CORRESPONDENCE

THE STRIKE OF THE EAST END MATCHMAKER

To the EDITOR of the PALL MALL GAZETTE

SIR. - As wide publicity has been given by the press to statements of the directors and other officials of the Bryant and May Company, which directly reflect on our veracity, we ask you to be good enough to publish the following facts:-

FINES. - Our original statement as to the infliction of fines has been admitted to be true by one of the directors, as well as by the Home Secretary in Parliament, on the report of the Chief Inspector of Factories, who visited Messrs. Bryant and May's works in consequence of information obtained from the girls and forwarded to him by Annie Besant. It is only fair to the firm to add that Mr Bartholomew, another of the directors, said that "it was a downright lie that any of the girls were fined".

WAGES. - The firm's statement as to wages, while intended to traverse, merely repeats in other language our original figures. The 4s. per week is admitted by them, but it is said only to apply to those who are learning the trade in the "nursery". If that be true the stay in the "nursery" is long, for a girl who gave this sum as her wages has been in the employ of the firm for several years. We have had interviews with numbers of the girls, and in no case have we met any one who is earning more than 7s. per week. In the original article eight or nine shillings a week was mentioned as earned by some, and, as exceptional wages, 13s. The absolute accuracy of this is shown by the triumphant quotation given by the firm of forty shillings earned by three women in a week. The highest wage, therefore, that the firm can produce is thirteen and fourpence per week, and the lowest they admit to be four shillings. The general falsehood of which they accuse us really only amounts, then, to putting the highest wage at thirteen shillings instead of thirteen and fourpence. The statement of an average wage of eleven and twopence, which must manifestly be based on the inclusion of the prices paid for the highest class of work, does not and cannot touch the fact that hundreds of girls are only earning from four shillings to seven and sixpence per week.

DISCHARGES, & C. - The contradictory statements of the girls and the officials of the firm as to discharges, as to the paper stating that the girls were well treated and contented, which they were pressed to sign, and as to the immediate cause of the strike, do not touch the main points originally raised by us. We rely on the evidence of hundreds who have nothing to gain by misstatement. Although the wage books produced to the Chief Inspector of Factories appear to have shown that all girls were at work up to the time of the strike, the firm themselves admit that one girl at least was discharged some days previously, and although they deny that her discharge was in any way connected with us, it is a most remarkable fact that she was one who gave us much of the original information. The value of the firm's denials as to the memorial is impaired by the fact that they give three different and contradictory versions of the occurrence. We will simply say that we challenge the directors and other officials to meet the girls in open assembly and repeat any one or all of their statements in their presence and in that of the press. With regard to the charge that we instigated the strike, although this is a matter of no importance, we beg to say that the statement is absolutely false, nor were we, as asserted, near the factory on the day it commenced. The value set by Messrs. Bryant and May on the "harmonious relations between themselves and their workpeople" may be estimated in the light of Mr Frederick Bryant's declaration that if the girls were not in by Monday the firm would bring girls from Glasgow, or, if the strike continues, "remove the factory to Norway."

As prolonged controversy through the press on matters of fact is extremely unsatisfactory, and as complete publicity can no longer be avoided, we beg to remind Messrs. Bryant and May that the legal action, of which they have not yet availed themselves, is still open to them for their vindication. - We are, yours, & c,

ANNIE BESANT.
HERBERT BURROWS.