Part 50

=370. Curled Hair Pullers.= Hair pullers are mostly Irish women, the wives of foreigners and laboring men. A few are women of a better class reduced in circumstances. In Philadelphia, at the shop of a kind old man, I saw women picking hair for mattresses. He pays two cents a pound for picking. The women earn from forty to sixty cents a day. The dust that flies from the hair is injurious to the lungs, and the constant watching is trying to the eyes. At one curled hair factory in New York I saw women employed at one cent a pound, at another two cents. A smart woman can pick twenty-five or thirty a day. An upholsterer in Boston writes: "We have women to sew, pick hair, &c. We pay by the piece. Men receive one third better pay than women. Women receive less, because they have not brass enough to ask more. Any woman can do our work. The prospect of work in our line is very fair. We have twenty women who work all the time. The demand for hands is small, surplus large. Large cities are best for our trade. Board, $2.50."

=371. Curtain Trimmings.= I saw two girls, in New York, who work at the trade. Their employer does not pay learners for two weeks, then according to what they do. Some are paid by the week, and some by the piece. The last plan pays best. The girls earn from $3 to $5 per week, some even as much as $7. Plenty of hands can always be had. They have most work in summer. At another place I was told it takes three or four months to learn. Good hands can earn then from $4 to $5. Mrs. B., in New York, told me her girls work by the piece, making curtain trimmings, and earn from $5 to $6 a week. They work from 6 A. M. until 7 P. M. They can learn it in a few weeks. At Y.'s, in New York, I saw a plain, genteel-looking woman engaged in making tassels. She pays $2 a week for board--washing extra. She spoke very well of her employer, for whom she had worked twelve years. She mentioned an old lady upstairs who had been in his employ twenty years. He has fifteen women in the tassel department, and fifteen making gimps and fringes. Some of the hands are paid by the piece, and some by the week--ten hours a day. They are paid every two weeks on Saturday afternoon. In the old country women make twisted cord, but not in this. Cordmakers are on their feet all the time. Y.'s women get from $2 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. Men get from $6 to $9. It requires six months to learn, and learners receive $1.50 per week. In winter, just before the holidays, is the best time for work; but Y.'s hands have employment all the time. When not filling orders, they make stock work. They have a great many applications for work.

=372. Furniture Goods.= "At Seymour, Conn., are manufactured brocatelles and cotalines, a fabric composed of silk and linen, or cotton, and used for furniture draperies and carriage linings. Each loom is worked by a girl, who requires very little previous experience to manage it perfectly. There are about 60 persons employed at present in the work, two thirds of whom are females from the age of fourteen upward. The rate of wages paid by the company is higher than that given by the neighboring factories, the nature of the work requiring a superior degree of skill and intelligence."

=373. Mattresses.= A girl engaged in making mattresses told us they are mostly sewed up by machines, and operators earn from $3 to $6, working ten hours a day. In some factories women sew the mattresses, and boys and men prepare the hair and fill them. A mattress seller told me he employs girls to make mattresses in the spring and fall, paying $3 a week, of ten hours a day. One bed furnisher told me her work is mostly done by old ladies. She says some girls down street earn $6 a week, making mattresses. One large manufacturer told me that his is piecework, and some of his girls earn from $8 to $12 a week. He furnishes the sewing machines. In April and May, he finds it difficult to get enough of hands. At another large store, I was told they pay from $6 to $7 a week to good operators, and have their work done in the building. At another large bed and mattress store, I was told they pay women for making ticks with machines from $4 to $5 a week. It is not very steady work. At another place they occupied a room back of the store, and earned from $4 to $6 a week. A firm in Nashua, N. H., write me "they employ fourteen American women in making mattresses, cushions, &c., and pay from $3 to $3.50 a week, including board, and work ten hours a day. Men are paid about $5 a week, and do different work from the women. Some of the hands are employed all the year. There is no great demand for mattress makers at present anywhere. Board, $2."

=374. Venetian Blinds.= At W.'s Venetian blind manufactory, in Philadelphia, I was told they generally employ several women. They earn about $3 a week, and take their sewing home. The work is sewing tapes on the main pieces to support the slats. The business is best in the spring, from January to May, and is good in the fall, but they endeavor to furnish some employment all the year to their girls, who are American. A manufacturer of Venetian blinds in Boston employs some women in writing, sewing, laying out work, &c. They are mostly paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $6 per week. Male and female labor is not of the same kind in his establishment. Men spend two years learning; women, one month. The last part of spring and the first part of summer are best for work. He could easily find more sewers, if he had employment for them. He finds them cheaper and more suitable for the work than men. The means of mental and moral culture are those common to the residents of Boston.

