347. Stays and Corsets.

At Mrs. B.'s, Philadelphia, I was told women are paid by the dozen for making corsets, and earn from $2 to $3 a week. They mostly take their work home. At a place in New York, I was told they have sewing machines, and they pay operators $4 a week, working from 7½ A. M. to 7½ P. M. Those that sew for them by hand do not earn so much. It is difficult to get enough of good hands; so the lady thought there must be openings for competent workers. Girls get $4 a week for basting. Their girls are of all nations. Every store, she remarked, has its own way of doing business. It takes some time to learn to do all parts, as a girl usually works at some special part. A man does the cutting. One corset maker thinks it a valuable gift to be able to fit well. She considers corsets necessary to the preservation of health. American children, by their restlessness, counteract the effects of their rapid growth. Miss C. told me those that work for wholesale houses can, if good hands, find work all the year. They are paid by the piece, and can earn from $3 to $6. It requires three or four years to learn all parts. Her girls cannot take their work home. Few are willing to take learners. At another place, I was told a good operator can get $6 a week. They sell most women corsets of French and German make. The French fit American ladies nearly as well as those made to order, but the German do not. At another place, I was told it requires but a short time to learn. There are but few manufactories in this country. The imported corsets are mostly sold, because cheapest. The basters get $3 a week, ten hours a day, and operators $4, and $4.50, according to abilities. Mrs. B. thinks it difficult to become a good fitter. She employs men to cut, put bones and eyelets in, and press. Anybody that can sew well can soon take up corset making. All her sewing is done by hand. She sends her work to the country, because she can get it done more cheaply. The work pays poorly. She says the form is retained much longer by wearing corsets. A lady who employs women to stitch corsets for her by hand, pays from $2.50 to $3.50 a week—ten working hours a day. It requires six months to learn, and a just eye, a knowledge of figure, and an ability to sew by hand and stitch by machine, to succeed. She says most corset employers in New York are French, and employés Irish. She thought, if a lady has good apartments in a genteel part of the city, she may do well. Mrs. B., who has been twenty-three years carrying on the business on Broadway, says she has applications constantly, but finds it difficult to obtain competent workmen. Men are practical corset makers, and do the cutting. They are better able to cut the goods, so as to make a handsome fit. They receive better wages than women. It is a business as much to be learned as cutting gentlemen's coats. She pays both by the piece and week, and her hands receive from $3 to $8. Some of the stitching is done by machinery—some by hand. It requires about the same time to learn corset as dress making. Learners receive from her from $1.50 to $2 per week. She thinks the supply of hands just equal to the demand. She employs from 100 to 150 hands. They are mostly from Great Britain. The business is dependent on fashion. Spring and fall are the busy seasons. In summer, she does not sell so much, because ladies are then out of town; but the employés can work all the year, and do so, as she keeps a stock on hand. Corsets are more worn now than a few years back. A manufacturer in Boston writes: "I employ ten American women in sewing on corsets. They work by the piece, and average sixty cents per day. The prospect of future employment is not flattering. Board, $2.25." Another manufacturer in Boston "pays from $3 to $4.50, and says it is all he can afford to pay. His hands work ten hours a day. The prospect for this work is good. July and August are the dullest months. He has found women equal to men in all branches of business they conduct. Board, $2.50."

348. Bleachers and Pressers.

I called in a place where I saw the pressing of bonnets and children's hats. The rims of the hats were pressed by a woman with a large iron, the crowns by a man with an iron attached to a lever fastened in a frame. It is all piecework, and some can earn from $4 to $5 a week. I have been told that Mrs. K., New York, employs women pressers. The iron is not so heavy for bonnet pressing as for hats, but requires too much strength for a woman. Shaping straw bonnets is done by women—that is, placing them on blocks and pinning them around the edge, after they have been bleached, until they acquire shape. A man pressing straw hats, told me he is paid 5 cents a hat, and can press sixty in ten hours. The time for learning either to sew or bleach, I find, is usually six weeks. Mrs. M. pays learners nothing for six weeks. Her busy seasons are from October to last of November, and from December to spring. It is all piecework, and her girls earn from $3 to $4. A bleacher of straw hats employs a lady at $5 per week to alter and wire bonnets, after they have been bleached, which is done by her own family. She works ten hours a day. The work is mostly confined to spring and fall. The bleaching process is very deleterious, owing to the sulphur used. It produces a loss of vitality and shortens life. A stout, healthy man, in the course of a year, becomes quite pale and thin. The bleaching does not require all the time of any one. The bonnets and hats are put into the bleaching room, and, when they have become white, are taken out.

