from eighteen cents apiece to $1. Those who make at the lowest prices
appear to have no other mission on earth but to sew up bleached muslin
into shirts. The only time which they economize is their sleeping time;
and their food is economized for them by circumstances over which it
would appear they have but little control. In some instances we have
been informed, that where there are two or three or more women or girls
engaged in this enterprise of making shirts to enable gentlemen to
appear respectable in society, they absolutely divide the night season
into watches, so that the claims of sleep may not snatch from the grasp
of the shirt manufacturers an iota of their rights. In this way, by
working about twenty hours a day, the amazing sum of $2.50, and
sometimes $3, is earned per week. Sewing machines have so reduced the
amount of labor required for shirts, as well as the price, that they can
in some places only earn twenty-five cents by working twelve hours; and
they cannot get steady employment even at these prices." Between 2,000
and 3,000 women are supposed to be engaged in shirt making in
Philadelphia. Competition has depressed prices fearfully low. A shirt
maker in that city told me he pays by the week. He gives the bodies out,
and they are done by hand; the collars and bosoms by machines. They are
cut out by men with knives, and the cloth is from twenty-four to
thirty-six thicknesses. They pay basters now mostly by the piece. B., of
the same city, who carries on general shirt making, puts the plain parts
out in the country to be done. It, of course, costs less than the
finishing off. Good workers can earn from $3 to $4 a week for plain
sewing--more for fine. At a shirt-bosom manufactory in Philadelphia, P.,
the proprietor, told me he has the bosoms and collars made by machinery,
employing seventeen girls all the year. Some establishments employ them
only in the busy season, spring and fall. His women earn from $3 to $5 a
week. To one machine are employed three girls: one to cut out, one to
baste, and one to stitch. The fine plaits of bosoms are laid by
machinery. Cutters and button-hole makers are better paid than basters
and stitchers. A shirt maker told me in New York (December, 1860), that
the only houses there supplying the article were those that made up for
the California market. Operators, good ones, he said, usually earn $1 a
day, of nine hours in winter, and ten in summer. Those that work at home
can earn more, because they do more. On Dey street, I was told by a
gentleman that he has shirts made in Connecticut, and he often finds it
difficult to get good hands. He has shirts cut out with scissors. He
used to employ a forewoman to cut and superintend. Most shirts sold in
the South, West, and California, have been made at the North. New York,
Troy, and New Haven are the principal places. Operators usually earn $1
a day, of eleven hours; but as the work is generally paid for by the
piece, they may earn only from fifty cents to $1. Making button holes is
a distinct branch. He pays half a cent apiece for those of ordinary
size, and one cent for the larger ones of the wrists. In good times he
employs girls all the year. The spring sale commences in January, the
fall sale in July. S., another manufacturer, has common drawers and
shirts made by machine. A brisk hand can make two dozen pair of drawers
a day, and are paid fifty cents a dozen (?) He keeps workers in
prosperous times all the year. A lady who makes shirts by hand told me
she could barely make a living, though her work is done for customers.
She does most in spring and summer. The trimmings she makes by machine.
Madame P. pays eighty cents for making a shirt, except the bosom, which
is imported. She does her own cutting by hand. A shirt maker says girls
that can finish a shirt neatly get $3 a week of ten or eleven hours a
day. Work of that kind is not confined to seasons. J. has most work to
do in summer. The girls are paid by the piece, and can earn from $3 to
$4. His are made by machine, but finished off by hand. He has girls of
all kinds; idle and industrious, easy of temper and obstinate; in short,
the variety always to be met with in help. A lady told me she cuts
shirts by measure, and has a variety of styles. She pays an old lady
fifty cents a day for basting, and from $5 to $6 a week to an operator.
The neatness of machine sewing depends much on the way in which the
basting is done. W. told me his basters earn from $3 to $4; operators
from $5 to $6; button-hole makers from $4 to $6. He gives employment all
the year. No demand, except in busy seasons for good operators, and they
can be obtained by advertising. The owner of a shirt-collar manufactory
and laundry said his collars were stitched by machines, and the
operators earn from $3 to $9 per week. It is piece work. The washers are
paid by the hundred dozen. Six weeks, I believe, is the time usually
given by one that can sew neatly, to learn the trade. At L. & G.'s, I
was told the best seasons in the wholesale trade are spring and fall;
but in the retail trade there is little difference. Men and boys cut out
with a knife, and are able to cut through seventy-two thicknesses of
cloth. Women have not the strength to cut such quantities. The prospect
is fair for good hands. There is a superabundance of indifferent hands.
