States for many years past has been made in Philadelphia, and I believe
it is still thought to produce the best qualities. There are three modes
of impressing wall paper: one by printing, another by stencilling, and
the third by painting with a brush. In the cheapest paper, the outlines
are printed and the colors put on by stencil plates. For printing, large
blocks are used that are cut by hand, and for each color a separate
block must be used. This work forms a separate occupation, that of a
block cutter. For the finest papers, the outlines are printed, and then
filled by the use of the brush. The ailments of colorers of wall paper
arise principally from the coloring matter, much of which is very
poisonous. "By laboring upon arsenical paper in the finishing
department, small tumors are produced, and some have to change their
occupation in consequence." At H.'s store, Philadelphia, the young man
told me they employ girls from twelve to sixteen years of age, for
putting gilding on paper. They work ten hours, and earn from $3.50 to
$4.50 a week. They merely lay gilding on, which is fastened by the
pressure of machinery. Some manufacturers have the gilding put on with a
size. At C.'s, New York, the foreman told me they employ two girls, at
$3 a week each. A powder is sprinkled on by boys, which, by the way,
could be done by girls. The girls then lay the gold leaf on the powder.
A machine then passes over the gold leaf, making an impression by a die,
of the pattern desired. Another branch of labor in which they employed
girls for a time, was the rolling of paper for the store. It requires a
peculiar tact acquired by practice only. They are paid seven cents for
100 rolls, each roll containing eight yards. It would take a brisk and
careful hand to become at all expert three months, at which time she
could earn about sixty cents a day, of ten hours' work. At the end of
three months more she would, perhaps, be able to earn an additional
twenty cents a day. It makes the fingers very sore, as considerable
force is thrown into the tips of the fingers. Some fingers cannot become
hardened to it, and the individual has to give it up. C----'s have work
all the year, except a week in summer, and one in winter, and when the
machinery is out of repair. They have most to do in winter, getting
their paper ready for spring sale, and to send away to the West and
South. It is not unhealthy labor. Many girls might be employed in
departments now occupied by boys. At N. C. & Co.'s, I was told by a
young German that from one hundred to one hundred and fifty boys are
employed in that building, but no women or girls. There are several
parts that could be done by women. The common paper is rolled by
machinery, the fine by hand. In one factory in Boston, girls are
employed to roll, and in one in some other part of Massachusetts. Paper
stainers in Nashua, New Hampshire, write: "Women are employed in
coloring and finishing papers. The work is healthy, though all cannot
use green. We pay some by the week and some by the day: $3 per week for
day hands. It requires two or three months to learn. A light hand, quick
motions, &c., are desirable qualifications. The prospect of employment
is the same as all other branches of manufacture. Warm weather is our
most busy season. The hands spend a few weeks in the country in
midsummer. We employ from twenty to twenty-five women, and they work ten
hours a day. They have the advantages of libraries, religious services,
&c., and pay for board $1.50 per week." A wall-paper manufacturer, in
Boston, writes: "The different kinds of work and a fair knowledge of the
manufacture of paper hangings must be seen to be appreciated. For one to
be capable of taking charge of a manufactory in my line, he must devote
many years of close application, and must be a man of fine taste, in
order to get up a _taking_ style of goods, as the success of the
business, in a great measure, depends upon that, coupled with a fine
finish. The perfection of the manufacture may be all that could be
desired, but if the arrangement of the shadings of the colors were
faulty, there would be a very limited sale of them. A woman might
perhaps make a color mixer (as we call them), if the work was not too
hard and too dirty. We employ three girls to roll paper. It is light
work, and they are paid from $2 to $4 per week--day hands, ten hours.
The time to learn depends upon the capacity of the learner--say a month.
The women are not out of employment long. The women are mostly foreign,
and can make a comfortable living if they choose. Women have not
sufficient strength for some parts of our work."
CHEMICALS.
