A minimum wage bill, similar to the one in force in Oregon, which has been declared constitutional by the United States Supreme Court, is now before the Legislature, drawn on the recommendation of the State Factory Investigating Commission.
If the war continues, the demand, not for more protection, but for the suspension of existing labor laws, will become more insistent. The needs of the country for increased production will be irresistible and will not be satisfied for many years.
The test which the government should insist shall be applied to every occupation in which women engage is this: What effect will it have on the one business in life which is especially theirs, the production and conservation of human life? How can it be safeguarded so it shall not exact too great a toll from their health and vitality?
Every consideration that individuals and the State can give must be engaged in the study of this question. With the vote in her hands, the woman in industry will be able to protect herself better than before, but the responsibility for her welfare rests not on herself alone, but on other women, especially on those who are free from the grinding struggle themselves, and can do as they choose with their time. It is part of their responsibility to see that the most conscientious and careful consideration be given to this question.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] Thanks are due Miss Mary Dreier, a member of the recent New York State Factory Investigating Commission, for this picture of the work which women are doing.
XXII
AMERICANIZATION
The United States is still a medley of foreign nationalities, representing all the races of the world, with their social characteristics, customs, prejudices, and even language unchanged. No one need be disconcerted by this fact, for the people who came over in the Mayflower were foreign-born, the founders of the city of New York were of foreign birth, and so were the first families of Virginia.
In New York State only 35 per cent. of the population is of native birth and descent. Almost one-third is foreign-born; one-third of the children born here have one or both parents of foreign birth. Even with all the resources at our command it would have been a giant task to have assimilated such huge numbers of such divergent races.
The United States was established as a nation where justice, freedom, and opportunity were to be assured to all the people. For over a century it has been a refuge for men and women of foreign lands, who have been oppressed and have longed for freedom, and who have sought wider opportunity for themselves and their children.