in religious ceremonies than as a protection from the sun. In some of
the warmest countries, they are as much used by men as women. The
manufacture of parasols and umbrellas is quite extensively carried on in
this country, and is one that pays pretty well. At S.'s umbrella
manufactory, Philadelphia, great numbers of women are employed--one
hundred and seventy-five in his principal establishment, and nearly as
many in its branches, and some at their homes. They make and sew on the
covers, and are paid by the piece, according to the material and
workmanship. It requires about six weeks to learn umbrella making. The
girls we saw leaving the premises looked tidy and cheerful. S. remarked
that those who live at a distance from the workshop, generally arrive
earlier than those who live near. He thinks, if they would abstain from
excessive use of tea and coffee, they would enjoy better health. They
used to employ Americans principally, but now have foreigners, mostly
Irish. They can come and go during work hours as they please. Last
summer there were twelve hundred females, in Philadelphia, engaged in
making umbrellas and parasols. In most umbrella factories in New York,
girls are paid eight, nine, and ten cents an umbrella. For silk
umbrellas, they receive only two cents more than for cotton ones.
Parasols range in price from four to twenty-four cents, according to
size, style, and quality of material. Old hands, in some houses, take
apprentices for two or three weeks, and receive the proceeds of their
work for the time given in instructing them. March, April, and May are
the busiest months for making city parasols; and August, September, and
October for umbrellas. Where I purchased an umbrella in New York, the
man said he employed two women in spring and one in winter to work. The
parasol work pays best. His girls earn, when making parasols, from $5 to
$6 per week; but umbrellas seldom pay more than half that. The wholesale
parasol work commences about the middle of December, but his, being
retail for the city, does not begin until May. A girl in the trade told
me that umbrella sewers can earn from $2 to $6 per week. Of course they
have not work all the year steadily. She is paid to stay in the store,
and is expected to spend any unoccupied moments in sewing for the shop.
An umbrella maker told me his girls earn from $2 to $6, according to the
kind and quantity of work they do. He thinks the occupation well filled.
In New York city, in 1853, there was one parasol and umbrella firm that
employed two hundred and fifty girls, and their average wages were $4 a
week. In the umbrella business the work is invariably paid for by the
piece. A gentleman told me that girls in that branch of work become very
immoral from association with men while at work; but in large
establishments the females have a separate workroom, and there is no
need of their ever seeing any man while at work, except the foreman.
(Why might they not have a forewoman?) S. Brothers say their girls earn
from $2 to $8 a week. They keep them employed most of the year--their
best hands all the year. Most of the work is done at the factories, but
some girls run up the covers at home, and come to the factory to put
them on the frames. I was told that in Philadelphia, work can be done as
well for lower prices, because living is cheaper. My experience as to
the price of living was to the contrary. I talked with one girl who had
been making umbrellas seven years, but thinks she will die of
consumption in less than two years, from the long and close confinement;
but I think the detriment to health arises more from the dust and
coloring matter that rubs off the umbrella muslin, particularly in
summer, when the coloring matter is absorbed freely by the openness of
the pores. A manufacturer told me his hands could earn from $4 to $6 a
week. A learner must spend three weeks without remuneration; then she is
paid according to the quality and amount of work done. About one fourth
of his girls are Americans, that have worked out, but desire to do
something they think more respectable. His hands have work all the year,
with the exception of six weeks. The busy time commences in January.
Most of his girls run them up at home, but put them on the frames at the
factory. S., New York, says the business is bad in July, and part of
August--also in February. In his factory, some tailoresses, and girls
that sew for milliners and dress makers, get employment until the busy
seasons of their trades come round. His women get for sewing from $2 to
$3 a week; those that cut get from $5 to $8. It requires about two weeks
to learn the business. A good use of the needle is necessary in a sewer,
and economy in the use of the cloth for a cutter. The business is likely
to increase. In busy seasons there is often a demand for good hands. In
Paterson, Newark, and other towns where the Irish prevail, they usurp
the labor even in umbrella making. In New York city a foreign influence
predominates, and many Irish have come into the business there within
the last year. The importation from England of umbrellas (like almost
everything else) is less and less every year. Some manufacturers have
the hemming done by machines. S. will not, because it throws many women
out of employment. A Broadway manufacturer informs me he pays the ladies
who attend his store, each $5 per week--those who sew are paid by the
piece, and average $4.50 per week. He pays while learning, the time of
which is one month. A good maker will always find employment. The best
season is from January to June. Those who attend store are there from 8½
until 7 P. M. A manufacturer in New York, who employs eighty girls,
informs me "he pays by the piece, and each earns about $4 per week.