=375. Window Shades.= At an establishment in Philadelphia, a few women are employed in the busy seasons, spring and fall, in laying the gilding on the borders of linen shades. They earn from $1.50 to $3.00 per week. The painted linen window shades (landscapes, buildings, &c.) are executed entirely by men, who receive $12 a week wages. Our informant said these men could paint (I think) 6 pair a day. I am sure there is no reason why a lady could not paint landscapes and other ornamental work on shades, if they would only qualify themselves. It would probably require two or three years' practice to acquire proficiency, for a person unaccustomed to painting of any kind. The design of common ones is invented as the painter proceeds, as he has no pattern to work from. It requires a knowledge of colors, and some taste and ingenuity. A man is paid from $1.50 to $2 a day. K., New York, has a number of women stencilling shades. The women earn about $4 a week. B., New York, usually employs two girls in putting elastic over the bands of pulleys and tying them up, for which they each receive $4 a week. I saw a girl in New York, engaged in stencilling. She is paid by the piece, and can earn $6 or $7 a week, when she has constant employment. It does not take long to learn. I called at a factory where they pay three cents a piece for painting the centres of common shades. It is done with cloths. They pay $2 a piece for fine ones. The fine ones have the principal parts drawn before being painted. A smart man can earn $20 a week at that work, but shades are not much used now. At a store on Broadway, they used to employ girls for painting shades and putting on the gilding. They had American girls mostly. German men are mostly employed at that work. If American men learn this business, they have so much energy and ambition they are soon able to get an establishment of their own, and then employ foreigners, many of whom work for less, to obtain employment, and then cannot raise their prices, and so are apt ever to retain a subordinate position. Their girls worked in the room with the men, but it was a large room, and they worked at the far end. Part of the work ought to be done by men. They had one woman that put on the flowing colors and earned $9 a week. But they found it necessary to have the girls wear Bloomer costume, to prevent their dresses touching the shade while painting; but they would not even then consent to lay down their hoops, and as their skirts would touch the painting and injure it, they altogether abandoned the employment of females. L., New York, told me he met with great opposition when he first employed women to gild window curtains, and he could not have held out if his house had not been established and he very firm. He lost one or more of his customers by doing so. The work is very suitable for women. L.'s men and women work in the same apartment, but the men are required to be very respectful. The women have a dressing room attached to their workroom. They move about on their feet all the time, while at work. Men put size on, but women could do it. The women receive $5 a week, and never work over ten hours. The work can be learned in a day. The Southerners are doing without fancy goods now, so the trade is very poor. L. has saved about $1,000 the past year by employing women. Men are in such haste to get through their work, that they are careless and waste the gold leaf. A window-shade manufacturer in Boston, who employs some girls in stencilling, informs me by letter that "he pays by the piece from $3 to $6 per week. A smart, active girl can earn more than a man of medium abilities. Cleanliness and endurance are the most essential qualifications. The prospect for continuance is as good as that of any other fancy business. Best seasons for work are from March to July, and October to January, but at other times hands can make enough to pay their board. They work from seven to twelve hours; for over hours, are paid extra. Board, $2.50; (washing extra) but they have not a room alone." One shade manufacturer writes: "There are parts of my work that could be done by girls as well as men, but their style of dress is not adapted to it." Another in Boston writes: "I would employ women, if my shop was convenient, as I could get them for less price than men. Men are paid thirty-three per cent. more than women: one reason is they are capable of more endurance. We work ten hours in summer, eight in winter." Another firm in the same city employs from four to eight women, paying from $3 to $6 per week, working from nine to ten hours a day. Six months is the average time given by a learner. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons."

_Wire Window Shades._ Mrs. C. said a lady used to paint wire shades for her husband. He also employed men. He has most work done in summer. It requires care to keep from filling the niches with paint. Miss ---- acquired boldness and freedom of execution in oil painting by the practice. Rapidity and lightness of touch were also acquired. Her hand had got a stiff, cramped feeling, from painting on canvas constantly. The price paid for shades depends on the fineness of the cloth, the size, and design. Miss S. says her father has the landscape painting done by Germans, and pays good prices. It is paid for by the square foot. He charges $2 a square foot, for a shade in the frame, ready to put in the window. The artists take them to their studios. Germans are preferred because they work most rapidly. One makes a great deal of money, but he works late at night and on Sundays. Several coats of paint are put on before the landscape is painted. Some copy engravings, but enlarge the scale. They make to order. The business is increasing. He sends a great many to the South, particularly Havana and Baltimore.

