it stated that two hundred persons are employed in the entire process of
making a watch, and that, with the exception of the watch finishers (who
put the parts together), not one of the workmen could perform any but
his own specific part. In Switzerland, families, for generation after
generation, devote themselves to making particular parts of watches.
Women have proved their ability to execute the most delicate parts.
Twenty thousand Swiss women earn a comfortable livelihood by watch
making. They make the movements, but men mostly put them together. I
think a few women work as finishers. We quote from the _Englishwoman's
Review_: "Geneva has always refused to employ women, and has now totally
lost the watch trade. None of the Geneva watches, so called, come from
that part of Switzerland, but are manufactured elsewhere, and
principally in the canton of Neufchatel, where women have been employed
from the first." Mr. Bennett, of London, "states facts relative to the
mental culture of both sexes, which is deemed requisite in Switzerland
to prepare the intellect, the eye, and the hand for watch manufacture,
and he refers to the salubrious dwellings of the operatives." A
traveller states: "We see women at the head of some of the heaviest
manufactories of Switzerland and France, particularly in the watch and
jewelry line." In England, women have been until lately excluded from
watch making by men, but some are now employed in one establishment in
London and in several of the provincial towns. "There is a manufactory
at Christchurch, England, where five hundred women are employed in
making the interior chains for chronometers. They are preferred to men,
on account of their being naturally more dexterous with their fingers,
and therefore being found to require less training." From the November
number of the _Knickerbocker_ we quote: "All imported watches are made
by hand, the American watches being the only ones made by machinery in a
single establishment by connected and uniform processes. The Waltham
watches have fewer parts and are more easily kept in order than any
others; and are warranted for ten years by the manufacturers. They have
over one hundred artisans employed, more than half of whom are women."
The manufactory occupies a space more than half an acre in extent. Hand
labor is cheaper in Europe than this country, but American watches are
cheaper, because made by machinery. Making the cases is a distinct
branch from the interior work, and furnishes employment to some women.
Cleaning watches would form a pretty and suitable employment for women.
I was told of some Swiss women living in Camden, New Jersey, that make
the inside work of watches very prettily and very accurately. A
manufacturer of chronometers in Boston writes: "We employ women in
cutting the teeth of watch and chronometer wheels, polishing, &c. They
are generally employed by the week or year, and work nine or ten hours a
day. Women might be employed in large establishments in merely cleaning
or polishing the parts of watches repaired, without putting them
together; and they might learn to do it in a short time, a few months
perhaps. We pay our women for such work from $4 to $6 a week, according
to their capacity. The qualifications needed are delicacy of touch,
patience, and great carefulness. The employment will be very limited.
Work is steady the year round. The principal objection to employing
women is that they are very apt to marry just as they become skilful
enough to be reliable; therefore, what does not require long
apprenticeship or a great expense to learn, is most desirable for them.
A good degree of intelligence is indispensable. The more, of course, the
better." We would add to the requisites for a watchmaker, patience and
ingenuity. The secretary of the American Watch Company at Waltham
writes: "Women are employed at our factory. The employment is entirely
healthy. We pay from $4 to $7 per week for intelligent girls, and
women's average pay is $5. About half are paid by the piece. Men earn
about double the wages of women, because, first, they do more difficult
work, are more ingenious, more thoughtful and contriving, more reliant
on themselves in matters of mechanics, are stronger, and therefore worth
more, though not perhaps double, as an average; second, because it is
the custom to pay women less than men for the same labor. Women and
girls are paid from $2.50 to $4 per week during the first four months,
while they are learning the particular part of our business we set them
at. The requisites are a good common-school education, general
intelligence, and quickness; light, small hands are best. The business
is new to the country. We work every working day in the year, without
detriment to the health of women, who seem to endure their labor as well
as men. We work ten hours a day. There is little demand for labor in the
watch-making business generally in this country, but we think women
could be taught successfully the art of watch making, so as to be able
at least to earn a living as watch repairers. We employ seventy-five
women out of two hundred hands, and because there are many parts of our
work they can do _equally_ well with men; but it is generally light and
simple work, for which no high degree of mechanical skill is requisite.
