to be addressed 28, Jackson's Row, Albert Square, Manchester. London, Messrs. TRUBNER & CO., Paternoster Row. --- Women's Printing Society, Limited, 38, Castle street, Holborn EC. THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORIGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. No. 6 JULY 31, 1876. Price One Pennt, or post free Three Half-pence Union for Present as well as Future Advantages. IT may be hope that the Unions of Working Women which have been formed with so much success during the last two years - as a provision and protection against trouble, whether of illness or want of work in the future, will suggest the adoption of the same machinery for procuring greater comfort and happiness in the present. The prudent people who wish to prepare for the rainy day - will probably soon find that Union is the one thing wanted to get more good out of the sunshine of the day that is passing. The toiling multitudes have not even had leisure, hitherto to come together and compare notes on their condition, or they would have discovered that by uniting they could better it as much, and conjure up results quite as magical as those obtained by the Co-operation of the Wealthier Classes. All the wonders of our time have been effected by Union. The railroads for instance by which we take journeys, one of which would have emptied the pockets of a well-to-do man formerly, and the Crystal Palace which enables the poor man t share for one day the pleasures of the millionaire in his splendid home, are among such results. The advantages of the rich man have thus been multiplied a thousandfold by the principle of Union. The poorer classes, on the other hand, by whole united labour all these marvels have been accomplished, have been slow to apply the secret of Union to their own advantage. As a good friend of theirs once said they have been too much like Aladdin's lamp in the Fairy tale, which remained battered and dingy itself, though it had the power of conjuring up enchanted Palaces, and gardens of blooming flowers. We are beginning, however, to learn that it is not only important to add pound to pound but penny to penny. It is the misfortunate of the poor that their very poverty is expensive. The intelligent women who is now meet in these Unions will certainly be led to consider the economy of their daily life; and they will find that in Union lies their hope of 34 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. regulating it to the best advantage. The pound of tea sold in ounces - the house let off in rooms - means extravagant expenditure. Who reaps the profit on the waste in the sale of each ounce of tea, and in the partition of each house? The men of Rochdale one day asked themselves such a question about their pennyworths of porridge to some purpose, for they answered it by saving up their pence for the purchase, for they answered it by saving up their pence for the purchase of that sack of oatmeal which was the beginning of economy and comfort and wealth to thousands. There is no reason why women should not imitate these Rochdale Pioneers. The first step in this direction is to establish an understanding among themselves. A comparison of expenditure, and exchange of information as to rent and the various items of living. We would throw out the suggestion that this Journal should be used as a medium of correspondence on this subject, and we would invite members of the Unions to contribute any information they might like to give as to the various rents they are paying and the accommodation obtained for it in different situations. It would be unnecessary to publish the names of the correspondents, but a comparison founded upon such facts would be interesting at any rate, and might produce valuable results. In an old number of "All the Year Round," six teen years back, there in an article on "Artizans' Kitchens." An attempt then new was being tried to enable working men to get better dinners by joining together; and the writer concludes his article by expressing his surprise tat Trades' Unions (to which he gives only a very qualified approval) do not try to tempt people to join them by offering present as well as prospective advantages. To our mind it seems a fine symptom that women have first been moved to unite by forethought and an unselfish consideration for the future misfortune of others as well as their own. The movement so nobly begun will, we we hope and believe, confer in the end benefits undreamed of by its supporters. C.E.W. --- ANNUAL MEETING OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. The Second Annual Meeting of the League was held on the evening of Thursday June 29th in the Hall of the Quebec Institute, Lower Seymour Street. The Chair was taken by Sir Harcourt Johnstone, Bart. M.P. Among those present were Miss Ashworth, Miss L.S. Ashworth, Mr. and Mrs. F. Verney, Mr. T. Pagliardini, Rev. Septimus Hansard, Mr. Hodgson Pratt, Mr. H.R. Fox Bourne, Rev. Syewart D. Headlam, Miss Simcox, Miss Downing, Mr. J.R. Shearer, Mr. S.S. Tayler, Rev. J. Johnson. Letters of apology for none attendance were received from Mr. O. Shaughnessy, WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 35 M.P. Mr. Joseph Cowen, M.P. Mrs. Lucas, Miss Anna Swanwick, Mr. Thos. Hughes, and Mr. George Howell. An abstract of the Report was read by the Honorary Secretary, Mrs. Paterson.* THE CHAIRMAN, after congratulating the Committee of the League on the progress shown by the Report, remarked that a good deal had been said at different times about the jealousy and suspicion with which working men had regarded the work of women. It seemed to him, however, that so long as women's labour had been utterly disorganised, (for they had been helpless through want of co-operation) the men were somewhat justified in their suspicion and in the natural fear lest the price of their own work should be lowered by competition with ill-paid work. These suspicions, whether rightly or wrongly entertained, seem to have disappeared to some extent, as is shown by the very gratifying fact mentioned in the Report of the League, viz. that such able and leading men as the late Mr. John Kane, Mr. Shipton, and many others had given the Women's Union movement their hearty support. Allusion was made in the Report to the Factory and Workshops' Act. He was glad to find that working women were beginning to discuss this question amongst themselves. He was inclined to look with disfavour on the undue interference by the State with the hours of work of women. If some women who were stronger than others liked to work an hour or two longer occasionally to earn a little additional money, he did not think the law should forbid their doing *Copies of the Report may be obtained at the office of the League. so, or that Parliament was capable of judging or settling these questions as well as the women could do. Increased leisure, too, was not always an advantage, although he believed that women would use their leisure quite as wisely, perhaps even more wisely, than men did, having more home ties, domestic duties and work. Many single women did not know what to do or where to go after their working hours were over; there were no Club rooms or Institutes for them as there were for men. These, however, would be brought about in time by unions, and wise employers of labour might help women in this respect as they have already helped the men. By the spread of the principle of union, which the Women's Protective and Provident League was striving to promote, large masses of women might be reached and their impulses guided into healthy channels. When looking lately at a piece of sculpture illustrating the "Song of the Shirt," he had thought how many miseries must be undergone by women who were obliged to work, and to seek for work, alone and unaided - and how greatly they must suffer from the want of any provision against times of stagnant trade. The greatest results might be looked for from the growth of this movement for binding together for mutual support these hitherto isolated workers by the bonds of provident benevolence, co-operation, and self-help, and on those grounds he had met them this evening to encourage them in the work they had undertaken. THE REV. SEPTIMUS HANSARD said that on reading the Report he was particularly struck by the entire absence of anything like an angry, or bitter word against Employers, and of all recommendations or sug- 36 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. gestions of strikes. The women's league had wisely determined to find out the strength and righteousness of Union, for mutual help and counsel in other things besides the important matter of wages, before they attempted a united effort to raise the price of their labour. The excellent principle of arbitration was put forward in place of strikes and a practical result of union, in this direction, had already arisen in the amicable settlement of a trade dispute as mentioned in the Report. There was no doubt that the mere fact of the existence of a Union in a trade without any offensive action whatever being taken, had a tendency to prevent an undue reduction of wages. He knew of a factory in the East-end of London where the men who had a union threatened a strike and got an increase of wages thereby, whereupon the Employer recouped himself by decreasing the wages of the women he employed in the same factory. Would he have dared to have done this, if the women had had a Union? He (Mr. Hansard) had been convinced, that Unions affect wages without strikes, in connection with an organization of one of the lowest branches of unskilled labour, that of the Dock labourers, which he had helped to form some time ago. The spirit of self-reliance displayed in the Report of the League was very satisfactory. The members of the Union were banded together with the determination to help themselves and one another; they did not go about asking money from rich people, although they were glad to take friendly sympathy and help such as that offered by the League. He believed employers would soon find out, that as with men, the members, of the Unions who showed this spirit of mutual helpfulness, and self-sacrifice, and providence, and a sense of duty to their fellow workers were the best steadiest and most profitable workers. He could agree with much that the Chairman had said about legislation. He regarded self-protection against the evils of over-work as a far more healthy course than reliance on legislation. The growing tendency to look to legislation to protect people from many ills which they could to a great extent prevent or remedy themselves, was to be deprecated, as leading men and women to look for remedy to Government instead of themselves, and to look for such providential regard over their own actions, by the laws which they themselves only can and ought to give. Independence and self-reliance are a better protection than laws with minute regulations about the details of Labour. One most important result of the organization of women's work would it was hoped be to lessen the over crowding of certain trades in certain localities, by the spread of information as to the state of the labour market. At the central office of the different Unions of women, information might be had which would prevent a sudden influx of workers into any trade in London to beat down existing prices. If a number of women were invited up upon a very scanty wage to compete with the present workers in any trade, they could ascertain the right and wrong and prospects of the offer by writing to the Office, before they undertook the journey. MR. HODGSON PRATT would take it for granted that those present saw the necessity under which working women were placed to combine for fair treatment in their labour bargains and for self support in sickness and when out of work. Such Unions being then necessary, WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 37 it was also necessary that there should be a Central League, which should set on foot and initiate them by bringing together the scattered and inexperienced individuals engaged in the several trades. It was necessary that a central body should collect information and experience from various sources, and place this from time to time at the service of several unions, in order to facilitate the successful conduct of the latter. Some of the Societies which had been formed had not been so successful as others, because women as yet were timid from want of training for such combined action and from want of experience. There was another hostile cause at work. He had that week attended a meeting of the Hat Trimmers' and Crown Sewers' Society, (of which the Hon. Secretary was Miss Brown); also a meeting of the Dressmakers Society, (of which Mrs. Heatherley was the Hon. Secretary). In both these cases women who had joined the new unions eagerly at first had been obliged to leave because of the interference of their employers who threatened their workwomen with dismissal if they exercised their undoubted right of associating themselves together. When it was considered that thousands of women could, by many hours of daily work, barely earn enough to live, and that there was no other remedy for them against finding themselves in a position which was a disgrace to our civilization, such conduct was oppression. It was difficult to repress strong indignation when we contrasted the wealth of many of these employers with the abject poverty of their "hands" who were thus forbidden to take the only course open to them for remedying that position. The employers had no right whatever to interfere with the absolute liberty of those they employed during the hours when they were not at work. Nothing but the promotion of a strong and sound public opinion would check such injustice and wrong at this. That public opinion must be formed by ladies of social position and independence, the customers upon whose support these employers depended for their success in business. Ladies had a grave duty to perform in this respect, -that of seeing that their half starved and underpaid working sisters were not debarred from their plain right of self-defence Let them make it known that they regarded such combinations as justifiable and necessary and any denial by the employer, of the right as a great wrong. This would open the eyes of the latter, too much blinded by a mistaken self-interest. It could not be too often repeated that under-paid work was bad work, and that in the long run, all suffered more or less from such a condition of things. It lowered the moral condition of society at large to be tolerant or indifferent to the wrongs from which any large class suffered. It hardened the conscience of the community. Ladies should recollect that inadequate remuneration for work often tempted their weaker sisters to prefer employments by which there was more chance of being able to live, but which had a tendency to degrade. He would not now speak of the lowest depth of degradation to which women were reduced by want of bread; but he alluded to a number of occupations which were on the verge of moral danger, and which women were tempted to take because better paid than in useful trades. He alluded to such occupations as serving at refreshment-bars, cigar-shops, and in "spectacular" representations at theatres, where "personal attractions" were the thing paid for. 38 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. Much had been rightly said as to the value of such Unions in developing a spirit of independence; but there was another moral result to which he attached even more importance. He referred to the idea of duty to one's fellow workers and one's class. It was a distinct step upwards, when men and women were drawn out of themselves to think of duty of this kind. It gave life a new and nobler aspect and would check that narrowness of sympathies and interests which was too characteristic of women in all classes. He distinctly held that trades unions among men had taught this sense of duty, and he believed that the enthusiastic unionist was a higher type of man than one who thought exclusively of his own personal interests. He appealed to all women of social position, wealth and independence to support this League, as a great moral and industrial agency for raising the condition of their toiling sisters. Another beneficial result which would come from this movement was the better organization of labour by a large system of registration. At present there was great loss, because there was no certainty as to where labour was wanted, so that there were too many hands in one branch, and too few in another. A good system of registration would be beneficial alike to employers and employed, and it would enable the latter to sell their labour out the best terms. This too would enable the workers to know what the difference employers were paying in the same branch of industry. At present all was hap hazard, and confusion. Miss Whute (Secretary of the Society of Women employed in Bookbinding) moved the second Resolution: "That this Meeting views with much satisfaction the progress of the Women's Trade Union Movement and pledges itself to assist in promoting the work of the Women's Protective and Provident League." Mr. F. Verney in seconding the Resolution said that there seemed sometimes to be a slight misunderstanding about the word "Protective" in the title of the League. It must not be supposed that by this word it was meant that a number of benevolent people were joining together to protect women. Protection was to be afforded by means of the unions of the workers themselves, which it was the object of the League to form. These unions offered protection of various kinds but the most important seemed to him to be the protection of knowledge. Work women had suffered, perhaps more than any other class, from complete ignorance of the general position and prospects of the trades in which they worked. An employer in one shop might be paying his workers 3d. per hour and another employer might be giving 6d. per hour for precisely the same work. Through the Unions all such information could be collected and made known to the members. Union would also afford protection for both workers and employers against bad and incompetent work. The Resolution was supported by Miss Mears (of the Upholsteresses' Society), and was carried unanimously. The next Resolution was moved by Miss Simcox and seconded by Miss L.S. Ashworth. "That the Committee of the League for the ensuing year consist of the following ladies and gentlemen who shall have power to add to their number: - Miss A.L. Browne, Miss Brown, Mrs. H.R. Fox Bourne, Mr. Henry Crompton, Miss H.P. Downing, Miss Hamilton, Rev. Septimus Hansard, Rev. Stewart WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 39 D. Headlam, Mrs. Heatherley, Mr. King, Mr. J.H. Levy, Miss McCall, Mr. C.R. M'Clymont, Mr. Paterson, Mr. Hodgson Pratt, Mrs. Hodgson Pratt, Miss Reeves, Mrs. Scull, Mr. J.R. Shearer, Mr. George Shipton, Miss Simcox, Rev. J. Sinclair, Mr. Adolphe Smith, Mr. S.S. Tayler, Mr. F.W. Verney, Miss C. Williams, Mr. A.J. Williams, Miss Wilkerson; also that the Treasurer (Mrs. Sims) and the Honorary Secretary (Mrs. Paterson) be re-elected. The Resolution was carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the Chairman was proposed by Miss Brown, seconded by Mr. Oatley and heartily carried. The Chairman having replied the meeting separated. --- SERIOUS ROBBERY BY A FOREWOMAN. - May Cottrell, a well-dressed woman, forewoman to Messrs. Beale and Inman, hosiers and outfitters, Bond-street, charged with stealing several sums of money received by her on the pretense that she was going to pay it to workwomen in the prosecutors' employ, was again brought before Mr. Newton. - From the evidence it appeared that prisoner had charged the firm with larger sums than the workwomen had received. - Mr. Beard, jun., appeared for the prisoner, and stated that she was anxious to plead guilty. - In reply to Mr. Newton, Mr. Inman said the prisoner had been in the employ of the firm for about fourteen months, and that every confidence was placed in her; but on reference to the books, it was found that she had robbed the firm to the large amount. Detective Newby, C division, in answer to the magistrate, said he had not been able to find out anything of the prisoner's antecedents. Mr. Newton said that tradesmen must be protected from their servants. He did not consider it a case in which any mercy should be shown, and the prisoner would be committed for six months with hard labour. "Daily Chronicle," July 5th, 1876. --- MADEMOISELLE LUCIENNE'S STORY, (Told by Herself.) From L'Argent des Autres by Emile Gaborian. (Continued from page 31 of the Journal.) This last hope failed me. Immediately after our arrest, the proprietor of the den had carried out and thrown upon the dungheap, all that it contained, and had let it to be a kind of hideous beggar who when I presented myself, asked me with a sneer to come and be his housekeeper. I took to my heels an fled; certainly I was in a more desperate position than on that day when I was driven out of my good old friend's house. But the eight months I had gone through with the horrible woman had once more taught me what misery was, and had again called out my energy. I brought out my pieces of money from a fold in my dress, in which I had kept it always sewn, and as I was hungry I entered into a kind of wayside lodging house where I had sometimes eaten a meal. The Landlord was a worthy soul; when I told him of my situation he offered to let me remain there till something better turned up. As people came in crowed to take refreshment at his shop on Sundays and Mondays he was obliged on those days to have an additional servant. He offered me this place in exchange for board and lodging. He added that I might employ the rest of my time at a Manufactory of Perfumes, the master of which was one of his customers. I closed with this offer, It was Saturday and next day I began to discharge the rough work that falls to the lot of a servant at a public house, who must be resigned to submit to the brutalities and insults of drunkards. I also succeeded in gaining admission into the manufactory, where, with about fifteen other workwomen, I was engaged in sticking on lables and in putting soap and rice powder into cases. There is nothing very hard in such work, apparently, nor is it so when you are used to it, but it requires to be used to it. Those who live in the midst of such powerful perfumes suffer at first from the most terrible head-aches and I went home every night so feverish and so sick, that I could neither eat nor sleep. But that was not the worst of it. The other workwomen were almost all of them perfectly careless in their manner and more hardened than the drunkards I waited upon in the Public House, I was imprudent enough to let them see how disgusted I was with their ways and with their coarse songs. From the moment I became an object of dislike and ridicule which they showed by trying which should outrage my feelings most. I have seen other workshops since then and in nearly all of them it has been the same. I had compensations however, I gained money, I was lodged and boarded, I got presented on Sunday. In less than three months I had been able to clothe myself decently and I watched the growth of my little savings in a corner of my drawers with immense pride. I began to breathe when suddenly the manufactory was closed. The40 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. Manufacturer had failed. On the other hand the Landlord had grown so prosperous that his business required the services of a waiter and I received notice to seek other employment. I sought for it, and hearing from an old neighbour of mine of a place as a servant in the house of tradespeople at Bougival, where I should get tolerable wages I applied for it and got it. It might have been a good place, there were only three in family husband and wife and a son of twenty five. Every morning the father and son whose employment was at Paris left by the first train and only returned by dinner time at six. I was alone with the mistress all day. She was unluckily a very perverse creature, peevish and cross grained. Until I came to her she had never had a servant, but had done the work herself, and she now felt that she could best make her superiority felt by playing the tyrant with me and by being exacting and insolent. She was also wonderfully suspicious and so persuaded that I should rob her that not a week passed that she did not hit upon some excuse to examine my boxes to make sure that I was not secreting some of he household linen. Having in my simplicity once mentioned having been a washerwoman, she took advantage of the knowledge to make me wash and get up all the house linen reproaching me all the time with my waste of soap or of fuel. In spite of all this I was well satisfied on the whole with my place. I had a little bedroom to myself which I thought charming and which I took the greatest delight in adorning. I was free pretty early in the evening and then I spent many a pleasant evening there sewing or reading. But fate was against me. The son of the house admired me and young as I was, only sixteen, I had gone through too sad an experience not to understand that I was in danger. He soon persecuted me so much that I thought it time to complain to my mistress. She showed so little sympathy for me that I felt I had nothing to do but to escape as soon as I could, and I left her house the next day. But I had made such an enemy of her that she determined to prevent my obtaining another situation near her, and for this purpose she took advantage of the knowledge had obtained from my own lips of having been arrested and put in prison, to frighten everybody at Bougival from taking me. I was now obliged to go to Paris in search of a place, and went straight to a register office there of which I had the address. I was received with open arms by an extremely well spoken old woman who promised to find me the most wonderful situation, and advised me to lodge at her house in the mean time. (To be continued.) --- List of London Societies Already Formed: Date of Establishment and Meeting Nights. The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING - Established September 1874. Subscription: Monday 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: Second Tuesday in the Month, 8 p.m. THE DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, and MANTLEMAKERS. - Established February 1875. Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month. THE UPHOLSTERESSES. - Established April 1875. Subscription: Monday, from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: Second Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLAR MAKERS. - Established July 1875. Subscription: Monday or Wednesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies. Members may be enrolled, and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned. HAT TRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS. - Established May 1875. Subscription night, Tuesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Temporary Office: 14, Great Suffolk Street, Borough. The MACHINISTS. - Established February 16th, 1876. Subscription night: Wednesday, 8.30 to 10 p.m. Committee; Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8.30 p.m. Temporary office: 30, Wilson Street, Finsbury. --- Advertisements. WORK FOR WOMEN, "The Labour News and Employment Advertiser" contains weekly notes, from all parts, on the above subject, indicating any new openings for Female Labour that arise. Price One Penny Wekly, or copies for one month (post-free_ for Sixpence, from the Publishing Office, 15, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London. --- WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE JOURNAL. - Edited by Lydia E. Becker. - This Journal is published monthly, and contains full information of the progress of the movement for removing the Electoral Disabilities of Women; accounts of public meetings and lectures; correspondence, and original articles on the subject. It also records and discusses other questions affecting the welfare of women - such as education, employment industrial or professional, and legislation affecting their property and personal rights. The Journal furnishes a medium of communication among the members, and a record of the work done by the different branches of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, and by other persons and societies interested in improving the condition of women. Friends of the cause are urged to endeavour to aid it by promoting the circulation of the Journal. Price for one copy, monthly (post free for one year), 1s. 6d. Communications for the Editor, and order for the Journal, to be addressed 28, Jackson's Row, Albert Square, Manchester. London, Messrs. TRUBNER & CO., Paternoster Row. --- Women's Printing Society, Limited, 38, Castle Street, Holborn, EC. THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND ROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn NO. 7. AUGUST 31, 1876. Price One Penny, or post free Three Half-pence. Union in Holidays. WE have, this month, but little to record that is immediately connected with the work of the Women's Trade Unions. No meetings of any importance have been held since that in Manchester on July 18, of which we give a full report. The intensely hot weather of the past few weeks has arouse a general longing for the cool shade of the country lanes and forests and the breezes of the sea. Those who have been able to indulge the longing have done so, and those who have been compelled to put it aside have probably limited their work, as much as possible, to that of bare necessity. We know that many of our friends belonging to the Women's Unions have sighed in vain for a little rest and change of air during the hot August days. Some of their fellow workers have been more fortunate, either in having "country cousins" to go and stay with, or in having had constant work so as to have been able to save sufficient money for the expense of an independent holiday. The dull time for business, when a holiday can conveniently be taken, comes of course to most working women at the close of the London season. Then, however, there is a general rush of all classes out of town, and the cost of a sea-side lodging is much higher than it is earlier in the year. The expense of a short stay by the sea is consequently heavier than many women who support themselves by their work are able to incur. The excellent article in our last number by "C.E.W." urges women to consider the enormous advantages to be gained by co-operation of various kinds. The success of the Saturday afternoon excursions already organized by the Unions* seems to us to indicate that co-operation in this direction might be very usefully extended to longer summer holidays. By putting together their small savings in a special fund for the purpose - a number of women might take a house in some seaside place, and the payments which they would now have to make for the rent of --- *See Page 42. 42 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. bedrooms would in a few weeks cover the year's rent of the whole house. There might be a general sitting room and arrangements for taking meals together. We have not space to go into details of he mode of working or to explain all the advantages of the plan, but we strongly advise our friends to consider whether they might now,, next summer, make a small beginning. There is no reason why such a commencement should not grow until a Women's Co-operative Lodging House had been established in every popular resort. We should be gad to receive correspondence on the subject, or, if the suggestion seemed to be favourably received, to hold a meeting to discuss it. --- EXCURSION TO EPPING FOREST. (This report was omitted last Month for want of space.) An excursion to Epping Forest organized jointly by the Committees of the Society of Women Employed in Bookbinding and the Society of Upholstresses took place on June 17th. The party which consisted of 250 persons (members of the Societies and their friends) accompanied by a Band, left the Liverpool Street Station of the Great Eastern Railway by special train for Loughton at 3 p.m. and afterwards proceeded to the "Robin Hood" Hotel, High Beech, where arrangements had been made for tea. After tea, until 9.30 p.m. the time was very pleasantly occupied by walks and rides in the Forest, dancing and various other recreations. Great satisfaction was generally expressed both with the tea provided by Mr. Chilton the landlord of the Robin Hood and with all other arrangements. Although the price of tickets (including Railway fare and tea) was only 1s. 6d. to members and 1s. 9d. to non-members, a profit of £2. 10s. was realized and was divided between the two Societies. --- EXCURSION TO HENDON. The great success of the June Excursion having led to numerous requests for a second Pleasure Party to be organized before the close of Summer, the Committees of the Women Bookbinders' and Upholstresses' Societies were induced to favourably consider the proposal. Saturday, August 26th was selected as the date and the "Welsh Harp" Hendon, as the place, for the second outing. This time the party was smaller, numbering only 144, but the enjoyment appeared to be in no way diminished. The special train left the Midland (St. Pancras) Station at 3 p.m. and returned soon after 10. Tea, which was laid in the large pavilion outside the house, commenced at 4 o'clock and as soon as it was over the song "Stand by the Union" led by the Band was heartily sung. The usual amusements followed. Mr. Warner, the landlord of the Welsh Harp was very attentive in promoting the comfort of the party. --- THE SEWING MACHINE WORKERS OF MANCHESTER. A WOMEN'S TRADES UNION. A public meeting of the Society of Sewing Machine Workers was held on Tuesday evening in the Temperance Hall, Grosvenor-street, Oxford Road, Mr. Hodgson Pratt (of the Women's Protective and Provident League, London) presiding in the absence of Mr. Malcolm McLeod. The society, which was formed two or three months since and is now in full operation, offers the following advantages to its members: - To allow every full member five shillings per week when out of work, or ill; full consideration is given to any complaint respecting reductions, stoppages of wages, or other grievances, and when necessary, such action is taken upon such complaints as the committee may think fit; every effort is made to ascertain for members what workshops are in want of hands, and what hands are in want of work; a means of friendly intercourse and assistance is offered to those engaged in the trade, and WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 43 an opportunity is afforded by the weekly meetings for prompt attention to any question of importance to members. THE CHAIRMAN said trades unions had a double object; the object of combining in order to bring pressure to bear on employers when wages were considered inadequate to the profits made, and the object of providing support for their members in times of sickness, or when out of work. Trades unions had rendered considerable service to this country. It was found on inquiry that instead of causing strikes, they diminished them, and that trades without a union had more strikes than those which possessed a union. The secretaries of the unions got information as to the state of trade, and many time when men had wished to strike the secretaries had prevented them by this information. It used to be said that trades unions could not raise wages, but experience had shown that their positive result had been to raise wages in many trades. The question therefore arose, if trades unions, notwithstanding some faults, had on the whole enabled their members to get better wages, shorter hours, more considerations, and better ventilated workrooms, if they had provided their members with a means of living when sick or out of work - if the men could do that, why could not the women? There were three millions of women dependent upon themselves, and often with old fathers and mothers or young brothers and sisters to support. If men had found it absolutely necessary to protect themselves by unions, why could not women resort to precisely the same mode of operation? It was not only justifiable, but right that women should combine together for their mutual protection. In consequence of the very low wages women receive, they were constantly tempted to other occupations, which were full of moral and spiritual danger to themselves; and those employers who could look ahead most distinctly said that underpaid labour was not good labour. It was their interest to combine, and they had a right to do so. (Applause.) Miss BECKER, who was very warmly received, moved: "That this meeting approves of the object of the Society of Sewing Machine Workers, and pledges itself to endeavour to promote the success of the organization." They must all agree that it would be very much to their advantage if that union were to become general among the sewing machine workers of Manchester. She did not know how many of them there were, but supposing there were five hundred - and there must be many more than that - if that number were organized into a compact body, it would command the respect both of employers and fellow workers, both in the same and other trades. She thought it was not too much to expect that some such a result might be arrived at. She would tell them not to be discourages by the difficulties which always must be encountered in any new and strange undertaking. They were pioneers; they were not women treading a beaten track, they had to prepare a new path on which those who followed them might find it easier to walk. They must not be discouraged if people acted towards them differently to what they expected. Human nature was imperfect, and they were all apt to be more or less selfish at times. They had difficulties which did not beset men. In most things, especially in public life, women had difficulties44 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. which men had not. There was a strong amount of public sympathy for the movement to improve the condition of women and raise the wages of sempstresses, but there was not as strong an agreement as to how to attain that end. People sometimes thoughtlessly said that women ought not to strive to be independent, but that they were most happy when absolutely dependent on men. She thought independence a good thing for every human being; that women were more likely to be better helps to men if they had an independent support; so that when they married a man two strong beings would make a better whole than a strong one and a week one would. They would have to disarm the employers of a perhaps natural prejudice against the society. She had heard that one of the largest firms in Manchester had issued a notice that women joining the union should no longer be in their employ. If such a notice had been issued it must have been under some misunderstanding, and it must be part of the society to remove such misunderstanding, and convince the employers that no mischief would arise from their organization. There would be a deal of sympathy with their object. She had no doubt if they went on quietly, prudently, energetically, and perseveringly, the society would in time command general respect and be a blessing to themselves and those who came after them. They knew the celebrated poem "The Song of the Shirt," which appeared in Punch, sent a thrill of sympathy throughout the land, and they might be quite sure there was a very strong desire that women sempstresses should no be so ground down. They had another difficulty not always seen in other trades. In asking for higher wages, whether earned by the needle or machine, they had to compete not only with those to earn their bread, but there was a great amount of competition to be met with from women whose time was, precuniarily speaking, of no value. So much sewing was done at home by women who had not to live by sewing that that quantity of work was thrown into the market and lowered the remuneration of those who lived by the needle. So long as women had to spend so great a part of their time at home they would find needlework a pleasing occupation. Still, a certain amount of what she would call "professional" needle work must be done, and it was their task to obtain for that expenditure of time and strength as much as was possible, and she knew of no more effectual way of doing so than by combinations such as that. It had been suggested that ladies and gentlemen of position in the city should form themselves into a committee. But she did not doubt those present were capable of making a good organization of their own. They might be sure, whether they knew it or not, that there was a good deal of outside sympathy with them, and a vast deal more sympathy which would be theirs if the circumstances were exactly known. It was always pleasant to feel there was this reserve fund of unknown sympathy, and it served to sustain the spirits at times when one's own efforts might seem to fail of their immediate object. The resolution was seconded by one of the committee and passed unanimously. From the "Manchester City Press" of July 22, 1876. --- WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE: for the formation of Protective and Benefit Societies among women earning their own livelihood. The Second Annual Report may be obtained of the Hon. Sec., Mrs. Paterson, at the Office, 31, Little Queen St. Holborn, Price 2d. WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 45 Correspondence. [The Editor is not responsible for Opinions expressed by the Correspondents.]