those that are willing to take the compositions of others, review,
correct, prune, polish, mend, and present them for publication. We
suppose there are not a great many ladies, in our country, of sufficient
experience in this way to be prepared for the business, and probably a
smaller number that would wish to undertake it. Yet, we think, to a
competent and reliable lady, it might yield a handsome profit. We know
there are a few gentlemen so engaged. Proof readers are sometimes
employed by authors for this purpose, or some literary friend of ability
does it as an accommodation. Ladies have been agents more for magazines
than standard works. Indeed, only new books claim the privilege of
having their merits set forth by agents. In towns and cities, ladies
could act as agents without any difficulty. The business, of course,
requires one to be on her feet a great deal. In sparsely settled
portions of the country, it could not be so easily done. Yet we were
told in New York of an educated lady that wished to earn a livelihood,
and, not seeing any other way open, she became a book agent. She got a
horse and buggy, and rode through the country, and was very successful.
She met with a young lady who was very anxious to join her. They made a
great deal of money, and wrote a book of their travels. There are said
to be many book and paper agents in New York city--both men and
women--and they are paid the same percentage. The time of work is
confined to daylight. If newspaper advertisements for book agents can be
relied on, we suppose the business would pay well. We can scarcely
glance over the columns of a newspaper without finding a call for agents
to present the merits of some new work, with the promise that, if active
and diligent, the individual will clear from $30 to $100 per month. It
requires judgment, taste, and a knowledge of what is popular in the book
market. I was told by the editor of a ladies' magazine, that he pays his
agents fifty cents on the dollar, and would be glad to secure the
services of more lady agents. He stated that one of his lady agents in
Brooklyn obtained in two weeks twenty subscribers, so making $12.50.
Some sell books on subscription, but if the books are printed, the
surest and most speedy way is to deliver the book and receive the money,
when the individual decides to buy. A lady who earns her living as a
book and newspaper agent, told me that she gets a percentage for the
agency of books and papers. She has been an agent eight years in New
York. Her health is poor, and she thinks it is from being out in all
kinds of weather. She does not go to every house, but calls on one
friend, who recommends her to another--so that she has as many to visit
as she can. She says the qualifications needed are health, tact,
judgment, courage, pleasing address, perseverance, with faith in the
work, and in God. Ladies are more likely to be well received than men,
but cannot walk as much. She prefers the agency of books, because she
then gets the money, gives the book, and that is the last of it. But
there is a responsibility attending the agency of papers. The editor may
require pre-payment for his magazine. If he is not an honorable man, he
may discontinue his magazine during the year, and not refund what is due
to his subscribers. The agent is then blamed, as well as the editor,
when it may be totally out of her power to remedy the matter, or to have
prevented it. A lady news agent, that has a good location and a small
circulating library, told me she has occupied the place for several
years, and so has regular customers. She does it to aid her husband in
supporting and educating their children, but thinks an individual could
earn for self alone a comfortable living by keeping a news depot. In the
large cities of the North are newspaper agents (men) who solicit
advertisements, for which they receive a commission from editors. There
is a Miss S. in New York, who makes a very good living by obtaining
advertisements for the principal city papers. She goes to stores and
offices, and solicits advertisements of business men, for which she
receives a percentage from the conductors of the papers.
=315. Mercantile Agents.= At the office of a mercantile agency on
Broadway, New York, one hundred young men are employed in writing. Why
could not women do it? An agent who travels for C.'s paper-hanging
manufactory, exhibiting specimens and getting orders, and has a
commission also from another house for another kind of business, makes
$4,000 a year. Ladies were employed writing for one mercantile agency in
Boston one winter.
=316. Pens.= The inventor of Prince's Protean pen thinks a lady would do
well to act as agent for the sale of his pens. A man who was agent made
$3,000 a year, but he could not stand such exertion over a year. His pen
is so constructed as to furnish a flow of ink for ten consecutive hours.
It is very convenient in travelling, on account of the ink being in the
case. Physicians would find it very convenient. An agent would receive a
very good allowance; for instance, a $5 pen she would receive for $3;
one style of $4 pen for $2.50, and another style for $2.25. Mr. Snow, of
Hartford, an importer of steel pens, offers to pay $2 a day to all
agents who sell five gross of pens per day, at the list of prices
furnished, and at the same rate for any larger quantity.
