STRAW WORKERS.

348. Bleachers and Pressers.

I called in a place where I saw the pressing of bonnets and children's hats. The rims of the hats were pressed by a woman with a large iron, the crowns by a man with an iron attached to a lever fastened in a frame. It is all piecework, and some can earn from $4 to $5 a week. I have been told that Mrs. K., New York, employs women pressers. The iron is not so heavy for bonnet pressing as for hats, but requires too much strength for a woman. Shaping straw bonnets is done by women—that is, placing them on blocks and pinning them around the edge, after they have been bleached, until they acquire shape. A man pressing straw hats, told me he is paid 5 cents a hat, and can press sixty in ten hours. The time for learning either to sew or bleach, I find, is usually six weeks. Mrs. M. pays learners nothing for six weeks. Her busy seasons are from October to last of November, and from December to spring. It is all piecework, and her girls earn from $3 to $4. A bleacher of straw hats employs a lady at $5 per week to alter and wire bonnets, after they have been bleached, which is done by her own family. She works ten hours a day. The work is mostly confined to spring and fall. The bleaching process is very deleterious, owing to the sulphur used. It produces a loss of vitality and shortens life. A stout, healthy man, in the course of a year, becomes quite pale and thin. The bleaching does not require all the time of any one. The bonnets and hats are put into the bleaching room, and, when they have become white, are taken out.

349. Braiders.

The following is from the New York

Tribune

, of 1845: "The Amazonia braid weavers—a large and ill-paid class of working females—begin work at seven in the morning, and continue until seven in the evening, with no intermission save to swallow a hasty morsel. They earn, when in full employment, $2 and $2.50 a week. Out of this, they must pay their board and washing (for they have no time to wash their own clothes), medical and other incidental expenses, and purchase their clothes—to say nothing of the total absence of all healthy recreation, and of all mental and moral culture, which such a condition necessarily implies. They have, many of them, no rooms of their own, but board with some poor family, sleeping anyhow, and anywhere. For these accommodations they pay $1.50 per week, some of the lowest and filthiest boarding houses charging as low as $1 per week. The living here must be imagined." At Foxboro', Franklin, Middleboro', and Nantucket, Mass., are straw manufactories. "In 1855, 6,000,000 straw hats and bonnets were made in Massachusetts, giving employment to ten thousand of her people." Rye straw is raised in all the New England States. It is cut, soaked in water (I think split), and then dried. It is sold by the pound—then braided by women and children for 10 or 12 cents a day. It is mostly done in farmers' families, who are at but little expense for living. In this state, it is mostly sold to merchants or agents, who sell it at manufactories, where it is trimmed by machinery, and then sewed. It is then shaped into bonnets, wired, pressed, and bleached, the crowns are lined with paper, and they are packed ready for exportation. The women earn on an average $5 a week. In England, wheat straw is raised, which is inferior to rye straw. N. says the largest straw-bonnet establishments of England are not as large as those of the United States. For making straw hats in Philadelphia, men receive $7.50 a week, and women $4.50. Philadelphia is said to spend $6,000,000 annually in the manufacture of straw goods. At H.'s, New York, they employ from fifty to one hundred hands. It is usual to have learners six weeks for nothing, and then pay full wages, if they prove competent. Work is given about ten months. They are paid by the piece, and can earn from $4 to $6 per week. In December, they begin to make up hats and bonnets for spring. A milliner told me she pays her braiders by the yard. Some earn $4 a week, and some even $5. They work at home. The summer season is over by September. H. writes: "In my opinion the best arranged industrial establishment is the Union Straw Works at Foxboro', Mass. High wages, cushioned arm-chairs, a literary society which carries on the lyceum lectures of the town, are all far above any of our factories. The proprietor would not call it a factory, to make it more attractive. Out of three hundred operatives, sometimes, seventy-five have been teachers."

