West, there are openings for booksellers. Many colleges and seminaries
are being built up, thereby offering a still better market for the sale
of school books. It would be well for those going into the business to
ascertain, before doing so, what books are used in the literary
institutions of the place. Some booksellers are so mean as to sell
old-fashioned, out-of-date school books to country merchants, thereby
clearing their own stock, and imposing their unsalable goods on others.
No doubt, many established book merchants would be willing to trust, to
such as they have confidence in, a stock of books to be sold on
commission. When a sufficient sum is acquired, the individual can
purchase a stock of her own. Many dry-goods merchants keep a few books,
but when there is a sufficient sale of books, a store, if expenses are
only cleared for a while, may gradually become a revenue of profit, and
is likely to prove a permanent business, where discretion and industry
are used. In London and Paris, women sell stationery, almanacs,
memorandum books, diaries, and pocket books, on the streets. Public
auctions of books are held frequently in cities and towns. Agents do
much to extend a circulation of books. In large cities, merchants
confine their stock of books to two or three kinds--as those of
medicine, law, theology, or school books; but, as a general thing,
miscellaneous books are kept. The trade sales which occur in Boston
once, and in Philadelphia and New York twice a year, are only attended
by booksellers. These sales last but a few days. The prices at which
books sell at these auctions are considered a pretty fair criterion of
their future worth. Miss H. told me of a Miss P., niece of Horace Mann,
now living in Concord, N. H., who kept a bookstore in Boston, and
imported books to fill orders, but was crushed by other book importers,
because she was a woman. In many towns and cities, women keep small
stores for the sale of stationery, magazines, newspapers, &c. "In large
stationery stores, women might be employed to stamp initials on paper,"
with small hand presses made for the purpose.
=101. China Merchants.= This business is peculiarly appropriate to
women. Who so well able to handle china as careful women? Who so well
able to judge what will look well on a table? It comes so entirely
within their province, that the mind readily suggests the
appropriateness. In Paris, most, if not all the china stores are kept by
women. A lady china-dealer, on one of the avenues, told me that she
sells considerable at night to working women, who cannot spare the time
to go shopping in the day; also, to ladies living in cross streets near,
who go out walking in the evenings with their husbands, and call to buy
articles in her line. It does not require as many attendants in a china
as in any other kind of store. A girl is more careful and steady, and
can dust china better than a boy; but a boy answers best to take china
home. She sells most about the holidays. It takes time to learn the
business well. In an Eastern city, two ladies stood in their father's
store, and so learned the business. They married brothers, and each
opened china stores, which they attended, while their husbands engaged
in other business. They are both widows now, but have raised and
educated their children. A son and son-in-law of one conduct the
business. They employ saleswomen, paying from $5 to $8 a week. They are
now in search of two intelligent young women, from fifteen to eighteen
years of age, to grow up to the business. They require a little more
readiness in arithmetic, tact, and general business qualifications than
they can easily meet with. From their experience they judge the
employment to be healthy. A lady in a large china store on Broadway, New
York, receives $5 a week. A lady in another store told me that lifting
crockery causes quite a strain on the back, and should be done by men. A
person gets very dusty who attends china. It requires lifting and
dusting, and now and then must be washed--always when first taken out of
the crate. Mrs. L. and her husband are English, and have been brought up
to the business. She sells most about Christmas. She is on her feet all
the time. To learn the names of all the articles sold in a large store,
and their prices, and to exercise care in handling, requires patience. A
china merchant writes: "Women are generally paid less than men. There is
a difference of from $10 to $40 per month in favor of men, because (with
few exceptions) women are not so well qualified to do business as men.
It would take from six to eight months to learn to sell china. A clear
head, common sense, and activity are the qualifications needed. Women
are not more likely to be thrown out of employment than men, if as well
qualified." A lady told me, the china is a slow business and seldom pays
more than twenty-five per cent., but is a sure business for the cheaper
kind of goods. The profit is not so much as for fancy articles of
ladies' wear; but less is lost from the change of style. China
merchants, she thought, seldom employ women; why, she could not tell.
Mr. H., who employs a girl, paid her $1.50 a week and board the first
year, then raised her wages to $7 a month. He thinks if more girls would
qualify themselves for china stores they would be likely to find
employment. A girl should commence young, but should know how to read
and write, on account of taking orders. He thinks it best to get homely
girls, rather advanced in age, to attend store, because the young and
handsome ones will get married. He prefers girls, because they are more
quiet and steady. Small articles of china he sends the girl home with;
heavy articles he takes himself. A lady, whose ware was partly out of
doors and partly in the house, said she had dusted it at least a dozen
times through the day, and then it was covered with dust. Her breakage
is considerable. She sells most about Christmas. Another china dealer
told me, she sells most in spring, when people go to housekeeping. E.
L., in the Five Points, sells most in summer, because her patrons are
poor people, and in summer the men have most work, and their expenses
are lighter--consequently the women have more money. Her stand is a good
one, but she does not much more than make a living. The business
requires some experience in buying and selling. Ladies sometimes come
into the store to purchase articles they would not like to ask a man
for. A girl keeping a china stand told me she sells most in spring and
fall. She pays $3 a month for ground rent, but owns the shelter. She
locks it at night, and it is perfectly secure, for her lock is different
from all others. It does not take long to learn to sell common ware. She
expects to sell all winter at her stand, and has to be on her feet all
the time. She sells on an average from $2 to $3 worth a day.
