Part 38

=287. Brush Manufacturers.= Women have from the earliest period been employed in making brushes. In France, women are employed in preparing bristles for brushes, bleaching, washing, straightening, and assorting them. If they are so employed in this country it is at Lansingburg, N. Y. Indeed the finer bristles are all imported. The process of preparing bristles is simple, merely washing them and placing them in a preparation of sulphur to bleach them. "The great art in making brushes for artists is so to arrange the hairs that their ends may be made to converge to a fine point when moistened and drawn between the lips; and it is said that females are more successful than men in preparing the small and delicate pencils." In shaving brushes the bristles must be so arranged as to form a cone. This requires skill, and commands handsome wages. A large number of bristles are imported from Germany, Russia, and a considerable quantity from France; yet the United States furnish some. We think the owners of pork houses, and farmers in the Southern and Western States, would find the saving of bristles to justify the trouble of doing so, as they bring a good price. In this country, the process in making finer brushes, called drawing, is mostly done by women. The heavier kind of brushes is seldom made by women. Persons working in horn, wood, whalebone, ivory, gutta percha, pearl, &c., prepare the handles. Few if any brush makers have them prepared in their own establishments. I called on a brush maker whose manufactory is in Boston. The clerk says they never have any difficulty in getting plenty of good hands. They work by the piece. He says, if you advertise there, you are sure to have hundreds of applicants, many of whom are already in business, but hope to get better wages for the same amount of work, or less work for the same wages. A manufacturer told me that he employs boys, who do piecework and earn from $5 to $10 a week, but thinks he will employ girls, as he could get drawers for from $3 to $4 per week. The girls sit while at this work. H., a maker of tooth, nail, and hair brushes, told me his is the only tooth brush manufactory in the United States. His girls looked clean and orderly, and had intelligent faces. Those working in the house were of Irish extraction--those who worked at home, Americans. Most of them attend night school. H. finds his girls more careless about their work Monday morning than at any other time. He attributes it to their talking and thinking of what they saw and heard the day before. Those that sew well he finds work best for him. (I expect that principle generally holds good--those that work well in one business are likely to in another, because they are industrious and give their attention to it.) If the work is not well done, he takes it out and makes them do it over. As it is done by the piece, it of course is their own loss. They engage in trepanning, wiring, and trimming brushes. The trepanning and wiring are done altogether by women in England. They are paid by the piece, those wiring and trepanning earn from $3 to $4. The lady that trims earns $6 a week. The work is very neat and well adapted to women. It requires about three months to learn. Women are paid something while learning. Care and nicety must be used to fill the little cavities in the brush with bristles closely and firmly. The business is not good, on account of competition in the manufacture with European countries, where labor is cheaper. Women cannot polish the ivory well, as it is done by hand and is very hard work. Women are superior in the branches pursued by them. $2.50 is the usually price paid by workwomen for board in New York. A brush maker in Philadelphia writes: "I pay from eighteen to twenty cents per thousand holes. No men employed by us in this branch. Boys spend four or five years at this trade. Girls spend six months learning one branch. The prospect for more work of this kind is poor. Our women are all Americans, and work the year round. Women are superior in their branch." P. & M. employ girls to make ostrich feather dusters, and they earn from $4 to $6 per week. They have had employment all the year. While at work the girls can sit or stand, as they please. Their girls also paint the handles. A manufacturer of ostrich feather dusters told me, he pays girls from $2 to $3 a week for coloring and putting the feathers in handles. They can always get enough of hands. The girls work in daylight only.

IVORY CUTTERS AND WORKERS.