349. Braiders.

The following is from the New York Tribune, of 1845: "The Amazonia braid weavers—a large and ill-paid class of working females—begin work at seven in the morning, and continue until seven in the evening, with no intermission save to swallow a hasty morsel. They earn, when in full employment, $2 and $2.50 a week. Out of this, they must pay their board and washing (for they have no time to wash their own clothes), medical and other incidental expenses, and purchase their clothes—to say nothing of the total absence of all healthy recreation, and of all mental and moral culture, which such a condition necessarily implies. They have, many of them, no rooms of their own, but board with some poor family, sleeping anyhow, and anywhere. For these accommodations they pay $1.50 per week, some of the lowest and filthiest boarding houses charging as low as $1 per week. The living here must be imagined." At Foxboro', Franklin, Middleboro', and Nantucket, Mass., are straw manufactories. "In 1855, 6,000,000 straw hats and bonnets were made in Massachusetts, giving employment to ten thousand of her people." Rye straw is raised in all the New England States. It is cut, soaked in water (I think split), and then dried. It is sold by the pound—then braided by women and children for 10 or 12 cents a day. It is mostly done in farmers' families, who are at but little expense for living. In this state, it is mostly sold to merchants or agents, who sell it at manufactories, where it is trimmed by machinery, and then sewed. It is then shaped into bonnets, wired, pressed, and bleached, the crowns are lined with paper, and they are packed ready for exportation. The women earn on an average $5 a week. In England, wheat straw is raised, which is inferior to rye straw. N. says the largest straw-bonnet establishments of England are not as large as those of the United States. For making straw hats in Philadelphia, men receive $7.50 a week, and women $4.50. Philadelphia is said to spend $6,000,000 annually in the manufacture of straw goods. At H.'s, New York, they employ from fifty to one hundred hands. It is usual to have learners six weeks for nothing, and then pay full wages, if they prove competent. Work is given about ten months. They are paid by the piece, and can earn from $4 to $6 per week. In December, they begin to make up hats and bonnets for spring. A milliner told me she pays her braiders by the yard. Some earn $4 a week, and some even $5. They work at home. The summer season is over by September. H. writes: "In my opinion the best arranged industrial establishment is the Union Straw Works at Foxboro', Mass. High wages, cushioned arm-chairs, a literary society which carries on the lyceum lectures of the town, are all far above any of our factories. The proprietor would not call it a factory, to make it more attractive. Out of three hundred operatives, sometimes, seventy-five have been teachers."

350. Sewers.

Mrs. K. employs about seventy-five girls for bleaching and sewing braid and straw bonnets. She pays some $3, some $3.50, and some $4 a week. They work ten hours. All live at home, but bring their dinners. She bleaches by the old-fashioned process with sulphur, and has men to do the pressing. N. & Co. employ about one hundred and twenty-five on an average six months, and about twenty-five all the year. The bonnet business has increased very much during the last few years. At B.'s, I was told the wholesale work for the South begins in November; but the city work, the last of March, and continues to July. It is light work, and does not require close application of the eyes. Machinery can never be used for sewing straw, because long stitches answer, and straw is too brittle. Persons of a nervous temperament are often the most intellectual. Such females make good straw sewers. It requires a peculiar adaptability, as every other occupation does. Everybody cannot learn to sing or to paint—just so some cannot make good straw sewers. He thinks most young workpeople in New York do not live at home, and considers obedience to parents and observance of the Sabbath the foundation of success in life. B—s, of Connecticut, write: "Women are employed in this country, and in Italy, France, and England, in sewing straw. Our girls (150) are mostly paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $7 per week. They also trim straw hats. They spend four weeks as learners, and are paid $2 a week while learning. To be a fast sewer is the most important requisite. The prospect of a continuance of this work is good. The busy season is from September to June. The best locations are near New York and Boston." "About 200 persons are employed in the straw factory at Nantucket. Some of the operatives are daughters of the leading men of the town, and make $5 a week at the business." A firm at Middleboro', Mass., write: "We employ 850 women, and have them in preference to men, because they are more dexterous with the needle. They receive from 30 cents to $1.62 per day, and are paid mostly by the piece. Women are paid five eighths what the men receive, but could not perform their labor even at the same price. Learners make enough to pay their board the first three weeks. Good mechanical talent is needed in a learner. They have work about nine months in the year—generally stop July, August, and November. Nine tenths are Americans; seven eighths live at home. A large number of them are not dependent upon labor for a living. Board, $2 to $2.25." From a factory in Wrentham, Mass., we have the following report: "We employ during the winter season, in the factory, from seventy-five to one hundred females, and in families who work at home about six hundred, whose pay is not so good by about one third. Some of our workers are paid by the piece—some by the hour. Most of them can earn $1 a day, twelve hours being a day for females. Men are paid 15 cents an hour; good help extra, and poor, less. They work ten hours. For the part done by women, we pay the same price from the first, but their work is not received until it is well done. A person is employed to give them instruction; five or six weeks' practice mostly makes a good sewer of one who can learn at all. During this time most girls earn half wages. To good help we usually give work nine months in the year. Busy seasons from December 1st till June 1st, and from July 15th to October 1st. The rest of the year, work is given out at reduced prices—sufficient to earn about half wages. All American women. It is desirable for manufacturers to be near New York city, so as to keep posted on styles. Many ladies choose this business after teaching school for years. Most of our hands come from Maine, and board in houses provided for them, paying $2 a week." Another straw manufacturer informs me "the girls in straw shops earn more than in most other kinds of business, they being, as a general thing, smarter girls, and such as would not work in cotton and other large mills. Their work varies much, as the styles and materials change." A firm employing about eighty American girls write: "They are paid according to their skill and smartness, from $2.50 to $10 per week. Two thirds work by the piece—half will earn $5 to $6.50—average about $4.50 per week. Male labor will average double. It cannot be done by females—they are not strong enough. The reason of women's being paid low wages is the surplus of female labor. They cannot be hired to do housework—it is too confining. It requires one month, more or less, according to taste and genius, to learn the work. Good references as to character are required, and some skill with the needle, and an idea of form. Busy from December to June, and from August to November. We do nothing for about three months. Hands hired by the week are paid extra for overwork. If we could not give them the amount of work they have, the best help would go elsewhere. There is always plenty of help in this branch in New York, and they get work done for much less, but by a different caste of girls. In the New England States, girls are generally brought up to work, whether rich or poor, and we can get help from the best families, well educated and intelligent—while in some States we could not find them. Board, $2.25 to $2.50." A straw firm in Franklin, Mass., write: "We employ about 400 females—60 of them in our manufactory—the remainder work at their homes. The former have the privilege of working from 6 A. M. to 9 P. M.; but as they work by the piece, they are not confined to any particular time. The latter accommodate themselves. Few get less than 80 cents per diem, and many can earn over $1—some over $1.50. All are paid by the piece, except overseers. Males and females are never employed in the same kind of labor. Females make and trim bonnets and hats—males bleach, block, and press them, which is too laborious work for females. Some years would be required to learn to conduct the straw business successfully. Some females will make a very good bonnet or hat after a few weeks' practice. Others take a longer time, and a few will never make a good bonnet. Our practice is to pay all while learning. The qualifications required by us are a good character, good health, skill in the use of the needle, and a desire to acquire proficiency. The supply of hands is always greater than the demand. All the females employed in straw factories are American. Our girls have access to a good library, lectures, &c. Those employed in manufacturing board at $2.25 per week, including washing. Boarding houses attached to the different straw manufactories in this town are of good character and comfortable."