. Madam, - I would offer a few friendly words to Women in all trades who are endeavouring to support themselves honorably by their own industry. Those who are so placed in life will find difficulties to content with but much depends on themselves in regard to happiness: the day's work performed cheerfully and to the best of the ability will bring peace to the conscience at its close, and it is striving to be first in our calling whatever it may be that will raise us to our proper standard, for of course the employers want the value of their money, and the respectable skilled workwoman can demand it with the help if the strength that unity gives. Each one who joins a society in her own trade not only strengthens herself but sets the example to others to do so. There are many good women self supporting who are very nervous and lonely and who sometimes think there is no one to care for them: to such, being members of a society would help them in the battle of life by bringing them out of themselves, enlarging their ideas, making them think for others; we know it is not good to be alone and by attending the meetings they would hear better educated people speak who make it their study and give their time for the good of their fellow creatures. And again what is most wanted is to give to the rising generation the germ of industry, self-reliance and knowledge plain and practical. It is often very grievous to hear the contemptuous manner in which ignorant men speak of woman, when in the trials of life they must find in nine cases out of ten she proves their best friend. We all know how large a share women have in the work of life and consequently in the welfare of society and how many of them have their higher natures ripened through experience and trials in spite of neglect and want of good example. I do hope that these societies of women rightly understood will lead to they welfare of all classes of right minded may pioneer the weak and the weak, by their numbers, may support the strong. As all the members make but one body so by unity we may bring about a better state of things for workers in all trades and the prosperity of society in general. MARIA L. WOOD (Member of the Upholstresses' Society) --- WOMEN'S TRADE UNIONS. The promoters of the Women's Protective and Provident League are to be congratulated upon the success which they are able to chronicle in their second annual report. This very modest but really excellent organization has been established with the view of encouraging working women to follow the example of their fathers and brothers in uniting for mutual assistance and protection in their several trades. This is not easy matter, for, whatever superiority women may in come respects have over men, their training and surroundings through long centuries have placed them in a far less independent position and greatly weakened their chances of fighting their way through the world in any other trades than marriage and its substitutes. This the league appears to have already discovered in its efforts to start successfully trades unions among milliners and dressmakers and other large masses of women, sorely oppressed, and endowed with very little cohesion and power of resisting oppression. It has a better tale to tell, however, of its work among women in46 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. smaller ad more compact bodies. The London Women Bookbinders' Society, which was first founded, is now a solid and self-supporting union, able to distribute sick and other allowances among those of its 325 members who are in need of them. The Society of Upholstresses, six months younger, and now only fourteen months old, promises to thrive as well, while other and yet younger organizations are in a hopeful condition. This is an excellent movement, which deserves the hearty sympathy and support of working men, and not of working men alone. From the Dispatch, July 2nd, 1876. --- A "WOMEN'S HOTEL" for New York - The "Women's Hotel," designed by the late Mr. A.T. Stewart, the New York millionaire for the accommodation of working girls, is rapidly approaching completion, and will probably be opened for occupation next spring. The building has 500 rooms, which will be neatly furnished and supplied with gas and steam heat. It is the intention to have good meals furnished at cost price, or at about fifteen cents a-piece.* --- SOCIETY OF SHIRT AND COLAR MAKERS. The first Annual Meeting of the above Society, was held on Monday July 3rd, in the Boys; Schoolroom St. Martin-in-the-Fields. The Rev. Stewart D. Headlam, Treasurer of the Society presided. There was a good attendance. The statement read reported that 59 members had been enrolled, whose payments amounted to £16. It had been recently decided to invite workers in the ladies underclothing trade to join. The Chairman, Miss Simcox, Miss Brown, Rev. J. Johnson, and Mrs. Wood), of he Upholstresses' Society) addressed the Meeting. Fourteen members were elected a Committee for the ensuing year, the Treasurer was re-elected and Miss Simcox was appointed Honorary Secretary. 17 new members were enrolled. During the evening, Mrs. Hawkins in the name of the members presented Mrs. Paterson with a handsome portable writing case, an an acknowledgement of her past service as Honourary Secretary to the Society. Mrs. Paterson in thinking the members re- --- *We hope to give a fuller account of the Hotel in some future number minded them that Miss Simcox had kindly acted as Honorary Secretary for some months and said that she should consider the writing case as a present to herself and Miss Simcox jointly. Votes of thanks were passed to the Chairman and to the Rev. W. Humphry, Vicar of the St. Martin's for his kindness in lending the Schoolroom a third time for a Meeting of the Society. --- MADEMOISELLE LUCIENNE'S STORY, (Told by Herself.) From L'Argent des Autres by Emile Gaborian. (Continued from page 40 of the Journal.) She kept lodgings, in fact, in which as many as sixty servants out of place were stowed away in numerous dormitories, under the appearance of moderate charges. The expenses really proved to be greater than those of a tolerable hotel; she also made a profit out of the sale of beer and spirits to her lodgers, which unlocked the tongues of the inmates in the evenings and led to their telling many a demoralizing tale. However time passed, and this favoured situation was never discovered. Each morning a certain number of addresses were given me to which I hurried only to be questioned in the same disagreeable manner, and to return discouraged and at last I got so frightened that I determined to pay and leave. I set out to look for a lodging followed by a porter carrying my box, when at a crossing I could not get out of the way of a gentleman's carriage which was driving along at a great rate and I was knocked down by it an trampled under the horse's feet. I became unconscious - When I came to myself I was seated in an apothecary's shop and two or three persons were attending upon me. I had no broken bones, only serious bruises, and a large wound on my head. A doctor, who has been passing by, was examining my condition. Finding that it was impossible for me even to stand he inquired where I lived that I might be taken home. I had to own that I was a poor servant out of place, without either home or friend. That being so, said the doctor, we must send her to the hospital. A cab was called, I was carried to it, and admitted to the hospital, where I was soon placed in a nice clean bed in one of the wards - but in the confusion attending the accident my box had been forgotten, and when I arrived at the hospital and inquired for it, I found that it, containing as it did all my little possessions and the little money that still remained, was lost without hope of recovery. The doctor had remarked on the cold indifference WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 47 shown by the lady whose carriage had run me over. Her chief feeling was indignation against her coachman, whose clumsiness she threatened to punish by instant dismissal. She drove off immediately, saying she had no time to stay, and merely handed to the policeman her card, which showed her to be the Baroness Thalles, the wife of a very rich banker. I was a long time, more than two months, in getting well, but during the past two years such had been my misery that this stay in the hospital was like a halt in the desert after a long and weary march. The good nurses had taken a fancy to me, and when I got well enough I helped them in every way I could, especially in the work of the laundry. I could have wished to stay with them for ever, for I shuddered to think what would become of me when I was well enough to be sent away. Yet even in the hospital I had good reason to feel how forlorn I was. Twice a week, on the days open to the public, almost every other sick person received visits from friends who came bringing little presents or oranges or other small delicacies. No one came to see me. I am wrong, on one of these days an old man dressed all in black presented himself to me and questioned me as to whether I was not the poor girl who had been nearly killed by being run over by a carriage. He questioned me closely, and I found he was a man who made it his business to offer his service in such cases to recover damages for the sake of a small remuneration. He wishes to go the Baroness Thalles, and, if necessary, to sue her for the costs of this accident. I refused his assistance, though I afterward almost repented that I had done so, I the took the advice of the nurses and wrote out a short narrative of my case, giving a sketch of my history, and addressed it to the Baroness. Nothing came of it - and at last the day arrived when the day arrived when the doctor declared I was fit to leave the hospital. I had made the acquaintance latterly of a working woman who, in consequence of a fall, had been brought to a bed adjoining mine in the hospital. She was about twenty, very goodnatured and obliging, and with a face that had at once taken my fancy. Like myself she had no relations, but she was rich in the possession of a sewing machine which had cost her £12, and like a true daughter of Paris she knew five or six trades, by the poorest paid of which she could earn from a shilling to fourteen pence a day. When she quitted the hospital she said to me, "Don't be anxious about a place. When you are well come to me and I will lodge you and teach you to be a workwoman." When therefore the time came for me to leave the hospital, I went direct to the address my friend had given me, carrying (tied up in a handkerchief) the slender wardrobe, which the kind nurse had given me. My heart beat loudly as I mounted the rough staircase which led to her room in the top story of a huge lodging house, but I was received as a sister and for some weeks I thought that at last my evil days were ended. My friend was a very skilful workwoman, and she soon made me almost as skilful as herself. The times were good, work was plentiful/ By working for twelve hours a day at our sewing machines we were able to gain as much as 6s. 6d. a day. It was wealth, and my friend's wonderful skill in making money go far added to our riches. She had been thrown entirely upon herself from the age of thirteen, and had gained an experience, a knowledge of her native Paris which quite astonished me. No one knew better than she did how to fight for her own interest, to defend her rights and to get justice. Nothing frightened her. Her knowledge of business surprised me. It was impossible to take her in, she always got the utmost value of her shilling. Yet I soon found that hard working and economical as she was, she had not an idea of behaving in a manner that becomes spectacles young women. When work was done the poor girl yielded to every fancy that came into her head, and spent her holiday either at the theatres, or at the dining saloons, delighting above all things in balls. I had had no very precise ideas myself, for my education had not been such as to give me any, but her incredible carelessness struck me so much that I tried to remonstrate cried, "and let me do so also," and I will do her this justice that she not only never tried to influence me to follow her example, but I have even known her take my part when any of her companions made fun of me for behaviour different to their own. But the society she frequented was so disagreeable to me and what she called pleasure so distasteful, that be degrees I rarely accompanied her when she went in search of it. I have often thought since how hard was the case of this poor working girl. Her conduct was only the revolt of a lively nature against the monotonous life of toil to which she was condemned. No education had been given her to provide her with any wholesome tastes, and the harmless amusement which other classes of Society obtain for themselves were out of her reach. It will never be otherwise till working women are encouraged to unite their mites of time and money together so as to create a demand for recreation which would then soon be supplied as it is to other classes. I had so far the advantage over her that I had received for a short time some48 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. education. When she went out I remained in doors reading some hired novel, or passed an hour with one of our neighbours, an old musician, who was so poor that often he would have starved but for us. He had a piano in his garret, however, on which he played to me, or sang snatches of operas and gave me some instruction in my singing. My life was agreeable to me, and I should have gone on till now but that a love affair of my friend's put an end to all harmony between us. She took it into her head that I was her rival in the affection of the worthless and conceited youth who had gained her heart, and at the end of one of her holidays, she came in late at night in a terrible humour so determined to get rid of me that I had nothing to do but to leave her and take another room. But here my prosperity ended, I had no sewing machine neither had I that acquaintance with the employers which this girl possessed. By working fifteen or sixteen hours daily I could scarcely keep body and soul together. I could not pay for my lodging at last without pawning my things bit by bit. On one sad day in December I had to leave my room with only 6d. left in my pocket. Never had I been brought so low, and I know not what would have been the end of it had not thought at this moment of the rich lad whose horse had knocked me down. I had kept her address, and after writing to remind her of my sad story, I made my way to her magnificent house, I had never seen anything so splendid as the entrance hall with its marble pavement, statues, flowers, where a host of servants in grand livery gaped in idleness. They were staring at me with scornful looks when the master of the house himself came into the hall. He looked at me, questioned me remembered my written narrative and apparently anxious to get rid of me hastily felt in his pockets, and taking out of them all the money they contained and putting it into my hands without counting it, said "you need not wait to see my wife" and dismissed me but as I went through the court I heard him say to his servants, "You see that beggar, the first of you who lets her in here again, will be discharged from my service." What was my surprise, however, on counting over the money he had give me to find that it was between £30 and £40! There was some mystery about his conduct which puzzled me greatly. I had, however, only to make use of my unexpected wealth. That very day I took a little room, bought a sewing machine and by the end of the week I had work before me for several months and I worked with such goof heart, that at the end of the month I could earn three or four shillings a day. (To be continued.) List of London Societies Already Formed: Date of Establishment and Meeting Nights. The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING - Established September 1874. Subscription: Monday 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: Second Tuesday in the Month, p.m. THE DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, and MANTLEMAKERS. - Established February 1875. Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month. THE UPHOLSTERESSES. - Established April 1875. Subscription: Monday, from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: Second Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLAR MAKERS. - Established July 1875. Subscription: Monday or Wednesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled, and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned. HATTRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS. - Established May 1875. Subscription night, Tuesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Temporary Office: 14, Great Suffolk Street, Borough. The MACHINISTS. - Established February 16th, 1876. Subscription night: Wednesday, 8.30 to 10 p.m. Committee: Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8.30 p.m. Temporary Office: 30, Wilson Street, Finsbury. --- Advertisements. WORK FOR WOMEN, "The Labour News and Employment Advertiser" contains weekly notes, from all parts, on the above subject, indicating any new openings for Female Labour that arise. Price One Penny Weekly, or copies for one month (post free) for Sixpence, from the Publishing Office, 15, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London. WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE JOURNAL. - Edited by Lydia E. Becker. - This Journal is published monthly, and contains full information of the progress of the movement for removing the Electoral Disabilities of Women; accounts of public meetings and lectures; correspondence, and original articles on the subject. It also records and discusses other questions affecting the welfare of women - such as education, employment industrial or professional, and legislation affecting their property and personal rights. The Journal furnishes a medium of communication among the members, and a record of the work done by the different branches of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, and by other persons and societies interested in improving the condition of women. Friends of the cause are urged to endeavour to aid it by promoting the circulation of the Journal. Price for one copy, monthly (post free for one year), 1s. 6d. Communication for the Editor, and orders for, the Journal, to be addressed 28, Jackson's Row Albert Square, Manchester. London, Messrs. TRUBNER & CO., Paternoster Row. --- Women's Printing Society, Limited, 38, Castle street Holborn, EC. THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. No. 8 SEPTEMBER 30, 1876. Price One Penny, or post free Three Half-pence. Antiquated Objections to Women's Unions. IN turning over a Trade Union Magazine, publishing in 1834, we find that a suggestion then made, that working women should form trade union, called forth from a correspondent signing himself an "Initiated Tailor" some objections. We fear that the prejudices from which such objections arise have not yet entirely disappeared, and we therefore think it may be useful, as well as interesting, to reprint the answers made to them more than forty years ago. "The rights and privileges of women" says our Correspondent, "may be found in the oldest book in the world that they be discreet, chaste, and keepers at home, not gadding about or busy bodies; and how can these be exemplified if they go out to legislate." This is the opinion of a male unionist. It only belongs to men to gad about and be busy bodies. Women have nothing to do but to keep at home, and remain in ignorance of everything but cooking, washing, scrubbing pots, &c. Men alone are busy bodies; men alone should go to meetings &c.; for men alone have rights and privileges; all rights and privileges of women are absorbed in the male, and he will protect woman provided she only be obedient and keep at home . . . . . But we are pretty sure our Correspondent misunderstands us. We do not want to set women gadding but to prevent their gadding and their tattling. What is it that makes woman a tattler and a busy body but the confined sphere in which she moves? She is individualised by the narrowness of her knowledge and experience. What is it that makes a villager less liberal than an inhabitant of the City? His confinement certainly; the little variety of character and circumstance, which present themselves; and therefore we find that in small villages, the tittle tattle of private families is much more prevalent than in large cities. The only way to cure women of tattling and gadding is the way by which men are cured - enlarging their views and widening their sphere of activity. --- Because we advocate the cause of female associations, do we, therefore, advise women to cast off her feminine character and assume the effrontery of man? Can women not associate without becoming impudent? without becoming gossips, busy bodies, shouters, and every other contemptible thing? If Union is to produce such a corrupting effect, then for heaven's sake let the men beware of it; for man and woman are one nature, and are refined or corrupted by the same means. Why may women not attend female associations as well as go to Church on a Sunday? And why not all the women of England be free to speak their mind in public and yet preserve their characteristic softness50 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. and peacefulness of manner, as well as the Quakeresses, who, for aught we hear or know, are as intelligent, as amiable, as social, prudent and domestic, as any class of women in England. . . Let our doctrine not be misunderstood, and you will find that it is a doctrine of liberty, of modesty, or chastity, of every species of purity, and at the same time, enjoyment to both sexes; a doctrine which shall teach you how to disencumber yourself of the greatest burthen of social and domestic life; which shall refine all your pleasures, develope all the characteristic features of the two sexes, and clothes them with everlasting beauty; which shall not only put an end to gossiping and gadding amongst the women, but also amongst the men; and far from making the women a parcel of spouters, shall put a stop to the evils of male spouting, and substitute the social converse and cheerful meetings of both sexes, in room of the roaring and drunken clubs of the male. --- THE STRAW TRADE AT LUTON. The manufacture of straw hats and bonnets has now become a large home an foreign trade, and its principal seat is Luton, a principle town in Bedforshire, a borough with about 22,000 inhabitants. It is said that the industry was introduced into this locality by James I, by bringing hither Lorraine plaiters, who ere taken to Scotland by Mary, Queen of Scots. On this account, the new Corporation have introduced the thistle into the design of their borough seal. A very large number of persons are employed in the trade, but chiefly in their own homes, as they purchase the plait from dealers in lengths, and the whole family, from parents to very young children, sew it into hats and bonnets, the father generally stiffening and blocking them to shapes, and then when finished they sell them to the warehousemen in the trade. The past summer's season has been a remarkably good one, all hands being busy. A special feature has been the coarse straw hats, called in the district "rough and ready". So long ago as 1851 hats and bonnets of this plait were sent to the Great Exhibition as illustrations of Luton manufactures. It is a coarse whole straw, as distinguished from the split of which the finer ones are made. It has this year been worked up in its very roughest form. A great deal of this plait is made near Luton, and the fashion running upon it has been very profitable to all the country places in the district. The price of this plait has advanced greatly, parcels even which were shipped to America having been brought back and resold in Luton at a profit. The manufacture of felt hats has been tried in Luton, but does not succeed very well, although carried on now to a limited extent. For the autumn trade various novelities in mixed coloured straws are being made and if they become fashionable will give a new impetus to the trade. Meantime, it has attained immense proportions, and increases year by year, shipments to the Continent, America, Canada, &c. being a constant growth. "Times" Aug. 31, 1876. According to the Census Returns of 1871, 45,270 women are employed in the Straw plait manufactures in England and Wales, whilst the number of men so employed is only 3596. We hope soon to see a union formed among the women working in Luton and the neighbourhood. --- A HINT. WANT sense and the world will o'erlook it, Want feeling, twill find some excuse, But if the world knows you want money, You're certain to get its abuse. The wisest advice in existence Is ne'er on its kindness to call, The best way to get its assistance Is - show you don't need it at all. (From "Heart Music for working People") --- THE WORK OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. (From the "Queen newspaper of Sept. 2nd 1876.) The establishment of a Protective and Provident League of which the members were to be not only ladies and gentlemen interested in the welfare of working women WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 51 but working women themselves, * was looked upon rather more than two years ago, when such a league was formed, as a portent of the times. Women, as is well known, receive smaller wages than men, and are content with these. Whether they ought to claim more, and, claiming, ought to stand by their demand, is another question, with which at present we have not to do. Circumstances of natural tendency and acquired position do make women take these low wages, and render them, in addition, very liable to be subject to a system which lowers their pay till it reaches starvation point. How to resist such impositions from employers, and how even to know what was the fair value of their labour, were questions of great interest to working women, but, up till about two years ago, not receiving any clear answers. Men, in their unions, would have nothing to do with women, and, until women began to help themselves they thought but little of their powers of self-help, of union, and of organisation. Now, we learn, delegates from the women's trade societies have been received, welcomes and listened to, at one of the great trades' union congresses of men's societies. In the summer of 1874 the Women's Protective and Provident League was organised in London, and we have an account of its first meeting, and of the attempt then made to organise into a society the women belonging to the bookbinding trade. This attempt was successful, and in September, 1874, this society, the first established under the fostering care of the league, was started. In April, 1875, the Society of Upholsteresses began its existence. In July of the same year the Society of Shirt and Collar Makers was established, and there are also societies of dressmakers and milliners, and of workers at hat trimming and crown sewing, which are not quite so prosperous as those first mentioned. * * * * * * The women's unions have as yet tended rather to the maintenance of peace than to the stirring up of strife. Before there were unions of women, strikes did sometimes take *Further information may be obtained by refering to Mrs. Paterson, 31 Little Queen-street, Holborn at which place are the offices of the League. place, and they may again; but an instance is recorded in the report of the league recently issued, of a case in which, "by a conference of some members of the league with a large employer, held at the request of one of the unions, a misunderstanding, which in the former disorganised condition of the workers might have led to a strike, was explained, and a reduction of wages prevented. One of the earliest results of the organisation of women's work has thus been to prevent a strike and encourage arbitration. A very important work has been done by the League has been to register the employment notices of the different societies. Workwomen seeking employment and employers seeking workwomen have now a common centre for obtaining information. Many weary walks in search of work, and many headaches and heartaches the result of disappointment, have thus been saved. Moreover, women who would otherwise have no access to authentic intelligence of the price given by different employers in different parts of London have obtained it through the agency of their society, and compared it with the wages they are themselves receiving. As benefit societies, those formed have already done some work. The number of members enrolled in the Society of Women Bookbinders is now over 325, and the accumulated funds amount of £160. The fact that fourteen members who have received sick and out-of-work allowances are single women and widows shows at once how valuable the air afforded must be. During the second year of its existence the League has devoted itself to the strengthening of societies already established in London, and to the promotion of associations in the provinces. In Glasgow a Society of Tailoresses has been formed, and also a benefit society for workwomen in general. In Sheffield a knowledge of the movement has been spread, and a meeting has been held of women engaged in the silver polishing trade, although as yet no society has been formed in that town. In Manchester a meeting of sewing machinists has been held, and a protective union as been formed, in which more than 260 names were very rapidly enrolled. The machinists are specially suffering from low rates of wages, and from the competition52 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. of "small masters" with large firms. In the making up of those holland costumes, which are sold at from 12s. to 14s. each, the machinists receive from 10d. to 1s. 4d.; and for making of an overskirt with six lengths of stuff, a hem, band, flounce, and plaits gathered into the band, twopence is paid. This machine work is exceedingly fatiguing, not only to fingers, but to "feet, legs, body, arms, hands, fingers, and head." It s hoped that the Machinists' Society will be a very useful one. Very oppressive and sometimes illegal reductions have been made in the wages paid in this trade, and against such the union alone can afford protection. A small journal, which afford a means of communicating to the press, the members of the various unions, and others, information regarding the Womens Union movement, has been started, and, as the trial numbers have been received with favour, its publication is to be continued. One very important work which the League will undertake in this autumn is the calling together of conferences of members of the various unions, in order that the women who are members may express their opinion upon "the proposed new recommendations to Parliament regarding the regulation of the work of women. Hitherto women have merely had to submit to regulation; now they will be able, through a properly organised league to make known their opinions upon the regulations proposed for them. We feel confident that there are many of our readers to whom this brief account of the work of the League will be interesting - as showing that women are bestirring themselves, and coming to each other's help. --- PRESENTATION OF BOOKS TO THE LIBRARY OF THE LEAGUE. The following works have been kindly presented to the League Library by the Authoress, Miss Frances Power Cobbe: - Hours of Work and Play, Religious Duty Hopes of the Human Race Studies Ethical and Social, Re-Echoes, Italics. Mrs. P.A. Taylor sends "Macmillan's Magazine" monthly and has also recently given among other works. The Higher Education of Women" (Emily Davies) Mediaeval Philosophy (Rev. F.D. Maurice) Raikes, Journals, The Evil Eye and other Stories (Katherine Macquoid) Ballads and Songs of Scotland; History of the Fairchild Family (Mrs. Sherwood): A Book of Noble Englishwomen: Louisa of Prussia: Poems (Miss Smedley) The Celt, the Roman and the Saxon, (Thos. Wright) Mademoiselle Josephine's Fridays and other stories (M.B. Edwards) Three Days in Memphis (Uhlemann) Home Pastorals (Bayard Taylor) Table Talk of S.T. Coleridge: Days and Hours (Frederick Tennyson) Book of Scottish Anecdote (Hislop) --- MADEMOISELLE LUCIENNE'S STORY, (Told by Herself.) From L'Argent des Autres by Emile Gaborian. (Continued from page 48 of the Journal.) One day about this time a tall well dressed an appeared at my door who spoke french with difficulty and introduced himself as an American, who was directed by me by the head of the shop for which I worked. He was in search of a skilful Parisian workwoman to go to New York to take a brilliant position there. But as I had known cases where poor girls had been deluded by fine promises to leave their own country only to find themselves starving in a foreign land. I refused this person's offer giving my reasons for so doing. My visitor professed the greatest horror at being taken for such a deceiver. He proceeded to tell me of the advantages to be gained, the high wages, the free passage, the excellent board and lodging and finally to prove the honesty of his intentions he said he was ready to sign an agreement with me and to lay down a sum of forty pounds. This was so tempting that I asked to have 24 hours for reflection. I hastened to my employer to consult her and was surprised to find that she had never sent this American to me as he had pretended. I did not see him again, but one evening in the week following two agents of Police took me into custody, and in spite of my protestations, shut me up with a dozen of the wretched girls whom they had just taken up in the streets. I passed the night in terrible distress and I scarcely know what would have become of me if the superintendent of WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 53 Police had not happened to be a kind just man who listened to my story and sent at once to seek for proofs of the truth of it. As soon as he obtained them, and found that I was the victims of some mistake and that I was a respectable working woman living by my labour, he set me at liberty. On parting with me he, begged me to be careful, for he said the arrest had been made in consequence of seeing my signature to a paper which had appeared to be quite authentic but the good man assured me that I should always find a friend in him in case of any further molestation. I continued to find plenty of work and had just been employed by the most fashionable dressmaking house in Paris, when the war broke out. Every day the telegraph announced a fresh defeat. The Prussians were approaching. The Republic was proclaimed, and then began the siege. The head of the Establishment closed his workrooms and quitted Paris. Fortunately I had laid by something and I was as saving as shipwrecked people are with their provisions. Just when I had expended it I got a little work. One day a detachment of the National Guard was passing by when I saw one of the girls who march as camp followers with the regiment suddenly stop and run up to me with open arms. It was my old friend of the sewing machine; she was full of repentance for her former unkindness to me. As I expected she had quarrelled with the lover and was now engaged she said, to another man, who, a carpet maker by trade was not a Captain in the National Guard and she accompanied him. Through her influence with him she got me a little work, which, poorly as it was paid, was a help to my slender means. Still my savings at last came to an end and I should actually have starved but for my friend. From time to time she brought me a little money or a little food. Her Captain had become a Colonel and she believed he was going to be a Member of the Government. With the entry of the troops into Paris her dream ended. One evening she came to me trembling with terror and beseeching me to conceal her as she feared she was in danger of arrest. A few days afterwards our room was entered by soldiers who showed us an order for us both to follow them. In this peril I remembered my friend the Superintendent of Police and got a messenger to go to him for me. He came at once, and though he could not interfere with the order to take me as well as my friend to Versailles, he went there with me. He found that there were very grave accusations against my friend. Her Colonel had been taken with arms in his hands and had been convicted of pillage and murder in which she also was mixed up, while I was said to have been the receiver of their stolen goods and even to have joined her behind the barricades. But for the good offices of the Policeman I should have found it difficult to prove (as he did) that I was innocent but after forty eights hours I was set at liberty, and with a few pence in my pocket I once more entered Paris. When I got back to my old lodgings the landlady had good news for me. A boy had just been sent by my late employer to ask me to call at the shop. I found that Mr. Van Klopen (that was his name) in very poor spirits complaining of the bad times, that there were neither balls nor parties and that all his best customers were still absent. He was determined however to struggle one, and he wished to employ me as a tryer on not as a workwoman. It was not for me to pick and choose. I took the situation that offered and every