472. Cigar-End Finders.
Mayhew says: "There are,
strictly speaking, none who make a living by picking up the ends
of cigars thrown away as useless by the smokers in the streets;
but there are very many who employ themselves, from time to
time, in collecting them. How they are disposed of, is unknown;
but it is supposed that they are resold to some of the large manufacturers
of cigars, and go to form a component part of a new
stock of the best Havanas. There are five persons, residing in
different parts of London, who are known to purchase cigar ends.
In Naples, the sale of cigar ends is a regular street traffic. In
Paris, the ends thus collected are sold as cheap tobacco to the
poor. In the low lodging-houses of London, the ends, when dried,
are cut up and sold to such of their fellow lodgers as are anxious
to enjoy their pipe at the cheapest possible rate."
473. Cinder Gatherers.
I saw some girls gathering
cinders. They burn them at home, after washing them. One
pailful lasts from one and a half to two days. The larger
girls gather two pails a day, generally; the smaller girls each
gather one.
474. Clear Starchers.
The doing up of muslin, in large
cities, has made for itself a separate calling. Where there is constant
employment, it pays well. Mrs. N. charges from sixteen
to twenty-five cents for doing up a set of muslin. She does most
of the work herself, as she feels responsible for the way in which
it is done, and would be afraid a stranger might tear or burn the
muslin. When she has not enough to do, she fills up her time
crocheting for the stores. I think the best locations must be in
a part of the city where the best residences are.
475. Clock Makers.
The amount and variety of wooden
clocks manufactured in this country are very great. The low price
at which they sell, puts it in the power of almost every one to
purchase. Clock-case and clock-movement making are two distinct
branches. Connecticut is the only State in which clock
movements are made; but there are many shops all over the
North in which the cases are manufactured. In 1845, there were
twenty establishments in New York city, in which the cases were
made. "Wages of clock makers are poor. Women are occasionally
employed in painting the cases of clocks, painting the dials,
and making part of the movements." The New Haven Clock
Company employ women to paint the glass tablets, and in lettering,
or putting the figures on the dial, at which work they can
earn from 90 cents to $1 per day, of ten hours. They also use
quite a number in making trimmings, and the lighter part of the
movements, at which they earn about seventy-five cents per day.
All their work is done by the piece. The time necessary to learn
depends much on the intelligence and aptness of the person.
Manufacturers of clock dials in Farmington, Conn., write: "We
employ twelve American women figuring clock dials. The spirit
of turpentine used is unhealthy to some. They are paid by the
piece, and average $2.50, with board. Men are not employed in the
same department. It requires about four weeks to learn, and
learners are furnished with board. The amount of employment
in future is indefinite. Fall, winter, and spring are the best
seasons for work; but constant employment is given by us.
Board, $2."
476. Clothes-Pin Makers.
A clothes-pin manufacturer
in Vermont writes: "Women are employed in packing clothes
pins, and are paid from 25 to 50 cents per day, usually working
ten hours. Our women are Americans. The clothes-pin business
should be carried on in a sparsely settled community, where
timber can be obtained at cheap rates."
477. Clothes Repairers.
We have seen it suggested
that shops for repairing, remodelling, and remaking ladies' clothes,
would, in large cities, if conducted by competent persons, probably
yield a support. The mending of ladies' shoes, and mending
second-hand ones to sell again, could employ the time of a number.
478. Cork Assorters and Sole Stitchers.
The principal
use made of cork in this country is for bottle stoppers. It is
also used in making cork soles for shoes. Cork is mostly imported
from Spain, Portugal, and the south of France, in large blocks,
and cut in the shapes wanted. A member of a large cork-cutting
company at the East writes: "In France, Spain, and Portugal,
women are employed to a limited extent in cutting the smaller description
of corks, and a few are also employed in England, but
not to any extent." He thinks the employment not suitable for
women, and says none are employed in this country. But from
the public reports of the city of his residence, I find women are
employed as cork cutters in that city. At one establishment, we
saw men at work cutting corks. There did not appear any objection
to women employing themselves in this trade. A good
deal of practice is required. S., of New York, cuts by machine,
and employs six girls to assort. He pays 50 cents a day, of ten
hours. At another cork store, I was told they employ boys and
girls to assort, who receive from $2 to $3 a week. The coverings
of cork soles are put on by women with sewing machines. A
good hand, we were told, can make eight dozen pairs a day, and is
paid eighteen cents a dozen. I suppose it requires at least a day to
cut out and baste on the covering of that number; so the compensation
is not as great as one might at first suppose. Some can
baste five dozen a day, and could stitch from twelve to twenty
dozen a day. Girls are paid 10 cents a dozen for basting, and
6 cents per dozen for stitching them on machines. A cork-sole
manufacturer in the upper part of the city, pays for basting
covers on, 10 cents a dozen. Some women baste five or six dozen
a day. It requires care and a little skill. If not properly done,
it is almost impossible to stitch them correctly. He pays 6 cents
a dozen for stitching, and an operator can stitch from twelve to
twenty dozen a day. He has often sold two hundred dozen in a
year.