351. Gentlemen's Wear.

A dyer and scourer of gentlemen's clothing told me she charges 37 cents for scouring and pressing a pair of pantaloons; 75 cents for a coat, and $1 for an overcoat. A woman could make a comfortable living at it if she had constant employment.

352. Ladies' Wear.

The cleaning of kid gloves saves quite an item in the purses of the wearers. Wooden frames, the shape and size of gloves, are used for drying them on. The renovating of silk shawls, dresses, and other goods is best done by the French. They are sometimes made to look almost as bright and clean as if they were new. Woollen goods, too, that will not bear washing, are beautifully cleaned by those that rightly understand the business. All that profess to, by the way, do not. Prices vary, of course, according to goods, places, and renovators. Women are mostly engaged in this business. A cleaner of kid gloves writes: "I employ some women with pens and needles at $3 per week, working from four to six hours per day. Cool weather is the best for work, but they are employed all the year." Mrs. C. told me that her husband and his men clean most gloves in winter; they can clean them in two days. I noticed they are free from any offensive odor. They pass through the hands several times. She charges individuals 12½ cents a pair—storekeepers less. She has been many years at it. They used to send a wagon and collect them from the stores, but their business does not warrant it now—so they send a messenger. As many have attempted that do not thoroughly understand it, the business has been injured.

353. Army and Navy Uniform.

Our Government might do something toward bringing about a reform in the prices paid women. If those who have clothing made for the men of the army and navy would pay good prices to men of standing, that pay their workwomen well, we think some good might be done. At any rate, they would set a good example.

354. Buttons.

The making of buttons is chiefly done by women, and affords employment for a great many. The proportion of women to men in this branch of industry is six to one. Some kinds of buttons are made by hand, but most by machinery, moved by steam. The manufacture of cloth for buttons is a distinct branch of business. It was estimated in 1851 that five thousand persons were employed in Birmingham in the manufacture of buttons of different kinds, more than half of whom were women and children. In the manufacture of buttons a variety of hands are employed—piercers, cutters, stampers, gilders, and varnishers. "In a factory employing five men and thirty females, from six to seven hundred gross of buttons can be turned out daily." I called in a factory where buttons were made of vegetable ivory. I think all the work could be done by women, but it is a trade, and requires three years to learn all the parts. One man might be needed to put the machinery in order when it would get out of repair. Boys that polish buttons are paid from $2 to $3 a week. Polishing looks simple, but, no doubt, requires practice. A little girl, whose father makes common horn buttons, says he employs some small girls who, by presses, cut out the buttons and make the perforations. They are paid seven cents for a thousand. Her parents assort them. H. & C., manufacturers of cloth and gilt buttons, say it requires some weeks to learn to chase the gilt buttons, which are done with small metal tools and a hammer. Chasers are paid by the piece, working ten hours a day, and some can earn $1 a day. Those that make cloth buttons work by the week, eleven hours a day. They pay nothing while the person is learning. They think the prospect of employment in that branch is good. (I think it must be, for it is a manufacture likely to extend.) They employ their hands all the year. The girls sit while at work. S. has girls to do most of the work in making men's coat buttons. They cut out the iron and cloth with machines, and also cover the buttons with machines. The girls require but a few weeks to learn. They are paid from $1.75 to $3 a week. Some of the girls are not more than twelve years of age. The average of the oldest girls is $2.75. They work ten hours. Learners are paid half wages. Good eyesight and smart fingers are needed. The gilding of brass buttons is called water gilding, though no water is used. The mercury and nitric acid used in gilding metal buttons renders the business pernicious to the health, the fumes of the nitric acid affecting the lungs, and the mercury producing its peculiar disease. A manufacturer of tin buttons writes: "Our women earn from 75 cents to $1 per day, and are paid by the piece. It requires but little practice to learn. All are American girls from neighboring families." A manufacturer in Middlefield, Conn., writes: "We employ from twenty-five to thirty girls in cutting, drilling, sorting, and packing buttons. They work by the piece, and average $15 per month. While learning they are paid $1 per week, and their board. They have regular work, and pay for board $1.50 per week. The prospect for an increase of the manufacture is fair." A button company in Waterbury write: "Our hands receive $3 and upward, as they are worth. The business is good when times are good. The majority are Americans. Spring and fall are the best seasons." A buttonmaker in Morrisville, Pa., writes: "We pay our girls by the gross, and they earn from $1 to $4 per week. Men earn from $3 to $9. The women's work is lighter. Beginners are paid small wages. The prospect of future work is poor. Seasons make no difference in the work."