morning I had to change my own humble dress for a sort of livery, putting on the ample skirts of a rich black silk dress. I had only to sit and wait. A customer would come and ask for clothing, I was told to put it on for her to see how it worked, and to move this way and that way for her inspection. Some days as many as fifty customers would come for each of whom I had to try on two, three, four, or even ten garments. It was always a ridiculous operation and was sometimes a very trying one. There were women who forgot that I was a woman like themselves and not a piece of mechanism or who imagined that impertinence was a mark of distinction. There were some who spoke to me as they would speak to a servant, and who required impossibilities. There would come women, old, plain and deformed who were astonished that the mantle which looked well upon my shoulders looked ill upon them and who were ready to think this was entirely my fault. How often after such experiences I longed to give up for ever the fine silk dress I wore. It was foolish certainly to make much of such annoyances after all the terrible trials of my youth, though sometimes I have thought that even when I was cold and hungry formerly, my bodily sufferings were not so bad to bear as the mortification of my spirit. Still it is ridiculous to be ashamed of anything but what is shameful, and there is nothing to blush for in doing our best to gain an honest livelihood. The boarding house at which I lodged was really the back part of a fine old house long condemned to be pulled down. It had no front to the principal thoroughfare from which the only entrance was by a little narrow door between two shops. No one knew much about the lodgers in the first and second stories though from the occasional sound of an old54 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. piano, and from light in the windows at night, it was evident all the rooms were occupied. The small apartments in the upper stories were let at lower rents by the month to clerks and shop assistants or sometimes to poor actors from the neighbouring theatres. The landlady was a frightful old woman, enormously fat, and with her nose always smeared with snuff, her husband was much younger than herself with a sly look and a disagreeable smile, and both together succeeded in driving a flourishing trade with their lodgers, with whose affairs they made it their business to be perfectly acquainted. The payments were made in advance, and the lodger who failed to pay was turned out at once. I had lodged with them before the war, and during the siege, and when, during the Commune, I began to fall into arrears they consented to let me stay on, as their best method of recovering their money. A certain agreement was drawn up between us, that as soon as I got into work again I should pay up the arrears in regular installments in addition to the monthly payment in advance, and this I had regularly done. One evening, however, when I laid down the usual sum I surprised to have it scornfully rejected by the landlady with a demand for the instant repayment of the whole remainder of my debt accompanied by a threat of instant expulsion. The angry words attracted the attention of a young fellow lodger who was coming down stairs. He stopped and taking out of his pocket the entire sum in dispute, he paid the account, took the receipt and have it me saying he was glad to be able by the loan to put a stop to the rude attack which was made upon me. He was hurrying to his office so he could not stay to listen either to my thanks or to my explanations. My first thought was the repayment of the money so kindly advanced. I knew that it was unnecessary that I should remain under such as obligation, and that Mr. Favoral could ill spare it. I went immediately to my friend the superintendent of Police and he kindly returned with me to compel the landlord to abide by his written agreement and to refund the money which I was only bound to pay by instalments. I had some acquaintance with my fellow lodger Mr. Favoral and his mother and sister. As a rule we knew nothing of our next door neighbours in these dwellings, but the misfortunes of this family has been much talked of. The father had failed through unexpected speculations and had mysteriously disappeared. The Banker, Baron Thalles was said to be the chief creditor. The only son, who had been brought up to be idle and extravagant had been altogether changed by this shock. He had taken the first work that offered, though it was only that of a Copying Clerk in the office of a rising lawyer who had known him in his days of prosperity. Mrs. Favoral and her daughter Mary had adapted themselves without a murmur to their altered circumstances and had only been anxious to contribute by their work to their own support. It had happened that I had seen poor Mary making vain attempts to gain employment at Van Klopen's establishment and had been able to be of service to her. She was an accomplished artist. I knew that there was a branch of the trade in which she could be advantageously employed and I was able to persuade my Master to give her a trial which was all that was wanted to secure the work for her. This was one of the many cases I had observed in which we poor working women could help each other if we were more united together. A regular organization among the workers in any trade would often effect wonders and instead of blindly injuring each other they might, by a wide union, often help the right woman into the right place. This kind loan from Mary's brother which I now hastened to restore was not the only reward I had received for any help I had given Mary. Mrs. Favoral had kindly invited me to spend some of my leisure hours with her daughter and as I was eager to improve myself, I had derived great benefit from the intercourse. I read the books that my friend recommended, and she helped me to cultivate the gift of music which I possessed and to train the voice that nature had given me. I was destined to be of use to my young friend in another way and to bring ack to them an acquaintance from whom their misfortunes had separated them. The lawyer, Mr. Tregars, into whose office young Favoral had been kindly received had formerly visited Mr. Favoral and it was said he had greatly admired Mary and had hoped to make her his wife. In France marriages are arranged by the parents and Mr. Tregars had just made his proposal to Mary's father when the failure occurred. Not only did this cause a complete change in Mary's fortune but it cast disgrace upon her family and even involved Mr. Tregars himself in loss as he had suffered slightly by her father's failure. He sought an interview with her however immediately and expressed his desire to continue his negotiations for a marriage with her. She stopped him at once declaring that she could not consent to this under such altered circumstances. He was obliged to content himself with doing all that was possible for her brother while he was also said to be anxiously inquiring into all the facts concerning her father's failure and flight. There were WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 55 rumours of deep laid dishonesty in unsuspected quarters. Great creditors like Baron Thalles who pretended to be losers were said to have contrived Mr. Favoral's ruin and to have made him the scapegoat. Mr. Tregars was a frequent visitor to young Favoral's room just at the hour when I often returned from my evening marketing with my basket on my arm and I had lately observed that he looked at me with very anxious observation. I felt that he had probably recognised me under a disguise which it had been lately my business to assume and which I had not yet mentioned to the Favorals. My employer Mr. Van Klopen had a short time before this called me to him and deplored the state of trade. He said that though Paris was filling again there was no return to former habits of industry. Orders came to our house indeed but they were no longer costly ones. The only demand was for plain dresses, simple costumes, and dark coloured clothes out of which it was very difficult for my masters to make 25 per cent. He often deplored this state of things and declared that poor France was ruined and had lost her sceptre over the world of fashion. He had formerly invented a new costume every week and had induced some of his gay young customers to wear it and make it the rage by appearing in it. One day it occurred to him that I might do as a dummy to show off his new inventions and that it might answer to him to send me once or twice a week dressed in his last new costume to take a drive among the fashionable people of Paris. I was very averse to this new situation but Van Klopen was so bent upon my undertaking it that he went so far as to threaten me with instant dismissal if I refused while he offered me a handsome salary if I accepted it. This produced a great change in my simple life. On two or three afternoons each week, instead of wearing my poor old black gown, I had to put on some fresh costume of the most striking pattern and of the richest material, and to enter a grand carriage drawn by a pair of fine horses the footman opening the door for me with great ceremony; I was driven through the most fashionable parts of Paris, and my carriage entered into the rank in the drive where I could pass for some unknown fine lady, and my gorgeous dresses would be duly admired and brought into fashion. One day I noticed on the path beside the drive Mr. Favoral standing with his friend, Mr. Tregars, looking earnestly at me, as if unable to believe their eyes. (To be continued.) --- EVERY TRADE in which WOMEN are Engaged should have its PROTECTIVE AND BENEFIT UNION. The Objects of such Societies are: - I - To protect the trade interests of the members by endeavouring, where necessary, to prevent the undue depression of wages, and to equalise the hours of work. 2 - To provide a fund from which members may obtain allowance weekly in sickness or when out of employment. 3 - To arrange for the registration of employment noticed, so that trouble in searching for work may be avoided, and to collect useful trade information. 4 - To promote arbitration in cases of dispute between Employers and Employed. --- The members of each Union arrange the rates of payment and other Rules at their general meetings. In some of the Societies the subscription is 2d. or 3d. per week, the entrance fee is 1s. or 2s., and the allowance in sickness or non-employment 5s. per week, for from one to eight weeks during the year. The business of each society is conducted by a Committee of the members, subject to approval of quarterly meetings of members. THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE, affords advice and information as to the formation of unions, provides places for holding Trade Meetings and Conferences; the temporary use of the Office; the personal assistance of Provisional Honorary Secretaries, and assists in defraying the preliminary expenses of organization. A List of the Societies now Established in London is given at page 56 Enquiries may be addressed to the Hon. Sec. of the League, MRS. PATERSON, at the Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn.56 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. List of London Societies Already Formed: Date of Establishment and Meeting Nights: The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING.--Established September 1874. Subscription: Monday 7. 30 to 9. 30 p.m. Committee: Second Tuesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, and MANTLEMAKERS- Established February 1875. Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month. The UPHOLSTERESSES.-- Established April 1875. Subscription: Monday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: Second Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLARMAKERS. --Established July 1875. Subscription: Monday or Wednesday from 8. 30 to 9. 30 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League, .31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned The HAT TRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS.-- Established May 1875. Subscription night, Monday from 8. 30 to 10 p.m. Temporary Office: 14. Great Suffolk Street, Borough, S.E. The MACHINISTS.--Established February 16th, 1876. Subscription: Wednesday, night, 8. 30 to 10 p.m. Committee: Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8. 30 p.m. Temporary Office: 30, Wilson Street, Finsbury. A CIRCULATING LIBRARY HAS BEEN FORMED AT THE OFFICE OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. From which Books are Lent on the following terms:-- To Members of Women's Trade Unions, ......... 6d per Quarter. To Women who are non-Members of Unions, on giving a satisfactory Reference or depositing is Security; 3d. per Month. The Library includes Works of History, Biography, Travels, &c., and a large number of Novels and Magazines. A Catalogue is now ready, PRICE ONE PENNY. Contributions of Books would be gladly accepted Advertisements. WORK FOR WOMEN, "The Labour News and Employment Advertiser" contains weekly notes, from all parts, on the above subject, indicating any new openings for Female Labour that arise. Price One Penny Weekly, or copies for one month (post free) for Sixpence, from the Publishing Office, 15, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London. WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE JOURNAL.--Edited by Lydia E. Becker. -This Journal is published monthly, and contains full information of the progress of the movement for removing the Electoral Disabilities of Women; accounts of public meetings and lectures; correspondence, and original articles on the subject. It also records and discusses other questions affecting the welfare of women--such as education, employment industrial or professional, and legislation affecting their property and personal rights. The Journal furnishes a medium of communication among the members, and a record of the work done by the different branches of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, and by other persons and societies interested in improving the condition of women. Friends of the cause are urged to endeavour to aid it by promoting the circulation of the Journal. Price for one copy, monthly (post free for one year), 1s. 6d. Communications for the Editor, and orders for the Journal, to be addressed 28, Jackson's Row, Albert Square, Manchester. London, Messrs. TRUBNER & CO., Paternoster Row. Women's Printing Society, Limited, 38, Castle Street, Holborn, EC THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. No. 9. OCTOBER 31, 1876. Price One Penny, or post free Three Half-pence. Trades Union Congress. Several members of the Women's Unions having expressed a wish that there should be a special report of the part taken by their representatives in the discussions of the Trades Union Congress, we this month devote the space usually occupied by a short article, to that report. The ninth Annual Trades' Union Congress opened at Newcastle on Tyne, on Monday September 18th at 12 o'clock noon. 113 Unions having an aggregate number of 577,000 members were represented by 138 delegates. Among the 28 delegates from London were Miss Simcox representing the Society of Shirt and Collar Makers: Miss Wilkinson from the Society of Upholsteresses and Mrs. Paterson, delegate of the Society of Women employed in Bookbinding. After Mr. Prior had given an opening address the election of the President and Officers of the Congress, was proceeded with and the Report of the Parliamentary Committee for the past year was read by the Secretary, Mr. Broadhurst. Congress adjourned at about 4 o'clock, an hour earlier than on other days. It is customary on the first day to relax the rule, otherwise usually strictly adhered to of adjourning at 5 o'clock and meeting at 9. 30 in the morning. On Tuesday morning the President, Mr. Laird, gave his address which received a well merited vote of thanks.* A discussion on the Report of the Parliamentary Committee took place and concluded with the adoption of the Report. The proposed new constitution for future Congresses was then brought forward by Mr. W. Rolley of Sheffield. The plan proposed was one by which the number of delegates sent by a Society would be regulated by the number of members of such Society and by which each Society should contribute a fixed subscription of not less than 1/4d. per member towards the expenses of the Parliamentary Committee. After a long discussion the proposal was negatived by 74 votes, to 21. A vote of thanks to the Parliamentary Committee for their efforts on behalf of a Compensation to Workmen bill was proposed by Mr. John Burnett secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and was carried. The question of MAGISTRACY REFORM was introduced by Mr. Joseph Arch in an eloquent speech and a resolution urging the question upon the attention of Government and a vote of thanks to Mr. Hopwood M.P. for his assistance in the matter were passed. Proceedings were then adjourned. On Wednesday morning a paper by Mr. Henry Crompton on "CODIFICATION of THE LAW" was read: it urged that in order to be more readily understood the penal code should be reduced to three small volumes, --the code of crime, the code of police and the code of procedure--which should be published and sold cost price by the Government. Mr. George Howell moved a Resolution in favour of calling the attention of Government to the importance of Codification. Miss Simcox seconded the motion:-- having had occasion to study the state and history of English laws relating to women, as Mr. Howell had studied those relating to workmen, she could speak from experience of the need for reform and simplification. In primitive society there was no need for law because everybody followed the custom of his trade or village, and there was no need for lawyers because everybody knew what were the customs that he was expected to follow. But as social distinctions and social inequalities began to increase, the customs of different classes did not always agree and judges were wanted to decide _________________________________________________ * We much regret that we have not space for a full report of some of the valuable and interesting debates and we should have been especially glad to give the opening speeches of Mr. Prior (Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of the Congress) and of the President of the Congress Mr. J. C. Laird (of Newcastle). These will however be found in the authorised Report of the Congress which may be obtained at the League Office.58 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. which was the right and lawful custom when two parties differed. But by this time legal decisions have grown so numerous that even lawyers themselves are no better able to tell now what is the law than plain people used to be to tell what was the custom in new and difficult cases. Therefore we want to have our old laws and legal decisions revised and abridged and arranged, in accordance with the general principles of what is now thought just and right so that every one may understand the broad simple rules by which legal judgments are guided. To take only one case: the unequal severity of the punishments now inflicted for offences against the person as compared with offences against property. This is only a result of the half barbarous state of society when many of our laws were made,--when the law did not feel obliged to protect people's lives and limbs. because they were expected to be able to protect themselves, and when property was so scarce and valuable and thieves so strong and daring that the only way of getting any security at all was to hang the thieves. But we want laws made to suit society as it is now, not as it was one thousand years ago. We should like to have all our laws brought into a simple reformed code, leaving out those which are now mischievous or out of date. The Resolution was carried. Mr. PRIOR then introduced the question of REFORM of the JURY SYSTEM and moved a Resolution especially advocating the affording of greater facilities and inducements to workmen to serve on Juries. Several Delegates advocated reform--some, however, being of opinion that this matter should be pressed conditionally on the Government giving remuneration to workmen for serving on juries. It was pointed out also that the technical knowledge of working men would be of great service in many classes of cases continually coming before the courts, while on the other hand it was argued that in some employments where the work was urgent a workman might be in danger of being dismissed did he leave to serve on a jury. It was contended by Mr. Guile that the question was not yet ripe for solution, and ought not to be pressed; while Mr. Bloor, Burslem, thought that the influence of public opinion would prevent any workman suffering the loss of his employment if the law called him to serve on juries. The question of payment was considered by Mr. Bailey, Preston, to be merely a secondary one; what they had to consider being whether injustice had been done to their class by the present system, and if so, working men ought to be prepared to make any sacrifice to get that remedied. The representative of the engineers (Mr. Burnett) said he was afraid that if juryman were paid there would be great danger of introducing thereby an objectionable system of professional juryman. All working men were not in a position to be compelled to serve on juries without payment, and therefore he advocated a permissive system, under which only those working men who intimated to the authorities that they were prepared to serve on juries without payment should be summoned. This plan, however, it was held by Mr. Rolley, Sheffield, would create the objectionable system Mr. Burnett sought to prevent. Mr. G. Howell remarked that the working classes had to choose between two horns of a dilemma--either they must leave off complaining of middle class juries, or be prepared to take their position as members of juries themselves. If they wished the honours of citizenship, they must be prepared to take the duties of citizenship. As to the question of payment, that was not a new system but the complaint was that the present payment was too small, and that it ought to be extended. Miss Wilkinson, wished to know from Mr. Prior what qualification he proposed to substitute for the property qualification which he wished to sweep away? She thought there ought to be some qualification with regard to a man's moral character, so that no one but a good and true man himself should sit as a juryman to try his fellow man--(applause). She did not think it possible that the professional jurors Mr. Burnett feared would spring up could exist, though the payment system was in force, neither did she think that employers were so arbitrary that they would not spare a man to go and serve on a jury. Employers kept places open while workmen were ill, and she had no doubt they would do the same when they went on juries. The payment, she thought, should rather be under than over what a man received at his work, so that there would be no fear of any man being over anxious to serve upon a jury. Mr. Prior, in replying said, in answer to Miss Wilkinson's question, that he would make the jury representation the same as the Parlimentary representation, whether that should be manhood or household suffrage. He was afraid the morality part of the question was more difficult to deal with, because they could not tell who was the immoral man till he was found out. But he would not admit any man to exercise the right of serving on a jury who had been convicted before --(applause). He did not share the fears expressed by Mr. Burnett. The resolution was then unanimously agreed to. Mr. Memmott (of Sheffield) moved a Resolution which was carried, asking for such a REFORM OF THE PATENT LAWS as should reduce the cost of protecting the rights of an inventor so that it might be less WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 59 difficult than it now is for an artizan to patent an invention. Mr. Baines and Mr. Adams delegates of London Societies of Bakers introduced the subject of the SMOKE NUISANCE ACT and complained that journeyman Bakers were unfairly treated by that Act the application of which to the baking trade was not practicable. After some discussion the subject was referred to the Parliamentary Committee. WORKSHOPS ACTS. Mr. J. J. Allen, of London, moved-- That this Congress painfully regrets that the recent report of the Royal Commission on the Factory and Workshops' Laws is unsatisfactory, and in re-affirming the unanimous decision of previous congresses, pledges itself to renewed exertion with the object of obtaining, during the next session of Parlia- ment, the simplification, consolidation, and extension of the Factory Act, 1874, to all children, young persons, and women employed in workshops, and shops open for the manufacture, sale, and repair of goods, and also of bleaching, dyeing, and finishing works, and requests the Parliamentary Committee to take the earliest opportunity of pressing the views of the Congress upon the attention of the Home Secretary. Mr. Allen said that a large portion of the community, children, young persons, and women, had been entirely ignored by the Royal Commission in their report to Parliament-he referred to those employed in shops. He had the honour to go before the Royal Commission to which he had just referred, and he was satisfied from the manner in which the evidence was taken and also from the results of the report of the Commission, that the object of these commissions, as a rule, was only to delay useful legislation. What they wanted to do was to extend the benefits of this legislation to children, young persons, and women employed in shops: and if they carried out the decisions of previous Congresses, and passed resolutions unanimously, the advantages which would accrue, would no doubt, be greater than he could describe—(applause). Mr. Townley, of Manchester, seconded the motion, and strongly advocated the extension of the Act to bleaching and dye works. Mrs. Paterson asked the Chairman whether Mr. Allen represented a bona fide trade Society. She found no number of members given in the list. She understood from the standing orders that only such Societies were entitled to be represented at the Congress, and thought it important in order, to give due weight to Mr. Allen's views to know whether he was properly delegated and especially whether any number of women belonged to his Society,—the National Early Closing League. She had heard that that association was not a trade union at all and on looking at its prospectus she found as Vice Presidents the names of several large trading Employers who wished, it was said, to shut up the small shops at an early hour. In the discussion which followed it was argued that the National Early Closing League had for its principal object the protection of the interests of labour, while against that it was contended that the barriers thrown around the Congress should be guarded so as to prevent any representatives of the masters being present at what was a gathering of delegates of purely trade societies. Mr. Allen explained that while the society he represented was not, in the strict sense of the word, a trade union, one of the branches of the League located in Liverpool was a trade union. He had been trying, but found it impossible, to consolidate the shop assistants of England into a trade union, until they had got protection for those unable to protect themselves. He asked on that footing to be allowed to remain in the Congress. On a vote it was agreed to refer the question to the Standing Orders Committee, and after an interval the committee reported that Mr. Allen's credentials were correct, and he was accordingly allowed to remain. The discussion on the Workshop Act was then resumed. Mr. Bailey suggested that the first part of the resolution should be omitted, as many of the delegates while willing to support the rest could not give their sanction to that portion. Mr. Allen expressed his willingness to withdraw the part alluded to, because, generally speaking, he was in favour of the report of the Royal Commission. Mr. Broadhurst was of opinion that the Commissioners' report was one of the best documents which had been issued on the question—(applause). It not only maintained all past legislation which restricted the hours of labour of women and young children, but it sought to further extend, in many directions, the Acts already passed for these beneficial purposes; and more than that it actually, in some cases raised the school age of our children. He could only say that if the recommendation of the Commissioners were adopted by Government, they would have reason to be thankful for the issue of that report of the Royal Commission. He was prepared to accept such as they would give, and then cry out for more, and not rest until he had obtained it—(applause). On the suggestion of Mr. Sale after some further discussion, the first part of the motion was made to read — "That this Congress reaffirms the decisions of previous Congresses in relation to factory and workshop legislation and pledges itself to renewed60 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. exertion with the ob)ect of obtaining during the next Session of Parliament the simplification, &c., &c. Mrs Paterson said that not only did she disagree with the resolution moved by Mr. Allen but she thought that even the extension of the Factory Act as recommended by the Royal Commissioners would be a mistake so far as women were concerned. The new legislation proposed was spoken of in the Royal Commissioners Report as "the general enforcing for the first time in 100,000 workshops* of what is distinctly known as the factory system." She believed that any attempt to enforce a hard and fast line, such as that work should be carried on only between certain hours 6 a. m. and 6 p. m. or 7 a. m. and 7 p. m.,--in all the widely differing trades carried on in the workshops throughout the country could not fail to lead to many objectionable and oppressive results to the women employed. Legislation which might be practicable in factories where large numbers of workers were employed and machinery was used was not equally applicable to smaller industries. It was true that the Royal Commissioners proposed that several modifications should be granted, provided women in no cased worked away from home later than 9 p. m. but it seemed to be playing with the law to impose fresh restrictions with one hand and lay on modifications to meet them with the other. She was strongly in favour of the legal regulation of children's work and also of sanitary inspection for work places, but she thought that the time had come when no fresh legislation should be sought for in the work of women, even if the existing legislation were allowed to continue. Now that women were beginning to show a disposition to protect themselves against excessive hours of work and other evils by combination (the only effective protection)-- as men had done, it would tend to discourage their efforts to impose their legal restrictions classing them with and treating them as children. It was well also to consider how the Royal Commissioners proposed to enforce this wide extension of the law if carried. They seemed to see that an increase in the number of inspectors would not meet the enormous accession of work; as Mr. Mundella had said to his evidence an army of inspectors would be wanted: they therefore recommended that the inspectors should be assisted by local officers among others the Constabulary, or in plainer language the police. Before any Bill was brought forward in Parliament embodying such a recommendation would it not be well to consider whether it might not be highly distasteful to women that the police should *All workshops where more than three woman are employed. have the power of entering a workshop and turning them out at a certain time whether they were working or not, for it was proposed that mere presence in workshops should be held as evidence of employment. The factory Inspectors showed by their own printed reports that the present system of inspection was most inquisitorial; for instance in the report of last October an inspector had related triumphantly as though he had done a most meritorious action how he had chased a work girl into a bed-room which he had entered thinking it might be a workshop. Surely if there must be such inspection as that the inspectors ought to be women not men. The Congress should be more cerain than they now were whether women desire the extension of this legislation before pressing Government for it. They had just been discussing the Smoke nuisance Act and the hardships it inflected on journeyman Bakers: when men continually called for this restriction on women's work one could not help wondering what they would think if women were to hold a Congress and pass a Resolution praying that the Smoke Nuisance Act might be applied to all tobacco Smokers. No doubt men had the kindest and most benevolent iutention in thus desiring to shorted women's working hours by law and women might have the same kind of feeling in wishing to see the quantity of smoke emitted by some gentlemen limited for the good of their health (possibly, though not without some little desire for their comfort as well) but gentlemen might not approve of the means taken to carry out the benevolent intention. There were certain regnlations in the Factory Acts as to the rooms in a factory where a woman might or might not eat her dinner but one was inclined to ask was it not more important to know that women had dinners to eat? Any one acquainted with the miserable payments in many women's trades must know that numbers had not a dinner at least a proper dinner to eat and probably they never would have until by uniting together they could demand abetter price for their work. The strongest objections of all however to this contemplated extension of legislation was that if it were carried out work would be driven more and more into the houses of the workers where it could be carried on without interference until midnight or later, frequently in a close room used for sleeping and living and consequently not so healthy as the workshop much of the evidence given before the Royal Commission proved that this had been the tendency of the present Workshops Acts. Not only was the home work, injurious to health but by it more than by anything else the rate of wages in a trade was reduced, since by it the workers were WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 61 placed more completely at the mercy of employers. Instead of imposing new legislation on women it might perhaps be well to give men a turn now. The Factory Inspectors said in their reports that in the Black Country men were to be found lounging in public houses eating beef steaks and training dogs. Why should not such men's doings be inspected? An inspector might visit all the public houses taking with him a policeman and drive the men to work. She did say that she would think such action desirable, neither probably would the men, but it would be a new and interesting experiment in legislation as to work of novelties in that line were wanted. Miss Simcox was prepared to support the recommendation of the Commission that Factories and workshops should be put on the same footing. The present system acted as a tax on large employers for the advantage of small ones, which was neither fair in itself nor the intention of the law: rules that were good when fifty hands are employed are good where forty-nine are employed, and if the existing regulations were bad they should be repealed altogether, not in favour of the cases where some regulation is most needed. For the same reason the speaker opposed the recommendation of the Report to except from regulation of all kinds persons employing no more than three adult women besides members of the household. Such an exception would cause shops and warehouses, instead of having their work done in large premises open to inspection, to give it out to be done by women working day and night in crowded attics belonging to the lowest class of contractors. One of the regulations of the present Factory Act, which makes the legal working day begin and end earlier than is compulsory in Workshops, might with advantage be repealed and all employers left free to choose the time, between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. during which their premises were open for work, provided notice was always given to the inspector of the hours intended to be kept. After some further discussion the Resolution as amended was carried. On Thursday the subject of the SWEATING SYSTEM was discussed. One speaker advocated a kind of licensing system for all dwelling places used as workshops which was opposed by Miss Simcox on the ground that if a man and his wife like to overwork themselves in their own home no one had right to interfere with them: if the place where they worked was unfit for habitation, it should be dealt with by the Sanitary authorities and if they overworked their children, the assistance of the school board would be necessary or the provisions of the factory act relating to children. Persons working in their own homes can only be brought fairly under the operation of the acts when they begin to employ other women still worse off than themselves. Mrs Paterson thought that every effort should be made by the Trade Unions to get at those persons employed by "sweaters" and to induce them to join the Unions and insist on better prices for their work. She thought, too, that in some cases unionists would be justified in refusing to work in shops where some of the work was given out to Sweaters. MERCHANT SHIPPING LEGISLATION was next discussed and Mr. Samuel Plimsoll M. P. in a very interesting speech explained the defects of the Merchant Shipping Bill passed last Session. A Resolution declaring the Bill to be inadequate and to require amendment, --especially as to deck cargoes,--was moved by Mr. Fitzpatrick of Liverpool and carried unanimously. A hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Plimsoll and other members of Parliament for their services on behalf of seamen was also passed. A Resolution was proposed by Mr. Halliday (of Bolton) and was carried condemning the TRUCK SYSTEM (the deduction from wages for the enforced purchase of goods). In a discussion on the EMPLOYER and WORKMAN'S ACT, Miss Simcox mentioned a case lately brought to her notice in which a dressmaker on going to a magistrate to try to recover wages due to her was informed that this act, by which summary remedy was afforded to workmen,-did not apply to women and that they were still obliged to go to the County Court. It was important that the Act should be amended so as to include women. After a paper on the PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION of LABOUR had been read by Mr. Batkin of Liverpool and discussed,-the Congress adjourned. On Friday morning the election of the Parliamentary Committee and the re-election of the Secretary Mr. Broardhurst took place: Leicester was selected as the place of meeting for next year's Congress: the Report of the Auditors, Mr. H. R. King of London and Mr. J. Inglis of Glasgow,--was submitted and approved. There were afterwards debates on "PIECE WORK" opened by Mr. Knight of Liverpool, to which we hope to refer in a future number, and on, ARBITRATION AND CONCILION IN TRADE DISPUTES. On Saturday Morning a paper on COOPERATION was submitted by