Consumers' League of Ohio

The Consumers League of Ohio was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1900 by a small group of women active in a local literary society, the Book and Thimble Club. The League affiliated with the National Consumers League which had been founded in 1899 by Florence Kelley. Its purpose was "to further the welfare of those who make or distribute the things bought" and to this end all Leagues created "white lists" of stores which consumers might patronize, secure in the knowledge that the workers who produced their wares were adults, employed at a fair wage, and working in favorable conditions. League members also purchased only that clothing which bore a National Consumers League "white label" indicating that these items were produced in factories investigated and approved by the League.

During its early years, the Consumers League of Ohio pursued a similar policy in Cleveland, investigating bakeshops and dairies and producing "white lists" which were widely publicized. The League also used publicity to encourage downtown department stores to close early on Christmas Eve and on Saturdays during the summer in order that "shopgirls" might enjoy shorter working hours.

As early as 1909 the League turned from voluntary action by consumers to a policy of endorsing and campaigning to secure labor legislation mandating better working conditions and wages. At first the League worked to secure legislation locally but the organization soon began cooperating with campaigns by the Ohio State Federation of Labor to secure state legislation. Independent action by the Ohio Consumers League in support of labor legislation evolved from the League's experience in World War I, when the League took an active role in homefront mobilization. In 1917 the Consumers League of Ohio served as the Committee on Women and Children in Industry for the state of Ohio and the Unites States Council of National Defense. Myrta Jones, President of the Ohio Consumers League from 1908-1923, chaired Ohio's Committee on Women and Children in Industry, and, under her direction, the League developed a program of improved legislation regulating working conditions for women. When the sudden end of the war resulted in the Committee's dissolution, the League built upon its wartime experiences and its contacts with state agencies and private organizations as a basis for continued efforts at reform in the post war years.

The League conducted vigorous campaigns in the 1920s for a minimum wage law for women, more stringent control of child labor, and ratification of the federal child labor amendment. The tenor of the times was no longer receptive to reform and the League did not secure a single piece of legislation despite unprecedented efforts. These were bitter defeats for members of the League as they had been leaders in the suffrage movement and expected that the "woman's vote" would lead to a new era of social legislation.

Despite these disappointments, the Consumers League of Ohio grew stronger in these years, even as consumers leagues in other states declined or disbanded. Several factors account for this. Myrta Jones, the leading figure in the League's early years, developed a strong cadre of competent women. Also, men, who joined the Consumers League of Ohio for the first time in 1921, came to play an increasingly important role in the League's activities. Most importantly, in 1925 a worthy successor to Myrta Jones was found in Elizabeth Magee who would serve as executive secretary to the League from 1925-1965. A graduate of Oberlin College (B. A. in 1911) and of Columbia University (M. A. in economics and labor problems in 1925), she attracted academics, religious leaders, and intellectuals to the Consumers League of Ohio while developing an increasingly close relationship with the labor movement and leaders in state and federal government.

The study of unemployment initiated by Magee in 1928 led to the League's most significant contribution to American industrial reform - the Ohio Plan of unemployment compensation. A decade earlier, reformers at the University of Wisconsin championed a form of unemployment insurance designed to encourage employers to provide steady employment. The League's proposal, which was rooted in European precedents, assumed that employers had little control over employment; the Ohio Plan, therefore, stressed larger benefits and more secure funding of the program rather than prevention of unemployment. Controversy arose when it became clear that unemployment insurance would be mandated by the federal Social Security Act. Proponents of the competing plans each hoped to see their form of insurance drafted into law. Even as these points were argued in the pages of the New Republic and the Nation, the catastrophic effects of the Great Depression tipped the scales toward the Ohio Plan, and despite provisions in the Social Security Act of 1935 permitting either plan, most large industrial states opted for a version of the Ohio Plan.

Other successes for the League in these years include passage of a minimum wage law for women in 1933, ratification by Ohio of the federal child labor amendment in this same year, and a successful campaign in 1937 for a shorter work week for women. In the case of these reforms, the League was a bridge between Progressive reform and the New Deal. In the case of unemployment insurance, the League formed a bridge between European reforms of the Progressive years and American reform.

When the nation once again became involved in a world war, the Consumers League of Ohio acted to maintain effective enforcement of existing laws as unprecedented numbers of women entered the workforce. As in 1917-1918, the Consumers League of Ohio was especially concerned with the prevention of child labor, regulation and limitation of the hours and nature of work performed by women, and with provisions for day care for the children of working mothers.

In the post World War II period, the major thrust of the Consumers League of Ohio concerned groups untouched by the reforms of the 1930s. The Consumers League of Ohio worked to improve the status of Ohio's migrant workers and focused on health care, education, housing, and day care for migrants. As a result, special schools and camps for migrant workers were established and conditions for these workers improved. The Consumers League of Ohio worked closely with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and state legislators to secure an Ohio fair employment practices law. Attempts to secure higher wages for women working in industries not covered by federal law (hotel, restaurant, dry cleaning, laundry) were less successful. The wage rates secured were often lower than hoped and were invariably undermined by the moderate inflation of these years.

Following World War II, the Consumers League of Ohio continued its interest in social welfare issues and supported a broad range of programs designed to supplement or expand the Social Security Act of 1935. The most significant of these programs were disability insurance, national health insurance, and supplemental unemployment insurance benefits. The Consumers League of Ohio developed a renewed interest in consumer legislation and supported effots to revise Ohio's garnishment laws and its public utility rate structure.

While these campaigns attest to the legislative achievements of the League, it should be noted that a major contribution of the Consumers League is the role it played in providing a means for women to associate in order to influence society. Through the League, women who had been excluded from political activity were able to make their views known. Thus, some of the most talented women of three generations were attracted to the League. As Belle Sherwin of the Cleveland League of Women Voters wrote: "perhaps it interests us more today to note that it was the Consumer's League which first gave numbers of women in Cleveland a practical knowledge of laws and law-making--the laboratory of political education which is the present concern of women as new voters. For many women I am sure that the Consumer's League served as the vestibule to political responsibility and action." ( The First Quarter Century of the Consumers League of Ohio, 1900-1925, page 10).

In light of this, it may seem surprising to note that League's longstanding opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment. While instances of conflict arose in Cleveland and Cincinnati as early as 1915 when professional women objected to their inclusion in protective legislation, the national controversy dates from the introduction of the Equal Rights Amendment by the National Women's Party in 1923. Florence Kelley, executive secretary of the National Consumers League and a founding member of the National Women's Party, left that organization because of her opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment. The Ohio League became active in the controversy in later years when the amendment began to attract a following beyond the small membership of the National Women's Party. During the 1930s, the National Women's Party and some professional women opposed the League on wage and hours legislation for women. Like many other women's organizations, the League has since moderated its views but an understanding of its original position is necessary to understand the opposition of so many feminists to the Equal Rights Amendment.

Beyond the major issues already cited, it should be noted that the League has participated in a wider variety of activities than those briefly discussed here, ranging from surveys of various local i ndustries to support for anti-fascist organizations in the 1930s. Among the Leagues more interesting activities are those involving toxic chemicals and workers, sponsorship of women in workers education programs at women's colleges, sexual discrimination in the workforce, day care centers, maternity leave, and prevention of venereal diseases.

From the guide to the Consumers League of Ohio Records, 1900-1977, (Western Reserve Historical Society)