Part 32

=209. Wire Workers.= I was told at a wire manufactory, New York, that women are never employed to draw wire. If it be true that wire drawers are a very rough, coarse set of men, it is well girls do not work in the establishments; as the work is such, we presume, that all must be employed in the same apartments. The labor of drawing is such that the hands of the men become almost like iron. Mr. S., Philadelphia, employs a woman to weave fine wire. She learned it in her native country, Scotland. She also sews pieces of fine wire cloth together. She receives $5 a week, and seldom works ten hours a day. Most men and women engaged in wire work are English or Irish, who learned the trade in their own country. I was told it requires some years to attain excellence. Weaving requires considerable strength in both upper and lower limbs. Men wire workers are paid from $1.50 to $2.50 a day. Mr. C., New York, employs a number of women weavers and seamers. They are paid $4 a week. Formerly their girls would want a day to go to a picnic, to get ready for a party, or help their mothers at home. The steam would have to be stopped unless they could get hands to fill their places during the time, which was very difficult and often could not be done. For a while their women gave them so much trouble, they had to stop the machinery altogether. It caused him such annoyance that some of the female members of his family learned, and are now employed. He employs women to cover steel for hoop skirts, and pays $3 a week. A few women are employed at wire weaving in Cincinnati. The wiring and making of bird cages seems to me a field of industry open to female hands. They can be made in any place, and the work is light. Wire could be woven in fenders by women, I think. Mr. C., maker of patent rat traps, employed a number of girls to lace the wires. Some he paid by the week, some by the piece. They mostly earned $3 a week. A small girl could learn it in two weeks. I saw a manufacturer of wire stands for cloaks, mantillas, &c. He employs a few ladies to dress them, paying 25 cents apiece. One of his hands is very expeditious and can cover six in a day. Those that know nothing of the work, he employs in making skirts only, and of course make less. February, March, August, September, and October are the busy months. There are only three places in New York where the work is done. A wire maker, in Lowell, writes: "I employed a girl four years ago in wire weaving, that gave unqualified satisfaction. She left, to obtain a college education. I paid by the piece when I employed her, and at the same rates as I paid men. She used to earn $1 a day, and even did so while attending school; but of course worked before and after school--probably seven or eight hours a day. Most of my work is too laborious for women; but some wire workers that make meal sieves, corn parchers, &c., can, and I believe do, employ them to advantage, by reason of the price of labor being much less for women than men. This kind of business is limited. There are not more than one hundred and fifty men and women, probably, working at the business in New England. A maker of sieves, and wire goods in general, writes from Worcester, Massachusetts: "The business is quite healthy compared with needle work. I employ six women, who earn from $4 to $5 per week of ten hours a day. Men earn from $7.50 to $12. Some goods we manufacture will not justify us in paying women higher prices. (The women should not do it. They would then have to employ men and pay better prices, when women could come in and claim equal wages.) Our kind of work they learn in a few weeks. There will be no falling off, in future, of this work. Most girls like the work. Board, $2 per week in families." A wire manufacturer in Belleville, New Jersey, writes: "We employ females in sewing and winding wire. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay from $2.50 to $4.50 per week. Learners receive $2.50 per week. Board, $2 to $2.50. Men in our establishment average $2 per day. I would say that in some branches of our business, women might take the place of men."

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=Brass Manufacture.= In some branches of the brass manufacture women are not at all employed--in a few others, they are. At a brass bell foundery, we were told the work is not healthy, and is too heavy for women.

=210. Candlesticks.= A manufacturer of candlesticks in Vermont "employs from three to four women, because they are better adapted to the work than men. He pays by the piece, from $13 to $15 per month, and employs them the year round. Women are paid as well as men or boys at the same kind of work. It requires from three to five years to learn the business--from one to two years, that part done by women. Women are paid small wages while learning. It is a clean, comfortable business. There are no parts of our work suitable for women in which they are not employed."