Mr. H. Slatter of Manchester. * The INSPECTION of FACTORIES and WORKSHOPS was discussed and a Resolution urging government to increase the number of inspectors was passed. * We hope to give extracts from this paper next month.62 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. Miss Wilkinson supported the resolution, and states that the inspection of workshops was far from satisfactory. She had, herself, been in workshops where between 40 and 50 women were engaged, and she could confidently say that they knew nothing whatever about inspection. The difficulty was to know who to complain to. Some few women knew, but with regard to the great majority of women employed in the upholstery and other trades, they knew of no one to whom they could complain. Even when an inspector did visit a shop it was either in the presence of the presence of the master, the foreman, or the forewoman, and they would easily understand, of course, that under these circumstances it required some amount of courage to complain. She had only stated what was her personal experience. Resolutions were passed expressing sympathy with and promising support to the London Can Drivers in their efforts to improve their condition, - protesting against the employment of soldiers in Harvest work, - and in favour of Household Suffrage for Counties. After hearty votes of thanks to the Newcastle and Gateshead Trades Council for the hospitality and attention shown by them to the Congress had been passed, the President declared the Congress of 1876 to be closed. --- SOCIETY OF WOMEN EMPLOYED IN BOOKBINDING. The Second Annual Meeting of the above Society was held in the Hap Alley Schoolroom, Farringdon Street, on Thursday evening, October 5th. Between 200 and 300 members and their friends were present. The chair was taken by Mr. T. Pagliardini. The Secretary, Miss Whyte, read the Report and Balance Sheet which showed that £74 9s. 6d. had been received during the year from the members' subscriptions of 2d. per week £32s. 9d. from Entrance Fees: £66s. 5d. profit on Soiree and Excursion: £211s. 6d. from interest on first years accumulated fund £20s. 9d. from fines, sale of Cards and Rules &c. also that the payments for 92 weeks' out of work and sick allowances had been £23. Secretary's Salary (six months) £610s. Printing £18s 6d. Office Rent £5 17s. 0d. Postage 7s. 7d Delegates fee to Trades Congress 10s. 0d. total £37 13s. 1d. Balance in the Birkbeck and Post office Banks and in the Secretary's hands £150 4s. 8d. 63 members had joined during the year making the total number enrolled 330. Resolutions expressing satisfaction at the position of the Society, appointing the Committee for ensuing year and re-electing the Treasurer (Mr. Hodgson Pratt) and the Secretary, were spoken to by Mrs. Sims, Miss Brown, Mrs. Grout, Mr. H. R. King, Mr. George Shipton, Mrs.. Paterson, Rev. S.D. Headlam, Miss Sweet. A vote of thanks to the Chairman was proposed by Miss Hughes, seconded by Miss Shepperson and unanimously carried. --- Correspondence. To the Editor of the Women's Union Journal. I think the following passages from "Industrial Conciliation" by Henry Crompton will be encouraging to those working women who have already joined unions, and may also induce others who have not already so realized the value of Trades Unions as to become members, either to join unions already existing or to assist in the formation of these in those branches of industries to which they belong. After giving the superficial view of the industrial battle-field he states the bright side to be full of hope and promise. "Increased organization whether of masters or men, or of both, means decreased war. Though more noticed, strikes occur less frequently: when there is a strike or a lock out, though the area is greater, the interest is less bitter and intense. Moral and intellectual pressure has a greater coersive effect upon both sides More attention is paid by each side to the views of the other. There is far ore restraint, wiser and more prudent counsels tend to prevail. The strike or lock out has less of the character of war to WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 63 the death. Each side presents less of the stiff-necked, dogged resolve to yield nothing, but fight it out to the bitter end," and again "the practical success which has attended the establishment of most of the boards of arbitration and conciliation is due to the fact that the employers have really accepted the independence of the men - that is, they have accepted the trades unions, which the men rightly regard as the secret of their strength. To pretend that their independence is assured when each workman contracts individually with his employer and their collective wishes and actions are disregarded, is too transparent a fallacy to need discussion, as if men could be made independent when their strength was paralyzed, or when they were deprived of habitual association and co-operation in their common purposes. Complete independence involves a recognition by the employers of the trades' unions - and that is better done and more permanently assured by a board of conciliation." I remain, yours truly, ALAN GREENWELL. Oct. 6, 1876. Clifton, Bristol. --- The following books have been kindly presented to the Library of the League by Mrs. P.A. Taylor. Phoebe Junior; a Last Chronicle of Carlingford (Mrs. Oliphant) 3 vols. "The Future of the Human Race (W. Ellis.) A Theory of Fine Art (Torrey). Joan of Arc: a Poem. Education of the Feelings (Bray). Macmillan's Magazine for October. Melbourne Review for July. Good Words for September. --- THE SOCIETY OF SHIRT, COLLAR & UNDER-LINEN MAKERS held its Fifth Quarterly meeting on 3d Oct. Chair taken by C.R. M'Clymont, Esq. Sick and out-of-work Benefits are now being paid. The Franklin Hall Soiree, on Oct. 1, yielded we understand, a profit of £5. --- MADEMOISELLE LUCIENNE'S STORY. (Told by Herself.) From L'Argent des Autres by Emile Gaborian. (Continued from page 55 of the Journal.) Again on my way back I observed that they had followed the carriage, and when I got home and dismissed it, and came out soon afterwards in my usual old black dress with my basket on my arm to make my little marketing, I met them both on the threshold. My heart sank with me for I read in the two faces the dreadful construction they put upon my showy change of costume. I felt that I was threatened with the loss not only of Mary's friendship of the good opinion of her friends. Mr. Tregars would have passed on in silent displeasure but Mr. Favoral knew me better, and it cost him much more to harbour such suspicions of me. His grievous expression as he looked at me, pained me so deeply that I hastened after them entreating them to listen to my explanations and not to condemn me unheard. I felt that the time was come to relate my history to those whose friendship was my most precious possession. I should have found it difficult to persuade Mr. Tregars to hear me, had I not added that should wish to tell my story at the same time to Mr. Favoral and Mary. I hastened to entreat my friends to support me by their presence, and as briefly as possible I related my history to these four persons met together for once in Mr. Favoral's little room. My first words, when I named my birthplace arrested the attention of Mr. Tregars. He followed my narrative with the greatest interest and when in the course of it I had to mention Baron Thalles' strange and unfeeling conduct, he seemed to find it difficult to suppress his agitation. When I had ended he came up to me and taking my hand kindly he begged me to excuse his previous hard suspicions and to count him henceforth among my friends. Baron Thalles he said was not the centre of so many disagreeable and questionable transactions that it might prove that in unravelling other cases, the clue to my history might be discovered. He said he had observed me with anxious and perhaps interested attention, as the companion of one in whose welfare he could never cease to feel the greatest interest. As he said this he turned to Mary, adding that now he was not without hope that he might not only clear her father at any rate from much of the disgrace that hung over him, but that he might benefit her friend by the investigation he was making into Baron Thalles' character and bowing low he64 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. turned to leave the room. But before he went he asked Mr. Favoral to oblige him by calling on Van Klopers and saying that my friends could no longer permit me to continue in the situation I had lately held in his establishment. I confess that for the next few weeks I found the suspense and the idleness almost intolerable and I resolved that even if some wonderful change should take place in my fortunes I would not forget that work was the greatest blessing. Mr. Tregars did in the end bring to light by his great legal skill a strange history of wickedness. Baron Thalles' gorgeous palace had indeed been built with illgotten gains. It was proved that for years he had been the centre of a network of dishonest transactions. Mr. Favoral had been only one of the pretended victims who had been drawn into speculations from which they derived no gains, while they could not clear themselves of the disgrace which was chiefly due to their vile chief. He had been unable to survive the loss of reputation and had died in exile. Mr. Tregars himself had a heavy case against the banker. Baron Tregars his father had been mysteriously ruined by the same means. Instead of inheriting a fine estate young Tregars had found himself involved in such difficulties that he had been obliged to sell all his land to pay his creditors, and to begin life as a penniless lawyer. And among the papers that had been bequeathed to him by his father, he had found the history of a curious little episode of which I proved to be the centre. My mother was a poor peasant who had been the second wife of Baron Tregars. While he was a widower he had indulged a romantic fancy to lead for a time the life of a working man at Paris, in that character he wooed and won for his wife a beautiful young laundress. She never really cared for him. Her former lover a rising young clerk in a bank took advantage of the absence of her husband, the supposed working man, to persuade her to escape from him altogether and after my birth at Louveciennes she followed the fortunes of this other adventurer who became Baron Thalles. She soon died however after giving birth to another daughter, and the Baron afterwards married the woman whose carriage so nearly destroyed my life. (To be continued.) MANCHESTER SEWING MACHINE WORKERS' SOCIETY. This Society now has an office at the Temperance Hall, Grosvenor Street Manchester. The Secretary and some members of the Committee attend every Tuesday night from 7.30. to receive contributions and enrol members. List of London Societies Already Formed: Date of Establishment and Meeting Nights. The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING----Established September 1874. Subscription: Monday 7. 30 to 9. 30 p.m, Committee: Second Tuesday in the Month, 8 p.m. THE DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, and MANTLEMAKERS----Established February 1875. Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month. THE UPHOLSTERESSES.----Established April 1875. Subscription: Monday or Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLAR MAKERS.---- Established July 1875. Subscription: Monday or Wednesday from 8. 30 to 9. 30 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled, and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned. HAT TRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS. ----Established May 1874. Subscription night, Tuesday from 8. 30. to 9. 30. p. m. Temporary Office; 14. Great Suffolk Street, Borough. The MACHINISTS.----Established February 16th, 1876. Subscription night : Wednesday, 8. 30 to 10 p m Committee; Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8. 30 p m. Temporary Office: 30, Wilson Street, Finsbury. Advertisements. WORK FOR WOMEN, "The Labour News and Employment Advertiser" contains weekly notes, from all parts, on the above subject, indicating any new openings for Female Labour that arise. Price One Penny Weekly, or copies for one month (post free) for Sixpence, from the Publishing Office, 15, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London. WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE JOURNAL.--Edited by Lydia E. Becker.--This Journal is published monthly, and contains full information of the progress of the movement for removing the Electoral Disabilities of Women; accounts of public meetings and lectures; correspondence, and original articles on the subject. It also records and discusses other questions affecting the welfare of women--such as education, employment industrial or professional, and legislation affecting their property and personal rights. The Journal furnishes a medium of communication among the members, and a record of the work done by the different branches of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, and by other persons and societies interested in improving the condition of women. Friends of the cause are urged to endeavour to aid it by promoting the circulation of the Journal. Price for one copy, monthly (post free for one year), 1s. 6d. Communications for the Editor, and orders for, the Journal, to be addressed 28, Jackson's Row. Albert Square, Manchester. London, Messrs. TRUBNER & Co., Paternoster Row. Women's Printing Society, Limited, 38, Castle Street Holborn, EC. THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. No. 10. November 30, 1876. Price One Penny, or post free Three Half-pence. Leicester and Leicestershire Seamers and Stitchers Union. We are glad to learn that the above Union is in a highly prosperous condition. It was formed in December 1874, by the aid of a member of the town council, and some other gentlemen of the neighbourhood, who had seen with much concern the depressed condition of the women engaged as stitchers and seamers in the hosiery trade, whose wages averaged only five shillings per week. These gentlemen called a meeting of the women and explained to them how they might, by union, protect and help each other. A society was then established in Leicester, and branches were formed in the neighbouring villages. A deputation to wait on the employers and ask for a slight increase of wages was arranged. The employers at once agreed to give an advance, but some difference of opinion existing as to the amount to be granted, it was agreed to refer the matter to a Board of Arbitation, by whose decision an advance of about twenty-five per cent, was awarded. During the first year the contributions from members in the town of Leicester amounted to more than £180; and from members in the twenty-seven villages in the county to £122, making the total upwards of £300. The out of work payments to members (no sick benefits are given), and other expenses amounting to £152, a balance of £159 was carried forward to the second year; this was increased in the six months ending July 30th by contributions amounting to over £90, so that after the six months' expenses (about £50) were deducted, the Union had a clear balance on the 1st of August of £201. Several of the members have worked with untiring energy as collectors. The following are extracts from the reports and addresses to the members:-- From the first Report. "You have subscribed during the year over three hundred pounds. We mention this with pride and pleasure for if either man or woman this time last year had foretold such a result they would have been laughed at. Although we have had an advance, we feel that we are not receiving the full value of our labour; and the fact that you have subscribed such a large sum during the past year shows that you know what your labour is worth, and are determined to have it." From the Report, July 30th, 1876. SISTERS, During the last six months you have had but little work to do, and the amount you have subscribed to the Union Fund does you great honour. Your wages in prosperous itmes are very bad, and when you66 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. pay your Union' money in a slack trade it shews your sincerity and earnestness to support your price. In all efforts to raise wages, sacrifice and perseverance are necessary. You will often be down hearted and dispirited because of many difficulties, but keep your spirits up, 'there's a good time coming' but you think it's a long while on the road. Remember, the darkest hour is just before the dawn. A ray of light is already seen, and we hope soon the full day will appear. There is great need for every Seamer and Stitcher to stick together. Your wages want raising, impositions resisting, and this you can only do by keeping well together. Give the collectors as little trouble as possible, for they are a noble class of women, and have many hardships and insults to bear. Make their path easy by helping them all you can. From an Address issued in August. "SISTERS, The most trying times to a Trade Union are those in which there is a slackness of work. At such times there always has been a class of persons ready to swoop down upon the poor workers and compel them to work for less, choosing the time when "there's little to do and little to eat," and therefore less chance of resistance to their unjust demands. We are glad to state, however, that although the trade has been worse than we have known it to be for several years, there has not been any combined attack upon our price. We believe there are some of the chief Manufacturers who would rather give us an advance, if the state of trade were better, than a reduction. Some tell us you would have your price without Trade Unions ; and what is a great deal worse some of the Seamers and Stitchers act as though they believed the silly tale, but in all probability you would never have had anything like the advance you have had if it had not been for the Union, and considering the low wages you earn now, and the conditions and promises under which the advance was given, we shall be fully justified in asking for another advance as soon as trade is better ; but in order to succeed we must be united and cling to our Union. In no other way can we gain our rights or withstand the selfish- ness and grinding oppression that have compelled you in the past to work for next to nothing. At the Public Meeting held on July 24th, a resolution was passed in favour of having Sub-collectors in all the Districts in Leicester. The system works admirably in one district, and the Collectors are empowered to arrange with persons to become Sub-collectors in the other districts." THE TRADES' UNION CONGRESS AND RESTRICTIONS ON WOMEN'S WORK. The interesting report of the Trades Union Congress, in the last number of this Journal, fully justified the wish expressed by members of the Women's Unions, for some account of the part taken at its meetings by their representatives. And perhaps a few remarks on the subject chosen by Mr. Allen for his motion, may not be out of place. It seems, that not only he, but, more or less, all those who spoke on the subject were in favour of the extension of the Factory Act, not simply to "children, and young persons," but to "all women employed in workshops:" and, but for the protest of Mrs. Paterson, the motion would doubtless have passed unopposed. This almost unanimous expression of opinion, makes it in- cumbent on women engaged in trades, to take up the question, and consider whether this new legislation proposed would really be so beneficial as the speakers at the Congress endeavoured to prove. The subject will doubtless be revived at the succeeding Congresses, by those who advocate the restriction of women's labour, till in a few years their efforts may take practical shape, and the workers find themselves fettered. Freedom for them will then be difficult to obtain, and therefore, now is the time to consider the question, before action becomes too late. The Factory Act seems, on the face of it, to be beneficial ; one cannot wonder that a measure bringing with it shorter hours, should be welcomed by women overworked, as so many are. They know that to expect just terms from all employers alike, is useless ; and they feel thankful to the legislation which steps in to protect them, forgetting that they are being treated as children, and that such treatment will be likely to increase WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 67 rather than decrease, until their work is so strictly regulated, that employers will no longer negotiate with those who are not free agents, or if they do, it will be in a way (as Mrs. Paterson remarks), "to drive the work more and more into the homes of the workers." Men, by means of their Unions, can arrange the hours and value of their labour, with their employers : and neither do they require, nor would they permit the interference of the Law. Women must act in the same way ; they know, better than any Legislature can, what are their needs. and these their Unions can protect, if they are allowed freedom to do so. Those who advocate this Factory Legislation, naturally think it worth extending, but in order to do this thoroughly, the hours of home work must also be regulated, and this would entail a system of inspection such as every one knows would be intolerable : therefore a measure which depends on it is both useless and bad. This question of home-work should be taken into account before the Legislature has a right to step in and say :--"Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther" --or well-intentioned people, to advocate the sanitary gains to working women, of shorter hours, fixed by law. If any of those engaged in trades have come to the same conclusion, I trust they will express their opinions, through their representatives, at the next Congress, so that such a motion as that of Mr. Allen, may not receive general assent. They may be glad to know, that in asserting their rights, they have the sympathy of the "Scotsman" newspaper, with whose recent words I will conclude : --"Women must live, and if many of them are to live honestly, they must work. They are coming into competition with men, and the men do not like it. The Legislature is therefore invoked, to put barriers in the way of women, and to handicap them as workers. Such a demand ought not to have any response. No adequate justification has been shown for it, and alike on sanitary grounds, and because of its injustice to women, it should not be complied with." A. L. B. LONDON SEWING MACHINISTS SOCIETY On Thursday Oct. 19th, a meeting of the above society was held in the St. James's Schoolroom, Curtain Road, E. for the purpose of explaining the advantages of the Society. Mrs. Grout (of the Committee of the Women Bookbinders' Society) presided. As there was only a small attendance the proceedings partook somewhat of the nature of a Conference and several facts as to the state of the sewing machine trade were elicited. The great influx of young girls,--often mere children,--into the trade, was complained of, as tending to lower the prices for work. One of the machinists present stated the payment for making boys Ulster Coats, in heavy cloth material, to be 10s. per dozen : by working hard a dozen could just be made in a week. The payment for frilled shirts was stated to be sometimes as low as 9d per dozen. The Rev. J. Horsley said he was glad to find that women were beginning to unite together to endeavour to prevent a further depression of wages. He thought that women would derive quite as many benefits from union as men had done and they would have the advantage of judging from the history and experience of men's unions as to mistakes to be guarded against. There was no doubt that in many cases the wages paid to workers did not form a fair proportion of the ultimate price of the article. In the course of his visiting he had come across a woman who gummed and packed into boxes small bordered paper labels ; this woman received a penny per 1,000, whilst the price of a box of labels at a shop was 9d 68 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. On mentioning this to a stationer he was told that gum was very dear but he thought that gum would scarcely account for the disproportion referred to He was especially anxious to see the hours of work reduced by combination, so that young women might have more time to attend evening classes and to learn how to cook and do other household work. Miss Sweet of the Women Bookbinders' Society gave a short account of the progress of that Society, and dwelt upon the great benefits which had already accrued from the payment of out of work and sick allowances. Miss Simcox urged the machinists to persevere in following the good example of the societies already established; she pointed out that the only result of their consenting to accept such low payment for their work, was that the manufacturers turned out a larger supply of skirts and other articles, of clothing, than they could find a market for in the ordinary course of trade, fixing upon them very low prices so as to tempt people to to buy, what perhaps they did not want, simply because it was cheap. Mr. Gront said that they would find plenty of people who would tell them that trade societies could make no difference in the scale of wages, but if that was the case he asked why was it that the wages of working men had risen so considerably in the past few years, and the wages of women had remained as low as ever, or in some trades had even gone lower. He begged them not to be cowardly and stand by whilst others did the hard work of forming these Societies, with the idea that they could come in afterwards to reap the benefits, when the heat of the struggle was over. After a few remarks from the Rev. S. D. Headlam, Mrs. Paterson, and others, it was resolved that the meeting should be adjourned, and that the Albion Hall London Wall, should be engaged for some convenient date, all present promising to make the next meeting widely known. MANCHESTER SEWING MACHINE WORKERS UNION. The Committee have arranged for a TEA PARTY to be held on Saturday Dec. 2nd., in the Temperance Hall, Grosvenor Street, Manchester, at 5 pm. After Tea short addresses will be given on the advantages offered by the Society. At 8 p.m, Music and Dancing will commence. FACTORY AND WORK SHOPS ACTS. An important Conference to consider the recommendations of the Royal Commission with regard to new laws affecting women's work, was held at the Rooms of the League on Thursday Evening Nov. 23rd. The Hon. Auberon Herbert presided. A full report will be given in the December Number of the Journal. LONDON SOCIETY OF SEWING MACHINISTS A MEETING of this Society will be held in the UPPER ROOM ALBION HALL, LONDON WALL, ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5th, At Eight p.m. TO-DAY. Lo here hath been dawning, Another blue day: Think, wilt thou let it Slip useless away. Out of eternity, This new day is born; Into eternity, At night, will return. Behold it aforetime No eye ever did: So soon it for ever From all eyes is hid. Here hath been dawning Another blue day, Think, wilt thou let it Slip useless away. T. CARLYLE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 69 SOCIETY OF UPHOLSTERESSES. The second half yearly meeting of the above Society was held on Wednesday Oct. 11th, in the Portland schoolrooms Little Titchfield Street. The chair was taken by Frederick Verney, Esq. M.A. There was a good attendance. The statement read showed the funds in hand to amount to £71 13s. 9d. and the liabilities to £3 14s. 0d. The number of members enrolled had increased to 138. After the confirmation of the minutes and adoption of the financial statement, Miss Wilkinson, gave a short account of the proceedings at the Trades Union Congress which she had attended as a delegate of the Society. The following Resolution was then moved by Mrs. Wood, seconded by Miss Mears, (both members of the Society) and unanimously carried. "That on the retirement of Mrs. Paterson as Honorary Secretary to the Society (of which notice was given at the Annual Meeting) Miss Wilkinson be appointed Secretary at a salary of 30s. per quarter". A Resolution congratulating the members on the progress of the Society was proposed and supported by Messrs. T Pagliardini, C. R. Mac Clymont, and J. H. Levy. A vote of thanks to Mrs. Paterson, for her services as Honorary Secretary to the Society, was moved by Mrs. Ashman, seconded by Miss Paine, and passed and Mrs. Paterson replied. The members present were asked whether a Soiree should be held in November and a unanimous vote in favour of the proposal was given. A vote of thanks to the chairman moved by Mrs. Cannell, and seconded by Miss Wilkinson, concluded the proceedings. MADEMOISELLE LUCIENNES STORY. (Told by Herself.) From L'Argent des Autres by Emile Gaborian. Continued from page 64 of the Journal. The inquiries which my Father never ceased to pursne about my Mother only proved partially successful, and she was dead when he came upon traces of her hiding place. He was made to believe that when she was in intense distress after my birth, the Banker, Baron Thalles had been moved by kind pity, and by her beauty to marry her and to give me a home by adopting me. The girl passed off upon my father as his daughter was really the child of Thalles' second wife, but while I was left to languish in misery, gratitude for the Banker's supposed goodness to me led my father into the toils of this wicked man. His fortune was freely lavished to lay the foundation of a business, which was conducted from the first in a fraudulent manner. My father like those who succeeded him was involved in ruin while he was still quite unconscious that he was the victim of this unprincipled man's dishonesty. Thalles had well known not only how to obtain other people's money but how to make blind tools of those who were connected with him. Mr. Favoral had been the last wretched sacrifice. The failure of some of the Banker's schemes made it necessary for him to fix a dreadful charge of dishonesty upon this unhappy man. He found himself suddenly in the position of one who could not prove his own innocence and in a moment of weakness, if not of insanity he determined to fly. Death had soon overtaken him in his flight and had apparently relieved Thalles from all fear of detection. All this network of villany was only gradually unravelled, through the skill and determination of Mr. Tregars. It seemed as if Thalles' conduct towards me was to prove the means of convicting him in every other case and in order to avoid rousing any premature suspicions of the discovery of hls wickedness, my brother (for so Mr. Tregars now called himself) determined to act in the most cautious manner, where I was concerned. He had already been on the track of much dishonesty, in his efforts to clear up the character of Mr. Favoral. My father's papers had thrown much light on previous transactions, and it happened that he had found that the very lodging house in which I was living had been part of a property transferred by my father to Mr. Thalles for his supposed child. The disreputable landlord and his wife were therefore the Banker's creatures. The little narrative I had sent in to Mr. Thalles after my accident had revealed to them who I was, and I had been deliberately driven from their door. Thalles' evil eye had been upon me ever since, and but for my fortunate acquaintance with the superintendent of Police I should probably not have escaped the various plots that had been laid for me. The pretended agent from America, the accusation against me after the siege and the last sudden demand for my rent on pain of instant expulsion had been cleverly contrived to lead on my ruin. The fact that on this last occasion I had70 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. owed my escape to Mr. Favoral's generous aid, gave rise, as I afterwards discovered, to a further conspiracy against my happiness. I have always rejoiced that during the anxious period that succeeded I had been determined not to remain idle, and that circumstances led Mrs. Favoral and Mary to the same resolution. Mr Tregards had yet to bring to light the dark history of the Banker's career, to clear the memory of Mary's father from disgrace and to secure justice and, where possible, restitution to many sufferers. Neither for my brother nor for the Favorals was any recovery of fortune to be expected but we all felt that for one and all there had been already rich compensation in various ways,. Mr. Tregars had already made his mark in a profession to which he would never have taken had he inherited his father's fortune and there was every reason to expect that the successful conduct of the investigation into this great commercial fraud would not only prove a great public benefit but would firmly establish his reputation as a lawyer. He would at once gladly have associated Mr. Favoral in his business but it was the wish of the whole family that things should go on exactly as they were for some time longer. Adversity had developed in Mr. Favoral an amount of talent and perseverance with which he had never before been credited. His mother and sister had no wish to become a burden upon him and it was also thought well to disarm Thalles' suspicion by going on much as we had hitherto done. At the same time as it was desirable we should leave the lodging house it was easy to attain our wish to take larger rooms in order to carry out our plan of a Co-operative workshop for Machine Workwomen. Machines were bought for us, and the young women with whom I had become acquainted at Van Klopens at first completed our company. Mary Favoral and I were very happy, establishing it and forming those larger plans for a Co-operative lodging house for the workwomen and for co-operation, not only in work but in amusements and social advantages which we were afterwards able to carry out so successfully. (To be continued.) CORRESPONDENCE WOMEN'S TRADES UNIONS. To The Editor, How much rubbish has been talked about the high wages men have received during the last five years! How workmen have been belied and libelled on this subject! How industriously have the falsehoods been circulated about the fortunes working men were making at their Trades! But during the whole of this time no one so far as I am aware, has ever asked the question "have women's wages been raised proportionately to men's?" Have they gained by the prosperity that the workers of this country have been the chief instrument in making? I propose, therefore to say a word or two about them. The answers to both questions is, No, they have not, but, on the contrary their wages, as a rule, have been gradually lowering; in some cases fifty per cent. It is a deplorable fact that there are thousands of working women in this London of ours who are working for less than 5s. per week taking all the year around, and from which in some cases money is stopped every Saturday to pay the Rent of the employer's workshops. Think of it men and women of happy England! ponder on it! Women working in Christian England for 10d. per day, in some cases having two or three children to keep; and at the same time paying their employer rent! I fancy I can see this sort of employer going religiously to Church, and telling the only truth he tells during the week, by calling himself a "miserable sinner" at the same time studying how he can lower the price of women's labour during the next week, that is how quickly he can make his fortune out of the life's blood of poor women. Society is becoming aware of the fact that women have been inhumanely underpaid for their work, and may yet demand a reckoning from those who have made colossal fortunes out of half starved women. Can it be true that the rich classes of this Country are hypocritical? can it be true that they will subscribe pounds to persecuted Bulgarians, and make them up again out of underpaid women's labour? Is is true that they like to give to Foreign Nations because they then get published as benevolent people? Are there no atrocities in England, are there no persecuted people here, upon whom to spend your sympathy? Is it not atrocious enough for women to have to make shirts for 1 1/2 d per dozen? is it not atrocious enough for girls to work twelve and fourteen hours a day for about 4s. per week at muff sewing, out of which needles, thread and light have to be found? is it not atrocious enough for women to have to make children's frocks in which are thirty pieces of stuff, for 3s. per dozen, and pay the employers rent out of it? Are not these atrocious enough for you or is it true that to English atrocities you turn a deaf ear and pass on in indifference? The Agricultural Labourer's condition has been called a disgrace to civilization, and so it is and so too is the condition of thousands of workwomen of London. Some of them existing, for they do not live upon about 1d. or 1 1/2 d. meal. What fine children we must expect from women thus half starved and WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 71 degraded! Can we wonder at thieving and prostitution after this. Thieves, felons, prostitutes live better than some poor honest hard, working women in London; the former we keep and care for, the latter we despise, but that must have its fruits and society will suffer if it does not put a stop to it. Then to you who preach against the sins of the age, to you who look with pious horror upon female degradation, to you who live at your ease and think you have done your duty if you subscribe to some Missionary Fund, to you I appeal to help women to get Justice for their work. Join in a crusade against the fortune making, life taking employers and you will have made an effort to make the world better than you found it. J. GROUT 86, Herbert Street, Hoxton. All Letters or Articles intended for insertion in the Journal should be sent not later than the 10th of each month to the Editor, at the Office of the League. WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE: for the formation of Protective and Benefit Societies among women earning their own livelihood. The Second Annual Report may be obtained of the Hon. Sec., Mrs. Paterson, at the Office, 31, Little Queen St. Holborn. Price 2d. MEETINGS of the LEAGUE COMMITTEE are held at the Office on the first and third Friday of each month, at 7. 30 p.m. The SECOND SOIREE of the UPHOL- STERESSES SOCIETY, was held on Thursday Nov. 22nd. in the Co-operative Institute Hall, Castle Street East when a very pleasant social evening was spent. Valuable help was given at the Concert by Mr. Leverett, Miss Moore, Miss H. Moore, Mrs. James, Miss Carby, Mrs. Haig, Mr. Woodin, Mr. Haig, and by Mr. Oswald who very kindly also acted as Chairman. Under the direction of Mr. Lee and another gentleman who gave their services as M Cs the Dancing was conducted with great spirit. The Committee in the name of the Society wish to heartily thank the Ladies and Gentlemen who kindly gave their services. MANCHESTER SEWING MACHINE WORKER'S SOCIETY This Society now has an office at the Temperance Hall, Grosvenor Street Manchester. The Secretary and some members of the Committee attend every Tuesday night from 7. 30. to receive contributions and enroll members' Every trade in which Women are Engaged should have its PROTECTIVE AND BENEFIT UNION. The Object of such Societies are: - 1- To protect the trade interests of the members by endeavouring, where necessary, to prevent the undue depression of wages, and to equalise the hours of work. 2- To provide a fund from which members may obtain allowance weekly in sickness or when out of employment. 