=288. Ivory Workers.= Ivory is generally turned in a lathe--a machine that differs some in size and shape, according to the material worked. Ivory, wood, and metal can be cut by it into almost any shape. The ivory nut is now much used as a substitute for animal ivory. In a store for the sale of ivory goods, the lady in attendance told me some of their articles are imported from Germany, and some they have made. In Germany, some women are employed in ivory carving. The lady thought it could not be done to any extent in this country, because labor is so high. (But if men can afford to do it, pray, why cannot women?) The carving is done with steel instruments, and requires considerable strength. "Barbara Helena Lange, of Germany, earned celebrity in the seventeenth century, by engraving on copper, and carving figures in ivory and alabaster." "Barbara Julia Preisler was skilled in various branches of art; could model in wax, and work in ivory and alabaster, and added painting and copper engraving to the list of her accomplishments." H. & F. have four or five girls to count and pack their ivory goods, but none to polish. An ivory worker in Providence writes: "Women are employed in carving and turning in Russia, and carving in England. I can say for myself, that I have known many women to transact the business equal to the smartest in the trade in England, when the husband is deceased, and the widow has been left to support a large family, and they have never failed to do so creditably. I know of but two in this country, one in Providence, R. I.; the other in Westfield, Mass. They earn from $4 to $6 a week. The labor is light for women, and they could earn the same as men. Carving could be learned in six months, turning in one year. To be able to superintend, two years' practice is required. The prospect for employment is not flattering. In this country, women work eight hours; men, ten. In England, France, and Scotland, they work eleven hours. In New York, principals could employ twenty-five carvers and one hundred turners, and I can see no objection to employing women. Women excel in the business, if to their taste. Large cities or manufacturing districts are the best localities. They must have cultivated minds, or they are not suitable for the business, as it is necessary to invent and execute new styles and patterns." In Connecticut, some hundreds of families labor in the ivory comb manufactories, and are paid per week $4.50, and by the piece earn from $5 to $6 a week. An ivory turner in Essex, Conn., writes: "I usually employ two girls; one packing goods, the other on fancy turning. They earn from $10 to $20 per month. My help consists mostly of men. The work is very healthy. It is piece work. The girls earn $1 per day of ten hours. They are paid by the piece, the same price as men, and earn as much. A learner receives $1 per week and board. A woman can do nearly as much as a man after working one year or more. The work is very clean and easy. A girl to succeed should be active, intelligent, and ingenious." A gentleman who has ornaments made of vegetable ivory, told me he could hire Germans to turn them for him at from seventy-five cents to $1 a day.

=289. Combs.= The comb is an article of primitive date, and has been frequently found in use among nations when first visited by civilized men. Madame de B. told me she had frequently seen women in Europe, making, mending, and polishing combs of tortoise shell, bone, and ivory. In Leominster, in 1853, 264 men were employed in the comb factory, at an average of $7 per week, board $2.50--women at an average of $3 a week, board $1.50. A firm in Lancaster, Penn., write: "We employ seven women, because they are better adapted to the work. They are paid by the week, from $2 to $3.50, and work ten hours a day. They do not perform the same kind of work as men. Boys are apprentices until twenty-one years of age--females spend but a few weeks learning. All seasons are alike. Women do the light work best. Board, $1.25." Some manufacturers of ivory combs write: "Our establishment, which has been in operation over thirty years, formerly gave employment to a large number of female operatives; but of late years, so many labor-saving machines have been introduced, that the number employed is very small. At present, less than a dozen women are engaged in our factory, while we employ some forty men. We expect all who are employed by us to work eleven hours each day, except Saturdays during the winter, when we close before sundown. Most of our girls work by the piece, and earn from 70 cents to $1 per day. To the others we pay $4 per week. The time required to learn the business varies with the character of the work--in some cases two months, in others not more than one week. The only qualifications needed are carefulness, activity, and common sense. The work is light, and not particularly unhealthy. The only reason why it should be unhealthy at all, is its sedentary nature. Board, from $1.75 to $2 per week. We have uniformly, since the commencement of our business, refused to employ any but American girls of known good moral character. There have been few or none of them that have not possessed a good common-school education, and some of them have enjoyed and well improved the advantages of such schools as those at South Hadley, Pittsfield, and New Haven. It is a source of gratification and pride to us, that we are able at present to call to mind no less than seven of our operatives who have married clergymen; one is now a missionary at the Sandwich Islands, and numbers of them are respected and useful members of society." A manufacturer of horn or bone combs writes: "The part assigned to women is the staining and the bending or shaping of the comb. The business is healthy."

=290. Piano Keys.= I cannot learn of any women being employed in sawing piano keys, but I think they could do it, if they were properly instructed, and they certainly could polish them. The turning of the ivory in the sun to bleach is usually performed by a boy, and occupies several hours a day. The assorting of piano keys and putting them in small paper boxes could certainly be performed by women, but I was told it requires considerable experience and judgment. The sharps are made of ebony, sawed by circular wheels moved by steam. When large blocks have been sawed into smaller pieces, women could then saw them into keys. It would only require care. The noise of the machinery and the black dust flying might be disagreeable at first. A manufacturer of piano keys writes: "No women are employed in the piano key department of our business, and none are employed by other manufacturers, to our knowledge. We suppose the reason is, that most of the labor in this department is either quite severe or dirty, wet, and unpleasant. Assorting and matching the ivory requires so long a time to learn, that we cannot afford to hire any person for less than two years. Girls are generally unwilling to engage to remain so long, especially if they are at an age when their judgment and discretion make their services really valuable." A Massachusetts manufacturer of piano forte, melodeon, and organ keys writes: "I employ a lady bookkeeper, but my business in the manufacture of keys for musical instruments is such that it requires men alone, although the work is very light and clean."

