Part 53

=393. Printers.= "In 1476, Fra Domenico da Pistoya and Fra Pietro da Pisa, the spiritual directors of a Dominican convent, established a printing press within its walls; the nuns served as compositors, and many works of considerable value issued from this press between 1476 and 1484, when, Bartolomeo da Pistoya dying, the nuns ceased their labors." In the Victoria Printing Office, of London, all the compositors' work is done by women. The Printers' Unions in the United States have done all they could to prevent women from entering the occupation and obtaining employment. Men's employments in the cities, they say, are now filled, and if women enter, men's wages will fall. They do fall, at any rate, because women will work for less than men. To obviate this difficulty, I would suggest that more men engage in agricultural and other occupations that will take them out of the cities. At present, the war demands large numbers. A printer told me that type setting could be carried on more easily by women in towns and villages than in cities, where men are slaves to the Unions. In the latest rules of the Printers' Union, New York, a printer is not prohibited from working in the office with a woman. Yet few publishers are willing to employ them, because it is supposed they are employed for less wages. At a printers' convention, held recently in Springfield, Ill., the following resolutions were adopted: "Whereas, the employment of females in printing offices, as compositors, has, wherever adopted, been found a decided benefit, both as regards the moral tendencies inculcated and the dependence to be placed in their constant presence and attendance upon the duties required of them, and as a means of opening a wider field of remunerative labor to a deserving class of society; therefore, be it resolved, That the Association recommend to its members the employment of females in their offices, wherever and whenever practicable." Printing is mostly paid for by the thousand ems. More is paid for printing from manuscript than for reprint. Newspaper is paid rather higher than book printing, and morning papers more than evening. Much has been said of the unhealthiness of a printer's work. The majority of causes that render it so are not confined to the occupation itself. Some printers must work during the night. Their habits become irregular, and many run into dissipation. The rooms occupied by some are poorly ventilated, and so poorly lighted as even in the day to require artificial light, which helps to absorb the oxygen of the atmosphere. When type are heated they emit an odor that affects respiration, and will in the course of time paralyze the hand. But there is no necessity for using them when heated. The standing position of compositors weakens the organs of digestion; but compositors can as well sit as stand. Stools may occasionally be seen in the offices of men. Bending over the stone to correct is not more tiresome than bending over cloth when sewing. A good education and general intelligence are necessary for a printer. A gentleman connected with a printing office remarked to me that printers generally possess much desultory information, but have not their faculties more fully developed than people in most other trades. Women's fineness of touch and quickness of motion will fit them for type setting. "They might be instructed, not merely to compose and distribute, but to correct, make up, impose forms, and prepare the type completely for the press or stereotype foundery." A man should be employed to carry the chases to the press room. When the pressman has had the type inked and used them, he should have the form washed and returned to the compositors' room. When women have had as much experience as men in the printing business, they will be fair competitors. In most large cities, and even towns, many are now employed in type setting; but they are much scattered, and consequently not much is known of them. In Boston, women have been engaged in type setting for nearly thirty years, in New York eight years, and in Philadelphia five years. More girls are employed as type setters in Boston than any other city of the United States. They set type for nearly all the large periodicals. They are paid less than men; but some earn $8 a week. F., of Boston, who employs some women as type setters, writes: "I pay twenty cents per thousand ems, which averages to a good hand about $6 or $7 per week. It requires about six months to learn type setting. I pay my learners, because I consider it to my advantage in the long run to do so. Type setters with an ordinary education will improve as they progress. In a few years, women will work in many branches that to-day would be termed innovation. I consider winter the best season for printing books and periodicals. On account of neatness and taste, women are well suited for the ornamental branches of printing." The proprietors of a printing house in Boston, who have some thought of employing females, write me: "The printing business is considered rather unhealthy, on account of its being both mental and physical. It requires from two to three years to become good workmen at our business for males, and would take about the same time for females, although our business is now classed composition room and press room, and females are sometimes employed in other offices in both rooms. Our business does not vary much, except in the month of August, when it is generally dull. Our number of hours for work are ten, the year through. Our business is not considered very laborious, and females make from $4 to $8 per week. Men are generally superior to women in education and judgment. The printing business is almost a school for learning. Board, from $1.50 to $2.50." The largest number of printers in New York are employed on books and periodicals. I think it likely there are more Americans employed in the book-making trade in New York than any other trade. From an article on "Printers," in the New York _Tribune_ of April, 1853, we extract the following: "We estimate the services of a competent young woman at type setting as worth in this city $2 per week, after a fortnight--$4 per week, after three months--$6 per week, after a year--$8, after two years. Every compositor on the _Tribune_ at work at the case has thirty-seven cents per thousand ems, and thirty cents per hour for steady time." The present price required by members of the New York Typographical Union for newspaper work, when employed by the week, is $12--ten hours constituting a day's work. For book and job work $11 is required. At the _Day Book_ office I saw one of the editors, who thinks women do not correct so well as men, and they