said to have been practised many years back in France. There were, some
years ago, over 300 different models of washing machines at the Patent
Office in Washington. Some families have their washing done by hand,
some by machinery, and some at laundries. Where washing, ironing, and
mangling are carried on extensively, it is mostly by men, but _women are
employed to do the labor_. It is thought by some that clothes are
injured when washed at laundries. We do not know whether it originates
from the plan of washing, or the carelessness of those employed. In New
York is a public washing house, where, for four cents an hour, steam,
water, and troughs can be used for washing clothes. At the same price,
the privileges of the wringing machine, the drying room, and the ironing
room are granted. A mangler costs from $50 to $100. Those that are
operated on by steam cost more, and are often used in laundries. A woman
told me that she is paid fifteen cents a dozen for mangling sheets and
table cloths. She can mangle eight or nine dozen pieces a day, and so
earn from $1.20 to $1.25. It takes but a very short time to become
expert. Strong arms and a strong back are more necessary than anything
else. She could work her mangle all day, but it would be a hard day's
work. She has much work in summer, before people go to the country. The
prices given for family washing and ironing by the dozen, range from
fifty cents to $1. Others make arrangements by the parcel, at so much a
week or month. Those employed in ironing receive good wages. Where new
shirts are done up for stores, the best prices are given. A woman
employed in an establishment of the kind in Cincinnati, told me that she
received for her work, which was ironing the bosoms of new shirts for
stores, $7 a week. She ironed thirty or forty a day, averaging one, I
think, every twelve minutes. I called on Mrs. S., who has a laundry.
Women in that branch are well paid, both principals and employées. Some
of the laundry keepers in New York go down to Castle Garden and get
fresh emigrant girls. They give them their board until they can wash
right well (for about four weeks), then pay them by the week or the
piece. If by the week, $6 a month and their board, or allow them $1.50 a
week to pay their board. They instruct some hands in ironing, if they
need hands in that department. When qualified, they pay three cents a
shirt for ironing; or, if by the week, 4.75. It is most satisfactory
generally to both parties to pay by the piece. The best doers up of
muslin and cotton goods are the French. New shirts are sent from Boston,
Philadelphia, &c., to New York, to be done up. The openings for ironers
are good, and the work pays well. A right active, skilful hand can iron
fifty shirts a day, and so earn $1.50. When women are employed by the
week, they are required to iron twenty-five shirts a day, and, if brisk,
may get through by one or two o'clock. Mrs. S. charges $1.50 a dozen for
store shirts, and $1 for others. Washers earn $12 a month; ironers, $21;
and starchers, $14. The girls employed in laundries are mostly Irish,
with strong muscular power. A shirt manufacturer told me that ironers of
new shirts are much needed. He cannot obtain enough. Ironers can learn
the business in three months. Ironers earn from $5 to $8 per week. I
called on A. G., who charges from $1 to $1.50 a dozen for doing up new
shirts, according to the quality and the work on them. She pays her
ironers from $10 to $12 a month. I called at B.'s laundry. The
proprietor and his family are Americans. They do only store shirts. They
employ more than one hundred hands, who are boarded and paid by the
month. Learners receive their board. Ironers are paid best. Those that
work fast get through earliest in the day, each one having a certain
number to do. I called at another laundry, where I was told all the
girls receive $1.75 per week for board money. While learning, they are
paid their board money, and more, if their services are worth it. The
washers are paid $12 a month, and ironers from $10 to $25, boarding
themselves. Some are fast, and some are slow; some smart, and some
stupid. The ironers are paid 2¼ cents a piece for common shirts, 2½ for
fine ones. The proprietor says experienced ironers are so scarce, you
never find a good one in an intelligence office. If a laundryman fails,
a good ironer can go to another laundry and get a place at once. At
another place, I was told their washers receive $5 a month and their
board. Ironers are paid by the month, and required to do so many in that
time. She corroborated the statement of the other that a good ironer
need never want a place. I heard a washerwoman say that, as the system
is very much relaxed by washing, the vapor from the suds and soiled
clothes renders it unhealthy. H. pays ironers $10 a month and board;
$1.75 a week. Some he boards in his own house. An ironer is expected to
iron from twenty to thirty a day, according to the contract. It requires
a long time to iron well. Almost all washers and ironers are Irish
girls--they are stronger and quicker in their motions. He has washing
done only for the New York stores, because the time and trouble of going
to steamboats for those from other places and returning them, are more
than he wishes.
MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS, AND WORKERS THEREIN.
=456. Backgammon-Board Finishers.= We called at L.'s backgammon-board
manufactory, and saw a girl about thirteen years old, who has worked at
the business for one year. She pastes the morocco on the back of the
boards, and lays the gold leaf on, which is passed under a press, and
receives, from a man who has charge of it, the ornamental gilding. They
used to employ girls, and paid $4 a week, working from 7 to 6
o'clock--eleven hours. L. does not take learners--it is too much
trouble. K. used to employ girls in finishing boards, but those he had
were not steady and reliable.
=457. Balloon Makers.= Large balloons are stitched up by sewing
machines. Prof. L.'s required several days' work. Prof. W.'s sister and
niece make both cotton and silk balloons. They have the substance put on
the silk by men with a brush. They think that part of the work would be
rather hard on women, because of the stooping and bending.
=458. Billiard-Table Finishers.= I saw G., who employs one woman to make
and put on the billiard bags at the corners and sides. He pays her such
wages for her work that she can by industry earn $1.50 a day. He does
not know of any woman that makes it a regular business, but thinks, if a
woman could engage all that kind of work to be had at the billiard
manufactories in New York city, it would be a good business, and
probably pay about $3 a day. It is very easy work, and would require but
a few weeks' practice. Besides, it would not require any capital, as the
manufacturers furnish the materials. They pay twenty-five cents for
making a cover of unbleached domestic, when two seams are sewed and it
is hemmed at the ends. The cloth that is fastened on the table could not
be put on by a woman, as it requires too much strength. Netting the bags
is done by hand. I was told by a manufacturer that two women could do
all the work for New York.
=459. Bill Posters.= This is a business confined to cities. W. heard of
one woman that went through New York distributing circulars for some
benevolent institution. I do not see why a woman might not be so
employed. An immense quantity of waste paper is sold in London to
grocers, butchers, fishmongers, poulterers, and others that need paper
for wrapping up the articles they sell to purchasers.
=460. Block Cutters.= Block cutters prepare blocks of wood for the
coloring of wall paper. A block about eighteen inches square and two
inches thick is made perfectly smooth. The pattern is then traced on it
with a lead pencil. It is then cut with chisels, which are of all sizes
and many shapes. Each one, as required, is driven into the wood with a
mallet. It requires considerable physical strength, but is remunerative
when sufficient orders are given to keep one constantly employed. Each
color, and even shade, in wall paper, requires a separate block. It is
the same case where wooden blocks are used for printing calicoes. The
wall-paper establishments in Philadelphia are the most extensive in the
United States. A lady in Philadelphia, engaged in the business, told me
that she got about $10 a week, working ten hours a day, but that she had
not orders enough to keep her constantly employed. At N. & C.'s
paper-hanging factory, New York, they employ six male block cutters, who
earn from $2 to $2.25 a day. A boy, when apprenticed to a block cutter,
receives $2.50 a week the first year, $3 the next, $4 the next, and $5
the last. There are probably from sixty to one hundred block cutters in
New York city. Block letters, we were told, are made by machinery. A
gentleman in Maine writes: "There are but very few females in this
section who work at block cutting (blocks for printing oil carpets); but
three or four in this State, I think. I have none with me excepting my
wife. It is a branch of business that females cannot carry on alone, as
the most of it requires considerable labor that women are not able to
perform." In the census returns of Great Britain for 1850, we find four
women under the head of block cutters.