355. Canes.

Walking canes could be painted and varnished by women. I have been told that, in France, women are employed in making ivory, gold, whalebone, and wire heads for canes. Mrs. F. makes whalebone heads for canes. She offered to teach me how for $20. P. says he pays from $6 to $100 a dozen for the heads of canes—ivory, silver, and gold. The work is mostly done by Germans. The business will not pay except in large cities. There are only six in the business in New York, which is the main depot. He sells most to Southerners and Canadians. The business requires a regular apprenticeship. Making and putting on the heads could be done by women, if they were instructed, but there would not be enough of it to justify more than a few in learning. The South offers the best opening.

356. Caps.

Cap makers receive very different prices for their work, depending on the quality of the material and work, and the house for which the work is done. There are between eight hundred and one thousand cap makers in Philadelphia. They are said to average $3 a week. Freedley says: "In Philadelphia, there are a large number of concerns occupied exclusively in making caps; those of cloth constituting the chief part of the business, though plush, silk, glazed, and other caps are also made. The cap manufacture employs a large number of females, whose wages in the business will average about $4 per week. Sewing machines are largely employed; being, in fact, indispensable in consequence of the expansion of the trade. The annual production is about $400,000." A few years ago there were five thousand cap makers in New York city. Many of the cheap caps in New York are furnished by Jews, who get them done very cheaply. They not only do much to supply the home demand for caps, but export large quantities. They sell some caps for from $1 to $1.50 a dozen. B. pays his cap makers, some $5, some $6 a week. When business is dull the work is divided, so that all hands are retained, and have something to do. Caps are mostly made by German men on sewing machines. Some Germans take fifty or sixty dozen a week from a store, and employ girls to make them up. They are middlemen, and cut out the goods. In New York, almost every branch of business seems to have its own locality—that of the hat and cap manufacturers is on the lower part of Broadway. A good hand can earn about $3.50 a week of 10 hours a day, or by working fifteen or sixteen hours, which many of them do, can earn $8 or $9. Working girls generally receive about $3 a week. They pay $2 for board. The remaining $1 is almost consumed in shoes. Nearly all are at times out of employment. In New York, by constant labor, fifteen or sixteen hours a day, some cap makers can earn only from fourteen to twenty-five cents. "We were told by an old lady who has lived by this kind of work a long time, that when she begins at sunrise, and works till midnight, she can earn fourteen cents a day. A large majority of these women are American born, from the great middle class of life, many of whom have once been in comfortable, and even affluent circumstances, and have been reduced by the death or bankruptcy of husbands and relatives, and other causes, to such straits. Many of them are the wives of shipmasters, and other officers of vessels. Others are the widows of mechanics and poor men, and have children, and mothers and fathers, &c., to support by their needle. Many have drunken husbands to add to their burdens and afflictions, and to darken every faint gleam of sunshine that domestic affection throws even into the humblest abode. Others have sick and bedridden husbands or children, or perhaps have to endure the agony of receiving home a fallen daughter, or an outlawed son, suddenly checked in his career of vice." S., of S. & Co., told me they take learners when they can make good use of them. The business, some time back, in New York, was over done, but for the last three or four years the supply has not more than met the demand. It is piecework. A first-class hand can, in busy seasons, make $10, but many are not swift with the needle, and cannot earn more than $3 a week. They give out some of their work. All that can be, he has done by machines. R. & H. have their caps made by machines. It is piecework, and a good hand can earn from $6 to $9 a week. In a cloth and fancy cap store, I was told the girls earn $4, $5, and $6 a week. Few people are willing to take learners, as the season, six weeks, is nearly consumed by the time the trade is learned, and the instructor gets nothing for his time and trouble. Children's fancy caps cannot be made by machine. They are usually piecework. To make them requires taste. Six weeks is the length of time usually given to learning the trade. A.'s caps are made by machines. Good hands earn $5, $6, and $7. His hands are busy only in spring. He takes learners at that time, and pays from the first, $2 or $3 a week. D., formerly a cap maker, told me that P—s have some of their caps made on Blackwell's Island, by the convicts. B. told me the greater part of the cap is made by sewing machines tended by men, but the finishing, lining, &c., is done by women, either at home or on the premises. They are paid by the dozen, and can earn from $5 to $6 a week. Some have received even more, but as the work was taken home, it cannot be known with certainty that one person did it all. The first year they work at caps of an inferior quality, for which they receive fifty cents a dozen; girls of average ability, can then take the better kind of cap, and of course the wages increase according to the degree of proficiency. A cap maker told me, good hands can have steady work all the year. The best season for work is when manufacturing for the fall trade, which is generally in the months of June, July, August, September, and part of October, and, for the spring trade, in March and April. Another told me he pays by the dozen, and his hands earn from $4 to $7 a week. A maker of cap fronts, New York, told me he pays his girls from $3 to $7, working ten hours a day. From July to November are the best seasons—May and June the poorest months. Cutting out is done by hand, and requires too much strength for women. Some men cut out fifty dozen caps a day. It is done with a knife of a peculiar shape, and several thicknesses of the cloth are out at once. Women are not so employed where the business is done on a large scale. Some cutters earn $24 a week. A cutter should have taste and skill, as he is also expected to design patterns. The English style for caps is sometimes adopted, and the most of gentlemen's clothing is of the English style, in New York; but the ladies prefer French fashions for themselves. An extensive manufacturer of cap fronts and other trimmings, in New York, writes: "I have about twenty-five females employed, the majority of whom sew at home. The occupation is perfectly healthy, easy, and comfortable. I pay by the piece, and the workers earn from $3 to $6 per week. Any woman that can sew and has ordinary intelligence can learn it in three hours. There is no prospect for increase, but constant employment for those already engaged. Spring and fall are the busy seasons, but employment is given all the year. I can always get ten times the help I require in this branch: four or five years ago we paid much better wages, but competition regulates (unfortunately) the scale of wages. Experience tells me women are inferior to men employées, in regard to promptness in coming to the shop, and in having the articles completed at stated times, when required for shipment. But I find them superior to men in refinement, temperance, decorum, attachment to the interest of their employers, &c., when unmixed with the male sex. I formerly employed women on sewing machines, and when first started in that branch, they made from $8 to $10 per week, although, since the last three years, goods are sold so much cheaper, as to reduce the wages from $5 to $8." In Detroit, Mich., cap makers get from five to twenty-three cents a cap for making, and can earn from $2 to $4 per week.