Their best sewers are English. Many of them are married women. They used
to employ young girls, but they wasted material and were not steady at
work. They have lost much by women that would come and take out a dozen
shirts to make, and never return them. On inquiring at the place where
the women said they lived, they would find they had never been there.
Few, except the Jews, require a deposit. It is difficult to obtain one
from sewers of the value of the material taken out. They could obtain
one hundred and fifty hands any day by advertising. Button-hole makers
earn $5 a week; some operators, $9. A factory in New Haven employs eight
hundred women; two hundred work in the establishment, the others work
out. The indoor work is done by machines. The other is finishing off,
and is sent through the country. It consists in gathering and sewing in
the sleeves, felling down the facing around them, stitching on
wristbands, sewing in the bosoms, putting on the collar, and working the
button-holes, for which they receive ten cents a shirt. A firm of shirt
manufacturers in Troy, N. Y., write: "We employ from three hundred to
four hundred women; some with sewing machines, some with needles, and
others in various kinds of labor connected with our manufacturing. They
are paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $10 a week. While learning
they are paid according to what they do. Spring and fall are the best
seasons, but they have some employment all the year. The supply is fully
equal to the demand in this locality. About half are Americans; board,
$2 to $2.50." Another firm in the same place writes: "We employ four
hundred, and pay from $5 to $10 per week to about one hundred hands, and
from $3 to $7 to those who do not depend upon it for a livelihood. Women
spend a few months learning; men, years. Midwinter and summer are the
best seasons for work." A shirt-collar firm in Troy write: "In reply to
yours we would state, we are employing in and outside of our
manufactory, from six to eight hundred women, in running, turning,
stitching, banding, marking, and boxing gentlemen's collars. Most of our
workwomen are Americans, and live with parents or relatives. Those
boarding pay from $1.75 to $3 per week. Many of our workwomen are very
intelligent. All are required to be steady and industrious. Some parts
of our business can be learned in two or three weeks, while other parts
will take as many months; but each one is paid while learning. Our work
is all done by the piece, and women earn from $5 to $8 per week during
business seasons, which are summer and winter. They are usually thrown
out of employment one month during the fall, and one in spring. The
employment requires from eight to nine hours per day, in our
manufactory. The making of gentlemen's collars must increase in
proportion to the increase of the male population of our country; and,
as styles are becoming more and more varied, this also must tend to
increase the manufacture. There is, however, no demand for help in any
department of the business, yet. We have but five or six women in all
our establishment who are required to stand upon their feet while at
work. All others can make their positions quite comfortable. We employ
but few men (from five to eight), and they are in departments which
women could not fill; nor could men well fill the women's department."
Manufacturers in Boston write: "The prospect of future employment is
good. Our women (fifty in number) are nearly all Americans. There is no
competition between male and female labor in this branch, which,
probably, is the cause of women receiving less wages. The work is
healthy, only as it involves want of fresh air and exercise. Girls in
the shop are paid from $4 to $7 per week, and work from nine to ten
hours. Good sewers are getting scarcer every year. We are always ready
to employ a really good hand--one who can do nice work. There is a
growing demand for articles of all kinds. There are a great many women
unable to sew well, who compete with each other for the work given out
by the slop shops." Shirt makers in Ithaca, New York, write: "The work
is very healthy in well ventilated establishments. What we employ men
for, women cannot do as well. There is a demand for collar finishers, a
surplus of machine operatives." Shirt manufacturers in Watertown, Conn.,
write: "We employ in our establishment from twelve to twenty girls and
women, all Americans. They work in winter about nine hours; in summer,
ten. Most of them work on sewing machines, and can earn from $4 to $5
per week. For board they pay $2 per week. There is no season of the year
when our work is entirely stopped." L., in Lynn, Mass., engaged in
custom-shirt manufacturing, writes: "I pay fifty cents apiece for making
shirts, and $4.50 per week for a machine girl. My workwomen are widows
and married women, and they average five shirts or $2.50 per week,
besides their house work. But a woman that makes five shirts a week
cannot have much spare time." A lady in Massachusetts, who has shirts
made to order, informs me she pays by the piece, and her girls earn from
fifty to seventy-five cents a day. She employs the most skilful. She
says the nature of the employment is such that no woman could enjoy
health long, who did nothing else, and the wages are so small that
anyone must work all the time to make a living; hence the work does not
suit any, except those who have homes and have recourse to this as a
secondary employment. The demand for the articles in the market is
limited, and she has never been able to carry it on in a wholesale
manner except by the aid of friends whose sympathy has created a demand
for the work.