=461. Boatwomen.= In the countries of Europe, it is not unusual to see
women employed as rowers of boats, on the lakes and rivers. On the lakes
of Scotland, made famous by the poetry and fiction of Sir Walter Scott,
women are seen waiting in their little boats to take passengers out on
the lakes. In the sealochs of Scotland, fisherwomen manage their own
boats. In Germany, women also ply the oar. In the United States, it is
seldom done; but I think Miss Murray, in her Travels, mentions being
rowed upon a lake in New York State by a woman. Some of the Indian
women, of the Arctic regions, are noted for their skill in the
management of a boat; and some of the women of the Polynesian Islands
are distinguished in the same way. In the census of Great Britain for
1850, in class eight, and third division (Carriers on Canals), are
reported 1,708 bargewomen over twenty years of age, and 525 under that
age.
=462. Bone Collectors.= Some collectors of bones sell them to people who
make soup of them, and sell it to the poor at a penny a bowl. Some sell
their bones to soap manufacturers, who boil them to obtain the marrow
and oily substance, and then sell them to button makers, or makers of
cane and whip handles. Some sell them to glue manufacturers, who boil
them to obtain the gelatine for making glue. Some have establishments
where they are ground and sold as a fertilizer for the soil. Some bone
gatherers give toys to children for collecting bones. I saw a girl
gathering some, who told me she sold them at fifteen cents a half
bushel. She gathers sometimes half a bushel a day, and sometimes more. A
boy told me he got thirty cents a bushel for bones; and another, that he
got one cent a pound. The profit must be great of those who sell them
again, judging from the price paid by the makers of cane handles. Yet it
may be, so much is not paid by manufacturers for those taken from the
street as for new ones.
=463. Bottlers and Labellers.= In large establishments where wine,
porter, ale, or beer is corked, women could, and in some places do, have
the job. When it is done from day to day, it affords a reliable
resource. The payment is generally, I believe, by the dozen or hundred
bottles. "In one house or more, in London, are seen from one hundred to
one hundred and fifty women bottling pickles all day long, at the charge
of sixpence a score of bottles, at which an industrious woman, without
any extra exertion, will earn her two shillings a day." In
establishments for the sale of patent medicines and other articles of a
similar nature, women are employed. I saw a man bottling lager beer by
hand. He is paid $15 a month, and full board. For labelling, another
received $6 a month, and full board. In Europe, where women do such
work, they wear wooden shoes to keep their feet dry. A woman could as
well cork as a man, when it is done by hand, and, no doubt, could use
the machines employed for corking. A large manufacturer of hair
restorative employs two girls to put it up, and pays from $3 to $4 a
week. A brewer writes that "women might be employed in the bottling
department, cleaning, filling, corking, &c., but the proportion would be
small in comparison with the number of men at work." A woman that buys
and sells empty bottles says she and her husband made a comfortable
living at it. If they make three cents profit on a dozen they do well.
They send a wagon to hotels, groceries, and private houses, if the
number is sufficient to justify it. They find a ready sale for their
bottles. The bottles must be washed clean before they will buy them. I
was told at the office of Mrs. W.'s S. Syrup, that girls are paid by the
week, from $5 to $6. R., in putting up his Ready Relief, employs several
girls to fill bottles, cork and label them. They earn from $3 to $6 a
week. They are paid by the quantity, and the work is all done in
daylight. Until the last few days they have had work all the year round.
S. employs from five to ten girls, and pays from $4 to $5 a week for
bottling medicines and putting up Seidlitz powders. He keeps his hands
all the year. They can either sit or stand. He does not know of any
women being so employed South or West. L. employs three, and pays $5 a
week, ten hours a day. One is employed in putting up Seidlitz
powders--the others in bottling. All three work at the store. K. employs
three girls to put up Seidlitz powders, perfumery, &c. He pays from $3
to $3.50 a week. B. & M., stove-polish manufacturers, employ girls to
put up the polish in papers. The paper is folded on a wooden block and
pasted, then withdrawn, and the polish put in and sealed.