MANUFACTURERS OF BOOKS, INK, PAPER, AND PENCILS.

=376. Bookfolders.= I know of no work in a bookbindery that could not be performed by intelligent women that were properly instructed. Forwarding, marbling, gilding, stamping, and finishing could be done by them, in addition to presswork, folding, gathering, and sewing. The female bookfolders of New York number several thousand. The women in Philadelphia binderies are between 1,000 and 2,000. The most bookfolding and sewing, out of New York, are done in Washington and Philadelphia, and some in Cincinnati. The busy seasons for book makers are from September to January, and from March to July. In this business there is a union among the men regulating prices, hours, &c. There is a great difference in the character of the binderies in New York--every shade and grade is to be found. In seeing the size and comfort of the workrooms, and the manners and conversation of the employer, it would not be very difficult to judge of the pay and condition of the workgirls. The trade is well filled, and, no doubt, with quite as many women of worth, self-respect, and education, as any other. At the Bible House, Tract House, Methodist Book Concern, and Harper's, New York, the faces of the workers are bright and cheerful. Every precaution is taken to secure only those who are respectable, and the associations surrounding them are calculated to elevate, rather than degrade. Most of them are able to pay enough for their board to secure the right kind of home associations. These establishments, except in emergencies like the present, retain their hands all the year; while those in a majority of other houses fluctuate with their business and are unoccupied three or four months in the year. Bookfolding is paid for by the 1,000 sheets, depending on the size of the sheet and the number of times it is folded. A good, fast folder can earn from 50 cents to 65 cents a day, whether folding with a machine or by hand. A few can earn as much as $6 per week. Folding and collating pay the best of woman's work. Collating is usually paid for at 20 cents an hour. Men in bookbinderies get from $8 to $20 per week. Some employers are much more kind and intelligent than others. Some bookbinders in New York impose on girls by taking them to learn the business, requiring that they stay from six weeks to six months to do so, and paying nothing during that time. During the most of the time their work is efficient, and they earn money for their employers. When the time has expired they are turned off, and others taken on. Some bookbinders employ those who will do their work at a very cheap rate, often thus exposing them to influences that are pernicious. Favoritism is often shown by employers and foremen. At H.'s, 200 women and girls are employed in folding, sewing, and gilding. Either of the branches is light and pleasant, and soon learned, after which the remuneration depends upon the abilities of the learner. Their hours are from 7-½ to 6, but it is piece work. All of his workpeople are temperance people. The work of bookbinders is not more unhealthy than any other indoor work. At the Tract House they take a few girls to learn to fold, and have them work until they earn $6 before they pay anything. An English woman told me that she used to earn $7 a week, as forewoman, but they never allowed her to be absent a day. A publisher in Philadelphia employs about fifty girls in his bindery, but complains that as soon as they make a few dollars they will take a holiday to spend it. He says the better he pays the girls in his bindery, the more they are absent from their work and the more difficult are they to manage. That, I think, arises from defective moral training. We know that people of right principle (both men and women), whose wages enable them to dress comfortably, and provide wholesome food and well ventilated, healthy apartments, are not only better able to work well and constantly, but do so. It stands to reason they should. If the poor cannot make a proper use of their scanty compensation, they are more to be pitied than blamed, for we know well they have nothing to spare. The manufacture of blank-books is an important branch of business. A blank-book manufacturer in Troy writes: "I pay both ways, and the wages are from $3 to $4.50 per week. Men's wages are from $6 to $12, but their work is different and heavier. Women's part of the work is learned in from six weeks to one year. A ready hand and quick eye are wanted by a learner. Busiest time from December to July. There is a surplus of hands, so far as I know. When men work at the women's branches (which is very seldom), they do it more substantially." In France women do much of the work in blank-book binderies. In M. Maitre's book bindery, Dijon, France, "No apprentice, boy or girl, is received until after they have made their premier communion, and received a certificate that they can both read and write, and also a medical certificate of vaccination. The workpeople are thus of a respectable class. The young children of most of the married women are either sent out to nurse in the country, according to the very common custom of France, or else the married pair form one household with the grand parents."