=317. Sewing Machines.= H., manufacturer of low-priced sewing machines
in Newburyport, Massachusetts, desires to secure some local and
travelling agents. In his circular he says: "In order to ascertain who
would prove an efficient and reliable agent, we have concluded that each
applicant shall sell thirty days on commission; and after that time, if
he proves as before stated, and prefers it to a commission, we will pay
him a salary of from $30 to $80 a month, according to capabilities, and
travelling expenses. The commission allowed will be thirty-three and one
third per cent, on the machines sold." We know nothing of the merits or
demerits of the machine, but give it as a criterion by which to judge
what sewing-machine agents may expect in the way of remuneration. The
manufacturer of the universal hemmer, which can be attached to any
sewing machine, retails them at $2.50, but to agents a deduction is made
of seventy-five cents. (It probably costs ten cents apiece to make
them.) They require agents to buy what they wish to sell. It being a
cash business, they have few lady agents. Their agents confine
themselves to towns, on account of the time that would be consumed in
travelling through the country. At a manufactory of children's spring
horses, I saw a lady employed to sell the horses and make saddles for
them. Some she stitched by hand, and some quilted and stitched by
machine. She got $6 a week.
=318. School Agents.= A lady properly qualified might, we think, conduct
a school agency. As there are few school agencies in New York, we
suppose it must be a business that pays. The prejudice that will
probably be created by the difficulties in our country, will no doubt
open the way for the preparation and employment of slave State ladies as
teachers in their own States, and consequently one or more agencies in
the South will be needed. The terms of one of the best agencies we know
of, are as follows: "To principals who have their schools registered for
the purpose of obtaining scholars by making known the terms, locality,
and advantages of their schools, a fee of $5 is charged; and for each
yearly renewal, $2; and for the introduction of each pupil into a
registered school, where the board and tuition does not amount to $120
per annum, the fee is $5. When over that amount and under $160, $7, &c.
For the registration of a teacher, in advance, $2. When the situation is
obtained, and the remuneration is under $1,000, three per cent. If
$1,000 and over, five per cent. When desired to examine and personally
assume the responsibility of selecting teachers for important positions,
an additional fee of from $3 to $5 will be charged."
=319. Telegraph Instruments.= A manufacturer of telegraphic instruments
in Boston writes: "We do not employ women in the mechanical part of our
business, but we employ them as agents to sell our instruments for
medical use. They fit themselves as lecturers by studying the science,
and travel about lecturing, giving instruction, selling machines, &c. A
very handsome income is derived therefrom."
=320. Washing Machines.= At a washing machine establishment, I was told
they make a deduction of twenty per cent. to agents who sell for them;
but to agents who sell for themselves and buy six or more, they make a
deduction of thirty per cent.
MANUFACTURERS AND COLORERS OF LADIES' APPAREL.
=321. Artificial Flowers.= As in everything else, the price for making
artificial flowers is very much regulated by the quality and taste
displayed. Many flowers made in the United States are equal in beauty
and delicacy of finish to genuine Paris flowers, but they are mostly
made by French women, and so are in reality French flowers. In France,
the preparation of the materials used in the manufacture, forms several
distinct branches of trade, and the quality of the flowers depends in a
great measure upon the care used in the getting up of these materials.
The modes of coloring flowers are exceedingly various. The materials
used in the United States are mostly imported from Paris. Some stores in
New York are confined to the sale of materials for artificial florists.
There are said to be between sixty and seventy flower manufacturers in
New York, and about a dozen in Philadelphia. I have been told there are
probably 10,000 women and children employed in making flowers in New
York: I know there is great competition in the business. The work is
mostly done by women and children, who receive as wages from $1 to $6
per week. It requires care and patience, united with good taste and much
experience, to succeed in this pretty art. There are said to be about
twenty processes in the making of artificial flowers. The employment is
one easily affected, consequently fluctuating. The New York
manufacturers have sold large quantities of American flowers to Southern
merchants, but have had no orders lately. In New York, flower peps are
made by men and boys. A man at the work said it requires some time to
learn to do all the parts. Boys, he said, do some parts that girls
cannot well do; but from my observation, girls and women could as well
do it all as workers of the other sex. One maker of flower peps told me
that at one time he employed girls, but found they had not strength
enough to cut the wires. To cut the wires might be hard, but they could
get accustomed to it; at any rate, they could dip the pistils and
stamens into the coloring matter and place them in the frames to dry. H.
told me he employs about 600 women and 400 men in his business, that of
making flowers and dressing ornamental feathers. The women earn from $4
to $12 a week; the average is from $6 to $7. They only work eight hours
in winter. There are several distinct branches, and it requires longer
to learn some than others. The washing and dyeing of feathers is done by
men, the curling and dressing by women. A few of his women are French.
He thinks it a business that must increase as the country grows older.
