Minimum Wage Laws and Their Operation in America February 14, 1915

Rev. John A. Ryan, D.D., February 14, 1915
“The percentage of women in this country making their own living as independent economic units is increasing constantly and rather rapidly. The most important fact, however, is that there is a large proportion, more than a majority, a wage-earning women who are getting less than what authorities have come to regard as decent living wages. About three-fifths of the women of the United States engaged in working for wages were receiving less than $8 a week, less than decent living wages. Now, I do not intend to go into any discussion or description of the evil effects of low wages on health, mind, and morals. I shall simply assume that these evil effects are considerable, that they are serious, that it is of very great importance that some comprehensive remedy or device be found to prevent these evils. So there is a need for a comprehensive remedy for this state of low wages among women.”