=291. Rules.= The materials for rules are ivory and wood. The prices of rules have fallen during the last few years--so the profits are less. A rule manufacturer in Vermont writes: "We employ women graduating rules by machinery and stamping on the figures. We pay 7 cents per hour. Women are paid proportionately while learning. Common sense and a slight knowledge of arithmetic are the only qualifications needed. They work all the year, ten hours a day. All are American. Women are quite as rapid as men, and, in application, better." A manufacturer in Connecticut writes: "I employ but one woman, and she takes the work home. It is paid for by the piece. There are many parts suitable for women, but it is more profitable to employ men. The great demand for female labor in the domestic employments in this section of the country is becoming intolerable, on account of the general desire to obtain employment in the factories." The machines are small and easily worked, for making lines and figures on rules. The rivets of rules might, I think, be inserted by women. I was told, men employed in working at rule manufacture are paid $8, and some $9 a week. The ruler stands while at work.

PEARL WORKERS.

=292. Pearl Workers.= At S.'s, we saw a man grinding the outer and rougher coat off of pearl shells. It requires some strength, as it is done on a stone wheel moved by steam, the shell being kept in its place by a wooden rod held on it. It is wet and dirty work. The water is cold, too, even in winter, for warm water would soon become cold on account of the rapid motion of the wheel; and it would not do to heat the pearl, as it would cause it to split. The polishing was done on a wheel covered with leather, and could as well be done by a girl as a boy. S. had never known women to work in pearl, except to make paper cutters, and then only in Germany. The inlaying of pearl is in some places done by women. A worker in pearl writes me: "The pearl button branch is separate from the pearl shell work. In the first, females are employed; in the latter, they are not, as it is unhealthy and laborious. In Birmingham, England, where pearl buttons are almost exclusively manufactured, upward of two thousand hands are employed. Pearl buttons are made in Newark and Philadelphia." A manufacturer of pearl buttons in Philadelphia writes: "I employ women in finishing, and pay from $2 to $3 a week. It requires from one to three weeks to learn. The prospect of the business increasing is good. The work is regular, and the hours ten a day. I employ women because they are cheaper." To polish pearl buttons is very simple--merely placing the button in a pair of tongs, and holding it against three revolving wheels successively. The carving of pearl is wrist work, and S. thought women have not sufficient strength in their wrists to do it; but I think many have.

TORTOISE-SHELL WORKERS.

=293. Tortoise-Shell Workers.= Shell is made into clock cases, cigar cases, card cases, writing desks, and other such articles, but is most used for combs. In Brooklyn, a manufacturer of shell combs told me they had several times thought of employing women, Gutta percha and vulcanized india rubber have become, to some extent, a substitute for tortoise shell. On tortoise-shell combs the light carving might be done by women; the heavy cutting requires more strength. The sawing out of the figures is suitable for women. The finishing could also be done by them. To learn the finishing would not require a person of ordinary talent more than a week, and either of the other processes probably not more than six or eight weeks. Workers could earn from $6 to $7 a week, if they could have constant employment. The business is very dependent on fashion. P. & B. used to employ girls in rounding the teeth of shell side-combs, and paid each $4; but gutta-percha combs have done away with shell ones. A worker of shell combs told me he had employed girls, paying some by the piece and some by the week. They earned from $3 to $6 per week. It requires about six months to learn carving and sawing--polishing, not so long. Care, judgment, and a good idea of form and proportion, are necessary. The business is now very dull. The style of carving on combs is very different from that worn a few years back. It is now of a heavier kind, and the work not so suitable for women.

GUM ELASTIC MANUFACTURE.