357. Coats.

We were told by one that ought to know, that many of the gentlemen's coats seen on Broadway are made by women. We believe that women of intelligence and judgment, if properly instructed, could make the greater part, if not the whole of gentlemen's coats. Much of the tailors' work of New York is distributed through the country, because it can be made cheaper. Many men make it a business, as agents, to distribute, collect, and pay for such work. Men press seams and sew the heaviest cloth, because they have more strength. What magnificent buildings there are in New York devoted to the sale of gentlemen's wear! But to think they are made of the sinews and muscles and tears and sighs of hard-working women, and to see the clerks in the stores, with nothing to do but receive and wait on customers, while those poor girls on the fifth floor are toiling from early morn to dark to earn less than one half of those clerks! What a hard life most women lead!

358. Cravats.

W. & D. usually employ fifty hands. Part of the work is done in the store, on the fourth and fifth floors. Cravats pay well, and a good hand can earn from $6 to $18 a week, piecework. Most of their work is done by machine and finished by hand. Those of their hands who take work home, do it when not occupied with home duties. The gentleman with whom I talked, thought a person would not be able to support herself by that kind of work alone. They have been able to keep their hands all the year. Another cravat maker told me he has employed hands all the year, and had most of his cravats made by machines. A great many have been made in Baltimore. M. & Co. give some work out and have some done at the store. They are most busy in spring and fall, but keep some hands all the year. They can always get plenty of hands. They take learners, and pay from the first, but not so much, of course. Week workers earn from $4 to $5—ten hours a day in summer, rather less in winter. Those that work by the piece can earn from $8 to $9, for they work faster at home and sew in the evenings. Part of their work is done by machine and part by hand. They usually import the material. Most of this work is confined to New York, and has been a separate branch but a few years. In Detroit, girls earn from $2.50 to $3.50 a week making cravats.