=211. Hooks and Eyes.= The agent of the Waterbury Hook and Eye Company says: "The hooks and eyes are given out to families to put on cards, for which they are paid by the gross. It pays poorly--probably not more for a child than 50 cents a week. The country and villages around supply plenty of girls for the factories. In good times the hands in the factories are kept employed all the year. We employ three females to pack our finished light work, which is as neat and healthy work as can be in any pleasant factory--pay is $3.50 to $4.50 per week of sixty hours. No males are employed on similar work. Supply and demand regulate prices. Only a short time is required by a competent girl to learn to do our work properly; and pay commences when they commence. Every good qualification which 'flesh is heir to' is needed to make the _right_ sort of help. Prospect for employing more females than heretofore is not flattering. Girls are preferable for any light, neat, tasty work. Ours are Americans, and I believe as comfortable and happy as people are likely to be on this sinful globe. I doubt if much of our other work can be done by females. A place nearest to a large market, where good air and water prevail and means of living are reasonable, is the most desirable place to locate a factory, ordinarily. Churches, schools, libraries, lectures, &c., afford ample means and opportunity for mental and moral culture, for those who work ten hours a day, and can board for $2 a week, and are free from any special cares or anxieties." N. S. & Co., North Britain, write: "We employ nine women to make paper boxes, and pack hooks and eyes. They earn from 60 cents to $1 per day of ten hours, but are paid by the piece. The men earn from $1.15 to $3 per day; but their work is different from the women's. The women learn their part in two or three weeks. Industry and self-respect are the most desirable qualities. The prospect for future employment is good. They work all the year. Board, $2 per week."

=212. Lamps.= Mr. J. "used to employ girls to cement the glass body on the marble stand, and the top of the body on the metal through which the wick passes. He also employed them in papering to send away. The prospect for workers is poor, because the business is limited. He paid his girls $3.50 a week. No manufactories in the West or South." In 1860 the manufacture of coal-oil lamps formed the principal business of sixteen companies, who employed 2,150 men and 400 women and boys."

=213. Pins.= The pins made in the United States are not so high priced as English pins. They have not until lately been so well finished. In pin making in England, the drawing and cutting of the wire, the cutting of the heads from the coils, and the trimming are mostly performed by men; the other operations, by women and children. Sometimes, in trimming the pins, a man, his wife, and child work together. For pickling and trimming the pins the price usually paid is two cents a pound. A skilful and industrious worker can head 20,000 pins per day, for which in England they are paid about 30 cents of our money. Pin heading is very sedentary work, and children seven or eight years of age are often kept at it for twelve or thirteen hours, with merely time for hasty meals. Girls at Sedgley and Warrington begin as early as five years of age to work in the pin factories. It is said that at Wiltenhall they are treated with much cruelty, if at all refractory. In Sedgley more women are employed than men, and receive the same treatment. The secretary of the American Pin Company at Waterbury, Connecticut, writes: "Women are employed in tending machines, and in sticking and packing pins, and packing hooks and eyes, and making paper boxes. The work is not unhealthy. The lowest wages by the week is $3.25 while they are learning; afterward $3.50 and $3.75 per week, ten hours a day. Some work by the piece, and earn from $14 to $21 per month. The supply of woman's labor is equal to the demand, at the prices we pay. We work through the year, generally without stopping, except for the holidays. Our average number is fifty. Girls can do the work as well or better than boys, that could be hired at the same price. Most are Americans. They have their Sundays, holidays, and evenings--also a public library and institute lectures at a very small cost--besides religious privileges afforded by six churches. Board, $1.50 to $2 per week." The Albany Company, at Cohoes, sends the following information: "Women, and girls not younger than twelve years of age, are employed in sticking, folding, wrapping, &c. The same work is done in England and Germany. Wages from $6 to $20 per month, working twelve hours a day. Those having had the most practice can usually do the work faster and better, consequently obtain higher wages. They receive pay while learning. The qualifications most desirable are care, attention, and activity. The business is not likely to increase greatly, as the work is mostly done by machinery and the demand for the article is limited. We are busy at all seasons except in extremely hot or cold weather. The hands work twelve hours--by so doing they obtain higher wages. We have more applicants than we wish. We employ from twelve to fifteen, because they can do the work more readily than men. The work is light, and the condition of the women quite equal to that of women otherwise employed to obtain the necessities of life." The agent of the Howe Manufacturing Company, in Connecticut, reports: "Our work is all done by the piece. The earnings of the workwomen vary according to their skill, diligence, and the number of hours spent at work. Average in April last, $11.09--in four weeks. Highest earnings of one individual $22.09 (equal to $5.54 per week). Small girls earn from $1 to $1.50 per week, and work six or eight hours. Men and women do not perform the same kind of labor in our establishment. Why all persons are not paid equally for equal labor, I do not feel competent to explain. A knowledge of our work is soon acquired. Learners are paid for what they do. A good character and reputation, honesty, fidelity, common mechanical ability, and diligence are desirable qualifications. We generally find the hands we want in our own immediate neighborhood. Our work is considered desirable, and much sought for. In all seasons the hands are equally employed, except dry seasons, when we are short of water to drive our machinery. Our _stock_ hands generally stay with us till they get married or lay up so much money that they are able to get along with less labor, or become too old or infirm to work to advantage. Some have stayed with us over twenty years, many over ten years. The number of hours for work is discretionary. We seldom request industrious hands to work more hours than they choose. Our hands sometimes work twelve or fourteen hours, at their pleasure. Small girls, of whom we employ but five or six, seldom work ten hours. The number of women and girls employed in our establishment heretofore has been variable, averaging perhaps thirty. We are using improved machinery, which has already reduced the number, and will reduce it still more. Our work is peculiarly adapted to female labor. Nearly all our hands are American born. In twenty-two years' business, we have seldom, if ever, had an adult woman employed who was unable to sign her name to the pay roll. Our adult women have the churches and lyceum lectures, which I believe they generally attend. Their time for reading, for the most part, will be evenings and Sundays. Small girls can attend our district school free of cost." A manufacturer, in Seymour, Connecticut, writes: "We pay from $3 to $4 per week. We employ no men in sticking and packing, and, if we were not particular as to whom we employ, we could reduce the amount of our monthly pay roll a large per cent. It requires very little practice to learn the part of our business done by women, and in most cases we pay them full wages upon entering the mill. No special qualifications are needed. The kind of business we pursue will always be carried on, but of course can never become very common. No difference in the seasons, and the girls are never thrown out of employment. Under the present regulations they work eleven hours, and the time could not well be shortened, as that would tend to derange the other departments of our business. We have but ten employed at present, but in the course of a few days expect to have about twenty. They are employed because they are peculiarly qualified for the business, and on account of the lower rate of wages as compared with the labor of men. We employ women in all cases when the work is suitable for them. Women as employed by us are superior to men, being more expert and active. The New England States are doubtless the best locality for our business. The females employed by us are all intelligent and of good mental ability."

