Part 43

=330. Sempstresses.= In 1845, there were in New York ten thousand sempstresses, and now there are probably many more. "The following are the prices for which a majority of these females are compelled to work--they being such as are paid by the large depots for shirts and clothing, on Chatham street and elsewhere:--For making common white and checked shirts, six cents each; common flannel undershirts the same. These are cut in such a manner as to make ten seams in two pairs of sleeves. A common fast sempstress can make two of these shirts per day. Sometimes, very swift hands, working from sunrise till midnight, can make three. This is equal to seventy-five cents a week (allowing nothing for holidays, sickness, accidents, being out of work, &c.) for the first class, and $1.12½ for the others. Good cotton shirts, with linen bosoms, neatly stitched, are made for twenty-five cents. A good sempstress will thus earn $1.50 a week by constant labor. Fine linen shirts, with plaited bosoms, which cannot be made by the very best hand in less than fifteen or eighteen hours' steady work, are paid fifty cents each. Ordinary hands can make one shirt of this kind in two days. Duck trousers, overalls, &c., eight or ten cents each; drawers and undershirts, both flannel and cotton, from six to eight cents at the ordinary shops, and 12½ cents at the best. One garment is a day's work for some, others can make two. Satinet, cassimere, and broadcloth, sometimes with gaiter bottoms and lined, from eighteen to thirty cents--the latter price paid only for work of the very best quality. Good hands make one a day. Their coats are made for from 25 to 37½ cents apiece. Heavy pilot-cloth coats, with three pockets, $1 each. A coat of this kind cannot be made under three days. Cloth roundabouts and pea jackets, twenty-five to fifty cents. These can be made in two days." In a large town, in Massachusetts, we read, not many months past, of overalls being made at thirty-seven cents per dozen, or three cents a pair, and shirts at forty-eight cents per dozen, or four cents apiece. When the times are hard, prices fall from their usually low standard. Our hearts sicken within us as we read the prices paid needlewomen. The trifling remuneration and wasted health of most needlewomen is a bitter reflection on those who employ them. Some clothing merchants and cap and shirt makers pay their women such prices as enable them to live--better than those mentioned above. They are houses of a more respectable class, that have a position, and deal with a more liberal class of people. The occupation of sempstress is crowded to overflowing in New York. In business times it is impossible to get a working person to leave New York, but in hard times they are very willing to go. One firm told me that they often have applications for operators and sempstresses in busy seasons, but then they will not leave; and when the times are dull there is no demand, and they cannot. The supply of labor has been greater than the demand, and hence the competition that has arisen among clothing merchants, and the low price of made clothing as sold in slop shops. The use of sewing machines has to some extent done away with sewing by hand. Many a woman has been thrown out of employment by it, to which many of our newspapers can testify, and have borne witness during the past two years. We have heard of some slop shops in large cities offering to pay the highest wages to good shirt makers, each applicant to take a shirt and make it for nothing, as a sample of her sewing. From one hundred to two hundred, perhaps, apply, and, of course, that many shirts are made. It meets the demand of the unprincipled shopkeeper, and he has, perhaps, employment for a dozen or more. A man that has a ladies' furnishing store, told me he pays girls that sew neatly by hand 37½ cents a day. Many clothing merchants have their work done in the country, because they can have it done more cheaply. The sewing done by French linen makers is very beautiful. The majority of sempstresses have no time they can call their own. Those that sew twelve or fourteen out of the twenty-four hours, without any relatives or friends even to be protectors for them, and often in bad health, have no time for mental improvement or social intercourse. "The habits of the sempstress are indicated by the neck suddenly bending forward, and the arms being, even in walking, considerably bent forward, or folded more or less upward from the elbows."