479. Daguerreotype Apparatus.
In most large
cities, daguerreotype apparatus is manufactured. A maker of
daguerreotype cases and materials told me that his girls earn
from 50 to 75 cents a day, the latter being the highest price ever
paid. S., whose factory is in New Haven, employs about one hundred
and fifty girls. It is piecework. The business is increasing,
but still is so limited that it cannot furnish employment for a
great many. No difficulty is found in getting hands, as there are
a great many girls in New Haven. No factory in the South or
West. New York is the depot for everything made in a limited
quantity, and for everything new in style. G. Brothers have
given work all the year until lately. It is piecework. Girls
earn from $4 to $6 a week. It does not take a smart girl more
than eight days to learn. The busy time commences in April.
It is an increasing business. The foreman at A.'s factory said
a nice, steady, cleanly girl, that has sufficient dignity to
command respect, can always get work. One that is not very
sensitive to ridicule, and independent in the performance of duty,
will be sure to succeed in that establishment; for so many learners
are taken in and need supervision, that such a one is sure to
be prized. He has seventy-five girls. It requires but a week to
learn, and the girl that instructs gets the profit of that week's
labor. In some branches they stand, in some they sit. They
are paid by the piece, and earn from $2 to $6 a week. Some of
their girls learn bookbinding; so, when there is much to do in that
line, they find it difficult to get hands. The manufacture of
daguerreotype apparatus is increasing; so the prospect for learners
is good. Most of his hands have work all the year. He has
found many work girls very trifling. (No wonder, with such train
ing,
and so little encouragement to do right.) They have all
their photograph pictures colored by ladies in New York, except
the glass ones. It pays well, and is done at home. I think some
lady would do well to learn to color the glass ones. No manufactories
West or South. A firm in Waterbury write: "We
employ twelve women making daguerreotype mattings, &c. We
prefer them, because men work better with a few women to work
with them. We pay by the piece. They earn $3 per week, ten
hours a day. They are paid the same as male labor in the same
business. It requires one month to learn. Activity and
common sense are all that is necessary for a learner. The
majority are Americans, and pay for board $1.75 per week."
480. Feather Dressers.
Those that purify the feathers
of beds, also renovate the hair and moss of mattresses. A gentleman
told me he thought the business of a feather dresser too
hard for a woman. Carrying bags of feathers, weighing them,
assorting and filling other bags, he considered too heavy. Feathers
are cleaned by steam. Some people, to renovate feathers,
place them in the sun for a few days in summer, and then bake
them. There is never any need of renovating feathers, if they
are properly cured at first.
481. Flag Makers.
At A.'s, New York, the young
man said it requires about a year to learn the business thoroughly.
The hands employed in the house are paid by the week, and receive
$4. They work from half-past seven to six o'clock, having
an hour at noon. Those working out of the house are paid by
the piece. They do not always have enough of good hands.
They do not require the girls to invent designs, but like to have
them quick to understand and execute any particular device or
new pattern. To sew well and rapidly are the principal qualifications.
He thinks about two hundred women are employed in
this way in summer, but not more than fifty in winter. The
sewing and embroidering are confined exclusively to females. The
cutting is mostly done by those who carry on the business,
whether men or women. Learners receive a compensation of $2
per week while learning, after which they receive from $4 to $6
per week. Some employers require their hands to spend six
months at it as learners; but any one that can sew neatly, and has
taste, could as well make a flag, after it is cut out and basted, as
a bedquilt. The most busy seasons are spring, summer, and fall.
When employed by the week, the hours are ten. The business
is pretty well filled. Probably the most flags are made for vessels,
and the next most for military and other processions. A
flag maker told me he employs some girls and women, paying from
thirty-seven to fifty cents a day, of ten hours, to those working in
his rooms. Those that work at home, often earn seventy-five
cents, as they sew in the evening also, and are paid by the piece.
He does all his cutting. He has most work to do in summer
and in political campaigns. In winter, vessels are laid up, and
consequently no flags are wanted for them. Most work is done
in seaports. More is probably done in Boston than any other
city. In Philadelphia, flag stitching is done by machines. He
will not have it done so, because it will throw women out of employment,
and their pay is small enough at best. He takes those
that can sew, and pays from the first. He complains that most
women are mere machines, and display no intelligence in their
work. (Query: Whose fault is it?) Mrs. McF. pays her girls
$3 a week, of nine and a half hours. She employs eight now
(January, 1861), but sixteen in summer. In summer she makes
flags for vessels, but in winter she has made national flags. When
she wants any intricate pattern prepared, she employs a regular
designer, but cuts the goods herself. Ability to draw well is a
great assistance to a flag maker. She does all her own cutting,
even to the letters that are placed on her flags. Her forewoman
sometimes assists in cutting the figures. She works some for a
house in Mobile that sells flags. It requires taste and ingenuity
to succeed, but a good sewer can soon do the mechanical part.
She has been in the business nineteen years. We suppose there
are some openings in the South for this business.