want self-reliance. Besides, they cannot lift the forms. Men are paid better for these reasons. He thinks more women might very advantageously be employed in setting type for papers. Job printing he thinks not so well adapted to them, because of the variety in the work, and the judgment and self-reliance required. Two of the girls in the _Day Book_ office have with their earnings bought their mother a home in the country. Their girls are more intelligent, have more pride, and dress better than most working girls. To set type requires more intelligence than most shop girls possess. The foreman of the same paper writes: "We employ ten women, whose exclusive business is type setting. Seven are American women. I deem the employment of type setting unhealthy, but not more injurious to women than it is to men. We pay women twenty cents per thousand ems. Men receive thirty-one cents per thousand ems in our office. Women are not as competent to do all kinds of work as men, particularly in a newspaper office; hence the difference in wages. The time of learning depends almost wholly on the aptitude of the new beginner. Some persons (men as well as women) would or could not learn the business in a lifetime. Women have been paid while learning in this office. A knowledge of the English language, and a disposition to improve that knowledge on all suitable occasions, are the principal requisites. The general order of intellect did not amount to much, when we first tried the experiment; those who have worked steady have improved wonderfully. They work ten hours per day. Average wages $6.50 per week in this office. With proper training and instruction, they would be competent to do any portion of the work not requiring too much physical exertion. The best seasons for a printer's work depend almost wholly on circumstances. Large cities are the best places for the printer who wishes to have steady employment." T., of New York, told me "he employed girls for a while, and would have retained them if he could have had time to attend to the composition department. He paid his girls the same price he did his men. He thinks it strange that more broken-down ministers and worn-out school teachers do not turn to type setting, as it is learned in a very short time, requires intelligence, and demands no outlay of muscle. On the principle that a stout muscular man should be a blacksmith, and a small delicate one a watchmaker, a woman should be a type setter. A girl should begin when young. Women are no more thrown with men in type setting than in feeding presses. In all large establishments, type setting and press work are done in separate rooms." I think if some lady teachers would learn the art of printing and get places as forewomen, they could from girls obtain as much work as a foreman does from boys; but he thinks it difficult for a foreman to be exacting with women, particularly with those who are old enough to be sensitive and self-willed. He thinks, "in New York, women are not so much employed in intelligent occupations as in Boston. In the cities printers make most all their profits off two-thirders, as they are called--boys who have not attained their majority, and do their work as well for much less than journeymen. His son, a boy of sixteen, earns from $5 to $6 a week as type setter." H., in New York, employs three girls. They get $6 a week of ten hours a day. They can sit if they choose. They have a room to work in, separate from the men. At W.'s, opposite, a youth told me a fast worker could earn $8 a week. The girls there were working in the same room with the men. J., of Philadelphia, said he used to employ women to print his labels, but they demanded $6 a week, and men he could get for $9. He told the women they were cutting their throats in asking so much. He said women should not expect as high wages as men, even if they did their work as well, and as much of it, for they would thereby displace men; and besides, you could not order women about as you could men. B., editor of the Pittsburg _Commercial Journal_, employs six girls as compositors. Connected with his office are two journeymen, who set type after 6 P. M., reporting telegraphic and local news. All type setting should be done by women in the day, unless they board very near, or in the house of the printing office, because of the exposure of going home late at night. Three fourths of the work of a printing office could be done by women. Afternoon and weekly papers could be very well printed by ladies, as they are printed in the day. One of B.'s lady compositors receives $7 a week, another $6, and the others $4 and $3.50. They work eight or nine hours a day; and to a learner they pay $1.50 a week, until she can set type correctly--then more; and in two years she will be very nearly or quite perfect in the art. It requires quickness of eye and finger to succeed. At the office of the Detroit _Daily Democrat_, girls as apprentices are paid from $3 to $4 per week, and those advanced twenty-five cents per thousand ems. "The compositors' office of the _Ohio Farmer_, at Cleveland, has four apprentice girls. Compensation light at present, but after the first year they will have the same that journeymen are receiving in this place, _i. e._, twenty-five cents per thousand ems." A lady learning to set type in Indiana writes: "I think the reason of the printers objecting to my learning was that I was not required to run of errands, or, in other words, be the 'devil' of the office, as boys are who learn the printing business. Besides, my compensation is better than theirs, in consequence of my ability to do more than they. I receive my board and $50 a year while learning; after that, journeyman's wages by the week or by the thousand ems, as I prefer. In this time I can learn to do all, except the press work, making up, &c. The girls employed as type setters in the office receive $3 per week while learning." I have been told that in Rochester, Buffalo, and New Haven, printing is done more cheaply than in New York, and some publishers send their printing to those towns to have it done. A great deal of raised printing is done for the blind in the United States, but women do not work at that. Printers were wanted some time back in Charleston, S. C., and when affairs become settled in the South, we doubt not there will be many openings for printers. An institution has been founded in Edinburg for teaching girls the art of printing. Monsieur P. says in many of the villages of France it is difficult to get printers. He proposes that a certain number of girls be qualified for the work, as women are well suited to such work, and it is of a kind that pleases those who have tried it.

