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Butler, Jesse Haver (audio interview #3 of 11)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This fourth session (Interview 3A) took place in Jesse Haver Butler's apartment. She had recovered from the flu from which she was suffering during the previous interview . However, she was still experiencing trouble with her voice and tired easily. She appeared less nervous in this interview than previously. 1973-01-15
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- SUBJECT BIO - Jesse Haver Butler served as a lobbyist for the National Consumers League in Washington, D.C. during which time she came into contact with activists in the National Woman's Party. In 1919-1920, she toured the western states with Carrie Chapman Catt during the ratification drive for the woman's suffrage amendment. Raised on a ranch in Colorado, Butler was determined to attend Smith College. She graduated from there in 1918 and went to work for first for the Massachusetts Minimum Wage and then moved to Washington D.C. to serve as a lobbyist for the National Consumers League. In Washington, she ate lunch regularly at the National Women's Party headquarters, and came into contact with many of the women involved with the picketing of the White House. After she toured the western states with Carrie Chapman Catt during the ratification drive for the woman's suffrage amendment, she married and went with her husband to England. On her return to the US, she began a new career, teaching public speaking to women. A full life history of approximately 12 hours was recorded with Butler, between November 1972 and the spring of 1973, when she was 88 years old, in her apartment in a retirement community in LaVerne, California. She had come to public attention as a result of her participation in the 1970 celebration of women's suffrage. A woman of commanding presence, with a vigorous voice and persona, Butler was highly committed to the goals of the Feminist History Research Project and to the women's liberation movement. In the course of the several years following the interview, she regularly spoke on college campuses and to women's groups and remained very involved working on child care issues with the local chapter of NOW. TOPICS - Topics covered on this side of the tape include: the experience of working for Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission; social life and relationships in Boston; move to Washington, D;C;; job with Bureau of Labor Statistics; job with Consumers League and lobbying for minimum wage law;Topics covered on this side of the tape include: Butler's work with the National Consumers League; lobbying for the minimum wage law; undercover work at Botany Mills; exposure of the meatpacking industry; and her approach to Carrie Chapman Catt to join her on the ratification drive;
- *** File: sufjhbutler6.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:09)... Tape introduction (2:09-8:00)... Helen Hill was a skilled statistician hired for the position Butler was supposed to fill with the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission. When Butler was fired, she invited Helen Hill to lunch and proposed that they combine their talents and both work for the commission. The purpose of the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission was to investigate the employment conditions for women in Massachusetts. Amy Hughes, a sociology and economics professor at Mount Holyoke College, headed the commission, which was also supervised by a board of citizens. For the first time in Massachusetts, women were working outside the home and taking jobs in factories, stores, and laundries, where they were being exploited. The Massachusetts state legislative passed a law authorizing a State Commission to copy factory payrolls. Once this information was compiled into a statistical report, the industry formed a board that consisted of 5-6 employers, 5-6 employees, and 3 people who represented the public. The board met and discussed the cost of living for women working in that industry and decided on the appropriate wages for their employees. If the industry did not abide by these rules, they were publicized in the local newspaper. There were no laws at the time that fined industries for their wage and labor abuses. Women owe a great debt to this procedure because it revealed the danger of exploiting women and established labor standards for industries that employ women. When she accepted this position, she felt that this opportunity was at the head of a movement that addressed the issues related to women moving out of their homes and into the industrial marketplace. (8:00-11:47)... Helen Hill was not a theoretical person, but was trained and experienced in compiling and interpreting statistical information. Butler, on the other hand, was experienced managing people. She proposed that she and Hill form a two-person team in which Butler would handle the staff and compile the necessary information so that Hill could compute the data and develop the statistical reports. Amy Hughes agreed to this arrangement. Butler copied the payroll records for a stocking factory in Northampton - one that she had occasionally passed when she was enrolled at Smith College. Once she got inside the factory, she became conscious of the meager wages employees received for their work. There was a shocking contrast between observing this factory from the outside and entering the factory and seeing women's working conditions. (11:47-14:04)... When she visited factories to copy their payrolls, factory employers would not allow her to converse with the employees. As an official of the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission, she was not given the opportunity to develop personal relationships with the factory workers, and it was considered unethical to do so. She copied several payrolls from the stocking, candy, and restaurant industries. She