Part 24

=137. Candy Manufacturers.= "There are three hundred confectionery manufacturers and retail dealers in New York city. Twelve establishments are devoted exclusively to the manufacture of candies. In some, as many as a hundred hands are employed in busy times. During the busy season, there are engaged in the manufacturing houses about five thousand persons of both sexes, though a very much larger number, probably some thousands, are indirectly supported by it, the paper-box makers being generally busily employed, and many children gaining a livelihood by hawking candies through the streets. The city of New York is the headquarters of the confectionery trade, supplying as much as all the rest of the Union together, and distributing the results of its industry to all parts of the United States, as well as to Canada, most of the West India Islands, Mexico, Chili, and many other places. It is estimated that fully $1,000,000 worth of confectionery is made annually in this city; and by that term we mean preparations of sugar, chocolate, jujube paste, &c., but exclude many articles such as ice creams, jellies, blancmanges, pastry, and other delicacies, which would sum up this amount to perhaps double. Two of the principal houses manufacture daily between them four thousand pounds of candies, at prices varying from 14 cents to 50 cents per pound, the average being about 20 cents." The coloring matter of foreign candies is generally showy, and of a poisonous nature. That of American manufacture is not of such brilliant and permanent colors, but more regard is paid to health in the selection of coloring matter. At confectioners' in London, classes of young ladies are taken and taught the art of making confectionery. Some candies are made by stretching over a hook, some must be shaken in a pan over a charcoal fire, and rolled on tables with marble tops. I was told at S. & P.'s (a wholesale house) that they are most busy from August 1st to 20th of December, and from March to June. They take learners for a week, to see if they are fit for the business, and if they are, reward them for their time. It takes but a short time to learn the part done by girls. They pay experienced girls from $3 to $6 a week. The girls work ten hours a day, and if longer, they are paid extra. Lately they have kept their girls until ten o'clock at night. It requires taste and invention to envelop fancy confectionery, but is not very reliable for constant employment. S. & P. employ ninety girls in busy times. At another place I was told they will not take Southern orders, for the Southerners will not buy, and have not the money to pay, if they would. The fancy candies go through three or four processes, and so the girls must work in the same room as the men who paint them. The girls sit while at work. R. pays by the month, and keeps his girls all the year. He says labor is more poorly compensated in New York, in proportion to the rates of living, than in any city in the Union. He thinks some girls should go from the cities into country places, and enter into service. H. says a person of any intelligence can learn in two or three months to paint candies. He used to employ girls to put gilding on, paying $2 a week--ten hours a day; but if a girl can paint well, she can earn $4 or $5 a week. He knows several German girls in the city that do. The candy flowers, he says, are made by hand, the fruit moulded. A lady confectioner told me that a woman who ornaments fancy candies is poorly paid, and it is dirty, sugary kind of work. Yet she acknowledged that candies must be kept on a clean table and handled by clean hands--otherwise they would not look well, and consequently not sell readily. The wives of German manufacturers do most of that kind of work. A confectioner told me, candy is never made in this country by women, but it is in England. He said the dust of the powdered sugar and the gases of the coal render it unhealthy. In large establishments most candy is made by steam. The making of candy he thought even too laborious for men. The teeth of candy manufacturers are often decayed from the frequent tasting of heated sugar. One candy manufacturer writes me: "We employ six girls in making candy, and do not think the business unhealthy. Wages range from $1.25 to $4.50 per week--ten hours a day. Men's wages are from $4.50 to $9. It requires from three to five years for men to learn. Women's part is learned in one year. The prospect of employment is good for a limited number. Fall is the best season, but they are always employed except during part of the winter. In some branches of the work women excel." At a manufactory of gum drops and candy rings, I saw a boy who receives $3 a week for making the rings, and a girl who receives $2.75 for picking gum drops, _i. e._, loosening the sugar in which they are incrusted while being made. They work from 7 A. M. to 6 P. M.