T. imports all his flowers, but employs one girl to mount them, that is,
make them into clusters, wreaths, &c. Not more than one in eight or ten
of those employed in the city in making artificial flowers devotes
herself to mounting them. It requires excellent taste and some
ingenuity. He pays by the week, from $8 to $10. I called on a German
lady who makes artificial flowers of paper and coarse muslin. She
arranges them in wreaths, and sells them to decorate small stores,
particularly German book stores. She and her daughter make a comfortable
living at it. It requires long practice in the artificial flower
business to earn good wages, and very good wages are earned at only a
small number of establishments. The trickery of mean people in every
occupation, it is desirable to avoid. In this business much is said to
be practised. One of the unprincipled acts referred to is this: Learners
are told they must spend six months acquiring the trade, and during that
time will receive nothing, but after that get fair wages. One branch is
learned in a week or ten days, but the apprentices remain, according to
agreement, six months doing the same kind of work, when they are
dismissed on the plea there is no work to give them, and new apprentices
are taken. Some will keep their apprentices at but one branch of work
for a year or two, so reaping the benefit of their work, without giving
the instruction they promise. Girls who have served several years at
artificial flower making can seldom earn over $3.50 or $4 a week. G. &
K., one of the oldest and most extensive firms in New York, prefer to
take girls from thirteen to fifteen years of age. Older girls are not
satisfied with such wages as learners receive. While learning, for the
first month, they are paid $2; after that, by the week, according to
what they can do. They teach their girls all the different parts, and
they make the finest French flowers. They give their girls work all the
year, and they earn from $1 to $6 a week. In summer, they work ten
hours; in winter, nine and a half. In this, as in every business, the
best hands are most sure to obtain employment. Mrs. P. thinks only
little girls should learn it, as it takes a great while to acquire
proficiency. She and her partner pay fifty cents a week for two months
to a learner, then $1 a week for a time, and then increase according to
what is done. They usually give employment all the year. They pay
altogether by the week, wages running from $2 to $5. At another
manufactory, I found the arrangements the same, the girls working nine
and a half hours in winter, and ten hours in summer. At another place I
was told that it was best for a learner to begin at ten years of age. By
the time she is eighteen, she will be able to make $4 or $5 a week. In
some of the first-class houses for the sale of fine French flowers, a
few superior hands may earn $6 and $7 per week; but for common flowers,
particularly in the cheap establishments, the prices paid are very low.
It is said to be common among some manufacturers of flowers to mix in a
few imported ones with their own, and sell them all as foreign flowers.
At another place, I found the same arrangement, fifty cents a week for a
learner; $4 a week is the price paid for a very good hand. At an
importer and manufacturer of flower materials, I was told their season
commences about the first of February. It requires but two or three
weeks' practice to earn something--then learners are paid by the piece.
Their girls make centres. They manufacture stamps and veins. At a
clean-looking place, where the flowers were of a superior quality, I was
told their girls earn from $2 to $7. At a Frenchman's, I was told, in
two months a smart girl could begin to make fine French flowers. He pays
nothing for two months; after that, seventy-five cents a week, and
increases that as the worker acquires speed and proficiency. A good
worker, he said, can earn $9 (?) a week. His girls work nine hours a
day. They make all parts and different kinds of flowers. Some girls
never learn to make flowers. At another place, the girls, I was told,
are paid nothing for three months, but at the end of that time are paid
$5. They learn all the branches. Workers are paid by the piece, earning
from seventy-five cents to $6 a week. It requires taste and a peculiar
aptitude.
=322. Belts.= B. & H. have ladies' and children's belts made, dolls
dressed, fans trimmed, &c. Their business is wholesale. They manufacture
for houses here that sell to the Southern trade. They have employed at
some seasons from twenty-five to fifty girls. The belt trade is merely
making the goods into belts. A person that can sew neatly can learn belt
making in a day. The girls earn from $3 to $4 per week, and are paid by
the piece. The belt room is superintended by a man. The busiest time for
belt making and for trimming in the wholesale business, is in July and
August, January, February and March. Spring work begins in January and
ends the first of June, and fall work the first of August and ends the
first of December. Their hands have work most of the year. They have a
variety of work done; so if there is not enough of one kind for their
hands, they put them to doing something else. They pay by the gross. The
sewing must be done by hand. The business is confined mostly to New
York. When business is good, the foreman will allow those he knows to
take work home, and get their mothers and sisters to help them. The
factory is in Newark. It is difficult to get girls to go there from New
York.
=323. Bonnet Ruches.= At some factories, ruches are made entirely by
machinery. They are not as well nor as neatly put together, and do not
sell as high as those made by hand. It does not require long for a girl
with any brains to learn, but she should commence when young, and
gradually rise to the more difficult processes. A manufacturer told me
girls must be at it a year before they are good pressers. For making
ruches he pays by the week, from $1 to $4.50. Ruche makers are not apt
to be out of employment more than from two to four weeks. P., New York,
told us his workers are of all nations. Some work by the week, sewing
ten hours a day. Girls sit in his factory while at work, but stand in
most places. Standing is thought to be the easiest position, as it
allows of change. He told us that some girls earn as high as $6 a week.
It is piece work. Joining, sewing, and pressing are done by females,
fluting by men and boys. It is best for females that wish to learn the
business to commence quite early, say when twelve or fourteen years of
age. P. thinks it would not be advisable to introduce more workers into
the occupation but I would advise any one desiring to learn the trade to
make further inquiries into the condition of the business. T., of
Philadelphia, who has been in the business a great many years, employs
over one hundred females.