=214. Rings.= The American Brass Ring Co. "employ twenty women at presses, in packing, &c. They are all foreigners. Board, $1.50 per week. The work is not unhealthy. Women are paid fifty cents a day of ten hours. Women are paid $2 a week for four weeks while learning. The prospect of future employment is no better than the business now offers."

=215. Scales.= H. T., manufacturer of scales and weights, Philadelphia, Penn., writes: "We employ women in making metallic weights. The work is not unhealthy. They earn from $4 to $6 per week. No comparison in the price of labor. Women can make as much as men, if they are willing. It requires almost a lifetime to learn the business; but the part the women work at requires but a day or two. We pay learners. No extraordinary qualifications are needed. A good prospect for increase of employment. No difference in seasons. They work from four to ten hours. Women cannot be employed at our heaviest work, on account of the great physical strength required." I was told at F. & M.'s, New York, that the beams of the scales could be burnished by women. It is done with steel instruments. I suppose the pans could also be burnished by them. Burnishing the back of the plates could be done by women also, but it is somewhat dirty work. Women would have to work in the room with the men, for while the foreman was employed, he would like to keep an eye on the employees. The work is rather heavy for women, but not more so than some in which they are engaged.

=216. Stair Rods.= A manufacturer of plated stair rods told me "he employs a woman to burnish the rods. She can make from $4 to $7 a week, not working more than ten hours a day, being paid from fifty cents to $1 a hundred. It is work hard on the chest, but he thinks not hard on the eyes. He had one lady who did it at home. In large establishments, rods are now burnished by machinery. The polishing of stair rods is very hard work, and requires strong, stout lads." Another stair-rod manufacturer told me "he has employed a boy to tie up stair rods, but would employ a girl and pay the same price, $1 per day."

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=217. Steel Manufacture.= No women are employed in the conversion of iron into steel in this or any other country. It is rough, heavy work. It requires great physical strength, and is unsuitable for a woman. No women are employed in the manufacture of axes in this country. It is rough, coarse work, and done by stout, strong men. In one of the largest cutlery establishments in the United States they employ six hundred men, but no females; except six, for wrapping up goods. In the finishing of metals there are three branches: turning, filing, and setting up. In turning, jagged particles of metal fly off, and often enter the eyes of the workers, doing them great injury. Goggles of magnetized iron might be used to prevent this. The magnetized wash is used to prevent the filings from getting down the throats of grinders and polishers. For learning the two parts, turning and filing, four years of apprenticeship are served. The turning requires more skill than physical strength. It might be done by women that were willing to serve so long an apprenticeship.

