Part 26

=154. Restaurant Keepers.= In London and Paris, young and pretty women are employed in the best class of tobacco stores and in restaurants. This should not be so on account of the number, and often the character, of the men that resort to these shops. Indeed, we think it best not to employ them in any stores that men only frequent. Besides, the unseasonable hours that restaurants are kept open, make it objectionable for women. They are often not closed until midnight or after. In Great Britain girls and women are frequently employed as bar maids at inns.

=155. Sealed Provisions, Pickles, and Sauces.= The plan is now almost universally adopted in the United States, of putting up fruit and vegetables in cans from which the air is excluded. It is one of the greatest inventions of the age for housekeepers. It saves labor and expense; and if well put up, the fruit and vegetables are as fresh and taste as natural as we have them in the growing season. Quite a number of large houses are engaged in the business in New York, and a few in Philadelphia. E. Philadelphia employs women to put pickles and preserved fruit in jars, sealing and labelling them. They can earn from $2.50 to $3 a week. They sit while at work. The season begins in July, and is over in October. K. & Co., New York, employ about a hundred females during the fruit season. The occupation consists in preparing the articles to be preserved; that is, peeling, seeding, washing, &c., labelling bottles, and painting cans. Those they employ are mostly Irish, and not capable of any very elevated position of labor. The fruit season lasts six months, after which only about thirty remain the rest of the year. The hours of labor are ten, and the compensation from $2.50 to $3 per week. In another establishment they employ only small girls, to whom they pay $2 per week, and occasionally $2.50. Mrs. Dall suggests that farmers' daughters put up candied fruits like those imported from France, which bear a good price and yield a handsome profit. Some women engage in making pickles on their own responsibility. Owners of gardens not convenient to market would find it profitable to put up fruits and vegetables, and to make pickles and sauces. The spices they would have to purchase; but if they had an orchard, they could make good vinegar. They could either sell the articles in the nearest large city, or pay a commission for the sale of them. Mr. D., in one of the New York markets, employs women for putting pickles in jars--gives $8 a month and board. The number of hours they are employed depends on the quantity of work they have on hand. B., New York, employs for six months from six to eight women; for four months, some twenty-five; and the remaining two months, from ninety to one hundred and twenty-five. B. has always had his work done in the city, but contemplates having it done hereafter in the country, as the articles will then be on the ground, and save the trouble of transportation. They send South. He thinks the South must for a long time be dependent on the North for pickles. They even furnish some of the pickle houses in Baltimore. They fear they will lose much because they have now no demand for pickles from the South, and they are likely to spoil by keeping. They are most busy in summer and fall. They keep some steady hands all the year. They find it difficult to get good hands, and pay learners from the first. Many girls go from New York in the summer, to the country, to put up pickles, gather berries, and weed gardens; and it pays them pretty well. B. pays his women fifty cents a day of ten hours. It is not unhealthy, and requires but a little time to learn. In this, as in most other mechanical work, practice makes perfect; consequently, experienced hands receive the preference. At most places men attend to fruit while it is being cooked. The preserving is mostly done in large kettles, around which pass pipes containing steam, encased by larger vessels. Lifting the kettles would be too heavy for women, when they contain, as in some cases, thirty-five gallons of fruit. And the steam used would require some one that knew a little of such matters, yet a smart woman could soon learn. M. & M. have their work done in the house, paying from $2.25 to $4. They can always get hands. W. & P. have their pickles, preserves, and sauces put up in the country. Their girls get from $3 to $6 a week. They employ two hundred girls, and take most of them from the city in the busy season from June to October. G. pays $3 a week. Any one that can use their hands can do it, and become expert in two or three months. Another pickler pays $2 per week. His wife does most of the work. Mrs. M. lives near Washington market. She employs some women to preserve, and some to put up pickles. Most of her preserves are put up by an old lady who does it at her own home. She pays her women from $2.50 to $4 a week. It requires long experience to become proficient. Nearly all the work is done in her house, and of course is done only in the summer. Her custom is mostly confined to the city. If she is preserving a very large quantity of fruit, she has a man to stir it. He spends most of his time taking purchased articles home. She uses only the best articles. She can always get enough hands. An extensive pickle manufacturer writes: "I employ women in packing pickles and all goods of the kind into glass--labelling, corking, making jellies, jams, &c., packing, labelling catsups, bottling syrups, &c. Women are so employed wherever these goods are manufactured. The employment is _healthy_--so much so that I have known invalids gain their health. I pay $3 per week--men $6 to $10; all work ten hours a day. Women can learn in from three to twelve months. Some learners receive $2, and some $2.50 per week. Quickness, neatness, and skill are required. Summer and fall are the busy seasons. The females are mostly young Irish, born in the United States. Women are superior in handiness, inferior in strength." A gentleman in the business writes from Newburyport: "I employ usually from eight to ten women. I pay eight cents per hour, and they work from four to seven hours. The men's work is worth more than women's, and entirely different from it. The prospect for this kind of work is good. There is no work in winter or early spring. Seaports are the best localities for the business. My women pay from $1.50 to $1.75 for respectable board."