482. Furniture Painters.
F., who confines his business
to the ornamenting of furniture, says it requires taste and a
knowledge of colors. He thinks the Americans excel the Europeans
in applying ornament to works of utility. He has a man
of twenty-five that he employed when a boy in his store. He
observed that he had such talents as would make him a good ornamental
painter, so he gave him instruction. The first year he
paid him $4 a week; the next, $6; and now he earns from $12
to $20. The young man invents when F. has given him an idea
of the style he wishes. A manufacturer of enamelled furniture
said no women are employed in enamelling, to his knowledge;
that lifting and turning the furniture about would be too heavy
for women. So it would; but they might have a man to do
that. Another one told us he did not know of any women
employed in enamelling furniture; but with a knowledge of painting,
they might be. Men often earn $20 a week at it. A manufacturer
of chairs told me that he pays ornamenters (men) from
$9 to $18 a week, of ten hours a day. The men sit while painting
them. A girl must have a natural taste for such work to succeed.
The coloring requires experience. The French and Germans
do most of it. It is piecework. A girl, no doubt, could
get work, if she were competent. The Heywood Chair Company
write: "We employ women to some extent in ornamenting chairs.
The work is not considered especially unhealthy. We pay by the
piece, and our women earn from $5 to $6 per week, averaging ten
hours a day, the year round. There is no difference in the prices
between the two sexes. Six months' apprenticeship is required, at
$3 per week. Nimbleness, neatness, taste, and a true eye are
needed in a worker. In ordinary times, there is no difference in
the amount of work. We employ women, because they will do
the same work better, faster, and cheaper than men. We would
employ more, if they could perform other parts of the work.
Women are inferior in strength to men, superior in manual dexterity,
neatness, and taste. All are Americans. We can hardly
speak with confidence of any considerable opening for female labor
in our business. Most of our work requires skilled mechanics,
or hard, rough bone and muscle. We have for five or six
years employed all the females we could find room or work for,
and can see no chance for any increase." According to the census
of 1860, the number of hands employed in the New England,
Middle, and Western States, in
making furniture, were 21,953
males and 1,880 females.
483. Gilders of Mirror Frames.
About the same arrangements
are made with apprentices in this as in other trades.
In the old country, women do as much of the work in all its
branches as men; but in this country, the custom of women working
in shops with men is not so common, and consequently some
females that learned it in the old country will not engage in it,
because of having to work with the men. I have been informed
that in Dublin there are at least forty women employed in gilding—some
in business for themselves. A good male worker earns
$12 a week. Gilders calculate to make twenty cents an hour,
the most usual price for good hands in all trades. In some trades
men are paid twenty-five, some twenty, some eighteen, and in
some but fifteen cents an hour. Gilders that manufacture frames
for mirrors and artists, are most likely to have work all the
year. In most shops there is a slack time just after New Year,
and after the Fourth of July. It is a very close, confining business,
in summer, while laying the gold leaf on, as it is so light it
is apt to fly, and should be done in a close room. It is not at all
unhealthy. Most of the work is done standing; but, I think, in
gilding, women are permitted to sit. A German that sells ornamental
furniture, thinks women might do the gilding on furniture.
G. employs a number of girls in gilding oval frames. They earn,
on an average, from $4 to $4.50. It requires but a short time
to learn the business. B. used to employ some for the same
purpose, paying $4, $5, and $6 a week. I think this work
preferable for women to most mechanical employments, and, no
doubt, in a few years many will be so occupied. I was told by a
gilder that women are employed, because they can be had cheaper
than men, seldom, if ever, receiving over $5 a week, of ten hours
a day; and they have no knowledge of the business, except the
one department in which they work. The frames are sold cheaply
for photographs. There are no extensive gilders in the South or
West, except one in Cincinnati, and one in Chicago. In the
mirror and picture frame departments, there are now a great many
stores that cut up the business of the large establishments, and
the times are hard—so the business is dull. Not more than forty
women in New York city are employed in gilding frames, and
twenty of them are at G.'s. A gilder in New Hampshire writes:
"It depends upon how much painted work there is in the same
room whether the occupation is unhealthy. As far as my observation
goes, women are as good workers at this business as men."
One in Massachusetts writes: "My wife sometimes does my gilding,
which is no harder than sewing. The carver's daughter in
Essex, near here, did all his gilding for ten years." Gilders in
Boston write: "We employ a girl to burnish, and pay from $3 to
$5 per week, ten hours a day. Men get from $9 to $12. Fall
and spring are the most busy seasons. Most of the cities northeast
of Baltimore are good for this work. Board, $2 to $3."
484. Globe Makers.
H., manufacturer of school apparatus
in Connecticut, writes: "From four to six women are employed
by us, in the construction of globes and other articles. Some are
paid by the piece, and some by the week, and earn from $3 to $5
per week, ten hours a day. Women receive less than one half
the wages of men. They do not perform the same kind of labor.
Women are employed at the lighter work, requiring less strength,
but an even amount of skill. The abundance of the supply of
labor prevents the increase of wages. Learners are paid, and it
requires but a few weeks to succeed. A nicety of eye and readiness
of hand are necessary for a worker. The prospect of employment
is good, but limited. The winter is best for the work,
but hands are occupied at all seasons. The employment is pleasant,
and as well paid as any in this vicinity. Women are employed
in all parts of the work suitable for them. The work is
best adapted to the Eastern States. All our employés are
Americans, and live at home. Board here, $2 a week."