3- To arrange for the registration of employment notices, so that trouble in searching for work may be avoided, and to collect useful trade information. 4- To promote arbitration in cases of dispute between Employers and Employed. The members of each Union arrange the rates of payment and other Rules at their general meetings. In some of the Societies the subscription is 2d. or 3d. per week, the entrance fee 1s. or 2s., and the allowance in sickness or non-employment 5s. per week, for from one to eight weeks during the year. The business of each society is conducted by a Committee of the members, subject to approval of quarterly meetings of members. THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE, affords advice and information as to the formation of unions, provides places for holding Trade Meetings and Conferences; the temporary use of the Office; the personal assistance of Provisional Honorary Secretaries, and assists in defraying the preliminary expenses of organization. A List of the Societies now Established in London is given on page 71 Enquiries may be addressed to the Hon. Sec. of the League, MRS. PATERSON, at the Office,72 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. List of London Societies Already Formed: Date of Establishment and Meeting Nights: The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING.--Established September 1874. Subscription: Monday 7. 30 to 9. 30 p.m. Committee: Second Tuesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, and MANTLEMAKERS. Established February 1875. Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month. The UPHOLSTERESSES.--Established April 1875. Subscription: Monday, from 8to 10 p.m. Committee: Second Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLARMAKERS.--Established July 1875. Subscription: Monday or Wednesday from 8. 30 to 9. 30 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned. The HAT TRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS.--Established May 1875. Subscription night, Monday from 8. 30 to 10 p.m. Temporary Office: 14. Great Suffolk Street, Borough, S.E. The MACHINISTS.--Established February 16th, 1876. Subscription: Wednesday, night, 8. 30 to 10 p.m. Committee: Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8. 30 p.m. Temporary Office: 30, Wilson Street, Finsbury. --- A CIRCULATING LIBRARY HAS BEEN FORMED AT THE OFFICE OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. From which Books are Lent on the following terms:-- To Members of Women's Trade Unions, ......... 6d per Quarter. To Women who are non-Members of Unions, on giving a satisfactory Reference or depositing is Security; 3d. per Month. The Library includes Works of History, Biography, Travels, &c., and a large number of Novels and Magazines. A Catalogue is now ready, PRICE ONE PENNY. Contributions of Books would be gladly accepted. Advertisements. WORK FOR WOMEN, "The Labour News and Employment Advertiser" contains weekly notes, from all parts on the above subject, indicating any new openings for Female Labour that arise. Price One Penny Weekly, or copies for one month (post free) for Sixpence, from the Publishing Office, 15, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London. --- WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE JOURNAL.--Edited by Lydia E. Becker.--This Journal is published monthly, and contains full information of the progress of the movement for removing the Electoral Disabilities of Women; accounts of public meetings and lectures; correspondence, and original articles on the subject. It also records and discusses other questions affecting the welfare of women--such as education, employment industrial or professional, and legislation affecting their property and personal rights. The Journal furnishes a medium of communication among the members, and a record of the work done by the different branches of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, and by other persons and societies interested in improving the condition of women. Friends of the cause are urged to endeavour to aid it by promoting the circulation of the Journal. Price for one copy, monthly (post free for one year), 1s. 6d. Communications for the Editor, and orders for the Journal, to be addressed 28, Jackson's Row, Albert Square, Manchester. London, Messrs. TRUBNER & Co., Paternoster Row. --- Women's Printing Society, Limited, 38, Castle Street, Holborn, EC THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. No. 11 DECEMBER 31, 1876. Price One Penny, or post free Three Half-pence. The Church and Trades Unions. Abridged from the "Guardian" of Dec. 20. In answer to an invitation issued by a committee of London clergy men, having for their chairman the Rev. J. Oakley, vicar of St. Saviour's Hoxton, a large and influential meeting of clergy and the representatives of trades' unions was held on Monday night, Dec. 11, in Christ Church Schools, Stafford-Street, Marylebone-Road, which were kindly lent for the occasion by the vicar, Rev. G. Ll. Davies. The chairman, Rev. J. Oakley, explained the object of the meeting and the order in which it was proposed to carry it on. Its object was to supply the clergy with fuller information concerning the constitution, the objects, and the operations of trades' unions, and to afford the more responsible advocates and officials of trades' unions a public opportunity of answering the popular objections against them as well as to afford the clergy some means of forming a safe and sound opinion on the attitude it was their duty to assume towards the working --- John Oakley, Vicar of St. Saviour's, Hoxton; N. Dawes, St. Peter's, Vauxhall; B. Deedes, St. Crispin's, Bermondsey; S.D. Headlam, St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green; J.W. Horsley, St. Michael's, Shoreditch; G. Sarson, St. Martin's-in-the-Fields; A.S. Stokes, St. Lawrence, Jewry; T. Hill, St. Mary's, Newington. --- classes in respect to trades' unions. He proposed with respect to the order of proceeding, that the trades'-unionists should explain their views to the clergy, and that the clergy should content themselves with simply asking short questions for information, to be answered briefly by the unionists. After stating that he had received letters of sympathy with the object of the meeting from many of the London clergy, and amongst others from Canon Duckworth and Canon Farrar, as well as from the Rev. J. Capes, the chairman called on Mr. Daniel Guile, secretary of the Ironfounders' Union to read a paper on "The Benefits of Trade Societies from a Social Standpoint." Mr. Guile showed that though the trades' unions required some evidence of a workman's capacity before admitting him, and fixed a minimum wage for qualified workmen, they did not discourage extra payment for extra skill. The existence of incompetent workmen, commonly called "duffers," was owing to the imprudence and selfishness of masters in taking too many apprentices, who were never thoroughly taught their business. It was an unfair charge to accuse the trades' union of seeking to maintain a "dead level," which exists only in one trade, and only in the trade in which the masters have supreme influence. The real aim of the trades' union is to maintain an aristocracy74 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. of labour in its rights. He further contended that one of the fundamental principles of trade societies was to encourage young men to improve prove themselves, so that when the time came that they were eligible to enter their societies they should not be refused as unskillful and unprofitable workmen. The best mechanics, both for social and moral work, were unionists, and if a man was found to be a non-unionist, it generally showed there was a screw loose either in his social or moral qualities. Unions rendered men less servile and less subservient, and enabled them to exercise more of that self-dependence and independence, which was one of the noblest attributes of men. They did not give a member complete sustentation when out of work, but they assisted him if he was not an intemperate or otherwise disgraceful character. A good trade society should gather ample funds in time of good work to assist its members in the time of depression of trade. The most highly developed unions brought up the surplus labour until it was wanted in the market, Four of the best societies in England-viz., the Engineers,' the Ironworkers,' the Boilermakers,' and the Carpenters'-in the year 1874 paid for unemployed labour, sick benefits, superannuation, funerals, and for accident, £105,538., and in eight years the same societies had disbursed nearly a million of money for the some purposes, about half of that amount being for unemployed labour. Mr. Guile showed from statistics that the trades' unions had not only raised the wages of workmen, but raised the character of the work and the morality of the workmen, and further, that the law and society at large were beginning to recognise their benefits and look favourably upon them. Mrs. Paterson, honorary secretary of the Women's Protective and Provident League, read a paper on "The Organisation of Women's Labour," which was very favourably received. In this she stated that if the clergy were to decide that they could consistently with their duties as teachers of the Christian religion countenance and encourage trades' unions, as the surest and soundest means of raising the social condition of the working classes, they would find ample scope for their labours amongst two sets of workers who are without political power and consequently comparatively neglected, and whose social position urgently demands improvement- namely, the agricultural labourers and working women. The condition of working women especially is most depressed, as the clergy must know from their visits. While the prices of food, fuel, and clothing have risen considerably during the past few years, the wages of women have remained stationary, or gone lower, so that fifteen shilling a week is now considered high wages for a woman. The physical and moral evils resulting cannot be overestimated. Women living at a long distance from their work, as they must often do in large cities, cannot afford to ride in bad weather, or to have boots and clothing strong enough to keep out the cold and wet, and when dinner-hour comes they have to content themselves with two-penny worth of unwholesome pudding or a red herring. From such sources of weakness many of them suffer from diseases which weaken them for life, or kill them after a weeks' suffering in the hospital or workhouse. The burden, too, upon the poor-rates caused by the low payment of women's work is also a serious evil, for it is notorious that a very large proportion of those in the receipt of outdoor relief are women. Because working women wore flowers, ribbons, WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL 75 and lace, and other cheap finery, which could be had for the merest trifle, people thought their wages were good, but these little luxuries, which are in most cases the only solace of the poor women, were cheaper than tobacco of which no one would like to deprive the poor man if it was a comfort tohim. The only practical and permanent remedy for these evils is to be found in trade combination. Charitable efforts are desultory, transient, ineffectual, and are injurious as impairing self-reliance. Many employers wish to act justly, but others less conscientious take advantage of the defenceless and helpless condition of the women-workers, undersell the better class of employers, and bring down the trade to its lowest level. With organisation women-workers could not only help themselves, but sympathising outsiders could help them as they helped the agricultural labourers, but without organisation they were perfectly powerless. The clergy could help women's trades' unions in various ways. They could appeal to the consciences of those women who take work at an unfairly low rate of remuneration merely to provide themselves with pocket money, while they are supported by their relatives, to the cruel wronging of poorer women, who live only by labour, and whose very bread is thus taken out of their mouths. The teachers of the religion of Christ should wage war against all selfishness, and especially such selfishness as this. Almsgiving and charitable gifts, as a rule, are not real helps, but rather, hindrances to the poor. Women workers want outside help in the organisation of their unions. It is sometimes said that they can act as men acted, and dispense with such outside help but we must take into account certain important differences in the two cases. First, we must remember that the employment of women in trades to the extent it now exists is of comparatively modern growth. From various causes of the number of wage-earning women has rapidly increased, and is still increasing, as the Census returns show. Modern invention has to a great extent transferred needlework from the isolated worker in her garret to the worker of a sewing-machine in a large workshop, or even in a factory where the machines are driven by steam. Men when they commenced their unions had had their trade handed down to them from time immemorial; they had their traditions about it: women are in quite a different position; brought together, comparatively new to the changed condition of things and bewildered by it. Their inadequate payment, too, obliges them to strain every nerve to their work, so that little time is left them to think of anything beyond. Then, again, they have not had the opportunity of meeting together out of the workshop that men have had. They have not frequented public-houses, and one cannot wish them to do so. Men have had the public-house as a meeting place, and frequently the landlord has given no inconsiderable help in the work of their unions by taking charge of the out-of-work book. He has not been a disinterested friend, of course, but has undoubtedly been very useful. The clergy could further help in giving the use of the schoolroom for womens' trades' meetings, and other outsiders might teach women a little of business methods of which they are deplorably ignorant, and from their ignorance of which they have to suffer so much. Many well-meaning people tell the poor workers to be provident and to save, but refuse to have anything to do with any combination respecting wages for work. This is to mock the poor by telling 76 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. them to save out of wages which will not keep them, and not to countenance them in securing a fair price for their labour and a fair share of the profits of their employer. It is the old heartless story to say to the poor, "Only save, and be provident, even take alms to enable you to do it, but don't ask a fair price for your labour - don't inquire whether too large a share of the profits of your work goes into the employer's pocket, or whether they public pay a fair price for what you produce." It is simply mockery to tell people with 5s. or 7s. a week that they should save. Many people of the richer classes seem to think that the "lower orders," as they call the poor, are to be paid in any form but that which will give them a sense of dignity and responsibility, and prevent their being degraded and humiliated by almsgiving. One objection frequently raised is, that women's unions can never stand, because women look upon their work as being only temporary; that they look forward to being married, and to being taken away from the necessity of earning money. There are even people who will tell you that it would not be well to make their work too comfortable, or they would not get married. One answer to this is, that numbers of women find that they are obliged to return to work after marriage, or when they are left widows. Then, too, it should be impressed upon women that in becoming careless as to the condition of their trades because they hoped soon to get married and leave the work, they were wronging those sister workers who might be obliged to work for a livelihood during the whole of their lives. At the close o her paper Mrs. Paterson read some extracts from correspondence respecting the Honiton lace-workers, which bore stong evidence of the sad condition in which they were placed from lowness of wages. The Rev. J.W. Horsley (prison chaplain) asked the unionists how it was that a working man, who could neither read nor write, was treasurer and secretary of one of the unions, and that he still continued a member of the union, after having been convicted of a crime and imprisoned. He was anxious to learn whether the unions insisted on any rule of a moral disqualification. Mr. D. Guile explained that the man in question had an intelligent wife, who ably acted for him, and that the union, though it would not have admitted him as a convict, did not feel justified in excluding him as, with this single exception, he had borne an excellent character. Mr. Shipton, secretary of the London Trades' Council, Mr. King (of the Bookbinders'), and Mr. Broadhurst (of the Stonemasons'), answered several important inquiries and charges, which were brought forward in a rather informal conversation by several clergymen, amongst whom were the Rev. R.C. Kirkpatrick, Rev. S.D. Headlam, Rev. W.T. Webber, Rev. N. Dawes, and others. In answer to the charge that "a trades' union" was merely "an organised selfish," it was stated by the union representatives that the unions were a benefit to the whole community, and that it was impossible to lift up the lower classes without benefiting the whole of society, and, further, that when good wages were secured by the unionists for themselves they were shared in by others who were not unionists. Again, if unions taught the working classes the duty of self-respect, and regard to law and order, as they had done and were doing, they tended to make loyal subjects, and to save the country from the horrors of a bloody revolution. WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 77 Sheffield atrocities had been mentioned by several speakers; but no men deplored those atrocities more than the unionists themselves, who had never endorsed them or countenanced them. Unions, too, were of immense public benefit in securing for the public sound, substantial work; and the employers most opposed to unions were the very men who, in the building trade, for example, cared nothing about the goodness, but only about the cheapness of work, and "built a house a day, and a street a week, provided there was no gale," to the permanent injury of the health and comfort of the public. In answer to the questions put by several of the clergy respecting "coercion" and "personal freedom," it was answered by several speakers that the union are purely voluntary associations, and the members are free to come and go, and that no coercion whatever is used towards non-members, who are simply invited to join; while members are certainly and rightly required to obey the rules as long as they are members. "Rattening" was discountenanced by unions, and the law had wisely dealt with that point." Unions were not, as some speakers thought, always the causes of "strikes," exist where there were no unions, but such "strikes" were always the most unsuccessful and unfortunate of all. Union were wrongly charged by more than one speaker as "keeping wages at a dead level," because they insisted on a minimum of wages; but they at the same time encouraged extra pay for extra excellence, and it was simply a matter of fact that the employers who objected to extra pay for extra excellence were the men that kept wages at a dead level, in their own interest and to the injury of the public. Mr. Arch had been invited to take part in the proceedings, but was prevented by another engagement. The meeting was brought to a close by a brief and impartial summing up of the chairman of the various points discussed, who drew an interesting and forcible parallel between the grievances of workmen and the working clergy, and by a request very largely signed by the clergy present, who felt that something should be done in the matter, that the subject should be debated at the next Church Congress. A few ladies were present, the Hon. Mrs. Henry Crompton amongst them. After a vote of thanks to the chairman, who conducted the proceedings with excellent tact and good temper, under some difficulties, the meeting separated. --- WOMEN'S UNIONS IN THE NORTH. Mr. Hodgson Pratt having recently had occasion to visit the North of England in connection with the Workings Men's Club movement, kindly asked the Committee of the Women's Protective and Provident League of which he is a member, whether he could at the same time help to promote their work. At their suggestion he conferred with the Secretary and other officers of the Manchester Sewing Machine Workers' Society who asked him to call on some of the large employers (skirt manufacturers) in Manchester with the view of decreasing the feelings of hostility shown by them to the Society - a feeling so strong as to lead in one case to the issue of placards threatening to dismiss any women who joined the society and to the actual dismissal of three who had joined it. We give the following extracts from Mr. Pratt's report of his visits. "I then went to an employer who has a largest business in a new warehouse. Mrs. Pratt and I went up to the top story and found about 20 girls in a well ventilated and large room hard at work making skirts. He was most cordial and paid the greatest atten-78 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. tion to all I said. He expressed himself as warmly in favour of such Unions and spoke of the "rascals" who were lowering the prices beyond subsistence point. He said that whenever he got an order, he called the girls together and told them the terms, stating what he could pay, and asking them whether they would take the job. Last night I went to fulfil an engagement at Denton, a town which is wholly occupied in making felt and ilk hats. There is a club there which I aided in founding three years ago, and they had urged me to go and talk to them about several questions, hearing that I was in the neighbourhood. While I was engaged with them, my wife waited in a cottage next door, where several of the members' wives were collected, and had prepared tea for us. There she learned the curious fact that the women engaged in binding and lining the hats made in Denton were very anxious to form a Union, and were being encouraged thereto by the men. These latter have just given up a strike of several week' duration. The women had not heard of the Machinists Union in Manchester, nor of the London League. They were of course much pleased, and will be more encouraged to go on." --- "Mademoiselle Lucienne's Story" will be concluded in the January number and a new tale will be commenced in the same number. --- CONFERENCE ON PROPOSED NEW LAWS AFFECTING WOMEN'S WORK. A conference, summoned by the Committee of the Women's Protective and Provident League, was held on the evening on Nov 23rd at the rooms of the league in Little Queen-street, to consider the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Factory and Workshops Acts concerning the laws affecting women's work. The Hon. Auberon Herbert occupied the chair, and explained to the meeting the proposals of the commissioners. One of their suggestions he said, was that whenever women worked overtime under the season trade relations allowed to certain trades, a time equivalent should be deducted from the working hours in the slack season. This proposal would be carried out practically amount to the discontinuance of payment in money for overtime and should be seriously considered by the meeting. His opinion was that the work of adult women should be just as free as that of men (hear, hear). Why women should be bracketed with "young persons," and as not able to judge what was best for themselves, he could not understand, and he looked upon all these laws for their protection as much less likely to produce good and progressive results than voluntary combinations among themselves (cheers). - Mr. Pennington, M.P. said the time was psssing away when women needed legislative protection more than men. They were forming labour associations to advocate their interests which would ultimately, he hoped, be instrumental in obtaining for them improved wages and better hours of work - Miss Whyte, secretary of the Society of Women employed in Bookbinding, moved the first resolution, to the effect that the meeting believed that any legislative interference in the work of adults is becoming less and less necessary, and earnestly deprecates all further extension of special restrictions on the work of women. - Miss Downing, in seconding the resolution, strongly objected to any man in the work deciding what she could not (cheers). Such legislative restrictions tended to drive women workers out of the field in occupations where they had to compete with male labour. - The discussion was continued by Miss Simcox, Professor Sheldon Amos, Miss Mitchell and Miss Smith bookbinders, Mrs. Wood, upholsteress Miss Mason (shirt maker), and the Rev. J.W. Horsley, the opinions expressed being generally adverse WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 79 to further legislation in the direction indicated; and the resolution on being submitted was adopted, with three dissentients. - A second resolution. moved by Miss Mears, of the Upholsteress' Society, was also agreed to, calling attention to recommendations 34 and 35 of the Commissioners, and expressing the opinion that those recommendations interfering with the right of adult workers to bargain for payment of overtime, were an instance of the inevitable tendency of such legislation to return to the exploded system of the state regulation of wages. A Committee was appointed to draw up a memorial for presentation to the Home Secretary, stating at length the grounds of objection to further legislation on the subject of women's work and the conference closed. The following is the Memoria presented by the Committee above mentioned: - TO THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD ASSHETON CROSS, M.P. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT. The Memorial of Members of the Societies of Women employed as Bookbinders, Upholsteresses, Dressmakers Shirt and Collar Makers, and Sewing Machine Workers, in Conference assembled at the rooms of the Women's Protective and Provident League. 31, Little Queen-street, Holborn, on Thursday, November 23rd, 1876. RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH THAT your Memorialists have heard that the Government propose to introduce into the House of Commons, a Bill for the consolidation and amendment of the Factory and Workshops' Act, based upon the recommendations of the Royal Commission appointed in March 1875. That your Memorialists whilst acknowledging the usefulness of factory legislation for children, and also for adults at a time when the working class were disorganised, and were consequently unable to protect themselves by their own efforts, believe that such legislation for adults is rapidly becoming unnecessary, and venture earnestly to deprecate any further extension of special legislation as to the working hours of women, on the following grounds: - 1. The very desirable object of shortening the hours of labour has been attained more completely and to a greater extent for men through their Trade Unions, by agreement with their employers, than it has for women by legislation, and without the disadvantage attaching to the imposition of restrictions on the right to work overtime in vase of special exigencies of trade or special circumstances and needs of the workers. 2. Women engaged in various trades are forming themselves into Protective and Provident Associations with a view of regulating the hours of labour and or protecting themselves against undue depression of wages but such Associations cannot negotiate with employers as o a diminution of the hours of labour so effectively as they might were not the longer hours sanctioned by law. 3. Every fresh extension of legislation has, as much of the evidence given before the Royal Commission shows, the injurious effect of driving the work more into the homes of the workers, where it is frequently carried on under worse conditions, both as to health and payment than in workshops, but where, as the Royal Commissioners agree, it would be impossible for legislation to interfere with the hours of work. 4. There is danger that this legislation if further extended, may tend to fetter the workers in matters of wages, in contravention of the principle long ago accepted that wages cannot be regulated by the State. This tendency is shoen by Recommendations 34 and 35 of the Royal Commission which, if carried out, would practically have the effect of depriving women of payment for the extra work allowed by the season trade relaxations. Employers if they paid back the extra hours in the slack season, would naturally object to pay twice for the time in money, and if the women left the shop before the slack season commenced they would lose payment entirely, and inducement being presented to certain classes of employers to terminate the engagement before a time of requital arrived. 5. The peculiar circumstances of many women's home occupations as contrasted with those of men, render it especially needful for women to enjoy unrestricted freedom in making engagements with their employers of a temporary, exceptional, or elastic kind of which no generally restrictive law could by anticipation provide. 6. The constant tendency and general result of all existing and all proposed restrictions on the labour of adult women is to place their labour at a disadvantage which shows itself either in an unfai depression of women's wages, or in the gradual exclusion80 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. of women rom one field of labour after another, and particularly from those which are most remunerative. This is especially illustrated by the substitution of the work of boys over 16 years of age for that of adult women in trades where occasional night work is required, as appears from the evidence brought before the Royal Commission. 8. The modifications and realizations for season trades now existing in the Factory and Workshops Acts, the continuance of which (with only slight alterations) is recommended by the Royal Commission show that it is not considered possible to apply one distinct rule as to hours (as in textile factories) to workshops in trades widely differing in character, and there must, therefore always attach to legislation of this kind of difficulty which your Memorialists have experienced in ascertaining what are, and what are not, the hours allowed by the law. --- SOCIETY OF WOMEN EMPLOYED IN BOOKBINDING. Established September, 12th, 1874. THE THIRD ANNUAL SOIREE Of the Society will be held at the CO-OPERATIVE INSTITUTE HALL, Castle Street, W. On TUESDAY, JANUARY 16TH, 1877. MR. H.R. KING will preside. Concert to commence at 8 o'clock, Dancing at 10. Admission by Ticket only. Members' Tickets Sixpence, Non-Members' Ninepence --- PRESENTATION OF BOOKS TO THE LIBRARY OF THE LEAGUE. The following works have been kindly presented to the League Library by Mrs. P.S. Taylor: - "A True Woman" (Geo. MacDonald) "Sonnets and Songs" (Protens) "Sojourners Together" (A Story) "AnglingIdylls" (Davies) "East and West London" (Rev. Harry Jones) "A Family Archive" "Cassell's Magazine" (1875) "Macmillan's Magazine" for December "London Society" the "Charing Cross Magazine" and the "Congregationalist" (December) "Melbourne Review" --- List of London Societies Already Formed: Date of Establishment and Meeting Nights. The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING - Established September 1874. Subscription: Monday 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: Second Tuesday in the Month, 8 p.m. THE DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, and MANTLEMAKERS. - Establishes February 1875. Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month. THE UPHOLSTERESSES. - Established April 1875. Subscription: Monday, from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: Second Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLAR MAKERS. - Established July 1875. Subscription: Monday or Wednesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled, and all information may be obtained on the night above mentioned. HATTRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS. - Established May 1875. Subscription night, Tuesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Temporary Office: 14, Great Suffolk Street, Borough. The MACHINSTS. - Established February 16th, 1876. Subscription night: Wednesday, 7.30 to 9 p.m. Committee: Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8.30 p.m. Temporary Office: The Albion Hall, London Wall. --- Advertisements. WORK FOR WOMEN, "The Labour News and Employment Advertiser" contains weekly notes, from all parts, on the above subject, indicating any new openings for Female Labour that arise. Price One Penny Weekly, or copies for one month (post free) for Sixpence, from the Publishing Office, 15, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London. --- WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE JOURNAL. - Edited by Lydia E. Becker. - This Journal is published monthly, and contains full information of the progress of the movement for removing the Electoral Disabilities of Women; accounts of public meetings and lectures; correspondence, and original articles on the subject. It also records and discusses other questions affecting the welfare of women - such as education, employment industrial or professional, and legislation affecting their property and personal rights. The Journal furnishes a medium of communication among the members, and a record of the work done by the different branches of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, and by other persons and societies interested in improving the condition of women. Friends of the cause are urged to endeavour to aid it by promoting the circulation of the Journal. Price for one copy, monthly (post free for one year), 1s. 6d. Communications for the Editor, and orders for, the Journal, to be addressed 28, Jackson's Row. Albert Square, Manchester. THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND ROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. No. 12. JANUARY 31, 1877 Price One Penny, or post free Three Haf-pence. This number completes the first year's volume of our little Journal. The next number will be slightly increased in size. The Committee of the League hope to continue to publish the Journal, but they are very anxious that it should be more widely circulated, and they hope that every reader will help to make it better known. --- The St. Austell Clay Workers. We regret to hear there seems but little hope of any amicable arrangement between the masters and men engaged in the China Clay Strike at St. Austell. The employers still decline to accede to the proposed increase of wages. Unless a speedy change takes place much distress will be occasioned and an overcrowded workhouse will bring the question more immediately home to the rate-payers. Many of the young and able-bodied men declare their intention of emigrating, indeed some few have already left the country, and others are daily following them. The women who must inevitably share the suffering and privation produced by such a condition of affairs have generally evinced much fortitude. Mrs. Matthews the mother of the man sent to prison has devoyed herself to the London, Messrs. TRUBNER & CO., Paternoster Row. --- Women's Printing Society, Limited, 38, Castle street Holborn, EC. THE WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. THE ORGAN OF THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE. Office, 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn. No. 12 JANUARY 31, 1877. Price One Penny, or post free Three Half-pence. This number completes the first year's volume of our little Journal The next number will be slightly increased in size. The Committee of the League hope to continue to publish the Journal, but they are very anxious that it should be more widely circulated, and they hope that every reader will help to make it better known. --- The St. Austell Clay Workers We regret to hear there seems but little hope of any amicable arrangement between the masters and men engaged in the China Clay Strike at St. Austell. The employers still decline to accede to the proposed increase of wages. Unless a speedy change takes place much distress will be occasioned and an overcrowded workhouse will bring the question more immediately home to the rate-payers. Many of the young and able-bodied men declare their intention of emigrating, indeed some few have already left the country, and other are daily following them. The women who must inevitably share the suffering and privation produced by such a condition of affairs have generally evince much fortitude. Mrs. Matthews the mother of the men sent to prison has devoted herself to the care of his five motherless children. The general impression is that the demands of the men are not unjust and much sympathy has been expressed. Let us hope that justice will ultimately prevail and that the New Year will produce a more promising prospect both for employers and employed. The whole affairs seems to have occurred through the fixed determination of the employers, to break up the Union among the men. This is indeed retrogression with a vengeance and the enforced submission of the St. Austell strike might and probably would lead to very deplorable results. It is difficult to conceive Cornishmen, who of yore were ever willing to fight for freedom, capable of such coercion. We earnestly hope that in this case right will triumph over might.