UNEQUAL SACRIFICE "
Sift,—There remains still one point to b& made in this controversy. The " high " wages your correspondent grudges us are our only in- surance against a future likely to be complicated by the impoverished health of the bread-winner. As the wife of an aircraft-worker (a very different walk of life from our peace-time one) I know just where the shoe pinches.
The long hours in a vitiated atmosphere, without daylight, fre- quently for long periods in a cramped position, are hardly comparable with the life of a soldier in this country. The latter's health is well cared for, and he is naturally given only such work as will not en- danger it. At the end of a year's service in the army, the soldier's health has in almost every case greatly improved from his civilian standard. At the end of a year's work at the present rates in a factory engaged in war-production, the operative's health has in almost every case very noticeably deteriorated. We see constant breakdowns from overwork. We see deaths directly attributable to it. In our line of country there are no pensions nor widows' pensions. No grate- ful country to look after us and ours as a duty. When extra money
is paid for overtime which taxes endurance to the limit, the money is a return, and a poor one, for health that may never be regained. The public need not worry that we are having a gay time and wallowing in affluence. We are grimly pinching and saving every penny we can against the day when our turn comes, and our men become war-casualties of whom the public never hears. The recent outcry in the Press raises in us great bitterness of spirit.
With your permission I will sign myself, yours faithfully, OPERATIVE'S WIFE.
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