=394. Sealing-Wax Makers.= D., sealing-wax, ink, and mucilage manufacturer, employs two girls in putting up carmine ink and gum mucilage, also in rolling, stamping, and boxing sealing wax. To one he pays $5 a week, to the other $4. He employs his girls all the year. Making sealing wax is too heavy work for women, D. thought, and there is not much demand for the kind used in sealing letters. Self-sealing envelopes and mucilage have done away with both wafers and wax. In the United States, one pound is sold where formerly one ton was sold. Had the use of wafers increased with correspondence, it would have been an extensive business; but the making and baking of wafers, D. thought, was too heavy work for women. I expect it is not more so than making and baking bread. But little ink is made in the South and West. C. said women could not make sealing wax, because of the danger of being about the fire. I suggested there is not more than in cooking. He said lifting the vessels is very heavy.

=395. Stereotypers.= All the first plates in this country were moulded by a Mrs. Watts, the wife of an Englishman, who introduced the art from London. Stereotyping could be learned by women. It is an interesting employment, but requires intelligence and judgment. In stereotyping, one department of labor is that of correcting metal plates. If a letter is wanting, a type is soldered in the plate. If any of the letters or spaces are filled with superfluous metal, it is removed. I think stereotyping an occupation well adapted to skilful and educated women. It requires an apprenticeship of three or four years.

=396. Type Rubbers and Setters.= At P. & Co.'s, I saw the whole process of type making. They employ some women to rub type, and some to set them up. The setters earn from $1.50 to $2 a week. It is very simple, but there is much difference in the quantity done by different individuals. A careful and rapid manipulation is desirable for the worker, as it is paid for by the number of types set up. The rubbers are paid by the pound, and earn from $8 to $9 a week. Some people can rub 2,000 types in an hour. The fingers become hardened. P. & Co. do not employ many American girls, for American girls do not like such dirty work, and most of them dislike to work where men are. Breaking off the jets is in some places done by women. It is a mechanical operation for removing the inequalities of the metal, caused by the imperfect chasing of the moulds. It requires a very rapid movement of the hand, but is not a laborious operation. It is said that some fast workers can break off 5,000 in an hour. Girls are employed at type rubbing and setting, in the same room with men. Type are cut of a soft metal, from which copper moulds are taken for forming printers' type. It requires a steady hand, a correct eye, and some practice to cut them, but not much strength. It could be done by women. B. thinks the work is not unhealthy. I suppose the same objection as regards health might be made to breaking off the jets, type rubbing, and type setting, that is often made to the business of a compositor--that the lead in the metal has a tendency to paralyze the arm; but I have never heard the objection offered. B. does not pay learners. Prospect for employment tolerable. When times are good, he keeps girls all the year. They are paid by the quantity. The little girls can earn $2.50 each, and some of the larger girls, who are very expert, can earn $4.50. Girls always sit in rubbing type. In setting up, I think they can sit or stand, as they please. There will be a demand for type so long as books and papers are printed. I suppose there will now be an opening in the South for type founderies. W. takes learners, and pays by the quantity from the first. All his women sit while at work. It is not healthy work, because of the lead floating in the atmosphere being inhaled. He can always get hands by advertising. Setters get about $2.50 a week, and rubbers $3, and $3.50. C. says, if type rubbers are industrious and attentive, they can earn from $3 to $7 a week. Rubbing pays better than setting, but is quite laborious. Setters earn from $2 to $3.50, and are generally small girls. They are always paid by the quantity. It does not require long to learn. The prospect is good for employment. In ordinary times they are employed all the year. At H.'s, I was told that girls are never taught rubbing until they have learned setting, as rubbing pays best, and it is not fair to give a learner the advantage of an old hand. Setters cannot earn more than $2.50 a week; rubbers, from $4 to $6. He gives work all the year. Some of his girls are always absent on Monday. He thinks there are from 700 to 800 girls in founderies in New York. His girls earn from $3 to $6 a week. Printers, he says, are always first to suffer in a panic. A type founder in Buffalo, writes: "I employ fifteen American girls in finishing type, and pay by the piece. They earn from $3 to $5 per week. One day is sufficient to learn, and nimble fingers greatly assist. Seasons make no difference with the work. The work is easy in a warm room in winter." The proprietors of the Boston Type Foundery sent me the following intelligence by mail: "We employ about twenty women in breaking, rubbing, and setting type. The metallic dust from the type is considered unwholesome. We pay by the piece. The girls are from ten to twenty years of age, and average from $1 to $6 per week, working from six to nine hours. But a short time is required to learn the parts, except rubbing, which occupies some months. They are paid while learning. All other parts of our business, except those mentioned, are too severe for women. The prospect for a continuance of work is tolerable."