485. Hobby Horse Finishers.
In summer time, Mr. —— has children's carriages trimmed by women. They are paid
by the piece, and earn from $3 to $4 a week. At B.'s they are
employed all the year. The horses and carriages could be painted
by women, and the manes, tails, saddles and bridles could be
put on by them. At C.'s, one lady is employed for trimming
children's carriages—$5 a week—ten hours a day. She sews by
machine. C.'s busy season for children's carriages, is from February
to November, and he employs his hands the rest of the
time at hobby horses. He says there is one factory in Columbus,
two in Chicago. He thinks there are good openings (1860) in
Richmond and Petersburg, Va., for they sell many there. He
thinks wrong must succumb to right—that there is no justice in
withholding from women their proper compensation for labor, and
the time will come when the prejudice will be done away that
now exists on that subject.
486. Horse Coverings.
I was told, at a store in Philadelphia,
they pay twenty-five cents a piece for ordinary blankets and
linens, and a woman can make from three to four a day. One,
on which was considerable chain stitching, the storekeeper paid
$2 for making, and he thought a woman could make one in a day.
A saddle and harness maker, New York, told me the prospect of
getting such work is good. The wives of his workmen make his
blankets, and can earn from $1 to $1.50 a day, as he pays thirty-seven
cents a blanket. Another one told me his girls earn from
$4 to $6 a week at such work; and another rated the payments
still higher, from $1.25 to $1.50 a day. At a large store on
Broadway, I was told all the work is given to one woman, who
employs other women to help her. Her workers can earn $4 a
week, if industrious. They make horse linens and blankets, and
rosettes for head ornaments. Netting for horses is made by hand,
in a large establishment near New York. L. L. & Co. pay for
the coarsest blankets twenty cents apiece, and a woman can
make two a day. For some they pay as high as from $4 to $5.
A very swift sewer could make one such in little over two days—consequently
her day's wages would be $2. So the prices vary according
to style. The chain stitch, so much used for ornamenting,
is done by hand, because in that way the edges of the cloth can
be more neatly and securely turned under. L. L. & Co. employ
ladies, who in their turn employ others. The coarse heavy
blankets are generally lined, and the work is mostly done by Irish
women. They are most busy on blankets from June to January,
and on linen from February 1st to May 1st. Linen covers are
used on horses in stables, as flies annoy horses much where they
are standing quiet. Out of doors, nets answer, because they are
kept in motion by the horse. When busy, L. & L. employ about
one hundred girls. The business is growing. The blankets are
mostly used in the country. The manufacture of them is confined
principally to New York and Boston. Those in the cities are
different in style; indeed, each city has its own style. Many are
made in Chicago. The rosettes pay very well, but it requires a
long time to become expert. One lady they employ earns occasionally
$50 a week. Tassels are paid for by the piece, and girls
can earn from $2 to $4. Tassel making requires some time to
learn perfectly. Cloth goods are confined to seasons, and consequently
occupations in which they are involved are confined to
seasons. Styles of trimming are apt to change. A man who
makes blankets for a large wholesale house, employs from one
hundred to two hundred women. They earn from $3 to $7 a
week. The stitching is done by machine, but the ornamental
part by hand. Men do all the cutting. He has paid as high as
$100 for one pattern of blankets and ornaments. There are no
blankets made in the South or West, except here and there a saddler's
wife will make a few. In Williamsburg, I saw a number
of women in the basement of the employer's residence. They
looked sad, and the rooms were small, damp, and filthy. The employer
told me most of his stitching is done by machine. Anybody
that can sew tolerably well, and has strength, can do it.
Women seldom, if ever, cut them out; but I think they could.
A manufacturer in Brooklyn writes: "We employ women for
making horse clothing, who are paid by the piece, and earn from
seventy-five cents to $1 per day. Spring and fall are the best
seasons for work. We have no difficulty in procuring hands."
487. House Painters.
The tools of a painter cost but
little. Women might be employed in glazing, and in painting the
inside work of houses. Their ingenuity and taste might be successfully
exercised in embellishing walls and ornamenting doors.
The style for doors, called graining, would be particularly appropriate.
The business could be best carried on by men and women
in partnership, as the outdoor work is most suitable for men.
An apprenticeship should be served of two or three years. The
work would pay well. Most of it is done in spring. A woman
would need to make some change in her style of dress. The
Bloomer would probably be best—at any rate, hoops should be
laid aside. The vocation presents a very good opening to women,
who could best engage in it, at first, in towns and villages.
