mething be done for the saleswomen? I am a
salesman in----, and I have walked in disguise at night upon
certain streets to be accosted by girls in my own
department,--girls whose salaries are so low it was impossible to
live upon them." A painter told us that in working in the houses of
ill-repute in the vicinity of Twenty-third Street, he was
astonished at the number of women whom he recognized as saleswomen
in different stores who frequented these houses. But what are they
to do? They are women without trade or profession, thrown upon
their own resources, obliged to make a good appearance, and unable
to do so and yet have sufficient food. We must all concede that
virtue and honor in woman are natural, and very few women resort to
such ways unless forced to do so; certainly not, when they yet have
sufficient pride to wish to maintain the appearance of
respectability. If men's wages fall below a certain limit, they
become tramps, thieves, and robbers; but woman's wages _have no
limit_, since she can always work for less than she can subsist
upon, the _paths of shame being open to her_. And the beggarly
pittance for which one class of women work becomes the standard of
wages for all women, and throws them out upon the world, there to
find a sure market. But we do not wish to insinuate, in stating
these facts, that the majority of saleswomen resort to evil ways;
on the contrary, they are the exception who do so. We know the
majority of women prefer to suffer, and do suffer, rather than do
so. But can we allow a few to fall? We of the Working-Women's
Society believe that we are so far our sisters' keepers that we
are responsible for their position.

"We believe that the payment and condition of those who work
(through their employers) for us is our affair, and we have no
right to remain in an ignorance that involves or may involve their
misery. We believe we have no right, having obtained such
knowledge, to refrain from seeking to remedy it, and urging all to
assist us to do so.

"In this belief we call your attention to the proposed 'Consumers'
League,' the members of which shall pledge themselves to deal at
those stores where just conditions exist.

"We have gotten together a number of facts which we shall be glad
to present to you with