Spring is the most busy season. Men and women pursue different branches.
Board, $1.50 to $2." An extensive manufacturer, a Jew, in New York,
complained to me that women do not stick to one trade. He has often had
women who have been sempstresses, cap makers, &c. Some, too, will not
remain long at this work--they want to go at something else. Now, I
would ask what a woman is to do, when her trade gives her work but part
of the year, and her wages for that are merely enough to keep her alive
during that time? Is she to be blamed for going to another trade in the
interval? No--she is to be commended for her prudence and good sense. Do
men confine themselves to one trade, if they find they can do better in
another? The proprietor said he would not receive any applicants but
those that are of good families and bring certificates of character. He
pays by the dozen, and his women earn from $3 to $4 per week. Some parts
of the work, he says, is done by machinery that women cannot manage.
They receive enough to pay their board while learning. A woman that has
been a milliner has acquired a skill with her needle, a smoothness and
softness of touch, that enables her to become a very good umbrella
maker. Such a one is best fitted for sewing on silk umbrellas. One that
has been a tailoress and accustomed to sewing on heavy cloths is
deficient in fineness of touch, and cannot succeed so well. The
secretary of the Waterloo Company writes: "The girls of the factory are
all paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $5 per week. Men receive
$1.25 per day, and are practical mechanics. The work of the females is
easy, and requires little or no experience. Work hours average ten, the
year through. The women are all American. Men's board, $3; girls',
$2.50." A manufacturer in Concord, New Hampshire, "pays his girls from
$10 to $12 a month. Women can learn their part in from one to three
months. The best seasons for work are spring and summer--the poorest,
winter. Board, $6 a month." Manufacturers in Boston write: "We employ
one woman the whole year in cutting out covers of umbrellas and
parasols, and pay her $6.50 a week the year round--to another, who
performs the same kind of work, in busy times, say from November 1st to
July 1st, we pay $5.50. A superintendent, who gives out and receives
back the work and keeps the pay roll, receives $5.50 part of the year,
and $4.50 the other part. From March 1st to July 1st we employ thirty
girls to sew up covers and put on frames, and pay by the piece. They
average $4 per week. We keep ten girls, for this kind of work, through
the winter. It takes four or five years for men to learn the business;
women well versed in the use of the needle, two or three years. From
December 1st to March 1st, some of our women work on furs, or
upholstery, and some are unable to obtain any kind of work. The supply
is more than the demand, particularly this year. As a location for this
business, the advantages are in favor of New York, because of the large
market, and on account of the principal part of the material being made
there. Most of our hands board with relations or friends, because they
find it difficult to get boarding places at such prices as they are able
to pay. Board, from $1.75 to $3.00." Umbrella stitchers in New Britain,
Connecticut, "have some girls tending machines, to whom they pay from 50
to 75 cents per day of ten hours. They have some to sort and pack goods.
Women can do the light work somewhat cheaper than men, and are somewhat
quicker. No other parts of the work are suited to their strength and
dress."
=330. Sempstresses.= In 1845, there were in New York ten thousand
sempstresses, and now there are probably many more. "The following are
the prices for which a majority of these females are compelled to
work--they being such as are paid by the large depots for shirts and
clothing, on Chatham street and elsewhere:--For making common white and
checked shirts, six cents each; common flannel undershirts the same.
These are cut in such a manner as to make ten seams in two pairs of
sleeves. A common fast sempstress can make two of these shirts per day.
Sometimes, very swift hands, working from sunrise till midnight, can
make three. This is equal to seventy-five cents a week (allowing nothing
for holidays, sickness, accidents, being out of work, &c.) for the first
class, and $1.12½ for the others. Good cotton shirts, with linen bosoms,
neatly stitched, are made for twenty-five cents. A good sempstress will
thus earn $1.50 a week by constant labor. Fine linen shirts, with
plaited bosoms, which cannot be made by the very best hand in less than
fifteen or eighteen hours' steady work, are paid fifty cents each.