=398. Chemicals.= One chemist wrote me that some part of the work in the
manufacture of chemicals is wet and disagreeable. Another writes that
"women are not employed in that branch in this country, but may possibly
be employed in England, Germany, and France; but if at all, only to a
small extent. The employment is not generally unhealthy. To learn it in
all its details, a pretty thorough knowledge of chemistry ought to be
acquired. But a short time is required to learn the ordinary part of the
business. The prospect of the employment of women is slight, but your
inquiries have, however, suggested the idea and possibility of employing
women to a small extent. Men in chemical works are employed at all
seasons, and constantly for eleven hours per day. No particular locality
has advantage over another, except its proximity to market. Uneducated
persons, of ordinary intellect, can be employed to some extent in the
labor." Another informant writes: "The manufacture of those chemicals
most largely used in the arts, requires laborious work. It is, besides,
rather severe on the clothes and hands, and is entirely unsuitable for
women. There is, perhaps, room for the employment of women in the
manufacture of the finer chemicals, but rather in the way of putting up
than in the manufacture itself. We are not engaged in this branch. The
demand for pure chemicals is so very limited, that only regularly
educated chemists engage in the business, and they do most of the nice
work themselves. There is nothing to hinder women from studying
practical chemistry, but there are few chances for educated chemists;
and there are more than men enough to take all the places that are to be
filled." A manufacturer of acids writes: "We employ no female labor in
our establishment, it being heavy work, not suitable for them." The
present style of female dress would be inconvenient, if not dangerous,
in the preparation of such chemicals as require the operator to be near
the fire. This difficulty, however, could be obviated.
=399. Baking Powders.= D. employs girls to put up baking powders,
spices, &c. It is piecework. A very brisk hand can earn $5 a week, but
few can do so. They work longest in summer days. They like to close
early enough to give their girls time to get home before it is very
late. Mechanical talent only is necessary.
=400. Bar and Soft Soap.= Large quantities of soap are made in the
United States. That sold in groceries is made mostly in towns or the
country. It is hardened by muriate of soda, and called bar soap. That
used by people in the country is generally of their own make, and called
soft soap. In New York, we observed in some groceries barrels of soft
soap of a very light color, almost white. Vegetable substances were used
previous to the invention of soap, for washing the person and garments.
A plant growing in California is said to yield a very good substitute.
Some kinds of earth, mixed with lye ashes, have been used. Making soap
in large quantities would be very heavy work for women. A machine has
been invented for cutting soap into bars, which will doubtless in time
do away with the primitive plan of cutting it with wires. At a soap
factory, a man told us that women are never employed in factories in
making coarse soap. Attending the kettles could not be well done by
them. The only part that could be done would be cutting it in bars, but
that is rather too hard, on account of the strain and change of
position. It is cut with wire after it has become hard.
=401. Blacking.= In London, in 1852, there were, by Mayhew's estimate,
one hundred and fifty women and girls selling cake blacking. M.,
manufacturer, Philadelphia, occupies a four-story granite-fronted
building. He employs about fifty women in making tin boxes, filling them
with blacking in paste, and labelling them. It requires but a few weeks
for a smart girl to acquire dexterity. We saw the women at work in two
large rooms (each being the whole floor of the house). They looked
cheerful, though somewhat grimy. They work ten hours, and earn about $3
a week. The steady hands are kept in work the year round. The tin boxes
pass, almost with the swiftness of thought, through eight hands, three
of these operations being performed by steam machinery, tended by women.
The boxes are soldered by men, who receive $6 per week. It was once done
by women, but is right warm work, particularly in summer. All stood
while at work, except the women sorting bands. The premises had been
rendered as healthy as possible. All the small pipes of the soldering
stoves led into one large pipe, which carries off the fumes of the coal;
and a cylinder has been made to confine a white powder which is used in
the business, and which formerly floated through the atmosphere of the
work rooms. The women are sometimes employed in bottling ink, and earn
from $2 to $3 a week, working about the usual time--ten hours.
=402. Candles.= Candles are made of different materials, of which wax,
tallow, and spermaceti are most common. Some candle makers employ women
to prepare the wax for candles. Candle manufacturers write us: "Women
are never employed in our business, and we never heard of their being so
employed. We consider the work too heavy, and too cold. The principal
part of the work is done in winter, and the manufacturing rooms must be
kept cold. Women were at one time employed in cutting and preparing the
wick for candles; but since the introduction of machinery, that part is
dispensed with." A manufacturer writes from another city: "Men sometimes
work all night, at the season when the nights are long. The only place,
I think, where there can be a demand for female labor in my branch, is
where there are no men." Another informant writes: "I think women could
not be to any considerable extent employed in making soap and candles,
for several reasons: 1st. It is for the most part a heavy business,
requiring more than female strength. 2d. It is objectionable on account
of the dirt, which is the result of coming in contact with tallow, &c."