=364. Suspenders.= J., New York, says his girls can earn from $4 to $5,
and are paid by the piece. There are but four suspender factories in the
United States, of any size. The factories at the east are mostly
supplied by the daughters of farmers from the vicinity. The one in
Easthampton is of the best standing. The girls are intelligent and well
behaved. Board too is lower. They like to employ families, father,
mother, sons, and daughters. A suspender maker, in New York, told me he
buys the woven goods, then cuts it the right length, and shapes the
leather for the ends, which his wife sews on. I expect, from the
appearance of their room, they earn but a meagre subsistence. The agent
of the American Suspender Co., at Waterbury, told me "they employ a
large number of girls to spool, weave, and pack. The straps are sewed on
by farmers' daughters, who take them home. They are paid for by the
gross. They earn less than weavers, who can make from $4 to $6 a week.
They have had constant work until this fall (1860). The bindings are
sewed on by hand. It requires some time to become a good weaver. A man
serves a regular apprenticeship--women will learn for ten years, if they
continue. Ingenuity and mechanical talent are desirable. A learner is
not paid while in with another weaver. The amount of employment in
future depends on European competition. The hands work ten hours a day,
and they employ about fifty women, one fourth of whom are American.
Women are superior to men in activity, and will handle thread much
better than men. Board, $1.75."
=365. Tailoresses.= The tailors of London have a pension society. All
the tailors' work of this country might be performed by women. It is
most suitable for them. Some say women cannot do the nice sewing of a
coat. Give them the same training, and pay them the same wages as men,
and we are confident they can. All of the clothes sold in the slop shops
of cities are made by women. Many can sew beautifully, but have not
learned the art of cutting out. This they will find an important part of
their trade. It will greatly assist those who make boys' clothes. It is
ascertained that at least 4,800 females are supplied with work by the
ready-made clothing establishments of Philadelphia, which enables each
industrious sewer to earn from $1.25 to $5 per week. A large number of
women are now engaged in making clothes for the soldiers. At most large
clothing establishments, work is done both by hand and machine. Some is
done in the house, but most is given out. At O.'s, New York, they employ
a large number. The majority are Americans, but some are Germans, and a
few Irish. The foreman finds those that are dependent on their work for
a living, do their work better than those that merely do it for pocket
money. The best work is always best paid. A good hand can earn $3 per
week. They work by the piece. Some women hire a room and employ girls to
work for them. S. says the principal reason that women do not get as
good prices as men, is that they do not learn to do their work so well.
He spent five years learning, but a girl expects to learn it in so many
weeks, or months, at most; but many women that sew for a support are
very poor, and cannot afford to spend much time learning. T. pays his
women from $5 to $10 a week, according to the work they do. R. says
girls do not feel the interest in their work they should. They forget
that three minutes lost by twenty girls amounts to an hour. If a
procession is passing, they think it very hard if they cannot have ten
or fifteen minutes to look out of the windows. The girls that sew earn
from $3 to $4.50, except those who fasten the ends of threads and take
out basting threads, who receive $2.50. They all work ten hours. They
have some who take their work home, and are paid by the piece. Those
that do their work best have the highest prices, and are most sure of
having constant employment. Some of their women become mere machines,
and that in his opinion was a recommendation. They have no life or
spirit, but plod on day after day in the same way. Such, when they do
their work neatly and thoroughly, he thinks most reliable. They find it
difficult to get their work well done. It is computed by Dr. L. that one
thousand needlewomen fall victims annually to overwork at the needle. A
city missionary told me that he knew of many sempstresses that spent
sixteen hours out of the twenty-four, stitching. I was told in D. & B.'s
clothing store, that the women who sew by hand, earn from $3 to $4 per
week. P. measures and cuts, and he employs women to operate on machines,
paying from $3 to $4 per week, working from 8 to 7 o'clock. It is done
under Mrs. P.'s supervision. The work is mostly for boys. They 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. L.
& Co. make boys' clothing, and pay by the piece. They require a deposit
from those that are doubtful. If business is good, they give work all
the year. He thinks there is enough of work, in busy times, for all the
tailoresses in the city. The best way to learn is to receive instruction
from journeymen who employ hands and take learners. Some require an
apprenticeship of three months, and some of six months, in children's
clothing. The busy season commences November 1st and runs to March 1st,
and from March to September 1st.
=366. Vests.= First class vest makers receive better prices than women
in the other departments of tailoring, and are more sure of work.
Superior hands can earn from $4 to $5 a week. Clothing, cap makers and
shoe binders are often crowded together from forty to fifty in a room,
where it is stitch, stitch, stitch from daylight to sundown. Some slop
shops in New York pay only fifteen cents for making a vest, and only ten
cents for pantaloons!!! There are over nine thousand tailoresses doing
custom work in New York, and of these 7,400 are vestmakers.