=464. Broom Makers.= C. employs a girl to paint the handles of brooms,
paying $4 a week, of ten hours a day. After New Year is the most busy
season. It requires but a short time to learn. A man can earn at broom
making $1.25 to $1.75 a day. At some of the broom factories girls are
employed to assort the broom by laying perfect pieces of a certain
length in one pile, and those shorter in another, &c. Only strong,
robust women could perform the entire process of broom making.
=465. Bronzes.= When a bronze appearance is desired for some metals,
bronze powders are used. I have been told that a patent has been granted
for the making of them. Parties that we think competent to know tell us
that "bronze powders are made in very few establishments in this
country, and they think women and boys, much more than men, are both
here and in Europe engaged in the making and working of bronze. They
suggest that manufacturers, printers, japanners, and all who have
operatives engaged in handling bronze powders should, in _all cases_,
see that their people are protected, by gauze, sponge, or some sort of
screen over the mouth and nostrils, from inhaling the fine particles
that arise and impregnate the atmosphere where the powders are handled,
and which are liable to cause serious injury to those who inhale them.
The same might also be said of Dutch metal or gold leaf used in gilding
house paper and other things." Magnetic masks are used by some grinders
and polishers to prevent iron filings from passing down their throats.
We suppose they would answer also for bronzers. Men oppose the
introduction of women into the business. I saw three sisters bronzing in
New York. They told me each receives $5 a week, and works about nine
hours a day. It requires but a few months' practice to become perfect,
and seemed to be an easy business. The young ladies employed at it
looked genteel enough to grace any calling. Men get $10 a week. Women do
it just as well, if not a little better, and accomplish just as much,
yet receive only $5. I called in the store of the Ornamental Iron Works,
New York. The young man says they employ about twenty-five German
bronzers. It is a work easily done, and would require but a short time
to learn. Women could just as well do it as men. If women were employed,
it would be desirable to have a separate room for them to work in. Their
men work ten hours a day, and receive from $1.50 to $2 a day.
=466. Canvas and Cotton Bag Makers.= The firm of B. E. C. & Co. employ
about forty females during the whole year, and seventy during the
summer. Men cut out the bags. The folding and turning is done by little
girls, who receive, some $1.50 per week, and some more, while the sewing
is done by machines, for which the operators receive $4.50 per week. I
do not remember what the spoolers were paid. This business is confined
exclusively to seaports or river cities, and is not very extensive. The
usual time required is ten hours. For extra work, girls receive double
wages. C. & Co. have certain regulations, requiring morality and order.
The girls were more cheerful, neat, and genteel-looking than the general
run of work girls. They have a dressing room, where each one has a peg
for her bonnet and shawl, and a small box in which to lay her dinner.
They have washbowls and all the conveniences needed. Spring and fall are
their most busy times, but they are able to keep their hands all the
year in prosperous times. They are always busy just before the sailing
of vessels, as they supply many vessels with bags to carry grain. They
are well located for their business, being immediately on the river. The
prospect for learners C. thinks very good, as bags are considered almost
as essential as boats; and now they can be purchased so cheaply they are
used for purposes to which they were never applied before. V. employs
fifteen girls all the year, and sometimes extra help. Some girls get
$3.50, and some $4 a week, of ten hours a day. Most of their machines
are propelled by hot air. They never have any trouble in getting hands.