359. Hats.

We will give an extract from "The Art and Industry of the Crystal Palace": "In the manufacture of hats in the United States, there are twenty-four thousand persons employed: one half of them are men, and the remainder women. The consumption of straw hats amounts to about $1,500,000, about half of which are imported. The capital invested in the hatting trade in this country is little short of $8,000,000. The number of trimmers in New York are four hundred. There is no branch of industry in which the rate of wages is so fluctuating; no trade reflecting so faithfully the depressed or prosperous condition of the country. There are between fifty and sixty finishing shops in New York. There is no general understanding between the shops as to a fixed rate of payment. It is a peculiarity of the trade, that a person seeking employment never addresses himself to the principal; he goes direct to the foreman." Silk and felt hats are most worn in the United States. We find there is great objection by the workmen to the use of machinery. Some factories confine their work exclusively to the making of hat bodies. The manufacture of hatters' trimmings forms, in large cities, a distinct branch of business. "In C.'s hat manufactory, in London, fifteen hundred hands are employed, two hundred of whom are females. Among the processes by which a beaver hat is produced, women and girls are there employed in the following: Plucking the beaver skins; cropping off the fur; sorting various kinds of wool; plucking and cutting rabbits' wool; shearing the nap of the blocked hat (in some instances); picking out defective fibres of fur; and trimming." Women in our country could be employed in bowing the fur, pressing it with a hatter's basket, folding it in a damp cloth, rolling, rubbing, working it with the hands, and dipping it in hot water. The last operation is a very warm one. As it is, we know of no department in which they are employed, except that of carding, binding, lining, trimming, and tip gilding. Binding and lining are much done by them. The work is light, genteel, and rather profitable, and can be done at home. When done in factories, the workers cannot be so neat, on account of the dust, the large number of operatives in a room, and the coloring matter that rubs off the hats. All employers have reported it healthy, and I suppose it is as much so as any sedentary occupation, unless from causes mentioned in the preceding sentence. A hatter in Philadelphia told us he employs girls to line and bind men's hats. They are paid 75 cents a dozen for felt hats, and $1.25 for silk hats. Girls can earn as much as $6 a week at it. It requires a couple of months' apprenticeship. There is work for steady hands all the year. We have seen it stated that "hat trimmers in Philadelphia average $3.50 per week. They number from eight hundred to one thousand females. Hat binders usually spend six weeks learning their trade." The war department, about two years ago, closed a contract with S., of Philadelphia, to furnish sixteen thousand felt hats for the army, at $2.75 each. They make all qualities of hats at P.'s, Brooklyn, from those at 75 cents a dozen to those at $50 a dozen. The linings of the cheapest felt hats are put in by machines operated on by steam, the others by hand. I saw girls also laying gold leaf on muslin, which was stamped by a machine, forming the ornamental work and figures seen in the crown lining of cheap hats. These workers were called tip gilders. All except the box makers and tip gilders sit while at work. Girls at lining and binding can earn from $2.50 to $7. (I think he set his last mark high.) It is piecework, as everything, I believe, in that line is. Some girls have worked in P.'s factory eight years or more. The business is learned in a short time. Operators are paid at the same rate as hand sewers; but if any difference is made, it is in favor of operators. For hand workers, care and ability to sew well are the principal requisites. The hands have work all the year, but in midsummer and midwinter may do only three fourths of the usual quantity for a week or two. Hatters who manufacture in Brooklyn and sell in New York, told me they employ five hundred women, who are paid by the piece. Those that sew receive from $5 to $6, machine operatives from $8 to $9. A knowledge of sewing and taste, in finishing hats, is desirable. The business will extend. Three times as many hats are sold as fifteen years ago. Some parts of hat making are performed by machinery that could not be managed by women. The West and Northwest of the United States present good openings for this business. Manufactories, of course, must be where there is plenty of water. At a hatter's in New York, I was told that they pay 14 cents for trimming a hat of any kind, coarse or fine, silk or felt; but sometimes pay only 10 cents. Their binder often makes $7 a week. At B.'s, New York, the girls earn from $5 to $7, and are paid by the piece. They sew in the establishment. Sewing the crowns in and wires on of plush hats is a distinct business from trimming, yet one in which they employ some women. It pays rather better than the other part of women's work, but requires great care and neatness. Sewing the leather linings in hats is the least profitable part. More women might find employment in hat work. A lady said to me she has an acquaintance that sometimes earns $2.50 a day at trimming hats. (?) L. employs some girls for trimming in the spring and fall. It is piecework, and some earn $9 a week. It is sometimes difficult to get very good hands. There are some factories in the West, but none in the South. Another hatter told me he pays 12½ cents for trimming a hat. He has noticed that the swiftest are the best workers. A hatter told me a smart trimmer could earn from $8 to $10 a week, six months of the year; but not more than $3 the other six months, because work is slack. A salesman in D.'s store told me a brisk hand can trim a dozen hats a day. The children's hats they have trimmed for the wholesale trade are not so neatly and carefully done as those for the retail trade. In selling a single hat, a purchaser examines closely, and if there is any defect, condemns it. The occupation is well filled in New York, and the work requires care, taste, and expedition. D. has constant employment for his hands; but for four months they have not as much as the hands wish, yet enough to yield most about $4. The women work above the store, because the blocks are there. They are allowed to take home and sew in the evening the linings of those hats that have the rims faced with leather. The plan is, generally, for a learner to spend six weeks' apprenticeship with an experienced hand, giving her work for instruction received. At Sing Sing prison, New York, of the one hundred and fifty female convicts, a majority are employed in binding hats, at 15 cents a dozen, made by the male convicts. The usual price in St. Louis is 14½ cents a hat. At this rate, a lady can bind and line in a day a number amounting to from $1 to $1.25. There are two hat factories in St. Louis, but they are not enough to supply the demand. A firm in Danbury write us, they "employ from seventy-five to one hundred women trimming hats. They pay by the piece, and their hands average $5 per week. Males average $9 a week. By the rules of trade, males spend four years learning; females, five weeks. Women are not paid while learning. The prospect for a continuance of the business is good. The busy seasons are from July 1st to April 1st. Time of work does not exceed ten hours. The majority are Americans. There are advantages in being near the great centre of trade in this country, New York. Board, $2." A firm manufacturing wool hats in the same place—Danbury—write they "employ ten Irish women in a card room, and sixty Yankee girls in trimming hats. The first receive $3 per week, the others $5.50. Women in the card room work ten hours. The American girls are intelligent and pretty." Another wool-hat manufacturer in Connecticut writes: "My women earn $1 each per day, on an average. It takes male operatives two years to learn. Work, on an average, ten months in the year. Board, $2." A firm in Milford, Conn., write: "Women earn from $3 to $7 per week. The reason why women are not better paid, is because the supply is greater than the demand. The employment will last as long as people wear hats. Fall and winter are the best seasons for work. The nearer you get to the market, the better the location." In reply to a letter, a firm employing from sixty to eighty women give the following intelligence: "The females employed by us are generally from fourteen to twenty-one years of age. They are paid by the piece, and earn from $4 to $9 per week. The labor of women is entirely distinct from that of men. It takes a good needlewoman about two months to become proficient. Women give their labor to the person who instructs them, from two to eight weeks. The business is good six or eight months. The rest of the year, they average about one half of what they can do. Busy times are from January 1st to May 1st, and from July 1st to November 1st. The demand is about equal to the supply, except in very busy times, when we could employ more; but I think there are plenty, as an increased supply would tend to lower prices. Most of our women are foreigners. The proximity to large cities is advantageous to this business, as the goods are mostly sold in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, &c. I should say there is little difference between the women employed in hat manufactories and others who have to earn a livelihood, such as dress makers, tailoresses, &c. Board, from $1.75 to $2. There is an objection amongst boarding-house keepers to females generally, and strangers frequently have great difficulty in obtaining good board. This is certainly the fault of their own sex." A wool-hat firm in Yonkers, N. Y., write they pay by the piece, and workers earn from $5 to $7. Male and female labor do not compete. A gentleman and his son, in New York, who import and manufacture children's fancy hats, write me they pay from $5 to $12 a week, according to ability. Women are paid while learning, the time for which depends upon capacity and taste. There is regular employment with them in all months but June and December. Good operatives are always in demand. Large cities are the best localities.

