«Труд женщин: Энциклопедия женской работы»

Проволочные оконные шторы. Mrs. C. said a lady used to paint wire shades for her husband. He also employed men. He has most work done in summer. It requires care to keep from filling the niches with paint. Miss —— acquired boldness and freedom of execution in oil painting by the practice. Rapidity and lightness of touch were also acquired. Her hand had got a stiff, cramped feeling, from painting on canvas constantly. The price paid for shades depends on the fineness of the cloth, the size, and design. Miss S. says her father has the landscape painting done by Germans, and pays good prices. It is paid for by the square foot. He charges $2 a square foot, for a shade in the frame, ready to put in the window. The artists take them to their studios. Germans are preferred because they work most rapidly. One makes a great deal of money, but he works late at night and on Sundays. Several coats of paint are put on before the landscape is painted. Some copy engravings, but enlarge the scale. They make to order. The business is increasing. He sends a great many to the South, particularly Havana and Baltimore.

ПРОИЗВОДИТЕЛИ КНИГ, ЧЕРНИЛ, БУМАГИ И КАРАНДАШЕЙ.

376. Фальцовщики книг. I know of no work in a bookbindery that could not be performed by intelligent women that were properly instructed. Forwarding, marbling, gilding, stamping, and finishing could be done by them, in addition to presswork, folding, gathering, and sewing. The female bookfolders of New York number several thousand. The women in Philadelphia binderies are between 1,000 and 2,000. The most bookfolding and sewing, out of New York, are done in Washington and Philadelphia, and some in Cincinnati. The busy seasons for book makers are from September to January, and from March to July. In this business there is a union among the men regulating prices, hours, &c. There is a great difference in the character of the binderies in New York—every shade and grade is to be found. In seeing the size and comfort of the workrooms, and the manners and conversation of the employer, it would not be very difficult to judge of the pay and condition of the workgirls. The trade is well filled, and, no doubt, with quite as many women of worth, self-respect, and education, as any other. At the Bible House, Tract House, Methodist Book Concern, and Harper's, New York, the faces of the workers are bright and cheerful. Every precaution is taken to secure only those who are respectable, and the associations surrounding them are calculated to elevate, rather than degrade. Most of them are able to pay enough for their board to secure the right kind of home associations. These establishments, except in emergencies like the present, retain their hands all the year; while those in a majority of other houses fluctuate with their business and are unoccupied three or four months in the year. Bookfolding is paid for by the 1,000 sheets, depending on the size of the sheet and the number of times it is folded. A good, fast folder can earn from 50 cents to 65 cents a day, whether folding with a machine or by hand. A few can earn as much as $6 per week. Folding and collating pay the best of woman's work. Collating is usually paid for at 20 cents an hour. Men in bookbinderies get from $8 to $20 per week. Some employers are much more kind and intelligent than others. Some bookbinders in New York impose on girls by taking them to learn the business, requiring that they stay from six weeks to six months to do so, and paying nothing during that time. During the most of the time their work is efficient, and they earn money for their employers. When the time has expired they are turned off, and others taken on. Some bookbinders employ those who will do their work at a very cheap rate, often thus exposing them to influences that are pernicious. Favoritism is often shown by employers and foremen. At H.'s, 200 women and girls are employed in folding, sewing, and gilding. Either of the branches is light and pleasant, and soon learned, after which the remuneration depends upon the abilities of the learner. Their hours are from 7-½ to 6, but it is piece work. All of his workpeople are temperance people. The work of bookbinders is not more unhealthy than any other indoor work. At the Tract House they take a few girls to learn to fold, and have them work until they earn $6 before they pay anything. An English woman told me that she used to earn $7 a week, as forewoman, but they never allowed her to be absent a day. A publisher in Philadelphia employs about fifty girls in his bindery, but complains that as soon as they make a few dollars they will take a holiday to spend it. He says the better he pays the girls in his bindery, the more they are absent from their work and the more difficult are they to manage. That, I think, arises from defective moral training. We know that people of right principle (both men and women), whose wages enable them to dress comfortably, and provide wholesome food and well ventilated, healthy apartments, are not only better able to work well and constantly, but do so. It stands to reason they should. If the poor cannot make a proper use of their scanty compensation, they are more to be pitied than blamed, for we know well they have nothing to spare. The manufacture of blank-books is an important branch of business. A blank-book manufacturer in Troy writes: "I pay both ways, and the wages are from $3 to $4.50 per week. Men's wages are from $6 to $12, but their work is different and heavier. Women's part of the work is learned in from six weeks to one year. A ready hand and quick eye are wanted by a learner. Busiest time from December to July. There is a surplus of hands, so far as I know. When men work at the women's branches (which is very seldom), they do it more substantially." In France women do much of the work in blank-book binderies. In M. Maitre's book bindery, Dijon, France, "No apprentice, boy or girl, is received until after they have made their premier communion, and received a certificate that they can both read and write, and also a medical certificate of vaccination. The workpeople are thus of a respectable class. The young children of most of the married women are either sent out to nurse in the country, according to the very common custom of France, or else the married pair form one household with the grand parents."