There are a few bag factories in the West. W. & O. make cotton bags for
flour, seed, grain, &c. We saw the girls sewing on machines moved by
steam. They are paid $3 a week, ten hours a day. Their girls are not
punctual, and are so often absent that they find it necessary to employ
more hands than they want, that they may not get out of a supply. I met
an old woman with bolts of heavy unbleached cotton, who was going to
make up bags, sewing them with the needle. She receives seventy-five
cents for one hundred bags. A bag manufacturer in Boston writes: "We pay
by the week; girls, from $3 to $4--men, $7.25. The men's branch requires
from six to twelve months to become proficient and reliable. Women
require about one week. Perseverance and industry are needed by workers.
Business in future is dubious. Winter and spring are the best seasons,
but we are generally employed ten months out of the year. The hands work
ten hours, unless driven up by brisk trade, when extra wages are paid
_pro rata_. They receive all the comforts which women of this class
require, viz., sufficient to live upon, with a small surplus for the
priest, and to send to 'ould Ireland.' The labor of the men and women
are entirely dissimilar. The advantages have been entirely in favor of
the city of Boston; but from present indications, I fear that this
business, if done at all, will be done in the cities of Charleston,
Savannah, Mobile, and New Orleans. The women can scarcely read; none can
write. They can have free access to the city library and free evening
schools. Board, $1.25--mostly whole families in one room."
=467. Carriage and Car Painters.= At a very large car establishment in
New York, I was told that when they take boys to learn ornamental
painting, they pay $2.40 a week the first year. After that, eight cents
a day more, the next year; and so continue until the apprenticeship
expires. Three or four years are usually given. We saw a foreman
ornamenting the side of a car to be sent to Liverpool, who was taken by
the firm when a penniless boy. He now has $3,000 deposited with his
employers, drawing a handsome interest. The painters are paid
twenty-five cents an hour while ornamenting cars, and omnibuses. They do
their work better than when paid by the piece. They prefer Germans, as
they have more taste, and are more easily obtained. Miss H. knew a young
lady that painted a cutter. Her father was a coach painter, and she
painted in oils on canvas. A lady, if she would give time and attention,
might become an ornamental painter of carriages, omnibuses, and cars. E.
G. & Co., car builders, in Troy, write: "There are some portions of our
ornamental painting women might be instructed to perform, that would be
suitable for them, and, if proficient, they could make good wages at
it."
=468. Carriage Trimmers.= I was told by G., a carriage maker, that women
usually make the cushions and trimmings for carriages. At a railroad-car
and omnibus factory, the trimmer told me the work was too hard for
women. The sewing is all done by hand. Much wax must be used on the
thread, and a machine will not draw the threads tight enough. A shield
of leather is worn on the little finger. I have read that "landscape
painters, upholsterers, and trimmers of cars and carriages receive from
$1.50 to $2 per day, of ten hours, in New York and New Jersey. Women are
not generally employed; but they are occasionally serviceable in
preparing the hair for seats, by which they could make, at steady
employment, from $3 to $5 per week." B., at his carriage manufactory,
said he intends employing two women to make curtains for his carriages.
He now employs a girl to make covers for them. He thinks the curtains
and much of the lining might be stitched by a machine. He thinks women
might make fair wages at it--say, $4 or $5 a week. A carriage maker in
Boston writes me: "I employ female labor only to the amount of about $50
a year. It is done by the piece, and a woman who is tolerably smart with
her needle can in a very short time learn to do it, and can earn from
eight to ten cents an hour. The work is irregular, a large portion of it
coming in the months of April, May, and June, and sometimes requiring to
be done at short notice." Car builders in Albany, N. Y., write: "Dear
Madam--In reply to your inquiries, would say that, out of seventy-five
to eighty hands employed by us, two only are women. One has charge of a
sewing machine, the other picks curled hair. They have constant
employment, at $5 a week." Carriage makers in Syracuse reply to a
circular, saying: "We employ one lady to run the sewing machine in
making leather and cloth tops for carriages. The work is healthy. We pay
from $3 to $4 per week, of ten hours a day. Girls receive from one third
to one half as much as men. It requires about two months to learn.