=218. Buckles.= G. Brothers, of Waterbury, employ six women in riveting and other light work on bell clasps. They write: "The girls earn from $3 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. The labor of women is paid twenty-five per cent. less than that of males, because they are not able to do as heavy work. It requires about three months to learn the part of males or females. Our branch of trade is not increasing. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons, but the women are not thrown out of employment during the year. They are superior in light work. Board, $2 per week." A manufacturer in Attleboro' writes: "I employ from twelve to fifteen at packing, at light press work, &c. They are paid from four to six cents per hour. Women are not paid higher, because they are not worth more. I pay men from seven to twenty-five cents per hour. The time of learning depends on the ingenuity of the employed. They have steady work most of the time. They are full-blooded Yankees--have a good deal of fun when the boss is out, and work in a pleasant room. The labor is easy, and they are satisfied with the remuneration. (Perhaps because they can do no better!) A healthy climate, convenience to market and to places where the raw material is made, are advantages. All New-England girls have the advantages of a good education in the common branches." A manufacturer in Middletown, Conn., replies: "Girls are employed by me, springing in the tongues of buckles and packing them--also making paper boxes. They earn from forty cents to $1 per day, being paid by the piece. Their employment is not so heavy or laborious as that of males. It takes from six months to one year to earn full wages. Women will probably always be employed in these branches. Good box makers are always in demand. We employ thirty--all Americans. The balance of my work is rather objectionable for women, unless it be foreign or second-class girls. Women are usually more neat than men. Either water or railroad communication is desirable in seeking a locality. Board, about $2 per week. There was never so great a demand for female help in this part of the country as at the present time. They have started a shirt manufactory about nine miles from here, and are in want of girls; but the greatest trouble there is to find boarding places at reasonable rates." The West Haven Co. report "the employment to be very healthy by giving exercise to the limbs. The pay is from seventy-five cents to $1.50 per day--average $1. Some learn the business in two days, some in two weeks. The hands are paid from the first, and are seventeen in number, all Americans. Women are superior in this branch, because they are quicker with their fingers."

=219. Edge Tools.= The Humphreysville Edge Tool Manufacturing Co. inform me they do not employ females. For polishing they hire strong, rough boys, that they can get cheap, who stand while at work, and stoop over the articles, which produces a strain on the back and compression of the chest. Many find it so injurious they have to give it up, and the majority of those who do keep at it do not last long. The majority of the metal workers in Birmingham do their work at home. Each member of the family has his particular part to perform. An English writer says: "In various branches of the hardware manufacture, both in Birmingham and Sheffield, women may be seen by hundreds in some places, comfortably secluded from the male workers; in others, working side by side with them at the same mechanical process. They are never given to intoxication, and rarely, if ever, to strikes; and it may be very much the absence of these propensities that has recommended them so largely to the notice of the employer. In London the practice is gaining ground."

=220. Electrical Machines.= From the office of Davis & Kidder's magneto-electric machines we receive the following intelligence: "We employ women in covering wire, spools, sewing velvet, papering boxes, &c., &c. They earn from $12 to $24 per month, and are paid by the month. Women are paid nearly one half as much as men--can form no reason why women are not as well paid. It requires about three months for females to learn; they are paid while learning. All it requires is energy. There is no prospect at all for future employment in this branch. We employ our hands through the year; do not deduct from their wages when absent for a week. They work ten hours a day. We employ four, because the work is light and better suited for them than males. All Americans. Those in my employ are well educated. Board in respectable families, $2.50." C. Brothers, of New York, employ two girls for the same kind of work. They pay one $5 a week, ten hours a day--the small girl $3. They have had them but six months, but expect to keep them all the year. Mr. C. thinks the business is so limited that the prospect is poor for learners.

=221. Fire Arms.= From the Arms Manufacturing Co., Chicopee, Mass., we receive the following information: "We employ women in burnishing plated ware. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay generally by the piece. Some are paid about eighty cents per day. There is a prospect for steady employment for the few we have, and for no more. They are in no season entirely out of work. Ten hours a day are devoted to work when paid for by the week. All Americans. Easy work and much sought after. Women are inferior in point of strength, superior in cheapness." Sharp's Rifle Co. write: "We employ from ten to thirty women in making cartridges and inspecting primers. We pay about $1 each day, as the business requires good skill and care, and is hazardous. It is generally piece work. Males do the heaviest part of the work, and are paid $1.25 to $1.50 per day. If an individual is skilful, it requires but a short time to learn. Hands are paid while learning. Prospect good of future employment. We have constant work for ten. They are usually employed nine hours. All Americans. They appear very comfortable, and are quite tidy. No other parts of our occupation are suitable for women. Women are superior in forming and folding. $2.50 per week is the price of board."