377. Сшивальщики книг. "Trades in general require a large share of mechanical ingenuity, in combination with strength, mathematical skill, and other qualifications. Strength is requisite to the success of a bookbinder." Women employed in sewing are paid by the piece, and as soon as they are competent, which requires but a few days, are paid according to their application from $3.50 to $7 per week. The work of women in binderies is clean, and about as comfortable and remunerative as any other of a mechanical nature. At the Methodist Book Concern we saw girls folding, gathering, sewing, putting plates in books, gilding the covers, and feeding the presses. They were well dressed and intelligent looking, and evidently felt an interest in the welfare of the establishment. The majority were Americans. The superintendent told us, "girls earn, in the sewing department, from $3 to $9 per week. A good sewer can earn, without difficulty, from $5 to $5.50 per week. They have about thirty, most of whom work by the piece. They have one strong woman who sometimes earns $10 a week. They never work over ten hours, as the house is only open for work that long. The folding and enveloping of tracts and papers admit of a change of posture. There is no similarity in the male and female labor. The comparison in prices is about one-half to one-third. It requires a lifetime to learn a man's branch; an intelligent woman can learn hers in a week. The result of a bookbinder's work is not for a day, but for all time. Bookbinders have more constant employment than those in most other trades. The work is most dull in summer. There is constant employment in New York for first-class hands, and always a surplus of second-class. Large cities offer the best localities—those in the South and West will probably furnish many openings to publishers." A. & S. employ girls to fold, stitch, and sew. They are paid by the piece (customary), and earn from $3 to $5 per week. Sewers can earn more than folders and stitchers—say from $5 to $7. They work until six o'clock and commence when they please, as they are paid by the quantity. A bookbinder told me his girls work from seven to six o'clock. He gives work all the year. They are paid by the piece, and can earn from $5 to $6 a week. I have been told folders and sewers are taken as learners only where the cheapest work is done. At some binderies three cents 100 is paid for folding, three cents for sewing, and six cents for stitching. At some places five cents 100 is paid for folding 12mo. sheets. The proportion of hands employed in the different branches of bookbinding is somewhat as follows: About two thirds are folders, one sixth gatherers, and one sixth sewers. A process has been invented by which books can be strongly bound without sewing. I fear it may be the means of throwing many sewers out of employment. At W.'s bookbindery I was told they sometimes take learners. They expect them to stay six months, and pay them half that they can earn during that time. They pay workers by the piece, and they can earn from $4 to $6 a week. Some of the girls are employed to remove the covers from old books and magazines that are to be rebound. M., who does the printing of the A.'s, informs me that his girls work by the piece, and average over $4 per week. His learners receive one half their earnings—the teacher the other half. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons, but the women are never entirely out of employment. There is no surplus of good hands, but many imperfect ones. He employs from 125 to 150. The superintendent at H.'s told me that the girls in the sewing-room earn from $3.50 to $8. He says their women are intelligent and lady-like, and would adorn the best society. They change their dresses when they come to work, and then before leaving. If they are at all hurried in their work, their hands, both men and women, come early and stay late of their own free will. Males average $10, females over $4. The reason of the difference is, that men serve an apprenticeship of five or seven years—women five or seven weeks. The former are the mechanics; the latter merely assistants. The latter cheapen the labor of the former, without having the strength or physical ability to perform their work. (I cannot see how it should be so when the branches performed are entirely distinct.) The foreman at B.'s told me a very brisk worker can earn $6 a week, but few do. They do not average over eight hours a day. They never light their building. S.'s girls, in good times, are employed all the year. He pays by the piece, and his girls earn from $3 to $5. In most small book binderies in New York men and girls work in the same room. A girl at the Tract House told me they pay better for sewing there than in most other places, and have work all the year, in ordinary times. A printer boy told me his sister earns, in a bindery, from $8 to $10 a week. D. has newspapers printed and folded, and pays his women for folding from $4 to $5 a week. A manufacturer in New York, having a bindery in New Jersey, pays his girls mostly $3.50 a week, besides their board and washing. He boards them, and he is very particular in having them attend church on the Sabbath, and keeping an oversight of their morals and habits. Most of the binding done South and West is that of blank books. There is not so much machinery at the South and West as at the North. F. says the binding of blank books pays best. A good folder may earn $6 a week, but a sewer not so much. The majority of both do not earn more than $4. They pay from the first. One woman can stitch enough to keep three men employed. So there are not as many women employed in factories where blank books are made, as where printed books are. I was told on Fulton street, at a blank-book manufactory, that their girls earn from $5 to $7. They give steady work all the year. The binding of blank books pays best. They have one girl that sometimes earns $9 a week. At jobbing houses girls generally earn $6 a week, when paid by the week for binding.

378. Изготовители карточек. For about eleven hundred years women have been more or less employed in the manufacture of cards. At N.'s, New York, I saw two girls who each earn $6 a week, and work only in daylight, and have work all the year. I went through D. & Co.'s work rooms, and saw the process of making playing cards. A large number of girls were at work, who receive average wages of $4 per week. It requires six months to learn well. They do not like to take any learners with whose character they are unacquainted; for many, when they have learned, will go off where they can get better pay. Six girls that learned with him last summer were drawn off by an employer who offered them twenty-five cents a week more; but when his busy time was over, they came back crying to be taken in again. So he made a rule that none should be taken back that once leave. (Do not men go where they get the best prices?) They keep all their hands at work, because many of them represent three or four others, who are dependent on their labor for bread. They give work all the year, and pay a learner according to what she accomplishes. They sometimes find it difficult to get good hands. They will not take hands from another employer unless they bring a note saying they have been honorably discharged. It is to avoid getting bad and dishonest workers. (If employers in that line of business, or any other, should agree never to receive hands from each other's places of business, it would cast workers entirely at the mercy of employers.) D. says their regulations are strict. I thought the girls looked to be comfortably situated. Some were cutting cards, some assorting, some counting, and some enveloping. Nearly all sat. He thinks the business so limited that it is not likely to furnish employment to many more. He says girls working at bookbinding and hoop skirts are out of employment a great deal; two thirds of the hoop-skirt makers are now out of employment. S. & P. make fancy and business cards. S. told me he pays his most experienced girls $3.50 a week. Learners receive $2.50 a week for four weeks—after that, according to activity and capability. He has hundreds of applicants, and always selects those who seem most destitute. They work ten hours a day. He has had some girls several years. To the small girls he pays less. He often has two or three girls from the same family. Foreign goods are so much preferred by Americans that they put French labels on some.

