The Evils of "Sweating"

In these days when one hears so much of the evils of "sweating", the question naturally occurs to a thoughtful woman: "What am I individually doing as regards this evil?"

No tender-hearted woman can hear without pain of the cruelly insufficient payment that is often given to poor women for the cheap clothing they make. Do they bear this knowledge in mind when they go out shopping and resolve that they will, if possible only deal with those firms which pay a fair wage for honest labour?

Those who buy are to some extent responsible for the sweating of the poor workers, and I think that if people would only realise this, they would not be so keen as many are now for cheap things. Remember, this terrible cheapness sometimes means starvation wages. For myself, I must say that I like the old fashioned way of having things made for me, instead of buying them ready-made, for them, at any rate, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am not taking anyone's work without giving proper payment for it.
Excerpt from regular feature entitled 'Fireside Talks' in Home Notes - February 16 1895.