attended several meetings held by industry boards, where employees took the opportunity to exchange information with their employers. When the boards established a minimum wage for their employees, a different relationship developed between employers and the women became more productive. (14:04-17:05)... Each industry had its own minimum wage board. Although the goal was to establish a minimum wage for all women, the type of labor necessary to manufacture a product was different in each industry. For instance, women who worked in candy factories were particularly qualified for the tedious and delicate nature of the job, which justified higher wages. When an industry board was formed, the employers were not permitted to choose what employees sat on the board. The employees were provided with a meeting place and decided who would serve on the minimum wage board. The Massachusetts trade unions were not enthusiastic about the Minimum Wage Commission because of its focus on women laborers. At this time, trade unions were dominated by male members concerned with wages and labor conditions for men. There was one trade union that incorporated women, but once stores and factories found out a woman was a union member, her chances of getting work there decreased. (17:05-21:25)... Living conditions for single women were inadequate. In college, women are provided with a decent living environment, but when they leave college and begin working, it was difficult for them to find decent living arrangements which also included opportunities for socialization and friendship. While she had many companions at Smith College, when she moved to a new city she had a difficult time finding companions. Creating social centers for women is necessary so that women have a place to meet new people and socialize. While in Boston, she experienced difficulty finding companions. She had a relationship with a Portuguese man who taught her how to swim. Because her social connections were so limited and she wanted to get married and have children, she could have easily married this man. She ultimately met a woman while swimming in Boston Harbor. This woman worked as a clerk in a wholesale industry and she and Butler became close friends. (21:25-24:00)... The friend she met in Boston was a Polish Jew. Her parents immigrated from Poland to America with eight children. She was the youngest child in the family and her parents sent her to school and college. She was a very intelligent woman and well read. With Butler's encouragement, she went to law school and ultimately became one of the leading lawyers in Boston. (24:00-27:42)... In Boston, she lived in a rooming house in Pickney Square. Her room was on the third floor and she did not room with another tenant. She often ate her meals at a boarding house, which is where she met her Portuguese boyfriend. The difficulties with her living conditions and social life are an example of the unhappiness a single woman can experience in an unfamiliar city. Her environment in both Boston and New York was very similar, except that in New York her social life was more active and erratic. When she moved back to Needham, Massachusetts after returning from England, she became reacquainted with her Polish friend. This woman married a Navy man and their relationship eventually ended in divorce. Butler's believes that her friendship with this woman is an example of America's cultural diversity. Many countries, such as England, have a difficult time understanding how so many people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and races can coexist. (27:42-31:24)... Her job with the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission lasted for four years. In this position, she became well trained in analyzing and recording statistical information related to labor conditions. She also became interested in Boston's government activities and often communicated with the Massachusetts Consumers League. Her experiences in Boston marked the beginning of her desire to help women. As a child and a young woman, she witnessed and experienced what it was like to live in a backwards environment in which women suffer because of unassisted childbirth, domestic labor, and a lack of modern amenities. When she visited factories, she was impacted by the poor wages women received and how they were expected to live on those wages. It is an injustice that women could not earn enough to survive on their own and were dependent on their families or boyfriends for financial assistance. (31:24-34:21)... Edward A. Filene built the largest retail store in Boston and hired all of his clerks at minimum wage, which was $8 per week. Working for Filene appealed to many talented sales women because of his wage standards. He also offered women discount clothing prices when clothing that had been on the rack for a certain period of time was moved to the basement and sold for half price. When she worked for the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission she made $1,300 a year. Every month she contributed $25 to her savings account and was able to live very comfortably on $75 a month. When she got married in 1920, her savings was $5,000. She did not tell her husband of her financial situation and both thought each other was penniless. However, when they moved to London, they discussed their financial savings. (34:21-37:25)... When she left the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission, a minimum wage had been instituted in that state. She accepted a job as a statistician with the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, DC, where she completed a survey on the cost of living in that area. She earned $1,500.00 a year in this position. Like New York and Boston, she again found herself alone in an unfamiliar city with no opportunities to meet female companions. She rented a room in a rooming house near Lafayette Park and the White House. She eventually met a