=138. Cheesemakers.= A great deal of cheese is made in Central and Northern New York, and some in Ohio, Vermont, and West Massachusetts. Making cheese is a chemical operation, and requires experience. It is made in all civilized countries. I talked with an old gentleman who had been in the cheese business nearly all his life. He said a farmer's wife is the best help in cheese making. In making cheese, seven eighths of the work is done by women. A man usually places the cheese in the press, and removes it when it is dried sufficiently. The occupation is healthy. Women are paid from $1.75 to $2 a week and their board. Some people employ men, because they can go to work on the farm when not making cheese. The business can be learned in from six weeks to two months. When learning, girls give their work for instruction, but have their board. Neatness, good health, judgment, and common education, are desirable for a cheese maker. An individual must be able to reckon the pounds, weigh the salt, and regulate the temperature of the milk and curd by the thermometer. The first advice given by a lady who taught to make cheese was, "Keep your vessels clean." The prospect of employment in this branch of work is good, for it is difficult to obtain good cheesemakers. The best seasons are from the 1st of March to the last of November. The number of hours given by a girl to her work depends on the contract made--generally eight hours--sometimes ten. In most places cheesemakers have more leisure than house girls, but some employers expect them to do housework when not employed about the cheese. Some farmers hire girls who devote themselves exclusively to cheese making during the season for it. Some have the afternoon after the cheese is put in the press, and the jars, &c., are cleaned, until time to milk in the evening. The morning milking is usually done before breakfast, and the cheese made after breakfast. It requires until about two o'clock to get through. When cheese is put in a press, nothing further is necessary until it is ready to be removed. It remains in the press twenty-four hours. Most farmers have their cheese made on Sunday morning as on other days. The girls have Sunday afternoon or evening, according to contract. Some farmers do not make their cheese on Sunday, but retain the milk until Monday morning, and make it into butter. Women are best adapted to the work, and employed mostly because they can be got cheaper. The majority are Irish women. They are usually put on a footing by their employers, and eat at the same table. So little spinning and weaving are done now in the country, that the female members of farmers' families generally do the milking, unless the farmers have grown too wealthy and proud to have their wives and daughters so employed. Some dairymen make, with the aid of their families, all the cheese they use and sell. Milk should be drawn from a cow as rapidly as possible and while the cow is eating. One milker should be employed for every ten cows. Milk is very sensitive. Dairymen will make more by having the cream remain on the milk than by taking the cream off for churning, at the rate butter sells this winter (1861). Where the cream is used, an inexperienced hand would find it more troublesome to make cheese. Twenty-three million pounds of cheese were exported last year from the United States. American cheese is, in England, taking the place of English cheese. A German cheesemonger told me he makes the Limburg cheese--a preparation which has been known about eight years in this country. He was putting up some to send to New Orleans. It was very soft, and I thought the smell very offensive. He gets American cheese of a Yankee girl, to whom he pays $80 a year. She uses the milk of sixty cows. She works at it but eight months. During four months of the year but very little cheese is ever made. The arrangements of some cheesemakers for preparing the article are very complete.

=139. Coffee and Chocolate Packers.= B. S. & W., Philadelphia, employ women in packing parcels of essence of coffee, spices, vermicelli, &c. They make paper cases, pour the article in through a funnel and ram it down, then label and pack the cases in boxes, which are nailed up ready for delivery. One or two persons obtain a livelihood by cutting the labels to paste on the boxes. They are paid fifteen cents a thousand for this work, and are able to support themselves by it. The women are paid by the piece, and earn from $2 to $6 per week. The work rooms are airy and comfortable. Females were formerly more employed than at present to put up coffee; but as coffee is now ground every day at most factories, and as it is considered best when just ground, less is put up than formerly. Messrs. L. & B., New York, employ girls to put the articles in papers, pasting labels on and sealing them. They work by the piece, and earn from $3 to $7 a week. The odor might be disagreeable to some, but persons get accustomed to it, and it is quite as healthy as most work. There are not over one hundred and fifty women so employed in the State of New York, yet such packing is generally done by women. It is customary to pay by the package. The girls change their dresses on coming to the workroom of L. & B. They do not work with the men, but with some boys who fill boxes with the same articles. L. & B.'s girls have employment all the year. They never have any difficulty in getting hands. I saw a man who makes up essence of coffee. A lady was assisting him to put it in papers. At another factory I was told they pay by the week, from $1.50 to $4, according to the industry, quickness, and practice of the worker. It is not unhealthy work. They give employment ten months of the year, but at present have little to do. It requires but a few weeks to become expert. In some establishments girls stand or sit, as they please, while at work; in others they are all required to assume constantly whichever posture the foreman directs. At W. & Son's two small girls are employed, who each receive $2.50 a week. There is one factory in Cincinnati, one in St. Louis, and one in Chicago.

=140. Cracker Bakers.= At M.'s the young man said fancy crackers could be made by women. In making soda, oyster, and some other crackers, the dough is kneaded by machinery. In some establishments the dough is rolled out and conveyed to the oven by machinery. In a cracker bakery I was told the women might be employed in packing and selling crackers. It would not require all the time of one woman to pack for a large bakery. A cracker baker writes us: "We employ no women, and do not see that they could work to advantage in our business." Women could do all the work now done by men in this line, but I suppose considerable opposition would be experienced, except by ladies who have sufficient capital to carry on business for themselves.

