New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-08-14
NETWORK IN SLICES.
slice Xv....THE NFEDLEwoNE

me IrbhW mas hrchuy CONTAINED series VI statAse
cal articles on the subject Of female labor which gave
many curious and surprising facts our object al pres
is review things in the general for the purpose oil
giving the reader a comprehensive view OF the various
classes into which Society in the metropolis is divided
II will be sufficient therefore, for purposes TO pre-
sent in few words the average prices paid for various
kinds Of needework, at the principal and prosperous
establishments.
Common cotton shirts, and flannel under shirts Elk
cents each good sesmstress runup two Of these
shirts per day and even very swift hand by working
from sunrise to midnight make three-beng u
cents per week for the common workers and SLIP cts
for the swftest of course allowing nothing for ho-
days sickness accidents being out Of work &c. &c.
Good cotton shirts with linen bosoms neatly stitched,
are made for twenty five apiece good seamstress
will make one in day thus earning sl5 Oper week by
constant labor Fine linen shirts with plated bosoms.
which cannot be made by the very best hands short OF
fifteen to eighteen hours steady work paid fifty gents
each An ordinary hand make garment Of this
kind in two days Trowsers overalls, drawers under
shirts &c &c pay shilling apiece TO the seamstress,
who can make one and perhaps two day. Cloth pan.
falcons, vests, SC. pay ls to 20 cents-very seldom
the latter price-pnd woman makes on the average,
about one day Thus proloDg these details, II
may be stated in word that the seamstress who IL
fortunate enough 10 get steady work earns from -
cents TO 60 a week Besides these, is necessary to
state that the dress makers at any rate the great ma
jority of them get absolutely nothing for the work
The way is managed is this The propretors OF the
large dressmaking establishments receive great num-
Der of apprentices who remain six months for nothing
boarding themselves in the mean time for the privilege
of learning the trade. The, already sew swiftly
and we'll or they are not accepted To them given
out the DIRE ises and they are kept constantly at work
sewing mot learning anything new until the very day
before their apprenticeship expires. Then few hours
are spent in giving them some general directions about
cutting dress and they discharged-there bengno
room for joWneyuomeE on rGges in an establishment
where all work is done by apprentices for nothing As fast
as their education is completed they are replaced by
other appren,ices-and so it goes on-the dahng pro
prieress OF the establishment growing rich and arsto
cratic and the poor girls turning out upon the world to
die of starvation and despair sell Themselves TO
infamy.
Here then are the facts respecting large and in
creasing class of our female population and a sad
enough picture they present 1t is this picture which
gave rise few days since TO the following eloquent out
burst of feeling from lady of acquaintance fwhom
was soliciting information Is it not the strangest
thing that well be conceived, that Woman, who by
the present constitution OF Society is made politically
and socially a slaye-who has voice in the govern
mcnt to which she submits in making the laws she is
forced to obeywho Is in short not recognized by any
human institution of these days an independent in
dvidual anything apart from the necessity Man
has for using abusing herhat she IS not like other
slaves whose existence Is merged in their masters
even secured food clothing and shelter for the heetng
CLEAN between eterniiies which glides by her
D.1o and on he has
indeed no rights of her She can be oppressed
cheated trainped upon until the joyous life within her
becomes dead and poisonous impulse that drives her
through the world eager for the grave sngs her Into
desperation and revenge But how revenge her wrongs
She has no redress neither in those laws she did not
sanction in that public opinion she cannot influence
and which regards her not Seeing this her gentle and
tender nature length undergoes change. Then the
feeble becomes the terrible, the weak and suffering
Woman is transformed into avenging demon And
who may wonder at her T.
In this great republican metropolis-this ioregone
result of the highest and best thing that cyiHz alton
can do with all boosted free institutions in iul
bloom and fe-there are thirty thousand virtuous wo
men who have 10 live die and be buried on what they
can earn with their hands. In the ranks of this class
of our population find Woman in almost every
aspect Of misery ever struggling and faint with the bur
den OF life. Wives and daughters of brokendown
merchants and specializing politicians form large item
in this catalogue Reduced from aftiuence 10 poverty
and keen want they all unearned In the great secret
of yielding gracefully 10 the inevitable, and maintain
day by day fierce unequal but not doubtful contest
with "cruel Fortune until they sink beneath tempts
ton or despar-to the brohel the grave majority
are borne up by pride alone from beggary and the few
who still calendar them among their acquantances do
not suspect to what strait they have been driven until
the crisis arrives and is over.
Next come the widows of tradesmen and mechanics,
the wives and daughters of those who cannot get
poyment and the wives Of sick and Incorporate hus
bands and the children OF invalid drunken parents.
Here are to be found some of the most patient and
long suffering starving tong heart broken, yet cour
ageous women that glorihed their Creator Here,
in miserable open garres utterly deprived of human
hope and sympathy. and often languid and faint from
the mere want OF food, these creatures show what
angels women are. Sometimes-oh too ohen-the
sehshness of pain and suffering the brutal appetite Of
hunger and incompetence makes the sick father or the
drunken mother command the pale and tender daugh-
ter to 60 out into the streets and sell herself for gold
Must il not be e-resem milling he'll itself that begets
such crimes as this And how dare we wonder and
shrug our shoulders with pious at those among
these unfortunates who do not resist
Then, too, from out their workshop windows, through
the chinks and erannes Of their miserable
poor workers see how gsily the busy and seeming
Joyous world goes on-how every appears to have
hope in his eye and elasticity in his step Nor they
fail to mark among the passing throng many women
not more beautiful than Reconsideration perhaps
they have well known as fellow workers-who 20
haunting idly along in gay and costly robes receiving
the stealthy smiles and admiration Of the lords Of crea
ton who follow skulking after till they turn down some
dark and with the outlay OF smile and seduc
tive word secure their victim They want for nothing
they live in luxury-their white hands look fair and
delicate from want Of employment-their eyes seem to
sparkle with health and their forms rounded and
elastic with generous fare and absence Of toll Is
surprising that peor workers looking out from their
rags and squslid poverty and starvation upon all this
should forget what perhaps they have never been in
formed OF the horror, the agony the despair, the dis
ease the madness which the inevitable future Of
the courtezan and that many Of them should, ala.
desire to be like her
Butwe are trenching upon somewhat broader ground
than we had intended to occupy In these unpretending
sketches and find ourselves in contact with that great