488. Japanners.
Japanning is one of the few arts that
had its origin in a heathen country. It is now practised in all
civilized countries. Many metal articles are japanned—as tea
trays, candlesticks, &c. Wood is also japanned. In a late report
of one of the schools of design in England, we observed on
the list of female students the names of two japanners. Care, and
ability to stand, are all that are required for success, to those doing
the plain painting; but some taste is required for ornamental
japanning. There is a good prospect for employment, as the tin
trade has been increasing rapidly in the last two years, and is
likely to, as our country grows older, and depends less on other
countries for a supply. California has created quite a demand in
the last few years, and it is supplied mostly from New York. M.,
in New York, told us he and his partner employ some women to
japan. They pay from $3 to $4 a week. They have one woman
to do the ornamental work, painting flowers and gilding. To ornamental
painters they pay from $10 to $15 a week. They had
a man to whom they often paid $15 a week. Most of the men
that have been employed in ornamental japanning have gone to
painting clocks, which pays better. They sometimes find it difficult
to get hands—so if some women could take it up, they would
be likely to find employment. The painters design as they paint,
not using a pattern. Japanning of the heavy kind could not be
done by women. The pieces are too heavy to lift. B., an ornamental
japanner, used to employ women to put on the pearl
scraps, but now employs boys, because he can get them cheaper
and take them as apprentices. He can send them on errands and
make use of them in that way. He pays an apprentice $1.50 a
week for one year, then increases at the rate of fifty cents a week
the next year, and so on. B. thinks no women are employed at
it. Women are employed at such work in Paris. Japanning, he
thinks, is not unhealthy, although the ovens into which japanners
must pass are often heated to 260°. The spirits of tar used in
japanning renders it healthy, and consumptives go frequently into
japanning furnaces, feeling that they are benefited by it. At a
firm of japanners, the boy told me they employ an artist to come
and paint for them. They once had a lady that painted landscapes
and flowers on piano boards in oils. They were not baked in a furnace
afterward, but the oil permitted to dry, as with a painting
on canvas. S. used to employ women in making pearl piecework,
but it is not much used now. For painting clocks, not more
than six cents a piece is paid for many. Men are so rapid that
they can make money, but women could not earn more than $2.50
a week. Some men earn $25 a week, and formerly even $35, at
painting the finer clocks; but there are now so many in the business
that wages have fallen, though the business is increasing. At
a tin manufactory in Williamsburg, I saw two girls employed in
tying up goods, and seven girls employed in putting the first coat
of paint on tin ware—grounding, it is called. They are paid from
$1.25 up. One woman they have earns $6 a week. She is an
English woman, and has been at the business nearly all her life.
She is quick and skilful. A boy who paints flowers on tin ware,
after the first coat is put on by the girls, gets $1 a day for his
work. Japanning is done in England by women. Many women
are employed through the country, in the Eastern States, in making
tin canisters, &c., and some in japanning; but japanners carry
their work into ovens, which he thought would be too hard for
women. Yet he thinks doing so is not unhealthy. If the employment
is unhealthy, it arises from the evaporation of the turpentine
in the paint. The unhealthiness of the common painter's
business arises from the turpentine, in evaporating, carrying off
with it white lead, but no white lead is employed on the tin ware.
Girls are paid by the week. Men, for graining, a style resembling
the graining of wood, and in fact being the same except on a different
material, received $2.50 per day. Male labor is twice or
three times as high in their establishment. Why women are not
better paid the man could not answer, but, like many other men
with whom I have talked, thought it unjust they were not paid
at the same rate as men. Their girls are employed all the year.
They work ten hours a day. They were mostly Americans, and
miserably dressed. The work soils their clothes greatly. They
wore old skirts over their dresses to work in. I think some men
and boys work in the same room with them. The fine work
could be well done by them, if they would take time to learn it
efficiently, for it requires taste, ingenuity, and delicacy of touch.
At an ornamental japanner's, I was told it requires three or four
years to learn the business well. A good workman earns from
$12 to $18 a week. It is piecework.
489. Knitters.
The knitting done by machinery is not
so soft, so warm, or so durable as that done by hand. It is almost
impossible to obtain ladies' hand-knit hose in cities. Gentlemen's
are sometimes made by the Shakers, and bring a very high
price. We have no doubt but some old ladies might even now
find it profitable to knit to order, or supply some store where
their goods would be brought forward and disposed of to those
who can appreciate the difference between machine and hand knitting.
The Germans are famous knitters. "The peasant women
of the Channel Islands, Jersey, Guernsey, &c., knit a great
deal. They are seldom, if ever, without the materials for this
occupation. On the way to and from market, and at other times,
knitting forms their almost constant employment." A knitting
machine has been invented in Seneca, N. Y., that is said to knit
a perfect stocking in less than five minutes. Aiken's knitting
machines are very popular. We have thought ladies would do
well to try them, and devote themselves to making up hosiery.
We doubt not but it would pay very well. The cloth is knit in
a straight piece, and another lady cuts it into shape and sews
into the articles wanted. A machine has been invented by Mr.
Aiken, also, for toeing and heeling socks. A manufacturer of
knit goods writes: "We employ about twenty hands, one half
of whom are girls. Their wages are from $3 to $5 per week,
except when working by the piece. Those who run the knitting
machines are paid by the piece, and earn from 75 cents to $1 per
day. Males receive from $1 to $1.75 per day. The work done
by them is generally harder, and such as females could not well do.