=141. Fancy Confectionery.= Most confectioners sell, in addition to their fancy candies, imported fruits; and a few keep cakes. Some also keep fruits preserved in brandy or their own juice; and some keep in addition pickles, oysters, sardines, &c. Some confectioners merely make sweetmeats--some sell them, and some both make and sell. In cities, confectioners usually furnish the refreshments for both public and private entertainments. A manufacturer of confectioneries in New York told me that in busy times he employs fifteen girls; but at that time (January, 1861) only half as many, for they have no Southern orders--the people in the South are doing without candies. The part done by girls requires no special training. He pays girls for their labor from the first. They pack, pick gums, envelop in fancy papers, fill boxes, &c. He pays $3 a week for those that have some experience, and keeps them ten hours a day. He gives the making and painting of fancy candies out to those that have families, and who do it at home. W., of Philadelphia, pays his girls, eight in number, $1.50 a week for the first two or three weeks, then from $3 to $4. Making common candy is said to be too hard for women. They assist in the finishing of fine candies, as rolling and covering chocolate nuts. They put the fancy candies in French envelopes, and cut the silvered or gilt paper that gives the finish. They can sit or stand as they please while at work, but while enveloping mostly sit. They work ten hours. It is rather a light business. M. employs fifty women in putting up and packing candies. He pays them, from the time they begin, $2 a week. They learn in two or three months. He pays then from $4 to $5 a week. A lady told me she was paid in one establishment $6 a month and board. A girl in a confectionery told me the prices usually paid girls are $7 or $8 a month, with board and washing, and the girl is expected to keep the accounts. A lady in another store said summer is the poorest season for confectioneries, as people do not like to eat candies, because it makes them thirsty; but in those confectioneries where soda water and lager beer are kept, there is more or less custom during the summer. They keep open till ten o'clock at night, and all day Sunday. Sunday is their most profitable day. She knows a girl that is paid $5 a month in the Bowery, with her board, or $7 without. To be kind and obliging, and have the faculty of pleasing the little folks, are the best qualifications for the business. Prices paid depend on the responsibility of the employed. Some that keep the books receive $5 a week without board, most others receive $1.50 or $1.75 per week and board. Judgment must be used in the selection of a stand. A lady who keeps a small confectionery and fruit store in Williamsburg, says she does not make much on cakes and bread, only half a cent on a loaf of bread. She says it is best not to trust any one for pay--that children often come and say they want so and so, their mother says she will pay on Saturday; but Saturday comes, and no pay; and if they go for the money, the parents will say, "Come again," and put it off from time to time, until they become discouraged, and give it up altogether. M--s, French confectionery and chocolate cream manufacturers, take learners at the proper season, which commences in August. They employ some girls to paint fancy candies. H. says one must commence at the very first step, and gradually advance--that to learn the business requires a long time. He pays four girls $5 or $6 a month each, and gives them their board, for selling confectioneries and waiting in his saloon. At S----'s confectionery I was told that the small fine candies are made by steam. They are made in pans, which are shaken back and forth over fires, the gas of which is very injurious, and cannot be carried off by flues. Their girls make so much noise, laughing and talking with the men, and waste so much time, that they are required to work on the first floor, the same as the store. They are paid from $1.50 to $2 a week. They are paid by the week, because they do their work better than if paid by the quantity; besides, it is less troublesome. They are paid for overwork (regular hours being ten), and some earn as much in that way as by regular wages. The girls pick gums, separate gum drops, put candy in boxes, &c. C. employs girls to paint, put up candies, and attend store, and pays $1.50 and $2 a week. Most of the painting is done by French and German men, who are paid from $10 to $12 a week. It requires a long time to acquire taste and experience; one, in fact, can be always improving. C. thinks girls are not likely to find constant employment in the kind of work he gives to females. A French confectioner told me he had employed a woman to make chocolate cream, paying $3 a week for ten hours a day, and could employ her all the year, as the demand for chocolate cream is very great. S. employed one girl to sell candy, paying $5 a week. She was at the store at 7.30 A. M., and remained till 6 P. M. in winter and 8 P. M. in summer. She did not keep the books, but washed the jars and case, and swept back of the counter, and dusted several times a day. Talked with a girl who stood in a confectionery store on Broadway. She knew a girl on Chatham street who received $12 a month and her board. She herself received $9 a month and her board, but not her washing. The proprietor told her she must sew for his family, when not waiting on customers. It seems that it is not an uncommon requisition. They have but few customers until about 11 o'clock, and he expected her to accomplish more sewing than a sempstress who gives all her time to it. The young lady is in the store by 7 o'clock in the morning, and remains until 11 o'clock at night. Any one wishing to commence a confectionery can learn from the wholesale dealer of whom she purchases how to regulate the prices of sweetmeats. Mrs. W. wants a girl to wait in her saloon, will give $8 a month, with her board and washing. She would be required to sew, when not waiting on customers, and would have to wash the jars and cases, keep the counter clean, and dust and arrange the articles in the window every morning. She would have to be in the store at seven, and remain until twelve (seventeen hours). In large confectioneries girls stand while picking gums used in making gum drops. They are mostly made in summer. There is now (December) a great demand for girls, as there always is about the holidays. Those now at work are kept three hours over time--from seven to ten--and paid extra. The chemicals used in making some confectioneries are unhealthy, but women have nothing to do with that, except in painting candy toys. A confectioner in Boston, who employs four American girls in attending store and making goods, writes: "We consider the occupation very healthy, never having had a case of sickness with girls while working at this business. Some are paid $3 and $4 per week, working ten hours a day; others by the quantity, averaging $1 per day. Male labor is paid for, according to the knowledge of the business, from $6 to $15. Girls could not do the work, and the work that women do it would not pay to have done by male labor. It requires a long time and a great deal of practice to learn the whole business, but that part done by women is learned in a few weeks. They are paid something while learning. Honesty, industry, and a good education are the most desirable qualifications. Spring and fall are our most busy seasons. In midwinter we do not have many at work. Retail stores require most help in summer. New York requires most hands, especially women; but the demands are now very small, the trouble at the South being the main cause. They are not strong enough to do some parts of the work. The large towns are best for our business." A lady in a fancy confectionery on Broadway told me she receives $8 a month and her board, and is paid by the month. She thinks many diseases are brought on women by having to stand so much, as they do in confectioneries, bakeries, and dry-good stores. Women that have stood in any kind of a store before, and have business qualifications, are paid while learning. There is never any difficulty about obtaining qualified hands. She finds the work very laborious, and complained of having to be in the confectionery and saloon from seven in the morning until twelve at night. In some saloons the attendants are up until 1 o'clock (eighteen hours!), and are on their feet most of the time. A confectioner in Concord, N. H., writes: "We employ from five to ten girls (because we find it most profitable) for helping make, rolling up, and packing lozenges and pipe candy. Also for standing in the confectionery. The work is very healthy. We pay about sixty-seven cents per day, and they work from six to ten hours. No man employed, except one who takes charge. There is a prospect for employment so long as children cry for lozenges. The girls are American, and work at all seasons. They are as well paid, according to the cost of living, as mechanics in this place. Women are superior to men in rolling up and packing lozenges. They pay for board $1.75 per week."

