FUR WORKERS.

332. Dyers.

Dyeing furs is wet and dirty work, and the odor is very disagreeable. I was told by a lady that girls at such work can earn $4 a week, or if by the piece, from $5 to $6. There are very few indeed at it. She thinks it not unhealthy. She sometimes cleans furs, mostly ermine, with a powder of some kind. In the fur business, people must sell enough in three months to keep them the other nine months of the year. In the summer they take time to examine, purchase, and make up furs. C., a fur dyer and dresser, told me he once employed an Englishwoman to flesh fine skins—

i. e.

, take off the flesh that adheres to a skin when removed from an animal. It is done with a sharp knife. She earned as much as a man, $1.50 a day. But men object to working with women in that business; and no American women, to his knowledge, know how to do it.

333. Sewers.

From conversations with a number of fur dealers in Philadelphia and New York, I find the rate of wages for sewers runs from $2.25 a week to $8. Forewomen get good wages. Some sewers and liners are paid by the piece, and some by the week. Those who work by the week are paid for extra hours. A small number of the women employed in New York are English, but the majority are Germans, who have learned the business in their own country. In Germany most of the men learn to sew, and most of the men engaged in the fur business know how. Quite a number in New York are married women, whose husbands are connected with the business. Furs are sold only in the fall and winter, but made up in the summer. In a few places they give work all the year to a small number of workers, but the majority do not give work more than six months, from May to December. Some fur sewers have another trade for the other six months, as hat binding, &c. It does not require long for a good sewer to learn—from one week to six. There are some kinds of fancy fur sewing that require rather longer. No women are employed in preparing the skins: that is done at different establishments, generally in the suburbs, and exclusively by male hands. The usual number of hours of sewers employed by the day is ten; but many of those who sew by the piece take work home with them to do at night, and so are enabled to earn considerably more. Men working in the fur business in New York earn from $8 to $12 per week. The quilting for linings is done by machines, but the linings are sewed in by hand. Liners are generally better paid than sewers, and earn from $6 to $10. In extensive establishments, a cutter and a certain number of sewers and liners confine themselves to one kind of fur. Some furriers pay their learners enough to board them; some do not pay anything. I think the supply of hands in New York is equal to the demand. The best workers, of course, are most sure of employment. New York is the great fur depot of the United States, but some business is also done in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Furs are sent from St. Louis and Chicago to be made up in New York, and part of them returned to be sold in those cities. Those that sew furs at home can most conveniently take learners. There are a number of middlemen in the fur business, who get work from the stores and make a profit by employing women to do it at lower wages. Mrs. G., an importer and manufacturer, cuts her own furs, particularly ermine and sable. She says furs are sometimes cut in Germany by women, but people in this country think a woman cannot properly cut them. Work at the fur business in England is said to pay better than any other. G—s, the largest firm in New York, write: "We pay women from $2.50 to $6 per week. Some work by the week, some by the piece. Men get about double wages, but their work requires more physical strength. Men do the cutting and matching, and it requires several years to be a good workman. Sewers receive about half price while learning. Some women can learn all that is necessary in a few months. The prospect of employment is not so good as heretofore. The women work the year around. Work hours are 9½. Board, $2 to $2.50 per week." Most furriers report the employment healthy, but it is not, on account of the dust and loose hairs flying, for persons predisposed to consumption. A furrier in New York writes: "I pay mostly by the piece. It takes about one year and a half for women to learn the parts they do. The amount of work hereafter depends some upon fashion and the weather. The best seasons for work are from May until February. We could not shorten the hours of work unless the business had a longer season. Board, from $1.50 to $2." A furrier in Boston writes: "Women are employed for sewing and lining furs here, in England and France, and partially in Germany, Russia, &c. Week hands get from $4 to $4.50, ten hours a day; others, from $2 to $6. Business in future is uncertain. I am busy from July to Christmas. The best location for the business is where furs are fashionable." A fur dealer in New York, who employs from 10 to 15 women, gives the following answers to questions concerning the fur business: "The work is very easy, and not unhealthy. I pay women from $3 to $6 per week, ten hours a day. They are as well paid as males, in proportion to the amount of work done. Any apt female can learn in three months, and is always paid by me $2.50 per week while learning. The business is better and there is more of it every year. Work is steady from May to December; very little at other times. The comfort and remuneration of the employment is satisfactory among working classes. Women are more capable of handling a needle for light, fine work than men. The colder the climate, the better the location for business, provided people have money to buy furs." In some establishments where men and women work in the same departments, they are allowed to talk while at work; but the practice, some complain, is not conducive to good morals. The character of the people and conversation, however, would decide that.