Jim Kershner’s This day in history » On the Web: spokesman.com/topics/local-history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Young, female laundry workers in Spokane were working six days a week and still not making a living wage.

That’s what a Spokane mayoral commission concluded when it looked into the laundry wage issue, after weeks of strikes and labor unrest. The laundry “girls” were paid as little as 13 cents an hour, or $6.24 per week.

“We have come to the conclusion that a girl cannot live on less than $7.50 or $8 per week,” said the chairman of the commission.

And even at those wages, “she must make her own clothes and tailor-made suits must be avoided.”

The situation looked even worse when it became clear that most laundry girls were not working a full six-day week (the norm in that era), but only five days. Even a raise to 15 cents would not “constitute a living wage.”

The commission was clearly siding with the workers.

“It seems to us further that the laundries are making a mistake by charging such low prices to the hotels for flat work,” said the chairman. “If they would raise this rate, the general public would not be affected in the least, and they would be able to pay higher wages to their employees.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1885: The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor aboard the French ship Isere.