Ordinary hands can make one shirt of this kind in two days. Duck
trousers, overalls, &c., eight or ten cents each; drawers and
undershirts, both flannel and cotton, from six to eight cents at the
ordinary shops, and 12½ cents at the best. One garment is a day's work
for some, others can make two. Satinet, cassimere, and broadcloth,
sometimes with gaiter bottoms and lined, from eighteen to thirty
cents--the latter price paid only for work of the very best quality.
Good hands make one a day. Their coats are made for from 25 to 37½ cents
apiece. Heavy pilot-cloth coats, with three pockets, $1 each. A coat of
this kind cannot be made under three days. Cloth roundabouts and pea
jackets, twenty-five to fifty cents. These can be made in two days." In
a large town, in Massachusetts, we read, not many months past, of
overalls being made at thirty-seven cents per dozen, or three cents a
pair, and shirts at forty-eight cents per dozen, or four cents apiece.
When the times are hard, prices fall from their usually low standard.
Our hearts sicken within us as we read the prices paid needlewomen. The
trifling remuneration and wasted health of most needlewomen is a bitter
reflection on those who employ them. Some clothing merchants and cap and
shirt makers pay their women such prices as enable them to live--better
than those mentioned above. They are houses of a more respectable class,
that have a position, and deal with a more liberal class of people. The
occupation of sempstress is crowded to overflowing in New York. In
business times it is impossible to get a working person to leave New
York, but in hard times they are very willing to go. One firm told me
that they often have applications for operators and sempstresses in busy
seasons, but then they will not leave; and when the times are dull there
is no demand, and they cannot. The supply of labor has been greater than
the demand, and hence the competition that has arisen among clothing
merchants, and the low price of made clothing as sold in slop shops. The
use of sewing machines has to some extent done away with sewing by hand.
Many a woman has been thrown out of employment by it, to which many of
our newspapers can testify, and have borne witness during the past two
years. We have heard of some slop shops in large cities offering to pay
the highest wages to good shirt makers, each applicant to take a shirt
and make it for nothing, as a sample of her sewing. From one hundred to
two hundred, perhaps, apply, and, of course, that many shirts are made.
It meets the demand of the unprincipled shopkeeper, and he has, perhaps,
employment for a dozen or more. A man that has a ladies' furnishing
store, told me he pays girls that sew neatly by hand 37½ cents a day.
Many clothing merchants have their work done in the country, because
they can have it done more cheaply. The sewing done by French linen
makers is very beautiful. The majority of sempstresses have no time they
can call their own. Those that sew twelve or fourteen out of the
twenty-four hours, without any relatives or friends even to be
protectors for them, and often in bad health, have no time for mental
improvement or social intercourse. "The habits of the sempstress are
indicated by the neck suddenly bending forward, and the arms being, even
in walking, considerably bent forward, or folded more or less upward
from the elbows."
=331. Sewing Machine Operatives.= There has probably been no invention
in which so large a number of persons have realized fortunes as the
sewing machine. All the first manufacturers of them have amassed money.
