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 our estimate of a fair house, or one which under existing conditions is eligible to admission to a white list.”

Preceding this appeal and the public meetings which ensued, came, in 1890, the formation of the Consumers’ League, Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell its President.  Quiet and inconspicuous as its work has been, the best retail mercantile houses in New York have accepted its prospectus as just, and stand now upon the “White List,” which numbers all merchants who seek to deal justly and fairly with their employees.  “What constitutes a Fair House” expresses all the needs and formulates the most vital demands of the working-woman; and the results already accomplished speak for themselves.  As a guide to other workers, it is given here in full:—­

    STANDARD OF A FAIR HOUSE.

    +Wages.+

A fair house is one in which equal pay is given for work of equal value, irrespective of sex.  In the departments where women only are employed, in which the minimum wages are six dollars per week for experienced adult workers, and fall in few instances below eight dollars.

    In which wages are paid by the week.

    In which fines, if imposed, are paid into a fund for the benefit of
    the employees.