or shop or home, the proportion of women in agriculture being larger
than in any other country of Europe. Her schools furnish better training
than those of any other nation. In all these points Prussia leads,
though till recently legislation has been in behalf of child-workers,
and women have been practically ignored. But factory regulations are
minute and extended; and the questions involved in the labor of women,
and its bearing on health, longevity, etc., are now coming under
consideration. In Silesia, as early as 1868, women were excluded from
the salt-mines; and the Labor Congress of 1889 brought about many
changes of the laws on this point for Belgium and Germany. In Italy, in
which country industrial education is now receiving much attention, the
labor of women, continuous, severe, and underpaid, as it is known to be,
finds small mention, save among special students of social questions.
Russia has practically no data from which judgment can be formed. In
short, it is only in English-speaking countries that really efficient
action as to the labor of women has taken place; while even for them the
work has but begun, and new and more radical forms will be necessary
for any real progress toward final betterment. Toward such end the labor
bureaus of our own country are working diligently; and it is with them
that we have next to do, the investigations already made and
incorporated in their reports being full of suggestion for future
workers.
The census of 1882 gave for Germany, in a population of 45,222,113
persons, 23,071,364 women, of whom 1,109,530 were widows, and 5,467,730
unmarried, a large proportion of both these classes being
self-supporting. An immense number of these were agricultural laborers.
In Prussia in 1867 the census gave the number of women agricultural
laborers as 1,054,213. Woman's wage for a day's labor, always twelve and
often fourteen hours, is from twenty to twenty-five cents, about a third
of that received by men doing the same work. Brassey, the great railroad
contractor, found throughout Germany that her wage was always a third
and often a quarter less than that of men.
For united Germany the description given by Villermé in 1836 is still
true for many points. "The misery in which the cotton spinners and
weavers of the upper Rhine live," he writes, "is so profound that it
produces the saddest results. In the families of manufacturers, drapers,
merchants, etc., half the children born attain their nineteenth year,
this same half ceasing to exist before the age of two years in the
families of weavers and workers at cotton-spinning."
As to numbers employed in trades and industries, it is difficult to
secure them with exactness. The census of 1871 reported three tenths of
the population as agricultural, the males employed in agriculture being
2,338,174, and the females 4,426,573. Household service had 840,000
women on its rolls. In 1875 the cotton-mills employed in weaving and
spinning 95,934 women; the woollen manufacture, nearly 193,000; linen,
hemp, and jute, 190,000. The labor of women and children was hardly
recognized, and statistics had to be disentangled as best they might be
from general tables of occupations. Through the persistent efforts of
the Centre in the German Reichstag, a gradual betterment of the
working-classes has been brought about, and thus indirectly that of
women and children,--the first combined and determined effort being made
in 1889, when three bills were brought up for discussion. The first
made the working-day not to exceed eleven hours; the second demanded the
suspension of industrial labor on Sunday, save in exceptional cases,
when five hours' labor was to be allowed; the third concerned the labor
of women and children, and with some modifications is practically the
law to-day. Night and Sunday labor in mines, smelting-works,
rolling-mills, and dockyards is entirely forbidden, nor can married
women work more than ten hours a day. The Federal Council has the right
also to forbid the employment of women and children in all factories and
establishments where health and morals are exposed to exceptional
dangers.
At the period at which the investigations which brought about the
agitation of the question were made, the number of child laborers had
increased in two years from 155,000 to 192,000, children hardly more
than babies being in the factories. At present the law forbids the
employment of any child under twelve, and not less than three hours'
schooling daily is compulsory. Abuses exist at all points, women workers
in mines faring, even with shortened day, in very evil case,--the wage
at or below subsistence point and the general conditions of the most
hopeless order. Constant agitation goes on in the Reichstag, and
organization among the women themselves will in time bring about needed
reforms; but as a whole the German woman is in many points less
considered than the women of any other civilized nation.
Though Italy is pre-eminently an agricultural country, and men, women,
and children are alike employed in agricultural pursuits, there has been
no trustworthy record of numbers engaged. In manufacturing there are
more statistics, but interest in the woman's share in labor is of recent
date. In the silk manufacture, in which Italy ranks second only to
China, and far beyond all other competitors, 81,165 women and 25,373
children were employed in 1877, chiefly in unwinding cocoons, the number
at present having increased nearly ten per cent. In the cotton industry
there were employed, at the time of the same census, 2,696 women and
2,520 children; and a proportionate increase in numbers has taken place.