Визитные карточки. A., New York, employs two girls to put up visiting cards, and pays $3 and $3.50 per week. It does not require any time to learn. He now uses a machine for cutting that does the work of several girls. I was told by a very obliging girl, working in a visiting-card manufactory in New York, that to some the occupation is unhealthy, because of the lead inhaled, which injures the lungs. In that factory learners are paid $2 a week. It requires but a week to learn to cut the cards, which is done with a small hand press. The girl knew of two places in the city where the work was paid for by the piece; but in that factory they were mostly paid by the week, receiving $3.50 and $4, working ten hours a day. It requires from four to six weeks to learn. Nimbleness of fingers and ability to count are the most desirable qualifications. They have work all the year, except in November and December. They sit while cutting, assorting, and packing. This work is confined to women, as they are best adapted to it. Those in the brushing room stand. Several hundred girls are employed in New York in the card business.

379. Мастера по трафаретной росписи карточек. A stencil engraver told me he cannot use acids in his work, because his lungs are weak, and it is very injurious. The business is dull in winter, but good in spring and fall. It pays very well when there is enough to do. His work has to be done hurriedly, as it is generally for merchants who are going to ship goods, and frequently do not order the plates until the barrels are headed and the boxes are nailed. The making of embroidery stencil plates, he thinks, would do better for a woman, and that could be done without any regard to seasons. A visiting-card writer told me he charges $1 a package of fifty-two for plain marking. Mrs. H. saw the advertisement of one who writes one hundred cards for $1. I. G., who makes show cards, says a boy for filling the letters is paid six cents a sheet. For designing, a person could get twenty-four cents a sheet. He could both design and fill thirty a day, so earning $1.87½. He knows that the merchants of the South used to purchase their cards in New York, and so there must be openings in the South for writers of show cards, and probably in the West. It requires about one year to learn to design well, and two weeks to learn to fill in neatly. Employees are paid by the piece. I was told that card painting must be done by women, judging from the prices paid—some cards costing but twelve cents a piece. I am sure women could do all the work. Making the letters is very simple, and filling them up is a mere mechanical operation. They can earn, I am confident, over $2 a day, if they have enough of work. It is peculiarly adapted to women, and some of them should learn it. I saw the wife of a German stencil engraver, who assists her husband by cutting out with scissors the parts that form the letters. He is paid three cents a letter. He can cut forty letters in two or three hours. A coat of wax is laid on the plate, and an instrument used for working out the letters, figures, or design, then an acid poured on, and when it has stood for a time removed with the wax. It can then be cut out with scissors, or into large letters and figures with other tools. Writing plates are cut by hand, as they can be most neatly and delicately done in that way. They are twice as high in price as stencil plates. S., who manufactures show cards, has several times thought of employing women. They could with a brush fill the outlines, which is now done by men, who earn from $2.50 to $18 a week. It would require about a year to acquire proficiency in drawing the outlines of the letters and using the brush to fill them. He thinks it a very suitable business for women, and will probably employ some before long.

380. Позолотчики обрезов и обложек. I think burnishing the edges of books could be done by women after they are put in the frames, but considerable strength is required in the preparatory processes of shaving and screwing up. The burnishing is done with agates. I doubt whether it requires more strength than many other things women do. Laying gold leaf on the edges could certainly be done by them. Men that gild the edges of books receive from $7 to $9 a week. Men will not fold or stitch, because it does not pay well enough. G. says gilding the covers of books requires a longer apprenticeship than either folding or sewing; and at H.'s, workers are paid at first eight cents an hour, afterward ten cents an hour. It being piecework, the girls are not strictly confined to hours. Book and card edge-gilding is done both in England and France by women.

381. Электротиписты. Electrotyping is now more used than stereotyping by those who expect to have many editions of a work published. It costs but little more than stereotyping, and is either four or six times as durable, I forget which. 2,000,000 impressions can be taken from an electrotype plate, but only 800,000 from a stereotype plate. A boy learning the business receives $4 a week the first year, and after that more. A journeyman receives $2 a day, and some $2.50. A journeyman told us he had spent seven years at it, and he felt that he had yet much to learn; in fact, a person could be always learning. Electrotyping would be a useful and profitable occupation for women. An apprenticeship of three or four years is given to it.

382. Изготовители конвертов. At B. & G.'s, New York, girls work by the piece all the year in busy times, and can earn from $3 to $6. Most of those who get in factories, do so through the influence of friends or acquaintances in or connected with the establishment. Their business is increasing. They keep their girls all the year. They give lessons in the busy months, August and September, February and March, and pay from the first. A good hand can earn from $3 to $5. P. & Co. usually employ sixty girls. They are paid by the piece, and earn from $4 to $4.50 a week. The envelopes are made by machines, attended by women. They employ five or six girls making envelopes by hand, as they have not machines of some sizes. P. thinks the occupation is full. They have employed their girls all the year. They used to take learners, and give the teachers their profits. My companion, Mrs. F., inquired if envelopes could not be more easily made where the paper is manufactured. He replied, they could not, because paper (and, I believe, all other goods) are delivered free of freight in New York, and he can make more by being here in the centre of trade, than if he had to send his goods here to be sold, and employ some one to sell them. He prefers the girls that can be obtained in the villages and country, for he thinks them more honest and truthful. He thinks the grade of morals altogether superior in the country to that of the city. He spoke of the want of moral obligation in the lower classes, arising from the want of proper instruction, and the lower you descend the worse you find it. The makers of boxes for containing envelopes they got were such a common set, that they instructed some nice American girls how to make them, and now employ them. He says the box makers are a common set. So I have heard bookbinders, umbrella makers, and hoop-skirt workers spoken of. But I frequently hear one trade speak disparagingly of another. W. told me their girls are paid so much a thousand. The envelopes are cut by a machine attended by a man. They are folded by a machine managed by two women, who of course stand. They are pasted and enveloped by girls who sit. The girls earn from $3 to $5 a week. It requires but two or three weeks to acquire the trade. A learner is paid nothing. The envelopes are tipped or gummed by a girl, who stands. This is the most difficult part of the work done by women, and pays best. There are eight factories in New York, one in Philadelphia, and one in Connecticut. Nine tenths of the business is done in New York. There are probably between two hundred and three hundred girls employed in the business in that city. W. requires references. Some employers are particular in their selection of hands—others advertise, and take them as they come. 2,700 envelopes have been made in an hour by machinery. A manufacturer in Massachusetts writes: "The work is considered particularly healthy. Girls from 12 years up are employed, and earn from thirty-three to seventy-five cents a day of ten hours. Men are paid from $1 to $2.75 per day. Two are machinists, two overseers, and two cutters of envelopes. Women are not strong enough for this kind of work. Some parts can be learned in a month, some in six months, and in others it requires a year to excel. We give the same employment and pay through the year, whether our profits are larger or smaller. I employ about sixty, one sixth of whom are American. The work is light, and we have constant applications from girls, who prefer this to any other manufacturing business in town. Board, $1.50."