=331. Sewing Machine Operatives.= There has probably been no invention in which so large a number of persons have realized fortunes as the sewing machine. All the first manufacturers of them have amassed money. In the United States 150,000 sewing machines are in use. Miss P. says, a sewing machine and baster do the work of ten hand sewers and five basters. We hear of some sewing machines in London, each of which can accomplish as much as fifteen pairs of human hands. At several highly respectable establishments we were told their operatives earn from $4 to $7 a week, according to the abilities of the operative, the kind of machine, and the style of work. In houses of lower standing, operatives earn from $3 to $5. I was told of one man who hires a number of girls to work on machines at $2.20 a week. At Y. & Co.'s, operatives earn from $2.50 to $4. Machine stitchers of leather generally get $6 a week. The usual number of hours for operatives is ten. I have been told that the secret of its being so difficult to get basters is, they are paid poor wages. A clothing merchant in the Bowery says he has a family working for him that earn $28, and sometimes $30 per week. They use two machines. The machine-made clothing for men sells at about the same price as hand-made, and is generally liked as well by purchasers. We think, the sewing of ladies done by machine does not pay quite so well as hand sewing; but if we sewed for a living, we would give the machine the preference, because of its rapid execution. C., who employs about four hundred hands, says their dull season begins the 4th of July. L., who sells sewing machines, told me he frequently has applications for operatives to go into clothing manufactories. G. & B. occasionally have applications from other places, but always give the choice to those who have learned with them. L. thinks the employment of operatives will not amount to anything as a permanent reliance out of cities. He thinks in one or two years the sewing machine will be used in almost every family--as much domesticated as the wash tub. In cities where clothing, bagging, &c., are made in large quantities, of course, there will be a demand for some. L., superintendent of E. S.'s machines, employs from three to twelve ladies, and pays from $5 to $10 a week. They stay from eight to ten hours. A lady, who hires sewing machines, and sends out operatives, told me she charges $2 a day for a machine and operative, sending both, and giving twelve hours' time, or from $1.25 to $1.50 for an operator only, according to the number of hours given. If they are hired for a week or more, the prices are still lower. I think the usual hire of a machine only is $2 a day. A man that hires machines told me that he rents for from $3 to $5 per month, keeping the machine in repair during the time, if it is not badly used. Singer's principal machine is a strong, heavy one, most suitable for cloth, and requires much strength to work long at a time. According to D., a clothing merchant, a woman with one of Singer's machines can do all the stitching of twelve pairs of cloth pantaloons in a day; and a coat that formerly required two days to make by hand, can now be made in one sixth of a day. W., agent of W. & W.'s machine, says the lady that has charge of L. & S.'s sewing department, told him ladies prefer to have their sewing done by machines, and that B. will not have his mantillas made by hand. He told me of a woman that takes in $30 a week with the aid of two girls, to whom she pays $6 a week each, leaving the profit of $18 a week; and of another who makes $8 a week with her machine. Now that machines are more plentiful, work done by them is not so well paid. The sellers of machines say it is not unhealthy. Some people suppose the machine to be much more injurious than the needle, if worked as long and constantly. The tax on the muscles of the lower limbs and the weaker parts of the system is certainly very great; yet those with treadles are thought by some to be less injurious than those moved by steam. I talked with a lady keeping a depository connected with an influential church for the supplying of poor women with work. She thinks sewing machines are very injurious--says a girl of seventeen will give out in three or five years at most. It produces a pain first in the hips, and the jar affects the nerves; and the sameness of the stitch on white or black goods produces a constant strain of the eye. She mentioned a young woman who came a few days before to get sewing, who had worked at B.'s five years on a machine, and her sight had so failed her that she cannot see to work now by gaslight. She was but twenty-three, but looked to be thirty years of age. Sewing by machine, I have been told, injures some kinds of goods. The needle being large, threads of the cloth are liable to be broken. Changing the kind and quality of goods in operating injures a machine. The utility and profit of sewing machines have to a great extent been usurped by Jew men, that are tailors and cap makers. I have heard that many respectable men in New York, after coming home from business, spend nearly or quite all the evening in operating on machines, doing the family sewing that has been cut and basted ready to stitch. What can we say of such effeminacy and meanness, when done by those that are able to give such work to poor women? A lady remarked to me: "When sewing machines were invented, it was said new occupations would be opened to women as the machine came in use, and deprived some of a livelihood; but it is eight years since, and I have not heard of one." The sewing machine has certainly thrown many women out of employment. Those who are able to purchase one may get along. It is in this as in every other branch of labor--a capital, however small, is an assistance in business. One advantage always gained by machinery is that it enables the poor to purchase more cheaply the materials used by them. Freemasons often buy machines for the widows they help to support. In some of the large manufactories of Dublin, where sewing machines are used, from fifty to two hundred women are employed.

FUR WORKERS.