In the flax and hemp industries nearly seventy thousand workers used
hand-looms at home, the larger proportion of these being women. In the
factories it was found that 2,565 women and 1,227 children were at work
as spinners, and 3,394 women and 1,020 children as weavers. Women are
steadily employed in the manufacture of straw hats and bonnets, in jute
in many forms, in cigar and cigarette making, and in many other
industries, cheap clothing leading. Of the thirty millions and more of
population, not quite half are women; and of these nearly half are
wage-earners, the majority in unrecorded forms of labor,--chiefly
household service or the care of their own homes, with some petty
industry adding its mite to the yearly income. But industrial training
has but begun for Italy. The wage is pitiably low, the conditions of
living hard and full of privation; nor can these facts alter till better
education and organization have been brought about. The latest Italian
census is not yet published; but proofs of tables of the comparative
wage for twenty years in some of the principal industries have been sent
me through the courtesy of Signor Luigi Bodio, the minister of
agriculture, commerce, and general statistics. From these tables it is
found that the daily wage of women cotton-spinners has risen from sixty
centimes, in 1871, to one franc twenty-six centimes in 1891, this being
the equivalent of one lire twenty-six centissimi. The wage for weaving
has risen from eighty centimes, in 1871, to one franc twenty-six
centimes in 1891. Spoolers in 1871 received eighty-eight centimes as
against one franc thirty centimes in 1891. In hemp-spinning the wage has
fallen from ninety to eighty centimes, but has risen from ninety-eight
centimes to one franc thirty centimes for twisting; the wage in the
cases cited being a little more than a third that of men. In
paper-making experienced workers now receive one franc fifty-two
centimes as against sixty-six centimes in 1871; and in making of
stearine candles one franc as against seventy-eight centimes in 1871.
Running through the tables of every industry, the average is about the
same,--the wage for women, even when doing the same work, hardly more
than a third that for men, and the amount for either at bare subsistence
point.
In Russia the woman's wage is but a fifth that of men, with working
conditions, save at a few points where the work of Professor Janzhul
and his confrères has told, at the very worst,--the day being from
twelve to sixteen hours long even in the best-managed factories, while
in the village industries, which, owing to the peculiar conditions of
Russian life, make up the larger proportion of her industries, it is for
many workers almost unending, the merest respite being given for sleep.
As yet but few authentic figures as to the numbers employed are given,
though on the first investigation into domestic industries made a few
years since it was found that over 890,000 were engaged in them, and
also at the same time in agriculture. Manufacturing in Russia
concentrates about Moscow and St. Petersburg, which represent more than
two fifths of the whole production of the empire. The requirements of
nine tenths of the Russian people are met by domestic manufacture in the
villages, and home-weaving for the market employs over two hundred
thousand workers, other textiles, leather, etc., being dealt with in the
same way.
In the other northern countries of Europe,--Norway, Sweden, and
Denmark,--manufactures are at a minimum, fisheries and agriculture being
the chief industries. Women are employed in both; and in the few
factories there is a small proportion of women and children, working at
a wage much less than that given to men. Sweden has a most admirable
system of industrial education; and Norway and Denmark, though far less
in population, have adopted the same methods. But the limitations of all
wage-earning women are felt here in the same manner as elsewhere, the
summary for all countries being much the same. The Northern workwoman
has the advantage of training and of as keen a sense of economy as the
Frenchwoman; but her wage is most usually at or below subsistence point,
and her difficulties are those of the worker in general,--long hours,
insufficient pay, and fierce competition.
As to the present laws concerning the length of the working-day, a
general abstract is found in a return issued in reply to an address from
the House of Commons, an abstract of which was given in "St. James'
Gazette":--
"In France the hours of adult labor are regulated by a series of
decrees, of which the earliest, promulgated September, 1848, enacts
that the workingman's day in manufactories and mills shall not
exceed twelve hours of 'effective' or actual labor. A decree
issued in May, 1851, made exceptions, so that more hours might be
worked in certain trades. In 1885 a circular was issued stating
that the limit of twelve hours _per diem_ was not to be imposed
where hand-power was employed, but was to be confined to
manufactories and mills in which the motive power was machinery. No
workshops were to come under the clauses of the act that did not
employ more than twenty hands in any one shed. The report says: 'It
is likewise to be borne in mind that there is in France no
compulsory observance of Sunday, and no day of habitual rest.'
"The reports of the French inspectors of labor appear to show that
the Act of 1848 is very loosely interpreted. It is even doubtful
whether the section limiting the actual working-day to twelve hours
was intended to include or exclude hours of rest. Practically the
legal time is made to exclude rest. This makes the working-day so
much the longer. Thus one of the French inspectors states that the
hours of attendance in factories under the Act of 1848 are from
five in the morning until seven in the evening, or a total of
fourteen hours, out of which there are twelve hours of 'effective
labor.' But the same authority also states that 'effective' time
often extends to thirteen and fourteen hours in many
weaving-establishments. Finally, we are told that, as a rule, it
may be taken that Frenchmen employed in factories are present in
the shops at least fourteen hours out of every twenty four.