UPHOLSTERERS.
=367. Upholsterers.= Some branches of upholstery are hard work in
consequence of the heaviness of the materials. At some upholsterers in
Philadelphia, when a girl applies for work, she is taught during a
fortnight, and receives enough to pay her board--usually $1.50 per week.
At the end of this time, if found faithful and diligent, she is put upon
full wages, $3.50 a week. In this trade there is the serious drawback of
remaining a great part of the year unemployed, as it is only in the
spring and fall that the business is brisk. Men usually put up tapestry,
and lay down heavy carpets. The price to girls by upholsterers is about
on a par with other work done by females. H., Philadelphia, employs
several women. The forewoman receives $5.50 per week; the next best
hand, $5; the less proficient, from $2 to $5. The business requires a
good amount of intelligence, and about a year's application to acquire
it. H. is not exacting as to the number of hours his operatives work.
When business is slack they have easy times. He employs his good hands
all the year. In one of the principal importing and manufacturing
upholsteries and carpet establishments in New York about seventy females
are employed. They make up a great many lace and damask curtains, and
are under the supervision of a forewoman. Seventeen sewing machines are
kept, though most of the sewing is done by hand. Any person that can sew
well can do all the work, as it is cut out and prepared. With a very few
exceptions all are paid by the week, receiving from $3 to $4, working
ten hours a day. The piece workers can sometimes earn $5. They are
employed the whole year. An upholsterer told me that his work is done to
order, and consequently the measure for beds, mattresses, curtains, &c.,
is always taken. There are many women in Boston, I have been informed,
working in sofa, chair, and lounge manufactories that earn from $1 to
$1.50 a day. A firm in Boston writes: "I employ women to sew and attend
sales, and pay from $3 to $4 a week. Men are paid two thirds more than
women, because it is the fashion. It requires three months to learn. A
knowledge of the needle and figures is desirable. Learners are paid.
Females work nine hours and a half. Some parts of our work are in wood,
and too heavy for women; the rest they can do better than men. Board, $2
to $4. A firm in Boston, "employing two women to make sofa cushions, pay
them $4 each per week, working from eight to ten hours a day. They pay
women less than men, because female help is generally cheaper. Men spend
three years learning; women, one month. Learners have their board paid.
The prospect for work is good. Spring and autumn are the most busy
seasons, but they have work all the year." Another firm in the same
place write they "employ fifteen women, pay by the piece, and their
hands earn $5 per week. The prospect for work is good, but there are
plenty of hands there."
=368. Beds.= At a feather store I was told feathers for stuffing beds
are bought from merchants, who employ agents to travel through the
country, and buy them up. They get their feathers from the West. Live
geese feathers are the best. All imported are from Russia. It requires
great experience to buy feathers. At another store I was told feathers
must be baked to render them light--otherwise they are flat and heavy.
The salesman never knew of a woman being employed in baking--thinks it
not suitable, for the down gets in the mouth and nostrils, as the
feathers must be constantly stirred. In the spring and fall, when most
people go to housekeeping, most beds are sold.
=369. Carpets.= Two thirds of the inhabitants of Saxony are employed in
weaving. It requires from two to three years to become a good carpet
weaver. To prepare warp and rags for rag carpets is very suitable, but
the weaving is rather hard for women. Mrs. W. says it does not require a
great deal of strength to weave rag carpets, when the loom is a good one
and in proper order. In weaving, both the arms and lower limbs are
exercised, particularly the latter. She wove when she was only thirteen
years old. The exercise tends to develop the chest. The price for
weaving in small places is from 12½ to 18 cents a yard. She knew one
lady that often wove fourteen yards a day, amounting to $1.75; but her
health failed, and she changed her occupation. I called in a weaver's,
in Brooklyn. He charges 18¾ cents per yard for weaving, and can weave
from eighteen to twenty yards a day. Some rags are much more difficult
to manage than others. The dust from the rags in spooling and weaving
must be disagreeable. When not working for customers he makes carpets to
keep on hand for sale. He buys the rags of old women, who get the scraps
at tailors' shops every Monday morning, and cut them into strips, then
wind and sell them at $7.50 a hundred pounds. The women are mostly
Germans, and make a scanty living at it. In the Old Ladies' Home,
Brooklyn, some of the inmates pass part of their time in preparing rags
for weaving. Some old women buy of junk dealers the rags they sell to
weavers. A woman whose husband was a carpet weaver in New York,
continues the business since his death, employing two old men to weave.