=156. Sugar Makers.= When the part of the sugar cane to be pressed, is cut, it is tied in bundles and drawn to the mill in wagons. It is deposited in heaps outside, and negro girls carry the bundles on their heads to the mill door. After the cane has been subjected to pressure by cylinders, to obtain the juice, it falls through an opening in the mill walls, and is carried off by negro women and spread in the sun, to dry for fuel. The work in sugar mills is very warm and heavy. The work in sugar refineries is very laborious, and requires the workers to be subjected to great heat. Several refiners have informed me that the business does not admit of the employment of women in any department. The business is said to be very trying on the constitution, and produces an unhealthy increase of flesh. It is said to be good for consumptives on account of the great nutriment in sugar. A sugar refiner died not long ago, whose salary received from the company amounted, I was told, to $25,000 per annum. I have thought there is one part of the work a woman might do--it is enveloping the sugar in paper cases. At a sugar refinery a man told us, some women are employed to make bags for containing char, _i. e._, burnt bones, and earn several dollars a week. The sewing is done by hand; making the bags requires but a short time, though it is heavy work. Most refiners buy theirs at bag factories, or have their men to make them.

=157. Tea Packers.= A boy fitting himself to be a tea broker told me, the business is best in the spring, fall, and winter. The quality of tea is principally decided by smelling--which is done before it is moistened, by blowing on it with the breath and then putting it to the nostrils. Boiling water is then poured on it, and tasted. The boy said, it is a paying business. It is not healthy on account of the dust inhaled. It does not take more than a year to learn to judge of the quality of kinds of tea. Boys learning the business do not live long. They are paid $2, and $2.50 a week. In busy seasons, they sometimes work as late as nine o'clock. There are not many tea packers in the city, and one told me, most of them cannot make a living. We called on Mr. N., a teapacker, who charges for putting tea out of the large boxes, in which it is imported, into canisters and packages, according to the way in which it is put up; whether in paper covers, or canisters of lead or tin. The facing or labelling varies some. He says, packing could be done by girls. He employs men and boys, paying the boys from $2 to $4 a week. There are only two tea packing establishments in New York, and not more than one in any other large city. It is not at all unhealthy. Packing is done most in spring and fall. Mr. N. thinks it would be best to have the girls work in separate apartments from the men. He complains of the want of promptness in girls. A tea packer of Boston writes: "I employ from six to ten girls to cover and line boxes, &c. They are American, of Irish descent. There is nothing in the business, that the girls do, that can be considered unhealthy. Wages run from $2.50 to $3 per week. It does not take a long time to learn, and full wages are paid while learning. I employ my help the year round, though less hours are used for a day's work during the winter. Ten is the number of working hours during the summer, spring, and autumn; and eight, during the winter months." In London, a number of men and women, principally women, buy exhausted tea leaves of the female servants and sell them at establishments, where they are dried, and a fresh green color given them by a copper preparation. They are sold for new tea. The quantity so renewed is thought to amount to 78,000 lbs. annually. The Chinese women assist in gathering tea leaves and drying them, but men do the packing.

=158. Vermicelli.= Vermicelli is moulded by passing through a machine and being laid on frames until the next day to partially dry. Then girls cut it in short pieces, and twist it. The twisting requires a little art acquired by practice. They receive from $2 to $3.50 a week. It is cruel for females to be kept on their feet all day while at work, when they might sit. At a factory I saw a French lady, the wife of the proprietor, cutting and twisting vermicelli. A young Frenchman was at work, who told us he was paid 75 cents a day; but women, he said, would not be paid as much, because he had to attend to the machinery. The lady sat, as girls in factories should do if they wish.

=159. Vinegar.= A plant is now grown from which vinegar is made. "In addition to the consumption of vinegar in culinary uses and the preparation of preserved food, it is indispensable in several branches of manufacture, as in the dressing of morocco leather, and in dye and print works." The labor of making vinegar is too hard and heavy for women. The handling of barrels, changing of liquids, and constant exposure to heat and cold, without cessation of labor, are too great for the female frame to sustain. The workers often pass from a temperature varying from 92° to 105°, to one of extreme coldness." A Boston vinegar manufacturer, writes: "Women are never employed in making vinegar in large quantities. They are not adapted to the occupation. It does not agree with some constitutions. It requires but a short time to learn the business. The prospect for future employment is poor." Some women make vinegar from parings of fruit, tea leaves, &c., for family use.