"Among the countries having no laws affecting the hours of adult
labor, Germany is conspicuous. Employers, however, cannot force
their servants to work on Sundays and feast-days. Employment of
youthful or female labor in certain kinds of factories, which is
attended with special danger to health or morals, is forbidden, or
made conditional on certain regulations, by which night labor for
female work-people is especially forbidden. In Germany, as in other
countries also, women may not be employed in factories for a
certain time after childbirth. In Hesse-Darmstadt the medium
duration of labor is from ten to twelve hours,--the cases in which
the latter time is exceeded being, however, more frequent than
those in which the former is not exceeded. The normal work-day
throughout Saxony in all the principal branches of industry is from
6 A.M. to 7 P.M., with half an hour for breakfast, an hour for
dinner, and half an hour for supper. In the manufacturing industry
there are departures from these hours, the period of work in
spinning and weaving mills not infrequently being twelve hours.
"In Austria the law provides that the duration of work for factory
hands shall not exceed eleven hours out of the twenty-four,
'exclusive' of the periods of rest. These are not to be less in the
aggregate than an hour and a half. The rule can be modified by the
minister of commerce, in conjunction with the minister of the
interior, allowing longer hours. The hours have been so extended to
twelve hours in certain industries, such as spinning-mills, and
even to thirteen in silk manufactories. Sunday rest is enforced. In
Hungary there is no limit laid down by law, but the hours are not
generally longer than in Austria.
"Concerning the actual hours of adult labor in Belgium, some
difficulty is said to be experienced in getting at the facts. The
evidence given before a Belgian royal commission showed that
railway guards are sometimes on duty for fifteen and even nineteen
and a half hours at a stretch; and the Brussels tram-way-drivers
are at work from fifteen to seventeen hours daily, with a rest of
only an hour and a half at noon. Brick-makers work during the
summer months sixteen hours a day. In the sugar refineries the
average hours are from twelve to thirteen for men and from nine to
ten for women. The cabinetmakers, both at Ghent and Brussels,
assert that they have often to work seventeen hours a day.
"In Switzerland the law provides that a normal working-day shall
not exceed eleven hours, reduced on Saturdays and public holidays
to ten. Power is reserved for prolonging the working-day in certain
circumstances. Except in cases of absolute necessity Sunday labor
is prohibited, and in establishments where uninterrupted labor is
required, each working hand must have one free Sunday out of two.
Women cannot under any circumstances be employed in night or Sunday
labor. Italy has not legislated for adults, but has made
regulations for child labor. Sweden is in the same position. Spain
and Portugal have done nothing. The general rule in the latter
country, applying to old and young, is to work from sunrise to
sunset, an hour and a half being allowed for meals. In the
Netherlands a law was recently promulgated to prevent excessive and
dangerous work by grown-up women and young persons. In Turkey the
working-day lasts from sunrise to sunset, with certain intervals
for repose and refreshment. In Russia, where there are no laws
affecting the hours of adult labor, the normal working-day in
industrial establishments averages twelve hours, though it is often
extended to fourteen and even sixteen."
FOOTNOTES:
[31] Histoire des Classes Ouvriers en France depuis 1789 jusqu'à nos
Jours, par E. Levasseur.
[32] L'Ouvrière, par Jules Simon.
[33] Prisoners of Poverty, p. 118.
[34] Le Travail des Femmes au XIX. Siècle, par Paul Leroy-Beaulieu.
[35] L'Ouvrière, p. 158.
[36] Le Travail des Femmes aux XIX. Siècle.
[37] Annuaire de la Bourse du Travail. Volumes from 1887 to 1892
inclusive.
[38] Rapport sur l'Enquête faite au nom de l'Académie Royale de Médecine
de Belgique, par la commission chargée d'étudier la question de l'emploi
des femmes dans les travaux souterrain des mines, Bruxelles, 1868.
Documents nouveaux relatifs au travail des femmes et des enfants, dans
les manufactures, les mines, etc, etc. Bruxelles, 1874.
CHAPTER IX.
GENERAL CONDITIONS AMONG WAGE-EARNING WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES.
The summary already made of the work of bureaus of labor and their
bearing upon women wage-earners includes some points belonging under
this head which it still seemed advisable to leave where they stand. The
work of the Massachusetts Bureau gave the keynote, followed by all
successors, and thus required full outlining; and it is from that, as
well as successors, that general conditions are to be determined. A
brief summary of such facts as each State has investigated and reported
upon will be given, with the final showing of the latest and most
general report,--that from the United States Bureau of Labor for 1889.
Beginning with New England and taking State by State in the usual
geographical order, that of Maine for 1888 leads. Work here was done by
a special commissioner appointed for the purpose, and the chief towns
and cities in the State were visited. No occupation was excluded. The
foreign element of the State is comparatively small. There is no city in
which overcrowding and its results in the tenement-house system are to
be found. Factories are numerous, and the bulk of Maine working-women
are found in them; the canning industry employs hundreds, and all trades
have their proportion of workers. For all of them conditions are better
in many ways than at almost any other point in New England, many of them
living at home and paying but a small proportion of their wages toward
the family support.