To effectually superintend the knitting business would require at
least five years. The part performed by females can be learned
in six months. They are paid while learning, from $2.75 to $3
per week. The business is overdone at present; although there
is always a demand in our section of country for girls. They
work regularly throughout the year, twelve hours in summer, ten
in winter. It would be better for all parties to run their mills
only ten hours per day, and thus tend to keep down the production,
and so keep up the prices to a fair profit. Those tending
sewing machines are generally married, or widows with children,
and in general support their families. Their machines are repaired
by a foreman, but with a little practice they can learn
to do it themselves. In other branches generally pursued by
girls, they earn sufficient to dress well, but seldom accumulate.
A location is preferred in some thickly settled place, on account
of getting sewing done by hand, as all the goods are finished off
by hand. After working twelve hours a day, they will be necessarily
rather too much fatigued to go through any mental processes
otherwise than reading a novel. If all the mills of all
descriptions would work ten hours only, and establish evening
schools, and request all to attend, it would greatly elevate them
in the social scale. But selfishness rules, and where one manufacturer
would agree to this arrangement, two would not. Board,
$1.50 per week, including washing." A hose manufacturer in
Holderness writes: "We employ about sixty females in the mill.
Work is given out to three hundred. Almost all are American.
Their wages are from $3 to $6 per week. The wages in the
knitting department are not much less for women than men.
Women learn the knitting so as to earn good pay in three months.
Women are paid $2 per week for the first four weeks; after that,
by the piece. A learner should be steady and quick with her
fingers. The employment is healthy, as the knitters sit only about
half the time. We run all the year eleven hours a day. There
is not female help enough. We are trying women where men
have been employed. I think women are in some respects superior
workers to men." Manufacturers of seamless hosiery, in
Connecticut, write they "pay from $3 to $5 per week, eleven
hours a day—that it requires from six to eight weeks to learn—that
their hands have access to libraries; and board is for men
$3, for women $2." At Cohoes, N. Y., is a manufactory of
shirts, drawers, &c. I have a letter from the company saying:
"We employ two hundred and fifty women, and pay from 40
cents to $1 per day. Some are paid by the piece, and some by
the week. Men receive from 75 cents to $2.50 per day, of twelve
hours. The reason why they obtain better wages is that they do
work which women cannot do. (Query: Do not the women perform
work that men cannot do?) Men are continually learning.
Women can learn to perform certain work in a few days. The
best qualifications are soundness of mind and body, activity, steadiness,
quick perception, and a desire to make money. The business
is increasing yearly. Occasionally, in the winter, the mills
stop for a month. There is at present (October, 1860) a surplus
of labor. Board, $1.75 to $2." At L.'s knitting factory, in
Brooklyn, the foreman told me there are six machines in operation,
each of which cost between $5,000 and $6,000. The articles
made by them are softer than any knitting done by
machine I have seen; but it may be owing to the quality of
the wool: I cannot say. Those working at machines stand, the
others sit. The machine operators receive from $1.50 to $3.50:
those in the finishing room are paid by the piece, and earn from
$2 to $5. A foreman superintends the work and puts the machinery
in order. A woman of good abilities can learn in three months,
if the factory is in a position to put her forward. From May to
December is the best time for work. Double price is paid the
hands for night work in busy times. They prefer American girls,
because they are neater. A manufacturer of factory supplies, in
Massachusetts, writes: "We employ thirty women in knitting loom
harnesses. The work is not more unhealthy than any employment
that requires one to sit all the time. They are paid by the
piece. The employment is sure so long as cotton manufacturing
is good. The work is equally good all seasons. Board, $1.62 to
$2.25 per week." The secretary of the Waterbury Knitting
Company writes: "We employ one hundred hands, at from 50
cents to $1 per day, working twelve hours in summer, ten in winter.
Women are paid as well or better than men of the same
age; working by the piece, they are paid the same. The women
are not thrown out of work at any season. Women are inferior
in mechanical genius. We are obliged to keep a man to every
fifteen women to overlook them. A woman will run a knitting
machine for seven years, and never be able to straighten a needle,
or knit the cloth slack or tight. A boy or man will learn to
oversee a whole room in half that time. Women cannot be made
to think or act for themselves in the least thing, or in any case
to rely on their own judgment. This is equally true of the stupid
Irish, German, and English, and of the more acute Yankee.
Women are superior perhaps in good looks." S., of Enfield,
N. H., has his daughter write: "I use three of Aikens's knitting
machines, and other machinery for making yarn. The wool is
first made into yarn and then knit into webbing, and marked for
heeling and toeing. It is then divided into dozens, and distributed
around the country to be heeled and toed, in which branch we
employ usually five hundred American women. We pay $1 a
dozen for heeling and toeing; for tending the machine, $2 per
week, of eleven hours a day. Women are paid less, because they
are not usually as strong as men, and therefore cannot do the
same work, or, if the same kind, not so great an amount in a
limited time. Men can be employed by paying them what they
require, and as they are considered, or rather seem to consider
themselves the 'lords of creation,' they demand higher wages
than women. In four weeks the females can perform their part
without trouble. Learners receive their board. The prospect is
good for the same number employed as at present. The summer
season is the best for work. If at any time there is a want of
work, it is in January and February."