350. Sewers.

Mrs. K. employs about seventy-five girls for bleaching and sewing braid and straw bonnets. She pays some $3, some $3.50, and some $4 a week. They work ten hours. All live at home, but bring their dinners. She bleaches by the old-fashioned process with sulphur, and has men to do the pressing. N. & Co. employ about one hundred and twenty-five on an average six months, and about twenty-five all the year. The bonnet business has increased very much during the last few years. At B.'s, I was told the wholesale work for the South begins in November; but the city work, the last of March, and continues to July. It is light work, and does not require close application of the eyes. Machinery can never be used for sewing straw, because long stitches answer, and straw is too brittle. Persons of a nervous temperament are often the most intellectual. Such females make good straw sewers. It requires a peculiar adaptability, as every other occupation does. Everybody cannot learn to sing or to paint—just so some cannot make good straw sewers. He thinks most young workpeople in New York do not live at home, and considers obedience to parents and observance of the Sabbath the foundation of success in life. B—s, of Connecticut, write: "Women are employed in this country, and in Italy, France, and England, in sewing straw. Our girls (150) are mostly paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $7 per week. They also trim straw hats. They spend four weeks as learners, and are paid $2 a week while learning. To be a fast sewer is the most important requisite. The prospect of a continuance of this work is good. The busy season is from September to June. The best locations are near New York and Boston." "About 200 persons are employed in the straw factory at Nantucket. Some of the operatives are daughters of the leading men of the town, and make $5 a week at the business." A firm at Middleboro', Mass., write: "We employ 850 women, and have them in preference to men, because they are more dexterous with the needle. They receive from 30 cents to $1.62 per day, and are paid mostly by the piece. Women are paid five eighths what the men receive, but could not perform their labor even at the same price. Learners make enough to pay their board the first three weeks. Good mechanical talent is needed in a learner. They have work about nine months in the year—generally stop July, August, and November. Nine tenths are Americans; seven eighths live at home. A large number of them are not dependent upon labor for a living. Board, $2 to $2.25." From a factory in Wrentham, Mass., we have the following report: "We employ during the winter season, in the factory, from seventy-five to one hundred females, and in families who work at home about six hundred, whose pay is not so good by about one third. Some of our workers are paid by the piece—some by the hour. Most of them can earn $1 a day, twelve hours being a day for females. Men are paid 15 cents an hour; good help extra, and poor, less. They work ten hours. For the part done by women, we pay the same price from the first, but their work is not received until it is well done. A person is employed to give them instruction; five or six weeks' practice mostly makes a good sewer of one who can learn at all. During this time most girls earn half wages. To good help we usually give work nine months in the year. Busy seasons from December 1st till June 1st, and from July 15th to October 1st. The rest of the year, work is given out at reduced prices—sufficient to earn about half wages. All American women. It is desirable for manufacturers to be near New York city, so as to keep posted on styles. Many ladies choose this business after teaching school for years. Most of our hands come from Maine, and board in houses provided for them, paying $2 a week." Another straw manufacturer informs me "the girls in straw shops earn more than in most other kinds of business, they being, as a general thing, smarter girls, and such as would not work in cotton and other large mills. Their work varies much, as the styles and materials change." A firm employing about eighty American girls write: "They are paid according to their skill and smartness, from $2.50 to $10 per week. Two thirds work by the piece—half will earn $5 to $6.50—average about $4.50 per week. Male labor will average double. It cannot be done by females—they are not strong enough. The reason of women's being paid low wages is the surplus of female labor. They cannot be hired to do housework—it is too confining. It requires one month, more or less, according to taste and genius, to learn the work. Good references as to character are required, and some skill with the needle, and an idea of form. Busy from December to June, and from August to November. We do nothing for about three months. Hands hired by the week are paid extra for overwork. If we could not give them the amount of work they have, the

best

help would go elsewhere. There is always plenty of help in this branch in New York, and they get work done for much less, but by a different caste of girls. In the New England States, girls are generally brought up to work, whether rich or poor, and we can get help from the best families, well educated and intelligent—while in some States we could not find them. Board, $2.25 to $2.50." A straw firm in Franklin, Mass., write: "We employ about 400 females—60 of them in our manufactory—the remainder work at their homes. The former have the privilege of working from 6

A. M.

to 9

P. M.

; but as they work by the piece, they are not confined to any particular time. The latter accommodate themselves. Few get less than 80 cents per diem, and many can earn over $1—some over $1.50. All are paid by the piece, except overseers. Males and females are never employed in the same kind of labor. Females make and trim bonnets and hats—males bleach, block, and press them, which is too laborious work for females. Some years would be required to learn to conduct the straw business successfully. Some females will make a very good bonnet or hat after a few weeks' practice. Others take a longer time, and a few will never make a good bonnet. Our practice is to pay all while learning. The qualifications required by us are a good character, good health, skill in the use of the needle, and a desire to acquire proficiency. The supply of hands is always greater than the demand. All the females employed in straw factories are American. Our girls have access to a good library, lectures, &c. Those employed in manufacturing board at $2.25 per week, including washing. Boarding houses attached to the different straw manufactories in this town are of good character and comfortable."