1893 - State Library Information Center

90 STATISTICS OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIES.Of the total number, 309 reported a surplus above expendituresand 107 debts above income. The average amount of savingsUr the past and former years by 355 individuals was $133.There was no attempt made to investigate the " character " ofthe working women, either as a class or of those included in thepresent tabulations, for this was foreign to the end of the presentinquiry. Nor is it believed that such an investigation is practicable,or one of the duties of this Bureau. Both the MassachusettsBureau and that of the National government, referred toabove, collected a few statistics of a negative nature on this eubject,and Commissioner Wright*, from da f aat his disposal, statesthat u from all that can be learned one need not hesitate inasserting that the working women of the country are as honestand as virtuous as auy class ot citizens. All the facts are againstthe idea that they are not virtuous women. The statistics showthat a very large percentage of them live at home. They areliving in whatever moral atmosphere there is in their homes.* * * The virtuous character of our working women is allthe more attractive when the cost of their virtue is recognized.With their poor pay, if they continue virtuous, they are themore entitled to our applause, and certainly one must recognizethe heroic struggle they make to sustain life, to appear fairlywell and to remove what every honorable minded man andwoman seek to remove, the appearance of poverty. All the helpsthat are thrown around them in our great cities, all the kindnessand the care of benevolent employers, all the influence of thechurch and school must be increased, and these, joined with theheroic efforts of the women themselves, must gradually deepentheir character, strengthen their purposes and help them to gaina more generous livelihood."* Fourth Annual Report, 1888, U, 8. Commissioner of Labor, pp. 76, 77.