=160. Yeast.= A manufacturer of yeast powders writes: "There is but a small part of the work that women can do. It requires the strong, muscular arm of a man to do most of it." We know women are sometimes employed for putting up the powders, and are paid by the number of packages.

TEXTILE MANUFACTURES.

=161. Cotton Manufacturers.= Only so far back as 1789, doubts were entertained whether cotton could be cultivated in the United States, while now the amount of calicoes annually produced in the United States is supposed to equal twenty millions of yards. "The number of females employed in the various factories of Lowell, in which textile fabrics are produced, will exceed 12,000. Those engaged in weaving can earn, upon an average, from $2.50 to $4 per week. Those who labor as spinners and spoolers make only from seventy-five cents to $2, but they are generally very young." In the cotton mill at Cannelton, Ind., there were "in 1854, about 200 females. They worked by the job, and their pay was the same as would be given to men for the same work. They earned from $1 to $5.50 per week." We believe, in the majority of factories, the plan of paying some hands by the piece, and some by the week, is adopted. B., manufacturer, told me quite a number of his weavers earn from $5 to $6 a week, being paid by the piece. It requires two or three months to get in the way of weaving well. His hands are busy all the year. His factory is in New Jersey, twenty-five miles from New York. The laws of New Jersey prohibit the employment of operatives more than twelve hours out of the twenty-four, but some evade it. The law, also, forbids the employment of children under ten years of age. The smaller children are engaged in spinning, and not so well paid. It requires but a short time to learn to attend the spinning machinery. There is generally a full supply of weavers to be had, because it pays well. Manufacturers usually have their work done in the country, because living, and consequently labor, are cheaper there. A cotton manufacturer in Rhode Island, who employs about 100 operatives, writes: "I pay both by the piece and the week. When by the week, from $4 to $5. When by the piece, the women are paid at the same rate as the men, but the men are able to make from fifty cents to $1 per week more. It requires from three to six months, to learn. Girls are paid while learning, if they grow up with us. They are employed through the year, and work sixty-nine hours per week, twelve hours per day for five days, nine hours on Saturday. All classes of laborers must work during mill hours. Women keep the rooms and machinery neater than men. About seven eighths of the women employed in our mill are Americans; one half would be the nearer proportion in mills generally in this section, three fourths in some instances. There are other parts that women might be employed in, but the custom has not been introduced in our section, on account of their dress. They pay from $1.50 to $1.75 for board, and are all in private families." The Lawrence Manufacturing Company, at Lowell, write: "Women are employed in carding, spinning, dressing, and weaving. The employment is not unhealthy, and they earn from $1 to $4 a week, clear of board, according to capability and skill--average, say, $2 per week. They work eleven hours a day; men average about eighty cents a day clear of board; their work is altogether too hard for women. The women learn in from one to three months. They are paid, usually, $1 a week, besides their board, while learning. The qualifications needed are respectable character and ordinary capacity. They are employed all the year round. The scarcity of hands is greater in the departments requiring most skill; there is an abundance of inferior sort. We employ 1,300 women; perhaps one third are Americans. They are employed in all branches where it is expedient. The Americans are well informed; the Irish, improving, though low in the scale of intelligence. They have churches, evening schools, and lectures. Work stops at 6.30 and 7 o'clock. They live in boarding houses under our care, well regulated, respectable and comfortable, and pay $1.25 per week." At the New York mills, "361 adult and 99 minor females are employed in the manufacture of fine shirtings and cottonades. Wages of adults are $3.99, and minors, $2.12½ per week. Price of board, $1.50. They work 12 hours per day." The Naunkeag Steam Cotton Company, Mass., "employ 400, and pay by the week, from $2.50 to $3. Those that do piecework, earn on an average, $3.50 per week; six months will enable intelligent hands to earn three fourths pay. Their board is paid for two weeks, while learning, then they receive what they earn. Desirable hands find steady work; they are employed all the year; they work eleven hours a day. We prefer women, because neater and more reliable. They have more time for improvement than is made available. Board, $1.50 to $1.75. Good boarding houses are provided." At Kingston, Rhode Island, a man employing nine girls, pays by the yard, and the girls earn from $4 to $6 per week. Men receive the same wages as women. They work from sun up to sun down, except at meal times. If other mills ran but ten hours, they would. They have work all the year. Hands are rather scarce in that State. All are American. They prefer it to general housework. Women are the best in mills for light work. Female operatives pay $1.50 for board, lodging, and washing. The Jackson Manufacturing Company of New Haven writes: "Women are employed in the various branches belonging to a cotton mill. Average wages of our females are $2.30, and board money $1.25, making $3.55 per week received by them. Some females in our employ earn eighty cents per day; average price of male labor, about eighty-four cents per day. Women are paid less, because they cannot do such work as is done by men. In regard to the time required to learn to do the work in the different departments, much depends upon the dispositions of the learners. Six months would ordinarily be sufficient time to render one competent. Women are usually allowed their board while learning. A good character and good health are needed. There is much changing among help during the spring and summer months, say for four months in the year; but we almost invariably keep our supply good. Our working hours are eleven and a quarter per day. With the exception of our weaving department, but little work is done on Saturday afternoons aside from cleaning, so that our working hours will not average over ten and a half per day. By giving a suitable notice to the overseer, it is so arranged that the help can be absent from their work one day of a month. The largest proportion of American help is found in the weaving and dressing departments. We have in our employ 140 men, 310 females, about one half American. We have good boarding houses, carefully watched, and kept clean in all respects. Our American help are quite intelligent, also some of the foreign. Some of our help attend school during the winter months. Board $1.25 per week--the keeper of the house not paying rent. The houses will each accommodate about twenty persons comfortably." Another manufacturing company pay from $2 to $4 per week, mostly by the piece. The work can be learned in three or four months. Their hands are paid small wages while learning. They have constant employment. They usually work twelve hours per day; three fourths American. From a manufacturer in Gilford, New Hampshire, we learn he employs forty women, who work by the piece, and whose average pay is $3 per week. They work eleven hours. Females are paid the same as men for the same kind of work. Some parts of the business can be learned in one day, others ten, and some hands will learn in one day what others would not in ten. Work at all seasons; spring and fall most busy. It pays better than housework. Board of males, $2.50; females, $1.25 to $1.50. A manufacturer in New York writes: "I employ about twenty women in weaving, twenty-five in spinning, spooling and other branches; boys and girls from fifteen to twenty each, and ten men. Women average about $2.50 per week. Women are paid the same price as men. Weavers earn about $3.50 per week. My mill runs twelve hours per day, the year round. Women are mostly American. The girls have an hour for each meal." A medical man has stated, that the health of operatives is promoted by occupying rooms with large windows on each side of the room, so that the sunlight will penetrate the apartments during the entire day. And those rooms with white walls are more healthy and better for the eyes than those with colored walls.