Another says: "Our plan for moulding is too heavy for women to work at."
At an oil and candle manufactory, New York, I was told they used to
employ some women in putting wicks into moulds, drawing candles, and
packing them. Machinery is so much used now, that women cannot do as
much of it as they did. Besides, candles are not used so much as they
were, owing to the introduction of gas and various oils. They paid their
girls $4 a week. They now employ one woman in putting the wicks in
moulds for wax candles, and drawing and packing them. J. employs two
women in making sperm candles, but they have been at it twenty years.
They each get $4 a week. M--s, New York, write: "We employ six women in
making and packing candles. They are so employed in France and England,
and very likely in Germany. The work is not unhealthy. Our women are
paid from $2.50 to $4 per week, of ten hours a day. They are generally
paid by the week, though sometimes by the piece. Men's wages are from $9
to $12. We know of no reason why women are paid less, except that it is
the general custom. It requires from two to three weeks to learn. Women
are paid while learning. Dexterity of the hands is the best
qualification for a worker. The occupation is gradually decreasing.
There is no material difference in the seasons for work. Women are
sometimes thrown out of employment in the summer months. We employ women
because they are more nimble fingered than men, and female labor is
cheaper. Workwomen are more apt to get in trouble among themselves,
where many are employed, and are more difficult to control. We have
generally found them more careless and less uniform in their work than
men; so much so, that their employment is constantly diminishing in our
work, being replaced by machinery. We find them in no way superior to
men, except their nimble fingers." We place against this the preliminary
report to the United States Census of 1860, where one hundred and
forty-two women are returned as being employed in soap and candle
manufactures.
=403. Chalk.= I saw a man making prepared chalk. He sometimes employs
small girls to put it in boxes, and pays from seventy-five cents to $2
per week. They work ten hours a day. There is nothing unhealthy in it.
He thinks there are but few manufacturers of it, and consequently there
is not much prospect for employment.
=404. Emery Paper.= G. would be willing to employ girls to pack and tie
up emery paper, paying $3.50 a week. It is dirty work, on account of the
glue that is used, and is very severe on the fingers, causing the blood
to flow often, and unfortunately does not harden the fingers by
practice.
=405. Fancy Soaps.= Some of the fancy soaps of American manufacture are
equal to any in the world. Those of Bazin, Philadelphia, are considered
best. Those of Jules Hauel and Harrison are nearly equal. There are
other manufacturers of fancy soap in the United States. On Spruce
street, Philadelphia, is a place where they employ girls to put up fancy
soaps, and pay by the piece, from $2 to $5 per week. L., New York,
employs girls by the week, for from $2 to $3.50. It requires practice to
put up either soap or perfumery. They are most busy in spring and fall.
None made South or West. L. has lost the custom of shop girls by the
hard times. They have no money now to spend for fancy soap and hair oil.
=406. Fire Works.= Two hundred and eleven females are reported in the
census of Great Britain as being employed in making fire works. S. &
Co., New York, employ ten or twelve women for pasting the paper covers
on fire works, but not for filling with powder. All the work is done in
daylight. They are paid something while learning, and then from $3 to $5
a week. For overwork, they are paid by the hour. Their factory is in
Greenville, N. J. There is one in Cincinnati, one in Boston, and one in
Philadelphia. Girls sit while at work. The prospect for learners is
good. S. & Co. are most busy in spring and summer but able to keep their
hands employed all the year. They have a great many children employed on
Long Island, in making torpedoes, who cannot earn more than $1.50 a
week.
=407. Flavoring Extracts.= Manufacturers in Rochester write: "We have
about twenty women engaged in putting up and packing perfumery, &c., and
pay from $2 to $3 per week. A smart girl will learn in a week. Quickness
of movement and steadiness of habit are the best qualifications. The
prospect of work in this line is good. They are employed all the year,
and work ten hours a day." C., of Boston, employs a number, "because
they can work cheaper than men. They are paid by the day or week,
according to their experience. Good workers earn 50 cents a day, of nine
hours. To thoroughly understand the business requires a lifetime.
