Civilizing Capitalism: The National Consumers' League, Women's Activism, and Labor Standards in the New Deal Era

409 Pages·2000·1.72 MB·English

by  Landon R. Y. Storrs

Civilizing Capitalism
Gender and
American Culture
Coeditors
Thadious M. Davis
Linda K. Kerber
Editorial Advisory Board
Nancy Cott
Cathy N. Davidson
Jane Sherron De Hart
Sara Evans
Mary Kelley
Annette Kolodny
Wendy Martin
Nell Irvin Painter
Janice Radway
Barbara Sicherman
Civilizing
Capitalism
The National
Consumers’ League,
Women’s Activism,
and Labor Standards
in the New Deal Era
Landon R. Y. Storrs
The University of
North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill & London
∫ 2000 The University Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
of North Carolina Press Storrs, Landon R. Y.
All rights reserved Civilizing capitalism: the National Consumers’
League, women’s activism, and labor standards
Designed by April Leidig-Higgins
in the New Deal era / Landon R. Y. Storrs.
Set in Carter & Cone Galliard
p. cm. — (Gender & American culture)
by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Manufactured in the United States
isbn 0-8078-2527-1 (cloth: alk. paper).
of America
isbn 0-8078-4838-7 (paper: alk. paper)
Publication of this work was aided by 1. National Consumers’ League—History.
a generous grant from the Z. Smith 2. National Consumers’ League—Biography.
Reynolds Foundation. 3. Women social reformers—United States—
Biography. 4. Working-women’s clubs—United
The paper in this book meets the
States—History. 5. Women—Employment—
guidelines for permanence and
United States— History. 6. Children—Employ-
durability of the Committee on
ment—United States—History. 7. Industrial
Production Guidelines for Book
welfare—United States—History. 8. Labor
Longevity of the Council on
movement—United States—History. 9. New Deal,
Library Resources.
1933–1939. 10. Labor laws and legislation—United
States— History. i. Title. ii. Series.
Material in Chapters 3 and 4
hd6067.2.u6s76 2000 331.4%25—dc21
appeared in di√erent form in
99-32197 cip
Landon R. Y. Storrs, ‘‘Gender and
the Development of the Regula-
tory State: The Controversy over
Restricting Women’s Night Work
in the Depression-Era South,’’
Journal of Policy History 10, no. 2
(1998): 179–206, ∫ 1998 by The
Pennsylvania State University;
reproduced by permission of The
Pennsylvania State University Press,
and ‘‘An Independent Voice for
Unorganized Workers: The
National Consumers’ League
Speaks to the Blue Eagle,’’ Labor’s
Heritage 6, no. 3 (1995): 21–39,
reprinted with permission.
04 03 02 01 00 5 4 3 2 1
For Landon T. Storrs and David K. Storrs

contents
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
one Investigate, Agitate, Legislate:
The National Consumers’ League 13
two Toward Feminist Social Democracy:
The Entering Wedge Strategy 41
three A Subtle Program Come Down from
the North?: The Consumers’ League
Develops a Southern Strategy 61
four The Acid Test of the New Deal:
The National Recovery
Administration, 1933–1935 91
five Bucking the Bourbons: Lucy Mason
Organizes for the Consumers’ League
in the South 125
six Agents of the New Deal:
Consumers’ League Women
Campaign in Virginia,
South Carolina, and Kentucky 153
seven Ambiguous Victory: The Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938 177
eight Reaction: The Consumers’ League
Program under Attack 207
nine Always Democracy: The Consumers’
League in the Post–New Deal Era 229
Conclusion 253
Appendix 1. National Consumers’
League O≈cers, 1933 and 1941 259
Appendix 2. Biographical Data on Fifty
Consumers’ League Activists in the 1930s 263
Appendix 3. Selected Landmarks in the
History of Labor Standards Regulation 271
Notes 273
Bibliography 357
Index 383
viii Contents
illustrations
Women factory inspectors, 1914 17
Frances Perkins and Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1943 35
ncl
The expresses its opinion of the Adkins v. Children’s
Hospital ruling, 1923 49
Textile workers struggle with a National Guardsman
in Gastonia, North Carolina, 1929 63
Lucy Randolph Mason, ca. 1920s 69
Josephine Casey on the cover of Equal Rights, 1931 77
Josephine Roche and John L. Lewis, 1936 101
New York City garment workers declare their
nra
determination to enforce codes, ca. 1934 111
nra
Women’s Advisory Committee on the
coat and suit code, 1934 114
Clara Beyer, ca. 1931 117
Gastonia, North Carolina, textile strikers celebrate
Labor Day, 1934 131
Gastonia, North Carolina, strikers wear posters demanding
nra
enforcement of the textile industry’s code, 1934 132
Women at work in a Louisville, Kentucky, garment
factory, 1942 160