=332. Dyers.= Dyeing furs is wet and dirty work, and the odor is very disagreeable. I was told by a lady that girls at such work can earn $4 a week, or if by the piece, from $5 to $6. There are very few indeed at it. She thinks it not unhealthy. She sometimes cleans furs, mostly ermine, with a powder of some kind. In the fur business, people must sell enough in three months to keep them the other nine months of the year. In the summer they take time to examine, purchase, and make up furs. C., a fur dyer and dresser, told me he once employed an Englishwoman to flesh fine skins--_i. e._, take off the flesh that adheres to a skin when removed from an animal. It is done with a sharp knife. She earned as much as a man, $1.50 a day. But men object to working with women in that business; and no American women, to his knowledge, know how to do it.

=333. Sewers.= From conversations with a number of fur dealers in Philadelphia and New York, I find the rate of wages for sewers runs from $2.25 a week to $8. Forewomen get good wages. Some sewers and liners are paid by the piece, and some by the week. Those who work by the week are paid for extra hours. A small number of the women employed in New York are English, but the majority are Germans, who have learned the business in their own country. In Germany most of the men learn to sew, and most of the men engaged in the fur business know how. Quite a number in New York are married women, whose husbands are connected with the business. Furs are sold only in the fall and winter, but made up in the summer. In a few places they give work all the year to a small number of workers, but the majority do not give work more than six months, from May to December. Some fur sewers have another trade for the other six months, as hat binding, &c. It does not require long for a good sewer to learn--from one week to six. There are some kinds of fancy fur sewing that require rather longer. No women are employed in preparing the skins: that is done at different establishments, generally in the suburbs, and exclusively by male hands. The usual number of hours of sewers employed by the day is ten; but many of those who sew by the piece take work home with them to do at night, and so are enabled to earn considerably more. Men working in the fur business in New York earn from $8 to $12 per week. The quilting for linings is done by machines, but the linings are sewed in by hand. Liners are generally better paid than sewers, and earn from $6 to $10. In extensive establishments, a cutter and a certain number of sewers and liners confine themselves to one kind of fur. Some furriers pay their learners enough to board them; some do not pay anything. I think the supply of hands in New York is equal to the demand. The best workers, of course, are most sure of employment. New York is the great fur depot of the United States, but some business is also done in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Furs are sent from St. Louis and Chicago to be made up in New York, and part of them returned to be sold in those cities. Those that sew furs at home can most conveniently take learners. There are a number of middlemen in the fur business, who get work from the stores and make a profit by employing women to do it at lower wages. Mrs. G., an importer and manufacturer, cuts her own furs, particularly ermine and sable. She says furs are sometimes cut in Germany by women, but people in this country think a woman cannot properly cut them. Work at the fur business in England is said to pay better than any other. G--s, the largest firm in New York, write: "We pay women from $2.50 to $6 per week. Some work by the week, some by the piece. Men get about double wages, but their work requires more physical strength. Men do the cutting and matching, and it requires several years to be a good workman. Sewers receive about half price while learning. Some women can learn all that is necessary in a few months. The prospect of employment is not so good as heretofore. The women work the year around. Work hours are 9½. Board, $2 to $2.50 per week." Most furriers report the employment healthy, but it is not, on account of the dust and loose hairs flying, for persons predisposed to consumption. A furrier in New York writes: "I pay mostly by the piece. It takes about one year and a half for women to learn the parts they do. The amount of work hereafter depends some upon fashion and the weather. The best seasons for work are from May until February. We could not shorten the hours of work unless the business had a longer season. Board, from $1.50 to $2." A furrier in Boston writes: "Women are employed for sewing and lining furs here, in England and France, and partially in Germany, Russia, &c. Week hands get from $4 to $4.50, ten hours a day; others, from $2 to $6. Business in future is uncertain. I am busy from July to Christmas. The best location for the business is where furs are fashionable." A fur dealer in New York, who employs from 10 to 15 women, gives the following answers to questions concerning the fur business: "The work is very easy, and not unhealthy. I pay women from $3 to $6 per week, ten hours a day. They are as well paid as males, in proportion to the amount of work done. Any apt female can learn in three months, and is always paid by me $2.50 per week while learning. The business is better and there is more of it every year. Work is steady from May to December; very little at other times. The comfort and remuneration of the employment is satisfactory among working classes. Women are more capable of handling a needle for light, fine work than men. The colder the climate, the better the location for business, provided people have money to buy furs." In some establishments where men and women work in the same departments, they are allowed to talk while at work; but the practice, some complain, is not conducive to good morals. The character of the people and conversation, however, would decide that.

FITTERS, CUTTERS, AND SEWERS OF LADIES' AND CHILDREN'S WEAR.