=102. Clothiers.= In London there are shops confined to the sale of
nautical clothes, and some to the sale of theatrical attire. B.'s sewers
(New York) earn from $2 to $10 per week--piece work, of course. Most of
it is done by machine. Meritorious girls need never be out of work, said
Mr. B.; yet he can always get plenty of hands. He has much of his work
done in New Jersey. Some men make a business of taking it from
establishments, and hire women all through the country to do it. There
are two kinds of tailoring--custom and slop work. The last is subdivided
into the cheap slop work and that of the best quality, and there are two
kinds of establishments for this common work--that which is not better
done perhaps than the other, but for which a better price is paid and
received, and done by houses of standing and reputation. The other is
done by extortionists, Jews and Germans, and patronized by their own
class. As tailoring is done now, it does not require a regular
apprenticeship as in bygone years, particularly for those who work by
machine. I met a girl on the steps, seeking for work, who told me she
makes $4 a week as operator, when she can get steady work. One of the
proprietors of L. & B.'s clothing establishment told me some of their
workmen earn from $8 to $10 a week, working by the piece. Much of their
work is for California. They employ hands most of the year, as they work
both for the home and foreign market. The great trouble is that the
majority of tailoresses are inefficient. Some are widows, striving to
support their children. Some have dissipated husbands, and are subject
to constant interruption. Some have not the time to properly learn the
trade, and, consequently, such workers cannot have that labor which pays
best, however much they need it. The character of work done by
applicants is judged of by turning to the book of their former employer,
and seeing what prices were paid. In hard times, like these, employers
try to retain those that are dependent on their labor for their bread.
The foreman said, in good times, there is work enough for all the
tailoresses in New York. They pay good operators $5 a week--a day of ten
hours. All the summer work is done by machines. The pressing and basting
is done by men. The foreman of the S. Brothers' establishment says the
best place for tailoresses is in the West, where there are openings, and
they can make money. The only trouble is, the poor have not money to go
West. All their work is done by machines, and all given out. They do not
give work more than six months in the year, and that barely keeps the
girls while they are at work. P. & C. have their machines worked by hot
condensed air. The operators receive from $4.50 to $6. Basters are only
small girls, and earn from $2 to $3 a week. B. & Co., clothiers, give
work out, and, of course, pay by the piece. Their most busy times are
from October to March, and from April to September. They do Southern
work. Some of the workers only earn $2.50 if they are slow, even if they
are industrious and constantly at work. Some of their best hands can
earn $6 a week, but are likely to be at least two months out of
employment. The prospect for tailoresses is poor. I have heard that some
good hands are wanted in Chicago. A great deal of clothing is sold there
to people from the surrounding country and towns. B. does not require
any deposit, but a girl must show her book from her other employers.
They have thousands of applications for work. The reason more clothing
is not made up out of the city is the difficulty in procuring such
tailors' trimmings as they need just at the time they are wanted. Most
clothing establishments keep a list of those that do not return work
taken out, and send them to each other. On persons applying to the
foremen, he turns to his book to see if the names are among the
delinquents. He thinks girls in service are more certain of making a
living, for they are paid from $1 to $2 a week for their work, and have
their board, which would be from $1 to $3 a week, and a competent
servant need not be out of employment; while slop work is very
uncertain, and everything that is made goes for board and clothes. Many
of these shop girls sleep half a dozen in a garret, on straw beds,
without sufficient covering. Many might go to the country and the West
and get employment, but they have not the means; and, if they had the
means to go, might not have enough to come back, if they found it
necessary. F. D. & Co., clothiers. Their girls earn from $3 to $6 per
week, paid by the piece, and done at home. They give most of their work
to men who have machines and employ operatives. The prospect for this
kind of work is poor. Not more than two thirds of the hands in the city,
in this department of labor, will be retained. When business is good
they are able to keep their hands employed all the year, except for a
few weeks when changing from thin to thick work, and _vice versa_. They
sometimes give a girl work to do as a sample. A woman told me of three
girls occupying the room above her, that have a sewing machine. Two
baste and finish off, and one operates. They work day and night, and one
she knows is even now earning $8 a week. They make flannel shirts,
receiving 75 cents a dozen, without putting in the sleeves, working the
button holes, or putting on the buttons. I saw a girl that receives 87
cents a dozen for making flannel shirts. We have seen it stated that a
persons possessed of machines, who make up large quantities of clothing
at very low prices, are enabled, by the speed at which they can work the
machines, to produce sufficient to remunerate all the parties employed,
at an average of $4 a week." One clothier in Albany, New York, pays $3 a
week to his hands working eleven hours a a day. He furnishes work
steadily through the fall, and pays men better wages, because they can
do more work. The proprietor of a mammoth establishment in New York, D.,
writes: "We employ women in making pants, vests, shirts, and summer
coats, both by the week and by the piece. When the sewers take work out,
it is by the piece; but when the work is done in the shop, it is paid
for by the week. The wages by the week range from $3 to $7. Women
thoroughly educated in the trade can make about $6 per week, men about
$9--their work is heavier. The number of branches in this trade, and the
time of preparation for each, varies. We never receive learners. As the
articles are of general use, good hands usually find employment. The
work is brisk from November till March 1st, and from May till September
1st. The time of work could be shortened, but at the expense of the
laborers' wages. In a city like ours, there is always a full supply of
hands. About two thirds of our women are American. Women could not be
employed to sell clothing to men." This firm employed, in February,
1860, five hundred hands in the shop, and eight hundred outside. In B.