Nine tenths are American born. Our hands are all made perfectly
comfortable in their labor. We employ female labor, where we can, as
being cheaper; but we find women do not reach the posts where a high
degree of skill is needed, as of course they do not those for which
their strength is insufficient. They have abundant facilities for mental
culture in the evenings. About half live with parents or relatives; the
rest board, and pay from $2 to $3 a week, according to quality."
=249. Watch Case and Jewelry Polishers.= Quite a number of women are
employed in polishing watch cases, and a few in polishing jewelry. It
requires some time to learn to do the finest work, and some can never
learn. The polishing of good gold is done by hand and the lathe--common
jewelry, by the lathe alone. A good polisher can earn $1 a day of ten
hours' work. C. & Co. employ girls, because they do not have to pay them
so high, and they do it as well. B. & H., who have a factory in Jersey
City, employ a number of lady polishers. The rouge renders it dirty
work, but not unhealthy. Very good hands can earn $7 or $8 a week. They
employ four sisters, French girls, who have bought a farm for their
parents. They have generally paid $23 a week to the four sisters. The
prospect for learners is good. They generally pay by the week, and have
their hands work ten hours a day. They take learners, and pay something
from the first. It requires two years' practice to become very good
polishers. They prefer to make an agreement with the learner to retain
her some time, as the material is costly, and considerable is wasted by
a learner. In good times they have work steadily all the year. Polishers
can either sit or stand while at work. Burnishing and polishing are
different. Burnishing is done with steel, polishing with buffs. Plated
ware is burnished, silver and gold are polished. S. thinks several girls
might, in busy times, find employment in polishing jewelry. He often
advertises for workers, but receives few answers. It requires two or
three years to learn, and four or five to become perfect workers. In
Germany and France, girls have polished jewelry for many years. In the
Southern and Western U. States, there are no manufactories of any
extent. They have not the machinery for such work. What little is made
and repaired is done in the jeweller's shop, or above his store. F. & P.
employ small girls about thirteen years old to polish, paying $1.50 per
week, while learning. It requires about a year for young girls to become
expert. We were told women are the best polishers of jewelry. A maker of
gold buttons, who has employed girls to polish, paid $2 a week to small
girls, and $3 to older and more experienced hands. The girls are also
employed in putting them up. Care is needed in polishing, that the work
be evenly done. A watch-case polisher told me a woman cannot earn more
than $2 or $3 a week at polishing. (It may be all he pays.) Mrs. C. is
teaching a girl to polish watch cases. She boards her, and pays her $30
the first year, and furnishes her with a certain number of dresses. A
good polisher may earn from $6 to $8 a week. She told me a lady in
Philadelphia, that she taught, is making $27 a week. C. has most of his
polishing done by a lady. He pays boys he takes as apprentices, $2.25 a
week, from the first. He says a good lady polisher can earn $1 a day. He
pays his men from $10 to $15 a week, because they do more, and do it
better than women. In good seasons there is so much polishing to do that
experienced hands are very much hurried. The work is not confined to
seasons. It does not require long to learn to polish. Such work is
mostly done in New York, but considerable is done in the small towns
around. At S.'s we saw a girl polishing, who told us she received $1 a
day. She says there a girl spends six months learning. For three months
she receives nothing, after that $3 a week. At B.'s, the lathes are
moved by steam, but have treadles also, that the work may not cease when
the engine or machinery is out of order. Less and less watch work is
done by hand in the United States every year, owing no doubt to the
large number imported and the increased use of machinery. The work in
the business has fallen to European rates. A good polisher has been
earning $6 or $7 a week, but very few can do so now, and the prospect of
employment is poor for a learner. Some years ago he employed a lady at
$15 a week, for fitting movements to the case. The sister of a
watch-case maker and importer, in Brooklyn, told me that she worked at
the business some years ago, and received seventy-five cents apiece for
polishing watch cases--now but fifty cents is paid. The lady often
polished four cases in a day of ten hours, and so earned $3. In the
European countries, some years back, a man was paid $1 for making a
watch case; in the United States, $5. Prices have fallen greatly in the
United States for this kind of work, because the duty on imported goods
is so low. She says the work is not very clean, because the oil and
rouge get on your clothes and person. Everybody should wear working
clothes, if their labor is such as to soil them. The motion of the foot
in moving the lathe tries the back greatly. When the polishing is done
by steam, it is not so. As men and women are paid by the piece, women
receive as good wages. A smart person can learn to polish in a few days,
but to learn it thoroughly would require three months. Women are paid in
this country while learning, but in Europe they are not. In prosperous
times, work is good all the year. In summer, work is done for the North;
in winter, for the South. A locality in or near a large city is
preferable. Prices vary in different establishments. Usually, where the
best quality of work is done, the best prices are paid the work
people--where cheaper work is done, lower wages are paid. The usual
price paid to girls as polishers, when they are employed by the week, is
$6--a better remuneration for mechanical labor than most women receive.