383. Фальцовщики и адресаты газет. The lady at F. & W.'s who directs the papers for them, says the business has been followed by women in New York for fifteen years. I called at the office of the Independent, and saw one of the editors, who, on learning my business, kindly invited me into the room where the young ladies were employed in directing strips of paper to envelop newspapers. It is a pretty business, and well adapted to women. Some learn it easily, and some never learn it. Dr. C. remarked: "A person may have a willing mind, but not an obedient hand." They had one young lady who spent five months at it, and then gave it up, because she could not succeed. It requires a peculiar aptitude, aside from an expeditious movement of the pen. It was followed more by women eight or nine years ago than now. Many ladies would like to get employment of the kind, but cannot. I think all the young ladies in the Independent office were American, and were certainly very pretty and lady-like. They have a separate room to write in. They spend about eight hours directing envelopes for papers to send away. One earns $6 a week, another $5, and another $4. The one that first came is permitted to have as much work as she can do. The next has what she leaves, and the third the remainder. The objections made by some men to employing ladies are that they do not like to have women work in the same room where they are. They feel under more restraint, and not so free to say what they please. Such a restraint may be a wholesome one. Many women make the same objection in regard to working with men. Again, if a lady does not work as they wish, or is idle, they do not like to correct her, because women are more quick to resent. The last excuse is a poor one. They also waste much time by having their beaux call on them. Some urge they find a boy more useful, because they can put him to doing something else, when he is not busy writing. In the Tribune office, men are employed because they can do it more rapidly. It is said some direct eight hundred envelopes in an hour. In some offices the girls are expected to seal the papers, but not in all. At the Cosmopolitan Art Association, I saw a lady that is employed in directing the Art Journals that are sent by mail. The covers are put on by a boy. She receives $9 a week, and spends about eight hours writing. At the rooms of the A. C. Association, we saw three ladies directing envelopes for the report of the society. The Association issues a monthly magazine, and at the time of its issue employs the same ladies for the purpose of enveloping and directing them. At other times they employ but one. She has been there ten years, and is very efficient. She attends to the books containing the names of subscribers, assists the treasurer sometimes, writes letters for the secretary, and makes herself generally useful in that way. All the ladies complained of women being so poorly paid. The one who has been there ten years says, for the $350 a year she gets, they could not secure a young man's services for less than $700 or $800. The others are paid 63 cents per thousand for directing, and ten cents per hundred for sealing and directing.

384. Чернила. A large quantity of writing and printing ink is used in this country. There are factories for making each kind. Making printing ink is hard and dirty work, unsuitable for women. Some persons cut stencil plates and make indelible ink, and employ agents to sell the ink and plates. Indelible, and all writing inks, could be made and bottled by women. Care should be taken that the acids used do not touch the flesh. Common clothes should be worn while at work, as both the ingredients and compound are of a kind to injure clothes. A maker of writing ink in New York, employs three girls in summer for bottling and labelling, and pays $3.50, working from seven till dark. He never employed any in winter, but if his business extends, he will employ his girls all the year, paying the same price in winter. He has found it difficult to get good hands. The prospect for learners is poor. A manufacturer of ink writes: "I have never yet employed female help, though I am satisfied that most of the work in my laboratory might be as well done by women as men. The employment is not unhealthy. My men work ten hours a day, and are paid by the month."

385. Резчики этикеток. At P. Brothers', I was told some of their labels are cut by hand, and some by machinery. The first are square or oblong, the others are of different shapes. Those cut with shears are most neatly done. For cutting by hand the price is one cent per hundred. They take them home. A lady and her two daughters, who work for them, often receive $50 a month. Those cut by machinery could not well be cut by women. It requires practice to make one expert. B. pays a girl by the hundred to cut labels at home. He would employ a girl to cut and attend his store, paying $3 a week from the first, but she must not be absent a day. If her health is such that she cannot always be there, he does not want her. He had one three and a half years, who was absent only ten days during that time. S. says cutting labels is always piecework, and a good worker can earn from $4 to $6 a week. He gives them out, and they are cut by hand. Common ones, for spices, mustard, &c., are cut by machinery. It does not require long to become expert. The business is always dull in December and January.

386. Графитовые карандаши. The young man at the agency for the sale of Faber's pencils, says they are made at Steinway, Germany, and he thinks women there are employed in varnishing the wood of the pencils and tying them up. The pencils are either painted or the simple wood varnished. "A man in New York is reported to have made $60,000 by selling lead pencils about the streets at a penny a piece, and safely investing his profits." Some large pencils, such as are used by carpenters, were some time back made in Massachusetts. The writing part of lead pencils is made of lead and clay, mixed, pressed, and burnt. The wooden part is in two pieces that are united when the lead is put in. In Germany each man has his own part to do. Children do some parts of it, such as joining the wood.

