Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1891 — Protective Wages in Italy. [ARTICLE]

Protective Wages in Italy.

A correspondent of that hide-bound protection organ, the Chicago Inter Ofeedn. wrltes to that paper from Venice, Italy, an account of a visit to a lacemaking establishment in that city. The correspondent has the following to say about wages: “I was shown some wonderful articles —scarfs, shawlS, mantles, spreads', handkerchiefs, etc. —some of which required six months in the making, offered to me at what I thought Were ridiculously low prices. When I expressed my astonishment and asked how it was possible to dispose of so exquisite a fabric for such an insignificant sum the manager of the department—who has been in America and knows something of its conditions —looked sidelong at me and said, with an eloquent smile: ‘Well, we pay our girls seven cents a day.’ ” And this in Italy, one of the most highly protected countries in Europe!