=250. Watch Chains.= In Birmingham, several hundred women are employed
in making chains, and we suppose fifty or more in this country. The gold
wire is prepared and drawn out by men, as it requires too much strength
for women. All the work after that is performed by women. The wire is
cut into pieces of the right length, then bent into the proper form by
means of a die worked by a hand press; each link is then soldered
together by means of a jet of gas, a blowpipe, and a tiny piece of
solder, when it is finished by polishing. D. & S., Philadelphia, employ
three girls in soldering. The wages of the girls vary from $3.50 to $8 a
week. They work ten hours a day. It is not an unhealthy business, D. and
S. think, and can be learned in two months. M. F. & Co., New York,
employ girls in soldering and polishing chains. Those that solder earn
from $3 to $8 a week. Some of the girls are paid by the week, and some
by the inch. It can be pretty well learned in three months. After two or
three weeks they are able to earn about $2 a week. To those girls who
instruct learners they give the profits of the learners. Polishing is
not clean work, but the women can generally earn more at it. They earn
from $3 to $9 a week. They work ten hours a day, when paid by the week,
in summer; but in winter, not so long. The building is never lighted.
The women have a separate apartment to work in, and change their clothes
on entering and leaving the work room; and the polishers tie up their
heads, to prevent their hair being covered with rouge. The girls wear
the same clothes every day while at work, that they may not carry away
any gold. The proprietors sell their waste scraps for $8,000 a year.
They require boys to spend five years learning the business, taking them
at the age of 16, and retaining them until 21. Men that learn a trade
expect to follow it until death. M. thinks women will not spend long
learning a trade, for nearly all women look forward to something else
than working all their lives at a trade. The heat and fumes of gas used
in chain making are said to render the occupation unhealthy, but an
extensive manufacturer assured me that the fumes are not inhaled, as the
flame is blown from the worker, and that it is not more unhealthy than
any other sedentary occupation. I would have thought the minuteness of
the particles composing some chains would be trying on the eyes, but the
girls said not. The chain makers sit while at work. In summer they
cannot sit near an open window, lest any of the gold be blown away.
Chain making looked to be very nice, delicate work, requiring care,
judgment, and some skill. The Europeans have not got to using steam in
any part of the process, and are astonished at the superiority of the
American chains. There are no manufactories West or South. I was told at
Tiffany's, the making of some kinds of chains can be learned in two or
three years, while other kinds require five years. S., at Tiffany's,
told me he was the first person that introduced women into the
manufacture of jewelry in New York. The hands at chain making receive
$1.50 a week at first--as they become more skilful, they receive more.
The average payment is $5 a week. They have one woman who has been at
the business six years, and earns $8 a week. Another manufacturer told
me chain making is not unhealthy. It requires a year to learn to do
polishing well, and during that time a learner can earn only from $1.75
to $2 a week. While polishing at a lathe, workers stand. Men do most
polishing now. They do it by machinery propelled by steam, and one man
can accomplish as much in a day as a woman by a treadle lathe can do in
two weeks. Manufacturers in Providence write me, "their girls, from six
to fifteen in number, work at home, and are paid by the piece. They earn
$1 a day of ten hours on an average. They do not employ men in that
department of the business. It requires men five years to learn the
business--females to solder, thirty days. Good eyesight is necessary.
The business will probably increase with growth of country and increase
of wealth. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. They are all
American." Some manufacturer in New York writes: "The work is not more
unhealthy than any other so sedentary. It is generally paid for by the
piece, the workers earning from $2 to $8 per week. The men average from
$10 to $12. Men spend seven years learning--girls, one. Quickness of
motion, perseverance, and attention are desirable qualities. The
prospect for work in future is moderate. The busy seasons are spring and
fall. In July, August, January, and February, the women are employed. We
have from thirty to forty females, because the work is light."