387. Работники бумажных фабрик. Paper is of various qualities and colors, and is adapted to different purposes. At least one half of the operatives in paper factories in the United States are females, amounting to several thousand. Water power is used in some paper mills, but in most large mills steam is used. Women are employed in paper mills to sift, sort, and cut up rags. It is dusty, disagreeable work, and we presume not particularly healthy, as much of the dust is no doubt inhaled. In some factories, women attend the picking and cutting machines and calenders. They are also employed for hanging, laying off, reeling, folding, assorting, counting, enveloping, and labelling the paper. The inability to meet fully the demand for rags in the manufacture of paper has led to experimenting with a variety of articles. One agent for the sale of paper made in New Jersey, and the foreman of the same establishment, told me their girls get from $2.50 to $3 a week. The majority receive $2.50. Part work six consecutive hours, have a rest of one hour, then six consecutive hours more, that is from six at night till seven in the MORNING, HAVING ONE HOUR AT MIDNIGHT; THE OTHER HALF FROM 7 A. M. till 6 P. M., having an hour at noon. The day and night workers take week about. They board for $1.50 a week. In Lee, Mass., women get $3.50 and $4, and the men twice as much. Women are paid best in the ruling department. In the paper factories in New York, women receive from $3 to $5 per week. Paper maker's girls, $1.50 to $2.50 per week. S. says, in some paper factories girls are able to earn $6 a week. All the labor in paper mills, except attending to the fires and machinery, could be done by women. All manufacturers report the occupation as healthy, except one in South Adams, who states that small pox is sometimes taken from the rags—not often. A paper manufacturer in Lee, Mass., writes: "Women are employed in all countries where paper is made. The time of learning depends upon their skill and developments in certain directions in the business. They are usually paid by the piece. Men are paid more because their labor is greater. Boys learn the business in about five years, girls in about one year. In learning they generally receive enough to pay their board. They work at all seasons—sometimes have nothing to do in July. There is a demand for hands in the loft, a surplus in the rag room." The New England Roofing Co. manufacture a felt, which is similar to sheathing paper, but made of a fine stock. They employ six females in sorting rags and other materials for the felt, and pay from $3 to $5 per week, one half the price of males. They work eleven hours, and pay $2 per week for board. A manufacturer of wrapping and wall paper, in Connecticut, writes "he employs a few females, and pays fifty cents per day of from eight to ten hours. He prefers them because most economical. Those working by the piece can earn from fifty to seventy-five cents per day. He pays men $1 per day for doing like work. They require less attention, and can perform other work when wanted, that is not suitable for females to perform. He usually pays beginners the same as others when they work by the day. His most busy time is when there is most water for power. An active person can usually earn as much in from six to eight hours as a house girl is paid for a full day's work." A manufacturer at Niagara Falls "employs between forty and fifty women, paying each from $2.50 to $4 per week, without board. They are paid about one half less than men, because boys would do. The prospect of employment is good. They are most busy in summer, although they run the whole year, day and night (except Sunday). They are twelve hours on, and twelve hours off. Board, $1.25 to $1.75. A firm in South Adams, Mass., write me: "We pay by the piece and the day. The prices for female labor, we think, compared with work done, better than for male. It requires no time to learn to cut rags, but experienced hands can earn more wages. For finishing, from four to six months are given. Women are paid while learning. We employ women always, when they can do the labor. Women are superior in the neatness with which they do their work. New England, and such States as have abundance of clear spring water, are the best. Board, from $1.25 to $2 per week. We think, perhaps, that at present the business of paper making is pretty fully supplied with laborers, male and female, in this section of the country, yet good help finds ready employment, at fair wages." Manufacturers of bank-note paper, in Lee, Mass., inform me by mail, they "pay by the piece, to women, from $3 to $4.50 per week. It would require five years for a man to learn the business, so as to properly superintend it. That portion done by women can be learned in one month." A newspaper manufacturer in Taunton, Mass., writes: "Fifty or sixty women are employed by me, in manufacturing cotton goods and newspaper. I pay by the piece and the week, from $2.50 to $6 per week, depending on the age. I give equal pay to both sexes for the same work. They are employed the year round, and work eleven hours on the average. The climate of New England is best adapted to indoor labor." Paper manufacturers in Dalton write: "We pay women by the piece, from $12 to $16 per month, and they have work all the year. No men are employed for the same kind of work. For other branches of the business, men are paid from $25 to $35 per month. Women are paid while learning for what they accomplish. The prospect for work is good. We employ women because they are cheaper. They pay for board $1.25." A firm in Russell, Mass., write: "We employ from forty to fifty; one tenth are Americans. They can all live comfortably and earn good wages. New England is the best part of this country for fine paper mills, on account of the purity of the water. Board, $1.50 to $1.75."

388. Изготовители бумажных пакетов. At a paper-bag factory in Brooklyn, the man pays from $1.50 to $2 a week to his girls. They work ten hours. The work is all done by hand. The bags are considered better than those made by machinery. He has twenty-six girls at work. Some he pays by the quantity; for some kinds, twenty cents a hundred; for some, thirty-seven cents. Those that work by the piece have a forewoman, with whom he makes a contract. She cleared $14 one week. It takes but a week to learn. Work is furnished all the year. Some have worked for him five years. Paper-bag manufacturers in Watertown, Mass., write: "We employ six women in tending bag machines, and pay seventy cents per day of ten and a half hours. To males we pay one third more. It requires about one month to learn, and all that is necessary are care and application. Summer and fall are the best seasons, but they can have work the year round. We will not have any but American girls. Women are more accustomed to sitting, but cannot keep the machine in order. Their dress is objectionable, particularly their hoops, which take up much room, and are in danger of getting in the machinery."

