In some of the more exclusive houses, women shop assistants are, comparatively speaking, paid better than the men, but as a general rule their wages are correspondingly low. How a girl shop assistant] jin London can obtain for herself! the ordinary decencies of life it is difficult to imagine. A saleswoman of several years' experience gets 27/6; a woman clerk's general wage is 35/- & week, descending to 25/- and 20/-: in fact, some establishments are employing clerks at 14/- and 12/- a week. Women in small drapery establishments and fancy bazaars get from 10/6 to 16/-, skirt-hands 14/-, and women in confectioners' shops, 11/- to 15/- a week.
It is very: evident from the above fluctuating and unsystematic scale of wages that Trade Union conditions have never entered within the portals of the Trade Establishment.
The England " fit for heroes to live in" is still a reconstruction shibboleth; men from the front line of France' and Flanders are now entrenched behind provincial counters for 90/- a week. Is this an adequate reward for our soldiers? The least we can do is to give them a standard minimum living wage which will prevent undercutting on the one hand and exploitation on the other.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.