woman who also lived in her rooming house and they bought a canoe together. Every weekend, they canoed in the canal that ran along the Potomac River. She made several friends doing this social activity, including her future husband. (37:25-39:47)... When she moved to Washington, she immediately became interested in the woman's suffrage movement. She often lunched at Alice Paul's home [the Belmont House, which served as the headquarters of the NWP], which was located on the edge of Lafayette Square. She met several suffragists at Alice Paul's tea house, including Hazel Hunkins. She also attended several suffrage and birth control meetings. Butler heard Margaret Sanger speak when she toured through Boston, where there was very little information available on birth control. She also heard one of the Pankhursts speak and attended other meetings on suffrage while living in Boston. However, she was not involved in these activities because she was working at the time. As a statistician for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, she visited the homes of civil servants and recorded how women were spending their money to determine if the bureau was paying their employees a comparable wage. She worked for the bureau for two years and enjoyed her work. At the time, World War I was being fought, and it was exciting for her to be involved in that type of statistical system during such a significant time in history. (39:47-43:03)... While working in Washington, DC, she met a woman who directed the National Consumer's League. This woman eventually left this position and offered Butler a job as the secretary of the National Consumer's League. As the secretary of the National Consumer's League, Butler was her own boss and was responsible for raising money for the organization, which included her salary. She met several important people, including Justice Louis Brandeis, the Goldmark sisters (his sisters-in-law) and Florence Kelley, the chair of the National Consumers League. When the Minimum Wage law was written by Justice Brandeis, he asked her to become a lobbyist for the bill. end of tape *** File: sufjhbutler7.mp3 (0:00-3:04)... When she went to work for the National Consumer's League her salary increased from $1,500 to $1,800 per year. She had her own office and an executive committee. Although the number of civil servants in Washington, DC was low, there were several businesses in the district where employees were being exploited. The Goldmarks and Justice Brandeis drafted a Minimum Wage Law and it was introduced into the lower house by Congressmen Keating, who was from Pueblo, Colorado. Senator Hollis introduced the bill into the senate. Once the bill was introduced, she became a lobbyist and continued raising money for the National Consumer's League. (3:04-7:43)... Congressman Ben Johnson of Kentucky was the first person she had to lobby for the Minimum Wage Law. He did not believe in woman's suffrage or a minimum wage for women. Most men at that time were irritated by women visiting the capital building and certainly did not approve of women lobbying them in their offices. When Butler met Congressman Johnson he yelled, "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at home having babies where you belong?" She explained to him that only married women have babies and that she was not married. When he asked her why she did not have a husband, she told him that all of the good men were married. With that, he invited her in his office and she promised to have Edward Filene speak about women's contributions to the business environment if Johnson agreed to set a hearing to discuss the Minimum Wage Law. She later met with Edward Filene and he agreed to endorse the women's minimum wage law at the hearing. (7:43-14:34)... At the Minimum Wage Law hearing, Edward Filene spoke about how it was beneficial to business owners to pay women well because they increased sales, which was integral to a successful business. Florence Kelley also spoke at the hearing. Butler later thanked Congressman Ben Johnson, at which time he informed her that he was a very influential man and was at her service if ever she needed anything in the future. Her second battle was with Reed Smoot, the head of the Rules Committee, who had to approve the bill before it could go to the senate. This worried her because the senate was very corrupt during this period, jeopardizing all types of legislation. Mrs. Costagen, the president of the National Consumer's League went with Butler when they approached Reed Smoot. He described the Minimum Wage Law as "socialistic" and implied that if he were president, he would veto those types of legislation. Butler informed him that if he were president he would be required to weigh both sides of the legislative debate, and since he was incapable of doing so it would be best if he were absent the day the Minimum Wage Law was voted on in the senate. He agreed to this and the bill was successfully passed through senate and approved by the president six months later. (14:34-16:33)... While she was lobbying for the Minimum Wage Law, she spent several hours sitting in the senate gallery watching the men as they conducted business on the senate floor. She recalls feeling completely fulfilled as a result of her political activities. At the time, she was the only woman at the capital lobbying for a Minimum Wage Law. All of the other women lobbying at the capital were suffragists from Carrie Chapman Catt's organization, while Alice Paul and the National Women's Party picketed the White House. (16:33-22:01)... She became interested in the meatpacking hearings while she was lobbying for the minimum wage law. At the time, several newspaper advertisements were published by meatpackers, which she believes were very bold for the time. She came across a hearing on meatpackers and decided to stay. She was initially interested in this because of her father's background in cattle ranching. The