=162. Batting.= A manufacturer of cotton batting writes: "Women are employed in our factory to tend machinery. They are employed in Europe. It is only unhealthy from being indoor work. We pay, per week, for best hands, $2 and board. They work twelve hours. I think there is a surplus of hands at this time. The work is light and does not require an expenditure of strength. The work is as comfortable as any can be. All parts will not answer for women. Board $1.42. Men are paid $1 more than women, but perform a different part of the work. Learners usually command wages after two weeks. The summer is the most profitable time to manufacture."

=163. Calicoes.= Calico takes its name from Calicot, a town in Malabar, where the art has been practised with great success from time immemorial. Calico printing is the art of producing figured patterns upon cotton. They are transferred to its surface by blocks, or engraved by copper cylinders, by which the colors are directly printed, or by which a substance having an affinity for both the stuff and coloring matter is employed, which is called a mordant. "In England, calico printing employs a vast number of children of both sexes, who have to mix and grind the colors for the adult workpeople, and are commonly called turners. The usual hours of labor are twelve, including meal time; but as the children generally work the same time as the adults, it is by no means uncommon in all districts for children of five and six years old to be kept at work fourteen and even sixteen hours consecutively. They begin to work generally about their eighth year, as in Birmingham and Sheffield, but often earlier." Calico is printed mostly in Lowell, Philadelphia, Saco, Dover, and some other towns. A manufacturing company of lawns and calicoes in Providence, R. I., write: "We employ fifty women in stitching, folding, and tracing pantograph designs. The employment is healthy. We pay from fifty cents to sixty-seven cents per day of ten hours. We have one woman who does a man's work at folding, and is paid a man's wages--$1 per day. The time to learn the business is according to natural ability; very soon with ordinary capacity, say, two weeks. Cool weather is the best for work, but the women are not thrown out of employment at any season. We have more applicants than we can accommodate. The light, clean work, is best for women; the rough and heavy for men. We adopt female labor as far as practicable. Ordinary board is from $2 to $2.50 per week."