389. Изготовители бумажных коробок. Though this may seem a trivial business, it is one very extensively carried on. Every size and shape is called for. The most are made, we suppose, in New York and Philadelphia, as greater demands exist there, owing to the variety and quantity of goods manufactured and offered for sale. Boxes are almost entirely made by women. I think most of the men in this trade in New York are Germans. The occupation for women is pretty well filled. The bandbox manufacture is a distinct branch. Some women, who make small match boxes, receive but one cent for thirty boxes. At a place in New York where seventeen girls are employed, I was told they are paid by the piece, and some can earn as much as $5 a week. The calling can be learned in three or four weeks. At one place, where they make bandboxes also, the girls earn from $2 to $5. At another, they earn from $2.50 to $5. Some seasons of the year are better than others. They have mostly American girls. It is sometimes difficult to get good hands. They keep their hands all the year. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. Very little sewing is ever done—mostly cutting and pasting. In some large factories, machinery is used for much of the work. K. employs a number of hands all the year. They work by the piece (customary plan), and earn from $1.50 to $6. They are paid $1.50 per week from the time they begin to learn. He thinks there are not more than from five hundred to six hundred females in New York employed in his branch. There were three hundred in Philadelphia about fifteen months ago. One paper-box maker told me he pays fifty cents a hundred, and a smart girl can make one hundred and fifty in a day. He gives employment all the year; his brother, in the spring and fall. The work is always, I think, cut out by a man. B.'s girls are paid by the piece, and earn about $4 a week. While learning, his girls are paid $2 a week. It requires but two or three months to become skilful. I noticed the girls in some work rooms sat, and some stood. I was told those making small boxes sit, but those making large boxes stand, because of the time consumed in rising to reach the parts needed to be joined. Learners work with F. fourteen days for nothing, and then are paid by the hundred. Some can accomplish more than others in the same time, because they are quicker with their fingers and apply themselves more closely. In putting on labels, it is best to stand, as it can be done more expeditiously. It is best for girls to learn where the cheap kind of boxes are to be made. Those that make fine boxes are seldom willing to take learners, because of the materials that are wasted in learning. Good hands can get work all the year; indifferent hands are likely to get out of employment for one or two months. The girls in the trade are mostly Irish and German. For three months, the past year, F. was out of hands. He deserved to be all the time, for his factory was on the fifth floor, and the steps of the open wood kind. So girls must have been very much exposed in going up and down stairs, as every flight of stairs led to a floor on which men were at work. At C.'s, I was told his best workers earn from $4 to $6 a week, and are paid by the gross. They never work over ten hours, as his work is of a large kind. In some factories, where the boxes made are small, the girls are allowed to take work home with them to do in the evening. He keeps his best hands all the year. He requires two weeks of learners, and then pays them according to the amount of work done. Another box maker gives his work to three or four families in an adjoining city. His workers earn from $3 to $4 per week. A girl sewing small bandboxes told me she is paid six cents a dozen, and can usually sew ten dozen a day. It takes but a week to learn. They are most busy in spring and fall. In pasting, girls can earn from $4 to $5 a week. The girls sewing, sat; those pasting, stood. At another factory I was told April and September are their most busy months, and then they take learners. Most box makers have steady work. If they are not making boxes for one branch of trade, they are for another—confectioners, candle makers, &c. The business is increasing. Girls can earn from $3 to $7. There are openings in New Orleans. It is difficult to get good hands in busy times. It takes some time to become expert. A boy remarked to me that paper-box makers are a hard set; but I find there is considerable jealousy and envy existing between some members of the different trades, and consequently always make some allowance for what I hear. A firm of paper-box manufacturers in Connecticut write: "Women are employed by us to run machinery, making paper boxes, &c. It is healthy, clean, neat work. Average wages are seventy-eight cents per day, including board. Our male help are employed at some laborious work, which females could not perform. Average price paid men is $1.25 per day, of eleven hours. No time is required to learn the paper-box business, but practice makes it more remunerative. There are advantages in being in large cities; but, having no market near, we prefer the country, on the ground of better advantages for our help, and its being easier to procure trusty, intelligent girls to labor. Our women have constant employment, and are superior to men in their work. Most of them are well suited for making good wives, being from eighteen to twenty-five years of age. Board, $1.75." B., of Philadelphia, writes: "We pay women from $2.50 to $5 per week, working by the piece. Men's wages are double, as they generally have families. Neatness and to be good sewers are desirable. They generally have work the year round. The demand is greatest in Philadelphia, New York, and the Eastern States. We employ them because of their ability to use the needle. Women are superior in their own branch." A manufacturer of hook-and-eye and button boxes writes: "We employ twelve women, and pay by the piece, from $4 to $6 a week. Women's wages are low, because of the competition in the article manufactured. Time of learning depends upon the natural skill of the learner—one can learn for years. The prospect for a continuance of this work is good. The price, and fittedness for the work, recommend women to us."

390. Мастера по мраморированию бумаги. I saw the process of marbling—something very suitable for women, if they would properly qualify themselves for it. The young man said a paper marbler in Philadelphia used to employ some women to assist him, but he had to mix their paints. A paper marbler in Boston writes: "I do not know of any females being employed as marblers of book edges in the United States. Some are employed in marbling paper for the covers and linings of books."

391. Линовщики бумаги. In ruling paper for blank books and ledgers, females are employed in some establishments to feed the machine. It is not difficult to learn, though there are not many willing to take learners, as considerable paper must be wasted before they can become proficient. Only a few weeks are required, and they are seldom paid while learning. $4 a week is a fair average for female workers. Very closely connected with this branch is that of paging blank books. It may be learned in from ten to twelve days. This is a limited business, and would not justify many in learning. K. thinks thirty girls would supply the demand for the whole United States. The most busy season is from the first of July to the last of October, and they seldom refuse any applicants during this season. March and April are also busy months. About half the hands are retained through the dull season. The girls earn from $5 to $6 a week; the forewoman something more. All are required to be orderly and respectable, and there are no associations that would have an immoral tendency. A journeyman paper ruler in Boston writes: "There are a few girls employed in this city at ruling, i. e., where they feed on the paper, watch the work, fixing it when it requires attention, &c. The paper is trimmed for them, it being hard work, and requiring a man's strength to do it. The wages are from $3 to $4.50 per week—$3.75 about the average—and when they board away from home, pay $2 to $2.25 per week. I work by the piece, and make sometimes $10, sometimes $16 per week; can make $12 and $13 per week well enough, nine hours to the day. One disadvantage females have, is, that some of them are inclined to marry when a good opportunity is offered. I wish to be understood that this is a disadvantage only as keeping down the price of female labor. The young man learns his trade, then he marries. He does not quit the shop, but still improves in skill in his trade. The female, when she marries, bids farewell to the shop and her trade. Nine or ten hours a day is as long as girls work at our trade here. One great objection girls have to our trade is, they do not like to soil their hands with the ruling ink, and one cannot get through much ruling without soiling their hands more or less."

