“There, now,” said Brennan.

* * * * *

(Everybody’s Magazine)

A NEW POLITICAL WEDGE

THE WAY ST. LOUIS WOMEN DROVE A NINE-HOUR DAY INTO THE LAW

BY INIS H. WEED

It was the evening before the state primaries—­a sweltering first of August night in the tenement district of St. Louis, where the factory people eat their suppers and have their beds.  Men in shirt-sleeves and women with babies sat on the steps for a breath of air, and the streets were a noisy welter of children.

Two of the most enthusiastic girls in the Women’s Trade Union League stopped before the group silhouetted in the gaslight at No. 32 and handed the men in the group this card: 

REPUBLICAN VOTERS
-----------------
It is the Women and Children that are the Victims of Manufacturers
and Manufacturers Associations
and it is the
WORKING WOMAN AND CHILD
that demands your protection at the
PRIMARIES, TUESDAY, AUGUST 2nd
Scratch
-------
E.J.  Troy
Secretary St. Louis Manufacturers Association and run by them on the
Republican Ticket for the Legislature in the 1st District Comprising
WARDS 10, 11, 2,13, and 24.  Precincts 14 of the 15th WARD.  Precincts 1,
2, 3 of the 23rd WARD.  Precincts 1, 2 of the 15th WARD.  Precincts 6, 7,
10, 11, 12, 13 of the 14th WARD.  Precincts 1, 4, 5 of the 9th Ward

“So yez would be afther havin’ me scratch Misther Troy?” Mike Ryan ran his fingers through his stubby crop with a puzzled air.  “Oi’m always fur plazin’ the loidies, but Misther Troy, he’s a frind o’ mine.  Shure, he shmokes a grand cigar, an’ he shakes yer hand that hearty.”

So Mike belonged to the long, long glad-hand line.  Well, personal arguments were necessary in his case then.  That was the way the girls sized up Mike Ryan.

“But this ticket has something to do with your oldest girl.”

“With Briddie?”

“It sure does, Mr. Ryan.  Didn’t I hear your wife tellin’ what with the hard times an’ all, you’d be puttin’ Briddie in the mill this winter as soon as ever she’s turned fourteen?  Wouldn’t you rather they worked her nine hours a day instead o’ ten—­such a soft little kid with such a lot o’ growin’ to do?  There’s a lot of us goin’ to fight for a Nine-Hour Bill for the women and children this winter, an’ do you think a manufacturers’ representative, like Troy, is goin’ to help us?  Look at his record!  See how he’s fought the employees’ interests in the legislature!  That’s a part of his job! He won’t vote for no Nine-Hour Bill!”

And the two girls went on to the next tenement.

They were only two of the hundreds of Trade Union girls who were “doing” the First Electoral District (about one-third of St. Louis) on the eve of the primaries.  They were thorough.  They had the whole district organized on the block system, and they went over each block house by house.