New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-09-09
LABOR NEW YORK:
IFS eIscvMsrANoEs CONDITIONS AND hEwA.D'.
No. XI.... General Condition Of the shoe.Ma'
kera-fhe Ladies' Branch.

great amount OF WOrk lot 40 niue u r"~
Journeymen Shoe Makers. The number OF Jour
neymen on, Of employment is also large and out oil
all Just proportion. There are hundreds OF them
IN the City constantly wandering from shop to shop
in search Of work. while many of them have fami-
lies in state of absolute want One by one the ar
toles Of their furniture have been sold to supply
! bread yyhch the disheariened workman could not
earu and a, las, the family are turned out of their
miserable garrett or cellar because they cannot pay
their rent Even those who work fare badly
! enough and many OF them live in such a way as 70
deprive life Of everything the privilege Of
breath But for those entirely out Of situations the
case il still worse We have been in more than iif-
ty cellars, in different parts Of the City each nhabit
ed by Shoe Maker and his family The floor is
made Of rough plank laid loosely down, and the
ceiling is not quite so high tall man. The walls
are dark and damp. and a wide dcsolaie fireplace
yawns in the centre to the right Of the entrance.
There is no outlet back aud of course no yard prvi
leges of any kind The miserable room is lighted
only by shallow sash, partly projecting above the
surface Of the ground and by the little light that
struggles down the steep and rotting stairs. In this
apartment often live the man with his work bench,
his wife and FIVE or six children Of all ages and
perhaps pasicd grandfather grandmother and
often both In one corner is a squalid bed, and the
room elsewhere is occupied by the work bench,
cradle made from dry goods box, two or three
broken and sea,lcss chairs, siewpan and kettle.
Here is the whole of that thing noble in the alb
strac 50 lofty in the destiny intended for it, 20 fall
of every source of joy and gladness-a Family Of
human beings. Here they work-here they cook,
they eat, they sleep, they pray Of 10 pray they have
not iorgoiienl They procure little something to
eat by the chance jobs OF gentlemens or childrens
mending broughtin by the rich people above ground
in the neghborhood who are not celebrated for pay
ing poor cobbler high prices
Now this picture is faithfully drawn--sot over
colored in any one particular. We have written no
thing that We have not seen over and over again
with our own eyes We permitted our correspond
ent TO state his case in former number in his own
language 1t is doubtless well as far il goes but
il does not touch the dark shades in the condition OF
the Shoe Makers in this City They are the worst
paid and live the least like life of all who have
spent years in learning trades that they might
know how to live We met recently going up the
Hudson Journeyman Shoe Maker, pale and bag
gard with unremtting toll He had his wife and
three children with him and told US. with truly
thankful air. that he had at length escaped from New
York and was going to Herkimer county, where he
owned little patch of land and could raise his own
potatoes Enviable fortune, indeed He said he
had tried it faithfully for years-worked early and
late--half clad and half fed his family and almost
ruined his own heath-in the hope that something
would turn up But he had given tup. He used
TO get two-and six pence pair for making Ladies
gaer boots and said this was the usual price piid
for good second rate work. He lived IN sort OF
she'd in the rear Of wooden house, and paid for his
room four dollars q month. He could make from
eight to ten pairs of CATERS in week, if he had
steady employment-but this he seldom had In
Winter when work is slack and expenses much in
creased, the employers come and offer even lower
prices-and they are compelledto accept them. Oh,
he said he was glad to think he was already so far
from tina, hard hearted City
There are often several hundred Journeymen in
New-York who have regular situations and Of
those who have work. great number do not receive
ON the average over three and half and four dol
lars per week How they live we have attempted
TO show.
But of course there are few very skilliul and
tasteful workmen who get more They are employ
ed on the choicest work, and receive for the first
quality of Ladies CATERS four and five shillings per
pair man makes of these pair in day.
skin of French Patent Leather costs $3.50, and will
cut six or seven pairs of foxings The Satin fran
caise costs eleven shllings per yard, which cuts
three pairs the binding and closing costs fifty cents
or five shlings per pair-and the boots are sold TO
the customers for 50. This OF course relates to the
finest kind of Custom work.
IT, s Since the above in type our correspondent
has sent us the continuation of his srtce-irom which
we print the following confirmation of the observations
we ourselves have made j
The boots and shoes made in the city, principally
Custom made that is made TO order. The more com.
mon article sold here is chiefly manufactured in the Eas
tern States where the wokmen can live for almost less
than half the sum ii city mechanics Transpor
taon from those places here amounts to mere song and
consequently our market Is filed with this kind OF work
and the laborer on this branch Of Industry city IS
compelled to submit, to the grinding competition eneen'
dered and give all his labor his time and his health 10
earn food and clothes. Whist think you, the workman
of our city gets paid for making those boots and shoes
which are sold at the chap establishments so low
price as to make the buyer eye the seller and wonder
where he stole them Does he get fair remuneration
Does he even get remuneration for his time and labor
No-he cannot-he does not lire on his wases-he mere
ly erias-chameeon-like, on air.
The tools and implements, findings. &C IN fact nearly
all the articles used in the making of boots snd shoes
have hitherto been imported but of late years we have
go, TO manufacturing these things ourselves and may
be said tina, the importation does not now exceed twenty
five per cent.
The making Of Ldsfs-though no, carried on very OK
,ensiyely in our City yedeserves little no'iee from
our hands as branch connected with the subject We
treating Of
There are sbou, twelve establishments employing on
an average from twenty-five thirty hands the year
round These manufacture chiefly FOR the City trade
ourneymsn at this business working ten hours day
can make from seven nine dollars week. There are
more who make eight than seven or nine dollars week
of the many hardworking and industrious classes OF
our fellow.cizens the journeymen shoemakers stand
among the FIRST in this respect They are temperate
.k.,, md ixfu. sr-xtre