Learners receive from $2 to $2.50 per week. The prospect for more such
work to women is increasing. The employment is steady. There is a demand
for women capable of good, heavy stitching." C--s, of New Haven, write:
"We employ about twelve women in carriage trimming, running sewing
machines, &c. Good wages are earned--from $5 to $9 per week, of ten
hours a day. We pay mostly by the week. At the same kind of work our
girls earn as much as men. The main part of their business being sewing,
women are preferable at the same wages as men. In two days any ordinary
person can learn to use a sewing machine; but to learn all parts of the
business would require from two to three months' time. Girls receive a
small compensation while learning. They are never out of employment,
except in hard times, like the past winter. Two thirds are American
girls. The girls employed by us are intelligent and happy; earning good
wages, and always have work when we are doing anything. Board, $2.50."
=469. Chair Seaters.= The putting of seats in chairs, the material being
of cane, hickory, flags, willow, and corn husks, is carried on very
often in orphan asylums, institutions for the blind, or for the deaf and
dumb, and in penitentiaries. There is a large establishment in
Worcester, Mass., where women are employed. At the House of Refuge, on
Randall's Island, I saw the boys seating chairs with rattan. It is
learned in three months. It is very severe on the fingers at first. In a
small second-hand furniture store, I saw a woman seating chairs with
cane. I stepped in and inquired of the woman how long it required to
learn the work. She said she learned it in one day, of a German who kept
a furniture store next door, and who wished her to work for him. She
could seat two chairs in a day, and earn by doing so a dollar. For such
a chair as she would be paid sixty-two cents the cane would cost twelve
cents, leaving her a profit of fifty cents a chair for her work. It cuts
the fingers some. She has most family work in winter; but her husband
can always get enough for her from the stores. Another German woman
seating chairs said she could seat three in a day. She charged fifty
cents apiece for ordinary chairs. At a chair-seating factory, I saw
several girls caning chairs for the proprietor, who receives orders from
stores. We were told that it is always piecework. Some girls earn from
sixty to seventy-five cents a day. They have work all the year. The
girls were very clean-looking. They stood while at work. A girl told us
it would take but three weeks to learn. Work is most apt to be slack in
January, February, August, and September. The work is mostly done by
German women. At another factory, I was told the prospect for work is
very good. The man said, three years ago he had more work for his women
than they could do. They are not paid while learning, and have work the
same all the year. His best hands can earn $4 or $5 a week. The work is
always paid for by the piece. The superintendent of the Monroe County
Penitentiary, N. Y., writes: "We employ our female convicts at the
manufacture of both flag and cane chair seats. They are equally adapted
to the employment of women; the flag seats, however, cannot be made
except near a chair manufactory, because of the expense of transporting
the frames upon which they are made. The cane-seat frames can be easily
transported; but the market is overstocked, and has been for years. They
are made in many Northern and more Eastern prisons, and are made by both
sexes. At the Albany (N. Y.) Prison, the females are employed at
cane-chair seating, and at some part of the manufacture of shoes. At the
Erie County Penitentiary, Buffalo, N. Y., the female convicts are
employed at cane chair seating and packing hardware, manufactured by the
male convicts; and at the Onondago County Penitentiary, Syracuse, caning
chair seats. New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Michigan are the
only States, probably, having county prisons, where the convicts are
regularly employed. Cane seating is a business employing many females
(free labor) in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and is well adapted to
girls and women of the lower grades of intelligence; and the same is
applicable to flag seating. They can earn, on an average, about thirty
cents per day. The business may be acquired in a few days--say, thirty."
The proprietor of the Oswego chair factory writes: "I have in my employ
about forty women and girls in the cane-seating department. An attentive
worker, possessing ordinary skill, can earn about fifty cents per day,
of ten hours. Young persons of either sex are much more sprightly at the
work than older persons." By a chair manufacturer in Fitchburg, Mass.,
several hundreds of women, girls, and children are employed in seating
chairs, which they do at home.