Women's part of the work is learned in six months. Women are paid while
learning. All seasons are alike. The work is easy, and the pay good.
Board, $1.50." H. C. & Co., of Boston say: "In compliance with your
wishes, we give below answers to your inquiries. We manufacture
perfumery, cooking extracts, hair oils, &c. We employ females to bottle
and label them. We pay by the amount of labor done, and the average
earnings are about $4 per week. Why women are not generally better paid
is a difficult question to answer. We think, however, the argument is
good that they do not as a general thing have family expenses to bear.
If they were taxed (are not those that own property?) and also bore a
proportionate share of family expenses, there is no good reason why they
should not have the same pay for the same labor as males. (Have not the
majority of workwomen some one dependent upon them, even with their
scanty wages?) The work may be learned in a few weeks. An aptness and
tact to handle small bottles, to tie ribbons, and cut corks quickly,
best fit one for this work. There is a constant demand for the kind of
goods we manufacture. Our females work ten hours a day, and their
employment is steady. The work is clean and comfortable; the
remuneration, we think, just. Women are superior to men, from being
quicker in their movements and displaying better taste. Board, $2.50."
Other manufacturers in Boston write: "We employ ten American women,
because they do the work cheaper than men could. We pay by the piece.
They earn $6 a week, and receive three fourths of the wages of men. They
are paid $3 per week while learning. Women are inferior in business
capacity, superior in details. Board, $3 per week."
=408. Glue.= Glue is made from the parings of hides, and refuse leather.
First they are put in alkaline water to be cleaned, and then boiled in
large vessels. The liquid is poured off from the gelatine which coats
the vessel and forms in sheets. I think women might spread the substance
on nets in drying rooms, and, when dry, cut it and pack it. It is cut by
wires having handles, which are held in the hand, to assist in pressing
the wire with more force across the glue. S. employs several girls, who
earn from $3 to $6 per week. He pays by the gross. Most of the girls
have been with him ever since he commenced manufacturing, eight years
ago.
=409. Gunpowder.= The agent of the Hazard Gunpowder Company told me they
employ at the manufacture as many of the widows and children of those
killed by explosions as they can, in making linen covers for kegs, and
putting gunpowder in envelopes, and cutting labels, and putting on them.
D. writes to an acquaintance for us: "We employ women at times in
labelling canisters, and then only two."
=410. Oils.= A manufacturer of machine oil says a lady that understands
the business could give men orders, and keep the office, and so carry on
the business; but the work is too warm for women, and too laborious. It
is certainly greasy work, and therefore hard on clothes. A manufacturer
of oil writes me "he thinks the business not at all suitable for women:
the only part that could be done by them is such as pertains to the
office, which would be the same as that of other merchants." The
manufacture of hair oils forms an extensive business. A manufacturer of
linseed oil told me he could employ a woman to remove the seed from the
bags, after the oil has been pressed out, but it would be greasy work.
Some oil manufacturers told me they would employ girls to put oil in
bottles for sewing machines. They would also be willing to employ female
agents to sell oil for sewing machines. If a lady could sell twelve
bottles a day, at 25 cents a bottle, she could make $1.75.
=411. Paints.= Oil paint is so disagreeable to handle and put up in such
large quantities that it is unsuitable work for women. An English
workman in B. & I.'s factory told us that women are employed in the
paint factories in London and Hull as extensively as men. What they do
we could not exactly learn, except that they put the powder for paint in
cans, and label them. The man said the business is pernicious to the
health. Ex-Mayor T. employed some women in his color factory at
Manhattanville to label. At O.'s Philadelphia, a few women are employed
in moulding the cakes of water paints, and stamping them, and in tubing
and packing fine oil paints. A paint manufacturer in Brooklyn writes:
"The only way we can employ females is at putting up paint dry in
six-pound boxes or in cans. This last is ground in oil. We have
generally employed boys for this purpose, but I think females would suit
better, provided they were kept by themselves. If this could be done, we
might be able to employ from four to five hands. The work is rather
unhealthy, as it affects the lungs. We pay one woman $4 per week,
working ten hours a day. It requires a week to learn. We do not work for
four months in winter. Cleanliness and tact are necessary for putting up
goods. Women would attend to their work better than boys."