A large proportion of the factories have boarding-houses attached, which
are run by a contractor. A full inspection of these was made, and the
report pronounces them to be better kept than the ordinary
boarding-house, with liberal dietary and comfortable rooms. Many of the
women owned their furniture, and had made "homes" out of the narrow
quarters. These were the better-paid class of workers. Several of the
factories have "Relief Associations," in which the employees pay a small
sum weekly, which secures them a fixed sum during illness or
disability. The conditions, as a whole, in factory are more nearly those
of Massachusetts during the early days of the Lowell mills than can be
found elsewhere.
Taking the State as a whole, though the average wage is nearly a dollar
less a week than that of Massachusetts, its buying power is somewhat
more, from the fact that rents are lower and the conditions of living
simpler, though this is true only of remote towns.
Massachusetts follows; and here, as in Maine, there is general complaint
that many of the girls live at home, pay little or no board, and thus
can take a lower wage than the self-supporting worker. In the large
stores employees are hired at the lowest possible figure; and many girls
who are working for from four to five dollars per week state that it is
impossible to pay for room and board with even tolerably decent
clothing. Hundreds who want pin-money do work at a price impossible to
the self-supporting worker, many married women coming under this head;
and bitter complaint is made on this point. At the best the wage is at a
minimum, and only the most rigid economy renders it possible for the
earner to live on it. That there is not greater suffering reflects all
honor on the army of hard-working women, pronounced by the commissioner
to be as industrious, moral, and virtuous a class as the community owns.
"Homes" of every order have been established in Boston and in other
large towns in the State; and as they give board at the lowest rate,
they are filled with girls. They are rigid as to rules and regulations,
and not in favor, as a rule, with the majority. A very slight relaxing
of lines and more effort to make them cheerful would result in bringing
many who now remain outside; but in any case they can reach but a small
proportion.
In unskilled labor there is little difference among the workers. All
alike are half starved, half clothed, overworked to a frightful degree;
the report specifying numbers whose day's work runs from fourteen to
sixteen hours, and with neither time to learn some better method of
earning a living, nor hope enough to spur them on in any new path. This
class is found chiefly among sewing-women on cheap clothing, bags, etc.;
and there is no present means of reaching them or altering the
conditions which surround them.
Connecticut factories are subject to the same general laws as those
governing like work in Maine and Massachusetts. Over thirty thousand
women and girls are engaged in factory work, and ten thousand
children,--chiefly girls, women being twenty-five per cent of all
employed in factories. Legislation has lessened or abolished altogether
some of the worst features of this life, and there are special mills
which have won the highest reputation for just dealing and care of every
interest of their employees. But the same reasons that affect general
conditions for all workers exist here also, and produce the same
results, not only in factory labor, but in all other industries open to
women. The fact that there are no large cities, and thus little
overcrowding in tenements, and that there is home life for a large
proportion of the workers, tells in their favor. Factory boarding-houses
fairly well kept abound; but the average wage, $6.50, is a trifle lower
than that of Massachusetts, and implies more difficulty in making ends
meet. Many of the worst abuses in child labor arose in Connecticut, and
the reports for both 1885 and 1886 state that for both women and
children much remains to be done. Clothing here, as elsewhere, is
synonymous with overwork and underpay, the wage being below subsistence
point; and want of training is often found to be a portion of the reason
for these conditions.
In Rhode Island, as in all the New England States, the majority of the
factories are in excellent condition, the older ones alone being open to
the objections justly made both by employees and the reports of the
Labor Bureau. The wage falls below that of Connecticut, while the
general conditions of living are practically the same, the statements
made as to the first applying with equal force to the last. Manufactures
are the chief employment, the largest number of women workers being
found in these. Of all of them the commissioner reports: "They work
harder and more hours than men, and receive much less pay."[39] The fact
of no large cities, and thus no slums, is in the worker's favor; but
limitations are in all other points sharp and continuous.
New York follows, and for the State at large the same remarks apply at
every point. It is New York City in which focuses every evil that hedges
about women workers, and in a degree not to be found at any other
portion of the country. These will be dealt with in the proper place.
The average wage, so far as the State is concerned, gives the same
result as those already mentioned. Manufacturing gives large employment;
and this is under as favorable conditions as in New England, though the
average wage is nearly a dollar less than that of Massachusetts, while
expenses are in some ways higher. The incessant tide of foreign labor
tends steadily to lower the wage-rate, and the struggle for mere
subsistence is the fact for most.
In New York City, while there is a large proportion of successful
workers, there is an enormous mass of the lowest order. No other city
offers so varied a range of employment, and there is none where so large
a number are found earning a wage far below the "life limit."