She charges eighteen cents a yard for weaving. She says that kind of
weaving could never be done by machinery, as it would pull the rags all
to pieces. She buys listing and cloth of old women who get it from the
tailors and bring it around to sell. She pays twelve cents a pound for
listing, six for cloth. She cuts them herself. A weaver told me he
charges eighteen cents a yard. He buys pieces of cloth from the tailors
for making up a stock to keep on hand. A pile of listing lay on the
floor, for which he had paid nine cents a pound. He can weave from eight
to sixteen yards a day. I have seen the average price of weaving carpets
stated at nine cents a yard. The dust that flies in preparing carpet
rags is disagreeable, and injurious to the eyes and lungs.
=370. Curled Hair Pullers.= Hair pullers are mostly Irish women, the
wives of foreigners and laboring men. A few are women of a better class
reduced in circumstances. In Philadelphia, at the shop of a kind old
man, I saw women picking hair for mattresses. He pays two cents a pound
for picking. The women earn from forty to sixty cents a day. The dust
that flies from the hair is injurious to the lungs, and the constant
watching is trying to the eyes. At one curled hair factory in New York I
saw women employed at one cent a pound, at another two cents. A smart
woman can pick twenty-five or thirty a day. An upholsterer in Boston
writes: "We have women to sew, pick hair, &c. We pay by the piece. Men
receive one third better pay than women. Women receive less, because
they have not brass enough to ask more. Any woman can do our work. The
prospect of work in our line is very fair. We have twenty women who work
all the time. The demand for hands is small, surplus large. Large cities
are best for our trade. Board, $2.50."
=371. Curtain Trimmings.= I saw two girls, in New York, who work at the
trade. Their employer does not pay learners for two weeks, then
according to what they do. Some are paid by the week, and some by the
piece. The last plan pays best. The girls earn from $3 to $5 per week,
some even as much as $7. Plenty of hands can always be had. They have
most work in summer. At another place I was told it takes three or four
months to learn. Good hands can earn then from $4 to $5. Mrs. B., in New
York, told me her girls work by the piece, making curtain trimmings, and
earn from $5 to $6 a week. They work from 6 A. M. until 7 P. M. They can
learn it in a few weeks. At Y.'s, in New York, I saw a plain,
genteel-looking woman engaged in making tassels. She pays $2 a week for
board--washing extra. She spoke very well of her employer, for whom she
had worked twelve years. She mentioned an old lady upstairs who had been
in his employ twenty years. He has fifteen women in the tassel
department, and fifteen making gimps and fringes. Some of the hands are
paid by the piece, and some by the week--ten hours a day. They are paid
every two weeks on Saturday afternoon. In the old country women make
twisted cord, but not in this. Cordmakers are on their feet all the
time. Y.'s women get from $2 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. Men get
from $6 to $9. It requires six months to learn, and learners receive
$1.50 per week. In winter, just before the holidays, is the best time
for work; but Y.'s hands have employment all the time. When not filling
orders, they make stock work. They have a great many applications for
work.
=372. Furniture Goods.= "At Seymour, Conn., are manufactured brocatelles
and cotalines, a fabric composed of silk and linen, or cotton, and used
for furniture draperies and carriage linings. Each loom is worked by a
girl, who requires very little previous experience to manage it
perfectly. There are about 60 persons employed at present in the work,
two thirds of whom are females from the age of fourteen upward. The rate
of wages paid by the company is higher than that given by the
neighboring factories, the nature of the work requiring a superior
degree of skill and intelligence."
=373. Mattresses.= A girl engaged in making mattresses told us they are
mostly sewed up by machines, and operators earn from $3 to $6, working
ten hours a day. In some factories women sew the mattresses, and boys
and men prepare the hair and fill them. A mattress seller told me he
employs girls to make mattresses in the spring and fall, paying $3 a
week, of ten hours a day. One bed furnisher told me her work is mostly
done by old ladies. She says some girls down street earn $6 a week,
making mattresses. One large manufacturer told me that his is piecework,
and some of his girls earn from $8 to $12 a week. He furnishes the
sewing machines. In April and May, he finds it difficult to get enough
of hands. At another large store, I was told they pay from $6 to $7 a
week to good operators, and have their work done in the building. At
another large bed and mattress store, I was told they pay women for
making ticks with machines from $4 to $5 a week. It is not very steady
work. At another place they occupied a room back of the store, and
earned from $4 to $6 a week. A firm in Nashua, N. H., write me "they
employ fourteen American women in making mattresses, cushions, &c., and
pay from $3 to $3.50 a week, including board, and work ten hours a day.
Men are paid about $5 a week, and do different work from the women. Some
of the hands are employed all the year. There is no great demand for
mattress makers at present anywhere. Board, $2."