=142. Fish Women.= In the United States, where every one has a right to fish in the rivers and lakes, there is a fair opening for those in this line of business. But it is only in the spring and fall that fish are much eaten. They are not considered healthy in the warm weather of summer. A pound of fish is said to be in nutritive power equal to eight pounds of potatoes. In the United States, according to the census report of 1850, there were engaged in fisheries 20,704 males and 429 females. The fishwomen of Philadelphia have long engaged in the selling of shad, and are to be seen in great numbers on the streets of the city, and even when not seen are likely to be heard crying fish. At one time they had a large market devoted exclusively to the sale of fish, but it became a nuisance, and the city authorities had it torn down; yet the women, possessed of strong local association, were not to be so routed. They are still seen sitting before their tables of fish in the neighborhood of where the market stood. Much money has been realized by the fishwomen, some of whom are said to own property of considerable value. What a lesson to patient industry! "From the time of Louis XIV. to the present, fish have been sold in Paris exclusively by women. They are now remarkable for the urbanity of their language and propriety of their conduct, having risen high in the scale of respectability during the last half century." "On the coasts of the department of Somme there are certain fish, the shrimps and 'vers marius,' which are exclusively reserved to the young girls and widows." On the coast of Great Britain thousands of women are employed in the herring, cod, mackerel, lobster, turbot, and pilchard fisheries. Women and children rub salt on the fish to be cured, with the hand. When cured, women pile them in stacks from four to five feet high, and as wide. Women are paid, at Newlyn, for this labor, 3_d._ an hour, and every sixth hour receive a glass of brandy and a piece of bread. Many are also employed in obtaining oysters and canning them; and on the return of whaling vessels, numbers of women assist in preparing the cargoes for market. In New York, fish are mostly sold by men, who drive about in a little wagon containing fish, and blow a horn, crying out now and then the kind of fish they have for sale.

=143. Macaroni.= Macaroni is moulded and dried. Girls then pick out the whole sticks, and put them in boxes. The broken pieces are all thrown together in a barrel, then ground and moulded over. It is very easy work, and requires no learning. They are paid from $2 to $3.50 a week, working ten hours a day. The girls I saw, stood while at work.