Hat Braiders

, &c. Most hats called "palm leaf" are made of straw grown in the Northern States. P. & Co., of Boston, write me: "The occupation of braiding hats is one that employs the odd moments and hours of almost every Yankee farmer's sons and daughters, throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire, from one year's end to the other. We employ women, but not exclusively, and pay by the piece, from $1 to $1.50 per dozen. A wide-a-wake Yankee girl or boy, with nimble fingers, will learn in a few hours." A manufacturer in New Hampshire, employing "from 300 to 400, pays by the piece, and his workers earn from $6 to $8 per month. They learn generally when children, by seeing others braid. The future prospect is not flattering, as the demand for palm-leaf hats is decreasing. The braiders work at home." $60,000 worth of palm-leaf hats were annually manufactured at Nashua, N. H., a few years ago. C. told me they never employ women, except, in winter, to bind and put the oil-silk lining in gentlemen's straw hats, for the spring trade of the South. For the work they pay 12½ cents a dozen. A woman can do from six to ten dozen a day. The best workers find employment. The prospect of obtaining work to those who may learn is good. B. thinks but few American girls are employed in trimming straw hats. He pays by the piece, and some earn as much as $5 per week. They should spend about one month learning, and they do well to earn their board during that time.

360. Oil Clothing.

I was told at L. & Co.'s oil clothing depot, that they have their sewing done by women at their homes. It is done by machines. They do not require any deposit. Since the panic, a number of girls and women have come in and offered to do their work at under prices. The oiling is done after the goods are made up. The garments are laid on tables, and the oil applied with brushes. The clothes are then hung on frames to dry, and it requires six months. Oiling the goods is greasy, dirty work, but might be done by strong women. The work is not at all unhealthy. L. & Co. sell $150,000 suits a year. Their best sewers can make up six or eight dozen shirts a week, for some of which they are paid $1 a dozen, and for others, $1.25. The manufacture of oiled goods is confined to New York.

361. Pantaloons.

In making pantaloons, as in most other tailor's work, what is most neatly done commands the best prices. Custom work pays best. Making pantaloons is not quite so remunerative as making vests. The prices paid in cities by good-class tailors for making summer pantaloons, runs from 75 cents to $1.25. For winter goods the prices are higher, ranging from $1 a pair to $1.50. Some tailors have their pantaloons made by men, and some even employ men to make their vests.

362. Regalias.

"Five American women are employed at Chicopee, Mass., in stitching military goods. They are paid by the piece. They never get their work perfect. Learners are paid something. Men are preferable, because it takes too much time to wait on women. There will be work as long as there are wars." A regalia maker, in New York, told me her girls earn from $3 to $5 a week. The sewing is done by hand. Those who embroider in silk receive about the same; those with gold and silver thread, something more.

