New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-09-03
LABOR IN NEw-Y RK:
No. TX The Dre-..Makers.


very distinct branches. First there are the large
expensive establishments patroaizsd BY nobody but
wealthy and ar-tocratic ladies, and IN which The
principal does nothing bat the smiling and bow ing
the putting of Of impatient customers, the patching
up # broken promises nc. while foreman Is EN-
poyea at salary OF = to = per week to cut. III
and measure This process i, not done with the
taor--by a single measurement and subsequent
calculation but each customer has to b. fitted and
measured in process not much less iatisuins, we
should think, than sitting for ones por;rait And
vet we have heard Of ladies' who seemed actually
TO fad pleasure in it,
Ia the Spring early Summer Autumn and Win
: ter seasons these fashionable establishments are
crowded with work to an alnos; inconceivabe
extent. Every iew days the windows OF some lead
ing shop in Broadway display some new figure or
style Of dress perhaps adroity kept back from the
left over STOCK OF formor season. which creates
OF positive necessity for every lady In the
City having the slightest claims being considered
one Of the Upper Ten Thousand to have dress
from the article OF so desirable style OF
course. too nobody but Mrs. - or Madame
- c0ud make a dress tit to be seen although
neither OF them puts stitch or a pair OF scis
sors into her customers materiel But every fash
ionable lady must have it in her power 10 say that
her dress ic0s made at such or such well known
establishment This occasions grand rush to the
popular Dress making concerns. and work Is ire
quenily engaged three and four weeks ahead by
them They charge slashing prices, which are paid
without grumbins, sometimes by people who beat
down little barefoot girls in the price Of box Of
Il
fooishy squandering their husbands money
Almost all of these establishments realize immense
profits and their proprie,ors frequently acquire for
tunes in the course OF few years
But the industrious JourneywOman whose busy
fingers piled necessarily from morning to night and
often late into the night, on account OF the hurry
ing season DO the work for which her mistress
gets 20 eNtravagantly paid--how is it with her
She j. employed 10y the week, and very often works
fourteen and sixteen hours out of the twenty four.
with scarcely an incrmission long enough to swal.
low her food. Her toll too is Of the most unhealthy
and destructive character, bending constantly with
her chest doubled up in one position and she does
not dare to seek for relaxation lest she should lose
her place. Well-for this she gets - 50 per week,
sometimes otencr bat 80 and we have evidence
that many of them receive but 81 %. Just before
New Years, or in preparation for some great party
or source in the fashionable season, sometimes these
fashionable establishments piled lip-deep with
the gorgeous silks and satins and costly embroidered
evening dresses Of their arisocrac customers which
must be done by certain time and in order to
effect il the workwomen are coaxed, driven and
simulated by every imaginable artltce To push
their work ahead. They sometimes eat in the chair
in which they sew. and then fall to work again.
continuing all night long, extraordinary coca
-ons to work without sleep or rest. They are few
OF them healthy -lookng-nor can we see how they
manage to proong life at all. Dyspepsia, Con
sumption Liver Complaint would seem to be the
inevitable reward of their mode Of labor and life.
The making Of dress. in the present era OF
fashionable refinement requires talent and aristica
skill of rather high order and a few girls OF more
than ordinary intelligence by their dexery and the
style they enabled TO impart TO their work
which is simply genius employing itself UNIV orthily
| command much better prices. They generally
however either become employers themselves or
take in work on their own account and the eNcep
ton. TO the state OF things We have described are
rare
Another class Of Dress Makers are those no 20
out 10y the day. They lar more independent
and get better paid than the Journeywomen in the
large establishments, and frequently employed
by wealthy people They are also often engaged
by the bette and more pretentons among the wives
OF Mechanics and the grea, Middle Class who ape
ari-locracy 80 far as they by utmost and constant
struggle and agony able. Many, also, Of course
need help in their sewing and altogether there is
room in New York for one hundred or one hundred
and tiny good Dress Makers to be constantly employ
ed Ia this way. They receive from five shllngs TO
seventy five and = per day. beside their
board and we do not see why more women who
can sew well and understand cutting and fitting
dresses do not go into this branch of the business
To succeed in it, however, requires real skill and
kno ledge Of their profession, and little time
to become known Families dislike to change their
dress maker as much as their physician, and good
dress maker, have often be engaged three or -four
weeks beforehand
Beside the JOurneywomen and Apprentices EN-
ploy al in the larger establishments there hun
drcds Of females in all parts OF the City who take
in work AZ their own house, and support Themselves
and very often their famies by making dresses
for all prices-from 81 to 80 and 80. Servant girls
very seldom make their own dresses, and scarcely
ever pay over 81 apiece. There are ten thousand
girls in the City, who have from three TO six
and eight new dresses per year Some idea there
fore be formed OF the extent OF this cheap
Dress making; and when state that il is two
days work to make the painest dress now worn
We can come pretty near the amount of the com
peusaiion-which with steady work would proba
bly, average from 50 to 81 per week.
We have a. yet said nothing Of the Apprentice
system adopted in this busness-which is quite as
bad any other part Of II. girl wishing TO learn
Dress making must first pay sl0 or SIS TO the en-
ployor aud work six months for nothing boarding
herself during this ume-or she avoid the so
or 81 . initiation by working year instead of six
months for nothing Ii there is great press Of
work. the apprentices of course kept closely al
sewing the plain in dress (which they al
ready understand until the hurry is over; and as
this hurry generally lasts twO-thirds Of the wear