=251. Watch Jewels.= I called on a Swiss lady who sets jewels in
watches. She supports her family by it, but complains of a scarcity of
work, because watchmakers can import their jewels at four shillings a
dozen from Switzerland, and set them themselves.
MISCELLANEOUS WORK.
=252. Indian Goods.= Any one that has ever visited Niagara, knows
something of the immense quantity of Indian goods offered for sale.
Moccasins and reticules (made of buckskin, and ornamented with beads),
pincushions, baskets, &c. (made of birch-wood, and ornamented with
figures and flowers of party-colored porcupine quills), can be had. Fans
of feathers and a thousand little fancy articles may be bought in a
dozen different shapes at Niagara. The Indians make most of them, but
quite a number are made by fairer hands. The duty on goods purchased in
Her Majesty's realm, and brought into the States, is ten per cent. So,
if a person is careful of his purse, or disposed to encourage home
manufactures, he had as well purchase on the American side. On most of
the steamboats and cars of the Western waters, while in port or at the
depot, genuine Indian women may be seen, with (we suppose) genuine
Indian articles for sale.
=253. Inkstands.= Manufacturers of inkstands in Connecticut write: "We
employ from twelve to fifteen American women in painting, varnishing,
and bronzing inkstands, and pay from fifty to sixty cents per day of ten
hours. Females do not perform the same kind of labor that the males do.
The wages of women are less, because there is a surplus in consequence
of there being so little diversity in female employment. The occupation
is learned in from one to two years. That part done by females may be
learned in one month. They are paid while learning. Some mechanical
ingenuity is required. The business will depend on general commercial
prosperity. Summer and fall are the most busy seasons. No cessation of
employment during the year. The other parts of the work are too
laborious for women. Our location is preferable, as we have water power
and are convenient to market. Board, $1.75 per week."
=254. Lithoconia=, or artificial stone, is being used as a substitute
for terra cotta, papier-maché, &c. It is composed of mineral substances,
and is insoluble in water. It is used for making photograph frames,
busts, and statuary, and for architectural purposes. It is made in
Roxbury, Mass. The proprietor and inventor writes: "I employ fourteen
women in manufacturing and finishing lithoconia photograph frames. Their
wages average $5 a week, ten hours a day. Some are paid by the piece,
and some by the day. Men earn from $1 to $2 per day. Women learn in from
one to four weeks. Cultivation of the eye and finger, and great neatness
are desirable in a learner. Girls accustomed to drawing or fine needle
work answer well. The prospect of more work is good. My women work the
year round. Women, I think, are more reliable than men; that is, if told
to do a work in a certain way, they will do it. Men are more apt to
experiment in a new business. Women might be employed in gilding the
frames. We have twelve men in New York doing that for us now. My girls
pay from $1.75 to $2 per week for board. I hear no complaint of their
houses; but, judging from my Scotch experience, the accommodations in
Scotland are far superior in an intellectual point of view; but so far
as pies and doughnuts go, American boarding houses have the advantage."
=255. Marble Workers.= The rough parts of marble working are wet, dirty,
and laborious, but not the finishing. Constant standing on the feet, and
having the hands wet much of the time, would not do for very delicate
females. A marble worker writes: "Sawing marble is heavy and wet work,
and performed in the night as well as the day. I do not see that women
could be employed at it to any advantage." Theodore Parker mentioned
seeing a woman, in a marble yard in Paris, sawing marble. I have been
told that in Italy whole families engage in chiselling the beautiful
marble ornaments brought to this country. As a stone cutter, Charlotte
Rebecca Schild, of Hanau, worked in Paris. Miss McD. told me that she
got situations for two girls with a marble cutter in Hollidaysburg to do
the fine part of marble chiselling.
=256. Mineral Door Knobs.= Manufacturers of mineral door knobs write:
"We have women to make mineral door knobs, and to pack locks. They are
paid by the piece, and average $5 per week. They work from nine to ten
hours a day. It requires six months to learn. The prospect for further
employment is small. Seasons make no difference in the work. We find men
better adapted to the work. Our business affords little or no
opportunity for the employment of women to advantage. We have about two
hundred women in busy seasons. When men and women are employed in the
same department, they talk too much."