490. Lace Bleachers.
Mrs. L. spent five years learning
the business in Paris. A girl that spent two years learning
with her, is now doing well in the business in St. Louis. She prefers
to take learners a week on trial. She charges from $1 to
$1.50 a pair for curtains. The French are the most successful
in that line. She often has thirty or more pair from a hotel and
other large houses. One can make a good living at it. L. says
the work is unhealthy, particularly while the vapor of the chemicals
is warm. The curtains are not wrung out, but the water
pressed out with the hands. The dirt, of course, is first washed
out. It requires strength to handle the goods. Curtains are put
on frames to dry, and women, he says, are not strong enough. It
requires strength to get the extra starch out, as it is done by
squeezing. It is surprising how many objections, as regards
health and physical strength required, can be presented by selfish
men, who do not wish women to engage in their occupations.
None but those who have had occasion to test the matter would
believe it possible that the majority of men are so selfish and unjust
in this respect. Another man told me he does all the washing
and drying himself, because he is responsible for the goods,
and is not willing to trust them to strangers. He charges $1 a
pair, except for a very large size. Different kinds of laces require
different methods of washing and ironing.
491. Lacquerers.
Lacquering is warm work, and in
summer is done in rooms the temperature of which is over 200°.
M. thought women could be employed in burnishing, lacquering,
polishing, and bronzing. Girls were at one time employed in
lacquering gas fixtures on William street, New York; but they
were dismissed, because they did not prove steady and efficient
workers. The process previous to lacquering, called dipping, is
dirty work. It requires but a short time to learn to lacquer.
F. told me that in France women do all the fine lacquering, and
they do it much better than men can. They take it home with
them to do; and the same plan could be followed in this country,
and probably will be before long. The finest lacquering, such as
ormolu clocks, &c., is done with gold dust. The varnish must
be put on evenly. It requires care and delicacy of touch. Most
of the gas fixtures sold as brass are merely zinc gilded, and then
lacquered—the bronzed part the same metal, bronzed. Zinc can
be bought at six cents a pound—brass is thirty cents a pound.
Mathematical instruments, daguerreotype cases, and gas fixtures
are lacquered. A man earns from $8 to $10 a week, working ten
hours a day. Lacquering, I was told, is not unhealthy, and a person
can sit two or three feet from the fire while at work. A firm
in New York, manufacturing gas fixtures, wrote to us as follows:
"Lacquering is a suitable occupation for women; but we do not
employ them, because men are considered more reliable as to
regularity of hours, and are more easily managed. Women can
be made equally good lacquerers with the men; but when employed
by us, some years since, we found, with few exceptions,
that they produced inferior work, owing, as we think, to want of
application. Women are employed in similar establishments to
ours in England and, we learn, in Boston. The employment is
not unhealthy. They are paid by the week in England. It
requires from three to five years to learn the business. Steady
application and a good eye for colors will make a good lacquerer."
492. Life Preservers.
R. employs two women to
stitch his life preservers with a sewing machine, and pays the
usual price of operatives. None are made South or West.
(Would not New Orleans offer an opening?)
493. Lucifer Matches.
This is a business that has
been largely entered into in New York. The making and selling
of matches have furnished employment for hundreds and thousands
of boys and girls in all our large cities. The making of matches
is a dangerous employment. Its unhealthy tendency (owing to
the use of sulphur), and the long period of twelve, and even four
teen
hours' confinement, no doubt serve to account for the sad
and woe-begone faces of the poor little operators. At a match
factory where I stopped, girls are paid three cents a gross for
cutting matches and filling boxes. Some can do as many as forty
gross a day; but very few can. It is best for girls to commence
early in life, and most do so. Some girls earn as much as $5 to $6
per week, if we may believe the proprietor's statement. Girls are
paid for filling the frames in which they are to be dipped, sixty-two
cents 100 frames, each frame containing 1,500 double, or
3,000 single matches. The factory is open from seven in the
morning to ten at night. The business for women and girls is not
crowded. Most learners become discouraged and leave it, because
it is so long before they can become expert enough to earn
fair wages. It is not as healthy, he says, as some occupations. I
should think not, judging from his sallow face, and the pale,
spiritless faces of all I have seen in the match factories. He buys
bundles of sticks, ready to cut for matches, of those who make it
a business to prepare them. They are cut by hand. He pays
twenty-five cents a bunch, and a man can cut a bunch in five
minutes. They never stop work, except in December and January.
A brisk hand can earn from $5 to $7 a week. They
make from twenty to forty different kinds of matches, to suit all
climates. At the store of this manufacturer, the bookkeeper told
me that, if a person has a tooth extracted, the phosphorus will be
absorbed by the jaw bone and cause it to decay, if the individual
works in the factory before the gum is entirely well. A lady told
me she knows a girl that earns $6 a week in a match factory. In
H.'s factory, I saw small girls and boys putting matches in the
frames to be dipped. They are paid sixty cents 100 frames, containing
1,500 double matches. They can seldom fill more than
85 frames a day. They commence work at 6½ in winter, and
work until 8; in summer, they commence at 6, and work until 7½.