363. Shirts.

"Women who make shirts by hand, are paid for fine shirts from eighteen cents apiece to $1. Those who make at the lowest prices appear to have no other mission on earth but to sew up bleached muslin into shirts. The only time which they economize is their sleeping time; and their food is economized for them by circumstances over which it would appear they have but little control. In some instances we have been informed, that where there are two or three or more women or girls engaged in this enterprise of making shirts to enable gentlemen to appear respectable in society, they absolutely divide the night season into watches, so that the claims of sleep may not snatch from the grasp of the shirt manufacturers an iota of their rights. In this way, by working about twenty hours a day, the amazing sum of $2.50, and sometimes $3, is earned per week. Sewing machines have so reduced the amount of labor required for shirts, as well as the price, that they can in some places only earn twenty-five cents by working twelve hours; and they cannot get steady employment even at these prices." Between 2,000 and 3,000 women are supposed to be engaged in shirt making in Philadelphia. Competition has depressed prices fearfully low. A shirt maker in that city told me he pays by the week. He gives the bodies out, and they are done by hand; the collars and bosoms by machines. They are cut out by men with knives, and the cloth is from twenty-four to thirty-six thicknesses. They pay basters now mostly by the piece. B., of the same city, who carries on general shirt making, puts the plain parts out in the country to be done. It, of course, costs less than the finishing off. Good workers can earn from $3 to $4 a week for plain sewing—more for fine. At a shirt-bosom manufactory in Philadelphia, P., the proprietor, told me he has the bosoms and collars made by machinery, employing seventeen girls all the year. Some establishments employ them only in the busy season, spring and fall. His women earn from $3 to $5 a week. To one machine are employed three girls: one to cut out, one to baste, and one to stitch. The fine plaits of bosoms are laid by machinery. Cutters and button-hole makers are better paid than basters and stitchers. A shirt maker told me in New York (December, 1860), that the only houses there supplying the article were those that made up for the California market. Operators, good ones, he said, usually earn $1 a day, of nine hours in winter, and ten in summer. Those that work at home can earn more, because they do more. On Dey street, I was told by a gentleman that he has shirts made in Connecticut, and he often finds it difficult to get good hands. He has shirts cut out with scissors. He used to employ a forewoman to cut and superintend. Most shirts sold in the South, West, and California, have been made at the North. New York, Troy, and New Haven are the principal places. Operators usually earn $1 a day, of eleven hours; but as the work is generally paid for by the piece, they may earn only from fifty cents to $1. Making button holes is a distinct branch. He pays half a cent apiece for those of ordinary size, and one cent for the larger ones of the wrists. In good times he employs girls all the year. The spring sale commences in January, the fall sale in July. S., another manufacturer, has common drawers and shirts made by machine. A brisk hand can make two dozen pair of drawers a day, and are paid fifty cents a dozen (?) He keeps workers in prosperous times all the year. A lady who makes shirts by hand told me she could barely make a living, though her work is done for customers. She does most in spring and summer. The trimmings she makes by machine. Madame P. pays eighty cents for making a shirt, except the bosom, which is imported. She does her own cutting by hand. A shirt maker says girls that can finish a shirt neatly get $3 a week of ten or eleven hours a day. Work of that kind is not confined to seasons. J. has most work to do in summer. The girls are paid by the piece, and can earn from $3 to $4. His are made by machine, but finished off by hand. He has girls of all kinds; idle and industrious, easy of temper and obstinate; in short, the variety always to be met with in help. A lady told me she cuts shirts by measure, and has a variety of styles. She pays an old lady fifty cents a day for basting, and from $5 to $6 a week to an operator. The neatness of machine sewing depends much on the way in which the basting is done. W. told me his basters earn from $3 to $4; operators from $5 to $6; button-hole makers from $4 to $6. He gives employment all the year. No demand, except in busy seasons for good operators, and they can be obtained by advertising. The owner of a shirt-collar manufactory and laundry said his collars were stitched by machines, and the operators earn from $3 to $9 per week. It is piece work. The washers are paid by the hundred dozen. Six weeks, I believe, is the time usually given by one that can sew neatly, to learn the trade. At L. & G.'s, I was told the best seasons in the wholesale trade are spring and fall; but in the retail trade there is little difference. Men and boys cut out with a knife, and are able to cut through seventy-two thicknesses of cloth. Women have not the strength to cut such quantities. The prospect is fair for good hands. There is a superabundance of indifferent hands. Their best sewers are English. Many of them are married women. They used to employ young girls, but they wasted material and were not steady at work. They have lost much by women that would come and take out a dozen shirts to make, and never return them. On inquiring at the place where the women said they lived, they would find they had never been there. Few, except the Jews, require a deposit. It is difficult to obtain one from sewers of the value of the material taken out. They could obtain one hundred and fifty hands any day by advertising. Button-hole makers earn $5 a week; some operators, $9. A factory in New Haven employs eight hundred women; two hundred work in the establishment, the others work out. The indoor work is done by machines. The other is finishing off, and is sent through the country. It consists in gathering and sewing in the sleeves, felling down the facing around them, stitching on wristbands, sewing in the bosoms, putting on the collar, and working the button-holes, for which they receive ten cents a shirt. A firm of shirt manufacturers in Troy, N. Y., write: "We employ from three hundred to four hundred women; some with sewing machines, some with needles, and others in various kinds of labor connected with our manufacturing. They are paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $10 a week. While learning they are paid according to what they do. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but they have some employment all the year. The supply is fully equal to the demand in this locality. About half are Americans; board, $2 to $2.50." Another firm in the same place writes: "We employ four hundred, and pay from $5 to $10 per week to about one hundred hands, and from $3 to $7 to those who do not depend upon it for a livelihood. Women spend a few months learning; men, years. Midwinter and summer are the best seasons for work." A shirt-collar firm in Troy write: "In reply to yours we would state, we are employing in and outside of our manufactory, from six to eight hundred women, in running, turning, stitching, banding, marking, and boxing gentlemen's collars. Most of our workwomen are Americans, and live with parents or relatives. Those boarding pay from $1.75 to $3 per week. Many of our workwomen are very intelligent. All are required to be steady and industrious. Some parts of our business can be learned in two or three weeks, while other parts will take as many months; but each one is paid while learning. Our work is all done by the piece, and women earn from $5 to $8 per week during business seasons, which are summer and winter. They are usually thrown out of employment one month during the fall, and one in spring. The employment requires from eight to nine hours per day, in our manufactory. The making of gentlemen's collars must increase in proportion to the increase of the male population of our country; and, as styles are becoming more and more varied, this also must tend to increase the manufacture. There is, however, no demand for help in any department of the business, yet. We have but five or six women in all our establishment who are required to stand upon their feet while at work. All others can make their positions quite comfortable. We employ but few men (from five to eight), and they are in departments which women could not fill; nor could men well fill the women's department." Manufacturers in Boston write: "The prospect of future employment is good. Our women (fifty in number) are nearly all Americans. There is no competition between male and female labor in this branch, which, probably, is the cause of women receiving less wages. The work is healthy, only as it involves want of fresh air and exercise. Girls in the shop are paid from $4 to $7 per week, and work from nine to ten hours. Good sewers are getting scarcer every year. We are always ready to employ a really good hand—one who can do nice work. There is a growing demand for articles of all kinds. There are a great many women unable to sew well, who compete with each other for the work given out by the slop shops." Shirt makers in Ithaca, New York, write: "The work is very healthy in well ventilated establishments. What we employ men for, women cannot do as well. There is a demand for collar finishers, a surplus of machine operatives." Shirt manufacturers in Watertown, Conn., write: "We employ in our establishment from twelve to twenty girls and women, all Americans. They work in winter about nine hours; in summer, ten. Most of them work on sewing machines, and can earn from $4 to $5 per week. For board they pay $2 per week. There is no season of the year when our work is entirely stopped." L., in Lynn, Mass., engaged in custom-shirt manufacturing, writes: "I pay fifty cents apiece for making shirts, and $4.50 per week for a machine girl. My workwomen are widows and married women, and they average five shirts or $2.50 per week, besides their house work. But a woman that makes five shirts a week cannot have much spare time." A lady in Massachusetts, who has shirts made to order, informs me she pays by the piece, and her girls earn from fifty to seventy-five cents a day. She employs the most skilful. She says the nature of the employment is such that no woman could enjoy health long, who did nothing else, and the wages are so small that anyone must work all the time to make a living; hence the work does not suit any, except those who have homes and have recourse to this as a secondary employment. The demand for the articles in the market is limited, and she has never been able to carry it on in a wholesale manner except by the aid of friends whose sympathy has created a demand for the work.