* L.A.A.S. --- MR. JOHN MORLEY ON TRADES UNIONS. On Monday, January 8th, at a public meeting of the Miner's Association, held at the Mechanics' Ha;; at Hanley, Mr. John Morley delivered an address on the subject of Trades Unions. He first pointed out that n Hanley, with its 50,000 inhabitants, there is no free library. He suggested that the man who drew a large revenue from the collieries --- *For particulars of the dispute see page 87.82 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. near the town could not perform a more useful and public-spirited act than by building, stocking, and endowing a handsome library, and making a gift of it to the town. In the United States this kind of thing was done as a matter of course. Turning to the immediate subject of his address, Mr. Morley said - People sometimes talk of the selfishness of the trades unions. But there is all the difference in the world between the selfishness of a capitalist and the so-called selfishness of a great trade society. The one means an increase of self-indulgent luxury for one man or a single family; the other means increase of decency, increase of comfort, increase of self-respect, more ease for the aged, more schooling for the young, not of one, but of a thousands families. Others may call that selfishness if they please; I call it humanity and civilization and the furtherance of the common weal. It is numbers that make all the difference; it is about the condition of numbers that we should constantly think, and that is why I say that the labour question and the enormous change that has taken place and is taking place in the position of the workmen, is the one social feature of our generation that is of real profound importance. A great many violent chanrges are constantly made against unions. This is only what might have been expected. I is not a pleasant thing for any man who has been accustomed to dictate his own terms to find himself obliged to treat his former servant as an equal. He is sure to say some wild things have been said in this matter. For instance, your miners' unions have been accused in black and white in so many words of deliberately lessening the output of coal, and raising the price. Before accusing the miners of lessening the output, they should have taken the trouble to ask whether the output has really been lessened. As a matter of fact, the output in 1870 was 100 millions of tons; in 1871, 117 millions; in 1973, 127 millions, But it was exactly in 1873 that the price of coal to the housekeeper was so dear as to cause the outcry; yet we see that in that year the output was greater than it had ever been before. In 1874 it fell to 125 millions, but in 1875 it is believed to have risen to 130 millions. This being so, what becomes of that charge against the unions? Then it is laid to the door of the unions that they are ruining the prosperity of the nation by encouraging foreign competition. This is one of those parrot cries that always rises when times are dull. Mr. Gladstone pointed this out so long ago as 1845, when it was proposed to take the duty off the export of machinery Those who opposed the removal of that duty said that to favour the export of machinery was to encourage the competition of foreign manufacturers. Yet we all know English manufacture has waxed greater since 1845, in spite of our exportation of machinery. But when a cry has once become the fashion, the trifling fact that it happens to be absurd and untrue makes no difference. Then to come to the all-important question of wages. I say all-important, because, as the homely saying goes, it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright; and it is hard for a man who has to live on starvation wages, who goes about his work badly clothed and his hunger only half satisfied, to be what we should like to see him, either as workman or citizen. Some persons are fond of finding fault with this; they say it is simply material; a taking thought for the body, where we ought to be thinking of higher moral ideas. I have noticed that the people who think material prosperity such a poor worthless thing are generally themselves among the most prosperous of men. Now, as to wages, the employers and the enemies of trades unions have blown hot and cold with the same breath. They first cry out that unions raise wages by lowering profits with damage to the employer, as well as by raising prices to the damage of the consumer - though, by the way, there is tolerably plain self-contradiction in this. Then they turn around, and warn you very gravely that unions had not raised wages, and neither would nor could raise them. And those who deny that unions can raise wages have not been kept by their political economy from falling into a but of uncommonly bad logic. I am sorry to say that a statesman whom we all respect and admire very heartily, no less a personage than Mr. Bright, who has given the world so much good logic before now, should last week at Rochdale have repealed this fallacy - for fallacy it certainly is. Mr. Bright points to the circumstance that the wages of no class have risen so much as those of domestic servants; yet there is no union among domestic servants. Again, in our great Lancashire industry, no wages, I believe, have risen more in the last five and twenty years than those of the women in the card-rooms, and yet until very recently these women were not associated with any union. But how are such facts as these to the point? How does it follow that because in some employments wages happen to have risen without unions, therefore in quite different employments they cannot have risen to consequence of unions? Can there never be two roads to the same place? It is like arguing that because you have come from Stoke to Hanley on foot, therefore it is impossible that I can have come by train. The plain truth is all the time that WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 83 there is no single and universal law in the matter. In some circumstances unions can raise wages for a time beyond the level they would have kept without unions; in other circumstance they are not strong enough to do this. And whether unions raise the average of wages of not, there can be no doubt they check the excessive rapidity and violence of the fluctuations of wages. These fluctuations are the very curse of industry. None but the artisans are exposed to such periodical catastrophes as we call by the quiet name of bad times, or a failing trade. I am not so unjust as to deny that bad times are bad enough to the employer and the shopkeeper as well as to the artisan, but they so not mean to the employer as they do to the artisan, a sudden and instant plunge from a bright fireside, from good warm clothing, from smiling family life, to breaking stones by the highway, to the workhouse, to destitution and rags. This is what a failing trade means to the workman. "Yes," they say, "but times mend." That may be, but to whom of us of the middle class would life ever be the same, after we had once been hurled down to the bottom of such an abyss as that. We are very often told that the great cure for all the errors of the unions would be found if only the workmen could have instruction in political economy. With all respect both for those who say this, and for some of the books tat have been written about political economy, I confess that I no more believe that a knowledge of that subject would be specially useful to those who have to deal with the practical circumstances and daily problems of the labour market, that I believe that a knowledge of the few general theories of meteorology, or the science of the weather, would help a man in farming land or navigating ship. I believe I am only expressing the opinion of those who have thought most carefully about unions when I say that even if it were proved that they did not affect wages at all, they would still remain of the very highest importance. And many of the wiser of the masters are rapidly coming round to the same opinion. For example, I do not know how it may be in your industry, but there are trades in which the tyranny of a bad foreman is able to turn a workshop into a purgatory. A union puts a stop to that; it insures something like fair treatment. It may in some few cases have imposed inconvenient rules on the master, but this will be mended in time. The first thing was to let masters and foremen know that the vexatious tyranny and petty domineering of the one over many was no longer to be borne by upright, industrious, and self-respecting men. Take another example of the benefit of unions. If there is one object which every rank and position ought to have at heart, it is to get conciliation and arbitration accepted in English industry as the right way of preventing or ending trade disputes. You have what amounts virtually to such a board of conciliation here in connection with your association, and I know that it has done good work for you - however disagreeable it may be to have wages lowered. You have such a board in the pottery trade. I am far from saying that strikes are not justified; on the contrary, like war, they are sometimes not only justified but necessary in the present state of the world. But we all agree that strikes, like war, inflict a great deal of misery upon innocent people. I can remember Preston during the time of the famous strike of many weeks; the gaunt looks of the men standing idle at the street corners, the pinched faces of the women and children at the cottage doors, the smokeless chimneys, the ghostly silence of the idle looms and the engines, like giants cast into a trance by the spell of some baleful magician. It was more painful to see than a battle-field the night after the battle. For the dead are dead; but but the strong and willing craftsman with no work in his hands, half-famished, with half-famished wife and children, with gloom around him and blacker gloom in his heart, is a more dolorous sight than any death. That strike was necessary, as many another has been. But the sun will shine more brightly in the heaven and the green earth look fairer on the day when the last strike has come to an end, and both masters and men in our country shall enter once for all on a course of reasonableness and conciliation and common sense. There is no more hopeful sign both for capital and labour than the success of conciliation in the manufactured iron trade of South Staffordshire, South Wales, and Scotland; in the ironstone mines of the Cleveland district; in most of your own coal-mining districts; and in nearly all the other important industries of the land. There have been some hitches here and there, but on the whole, considering the newness of the experiment, and how closely it touches the keenest interest of the people concerns, the success of arbitration and conciliation has been prodigious. But it there were no trades unions there would be a thousand difficulties in the way. You can do nothing unless the men are organized, any more than a general can do anything with a regiment in which each man acts for himself, wears what uniform he pleases, carries what weapon suits his fancy, keeps his own step and time, quick-marches, doubles, halts, half-turns, and right-about-faces just as he likes or does not like. If the84 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. men are organized you can do everything. Even the most primitive savages get themselves united as fast as they can into something like a tribe. No man is more than half a human creature until he has got the habit of acting with others; of feeling what it is to have common interests with them; of learning to sacrifice personal sentiments and individual impulses. - "Daily News." --- A NEW YEAR'S WISH. A New Year's Wish on New Year's Day For those who keep the foe at bay, The Sisters who in brave array Still help the Union on its way. As blossoms to the charms of May, As sunshine to the new mown hay, As sign-posts to the feet that stray, Is that for which we strive and pray, Oh year o'er time your feet shall stay And winter find you old and grey, The toiler's heart make blythe and gay With constant work and better pay. Jan. 1st. 1877. L.A.A.S. --- SOCIAL MEETINGS AT THE LEAGUE ROOMS. One of the above meetings took place on Monday Jan. 8th. The rooms were crowded and the evening was very pleasantly passed in Conversation, Singing and Discussion upon a short address given by Mrs. Hallock (of New York). The Committee of the League propose to arrange for a similar meeting on the second Monday of each month. The next meeting will be on February 12th. Tea is served from 8 to 10 p.m. The meetings are open to all members of the Women's Unions, who may each invite one friend to accompany them. --- The great publishing home of Firmin Didot (which dates back to the 17th Century) has had its edition of the Greek Classics set up entirely by Female compositors, of whom they employ 250. SOCIETY OF WOMEN EMPLOYED IN BOOKBINDING. The ninth Quarterly meeting of this Society was held at the rooms of the League on Tuesday the 9th inst; the Rev Stewart D. Headlam presided. The following financial statement was read by the Secretary Miss Whyte. Balance in Bank October 9th £147.12.6., received since that date, Entrance fees 12s. 6d. members' Subscriptions £17. 18s. 9d. Sale of Cards and rules 8s. 7d. fines 2d. making with the bank balance a total of £166.12s.4d. Payments for hire of room for Annual Meeting, for Printing, Postage, Secretary's salary and sick and out of work allowances £7. 5s. 2d. leaving a balance in hand of £159. 7s. 1d. Thirteen new members had been enrolled during the quarter. On Tuesday the 7th inst the third annual Soiree of the Society took place in the Co-operative Institute Hall, Castle Street, W. Mr. H.R. King took the Chair from 8 to 10 o'clock, when Songs, Pianoforte music. and Recitations were given with excellent effect by Mrs. James, Mrs. Heatherley, Misses Blackburn, A. Macdonald, Humphries, James, and Messrs. Meadows, Pagliardini and West. Dancing was commenced son after ten o'clock, and continued until a quarter to twelve. --- SOCIETY OF UPHOLSTERESSES. The Seventh Quarterly Meeting of the Society of the Upholstresses was held on Thursday the 11th inst. at the Offices of the League, 31 Little Queen Street, C.R. MacClymont Esq. in the Chair. The Report read showed, that the Society had about £75 in hand; 8 new members had joined since the last Quarterly Meeting of whom 6 had paid the entrance fee in full. 4 members had claimed out of work allowance. The alternation of Rules VIII., IX., and X. was then moved by Mrs. Wood, and seconded by Mrs. Ashman. The alteration proposed was that members instead of, as heretofore, being obliged to commence signing either on Monday or Saturday should be able to sign on any morning and claim for three days. Miss Mears moved as an amendment that only Rule IX, be altered, that members should be able to sign any morning but not to claim under 6 days. Miss Wilkinson seconded the amendment, which after an animated discussion was carried almost unanimously. A number of members took part in the discussion. The proceedings then terminated with a vote of thanks to the Chairman. WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 85 SOCIETY OF SHIRT, COLLAR AND LADIES UNDER LINEN MAKERS. The above Society held its sixth quarterly meeting at Franklin Hall, Castle Street, on Tuesday Jan. 9th. The Chair was taken by C.R. Mac Clymont, Esq., Miss Brown, Rev. J. Sinclair, Miss Simcox, Miss Wilkinson, Rev. S.D. Headlam, and Mrs. Paterson took part in the meeting. The financial statement read shewed that the balance in hand was nearly £30 and that sick and out of work benefits had been paid. --- MADEMOISELLE LUCIENNE'S STORY. (Told by Herself) From L'Argent des Autres by Emile Gaborian. Concluded from page 70 of the Journal. This work enabled us to wait more calmly for the full discovery of the frauds by which we and so many others had suffered so severely. The Banker defended himself with all the determination of a desperate man, and tried by every form of deception and bribery to divide his pursuers. At one time he aimed at binding to himself young Favoral, by bringing about a married between him and his only daughter and which had formally been scornfully discouraged. She was very handsome, and it now suited Thalles' purpose to try to persuade the world that she was only his step daughter, and the sister of Tregars. This conspiracy came to an unexpected end by the flight of the young girl with a man who had been much mixed up with her father's speculations and to whom as it afterwards proved she had for some time been secretly married. This happened however just when the Banker's career came to an end and when nothing but sudden death saved him from the punishment due to his crimes. My brother and Mr. Favoral came together to tell us of this final catastrophe. We had not seen much of either of them during the course of the last anxious week. Mr. Tregars had been waiting impatiently to bring these investigations to an end that he might claim Mary Favoral as his wife, and offer a home both to her mother and myself. I had placed my own interpretation on Mr. Favoral's absence, and evident avoidance of myself. The revival of the project of marriage with my beautiful half sister, might, I though, have roused a painful struggle in his mind, and some slight resemblance between her and myself might have made him shun my presence. I was puzzled therefore when he announced her flight with seeming indifference, while still retaining the same reserve an coldness of manner towards myself. I was hastening to follow my brother and Mary out of the room, when Mr. Favoral requested me to spare him a moment or two, and at once asked me whether the time had not come for me to relieve him from the burden of the secret I had confided to him I was all astonishment, and before I could find words, he placed a letter in my hands apparently written by myself, whilst he reminded me that it contained a request which he had obeyed during the last six weeks not to refer to it either by word or look for at least that space of time. I could have non difficulty in declaring this to be a forgery, for it so happened that in the whole course of my forlorn life had only twice had occasion to write letters. The first was written long ago to my poor Jewish minister, the last was addressed to Baroness Thalles after her carriage had so injured me, and contained a short history of my life. The truth broke upon both Mr. Favoral and myself as I alluded to this last letter. It was the foundation on which the Banker had based his forgery. As I now proceeded to read this wondered at first to see so much ingenuity in falsehood apparently wasted. An air of authenticity had been carefully given to the narrative by an allusion to little facts in my story which could have been only known to myself but which I well remembered to have mentioned in the sketch I had drawn up. All this skill was lavished to persuade Mr. Favoral that I had kept back from my brother the important fact of secret marriage during the siege to a young man now in prison for his crimes, but whose liberation was not at hand. I was made to assign as a reason for this confidence, my wish to secure Mr. Favoral's mediation with my brother when circumstances should force upon me a disclosure of my secret. As same to the close of the letter I suddenly read its real meaning in Mr. Favoral's face. The Banker in his desperation had earnestly desired a marriage between his daughter and their uncompromising enemy. Here I stopped in my reflections. It was Mr. Favoral who interpreted the rest of the story. The cunning banker had rightly suspected that while Mr. Favoral believed me to be free he would think of no other woman. His love had long been mine. Amidst all the joy I felt in hearing this is was a bitter reflection that the loneliness of my youth should have exposed me to plots against my happiness which had so nearly ruined it. Mr. Favoral tried to soothe me by the assurance tat I had reached a safe haven at last, but when I told him that these pain-86 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. ful recollections would be most surely banished by efforts to held other lonely women he promised me all that sympathy and assistance which he has ever faithfully given me in my schemes for the elevation of working women. --- THE ANGEL OF THE HOUSE. It was drawing toward the early close of a pleasant winter's day when, at the high garret window of a small but respectable-looking tenement-house in an obscure portion of one of our great cities, a young girl sat diligently reading. The window at which she sat commanded but a very limited view, and that mostly of blank brick walls or slated roofs, where swallows and pigeons were the only wayfarers; but yet, as the red beam of the rapidly descending sun crept high and higher up the naked walls which bounded the prospect, the child looked up eagerly from time to time, as if questioning hungrily how much more of daylight was still accorded to her studies; and then, edging closer and closer to the dim, patched casement, devoted herself still more earnestly to the wellworn book which lay reposing upon her lap; or. occasionally lost in seeming reverie, resting her cheek upon her hand, and gazing with unseeing eyes across the clean but very humble apartment, she seemed striving to fix the sense of what she read firmly upon her memory, or to fix in her mind the impression which she had received; and then, again resuming her studies, she seemed to give her whole concentrated attention to them. I have, almost unconsciously, called my little heroine of a child; but she was, in fact, a girl of sixteen or seventeen years. But there was something so child-like and innocent in the seraphic purity of her face, such a look of Edenlike freshness and spirituality about her, that the mistake was often made; and even by those who had known her from early youth she was often and usually spoken of as "the child." With a slight, girlish figure, graceful and natural in its motions; a face whose every like perfection of marble, yet warmed and made softly human by a faint rosy tinge of life and health; with large, calmly smiling eyes that were fearless in their very unconsciousness of evil; with a mouth of tender, perfect sweetness there was linked an indefinable something that awed while it won, and made the gazer doubt if it was love, admirable, or reverence that her look called forth. It was softly pensive, yet not sad; questioning, yet intelligent. You will know what I mans, for you have seen that look, O ye sorrowing but enviable earthly mothers of glorified angels! - ye who,, "Fearfully striving with Heaven in vain." have seen the fairest lamb of all your flock borne away in the arms of the "Good Shepherd," and have folded your own in desolate emptiness above your aching hearts. You know that look, or you have seen the rapt, earnest, far-away, wistful gaze, as if the dear one at your side or upon your knee was looking the Stephen, "straight up into heaven, and beheld the glory of the Lord." You have seen that look come and go, with its mysterious, fearful solemn beauty, even before fatal sickness had marked out its glorious victims; and have felt, with trembling awe, that the young spirit of your child was holding communion with pure intelligences, akin to them, that you could not reach; that an invisible, impalpable veil was dropped suddenly between your darlings and you; that their purer vision saw heavenly glories, their finer hearing caught celestial harmonies, which your duller material senses failed to comprehend. These are they of whom mothers are wont to say, tearfully, "They were too good, too pure, for earth, - too beautiful to live!" Commonplace words, perhaps, they may be; and hackneyed, perhaps, to the ear of the unsympathizing listener; yet only commonplace and hackneyed because they are the most adequate expression of a sentiment which maternity can give utterance to in no better language. As the last beams of the red sunset faded slowly from the room the door was suddenly flung open, and a beautiful boy of about six years of age burst headlong into the room, all flushed and breathless, and bounded to the girl's side. It was evident that the two children were own brother and sister, for they were wonderfully alike; and yet they were as strangely unlike. And while there was, in every feature, a likeness which at once puzzled and perplexed the observer's eye, it was strange to notice how adventitious circumstances had so moulded the original type in which the two faces had been cast that they dissimilarity was almost as noticeable as their resemblance; for while they were equally beautiful, the girl was all spiritual - "of the heavens, heavenly;" and the boy, though beautiful was all of earth, really - a creature sparkling with life and fun and action, with restless radiant eyes, and rosy dimpling cheeks, and crisp bright curls, and fresh red lips, bubbling over with laugh and song and prattle. Possibly something in the earlier family history may serve to give a clue to these peculiarities. Let us go back a little. (To be continued.) WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. 87 THE CHINA CLAY WORKERS STRIKE. The men seem to have commenced this lamentable struggle with the best possible intentions, but, as very, frequently happens, when they got together in large numbers the excitement of contact overcame their good resolutions and they proceeded, deliberately to break the law. However, it must be said on their behalf that they have carefully refrained from doing any damage to property. With regard to the strike itself, whatever may be its merits or demerits, it appears now beyond that the masters must bear a certain amount of blame. In the first place, their conduct in attempting to reduce the wages of the men to 2s. 3d. a day led to the formation of the Union, and now by the line of action they have adopted in endeavouring to break down the Union by gradually getting rid of its members, they have forced on the strike, for, as the Union men say, logically enough, "we must either have struck, or stand by to see our Union broken up.: (From the Royal Cornwall Gazette.) --- TRADES UNIONS AND THE CHURCH. An adjourned meeting was held on Tuesday night at St. John's Schools, Red Lion Square to afford the representatives of the Trades Unions a further opportunity of explaining the principles of those unions to the clergy, whose co-operation has been thought desirable. The Rev. John Oakley, vicar of St. Saviour's, as chairman, opened the meeting with prayer, and stated he had received letters of apology for absence from the Dean of St. Paul's, the Dean of Westminster, Canon Farrar, Canon Lightfoot, and others, who more or less expressed a strong sympathy with the movement. The origin of the movement, he stated, was simply a desire on the part of the junior clergy to know more of a great social organisation such as trades unionism, which cold not be altogether ignored. Mr. Shipton read a practical paper on the primary principles of trades unions, both active and defensive, the object of which was to show their justice and their imperative necessity in the interests of labour. Their principles, he maintained, were not coercive, but moral and benevolent, and only antagonistic to the unprincipled selfishness or combination of employers. Their practical principles were virtually the principles on which all organisations in the learned professions were carried out, with a view to the best interests of the whole body. Violence and outrages has been committed, it was admitted, by trades unionists, but these forms no art whatever of the principles of trade unionism. He concluded by bringing before the meeting several typical cases of the many hardships and disabilities to which workmen were exposed before the present altered state of the law, which now recognised the principles of trades unions. Mr. Davidson, the chairman of the Society of Journeymen Bakers, showed that trades unions among bakers had succeeded in abolishing in some towns night labour, and had raised the scale of wages. Mrs. Heatherley, of the Dressmakers' Union, complained of the miserably low earnings of needlewomen, which were not sufficient to keep them, and the necessity of combination amongst the workers, which had in most cases produced a rise of wages. Mr. Prescoot spoke strongly against trade unionism in interfering with the liberty of individuals. The social improvement of the working classes was owing, not to trades unions, but to education. He contended that demand ruled wages and raised them. He pointed out that domestic servants' wages, for example, had been raised immensely of late years, and that without any union or combination of servants. The Rev. Crawford Tait asked what disqualifications were laid down by the trades unions with respect to membership. He started a pessible objection to trades unions with respect to their benevolent operation if a trade unionist should, on changing his views respecting them, be excluded from the benefits of his contributions for many years. Mr. Arch delivered a vigorous speech, stating the advantages of union amongst the agricultural labourers in raising wages. He instanced the Dorsetshire labourers, whose wages in 1874 were only 9s., and now in 1877 were 14s. a week. The increase of servant's wages who had no union, was owing to two causes - first, to the increase of the wealthy classes, and to the decrease of domestic servants, who preferred their liberty in working in factories. He pointed out also that the rising of agriculturists' wages had incidentally raised the wages of soldiers and of policemen. There had been a decrease of able-bodied paupers in the rural districts owing to the action of the union of the agricultural labourers. The Rev. E. Woulnough spoke to the improvement, moral and intellectual, of the agricultural labourers which had been brought about by the union. The Rev. Dr. Leary asked the trades unionists to clear themselves, if possible, of all complicity with Communism, such as was shown by the programme of the International League. The chairman in bringing the meeting to a conclusion, pointed out that the opposition of the rural clergy to trades unions was owing to their territorial connection with the land interest. Resolutions were passed to the effect that a further conference was desirable. - Dispatch.88 WOMEN'S UNION JOURNAL. Every trade in which Women are Engaged should have its PROTECTIVE AND BENEFIT UNION. The Objects of such Societies are: - 1 - To protect the trade interests of the members by endeavouring, were necessary, to prevent the undue depression of wages, and to equalise the hours of work. 2 - To provide a fund from which members may obtain allowance weekly in sickness or when out of employment. 3 - To arrange for the registration of employment notices, so that trouble in searching for work may be avoided, and to collect useful trade information. 4 - To promote arbitration in cases of dispute between Employers and Employed. --- The members of each Union arrange the rates of payment and other Rules at their general meetings. In some of the societies the subscription is 2d. or 3d. per week, the entrance fee 1s. or 2s., and the allowance in sickness or non-employment 5s. per week, for from one to eight weeks during the year. The business of each society is conducted by a Committee of the members, subject to approval of quarterly meetings of members. THE WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE, affords advice and information as to the formation of unions, provides places for holding Trade Meetings and Conferences; the temporary use of the Office; the personal assistance of Provisional Honorary Secretaries, and assists in defraying the preliminary expenses of organization. A List of the Societies now Established in London is here given. Enquiries may be addresses to the Hon. Sec. of the League, MRS. PATERSON, at the Office --- List of London Societies Already Formed: Date of Establishment and Meeting Nights. The WOMEN EMPLOYED in BOOKBINDING - Established September 1874. Subscription: Monday 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: Second Tuesday in the Month, 8 p.m. THE DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, and MANTLEMAKERS. - Established February 1875. Subscription: Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month. THE UPHOLSTERESSES. - Established April 1875. Subscription: Monday from 8 to 10 p.m. Committee: Second Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The SHIRT and COLLAR MAKERS. - Established July 1875. Subscription: Monday or Wednesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Committee: First Wednesday in the Month, 8 p.m. The Office of the League 31, Little Queen Street, Holborn, is, at present, used for the business of these Societies, Members may be enrolled, and all information may be obtained on the nights above mentioned. HATTRIMMERS and CROWN SEWERS. - Established May 1875, Subscription night, Tuesday from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Temporary Office: 14, Great Suffolk Street, Borough. The MACHINISTS. - Established February 16th, 1876. Subscription night: Wednesday, 7.30 to 9 p.m. Committee: Third Wednesday in the Month, at 8.30 p.m. Temporary Office: The Albion Hall, London Wall. --- Advertisements. WORK FOR WOMEN, "The Labuor News and Employment Advertiser" contains weekly notes, from all parts, on the above subject, indicating any new openings for Female Labour that arise. Price One Penny Weekly, or copies for one month (post free) for Sixpence, from the Publishing Office, 15, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London. --- WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE JOURNAL. - Edited by Lydia E. Becker. - This is published monthly, and contains full information of the progress of the movement for removing the Electoral Disabilities of Women; accounts of public meetings and lectures; correspondence, and original articles on the subject. It also records and discusses other questions affecting the welfare of women - such as education, employment industrial or professional, and legislation affecting their property and personal rights. The Journal furnishes a medium of communication among the members, and a record of the work done by the different branches of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, and by other persons and societies interested in improving the condition of women. Friends of the cause are urged to endeavour to aid it by promoting the circulation of the Journal. Price for one copy, monthly (post free for one year), 1s. 6d. Communications for the Editor, and orders for, the Journal, to be addressed 28, Jackson's Row, Albert Square, Manchester. London, Messrs. TRUBNER & CO., Paternoster Row. --- Women's Printing Society, Limited, 38, Castle Street Holborn, E.C.From THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE of May 28th, 1897. "Unavoidable Evils"? To the EDITOR of THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE. SIR,-I did not think at my great age, and too weak to leave my bed, ever again to come before the public, but the women's memorial in favour of the enforcement in India of the Contagious Diseases Acts, addressed to the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet, and signed by names among the most honoured of the land, has stirred my soul to its depths, and I venture to hope you will give me a little space to show what a terrible indictment those honourable women-I doubt not unconsciously - are bringing against our nation and army, and what a still more terrible argument against belief in a righteous God they have put their names to. I will quote their own words in proof: "...We believe that they (the opponents of the Act) hold in all sincerity that the evil of rendering vice safer at the risk of degrading women outweighs all other considerations. But, speaking as women, we feel bound to protest against these views.... We feel that it is the duty of the State, which, of necessity, collects together large numbers of unmarried men in military service, to protect them from the consequences of evils which are, in fact, unavoidable in such a community and under such conditions." The italics, of course, are mine. Here, then, is the ground of this memorial: That vice is, under certain conditions, unavoidable, and, therefore, to be not punished but protected from punishment. Is this the parting instruction of the mothers among these women to their young sons when first sending them out to bear their part in the life and work of the world? If there are any conditions which make vice unavoidable, then the man is exonerated from responsibility; he ceases, in fact, to be a man, for "the will is the man," and he becomes the irresponsible animal. And what are the community and conditions 2 that make this unavoidable? The community is that of a British military station: in India, it is true, but rules by the moral and social standards of England. The conditions are those of British troops under British officers, with absolute power to enforce discipline in outward conduct, and with an almost equally absolute power of moral influence over their men for good or evil. Can there be a more terrible indictment against the nation and its army? And now to my second count. If men must under such conditions unavoidably sink into mere animals, and if to protect their own womankind and the children to be borne to them from the consequence of their degradation as many other women must be degraded also to the level of animals, and lose their birthright of womanhood - in other words, if this is a law of nature - can we believe in a good God over nature, and is not he whom alone we should call a good man more pure than his Maker? Finally, is the assumption that this protection from the consequences of vice is necessary for the future health and welfare of the nation really so unanswerable? Will the generation of men brought up in the belief that they cannot resist certain temptations and be a law unto themselves, under whatsoever conditions, produce the best citizens, pure fathers of pure children? Will the generation of women brought up to believe that they may, with clear consequences, consent to the degradation, and sacrifice the womanhood of as many women as are necessary to protect themselves and their children. produce the best and noblest mothers? And what will the nation become that has not goof citizens, or pure fathers and noble mothers, and that recognises selfishness as the supreme law of life? May God, who is LOve no less than Righteousness, avert the doom awaiting such a nation, by awakening, as He only can, the people and their rulers to His supreme law of human life: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." I am, yours faithfully, MARIA G. GREY. 41 STANHOPE GARDENS, QUEEN'S GATE, S.W. CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE/ 10, GREAT COLLEGE STREET, WESTMINSTER, August 6th, 1889. MADAM, I am desired to forward to you the accompanying list of signatures to the Declaration in favour of Women's Suffrage. The Committee have reason to believe that there are many ladies who have not yet had an opportunity of signing who would be glad to append their names. They will, therefore, be happy to receive additional signatures up to the end of September, with a view to the publication of a supplementary list. I remain, Madam, Your obedient Servant, HELEN BLACKBURN, Secretary [PLEASE TURN OVER.WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE. The undersigned desire to express their approval of the proposed extension of the Parliamentary Franchise to Women, which they believe would be beneficial both to them and to the State: — NAME. ADDRESS. OCCUPATION OR DESCRIPTION.Miss BLACKBURN, Sec., 10, Great College Street, Westminster, LONDON, S.W. THE PROBLEM OF PASTEURISM. DR. THOMAS MICHAEL DOLAN, M.D., F.R.C.S., editor of the Provincial Medical Journal, has sent to the Manchester Courier a letter addressed by him to Professor Victor Horsley, in reply to an attack on his article in the Contemporary Review, July, 1890, on M. Pasteur and Hydrophobia. In conclusion Dr. Dolan sums up the question as follows: - "The problem now resolves itself, apart from all 'inebriation' of figures, into a simple one: 'Has M. Pasteur reduced the mortality from hydrophobia in a given district, the department of the Seine, where he has been operating under the most favourable conditions?' The answer is given by the death-rate published by Dr. Dujardin-Beaumetz. If you care to defend this at the Congress at Berlin, I shall reply to you in the negative. I desire to speak out plainly, and I now take the trouble to tell you - I hope for the last time - that any little efforts I can render to humanity to rid it of this incubus in the shape of Pasteurism shall be readily and gladly given for I am convinced that so far from lessening the sum of human misery caused by hydrophobia, Pasteur has increased it. Whatever a Pasteur Institute has sprung up the number of supposed rabid animals has increased; the number of dog bitten has increased; the fear and misery caused by dog-bites have been intensified; whilst I need not say the brute creation has fared even worse. I commend to your attention the