hearing that day discussed how the Armour Packing Company cornered the market on rice by convincing women to buy rice instead of potatoes so that men fighting in World War I would not starve. Butler paid a visit to a woman who worked for the Christian Science Monitor and asked her to write a story on how the meatpacking industry was affecting consumers. She later sent women from the National Consumers League to the hearings. She also convinced Florence Kelley to testify, although she was hesitant because the meatpacking hearings did not involve women's labor or wages. The meatpacking industry eventually stopped advertising in the newspapers as a result of the negative publicity they received on behalf of the National Consumer's League. (22:01-24:40)... Alice Paul was an extremist who was trained by Emmeline Pankhurst. Although Butler was unable to locate a historical record, she recalls the National Woman's Party burned President Woodrow Wilson in effigy. According to her, after this event, the president went to congress and endorsed woman's suffrage. Mrs. Harvey Wiley and Mrs. William Kent were lobbyists for the National Woman's Party. Despite the fact that these women had very influential and prominent husbands, they were arrested along with other picketers from the National Woman's Party. While in jail, they refused to eat and were force fed. (24:40-26:31)... The National Consumer's League was concerned with the labor conditions and safety of working women. When Butler asked Florence Kelley to speak on behalf of the National Consumers League at a meatpacking hearing, she was hesitant because the issue was not related to women and labor. Following a labor strike in New Jersey, Butler took a vacation from her position at the National Consumers League and got a job at a factory in New Jersey so that she could observe the labor conditions there. (26:31-31:05)... Butler went to Botany Mills in New Jersey and obtained a position in one of the factories so that she could observe the existing labor conditions. The weather was very bad and workers were required to walk to the factory since there was no means of transportation. She was hired as an assistant to a craft weaver who was a very smart woman and taught Butler how to operate the weaving machines. At the factory, there were very mediocre lunch facilities and restrooms. The factory was made of solid brick and there were no windows. Workers were required to stand while they worked, and there was no place to sit down in the factory. While working at the factory, a male laborer approached the craft weaver and expressed his desire to make Butler his wife; however, she discouraged him from pursuing Butler. Butler worked at the factory for two weeks and it was a terrible experience for her. Harry Laidler, the secretary of a consumers group in New York. encouraged Butler to record her experiences so that he could publish them in local papers. She believes that changes in the knitting industry in New Jersey were made as a result of her undercover work. The article that she wrote was circulated all over the east coast and made people aware of women's working conditions. (31:05-32:23)... When she returned to Washington, DC she did not tell anyone about her experiences in New Jersey. The decision to work in the factory was very risky. However, she wanted to observe the working conditions and experience what it was like to work in this type of environment. As a result of her experiences, she suffered physically and it took her quite a while to recover. The women she worked with experienced severe physical pain as a result of their work. The life expectancy for women in the factory town was very low because of the physical demands and poor working conditions of factory work. (32:23-35:00)... After the suffrage amendment was passed, she heard that Carrie Chapman Catt was organizing a ratification drive through the western United States. At the time, Catt was staying at a hotel across the street from the Muncy Building where Butler worked. She visited Catt and suggested that she go along on the tour and speak about the meatpacking industry, as it was directly related to women's roles as consumers. Catt's initial response to Butler's suggestion was negative because she feared that talking about monopolies would alienate businesses and compromise her ratification efforts. Catt also informed Butler that the organization did not have the $500 to finance her participation. However, Catt agreed to take Butler with her if she could pay her own way. William Kent agreed to finance Butler and she went on the ratification tour with Catt. (35:00-36:39)... The first time she met Carrie Chapman Catt was when she approached her about the ratification tour. She heard Catt speak on previous occasions and felt she was a great leader. Catt was a parliamentarian and believed that changes would occur through democratic procedures. Catt believed that picketing was a tactic used by revolutionaries and would not result in change. Alice Paul's political activism was antagonistic to Catt's. Catt and Butler both believed that Paul's procedures violated the democratic process. (36:39-40:27)... She believes that meatpacking hearings and the publicity they generated is what led President Woodrow Wilson to create the Federal Trade Commission. Wilson did not want monopolies strangling free competition and the democratic process. Butler believe this proves that in a democracy one person has the power to raise social consciousness. According to Butler, the head of Armour Packing was sensitive to consumers' needs and was not aware of the poor businesses practices at his company. He later moved to England because of his health. At the time, she was also living in England and found it ironic that he never knew he was living near one of the persons who helped bring about the demise of the meatpacking monopolies. end of tape
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