392. Подающие листы в печатные машины. "The number of women who feed power presses in printing offices in Philadelphia may number one hundred and fifty. They can earn, upon an average, $4 per week." At the Methodist Book Concern, New York, they pay to press feeders the usual price, $4 per week. It requires about six months to become a good press feeder. When work is scarce, they retain all their hands, if possible, but work a less number of hours, and pay in proportion. At a blank-book manufactory I was told their girls are paid $6 a week for feeding. Their girls think they make poor wages when they earn but ten cents an hour. Some embossers, in Boston, who employ thirty women in binding and press feeding, write: "They pay both by the week and by the piece. Their women, on an average, earn $5 per week. Female labor is thirty-three per cent. cheaper than men's, and the part done by women is too effeminate for men. Women spend from one to two months learning. Prospect of employment in this branch is good. The women work ten hours. They are out of employment in summer. Board, $1.50 to $2.50." At a printing office where from forty to fifty women were employed, I was told the girls were mostly German, because the foreman was a German. It requires four weeks to learn. They work ten hours a day, and are never thrown out of employment. The demand seems to be fully met in New York.

393. Печатники. "In 1476, Fra Domenico da Pistoya and Fra Pietro da Pisa, the spiritual directors of a Dominican convent, established a printing press within its walls; the nuns served as compositors, and many works of considerable value issued from this press between 1476 and 1484, when, Bartolomeo da Pistoya dying, the nuns ceased their labors." In the Victoria Printing Office, of London, all the compositors' work is done by women. The Printers' Unions in the United States have done all they could to prevent women from entering the occupation and obtaining employment. Men's employments in the cities, they say, are now filled, and if women enter, men's wages will fall. They do fall, at any rate, because women will work for less than men. To obviate this difficulty, I would suggest that more men engage in agricultural and other occupations that will take them out of the cities. At present, the war demands large numbers. A printer told me that type setting could be carried on more easily by women in towns and villages than in cities, where men are slaves to the Unions. In the latest rules of the Printers' Union, New York, a printer is not prohibited from working in the office with a woman. Yet few publishers are willing to employ them, because it is supposed they are employed for less wages. At a printers' convention, held recently in Springfield, Ill., the following resolutions were adopted: "Whereas, the employment of females in printing offices, as compositors, has, wherever adopted, been found a decided benefit, both as regards the moral tendencies inculcated and the dependence to be placed in their constant presence and attendance upon the duties required of them, and as a means of opening a wider field of remunerative labor to a deserving class of society; therefore, be it resolved, That the Association recommend to its members the employment of females in their offices, wherever and whenever practicable." Printing is mostly paid for by the thousand ems. More is paid for printing from manuscript than for reprint. Newspaper is paid rather higher than book printing, and morning papers more than evening. Much has been said of the unhealthiness of a printer's work. The majority of causes that render it so are not confined to the occupation itself. Some printers must work during the night. Their habits become irregular, and many run into dissipation. The rooms occupied by some are poorly ventilated, and so poorly lighted as even in the day to require artificial light, which helps to absorb the oxygen of the atmosphere. When type are heated they emit an odor that affects respiration, and will in the course of time paralyze the hand. But there is no necessity for using them when heated. The standing position of compositors weakens the organs of digestion; but compositors can as well sit as stand. Stools may occasionally be seen in the offices of men. Bending over the stone to correct is not more tiresome than bending over cloth when sewing. A good education and general intelligence are necessary for a printer. A gentleman connected with a printing office remarked to me that printers generally possess much desultory information, but have not their faculties more fully developed than people in most other trades. Women's fineness of touch and quickness of motion will fit them for type setting. "They might be instructed, not merely to compose and distribute, but to correct, make up, impose forms, and prepare the type completely for the press or stereotype foundery." A man should be employed to carry the chases to the press room. When the pressman has had the type inked and used them, he should have the form washed and returned to the compositors' room. When women have had as much experience as men in the printing business, they will be fair competitors. In most large cities, and even towns, many are now employed in type setting; but they are much scattered, and consequently not much is known of them. In Boston, women have been engaged in type setting for nearly thirty years, in New York eight years, and in Philadelphia five years. More girls are employed as type setters in Boston than any other city of the United States. They set type for nearly all the large periodicals. They are paid less than men; but some earn $8 a week. F., of Boston, who employs some women as type setters, writes: "I pay twenty cents per thousand ems, which averages to a good hand about $6 or $7 per week. It requires about six months to learn type setting. I pay my learners, because I consider it to my advantage in the long run to do so. Type setters with an ordinary education will improve as they progress. In a few years, women will work in many branches that to-day would be termed innovation. I consider winter the best season for printing books and periodicals. On account of neatness and taste, women are well suited for the ornamental branches of printing." The proprietors of a printing house in Boston, who have some thought of employing females, write me: "The printing business is considered rather unhealthy, on account of its being both mental and physical. It requires from two to three years to become good workmen at our business for males, and would take about the same time for females, although our business is now classed composition room and press room, and females are sometimes employed in other offices in both rooms. Our business does not vary much, except in the month of August, when it is generally dull. Our number of hours for work are ten, the year through. Our business is not considered very laborious, and females make from $4 to $8 per week. Men are generally superior to women in education and judgment. The printing business is almost a school for learning. Board, from $1.50 to $2.50." The largest number of printers in New York are employed on books and periodicals. I think it likely there are more Americans employed in the book-making trade in New York than any other trade. From an article on "Printers," in the New York