In the United States 150,000 sewing machines are in use. Miss P. says, a
sewing machine and baster do the work of ten hand sewers and five
basters. We hear of some sewing machines in London, each of which can
accomplish as much as fifteen pairs of human hands. At several highly
respectable establishments we were told their operatives earn from $4 to
$7 a week, according to the abilities of the operative, the kind of
machine, and the style of work. In houses of lower standing, operatives
earn from $3 to $5. I was told of one man who hires a number of girls to
work on machines at $2.20 a week. At Y. & Co.'s, operatives earn from
$2.50 to $4. Machine stitchers of leather generally get $6 a week. The
usual number of hours for operatives is ten. I have been told that the
secret of its being so difficult to get basters is, they are paid poor
wages. A clothing merchant in the Bowery says he has a family working
for him that earn $28, and sometimes $30 per week. They use two
machines. The machine-made clothing for men sells at about the same
price as hand-made, and is generally liked as well by purchasers. We
think, the sewing of ladies done by machine does not pay quite so well
as hand sewing; but if we sewed for a living, we would give the machine
the preference, because of its rapid execution. C., who employs about
four hundred hands, says their dull season begins the 4th of July. L.,
who sells sewing machines, told me he frequently has applications for
operatives to go into clothing manufactories. G. & B. occasionally have
applications from other places, but always give the choice to those who
have learned with them. L. thinks the employment of operatives will not
amount to anything as a permanent reliance out of cities. He thinks in
one or two years the sewing machine will be used in almost every
family--as much domesticated as the wash tub. In cities where clothing,
bagging, &c., are made in large quantities, of course, there will be a
demand for some. L., superintendent of E. S.'s machines, employs from
three to twelve ladies, and pays from $5 to $10 a week. They stay from
eight to ten hours. A lady, who hires sewing machines, and sends out
operatives, told me she charges $2 a day for a machine and operative,
sending both, and giving twelve hours' time, or from $1.25 to $1.50 for
an operator only, according to the number of hours given. If they are
hired for a week or more, the prices are still lower. I think the usual
hire of a machine only is $2 a day. A man that hires machines told me
that he rents for from $3 to $5 per month, keeping the machine in repair
during the time, if it is not badly used. Singer's principal machine is
a strong, heavy one, most suitable for cloth, and requires much strength
to work long at a time. According to D., a clothing merchant, a woman
with one of Singer's machines can do all the stitching of twelve pairs
of cloth pantaloons in a day; and a coat that formerly required two days
to make by hand, can now be made in one sixth of a day. W., agent of W.
& W.'s machine, says the lady that has charge of L. & S.'s sewing
department, told him ladies prefer to have their sewing done by
machines, and that B. will not have his mantillas made by hand. He told
me of a woman that takes in $30 a week with the aid of two girls, to
whom she pays $6 a week each, leaving the profit of $18 a week; and of
another who makes $8 a week with her machine. Now that machines are more
plentiful, work done by them is not so well paid. The sellers of
machines say it is not unhealthy. Some people suppose the machine to be
much more injurious than the needle, if worked as long and constantly.
The tax on the muscles of the lower limbs and the weaker parts of the
system is certainly very great; yet those with treadles are thought by
some to be less injurious than those moved by steam. I talked with a
lady keeping a depository connected with an influential church for the
supplying of poor women with work. She thinks sewing machines are very
injurious--says a girl of seventeen will give out in three or five years
at most. It produces a pain first in the hips, and the jar affects the
nerves; and the sameness of the stitch on white or black goods produces
a constant strain of the eye. She mentioned a young woman who came a few
days before to get sewing, who had worked at B.'s five years on a
machine, and her sight had so failed her that she cannot see to work now
by gaslight. She was but twenty-three, but looked to be thirty years of
age. Sewing by machine, I have been told, injures some kinds of goods.
The needle being large, threads of the cloth are liable to be broken.
Changing the kind and quality of goods in operating injures a machine.
The utility and profit of sewing machines have to a great extent been
usurped by Jew men, that are tailors and cap makers. I have heard that
many respectable men in New York, after coming home from business, spend
nearly or quite all the evening in operating on machines, doing the
family sewing that has been cut and basted ready to stitch. What can we
say of such effeminacy and meanness, when done by those that are able to
give such work to poor women? A lady remarked to me: "When sewing
machines were invented, it was said new occupations would be opened to
women as the machine came in use, and deprived some of a livelihood; but
it is eight years since, and I have not heard of one." The sewing
machine has certainly thrown many women out of employment. Those who are
able to purchase one may get along. It is in this as in every other
branch of labor--a capital, however small, is an assistance in business.
One advantage always gained by machinery is that it enables the poor to
purchase more cheaply the materials used by them. Freemasons often buy
machines for the widows they help to support. In some of the large
manufactories of Dublin, where sewing machines are used, from fifty to
two hundred women are employed.
FUR WORKERS.
=332. Dyers.= Dyeing furs is wet and dirty work, and the odor is very
disagreeable. I was told by a lady that girls at such work can earn $4 a
week, or if by the piece, from $5 to $6. There are very few indeed at
it. She thinks it not unhealthy. She sometimes cleans furs, mostly
ermine, with a powder of some kind. In the fur business, people must
sell enough in three months to keep them the other nine months of the
year. In the summer they take time to examine, purchase, and make up
furs. C., a fur dyer and dresser, told me he once employed an
Englishwoman to flesh fine skins--_i. e._, take off the flesh that
adheres to a skin when removed from an animal. It is done with a sharp
knife. She earned as much as a man, $1.50 a day. But men object to
working with women in that business; and no American women, to his
knowledge, know how to do it.