=294. Gum Elastic Manufacture.= "In nearly all the manufacturing branches of this business, females are employed. After the articles are moulded, females join them; also paint the toys, pack the combs in boxes, &c. In most establishments they are employed the whole year, while some only retain a small proportion during the dull season, which is in the winter. All are paid by the piece, varying from $4 to $7 per week. They learn very quickly, and are paid for what they do as soon as they commence, although it takes six months or one year's practice to equal the best workers. The manufacturing is almost exclusively confined to the country, and, as a class, the women are in no way exceptionable, many of them being considerably cultivated. There are plenty found to learn the business, and it gives employment to several thousand." In Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, 1,825 males and 1,058 females were employed, in the year ending June 1st, 1860, in making india rubber goods. I talked with one of the most extensive gum elastic manufacturers in the United States, for the purpose of gaining some idea of the number of female operatives in that department, their wages, if the occupation is unhealthy, &c. This manufacturer has realized millions from his business; and, after repeated efforts to learn how his women were paid, I succeeded in learning that those who work out of the house are paid by the piece, and earn only from $2 to $3 a week, working from dawn until midnight. Some worked in the establishment, going at 7.30 A. M., and working until 6 P. M., receiving about the same wages. They were employed in making suspenders. More women are employed in the shoe department than any other. The hard india rubber goods are labelled and packed by women in some manufactories; but most of the making is done by men. At a city in Western Massachusetts, ten girls were employed by one man, at an average of $2.50 each per week, to mend imperfections in india rubber goods. I went to Harlem, and was permitted with my attendant to go through the manufactory and see the process of making up a variety of india rubber goods. Some of the girls are paid by the piece, and some by the week. They earn from $4 to $6 a week. It does not require a girl of good sense more than from one to four weeks to learn. I inquired of one of the proprietors and three of the foremen, if they thought it unhealthy. The proprietor said, not; but the foremen were not very positive in their assertions. I inquired of a girl in the sewing room. She said she found it so in the cementing room, and had secured work in the sewing room on that account. She attributed it to the evaporation of the camphene, and the flying of the powder, made of pulverized soapstone and flour. The odor, no doubt, is very disagreeable at first to most workers. One foreman said he thought it would not be well for a consumptive person to confine him or herself to that kind of work. One of the proprietors said, if a nice, genteel-looking girl comes along, they will take her as a learner, even if they do not wish a learner, that they may have good hands when they need them. They have a great many applications. They used to take learners, and permit old hands to instruct them, paying them for the time spent in doing so. They are most busy in the spring and fall, but have something to do all the year. Those in the first cementing room were working at large tables, and stood. They were paid fifteen cents for cementing the seams of a gentleman's coat, and some at that work make $1 a day of ten hours' labor. Most of the girls prefer to stand while at work. They were very neat, quiet, and good looking. In the second room we saw women making rubber cushions, small tubes, &c. One of the girls making tubes said she was paid by the hundred, and could not earn $1 a day. All in the second and third room sat. In the third room the ladies were finishing off coats, sewing in the sleeves, binding, and putting on buttons. Most india rubber factories are in New Jersey. There are none in the West or South.

=295. Men's Clothing.= The Rubber Clothing Company at Beverly, Mass., "employ from seventy-five to one hundred women. They report the work as being light, and therefore requiring nimble fingers. Their girls are paid both by the piece and week, and earn from $3 to $6 per week, usually working ten hours a day. One half are American. Women are paid as well as men in this branch. It requires four weeks to learn. Prospect of future work is good. Activity and intelligence are needed. The work is very easy, and is given at all seasons. Girls are usually not so steady at work as men. Board, $2 per week." The superintendent of the American Hard Rubber Company writes: "We employ ten women in making hard india rubber goods. We prefer them on account of their small fingers. It is piece work, and women are paid from $4 to $6 per week, ten hours a day. Our women could not do the work of men, who have to be mechanics, having learned a trade. Men receive about thirty-three cents more per day than women. The time required for men to learn our business it is impossible to answer. Women can learn sufficient in four weeks to earn seventy-five cents per day. Carefulness and nimble fingers are necessary. The business is new, but the prospects for the future good as could be counted upon in any ordinary business. The business is not sufficiently extended to furnish a particular set of people depending upon it with labor. Some of our women are quite intelligent and refined. There is a good library connected with the factory, and on Sunday they have ready access to church."

=296. Shoes.= The application of india rubber to the making of boots and shoes originated in the United States. B. & S. "employ seventy-five girls, who earn from $3 to $6 a week. They are employed all the year, and it is not unhealthy." The business has been on the decrease for two years. The treasurer of the Boston Shoe Co. informs me: "The company employ about seventy-five women, who work by the piece. The employment is not unhealthy. Average wages from seventy five cents to $1.25 per day, of eight or ten hours. Our women earn full as much as men, in comparison with the work done. Three fourths are American. A smart girl will learn in a couple of weeks to make from fifty to seventy-five cents per day; in two or three months, she can earn full wages. The prospect of future employment is fair. The fall of the year is the most busy season. Good board, $2 per week."

=297. Toys.= The New York Rubber Co. write: "We employ women in making and ornamenting toys. Little of the work is done in other countries. The girls earn from $3 to $8 per week, but are paid by the piece. Men and women do not perform the same kind of work. In a few weeks learners earn $3; in a few months, $5 or $6. They have work at all seasons. The work is pleasant. Board, $2."

GUTTA PERCHA MANUFACTURE.