opinion of the editor of the New York Medical Record on the establishment recently opened at New York. I hope my efforts in the Contemporary may do some good to counteract the propagandism in favour of the Pasteurism system initiated in the aw press by Pasteur himself and his adherents. "I remain yours very faithfully, "THOMAS M. DOLAN. "To Victor Horsley, Esq., F.R.S., &c." --- Published by the VICTORIA STREET SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FROM VIVISECTION, UNITED WITH THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FO THE TOTAL SUPPRESSION OF VIVISECTION, 20, VICTORIA STREET, WESTMINSTER, S.W. 8.90TAKE WARNING! Napoleon invented the system of regulated vice, in order to "protect the efficiency of his army. It spread all over Europe, and in 1864 its first measure was smuggled into Great Britain. Mrs. Josephine Butler, the great leader of the Abolition movement against Regulations, founded the Ladies' National Association for Abolition, the International Federation for Abolition, and the British Branch of this Federation; and her Quaker co-workers founded a Friends' Repeal Association. Together they secured Abolition in 1886. There flocked to Mrs. Butler's aid such well-known persons at William T. Stead, Rev. (now Prebendary) Webb-Peploe, Rev. John Clifford, Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, and many others whose names are more prominent on the other side of the water than on this side. These, one and all, acknowledge and followed the leadership of Josephine Butler, and accepted her principals as the accepted principles of Abolition. This statement is important. There is much confusion in America, at present, as to names-- the names, "Regulation" and "Abolition," as applied to those who are striving for the diminution of social vice, or pretend to be doing so. Two principles lie at the basis of the Abolition movement: (1) The person of no woman, good or bad, shall ever be compulsorily examined, for any purpose whatsoever-- by either man or woman doctor. (2) Prostitution, as such cannot be usefully punished by law, for the offender can seldom be punished excepting on the untrustworthy word of an accomplice; and the word of a woman accomplice will not be accepted. Hence the punishment for the dual offense always falls on the woman. Again, "prostitution" has never been legally defined, and it is a prostitution of justice to arrest for one offense (such as vagrancy) and punish for another offense (prostitution). The American Social Hygiene movement sets at defiance both of these fundamental principles of Abolition, and is therefore a "Regulation" movement, all protests to the contrary notwithstanding. Any person in that movement who declares himself, or it, as opposing "Regulation" is either ignorant of what the word "Regulation" has always meant in this connection, or else he is engaged is wilfully misleading others. * Below we print Mrs. Butler's setting forth of the essential wickedness of any and every form of compulsory examination of women,-- an eloquent address delivered in French, and translated: "Speaking for all women who are associated with me, I affirm that this deed, this forced examination, is an act of tyranny, of shame, and *We must not assume that these terms, "Regulation" and "Abolition," are used arbitrarily. British and European abolitionists (many of whom were and are great statesmen and specialist), after a struggle of fifty years with social conditions of which, happily, America (which has no standing army) has had little or no experience, having grouped under the term "Regulation" all those systems or principles which are vicious, and futile for hygienic or moral purposes. It would be as unwise for use to ignore what they have learned in their long purity and health crusade as for them to ignore what America has learned by her long temperance reform movement.of indecency. In the name of all women, I denounce it in the presence of God, and in your presence, gentlemen, as a deed which is an offense against every woman, against nature, and against God. "We consider that it is our solemn duty to declare to men, in the severest and most indignant manner, that this act is a sin and a crime, and that your efforts for the moral improvement of society will have no success until you give up your manner of thinking upon this subject and have cleansed your conscience of all complicity with such an outrage upon woman, the companion whom God has given you, not as a slave or a victim, but as a help and a counsellor equal with yourselves. "You may reply that these women upon whom you exercise this shameful power are creatures who have lost all modesty, but you must recollect that if these women have lost all modesty, but you must recollect that if these women have lost all feeling, we can say the same of immoral men. "But if it were true that a woman or a young girl who had once fallen into vice, on account, perhaps, of poverty or helplessness, had lost the most profound and deeply-rooted feeling which God had implanted in the feminine nature - if that were true, this act of tyranny to which you force her to submit would be none the less abominable, execrable, and criminal. "You have no right, gentlemen, to outrage any woman, were she the most guilty, the most fallen, and the most lost in the world. You have not the right to extinguish in the heart of a prostitute the last spark of womanly feeling, and the hope of restoration which is possible for the most fallen. But you say, 'she is a criminal.' Certainly; in which case you have the right to punish her, and to imprison her, as you have with regard to criminal men; but nothing, absolutely nothing, can give you the right to violate the poor body of this criminal. Nothing can give you the right to force her to unveil her innermost physical nature. Torture for criminals is abolished in all civilised countries. We see in the act of the examination a renewal of the most execrable torture. "The reply will be made to me that it is not possible further to degrade women already so degraded. "I deny it. You do not speak thus of criminal men in your prisons, to whom, as much as possible, you allow every facility for recovery. "But suppose for an instant that it were true that you cannot further degrade a woman of this character. I ask, in return, what must be the direct and indirect influence upon the examining doctors of the habit of the practice of this outrage day after day? What must be the influence upon the men and upon the young boys who know only too well that this outrage is carried on with the aim of protecting immoral men? Some English doctors have told me that they were astonished that a doctor, worthy of being called a man, could impose by force such an outrage upon a woman, resisting or non-resisting. "I now well that there are responsible doctors (d'honnetes medecins) who have assisted at the practices which I denounce, and who are not conscious of having done wrong. But gentlemen, that does not at all detract from the absolute truth of our judgment upon this subject. The saddest thing, perhaps, that we have to state with regard to this question, is the fact that some men, respectable, alas! (honnetes helas!), and some women also, have lost the feeling and the consciousness of modesty and of justice upon this subject. "The false judgments of society upon this act of corporal violence imposed upon women envelop you as a thick and dark cloud, through which the light can scarcely penetrate. It is especially in these last days that this darkening of the conscience has befallen you. I have read in a work by Baron Cuvier, that he had learnt that such an outrage was practiced on the bodies of certain women in Turkey. He speaks of it with a profound horror, as of a sin against nature, but you! - who have become so accustomed to this horror that you speak of it as a natural and proper thing, and you have even legalized it! "I am told that there are virtuous women who submit themselves to this examination. That is quite another thing. When a woman, respectable or not, calls in a doctor to cure her or save her life, she can voluntary and without loss of dignity submit herself to necessary treatment. The difference between such a case and forced examination is as great as that which exists between the sacred act of marriage and rape. "The French language easily lends itself to the expression of false ideas and deceitful opinions. They call this act of violence and indecdency 'La Visite! ! !' as though it were an affair of the custom house or of feeling the pulse of a patient. "Deceit is no longer possible on this subject. We women not know perfectly what this 'visite' is. I is the pollution of the cradle of the human race by impious practices! "I repeat: You are outraging the source of human life. "Be sure that no act of sacrilege possible upon the body of a man is comparable to this act upon the body of a woman. I consider as a sacred thing the human personality of the man as well as that of the woman, because of the dignity and the tenderness of the maternal functions which belong to her. The part of woman in the physiology of the race is indefinitely higher and of much greater value than that of men. "The line of human descent is continued by corporal descent from the side of the mother. The inferiority of the physical strength of women arises from the fact that their strength is devoted from generation to generation to the sacred functions of motherhood. This very weakness, gentlemen, gives them, or ought to give them, a personal claim to respect, infinitely superior to that due to men, endowed with a physical strength which enables them to protect themselves. In saying this, I speak solely from the physical and material side of the subject. I demand this respect from the standpoint of the physical and material well-being of the human race. "Every woman is not a mother, but every woman, however lost she may be, possesses the capacity of maternity. These maternal functions ought to be profoundly respected by every man. "They ought to be reverenced by every man, not only in the person of the virtuous woman, of his mother, of his daughter, and of his sister, but also in the person of every creature who bears the semblance of a woman. There is nothing is the personality of man which approaches.the sacredness, the delicacy, and the reverence due to the nature of a woman. "Every law, every ordinance, every regulation of the police, and every medical practice which permits this indecent assault, and which encourages the fatal blindness upon this subject, is of necessity morally criminal. "The man, be he a profligate, a drunkard, or a doctor of high degree, well salaried by the State for the execution of this outrage, the man who violates any woman, violates in her the motherhood of her who bore him. "Once more, gentlemen, I declare to you (it is a truth that you have too much lost sight of), that God has endowed the woman with a natural, inalienable right, the right of the sovereignty of her own person. It is an absolute sovereignty. "I speak, gentlemen, with a force of conviction which cannot be shaken, even if I found myself alone today, and if all the world, men and women, were against me. I am convinced that the words which I pronounce at this Congress of Geneva will be one day recognized as prophetic words, and that they will become the foundation on which all the efforts for the moral elevation of the man, and the rehabilitation of the fallen woman, will be based. "The men of every nation who continue to permit this outrage upon women will eventually cease to be, as they are today, the masters and tyrants of women. The end of their tyranny will soon come. They will, in their turn, by a terrible law of retaliation which they cannot escape, become the slaves and victims of these women, or rather of these females. All that will be left in the end to these women will be maddening and poisoned passions. Having hunted from these poor feminine bodies the human soul, the men will become abject slaves, not of women, but of wild beasts, in which the instinct of revenge and the appetite of the animal alone are left. "Thus for these nations the conclusion will be the bankruptcy of the whole of society." To these eloquent words, let us add words that fell from the great Parliamentary leader of the Abolition movement, of whom Mr. Stead wrote, at the time of his death: "In all that is highest and noblest in the life of the nation, he was the noblest Roman of them all.' " Sir James Stansfeld, in a memorable address, justly and truly affirmed, concerning all such measures to make vice sanitary, - "I have always said, and I repeat it here, that to my mind, the most damning evidence against the measures would be proof of their complete hygienic success. And I do not say this from the moral standpoint only; I say it from the hygienic standpoint also; from the most lofty hygienic standpoint. If you could, by this legislation, guarantee what you profess to guarantee, . . . you would not only demoralize the people, but you would physically degenerate and ruin the population. Those members of the medical profession who are unable to rise to the conception of this hygienic argument are groveling in the mud of specialisms which weaken and contaminate their minds." KATHARINE C. BUSHNELL, M. D. DECLARATION IN FAVOUR OF WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE, BEING THE SIGNATURES RECEIVED AT THE OFFICE OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE, 10, GREAT COLLEGE STREET, WESTMINSTER. It has been thought desirable to publish for the use of those interested in the Women's Suffrage Movement, a full list of the names of ladies received at this office, to a declaration in favour of the extension of the Parliamentary Suffrage to Women. This Declaration was called forth by an appeal against Women's Suffrage which appeared in one of the monthly reviews. The reply, which was published in the "Fortnightly Review" for July, 1889, was supported by more than 2,000 ladies, but owing to exigencies of space only about 600 names could be printed. The complete list of signatures sent to this Society is now given, including some which have been received since the publication in the "Fortnightly Review." For the convenience of readers the names are classified as follows: - 1. General List. 2. Wives of Clergymen and Church Dignitaries 3. Poor-law Guardians and Members of School Boards and Schools and others engaged in Teaching 4. Education: Founders and Officers of Colleges, Graduates and Degree-Certificated Students, Local Secretaries 5. Registered Medical Practitioners, Medical Students, &c. 6. Workers in Social and Philanthropic Movements 7. Authors and Journalists 8. Artists and Musicians 9. Women engaged in business 10. Landowners NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, 10, GREAT COLLEGE STREET, WESTMINSTER, August 1st, 1889. The undersigned desire to express their approval of the proposed extension of the Parliamentary Franchise to Women, which they believe would be beneficial both to them and to the State: - The Dowager Marchioness of Huntly The Lady Frances Balfour The Dowager Countess of Shrewsbury The Countess of Carlisle The Countess of Portsmouth The Countess of Mar The Dowager Countess of Buchan The Countess of Meath The Countess pf Camperdown The Lady Maud Wolmer The Viscountess Harberton The Lady Dorothy Nevill The Lady Maud Parry The Lady Agatha Russell The Lady Rachel Howard Clara, Lady Rayleigh The Lady Rayleigh Margaret, Lady Sandhurst The Lady Mount Temple The Hon. Frances M. Drummond The Hon. Mrs. Douglas Jones The Hon. Mrs. Arthur Pelham The Hon. Mrs. Paley The Hon. Mrs. Vernon The Hon. Lady Grey Egerton The Hon. Mrs. A.T. Lyttleton The Hon. Mrs. Edward Pereira The Hon. Mrs. Arthur C.C. Plunket The Hon. Mrs. Spring Rice The Hon. Mrs. Gambier Parry The Hon. Mrs. Colborne, Directress of Needlework Department, Whitehall The Hon. Mrs. Edward Lyttleton Lady Trealwny, I'relawne Lady Bowyer Lady Knightley Louisa, Lady Goldsmid The Dowager Lady Waldie Griffith Lady Jackson Lady Colthurst Lady Montagu-Pollock The Dowager Lady Le Marchant Lady Matheson, Achanay and the Lews Lady Wilson, Cambridge Lady Ewart The Dowager Lady FitzGerald, Valencia Island Lady Bowring Lady Carrington Lady Cooper Lady Cumming, wife of Admiral Sir A. Cumming, K.C.B. Lady Kirk Lady Lethbridge Lady Lockhart Lady McKerlie Lady Phear Lady Roberts, Westbourne Terrace Lady Sawyer, Birmingham Mrs. Adams, The Observatory Cambridge Miss A. Albright, Birmingham Miss Arnold, Oxford Mrs. Ashford, Bromsgrove Mrs. H.O. Arnold-Forster Miss Austen Leigh Mrs. Henry Adair, Oxford Beatrice Adair, Oxford Helen Adair, Oxford Miss Mary Gray Allen, Londonderry Mrs. J.H. Allen M.A. Allpress, Reigate Mrs. Hall Anderson Miss Anderson Marian Andrews, Belfast Mrs. Armstrong, Sheffield Gardens Miss Emma Avery, Reigate Mrs. Fosse Andrew, Truro Miss Isabel Andrews, Edinburgh Mrs. Alexander, Girvan Lucy Atkinson Mrs. Alston Miss Balfour, Carlton Garden Mrs. Bateson, Cambridge Mrs. Eliz. Stuart Blackie, Edinburgh Miss Julia Boyd, Moor House Court, Durham Miss Edith Brooke, Honley Miss Octavia Brooke, Hudderfield Mrs. Maurice Brooks, Dublin Mrs. F.A. Blades, Shenston Lodge, Bedford Miss Ashurst Biggs Miss Lucy Bird Miss Louisa Bigg, Luton Mrs. Braysher, Westbury-on-Trym A24 GENERAL LIST. Mrs. Benham, Colchester Mrs. Stewart-Brown, Liverpool Mrs. Burn, Cambridge Mrs. Bruce, Hyde Park Square Mrs. S. Budgett, Bristol Miss Helena Born, Bristol Mrs. Biddle, Wotton-under-Edge Mrs. Louisa Blacker Mary Backhouse, York Mary L. Backhouse, York Agnes C. Bacon, Brighton E. Bailbache, Hornsey Mrs. J.S. Baily, Birmingham Mrs. Lewis Balfour, Hanover Terrace Miss K. Balfour, Bromley Mary E. Balfour, Bruntsfield Crescent, Edinburgh Mrs. T. Calverley Bewicke Miss Katherine H. Bradley Mrs. Beale, Phillimore Gardens Mrs. Barber Mrs. Barnett, Fopstone Road Mrs Baxter, Reigate Miss Adelaide Baxter, Reigate Miss Ethel Baxter, Reigate Miss Ellen S. Baxter, Reigate Mrs. Fleming Baxter Miss B. Bear Miss Beddoe, Clifton Miss E. A. Becker, Ryde, Isle of Wight Miss Emma C. Beilby, Slateford, N.B. D. Bennett, St. Asaph M. E. Bennett, St. Asaph E. Bennett, St. Asaph Mrs. Nevitt Bennett Miss C. Birrell, Cupar Mrs. Bishop, Llandovery Mrs. W. Bleackley, Prestwich Maragaret Booth, Burnham Gore Mrs. Bradford, Llandrindod Miss Bragg, Plymouth Mrs. F. D. Bridges, Gillingham Mrs. Brimmell Mrs. Brine Teignmouth Mrs. Brook, Harewood, Meltham Mrs. Brock, Bexhill Mrs. Alfred Brown, Canfield Gardens Emily Brownfield, Winchester Miss Emily Bruce, Hyde Park Square Miss Kathleen Burke Mrs. F. G. Byles, Shipley Miss Barclay, Falmouth Mrs. Barrett, Moreton, Taunton Eliza Brewin, Cirencester Miss Bullock, Palace Garden Terrace Mrs. Blenny, St. Mary, Truro Mrs. H. Barrett, Truro Mrs. Blackborne, Upper Norwood Miss Lucy Black Esther Blakey, Halifax Mary Beale S. A. Bell, Upper Norwood Mrs. Bartleet, Egbaston Mrs. S. E. Bowley, Lee Mrs. Brewster, Henfield Eleanor Briggs Sarah Bangden, Barnet Mrs. Robert Banner Mrs. Mary Brown, Burnley Mrs. Llewellyn-Baird, Edinburgh Alice Boyd, Penkil Castle Mrs. Beck, Isleworth Misses Ellen and Edith Beck Ann Barton, West Manse, Darwen E. S. Burman E. A. Bowring, Hampstead Mrs. W. S. Caine Mrs. Edward Caird, the University, Glasgow Mrs. Russell Lant Carpenter, Bridport Mrs. W. S. Clark, Street, Somerset Mrs. Colby, widow of General Colby, R.E. Miss Courtenay, Brompton Square Mrs. Cairnes Miss Caroline Cust Mrs. Edwards Carbutt, Hyde Park Gardens Mrs. Edward Cotton, Reaseheath Hall Mrs. Leonard Courtney Mrs. Jenkyn Brown, Birmingham Mrs. Crosskey, Birmingham Miss Agnes Craig, Edinburgh Miss Courtney, Penzance Mrs. Culme Seymour Mrs. Courtenay Scott Mrs. Basil Champneys Mrs. Cumming, Foston Hall Mrs. Henry Conant, Puckrup Hall, Tewkesbury Miss Mary Cartwright Lucy Cambridge, Croydon Mrs. Cape, Dalston Henrietta Carey, Nottingham Mrs. V. I. Chamberlain Miss Evelyn Chambers, York Isabel S. Chalmers, Slateford Mrs. Chaning-Pearce, Ramsgate Phillis Chanter, Wotton-under-Edge Miss Charlton, Hesleyside Mrs. Cheesman, Buckingham Miss Chickall, Kelvedon Miss C. Chickall, Kelvedon Miss Child, Wotton-under-Edge Mrs. C. Clarke, Addison Road Mrs. C. Clothier, Street, Somerset Miss C.B. Clothier, Street, Somerset Mrs. M.A. Clarke, Headington GENERAL LIST. 5 Miss M E. B. Clarke, Headington Mrs. H. Cowen, Upper Phillimore Place Jane M. Cole, Bath Mrs. Emma Cooper, Colville Gardens Mrs. Herbert Cowell, C. A. M. Cotterell, York Mrs. Costelloe A. J. Cook, Hadley Annette Cowan, Southsea Mrs. E. Condy, Folkestone E.J. Condy, Folkestone Mrs. F. A. Cooke, Donnybrook Miss Agnes Cooke Harriet Cooke Miss H. Clemens, Truro Miss Ellen Cons Mrs. J. Crook, Bolton Miss Crosland, Worcester J. L. Cumming, Ambleside E.C. Cunningham, Dublin Mrs. Campbell, Kelvedon May H. Carson, Dublin Catherine Cope Mrs. Carmichael, Liverpool Sabrina Chaplin Richarda Christy, Chelmsford Charlotte Christy, Chelmsford Mrs. Campbell, College for the Blind, Upper Norwood Charlotte Cooper, Manchester Miss Edith Cooper Miss Amy K. Cooper Hannah Crawford, Newcastle-on-Tyne Miss Sibella Crawford Caroline Cornwell, Chiltern Green, Bedford Sara Carr Miss Carson, Girvan Miss Clachar, Girvan Mrs. R. W. Dale, Birmingham Mrs. Francis Darwin, Cambridge Mrs. George Dawson, Birmingham Mrs. Dent, Sudeley Castle Mrs. Davis, wife of General Davis, Clifton Mrs. Dutchie, Aberdeen Mrs. Augustus de Morgan Mrs. Arthur Dixon, Birmingham Mrs. Dawkins, Egginton House, Berks. Miss W. M. Dalziel, Glenluce, N.B. Emma Dearman, Brookside, Sale Mary A. Dicksee Margaret Dickson, Gordon Sqaure Mrs. Diplock, Falmouth Mary Elizabeth Docwra, Greys, Kelvedon F. L. Douglas Kirkaldy, N.B. Miss Alice Dowson, The Park, Nottingham Miss E.B. Drewry Mrs. Drinkwater, Cheyne Gardens Miss Mary Duer, Esher Miss Sarah Catherine Duer, Esher Mrs. and Miss, Dymond Enfield Mrs. Day, The Laurels, Highbury Park Miss Leslie Dobie Mrs. C. Du Port Jane Davies, Craven Street Jane Israel Davies, Bromley Miss Jane Davison P.M. Darton Ellen Dodd Mrs. Earp, Melbourne, Derby Mrs. Edwards-Heathcote, Apedale Hall Misses Elder, Campden House Mrs. H.W. Eve Mrs. Fred Eastwood, Huddersfield Miss C. Eastwood Mrs, Eccles, Cambridge Miss Eccles, Dean's Yard, Westminster Emily E. Edgar, Stoke Pogis Mrs. Joseph Edmondson, Halifax Marian Ellis, Leicester Agnes E. Ellis, Leicester Anna Ely, Croydon Emilie Ely, Croydon Miss Estlin, Clifton Constance H. Evans, Reigate Mrs. and Miss Evers, Kelvedon Miss Ethel G. Everest Mrs. Edith Evans, Oxford Charlotte Elsdon Mary Elmslie, Liverpool Mrs. Ferrers, Caius College Lodge, Cambridge Mrs. R. U. Penrose FitzGerald, Mrs. Robert FitzGerald, Tralee Miss FitzGerald, Valencia Island Gertrude Ferabee, Brimscombe, Gloucester Elizabeth Findlay, Glasglow Mrs. Flower, Stratford-on-Avon Isabella O. Ford, Adel Grange, Leed Elizabeth Helen Ford, Adel Grange, Leeds Sophia L. Forrest, Oxton Miss Fox Emma A. Frampton Fanny G. Frampton Sarah M. Fryer, Wilmslow Anne M. Fenwick, Oxford Emma Garrett Fisher, Edinburgh Mrs. Fullerton, Edinburgh Charlotte Foster Mrs. Farmer, Alexander Park, Notts. Mrs. Farmer, Gainsboro' Mrs. Fraser, Lee Mrs. Fennell6 GENERAL LIST Miss Florence Fielding, Bradford Mrs. Haines, Melbourne Cecilia Francis Miss Alice M. Haines, Melbourne Miss Fenton Miss Jane C. Haines, Melbourne, Derby Mrs. Archer Hind, Cambridge Mrs. G. S, Gibb, Heworth, York Mrs. Hale, Stoke Bishop, Bristol Mrs. J. G. Grenfell Mrs. Harker, Dalston Misses Gambier Parry Mrs. Henry Harrison, Chester Place, N. W. Mrs. N. Garrett Aldeburgh E. Beatrice Harrison, Chester Place, N. W. Mary Priscilla Greg, Macclesfield Mrs. Harrison, Vernon Terrace, Reigate Mrs. Archer Gurney F. J. Heaton, Belvedere Miss Amelia Gurney Miss H. B. Heyn, Belfast Miss Galloway, Kensington Miss E. M. Heyn, Belfast Mrs. German, Sevenoaks Miss Marie Heyn, Belfast Mrs. Gillett, Stratford-on-Avon Mrs. Higginson, Bromley M. S. Gilliland, Londonderry Mrs. Hill, Wandsworth Mrs. Ginsburg, Virginia Water Mrs. C. H. Hodgson, Belgrave Road Mrs. Grant, Gloucester Square Mrs. W. B. Hodgson, Edinburgh Miss A. J. Goold, Athea Mrs. Hollins, Pleasley Vale Miss Alice T. Glyde, Shipley Mrs. Hook-Watson, Wotton-under-Edge Sarah A. Gostling Mrs. H. Hore, Oakley House, Shrewsbury Miss Gonino Mrs. Stephenson Hunter, Oxford Miss Elizabeth Gordon, Upper Baker St. Mrs. Hawkins, the Mayoress of Bedford Charlotte Gower, West Brighton Mrs. Hawkins, Clifton Alice Gower Mrs. Hamilton, Bedford Jessie T. Grieg, Glasgow Mrs. W. Hammond, Nuneaton Miss Guildford, Nottingham Mrs. Hamilton, Norfolk Square E. K. Guthrie, Ambleside Mrs. G. Henderson, Treaveare, Truro Miss Isabel Gwynne Miss Mary Warren Holland, Truro Miss H. E. Gilbody, Blackheath Miss Hawker, Hurstbourne Priory Edith Goldingham Berta Hadwen, Kebroyde Beatrice Goldingham Mrs. Harle, Falfield M.K, Gilliland, Darwen Mrs. Hartley, York Miss Ellen Gibson Mrs. Hawley, Stratford-on-Avon Bertha M. Gardiner, Bromley Mrs. Howitt, Heanor, Derbyshire Miss Lucy Goodenough Sarah Haygarth, Clapham Mrs. Glendinning, Girvan Mrs. Hulse, Melbourne, Derby Mrs. Hargrave, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin Mrs. Rowan Hamilton, Shanganagh Castle Kate Hollins, Southport Mrs. Ashworth Hallett, Bath Ada Hollins, Southport Miss Hampden Sarah Haworth, Darwen Mrs. Thomas Hare, Gosbury Hill Mrs. Hopwood, Darwen Mrs. W. Haslam, Bolton-le-Moors Mrs. Harvey, Kenwyn Mrs. Wilmot Herringham Mrs. Hoper, Linden Gardens Mrs. Frank Hill Anna Hone, Dublin Miss Joanna Hill Elizabeth Hunter, Edinburgh Mrs. Birkbeck Hill, Oxford M. Heald Mrs. Luther Holden, Ipswich Miss Rachel P. Hutchinson Mrs. Jonathan Hogg, Dublin Caroline Hudson Mrs. Charles Holland and Miss Holland Mrs. Harvey, Bromley Grove Mrs. John Hollond Mrs. F. Huddleston, Cambridge Mrs. Imlach, Liverpool Misses Hornby, Shrewsbury Mrs. Ivey, Truro Mrs. Hoskins, King Ina's Palace, Petherton Jane Ingham, Southport Mrs. John Hullah Elfrida Ionides Mrs. Edward Huth, Huddersfield Mrs. Arthur E. Haigh, Oxford Mrs. Jack, The University, Glasgow Emily and Louisa Haigh, Bath Mrs. W. Johnston, Ballykilbeg M. A. Haines, Barnet Miss Johnston, Ballykilbeg GENERAL LIST. 7 Lilias M. Johnstone, Monyaff Manse Mrs. Maude Lithgow, Weymouth Mrs. F. J. Josselyn, Banstead, Bedford Jessie Lithgow, Weymouth Miss Lucy Johnson, Chiselhurst Agnes A. Lockie, Edinburgh Miss Agnes Johnson Mrs. Lloyd Miss Johnstone, Moreton Rectory, Bucks. R. H. Lloyd Mrs. Viriamu Jones, Cardiff Jessie Lucas Miss N. E. Joliffe, East Cowes E. Lalor Miss E. J. Joliffe, East Cowes Miss Lloyd, Oxford Square Sarah A. James, Darwen Mrs. Georgina Jones, Darwen Mrs. Marshall, Derwent Island Mrs. Jarvis, Chevelah House, Truro Mrs. Stephen Marshall, Ambleside Anna L. Jackson, Garstang Susan Martineau, Edgbaston Mrs. Thomas Jones, Swansea Jane S. Martineau, Edgbaston M. M. Johnston, Dublin Mrs. Duncan McLaren, Edinburgh Mrs. and Misses Jessop, Lower Bebington Mrs. Walter McLaren Miss Margaret Jamieson Mrs. McKinnel, Dumfries Misses McDowell, Dublin Miss Keane, Cappoquin, Ireland Mrs. and Miss Merrifield, Brighton Mrs. Henry Kingsley Mrs. Müller, Portland Place Miss Kirkland Mrs. Miller Morrison, Ruthwell Mrs. Kitson, Torquay Misses Montague, Kensington Mrs. Kempson, Sudbury Mrs. Mary C. Miall Charlotte King Kerr, Belfast H. Erskine Murray, Glasgow Mrs. King, Reigate Mrs. Middlemore, Birmingham Miss Emily King Mrs. Harvey St. John Mildmay Mrs. Knipe, Melbourne Misses Marriott, Bristol Miss E. C. Knipe, Malvern Mrs. Macmillan-Scott, Pinnaclehill, Kelso Mrs. Kenrick, Elsham Road Sarah E. Siddons Meir, Edinburgh Agnes C. Maitland, Liverpool Miss K. M. Lamb, Cambridge Mrs. Malleson, Croydon Mrs. H. W. Lawrence, Wimbledon Mrs. Malleson, Cheltenham Mrs. Lawson, Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Mrs. McKendrick, Glasgow Dublin E. M'Carthy, Governesses Assoc. of Ireland Sarah Newton Lindsay-Forbes, Loamhead, Midlothian Miss Mary Constance Martineau, London Miss Alice L. Meinertzhagen, Wimbledon Miss Emily Leslie, Bourdon House Mrs. and Miss Millar, Edinburgh Mrs. Lindsay, Glasgow Miss M. Millar, Cupar Misses E. L. and A. V. Lister, Hampstead Miss E. Millett, Teignmouth Mrs. Lyell, wife of L. Lyell, Esq., M.P. Mrs. Chas. T. Mitchell Miss Ludlow, Battle, Sussex Mrs. and Miss Molesworth, Bath Jane Lassell, Maidenhead Miss Montefiore, Acton Caroline Lassell, Maidenhead Miss H. Ogle Moore Miss S. Frances Latimer, Plymouth Mrs. Moore, Stratford-on-Avon Rose M. Leaf, Marlborough Susan Selena Monro, Bonchurch Mrs. and the Misses Lee, Clifton Miss Mordan, Reigate Miss C. L'Estrange, Dublin Mrs. Mordan, Surbiton Mrs. Lewin, Lower Bebington Miss Mors, Acton Francis A. Lewin, Birkdale Miss Henrietta Mors, Acton Susan Levinson Miss F. Mors, Acton Mrs. Alice Longworth Dames, Dublin Mrs. Munro, Hampstead Miss Gertrude Light Mrs. Mawson, Gateshead-on-Tyne Mrs. W. Livesay, Sudbury Miss Cameron Mawson, Gateshead-on-Tyne Mrs. Lowe, Ettington Miss C. Morris, Truro Mrs. J. W. Lowe, Ettington Miss Emma Moss, Blackheath Mrs. Shaw Lovell, Brighton E. Clune Macqueen, Edinburgh Mrs. D. Robert Lee, Edinburgh Mrs. Jane Murray, Dumfries Mrs. A. Laverton, Strangeways Terrace, Isabella Middleton, Dumfries Truro Miss Annie MylneGENERAL LIST 8 Mrs. Wm. Mein, Kelso Mrs. and Miss McKean, Castle Blayney Mrs. Mary Maillerd, Walthamstow M. Mathew, Upper Norwood Mrs. Eliza Mitchell, Tooting Henrietta Morgan, Harborne M. Meadcroft, Colchester Mrs. Mothersole, Colchester M.A. McCarthy, Dublin Mary Macleod The Misses McMaster, Girvan Helen Moffatt, Newcastle-on-Tyne Mrs. Mason, Harcourt Street, Dublin Mrs. Muff, Claremont, Bradford Susan Selina Monro, Bonchurch Mrs. Nash, Churchwarden, Wallingford Mrs. Eliz. Pease Nichol, Edinburgh Miss Newbery, Eversley Chase Mrs. Herbert New, Evesham Miss Alma L. Nettleton Mrs. Newton-Robinson Mrs. Nicholetts, Training Ship, Bristol M.E. Nicholson, Southport Louisa Nodal, Sale Annie Northrop, Manchester Mrs. Nussey, Chislehurst Mrs. Orr, Tonn, Llandovery Mrs. Alfred Osler, Birmingham E. Geraldine Oxley Parr G.M.S. Osborne, Glasgow Elizabeth Osborn, Leytonstone Mrs. O'Donnell, Regent's Park Mrs. Ogle, Darwen Alice O'Hea Mrs. Charles Owen, Tedworth Square Miss Pease, Westbury-on-Trym Miss Rosa E. Pease Mrs. Percival, Kimsbury House Mrs. Paull, Truro Miss Lillie Paull, Truro Mrs. Hodgson Pratt Mrs. Guy Pym Julia Peacock, Brighton Anna Pigott, Reigate G.F. Pigott, Havant Mrs. Arthur Phillott Miss E.F. Phillott C. Leslie Powell, Blackheath Mrs. Lewis Paine, Enfield Mrs. Ponsonby, Roscrea Miss Melita Ponsonby, Wilton Crescent Miss Julia Ponsonby Mrs. Pilcher, Oxford Ellen Josephine Philips, Sutton Oak, Macclesfield Mrs. Park, Scarisbrick Streeet, Southport Mrs. Pennington, Broome Hall Mrs. J.H. Perry, Bristol K. Pringle, Edinburgh Mary Anne Pearce, Maidenhead Clara E. Peters M.B. Place Mrs. J. Prince, Foston Miss Perrein, Wotton-under-Edge A.F. Proctor, Kensington E.M. Piper and E.H. Piper, Hampstead Mrs. Priestman, Manningham Lodge, Bradford Henrietta Priestman Miss Robertson Mrs. Ravenstein Mrs. Ryland, Birmingham Mrs. Rendell, wife of Principal Rendell, Liverpool Mrs. Rhys, Oxford Mrs. Robson, wife of Rev. Dr. Robson, Aberdeen Mrs. T.W. Russell Mrs. Rogers Mrs. Thorold Rogers Mrs. Robertson, Netherseall Hall Miss H. Robson, Cornwall Gardens Miss Harriette Rigbye, Monk Coniston Miss Rooker, Plymouth Julia Rendall, Bridport E.M. Renshaw, Lindenholme, Sale Frances A. Rawnsley, Oxford Adah Reith, Glasgow Gertrude S. Rowntree, York D. Rowntree, York Miss Reeves, Putney Miss A. Ridley, Belsize Park Mrs. Rowe and Miss Rowe, Kelvedon Mrs. and Miss De Rheims, Plumstead Mrs. Ritchie, Amberley Mrs. Reid, Edgbaston Miss Ruth Miss Ross, Southport Mary F. Reerden, Dublin Mrs. Shuckburgh, Cambridge Mrs. Henry Smith, wife of Prof. Henry Smith, King's College Hospital Mrs. Parker Smith, Jordan Hill Mrs. Wm. Sturge, Bristol Miss Helen M. Sturge, Bristol Mrs. Henry Sturge, Penzance Miss Eliza M. Sturge, Bewdley Miss Rosalind Shore Smith Mrs. Robert Somerville, Dalkeith Mrs. Charles E. Schwann Mrs. Arthur Sidgwick, Oxford GENERAL LIST. 9 Mrs. Severne, Shrewsbury Mrs John Slagg Mrs. C.E. Salmon, Bury St. Edumunds Mrs. George Murray Smith, Queen's Gate Gardens Mrs. Sollas, wife of Prof. Sollas, Dublin Mrs. Stephen Spring Rice Miss Agnes Spring Rice Miss Evelyn M. Spring Rice Miss Margaret Spring Rice Mrs. Sykes, Almondbury Mrs. Stannus, wife of Gen. Stannus Mrs. Streatfield, Streatham Mrs. Stevenson, Harrogate Miss Eliza C. Stevenson, Edinburgh Mrs. Sterling Miss Gulielma Stephens, Bridport E.A. Sidebottom. Miss A.E. Scholefield, Reigate Mrs. Scholefield, Newcastle-on-Tyne Miss Scholefield, Newcastle-on-Tyne Mrs. Scholefield, Gosforth Miss A. Beatrice Swinton, Clifton Miss Surrage, Clifton Mrs. Swift, Clifton Mrs. Spoor, Cheltenham Mrs. Isla Sitwell, West Kensington, W. Mrs. George Smith, Treliske, Truro Mrs. H. Pearsall Smith Emily Sissison, Wandsworth Eliza Sissison, Wandsworth Henrietta Mary Stodart, Edinburgh P.S.B. Smith, Berners Street Georgina Smith, Berners Sreet Mrs. Francis Storr Miss Eleanor Stacey, Stratford-on-Avon Mrs. Stoker, Rathgar Road, Dublin Mrs. Shorrock, Sudell House, Darwen Mrs. Shorrock, Bank House, Darwen Miss Shorrock, Moss Bridge Mrs. Simmonds, Wotton-under-Edge Mrs. Howard Smith, Edgbaston Mrs. C.W.T. Smith, Clifton Hall, Askbourne Miss Millicent S. Sims Miss C. Stokes, Hereford Miss Elizabeth Sunter, Nottingham Mrs. J.J. Shaw, Dublin Mrs. and Miss Shedden, East Cowes Mrs. Shedden, Titchmarsh, N. Hants The Misses Southall, Leominster Sophia Margaret Steel, Oxford Marion F. Steel, Oxford Mrs. Scott, South Hill, Hampstead Miss Emmelina Scott, Upper Norwood E. and S.J. Sibbald, S. Margaret Road, Edinburgh Christina R. Smith, Bruntsfield Crescent, Edinburgh Clara Sephton, Huskisson Street, Liverpool Mrs. and Miss M. Stacpoole R.A. Sondan, Edinburgh Misses E.B. and A.M. Stanley, Dublin Eliza Simpson, Sale Amelia Simpson, Nottingham Violet Solly, Bridport P. Spencer Mrs. J.S. Sponner Mrs. Sadler, Hampstead Mrs. Mary Simpson Mrs. Arthur Tennyson Mrs. Herbert Thomas, Bristol Miss Jane E. Taylour Miss Tanner, Bristol Miss Agnes and Catherine Tanner Mrs. P.A. Taylor Mrs. Thomas Taylor, Chipchase Castle Mrs. Thomas Taylor, Aston Rowant Mrs. W. Taylor, Edgbaston Mrs. Tapson, Clapham Miss M.J. Tennant Mrs. Teschemacher, Dawlish Mrs. Tasker, Melbourne, Derby Miss Tasker, Melbourne, Derby Alice E. Tacey, Holland Villas Road, Kensington, W. Annie Tacey, Holland Villas Road, Kensington, W. Mrs. Turner, Hayling Miss Truell, Ardingly Mrs. Tudor, Southsea Mrs. J. Milton Tarbolton, Harborne Miss Jane Tweedy, Truro Mrs. Tom, Truro Mrs. Thompson, Dringcote Miss Thompson, Bridgwater Mrs. Thompson and Misses Agnes and Louisa Thompson, Gainsboro' Miss M.D. Tothill, Bristol Mrs. Graham Toler Mrs. Troughton, Blackwater, Hants. Miss F. Thompson, Melbourne Helen M. Tyndall, Edgbaston Mrs. Tyndall, Edgbaston Mrs. Henry Witton Tyndall Eugenie Todd, Edinburgh Ada Lang Todd, Edinburgh Mary Todd, Edinburgh Emma and Fanny Tuthill, Dublin Mrs. Whately Cooke Taylor Mrs. Robert Vansittart Mrs. Venn, Cambridge The Misses Venning, Bristol Mrs. Glynn Vivian Elizabeth Unwin, Oxford A 310. CHURCH AND POOR LAW GUARDIANS. E.M. Vaughan, Upper Norwood Mrs. Gerald Wellesley Miss Spence Watson, Gateshead Mrs. Wellstood, Edinburgh Mrs. Eugene Wason, of Blair Mrs. Wm. Wrigley, Meltham Mrs. Willert, Oxford Mrs. Whitwill, Weston-super-Mare Mrs. E. P. Wills, Stoke Bishop Mrs. Charles A. Winder, Sheffield Mrs. J. G. Williams, Pendley Manor Miss Lucy Wilson Miss Abney Walker, Putney Sarah Webster, Luton Adeline Waddy, Maidenhead Mrs. Jessy Williams, Aberystwyth Miss K.T. Williams, Clifton Mrs. Williams, Truro Mrs. Lewis Williams, Oxford E.A. and Mary R. Williams, Bath Mrs. Wallich, Addison Road North Miss Williams, Pontarfrau, Brecon Miss Adelaide Williams, Pontarfrau, Brecon Miss E. Williams, Pontarfrau, Brecon Miss Edith Walkington, Strandtown, Belfast Jane Walkinshaw, Gateshead Mrs. Westbury, Newcastle, Staf. Frances A. Wright, Rochester Mrs. Willmot, Bath Mrs. Waite, Halifax Mrs. Wilmore M.H. Webb Alice Romain Wright, Colchester Sarah Louisa Wright, Colchester Mary H. Willmott, Hulme Miss Wright Girvan Miss Louisa Wright, Mansfield Misses L.M. and Catherine Woods Mrs. John Ward, Colchester Mrs. and Miss Wallace, Kilburn Julia White Mrs. Young, wife of Prof. Young, Glasgow Emily S. Young, Barnet WIVES OF CLERGYMEN AND CHURCH DIGNITARIES. Mrs. Benson, Lambeth Palace Mrs. Thomson, Bishopsthorpe, York Mrs. Temple, Fulham Palace Mrs. Goodwin, Rose Castle, Carlisle Mrs. Atlay, The Palace, Hereford Mrs. Bathurst, Holwell Rectory Mrs. Llewelyn Davies Mrs. Edwin Abbott Mrs. Saffern, St. Mark's Rectory, Belfast Mrs. Thomas, The Vicarage, St. Asaph Mrs. Tait, St. Edmund's Rectory, Salisbury Mrs. Andrews, Teffont Rectory, Salisbury Mrs. Jellett, widow of late Provost of Trinity College, Dublin Mrs. Babington, widow of Rev. Churchill Babington, D.D. Mrs. Brown, The Vicarage, Barnard Castle Mrs. P. Barker, St. John's Parsonage, Bromley Mrs. Morse, widow of the late Vicar of St. Mary's, Nottingham Mrs. Green, Rectory, Carrigaline Mrs. Pilkington, Rectory, Upper Heyford Mrs. W. T. Bullock Mrs. Pitcairn, Eccles Vicarage Mrs. Kitchin, The Deanery, Winchester POOR-LAW GUARDIANS. Miss Catherine Bigg, Brighton Miss Anna E. L. Brander, Pirbright Miss Mary Burton, St. Cuthbert's Parochial Board, Edinburgh Mrs. Amelia Charles, Paddington Mrs. Cheyne, Bedford Miss Clifford, Barton Regis, Bristol Miss F. Davenport Hill, Hampstead Mrs. Dickinson, Wandsworth Mrs. M.N.C. Evans, Strand Union Miss Feugh, Ormskirk Union Miss F.E. Fullagar, Leicester Miss Isabel Goldsmid, St. George's, Hanover Square Mrs. Haycraft, Brighton Mrs. Holland, Ormskirk Union Miss L.E. Hollins, Ormskirk Union Miss Mary G. Hopkins Scarboro' Mrs. Lawrie, St. George's, Hanover Square Miss Anna Lloyd, West Bromwich Mrs. McIlquham, Boddington Union Miss Sara Mosley, Hastings Miss Margaret Painton, Strand Union Miss S.J. Pedder, Bedminister Union Mrs. Poulden, Wandsworth Union Mrs. Shaen, Kensington Miss Siddon, Honley Miss Elizabeth Smith, Hyde Miss Agatha Stacey, Birmingham Miss Louisa Stevenson, St. Cuthbert's Parochial Board, Edinburgh Mrs. Terrell, Barton Regis Union Mrs. Teschemacher, Ormskirk Union Miss Louisa Twining, Kensington Miss Florence Wimbush, Barnet Miss C. M. Wyld, Holborn Union FOUNDERS AND OFFICERS OF COLLEGES. MEMBERS OF SCHOOL BOARDS. Miss Lydia E. Becker, Manchester Miss R. Davenport Hill, London Miss Flora Stevenson, Edinburgh Miss Emily Sturge, Bristol Mrs. Swan, Bristol Mrs. Wintringham, Great Grimsby Mrs. Wycliffe Wilson, Sheffield Mrs. Johnston, Tavistock Mrs. Cowen, Nottingham Mrs. F. H. Evans, Rochester Miss Heppel, B.A., Bromley Mrs. Jarvis, Kirkliston Mrs. Metcalfe, Vicarage, Teignmouth Miss Edith M. Shaw, Torrington Mrs. J. J. M. Blair, Girvan Miss A.J. Davies, Liverpool Miss Louisa Innes Lumsden, Chairman School Board of Rhynie EDUCATION. Mrs. Wm. Grey Miss Emily Shirreff Miss Emily Davies Miss Bostock, Bedford College, Reid Trustee Miss Smith (Oxford), Bedford College, Reid Trustee Miss Notcutt, Bedford College, Reid Trustee Mrs. Croom Robertson, Bursar, Girton College, Cambridge Miss Kensington, Sec., Girton College Miss Welsh, Mistress of Girton College Miss F.B. Ward, Vice-Mistress of Girton College Miss Anelay, Resident Lecturer in Natural Science, Girton Miss M. Daniel, Resident Lecturer on Classics, Girton College Miss E. C. Constance Jones, Resident Lecturer on Moral Science, Girton College Miss Meyer, Resident Lecturer on Mathematics, Girton College Miss J. E. Kennedy, Lecturer on Anglo-Saxon, Girton College Miss McArthur, Lecturer on History, Girton College Miss A.J. Clough, Principal of Newnham College Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, Treasurer of Newnham College Miss M. G. Kennedy, Hon. Sec. Newnham College Mrs. Henry Fawcett, Member of Council, Newnham College Mrs. Peile, Member of Council, Newnham College Miss Agnes Bell Collier, Lecturer in Mathematics, Newnham College Miss Anna Bateson, Lecturer in Natural Science, Newnham College Miss Mary Bateson, Lecturer in History, Newnham College Miss Alice Johnson, Demonstrator in Biology, Newnham College Miss Eliza Rhodes, Sec. To Correspondence Classes, Newnham College Mrs. Verrall, Lecturer in Classics, Newnham College Mrs. J. Ward, Lecturer on Moral Science, Newnham College Miss Maitland, Principal-Elect of Somerville Hall, Oxford Miss C. L. Maynard, Principal Westfield College, Hampstead Miss Mabel Theodora Beloe, B.A. Lond., Resident Lecturer in Mathematics, Westfield College Miss Josephine Willoughby, Resident Lecturer in Science, Westfield College Miss F. Ralph Gray, Visiting Lecturer in Classics, Westfield College Miss K. E. Dixon, Visiting Lecturer in Classics, Westfield College Mrs. Clark, M.A., Visiting Lecturer in English, Westfield College Miss Croudace, Lady Resident, Queen's College, Harley Street Miss Eleanor Grove, Principal of College Hall, Byng Place Miss Morison, Lady Superintendent of Women Students, University College, London Miss Agnes T. Ward, Maria Grey Training College Mrs. Beddoe, one of the Governors of Red Maids' School, Bristol Miss Kate B. Thomas, one of the Governors of Red Maids' School, Bristol Miss Fawcett, one of the Governors of Godolphin School, Salisbury Mrs. Simpson, one of the Governors of United Endowed School, Gloucester Miss Mary Gurney, Member of Council of G.P.D.S.C. Mrs. W. E. H. Lecky, Member of Council of G.P.D.S.C. Miss A. R. Bramston, Hon. Sec., High School, Winchester Miss Louisa Goold, Superintendent of College for Men and Women, Queen's Square, London, W.C12. PRINCIPALS OF SCHOOLS. PRINCIPALS OF SCHOOLS. Miss Dorothea Beale, Principal of Cheltenham Ladies' College Miss Buss, Head Mistress of North London Collegiate School for Girls Mrs. Byers, Principal, Victoria College, Belfast Miss Andrews, Head Mistress, Maida Vale High School Miss M. S. Benton, Head Mistress, South Hampstead High School Miss C. Bettany, Head Mistress, Girls' Endowed School, Dulwich Miss M. M. Blackmore, Head Mistress, Roan School, Greenwich Miss E. C. Bowen, Head Mistress, Red Maids' School, Bristol Miss Byles, Head Mistress, High School, Saltaire Miss Madeline Ward, Head Mistress, High School, York C. M. Calthrop, Head Mistress, Reading High School Miss Cocks, Head Mistress, Redland, Bristol. Miss Creak, B.A. Lord., Head Mistress, King Edward's High School, Birmingham Miss F. A. Crosland, Head Mistress, Girls' Grammar School, Mansfield Miss C. E. Disney, Head Mistress, Girls' High School, Berkhampstead Miss Dove, Head Mistress, St. Leonard's School, St. Andrews Miss Edge, Head Mistress, High School, Leicester Miss M. E. Findlay, B.A. Lon., Head Mistress, High School, Stockton-on-Tees Barbara Foxley, Head Mistress of the Church High School, Dewsbury Miss Marian Greene, Head Mistress, High School, Blackburn Miss Frances A. Gilbert, Lady Principal, Ladies' College, Guernsey Miss Isabel Graves, Head Mistress, High School, Birkenhead Miss S. J. Hamm, Head Mistress, Langton Schools, Canterbury Mrs. Hills, B.A., Principal, Girls' College, Bishop Stortford Miss M. L. Huckwell, Head Mistress, High School, Leamington Miss S. M. Huckwell, Head Mistress, Liverpool High School Miss G. Kinnear, Head Mistress, Park School, Glasgow Miss F. Johnson, Head Mistress, Girls' High School, Bolton Miss H. M. Jones, Head Mistress, Notting Hill High School Miss Fanny J. Lawford, Head Mistress, Camden School, N.W. Miss F. J. McCallum, Head Mistress, Girls' High School, Woolwich Miss Grace J. Masson, Head Mistress, High School, Middlesborough Miss Mary A. A. Minasi, Head Mistress, Highbury High School Miss Moberly, Head Mistress, Tunbridge Wells High School Miss Lucy Margaret Monro, Head Mistress, High School, Stamford Miss Mowbray, Head Mistress, Winchester High School Miss Mulvany, B.A., R.U.I., Head Mistress, Alexandra School, Dublin Miss Agnes A. O'Connor, Head Mistress, Clapham High School Miss Porter, Head Mistress, Girls' Modern School, Bedford Miss Mitchell, Head Mistress of the "Harpur Trust" Girls' Elementary School, Bedford Miss E. Roberts, Principal, Ladies' College, Jersey Miss Mortimer-Rowdon, Head Mistress, West Ham High School Miss M. E. Skeel, Head Mistress, High School, Nottingham Miss Tovey, Head Mistress, Streatham, High School Miss Winscombe, Principal, Broomshill Court, Stroud Miss Wilson, Lady Principal, Torquay High School for Girls Miss Mary A. Woods, Head Mistress, Clifton High School Miss Alice Woods, Head Mistress, Chiswick High School Miss S. Youngman, Head Mistress, Ipswich High School Miss Emily M. Lord, Principal of Kindergarten Training College Miss Sims, Head Mistress of the Bedford Kindergarten and Training College Miss Calver, Head Mistress, High School, Preparatory Dep., Middlesboro'. Miss Bailey, Doreck College, Kensington Gardens Square J. Brych, L.R.A.M., and Mrs. Marshall, Solihull The Misses Evans, Newtown, North Wales Mrs. Gilzean Colchester House, Bristol Miss d'Esterre Hughes, Lee Road Miss Fricker Hall, Bonham House, St. Leonards-on-Sea PRINCIPALS AND LADIES ENGAGED IN TEACHING. 