=377. Book Sewers.= "Trades in general require a large share of mechanical ingenuity, in combination with strength, mathematical skill, and other qualifications. Strength is requisite to the success of a bookbinder." Women employed in sewing are paid by the piece, and as soon as they are competent, which requires but a few days, are paid according to their application from $3.50 to $7 per week. The work of women in binderies is clean, and about as comfortable and remunerative as any other of a mechanical nature. At the Methodist Book Concern we saw girls folding, gathering, sewing, putting plates in books, gilding the covers, and feeding the presses. They were well dressed and intelligent looking, and evidently felt an interest in the welfare of the establishment. The majority were Americans. The superintendent told us, "girls earn, in the sewing department, from $3 to $9 per week. A good sewer can earn, without difficulty, from $5 to $5.50 per week. They have about thirty, most of whom work by the piece. They have one strong woman who sometimes earns $10 a week. They never work over ten hours, as the house is only open for work that long. The folding and enveloping of tracts and papers admit of a change of posture. There is no similarity in the male and female labor. The comparison in prices is about one-half to one-third. It requires a lifetime to learn a man's branch; an intelligent woman can learn hers in a week. The result of a bookbinder's work is not for a day, but for all time. Bookbinders have more constant employment than those in most other trades. The work is most dull in summer. There is constant employment in New York for first-class hands, and always a surplus of second-class. Large cities offer the best localities--those in the South and West will probably furnish many openings to publishers." A. & S. employ girls to fold, stitch, and sew. They are paid by the piece (customary), and earn from $3 to $5 per week. Sewers can earn more than folders and stitchers--say from $5 to $7. They work until six o'clock and commence when they please, as they are paid by the quantity. A bookbinder told me his girls work from seven to six o'clock. He gives work all the year. They are paid by the piece, and can earn from $5 to $6 a week. I have been told folders and sewers are taken as learners only where the cheapest work is done. At some binderies three cents 100 is paid for folding, three cents for sewing, and six cents for stitching. At some places five cents 100 is paid for folding 12mo. sheets. The proportion of hands employed in the different branches of bookbinding is somewhat as follows: About two thirds are folders, one sixth gatherers, and one sixth sewers. A process has been invented by which books can be strongly bound without sewing. I fear it may be the means of throwing many sewers out of employment. At W.'s bookbindery I was told they sometimes take learners. They expect them to stay six months, and pay them half that they can earn during that time. They pay workers by the piece, and they can earn from $4 to $6 a week. Some of the girls are employed to remove the covers from old books and magazines that are to be rebound. M., who does the printing of the A.'s, informs me that his girls work by the piece, and average over $4 per week. His learners receive one half their earnings--the teacher the other half. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons, but the women are never entirely out of employment. There is no surplus of good hands, but many imperfect ones. He employs from 125 to 150. The superintendent at H.'s told me that the girls in the sewing-room earn from $3.50 to $8. He says their women are intelligent and lady-like, and would adorn the best society. They change their dresses when they come to work, and then before leaving. If they are at all hurried in their work, their hands, both men and women, come early and stay late of their own free will. Males average $10, females over $4. The reason of the difference is, that men serve an apprenticeship of five or seven years--women five or seven weeks. The former are the mechanics; the latter merely assistants. The latter cheapen the labor of the former, without having the strength or physical ability to perform their work. (I cannot see how it should be so when the branches performed are entirely distinct.) The foreman at B.'s told me a very brisk worker can earn $6 a week, but few do. They do not average over eight hours a day. They never light their building. S.'s girls, in good times, are employed all the year. He pays by the piece, and his girls earn from $3 to $5. In most small book binderies in New York men and girls work in the same room. A girl at the Tract House told me they pay better for sewing there than in most other places, and have work all the year, in ordinary times. A printer boy told me his sister earns, in a bindery, from $8 to $10 a week. D. has newspapers printed and folded, and pays his women for folding from $4 to $5 a week. A manufacturer in New York, having a bindery in New Jersey, pays his girls mostly $3.50 a week, besides their board and washing. He boards them, and he is very particular in having them attend church on the Sabbath, and keeping an oversight of their morals and habits. Most of the binding done South and West is that of blank books. There is not so much machinery at the South and West as at the North. F. says the binding of blank books pays best. A good folder may earn $6 a week, but a sewer not so much. The majority of both do not earn more than $4. They pay from the first. One woman can stitch enough to keep three men employed. So there are not as many women employed in factories where blank books are made, as where printed books are. I was told on Fulton street, at a blank-book manufactory, that their girls earn from $5 to $7. They give steady work all the year. The binding of blank books pays best. They have one girl that sometimes earns $9 a week. At jobbing houses girls generally earn $6 a week, when paid by the week for binding.