=412. Patent Medicines.= Women are very extensively employed in putting
up patent medicines. At H.'s, Philadelphia, where extract of ginger is
made, they once employed women in the summer. They prefer boys and men,
because in intervals men and boys can do other work that women cannot.
Women were only employed by them to put up, seal, and label. Where H.'s
bitters are made, women are employed to envelop, seal, and label, and
paid according to the industry and skill of the workers. They receive
from $3 to $4 a week. Dr. Ayres, I have been told, has his medicine put
up by females in Canada, because he can have it done there more cheaply,
although a duty of 15 per cent. is paid for importing.
=413. Pearlash.= Women could make pearlash in the country, where large
quantities of wood are burned in clearing off land, and would no doubt
find it pay very well for the trouble.
=414. Perfumery.= Perfumeries have been used in oriental countries from
the most remote ages. The finest and most costly perfumes are still
brought from the East. They were much used in England about the time of
Queen Elizabeth. The essential oil of plants confers their odors. This
oil may be obtained by expression, infusion, or distillation. In some
cases, it may be pressed out of the cellular structure that contains it.
Roses and such plants are mostly steeped in water, but some plants are
steeped in wine and similar substances. There is a difference in oils
obtained from different parts of the same plant; for instance, the
leaves, flowers, and fruit of the orange tree yield distinct oils. The
perfumeries of France have the best reputation of any others.
Considerable perfumery is manufactured in this country, that meets with
a ready sale at a good profit. At J. H.'s, Philadelphia, the woman who
superintends others employed in putting up perfumery, told me that the
hands work three months before they are paid. They then receive from
$1.50 to $5 a week. It would require two years, she thinks, to acquire
proficiency. J. H. finds employment for his hands all the year round.
The girls cut kid for the tops, tie them on, label the bottles, lay them
in cotton in small boxes, and then put them in large boxes ready for
nailing and sending away. The girls each perform the entire process. It
is not divided into separate branches. Sometimes they are employed in
putting up fine soaps. The labels are all imported from France. They sit
while employed, and spend from ten to twelve hours at it, according to
the work on hand. R. says some perfumery is made by machinery and some
by hand. He thinks a woman should spend from six months to one year
learning to put up perfumery, as it must be done very neatly. He pays
his girls, while learning, $2.50 a week, and after that according to
ability and industry. The business is now dull, for people cannot afford
to indulge in luxuries. At P.'s perfumery manufactory, I learned that
the girls work from 7½ to 6, and earn from $2 to $8 per week--the
average, $3.50. They are mostly Americans. Spring and fall are the best
seasons, but they keep them all the year. They have many applications,
but are often puzzled to get enough of good hands. Girls do better than
men for putting up perfumery. It requires some taste. Poor workers are
very destructive, for the articles of which some perfumeries are made
are very costly. There are employed in packing fancy soap and preparing
perfumery, between six hundred and seven hundred girls, in New York;
average wages, $4. A manufacturer of hair oil pays his men from $10 to
$15 per week. Good taste and a quick hand are the requisites. Near a
city is the best location. At H.'s perfumery and fancy soap manufactory,
one of the firm told me they "import" Frenchmen to make the perfumery,
who impart to them the secret, and they furnish the materials. Their
busy season commences in January. They pay their girls from the first,
but not much until they get to working well. It requires some time to
become expert and tasteful in putting up perfumery. They are paid by the
piece (customary plan), but do not work over ten hours, as it is all
done at the factory. They can earn from $3 to $9 a week. They keep their
hands all the year, but in busy times employ extra hands. They employ a
number of girls in making boxes, who earn about $3 a week. P. & F.
employ one woman, paying $3.50 a week. P. told me such work is usually
paid for by the gross, and workers earn about $4.50. The business is
likely to increase. No manufactures West or South. It requires six
months to become expert. Vacancies are often occurring among the hands.
Some are employed in label cutting some in filling bottles, corking,
tying, labelling, and boxing, while others envelop and seal the soap.
They sit most of the time, but change their position every little while.
There is but one establishment of the kind west of Philadelphia, and
that is in Cincinnati.