Tribune of April, 1853, we extract the following: "We estimate the services of a competent young woman at type setting as worth in this city $2 per week, after a fortnight—$4 per week, after three months—$6 per week, after a year—$8, after two years. Every compositor on the Tribune at work at the case has thirty-seven cents per thousand ems, and thirty cents per hour for steady time." The present price required by members of the New York Typographical Union for newspaper work, when employed by the week, is $12—ten hours constituting a day's work. For book and job work $11 is required. At the Day Book office I saw one of the editors, who thinks women do not correct so well as men, and they want self-reliance. Besides, they cannot lift the forms. Men are paid better for these reasons. He thinks more women might very advantageously be employed in setting type for papers. Job printing he thinks not so well adapted to them, because of the variety in the work, and the judgment and self-reliance required. Two of the girls in the Day Book office have with their earnings bought their mother a home in the country. Their girls are more intelligent, have more pride, and dress better than most working girls. To set type requires more intelligence than most shop girls possess. The foreman of the same paper writes: "We employ ten women, whose exclusive business is type setting. Seven are American women. I deem the employment of type setting unhealthy, but not more injurious to women than it is to men. We pay women twenty cents per thousand ems. Men receive thirty-one cents per thousand ems in our office. Women are not as competent to do all kinds of work as men, particularly in a newspaper office; hence the difference in wages. The time of learning depends almost wholly on the aptitude of the new beginner. Some persons (men as well as women) would or could not learn the business in a lifetime. Women have been paid while learning in this office. A knowledge of the English language, and a disposition to improve that knowledge on all suitable occasions, are the principal requisites. The general order of intellect did not amount to much, when we first tried the experiment; those who have worked steady have improved wonderfully. They work ten hours per day. Average wages $6.50 per week in this office. With proper training and instruction, they would be competent to do any portion of the work not requiring too much physical exertion. The best seasons for a printer's work depend almost wholly on circumstances. Large cities are the best places for the printer who wishes to have steady employment." T., of New York, told me "he employed girls for a while, and would have retained them if he could have had time to attend to the composition department. He paid his girls the same price he did his men. He thinks it strange that more broken-down ministers and worn-out school teachers do not turn to type setting, as it is learned in a very short time, requires intelligence, and demands no outlay of muscle. On the principle that a stout muscular man should be a blacksmith, and a small delicate one a watchmaker, a woman should be a type setter. A girl should begin when young. Women are no more thrown with men in type setting than in feeding presses. In all large establishments, type setting and press work are done in separate rooms." I think if some lady teachers would learn the art of printing and get places as forewomen, they could from girls obtain as much work as a foreman does from boys; but he thinks it difficult for a foreman to be exacting with women, particularly with those who are old enough to be sensitive and self-willed. He thinks, "in New York, women are not so much employed in intelligent occupations as in Boston. In the cities printers make most all their profits off two-thirders, as they are called—boys who have not attained their majority, and do their work as well for much less than journeymen. His son, a boy of sixteen, earns from $5 to $6 a week as type setter." H., in New York, employs three girls. They get $6 a week of ten hours a day. They can sit if they choose. They have a room to work in, separate from the men. At W.'s, opposite, a youth told me a fast worker could earn $8 a week. The girls there were working in the same room with the men. J., of Philadelphia, said he used to employ women to print his labels, but they demanded $6 a week, and men he could get for $9. He told the women they were cutting their throats in asking so much. He said women should not expect as high wages as men, even if they did their work as well, and as much of it, for they would thereby displace men; and besides, you could not order women about as you could men. B., editor of the Pittsburg Commercial Journal, employs six girls as compositors. Connected with his office are two journeymen, who set type after 6 P. M., reporting telegraphic and local news. All type setting should be done by women in the day, unless they board very near, or in the house of the printing office, because of the exposure of going home late at night. Three fourths of the work of a printing office could be done by women. Afternoon and weekly papers could be very well printed by ladies, as they are printed in the day. One of B.'s lady compositors receives $7 a week, another $6, and the others $4 and $3.50. They work eight or nine hours a day; and to a learner they pay $1.50 a week, until she can set type correctly—then more; and in two years she will be very nearly or quite perfect in the art. It requires quickness of eye and finger to succeed. At the office of the Detroit Daily Democrat, girls as apprentices are paid from $3 to $4 per week, and those advanced twenty-five cents per thousand ems. "The compositors' office of the Ohio Farmer, at Cleveland, has four apprentice girls. Compensation light at present, but after the first year they will have the same that journeymen are receiving in this place, i. e., twenty-five cents per thousand ems." A lady learning to set type in Indiana writes: "I think the reason of the printers objecting to my learning was that I was not required to run of errands, or, in other words, be the 'devil' of the office, as boys are who learn the printing business. Besides, my compensation is better than theirs, in consequence of my ability to do more than they. I receive my board and $50 a year while learning; after that, journeyman's wages by the week or by the thousand ems, as I prefer. In this time I can learn to do all, except the press work, making up, &c. The girls employed as type setters in the office receive $3 per week while learning." I have been told that in Rochester, Buffalo, and New Haven, printing is done more cheaply than in New York, and some publishers send their printing to those towns to have it done. A great deal of raised printing is done for the blind in the United States, but women do not work at that. Printers were wanted some time back in Charleston, S. C., and when affairs become settled in the South, we doubt not there will be many openings for printers. An institution has been founded in Edinburg for teaching girls the art of printing. Monsieur P. says in many of the villages of France it is difficult to get printers. He proposes that a certain number of girls be qualified for the work, as women are well suited to such work, and it is of a kind that pleases those who have tried it.