They are not obliged to work all the time, as they are paid by the
piece; but with the exception of an hour at noon, which all have
the privilege of taking, they no doubt work the full time. They
were poor, dirty-looking children. In the room where the boxes
were filled, large girls worked. Most match makers are Germans
and Irish. A manufacturer told me that he now employs boys
only—that girls he found so wild he could not manage them.
He says some of his girls used to earn $5 a week. He thinks
none but strong, healthy persons should work at the business, as
the fumes of sulphur are injurious. A manufacturer in Vermont
writes: "Women are employed to pack matches. They are paid
by the thousand, and their wages amount to fifty cents per day,
of ten hours, after they get accustomed to it. Women's work in
this department is lighter than men's—so will not yield as good
wages. A learner will gain the trade in about six months. An
increase of this business is not flattering. No difference in the
seasons for work. Women are more nimble in the use of their
fingers, and consequently succeed better in this kind of work."
494. Mat Makers.
Door mats are made of sea grass,
corn husks, worsted, manilla, hemp, and cocoa-nut fibre. At the
largest manufactory in the United States, I saw the process of
making several kinds. No girls or women were employed. The
superintendent told us it was too heavy work for women. In one
establishment in Philadelphia, girls are employed as tenders,
which is merely picking the substance to be woven—jute, hemp,
or wool—into bunches of the right thickness, and handing to the
weaver. Some of their mat weavers earn $14 a week—boys, from
$1.50 to $3. Mats are sometimes made by women of osier, rushes,
and straw.
495. Manufacturers of Musical Instruments.
The
manufacture of different musical instruments is engaged in as so
many distinct branches of business. Musical instruments are
usually classed as follows: 1. Wind instruments, of wood or
metal. 2. Stringed instruments. 3. Keyed instruments. 4. Instruments
of percussion. 5. Automatic instruments. 6. Miscellaneous
articles in connection with musical instruments. On
wind instruments made of wood and ornamented with metals, as
flutes, clarionets, &c., women might be employed to polish the
metal. Those that are all metal, as horns, trumpets, &c., are
polished in making, and could not well be divided into a separate
branch of work. Of stringed instruments, the ornamental part,
as painting, inlaying of pearl, &c., would be very pretty work for
women of taste. The smaller strings could be covered by
women. Of keyed instruments, some of the smaller and finer
work would be very suitable for women. In instruments of percussion,
the drum and tambourine are probably the only instruments
presenting a field for woman's work. Of automatic
instruments, mechanical organs are the only ones, I think, at
which women do work. I cannot learn that women are employed
in making musical boxes, which are imported from Switzerland,
Germany, and France. Women are employed to some
extent, in other countries, in the manufacture of musical instruments.
Z. thinks the reason women are not employed in the manufacture
of musical instruments in this country is, that they do not
understand the business.—1.
Wind Instruments. Women might
polish the metal on flutes, and even paint the woodwork. I was told
by a manufacturer in New York, whose factory is in Connecticut,
that he once employed women in that way, but they did not suc
ceed,
because they did not try.—2.
Stringed Instruments. I called
on L., engaged in the manufacture of harps. There are but two
harp manufacturers in the United States. Ladies might do the
gilding and ornamental painting on harps. Sizing is put on,
and then gold leaf laid on, and smoothed down with a small
brush. The varnishing could be very well done by women. The
same kind of work is executed on guitar frames, of which a
number are made in the United States. The painting is done
as on enamelled furniture. L. employs an Englishman to do the
gilding and ornamental painting. The other manufacturer, B.,
thinks there is no part of the work in making harps that could
be done by a lady. The ornamental part is done by the varnisher,
and varnishing requires much strength. It requires a
regular apprenticeship, and some artistic taste. So few harps are
made in this country, that it would not pay a woman to learn. He
was evidently opposed to women having anything to do with
the business.—3.
Keyed Instruments. Accordions. In making
accordions women could put on the keys and kid, and do so in
Germany. Accordions are nearly all imported, because they can
be made more cheaply in Europe than in this country. L., Philadelphia,
says he is in partnership with his brother in Germany,
who has musical instruments made there, and employs a number
of women and girls.—
Melodeons. C., New York, manufacturer,
says he does not know of any women being employed in the making
of melodeons; but much of the work, I am sure, could be done
by women. Cutting the keys, polishing, gluing them on the
board, and fastening the hammers on, are done by hand, and the
work is as suitable for women as men. Men receive for such work,
$2 a day. Women properly trained, and with a good ear for
music could also tune the instruments. Men who do so, earn
about $3 a day. A manufacturer of melodeons writes: "We do
not employ women, but think larger firms might."—
Organs. I
was told by a manufacturer that in Germany some women assist
their husbands in making the action, but there is lighter work
and more of it in piano actions. J., another organ builder, told
me that in England, in some organ factories, women are employed
to gild the pipes. In making the organs turned by a crank,
used in some churches in England, women, he said, are employed
in putting the pins in the cylinders. They are made on the same
principle as the music box. J. seldom makes more than one of
these organs in a year, and I think he is the only one in the
United States that does make them. Mrs. Dall says "there
are women, who strain silk in fluting, across the old-fashioned
workbag, or parlor organ front."