Brothers' establishment, "indoor work is paid by the week. An agent pays
for the outdoor work by the piece. Those in the house average $5 per
week. Men do heavier work and receive $7. Women make vests and
pantaloons; men, coats. They work in the same room. The men do the
pressing." (I expect it is a rule that they shall not speak to each
other, for not one word did I hear any of them speak in the half hour I
spent in the room.) "It requires about six months to learn the business.
They do not take learners. An ability to sew well, and neatness with the
work, are necessary. They sell most when the country is in a peaceful
and prosperous condition. They sell most clothing to Western customers
about the 1st of January, and to city retail stores about the 1st of
February. They work ten hours a day. There is a surplus of hands in New
York. They employ seventy in the house, and between 2,000 and 3,000
outside. The number of Americans is about 20 per cent." Great injustice
is done by women in the country, in comfortable circumstances, who do
the work at a very low price, merely to obtain pocket money. An English
tailor in New York hires girls for making pants and coats. He pays one
$4, one $3.50, and another $3, and they work from 7 A. M. to 7 P. M.
There is no difference in the prices paid, except when the man's work is
heavier. Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. Men can press
better, because they have more strength; but women can stitch as well,
if they have the experience. He kept one operator at $6 a week in busy
times, and $3 in slack times, and another at $5 the year round. Some of
the poor tailors in New York rent a room, occupy a spot themselves, and
rent out the rest of the room to others at the same kind of work,
charging fifty cents for seat room for a man and a girl to assist him;
thirty-seven cents for a man alone. It is not easy to get good hand
tailoresses, for most are employed on machines. One firm, that employ
about five hundred hands, write they pay from $3 to $5 per week of ten
hours a day, and that it requires two years to learn the trade. S. & D.,
manufacturers and venders of boys' clothing, write: "Their work is done
by the piece, so much a garment, and wages run from $2 to $6 a week, of
ten hours a day--of course, depending on the skill and hours of the
worker. The relative wages between men and women are, as sewers, say for
men, one third more; that is, as four for the women and six for the men.
The business of a tailoress is numbered among the regular trades for
women, and requires somewhat more than the average trade time, say one
year. They excel as vest makers--a branch almost exclusively confined to
them. There is no uniform usage in regard to pay. The requisites are
good eyesight, average strength, and if taste be superadded, the better.
Winter is the best season for those who work for wholesale venders.
Women are most apt to be out of employment in summer. The demand is, at
present, less than the supply. There is a surplus of vest makers, and a
deficiency, if anywhere, in children's suit making. It is an occupation
less suited to women than trades that require more nicety of touch and
eye, such as designing or wood engraving. The majority of tailoresses in
New York city are German and Irish." A firm engaged in the merchant
tailoring and ready-made clothing business write: "The occupation is
unhealthy, because the workers are constantly sitting. They earn from $2
to $4.50 per week, ten hours a day. We pay men better, because they are
stronger and more capable, and have more experience. Men receive from $9
to $12. It requires four years for men to learn the business, and two
years for women to learn it so as to earn $4 per week. The
qualifications needed are common sense, good taste, and strong eyes.
From March to January is the busy season; but good hands have work all
the year." B. O. & S. "give their work out. Their trade is Southern.
Their spring work begins 1st October, and continues until the last of
March; and fall work begins in May, and lasts until September. They do
not require a deposit, but a recommendation from the last employer, and
give some work to applicants to do as a sample. Some is done by hand,
some by machinery, Wages run from $3 up. Much of their work is done by
Germans, whose wives assist them. It is sometimes difficult for them to
get good hands. The foreman dismissed the Jews he found at work when he
went there, for he thinks they are not reliable. Some get work out, but
intrust it to others to do, and so it is poorly done. The foreman said
many women spend a day or two out of every week running from shop to
shop to get work. He has never lost anything by girls not returning
goods. If they should keep them, they would soon be known at the
different establishments, and have no place to go for work." In Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New
York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, District of
Columbia, and Ohio, during the year ending June 1st, 1860, 36,155 males
and 52,515 females were employed in making clothing.
=103. Curiosity Dealers.= In large cities, a few persons may find
employment in this way. To the business of selling coins, medals,
buckles, old-time jewelry, &c., is usually added the sale of shells and
foreign birds. The same persons might engage in the sale of stuffed
birds and animals, marine plants, minerals, and other such articles as
are suitable for placing in a museum. Many women on the streets of
London sell coins, medals, &c.