13 Mrs. E. M. Hensley, Tavistock Mrs W. H. Hall, Aldeburgh Mrs. Hills, B.A., Principal East of England Girls' College Miss Kendall, Plymouth Miss Nops and Mrs. Ramsay, Surbiton The Misses Lawrence, Lewes Crescent, Brighton Mrs. Priestley, Avonbrooke, Tewkesbury Miss E. B. Redpath, Co-Principal SouthWest London College The Misses Robinson, Rutland House, Blundell Sands Miss E. Semple, Rathgar Road, Dublin Miss Tullis, St. Catherine's, Cardiff Mrs. Marles Thomas, Principal, Girls' Collegiate School, Carmarthen Miss Louisa Drewry, Teacher of English Language and Literature Miss Nash, 43 years a Teacher, Clifton Annie T.H. Rogers, Classical Tutor, Oxford Miss Mary W. Shilleto Visiting Tutor and Private Coach, Birkenhead E. C. Fullicks, L.C.P., Tutor Miss Florence Stacpoole, Lecturer to National Health Society Miss Mary Charlotte Sturge, Lecturer Miss Alice Gruner Mrs. Corbett, Examiner of Schools Miss A. R. Bramston, Hon. Sec. of the High School, Winchester Mrs. Bruce, Head Mistress, Elementary School Miss Amy Forster, Head Mistress, Elementary School Victoria College, Belfast-- Miss Anne Matier, Eng. Teacher Miss Wilhelmina Mitchell, Eng. Teacher High School, Birkenhead-- Georgina Laing, Painting Mistress Lily Ross Mina Jones Amy Stone May Powell King Edward School, Birmingham-- Edith Gardener Rose Womersley Margaret Rogers Church of England School, Edgbaston-- Florence Lefroy Girls' High School, Bolton-- F. S. Jervis Grammar School, Bradford-- Lucy Ward Ladies' College, Cheltenham-- Agnes Kilgour Constance C. Andrews St. Mary's Hall, Cheltenham-- Flora H. Bird, Superintendent Alice Reynolds Clara E. R. Tarbuck Sarah J. Hale High School, Croydon-- Theodora Clark High School, Dolgelly-- Edith M. Doubleday Lucy M. Thompson The Park School, Glasgow-- Isabel C. Fortey, Science Mistress Margaret P. Young, Classical Mistress Kerstine Forsman Roan School, Greenwich-- Blanche Butterfield Annie M. Colsell Grace Ellen Wayte Ladies' College, Guernsey-- R. Rose Ellen M. Graham Louisa Turner M. J. Swift Ladies' College, Jersey-- J. A. Roberts A. Benest S. Francis J. E. Basford F. Voisin High School, Ipswich-- Evelyn Birt E. Joanna Notcutt A. W. Lance Liverpool High School-- L. Silcox Grammar School for Girls, Maidstone-- E. Cripps Manchester High School-- Helen Murray M. Rome Amy Adamson C. A. Simon Annie Lawton Ludovika Gaffron High School, Middlesborough-- L. Craps J. Fitzgerald E. S. Turner Magdalena Werner High School, Highgate-- N. Dixon High School, Newcastle, Staff.-- Amy Westbury S. E. Shufflebotom S. Rhead Mary F. Markie S. M. Peake T. K. Poole14 LADIES ENGAGED IN TEACHING. High School, Notting Hill-- Miss Beevor Miss M.K. Wallas Lilia d'Esterre Keeling Miss C.C. Clark Miss Mabel Wild Miss Anna M. Jones Miss Edith Aitken Miss Kate Andrews Miss Olivie R. Harris Miss Amy G. Lefroy Miss M.L. Shedlock Miss A. Macaulay Miss C. M. Lawder Sheffield High School-- Helen D. Heatley Charlotte A. Denne, Kindergarten Mistress E.E. Lawrence L. Phillips York High School-- Ella Mostyn High School, Stamford-- Jessie Twemlow Marion A. Blair G.W. Hay High School, Southsea-- Agnes J. Rooke Emma Wilkinson Eliza F. Worship Annie Lole, Music Mistress Annie Douglas Emma Scott Bromshill Court, Stroud-- E.A. Thompson M.E. Ross J.J. Ross Tunbridge Wells High School-- Mary Kennedy Emily Straker W. Hoskins Abrahall, Bath M.A. Ainsworth, Darwen Margaret G. Appleby, Sale K.M. Baines, Balham E.M. Barret Helen Bayes, York H. Best, Winchester Katherine Blake, Bristol M. Buchan, Darwen Mary Anne Brett, York Katherine S. Brett, York Isabel Cassell, Streatham E.B. Cassell, Streatham Emma Cawthorn A.L. Codner, Southport E.D. Cookson, Middlesbro' L.M. Coombs M.E. Crompton E.J.C. Dingwall, Clapham N. Dixon, Highgate Madame Vogel Drouet, York E.M. Easterby, St. Asaph M.E. Easterby, St. Asaph F. Franks Mrs. Frost, Stratford-on-Avon Edith Frost, Stratford-on-Avon Rose Frost, Stratford-on-Avon Mary Gardner Una M. Godwin, Oxford Mary M. Gostling, Colchester K. Penrose Hammond, Salisbury Margaret L. Hann Mrs. Bowman Hart, Nottingham Elizabeth Healy, Clapham B.A. Holme, Manchester Margaret F.A. Husband M. James, Highbury H.M. Johnson, Cambridge Mabel Jones, Croydon Aerona Jones, Darwen E. Jones, Middlesboro' M. Jones, Middlesboro' Margaret D. Kerr, Brixton Edith Kiack, St. Leonard's-on-Sea E. Krabbe', Blackheath Julie Kraus, Clapham Rhoda V. Malleson, Croydon Helen Martin, Sunderland Elizabeth Martyn, Edinburgh Mary Matthison, Brondesbury Mrs. Alice H. Miall Kate Kiers Moakes, Teacher of Music Maria C. Mondy Margaret Nivet Julia Powis, Middlesbro' E.S. Preedy Pauline de Ratomska, Canonbury Place Gertrude E. Rendall, Canonbury Place Alice Ritchie, Brixton Anna Rowlands, Bangor H. Robertson Edith Robinson, Teacher of Drawing, Tunbridge Wells E.E. Rolfe Emily Sedgwick, Darwen A.M. Semple, Southport Emily Stanway, Taunton Mrs. J. Stocker, Bradford L. Carr Shaw Annie Shepperd, Middlesbro' Edith Simpson Therese C. Simpson, Portobello Clara Smith, Nottingham R.A. Sondan, Edinburgh Emily Swan, Eppleby Annie Townsend, Harley Street LOCAL SECRETARIES AND GRADUATES. 15 Mary A. Unthank, Middlesbro' A.C. Watt, Southport S.H. Whiting, Ramsgate Charlotte Wilson, Clapham A.C. Winney, Birmingham Sarah L. Williams, Bangor Miss Arnott, Teacher of Cookery, Clifton Miss Bessie Wright, Teacher of Dressmaking, Merchant Venturers' School, Bristol Miss Katherine Willis, Merchant Venturers' School, Bristol Miss Marian Walpole, Teacher of Gymnastics, Dublin SECRETARIES TO LOCAL EXAMINATIONS. Miss S.A. Bragg, Plymouth Miss M.M. Calder, Liverpool Miss L. Collinson, Ealing Miss Hinds Howell, Norwich Miss Janion, Southport Mrs. Jeffery, Bath Mrs. Kyle, Coatham Mrs. Leech, Bury St. Edmund's Miss G. Nash, Bishop Stortford Mrs. Reid, Swansea Miss J.T. Ridley, Regent's Park Mrs. A. Russell, Willesden Miss Stables, Leeds Miss Swan, St. John's Wood Mrs. Tubbs, Hastings Mrs. E.A. Wyse, Dover GRADUATES AND DEGREE-CERTIFICATED STUDENTS. Mary M. Adamson, B.Sc. Lond. Bessie Anderson, B.A., R.U.I. Miss Edith Aitkin, Girton Mrs. Ayrton, Girton G.M. Bedford, B.A. Lond. Mary Amelia Bennett, Girton Sarah Birch, B.A. Vict. Univ. Anna Birt, B.A. Lond. Malvina H.J. Borchardt, Girton M.L. Bostock, B.A. Lond. Alice Browne, B.A. Lond. Mrs. Bryant, D.Sc. Lond. Marian Busk, B.Sc. Lond. Sara A. Burstall, B.A. Lond. Laura E. Cadwalladr, B.A. Lond. Jessie Mary Chambers, B.Sc. Lond. Eleanor M. Chew, B.A. Ada B. Clark, B.A. Lond. Amy Clark, M.A, Lond. Helena Coburn, B.A., R.U.I. Sarah Coburn, B.A., R.U.I. Clara E. Collet, M.A. Lond. Edith S. Collet, B.A. Lond. Mary Collin, B.A. Lond. Josephine Conan, B.A., R.U.I. E. Cooke, B.A. Lond. Lilian A. Cowell, Girton A. Dawe, B.A. Lond. Annie K. Dawson, B.A., R.U.I. Edith M. Dukes, B.A. Lond. Annie E. Eastwood, B.A. Lond. Florence Eves, B.Sc. Lond. Susan Emily Findon, B.A. Lond. J.S. Gill, Girton Janet Greener, B.A. Joan A. Gruner, Girton M. Hanbidge, B.A. Lond. Fanny Harrison, Girton Annie W. Haslett, M.A., R.U.I. E. Dora Higginson, B.A. Lond. Emmeline Hurst, B.Sc. Adela Kensington, Girton Margaret S. Ker, Girton Mary Stewart Kilgour, Girton M.L. Johnson, B.A. Lond. S.C. Julyan, Girton Elizabeth Lawdor, Girton Marion Ledward, B.A. Vict. Univ. Alice E. Lee, B.A., B.Sc. Lond. Florence Kate Lee, B.A. Lond. J. Little, B.A., R. U. I. Beatrice Lindsay, Girton M.A. Lyster, M.A., R.U.I. M. MacDermott, B.A., R.U.I. Louisa Macdonald, M.A. Lond. Louisa McIntosh, B.A., R.U.I. Sophie Elise Marshall, B.Sc. Lond. Ada S. Miall, B.A. Lond. E.H. Major, Girton Ellen Maddin, M.A. Lond. Alice Mitchell, B. Sc. Lond. Caroline A. Moffett, B.A. Lond. Elizabeth Jane Moffett, B.Sc. Lond. Ethel Montague, B.A. Lond. Lucy F. Morland, B.A. Lond. F. Henrietta Müller, Girton Margaret Jane Nimmo, B.A. Alice Oldham, B.A., R.U.I. L.C. Payne, Girton Emily Peace, B.A. Lond. H. Perry, B.A. Mary L.G. Petrie, B.A. Lond. Miss Pilcher, B.Sc. Alice B. Reid, B.A. Lond. M.E. Rayson, B.A. Lond. Mary A. Rendall, B.A. Lond.16 MEDICAL. Mary W. Robertson, M.A., R.U.I. Annie Robertson, B.A M. Robertson, B.A. Lond. Mrs. Ross, M.A. (nee Hamilton). Florence Routledge, B.A. Lond. Hilda C. Smith, B.A. Lond. E. G. M. Story, M.A., R.U.I. Eliz. H. Sturge, B.A. Lond. Alice M. E. Sutton, B.A. Marian A. Taylor, B.A. Lond. Mabel M. Taylor, Girton Elizabeth F. Toone, B.Sc. Lond. M. S. Walker, B.A. Lond. Letitia Walkington, M.A., R.U.I K.T. Wallas, Girton Ellen S. Watson, B.A. Lond. Mary Wilson, B.A., R.U.I. Georgina Wishart, B.A. Lond. Mrs. R. H. Withiel, B.A. Lond. Mrs. Wm. Noel Woods, B.A. Lond. Alice Zimmern, Girton REGISTERED MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS. Mrs. Garrett-Anderson, M.D. Paris Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D. Clarinda Boddy, M.D. Bern, L.K.Q.C.P.I. Annie E. Clark, M.D. Bern, L.K.Q.C.P.I. Julia Cock, L.K.Q.C.P.I. Lucy E. Cradock, L.K.Q.C.P.I. Annie de la Cherois, M.D., L.K.Q.C.P.I. Eliza W. Dunbar, M.D., L.K.Q.C.P.I. Charlotte Ellaby, M.D. C. Honoria Graham, M.D. Bern, L.K.Q.C.P.I. and L.M Sarah Gray, L.R.C.P. and S. Glas. Edith A. Huntley, M.D. Brussels, L.K.Q.C.P.I. Sophia Jex-Blake, M.D. Bern, L.K.Q.C.P.I. Alice J.S. Ker, M.D. Bern, L.K.Q.C.P.I. Annie McCall, M.D. Bern, L.K.Q.C.P.I. Agnes McLaren, M.D. Mary Marshall, M.D. Paris Julia Mitchell, L.K.Q.C.P.I. J.M. Rushbrook, L.K.Q.C.P.I. Mrs. Scharlieb, M.B. and Bs. Lond. Edith Shove, M.B. London Jane H. Walker, L.K.Q.C.P.I. Helen Webb, M.B. London MEDICAL STUDENTS, ETC. Elizabeth A. Baker, Edinburgh M.K. Barclay, Edinburgh Dorothea Caine Susan Campbell Elizabeth Christie, Edinburgh E.L. Dove Ellen M. Farrer M.A. Handson Isabel W. Harper, Dublin Jane B. Henderson, Portobello B.M. Harrison, Royal Free Hospital Marion Hunter Elsie Inglis, Edinburgh Annie W. Jagannadham, Edinburgh Minnie L. C. Madgtson J. Marsh, Edinburgh Nora O'Flaherty, Edinburgh Margaret Pearse, Edinburgh Jean S. Robertson, Edinburgh Rosa M. Skinner Caroline Sturge, London Margaret G. Todd, Edinburgh Ethel N. Williams E. Winifred Dickson, Dublin J. Black, Sec. School of Medicine, Surgeon Square, Edinburgh Mrs. Thorne Mrs. E. Bolton Lacey, Surgeon-Dentist Mary J. Hall, M.D. S.H. Crawford, Dispenser, Hospital for Women and Children, Edinburgh Marian Field, Dispenser Miss E.M. Mansell, Superintendent, Met. National Nursing Association Miss L. Osborne, Superintendent Met. National Nursing Association Miss Hallawell, Nurse Matron, Cottage Hospital, Bridport Mrs. Jane E. Gerson, Lady Midwife Mary Leslie Wright, Nurse, Colchester Mary Ann Seamark, District Nurse, Bridport Sarah Watson, Medical Nurse E. Musgrave, Nurse A. Deane, Hospital Nurse Katherine Eliza Elphick, Hospital Nurse Rachel Frances Lumsden, Hon. Supt., Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen Katherine M. Lumsden, Hon. Supt. Hospital for Sick Children, Aberdeen LITERATURE. Miss Anna Swanwick Mrs. Richmond Ritchie Mrs. Pfeiffer Miss Lizzie Aldridge Mrs. G. Linnaeus Banks Miss A.W. Buckland Miss Anna Buckland Miss Elizabeth Rachel Chapman LITERATURE AND ART 17 Miss Frances Power Cobbe Mrs. Emily Crawford, Paris Miss Sophia Dobson Collett Miss Amelia B. Edwards Miss Matilda Betham-Edwards Mrs. Eiloart Miss Caroline Fothergill Miss Jessie Fothergill Mrs. Hartley (nee Laffan) Mrs. A.W. Hunt Miss Henrietta Keddie (Sarah Tytler) Mrs. Craig Knox Miss Leroy (Esme Stuart) Mrs. Emma Marshall Mrs. F.E.M. Notley Miss Charlotte Grace O'Brien Miss Dorothea Roberts Miss Adeline Sergeant Miss Arabella Shore Miss Louisa Shore Miss Edith Simcox Mrs. Frank Snoad Mrs. J.K. Spender Miss Emily Spender Miss Mary C. Tabor Mrs. Stopes Miss Katherine Tynan Miss Edith Thompson Mrs. Augusta Webster Miss Julia Wedgwood Miss Florence Armstrong Miss E.L. Browne Phyllis Browne Mrs. Carey-Hobson Miss Louisa Clayton Miss Susan Carpenter Elise Cooper Miss Mary De Morgan Miss Catherine Drew Mrs. Furley Mrs. J.E. French, Southsea Miss Gill Harriet E.S. Hatton Miss Emily Hill Miss Georgina Hill Miss Edith Hill Miss Constance Howell Miss Catherine Impey Mrs. Innes Miss Ethel Johnson Miss Rose Kavanagh Mrs. Barrett Lennard Miss Frances Lord Miss Helen G. McKerlie Miss Beatrice E. de Jersey Moore Miss Honor Morten Miss Mary Onley Mrs. Horne Payne Mrs. Tabor Stephenson Miss H.B. Temple Miss M. King Roberts Miss Sophie F.F. Veitch Mrs. Robert A. Watson, Aberdeen Miss Bramston ART AND MUSIC. Madame Antoinette Sterling Miss Agnes Zimmerman Mrs. E.M. Ward Miss Sophia Beale Madame Louisa Starr Canziaui Miss F.W. Currey, Lismore Miss S. Isabel Dacre Mrs. William de Morgan (Miss Evelyn Pickering) Miss Margaret T. Dicksee Mrs. L. Stackpoole Haycraft Miss A.P. Hullah, Musician Mrs. Jopling Miss M.J. Toler Kingsley Miss Jessie Macgregor Mrs. Felix Moscheles Miss Osborn, Artist Miss Constance Phillott, A.R.W.S. Miss Mary Redmond, Sculptress Mrs. S.B. Bancroft Mrs. Roeckel (Jules de Sivrai), Composer and Professor of Music Mrs. Villiers, Professor of Singing, Clifton Mrs. Swynnerton Miss Louisa M. Wilkinson Miss Emily Ford Miss Ethel Webling Mrs. Bellot Miss Charlotte E. Babb Miss Mary Beechcroft Esther Maria Bakewell Ella M. Bedford Sarah Birch, Brighton Miss Burrow, Addison Road Alice Mary Chambers Miss Marion Chase Miss Jessie Chase Elizabeth M. Chettle, Bedford Miss Eleanor Clifford, Newport Miss Alice Clinton, Professor of Music Henrietta Cresswell Catherine Gertrude Cruickshank Emma Cooper Miss Anna Dabis, Sculptor Mrs. Earnshaw Miss Celia Davis, York Eliza Elwes Maud Earl18 SOCIAL AND PHILANTHROPIC WORKERS. Miss Emily Susan Ford Lydia Gay, Sculptor Miss M.J. Gibson Miss Elizabeth Guinness A. Jane Harrison, Newcastle Staff S.C. Harrison Gertrude Homan Bertha Jeffreys Victoria Levin Miss Susan Lecky Miss Emily Lees Ethel Lewis, Violinist Mary Leyton, Musician Miss Alice Manly Miss Eleanor Manly Marianne Mansell Lisie Morgan, Organist Nessy Naylor, St. Leonard's Miss Catherine Maude Nichols, Warwick Miss Mary O'Hea, Actress, Dublin Lucy Peck, Hendon Miss Emma Phipson, Woodcarver Ethel J. Rosenberg Miss Augusta M. Reid Miss Elizabeth Rhodes, Musician Mrs. Madox Rossetti, Historical Painter Miss Kate Sadler Alice N. Scott H.E. Smith Mrs. Carlton Smith Lillian C. Smythe, Etcher Miss Turck Mabel S. Townsend, York Kate Calder Tylee Mary L. Waller Annie Ward, Croydon Miss Annie Wardlow Miss Marie A. Wardlow Josephine Webb, Dublin Kate M. Whitley, Leicester. SOCIAL AND PHILANTHROPIC WORKERS. Miss Jessie Boucherett Miss L.M. Hubbard Miss E.A. Manning, National Indian Association Miss A.P. Irby Mrs. Salis Schwabe Mrs. J.G. Fitch Mrs. S.A. Barnett Miss Marianne Donkin Miss Caroline Ashurst Biggs Mrs. Sheldon Amos Mrs. Percy Bunting Miss Lidgett Mrs. Booth, Salvation Army Mrs. Bramwell Booth, Salvation Army Mrs. Booth-Tucker, Salvation Army Mrs. Lucas, President British Women's Temperance Association Mrs. Walker, Vice-Pres. British Women's Temperance Association, Scottish C.U. Mrs. Westlake Mrs. Hilton, Bow Miss Charlotte Mason, Home of Rest, Kilburn Miss Lee, Bath Miss Bridges, Bath Miss L.F. March Phillips, Cheltenham Miss Emma Cons Mrs. Manning Prentice, Bristol Miss I.M.S. Tod, Belfast Mrs. Butler, The Close, Winchester Mrs. Steward, Ongar Miss Gertrude Dutton, Deaconess Mrs. Sims Mrs. S, Woolcot Browne Miss Annie Leigh Browne Miss Annette Bear Mrs. Heberden Miss L.M. Cooper Mrs. Beavington-Atkinson Miss Llewelyn Davies Mrs. Humphry, Cambridge Miss Emma Miller, Cambridge Mrs. Rose Mary Crawshay Madame Parkes Belloc Mrs. Haslam, Dublin Mrs. Edmundson, Prison Gate Mission, Dublin Mrs. Webb, Killiney, Dublin Miss Deborah Webb, Dublin Mrs. Wigham Killiney, Dublin Miss Cusack, Dublin Mrs. Jane B. Gough, Dublin Mrs. Murphy, Templeogue Miss Lucy Smithson, Sanitary Association, Dublin Mrs. Dowden Allman, Hon. Sec. Boarding-out Committee, Cork Mrs. Barry, Reviera, Cork Mrs. Healy, Homeville, Cork Miss Hannah E. White, Cork Mrs. Harvey, Grange, Waterford Miss M.H. Hart Miss Ethel Forsyth, Managing Director, Forsyth Technical College Miss Littlejohn, Hon. Sec. Boarding-out Committee, Clifton Miss Catherine Sturge, Treas. Pres. Mission, Bristol Miss Matilda Sturge Miss Elizabeth Sturge WOMEN IN BUSINESS. 19 Mrs. Forster, Agent for Bristol Emigration Society Misses Skinner, Babbacombe, Torquay Catherine Porter, Senior Female Officer, Glamorgan Co. Asylum Miss Mayo, Superintendent, Certified Home for Girls, Ealing Miss Steer, Director, Bridge of Hope Refuge, Ratcliffe Highway Miss Mary Burnett, St. Mary's Training Home, Notting Hill Mrs. Jane Anne Keene, Hon. Sec. Belmont Home Mrs. Helps, Hampstead Mrs. Edwardes Jones Mrs. J. E. Mylne Miss Blanche Medhurst Mrs. Annie Percival, C.O.S. Sec, Canonbury Misses Pritchard, Canonbury Miss Elizabeth A. Tournier, Chelsea Miss Robarts, Hampstead Miss Jane Wilson Miss Adeline Dickson, Bath Miss E.G. Hopkins, Matron, Girls' Home, Bath Mrs. Blower, Mission Woman, Melbourne Miss Maria S. Lee, Thame Miss Catherine Temple, Oxford Miss Harriet Thomas, Oxford Mrs. Spence Watson, Gateshead Mrs. Hannah Turner, Matron of Training Home, Sunderland Mrs. W.H. Turner, Hon. Sec. Mourning Reform Association Miss Mary Watson, Clifton Miss S. Courtenay Boyle, Whitechapel Miss Vernon Miss Annie Young, Maidenhead Miss Lucy Bligh, Brighton WOMEN ENGAGED IN BUSINESS. Miss Amy E. Bell Miss Jessie Connah, Auditor Miss Harris Smith, Accountant Miss Helen Clegg, Accountant Mrs. Cooper Oakley, Milliner Miss Edith A. Davis, Director of the Lady Guides' Association Miss Dyer, Milliner, Bristol Miss Agnes Garrett, House Decorator Miss Mary Hamilton Miss M.H. Hart, Oxford Street Mrs. Curling Hope, Stationer, Hastings Miss A. Smith, Stationer, Nottingham Mrs. Mitchell, Sussex Ware Manufacturer, Rye Mrs. Lomas, Umbrella Manufacturer, Stockport Mrs. Dowden Varian, Brush Manufacturer, Dublin Mrs. Jane Waller, Lace Manufacturer, Stapleford Miss Fanny Eason Wilkinson, Landscape Gardener Mrs. Impey, Jam Manufacturer, Somerset Miss Impey, Seed Grower, Somerset Miss Nunney, Queen's Hotel, Bristol Mrs. J. Spencer, Farmer, Sturton-by-Stow Miss d'Arenberg, Great Russell Street Mrs. Galbraith, Lodging House Keeper, Chester Terrace Mary A. Law, Confectioner, Darwen Margaret Milligan, Milliner, Darwen Eliza Julia McFarlane, Clerk Emily Paterson, Secretary, Westbury-on-Trym Miss F. Margaret Smith, L.L.A., Type Writer Mrs. Reynolds, Draper, Bridport Jane Russell, Secretary, Crowndale Road Mrs. and Misses Windsor, Drapers Miss Parsons, Draper, Wotton-under-Edge Mary Somerville, Lady's Maid Miss Truscott, Postmistress, Launceston Miss Weede, Printer Maria Williams, Temperance Hotel Proprietor Mrs. Anna Weeks, Lodging House Keeper, Chester Terrace Mrs. H. Walker, Fishmonger, King's Road Mary Alice and Ann Ainsworth, Confectioners Anne Baker, Clerk Miss Ethelrinda Hadwen, Type Writer, Edinburgh Minnie Baker, Typist Miss Elizabeth B. Fleming, Type Writer, Edinburgh E. Caldon, Book Keeper P. Hodge, Book Keeper, Ruthin F. Bowdley, Dress Maker Jane B. Weale, Dress Maker, Girvan M. Girvan, Milliner, Girvan Mrs. Donald Miss Whyte B. McKennar, Girvan Mrs. Toombs, Taplow Mrs. Longhurst, Taplow Mrs. Brewster, Housekeeper Martha Ann Moss, Hyde Ada Wilson, Hyde Sarah Sandbach, Hyde20 LANDOWNERS. LANDOWNERS. Miss Anthony, Much Hadham Miss Aylmer, Donadea Castle Miss Atkinson, Sale Miss Frances Baynes, Manor House, Bucks Miss Boucherett, Lady of the Manor of Willingham, and Stallingborough, Lincolnshire Miss Susan Maria ffarrington, Lady of the Manors of Leyland-cum-Ulms Walton and Pennartham Mrs. Brigstock, Blaenpant Mrs. Brooks, Somerset Street, W. Mrs. Joseph Cross, Bolton-le-Moors Miss Margaret Child, Offcote Hurst Miss De Burgh Mary Anne Jones, Royston Miss Lloyd, Dolgelly Miss Ewart, Coneyhurst Mrs. Grimshawe, Goldington Grange, Beds. Misses Harvey, Goldington Hall F.A. Jolliffe, East Cowes Miss Elizabeth Tachbrook Landor, Leamington Mrs. Massingberd, Gunsby, Lincolnshire Miss Morgan, Brecknock Mrs. Pierrepont Mundy, Thornbury House, Gloucester Mrs. R. Peek, Sussex Miss E.J. Webley Parry, Cardigan Mrs. Richards, Caerynwch Miss Schaw-Protheroe, Glyntaf House, South Wales Mrs. George Rooke, Sale Miss Emma Williams, Henlys Miss Caroline Williams, Kensington Mrs. Blake, Renvyle Miss Wilson, Coolcarrigan Miss A.A, Butler, Dublin Mrs. Lock-Roe, Representative of the Lynton Manors Mrs. J.P. Bell, Waverley House, Hull Mrs. L.A. Soulby, Lady of he Manor of East Keal Miss Laura Calmady, Knighton Miss H.H. Tatlock, Halesworth Mrs. Dirom, Annan Miss Caroline Richardson, Grasmere Mrs. Upton-Cottrell-Dormer, Ingmire Hall, Sedburgh Madame Bodichon In addition to the above the following names have been received: - Mrs. Simpson Kilton Cottage; Miss Harriet Ronald, Mrs. Julia Price, Miss Helen E. Ronald, Battersea Mrs. Agnes Johnston, Mrs. Catherine Oughton, Mrs. Janet Nelson, Mrs. Mary Ann Clark, Mrs. Eleanor Brewin, Dumfries Mrs. Annie Richmond, Mrs. Margaret Selkirk, Mrs. Margaret Roberts, Mrs. Elizabeth Griffiths, Mrs. Eliza Gardh, Mrs. J.A. Torkington, Sarah Hamilton, Agnes Cuddeford, Southport; MIsses Moddy, St. Helen's Mrs. Sarah Jaques, Mrs. Sarah Brown, Mrs. and Miss Sarah Dallman, Mrs. Pass, Mrs. Brown, Miss Lemon; Misses H. Winter, J. Moore, G. Earle, E. Morris, H. Adcock, E.A. Winnall, Mary Peet, A.M.B. Winnall; Mrs. Arnason, Mrs. S.J. Winnall; Misses Fanny Cheadle, Alice and Kate Dallman, A. Worrall, M. Whittington, A. Kenndall, L. Hastings, E. Collyer, A. Bradshaw, Melbourne. Mrs. E. Frise, Caroline Fryman, Ellen Garson, Sarah Henley, E. Vennall, Ann Vennall. Mrs. Wolseley, Mrs. R.C. Hunt, Miss C.M. Jones, Mrs. Weale, Miss Forster, Mrs. Grace White, Bedford. Miss Mary Reeves, Miss Susanna T. Reeves and Miss H. Reeves, Douglas, Cork. Miss Greatorex, Cumberland Place Elizabeth Threlfall, Annie Threfall, Clara S.E. Cox NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE. CENTRAL COMMITTEE. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. ProfesSor ADAMSON Mrs. ASHFORD Mrs. S.A. BARNETT Miss BECKER Miss C.A. BIGGS Miss HELEN BLACKBURN Miss JESSIE BOUCHERETT Miss FRANCESS POWER COBBE Colonel COTTON, M.P. Miss COURTENAY The Rt. Hon. LEONARD COURTENEY, M.P. Miss F. DAVENPORT-HILL Miss EMILY DAVIES Captain EDWARDS-HEATHCOTE, M.P. Mrs. HENRY FAWCETT LOUISA LADY GOLDSMID Mrs. HALLETT The Viscountess HARBERTON Mrs. HASLAM Miss MORDAN T.W. RUSSELL, Esq., M.P. Mrs. STPHE SPRING-RICE Mrs. STERLING Miss TOD And Delegates of Associated Societies --- Hon. Secretary and Treasurer - Mrs. FAWCETT Parliamentary Agent - MISS BECKER Secretary - MISS BLACKBURN Bankers - LONDON & COUNTY BANK - HOLBORN BRANCH, New Oxford Street Office - 10, GREAT COLLEGE STREET, WESTMINSTER, LONDON, S.W. --- ASSOCIATED SOCIETIES MANCHESTER NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE. Established 1867. Honourary Secretary: Miss BECKER. Treasurer: Professor ADAMSON. Office: Queen's Chambers, 5, John Dalton Street, Manchester. BRISTOL AND WEST OF ENGLAND BRANCH OF THE NATINAL SOCIETY FOR WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE. Established 1868. President: The COUNTESS OF PORTSMOUTH. Hon. Secretary and Treasurer: Mrs. LILIAS ASHWORTH HALLETT. Secretary: Miss BLACKBURN. Office: 69, Park Street, Bristol. NORTH OF IRELAND BRANCH OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE. Established 1871. Hon. Secretary: Miss ISABELLA TOD, 40, University Road, Belfast. DUBLIN SOCIETY - Established 1874. Hon. Secretaries: Mrs. HASLAM, 91 Rathmines Road, Dublin: Miss MACDOWELL. LUTON COMMITTEE - Established 1880. Hon. Secretary: Miss LOUISA BIGG.PUBLICATIONS ISSUED BY THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. A. LIST OF PARLIAMENT FRIENDS OF WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE, reprinted from the Women's Suffrage Journal. Price 1d. DECLARATION IN FAVOUR OF WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE, being a complete List of the Signatures received at 10, Great College Street, Westminster. Price 2d. OPTIONS OF CONSERVATIVE LEADERS. Leaflet, 1s. 6d. per 100. WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE. Reasons for supporting the Extension of the Franchise. 1s. per 100. A LETTER FROM AN ENGLISHWOMAN TO ENGLISHWOMEN. 1s. 6d. per 100. SPEECH OF THE COUNTESS OF PORTSMOUTH at the Annual Meeting, July 9th, 1889. Price 1d. TWO LESSONS. A PAPER READ AT A CONFERENCE HELD IN LONDON, MARCH, 1891. --- THE HISTORY of the agitation with which this Conference is concerned (against the Contagious Diseases Acts), - and likewise that of another movement wherein I have myself taken part (against Vivisection), have, together, taught me two lessons. I think it may be of some interest, and not perhaps wholly unprofitable, to explain what those lessons have been. First. I have learned that the bias of opinion in the Medical (and possibly, in some other professions,) is stronger and more rigid than, antecedently to experience, I could have believed. So strong, in fact, is the current on which professional minds are borne that only a very few escape being carried entirely off their feel, or are able to swim even a little way against the tide. Nor is the swerving limited to a direction of the opinions of men in the line of their professional prejudices ad interests; but, further, distorts their perceptions of facts sufficiently to render their reports and statements onesided and untrustworthy. They close their eyes to everything which militates against the professional creed, and exaggerate out of proportion whatsoever may seem to afford it support; and this (we must in candour believe) almost unconsciously to themselves. Unfortunately, the facts wherewith hygiencies and the Healing Art are concerned, are always so fluctuating, and frequently so obscure and liable to various interpretations, that the medical man who chooses to see them in one light and refuses to see them in another, has more margin for misapprehension and more excuses for misstatement that are open to persons engaged in other pursuits. If, for example, a child die shortly after vaccination, the doctor who signs the certificate will always see is way to selecting, among two or three other possible causes of death, one which does not trace it to the vaccine lymph. Or when a woman has expired after being trampled on by her husband in hob-nailed shoes. it will go hard but a doctor can be found to testify that she suffered from heart-disease; and that her untimely demise was, at worst, "accelerated" by the hon-nailed shoes on her stomach. These things being so, it follows that it is wrong for us as private individuals, to base our judgment respecting any moral question (as was my own case at first regarding your agitation_ either on the opinion of a medical expert or even 2 on his statement of the facts on which our judgment may be formed. Difficult as it may be, we are bound before decision to verify by independent testimony any medical dicta on which we propose to regulate our attitude on the matter in question.* Still more emphatically it should follow that the Legislature ought not, without much sifting and verification from outside sources, - to enact any measure based upon the opinions and data furnished by medical experts.. The fact that all Parliaments and Chambers are now in the habit of doing this as a matter of course, and that they would scoff at the suggestion to refer to other than medical men for instruction regarding any matter connected with the public health, - is a deplorable circumstance, fraught with peril in the near future. Our trains are driven by colour-blind men. It is noticeable also that the medical mind is not only greatly warped, but uniformly warped, in one, and that a specially unfortunate, direction. Even if not theoretic materialists, medical men almost universally (not unnaturally) give to the interests of the Body a place above that which they have a right to hold, compared to those of the conscience and heart of man. The result is, that medical influence invariably presses down the scale on the side of the )rea or supposed) physical advantages of the community - regardless of the disastrous moral consequences which may, very probably, be involved along with them. The case is somewhat analogous to that of the old influence of a priesthood whose judgment was distorted by an exaggerated estimate of the importance of correct belief compared to righteous conduct. This bias, as we all know, still causes very worthy clergymen to misrepresent favourably the characters of those who accept their shibboleths, and unfavourably those who refuse them; and in former centuries when sacerdotal influence was at its height, they prevailed everywhere on kings and nations to legislate with abominable cruelty against Jews and witches, Catholics or Protestants, as the case might be. This priestly bias has --- *I have lately been engaged in preparing a series of 10 leaflets, each headed "MY DOCTOR TELLS ME;" every one of which contains (as I consider) an absolute refutation of a statement so commonly made by doctors as to have passed into the public mind as an incontrovertible fact, e.g. that "Experiments on Animals are only performed under Anaesthetics;" that "Curare is not employed;" that "the most important discoveries in Medicine, in Physiology and Surgery have been made by Vivisection;" that "Koch cures Consumption;" that "Pasteur cures Hydrophobia;" and that "There is very little Vivisection in England;" &c, &c. The series can be obtained at the Office of the Victoria Street Society. Price 2d. per dozen. 3 well-nigh passed away, and its evil influence is almost forgotten; but the bias of the new Priesthood of Science gathers force and seems further warped from truth and justice every day, and moreover threatens us with a baser class of dangers. It was disastrous for a nation to hold autos-da-fe (and Spain groans under the consequences to this day), - even to save, as it was assured, thousands of immortal souls from perdition. It is more degrading for it to consent formally, through its elected legislature, to the cruel usage of defenceless women and the martyrdom of harmless brutes, for the much lower purpose of escaping, or of finding a remedy - for bodily disease. And lastly, even on its own ground, Medical Opinion at this time is an ill-omened guide. It is no longer on purity, temperance, cleanliness, and industry, that our medical guides insist as the conditions of health. Physical and moral well-being have now scarcely any ostensible connection. It is by squirting into our veins the filthy products of diseases artificially created in miserable animals that we are to be protected from the ills to which flesh is heir. By self-indulgence rather than self-restraint, perhaps by Vice rather than by Virtue, we are to cherish our health. The Second lesson which I have gathered from your movement, and from that against Vivisection, has a larger scope even than the first. It is; - that the benefit of the community must never be sought by means involving injustice or cruelty to a single one of its members; or even to the brutes. That law, which in these days of Darwinism, over-rides in the majority of minds every other, - the Survival of the Fittest, with its corollary of the sacrifice of the Unfit, - is valid only for unmoral, unintelligent Nature. For us, rational and moral children of God. He has given quite another rule; the law of Justice to all, of Mercy tp the weak. Human society is built up on this higher law. Civilisation itself began simultaneously with its control, and would perish and disappear in primaeval barbarism were it ever to be renounced. The common mistake of Christendom has been to imagine that though this law is rightfully dominant over the individual, and that he could not escape from iys authority (either for his own benefit or that of any other individual), yet that the Community might give itself dispensation from it; and that, for the benefit of the Community, injustice and mercilessness might be shown to individuals. It is not so, my friends! A thousand times I say No! There is no such thing as a real benefit to a community which is purchasable at the price of injustice to its meanest 4 members. In the deepest sense Le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle. The evil done by any such injustice far more than counterbalances any good; nor is it for man - or for ten millions of men by one great plebiscite, to decide that any conceivable good to the community should be lawfully obtained obtained by an act per se unjust or cruel. The old Roman Law of the Twelve Tables "Salus pupuli suprema est lex"; holds good only if the "Salus" to be interpreted as that higher "well-being" which consists in the righteousness which exalteth a nation. "It is expedient," said the Jewish priest, "that one man should die for the people." But it is only expedient when the man dies a willing martyr. The welfare of mankind has been promoted immeasurably by self-sacrifice; but the sacrifice which is not the free offering of the victim, but the tyrannous immolation of the individual by the community for its own benefit, - is not "expedient". It is the very reverse of expedient. It cannot fail to be fraught with disastrous consequences to the nation which sanctions it, and thus deliberately damps down the moral fires on its own hearth. Though it be magnified to colossal proportions, it is Selfishness still; and it is only baser, the more numerous and strong and rich and clever are those who exercise it, and the more weak and poor and stupid those whom it sacrifices. This lesson, which, though never unknown to me, has been freshly borne in upon my mind with the force of a great moral truth through these movements of ours, is, I believe, more needed in these days than ever since Christianity - which is or ought to be, the worship of GOODNESS - superseded Paganism, which is the worship of POWER. Every day the pretext of the "benefit of the community" is used more and more as if it were a final argument whereby every spoliation of property, every invasion of personal rights, - even the most sacred of such rights, such as that of the wife to nurse her sick husband, the mother to tend her dying child, - may be ruthlessly set aside, and every cruelty licensed by Act of Parliament. Believe me, my friends, and take it as a principle never to be waived or disregarded; - It is not the good of the community which will be attained by any Legislation which tramples on the rights of the humblest or the meanest. It will, on the contrary, be the curse and ruin of any community to forsake the Divine aw of doing justice and loving mercy, and to retrograde to the Pagan, - nay, rather to the savage principle of crushing the weak and few, for the sake of the strong and the many. FRANCES POWER COBBE. Hengwrt, Dolgelly.