=257. Paper Cutters.= We read in "Women Artists" of a Dutch lady,
"Joanna Koertin Block, who produced from paper very beautiful cuttings.
All that the engraver accomplishes with the burin, she was able to do
with the scissors. Country scenes, marine views, animals, flowers, with
portraits of perfect resemblance, she executed in a marvellous manner."
"Mrs. Dards opened a new exhibition with flower paintings in the richest
colors. They were exact imitations of nature, done with fish bones."
=258. Papier-Maché Finishers.= Papier-maché is made of paper ground into
a pulp, and bleached if necessary. It is moulded into various forms. It
has been cast into figures of life size. It is made into mouldings for
the ornamental parts of bronzes. It is lighter, more lasting, and less
brittle than plaster. It can be colored or gilt. Another article of the
same name is made by gluing and pressing together, very powerfully,
sheets of prepared paper until they acquire the thickness of pasteboard.
They must be shaped while moist into the articles desired. When dry,
they will be very hard and firm. They must be covered with japan, or
other varnish, and may be beautifully painted with flowers, birds,
landscapes, &c. Workboxes, portfolios, waiters, miniature cases, clock
faces, and many other beautiful articles may be made of it. The
varnishing, painting, and inlaying is done by women in the factories of
England. Papier-maché manufacturers in Boston write: "We employ women in
pressing and painting. The work is healthy. We pay $4 per week of ten
hours a day. Men and women do not perform the same kind of work. We pay
learners $2.50 the first month, $3 the second, $3.50 the third, and $4
afterward. The prospect of future employment is good. We find women have
not a mechanical eye. Board, $2 per week."
=259. Pipes.= Meerschaum means "foam of the sea." The pipes are made
from earth found in the island of Samos. They are light, porous, and not
easily broken. Some pipes are sold as genuine that are made from the
clay left after forming and cutting the real pipes, but are of an
inferior quality. A manufacturer of meerschaum pipes told me he employs
a woman to polish the pipes. It is done by hand. She is paid $1.25 a
dozen, and can do two or three dozen a day, but they have not enough of
work to give her more than a dozen a week. A maker of white clay pipes
told me: "The clay is brought from England. Nimbleness of fingers is
most that is required for success. There is not much of that kind of
work done now in our country, because pipes are imported from Germany
for what the labor costs here. They are retailed at one penny apiece.
Women used to make them here, and do now in European countries. They can
do all parts of the work. Putting them in the furnace and baking them is
warm work, but not more so than any other baking. The work is paid for
according to the number of pipes made. A woman can earn about fifty
cents a day for moulding, yet a man can earn $5 a day, because he can
mould faster, and also attend the furnace." Besides, the man owns the
tools and furnace, which do not cost a great deal, and I suppose would
last a lifetime. We have seen it stated that white clay smoking pipes
are made in Philadelphia by one person, who recently sent to England to
procure additional assistance.
=260. Porcelain.= Porcelain partakes of the nature of both earthenware
and glass. It is a connecting link between the two. Few men are willing
to run the risk of establishing porcelain and china-ware manufactories
in this country, for they have nearly all proved failures. The porcelain
of China and Japan is harder and more durable than that manufactured in
Europe, but in beauty of form and elegance of design the European
excels. Our best articles of household ware are mostly from England,
those of an ornamental kind from France. Much of the work in a porcelain
factory could be done by women, such as cutting the porcelain with
wires, moulding the articles with a press, and washing them over with
dissolved porcelain to produce a gloss. They could also bake them. Some
do decorate and burnish them. (See China Decorators.) Women and children
are employed in Cornwall, England, in preparing clay from china stone to
be used by porcelain manufacturers, paper makers, and calico dressers.
Miss B. told me that, much of the fine lacework seen on Dresden china is
executed by women. It is very beautiful and delicate. At Greenpoint, L.
I., the proprietor once employed girls, but now employs boys in
preference. The men earn about $10 a week on an average for their work,
being paid by the piece. The best of materials for making porcelain are
found in this country, particularly in New Hampshire, where porcelain,
parian, and enamel flint are manufactured. Porcelain earths are also
found at Wilmington, Del., near Philadelphia, and in Alabama and Texas.