=397. Wall Paper Gilders.= Most of the wall paper used in the United States for many years past has been made in Philadelphia, and I believe it is still thought to produce the best qualities. There are three modes of impressing wall paper: one by printing, another by stencilling, and the third by painting with a brush. In the cheapest paper, the outlines are printed and the colors put on by stencil plates. For printing, large blocks are used that are cut by hand, and for each color a separate block must be used. This work forms a separate occupation, that of a block cutter. For the finest papers, the outlines are printed, and then filled by the use of the brush. The ailments of colorers of wall paper arise principally from the coloring matter, much of which is very poisonous. "By laboring upon arsenical paper in the finishing department, small tumors are produced, and some have to change their occupation in consequence." At H.'s store, Philadelphia, the young man told me they employ girls from twelve to sixteen years of age, for putting gilding on paper. They work ten hours, and earn from $3.50 to $4.50 a week. They merely lay gilding on, which is fastened by the pressure of machinery. Some manufacturers have the gilding put on with a size. At C.'s, New York, the foreman told me they employ two girls, at $3 a week each. A powder is sprinkled on by boys, which, by the way, could be done by girls. The girls then lay the gold leaf on the powder. A machine then passes over the gold leaf, making an impression by a die, of the pattern desired. Another branch of labor in which they employed girls for a time, was the rolling of paper for the store. It requires a peculiar tact acquired by practice only. They are paid seven cents for 100 rolls, each roll containing eight yards. It would take a brisk and careful hand to become at all expert three months, at which time she could earn about sixty cents a day, of ten hours' work. At the end of three months more she would, perhaps, be able to earn an additional twenty cents a day. It makes the fingers very sore, as considerable force is thrown into the tips of the fingers. Some fingers cannot become hardened to it, and the individual has to give it up. C----'s have work all the year, except a week in summer, and one in winter, and when the machinery is out of repair. They have most to do in winter, getting their paper ready for spring sale, and to send away to the West and South. It is not unhealthy labor. Many girls might be employed in departments now occupied by boys. At N. C. & Co.'s, I was told by a young German that from one hundred to one hundred and fifty boys are employed in that building, but no women or girls. There are several parts that could be done by women. The common paper is rolled by machinery, the fine by hand. In one factory in Boston, girls are employed to roll, and in one in some other part of Massachusetts. Paper stainers in Nashua, New Hampshire, write: "Women are employed in coloring and finishing papers. The work is healthy, though all cannot use green. We pay some by the week and some by the day: $3 per week for day hands. It requires two or three months to learn. A light hand, quick motions, &c., are desirable qualifications. The prospect of employment is the same as all other branches of manufacture. Warm weather is our most busy season. The hands spend a few weeks in the country in midsummer. We employ from twenty to twenty-five women, and they work ten hours a day. They have the advantages of libraries, religious services, &c., and pay for board $1.50 per week." A wall-paper manufacturer, in Boston, writes: "The different kinds of work and a fair knowledge of the manufacture of paper hangings must be seen to be appreciated. For one to be capable of taking charge of a manufactory in my line, he must devote many years of close application, and must be a man of fine taste, in order to get up a _taking_ style of goods, as the success of the business, in a great measure, depends upon that, coupled with a fine finish. The perfection of the manufacture may be all that could be desired, but if the arrangement of the shadings of the colors were faulty, there would be a very limited sale of them. A woman might perhaps make a color mixer (as we call them), if the work was not too hard and too dirty. We employ three girls to roll paper. It is light work, and they are paid from $2 to $4 per week--day hands, ten hours. The time to learn depends upon the capacity of the learner--say a month. The women are not out of employment long. The women are mostly foreign, and can make a comfortable living if they choose. Women have not sufficient strength for some parts of our work."

CHEMICALS.