=333. Sewers.= From conversations with a number of fur dealers in
Philadelphia and New York, I find the rate of wages for sewers runs from
$2.25 a week to $8. Forewomen get good wages. Some sewers and liners are
paid by the piece, and some by the week. Those who work by the week are
paid for extra hours. A small number of the women employed in New York
are English, but the majority are Germans, who have learned the business
in their own country. In Germany most of the men learn to sew, and most
of the men engaged in the fur business know how. Quite a number in New
York are married women, whose husbands are connected with the business.
Furs are sold only in the fall and winter, but made up in the summer. In
a few places they give work all the year to a small number of workers,
but the majority do not give work more than six months, from May to
December. Some fur sewers have another trade for the other six months,
as hat binding, &c. It does not require long for a good sewer to
learn--from one week to six. There are some kinds of fancy fur sewing
that require rather longer. No women are employed in preparing the
skins: that is done at different establishments, generally in the
suburbs, and exclusively by male hands. The usual number of hours of
sewers employed by the day is ten; but many of those who sew by the
piece take work home with them to do at night, and so are enabled to
earn considerably more. Men working in the fur business in New York earn
from $8 to $12 per week. The quilting for linings is done by machines,
but the linings are sewed in by hand. Liners are generally better paid
than sewers, and earn from $6 to $10. In extensive establishments, a
cutter and a certain number of sewers and liners confine themselves to
one kind of fur. Some furriers pay their learners enough to board them;
some do not pay anything. I think the supply of hands in New York is
equal to the demand. The best workers, of course, are most sure of
employment. New York is the great fur depot of the United States, but
some business is also done in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Furs
are sent from St. Louis and Chicago to be made up in New York, and part
of them returned to be sold in those cities. Those that sew furs at home
can most conveniently take learners. There are a number of middlemen in
the fur business, who get work from the stores and make a profit by
employing women to do it at lower wages. Mrs. G., an importer and
manufacturer, cuts her own furs, particularly ermine and sable. She says
furs are sometimes cut in Germany by women, but people in this country
think a woman cannot properly cut them. Work at the fur business in
England is said to pay better than any other. G--s, the largest firm in
New York, write: "We pay women from $2.50 to $6 per week. Some work by
the week, some by the piece. Men get about double wages, but their work
requires more physical strength. Men do the cutting and matching, and it
requires several years to be a good workman. Sewers receive about half
price while learning. Some women can learn all that is necessary in a
few months. The prospect of employment is not so good as heretofore. The
women work the year around. Work hours are 9½. Board, $2 to $2.50 per
week." Most furriers report the employment healthy, but it is not, on
account of the dust and loose hairs flying, for persons predisposed to
consumption. A furrier in New York writes: "I pay mostly by the piece.
It takes about one year and a half for women to learn the parts they do.
The amount of work hereafter depends some upon fashion and the weather.
The best seasons for work are from May until February. We could not
shorten the hours of work unless the business had a longer season.
Board, from $1.50 to $2." A furrier in Boston writes: "Women are
employed for sewing and lining furs here, in England and France, and
partially in Germany, Russia, &c. Week hands get from $4 to $4.50, ten
hours a day; others, from $2 to $6. Business in future is uncertain. I
am busy from July to Christmas. The best location for the business is
where furs are fashionable." A fur dealer in New York, who employs from
10 to 15 women, gives the following answers to questions concerning the
fur business: "The work is very easy, and not unhealthy. I pay women
from $3 to $6 per week, ten hours a day. They are as well paid as males,
in proportion to the amount of work done. Any apt female can learn in
three months, and is always paid by me $2.50 per week while learning.
The business is better and there is more of it every year. Work is
steady from May to December; very little at other times. The comfort and
remuneration of the employment is satisfactory among working classes.
Women are more capable of handling a needle for light, fine work than
men. The colder the climate, the better the location for business,
provided people have money to buy furs." In some establishments where
men and women work in the same departments, they are allowed to talk
while at work; but the practice, some complain, is not conducive to good
morals. The character of the people and conversation, however, would
decide that.
FITTERS, CUTTERS, AND SEWERS OF LADIES' AND CHILDREN'S WEAR.