The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-10-03

that derived from the percentss,. ,.;..5
by the subletting to tenants by W.T.. I.
must be remembered, the employing Ia y
lord runs no risk, as the rent is Invariably
collected III advance from the amounts due
for labor.
But large as are the profits thus derived
from the necessities Of the people, it by no
means follows that this is all or most Of
that ground out by the system The prices
paid-from S6 to S2l-on the factories,
must be borne in mind while considering
this part Of the investigation. Most Of
those employed in the tenement factories
are
BOHEMIANs,
the women as a rule being the bunch
makers, which is the branch that consti-
tutes legally the cigar maker" proper
The work done is Of the poorer kind. The
rates paid are usually from S3 30 to S8 per
thousand, and this includes both strip
ping" and casing" The tenement en-
plOyer thus saves rental derives profit
from letting the tenements saves the aver
age 81 90 per thousand for stripping, F"
which ON a weeks work Of 5, 600 for one Of
these Bohemian families, is at least 81 90
per week, as is also the $12 paid as
casers'" wages The weekly profit on
the stripping will be about e. 50 for each
tenement, or nearly $3.50 per annum for
each house. The pay of one caser" for
each house at least is saved, thus making
an additional gain Of about $3.50 per an
mum. But the profit il enormous on the
prices paid for labor. The reporters guide
said that at the same rate, and working the
same number of hours, a man who could
earn in a factory q little over 81 day,
would net only about S5 q week
Five persons make up the average Bo-
hemian family usually the husband and
wife, a half-grown child or two, and prob
ably an old person, father or mother
This family, working seven days in the
week, for about seventeen hours a day, at
the indicated prices, can earn collectively
about $40 week. In many cases there
are more than five IN the tenement, for
often boarders are taken or two families
share it together. The room in which the
work is chiefly performed is also kitchen
and dining room.
THE CHILDREN.
That family is most fortunate that DO
ooCooCS VIC AoA kCSi huuiOCE VI CillAuGeIls dS
they are all made useful. Cnder the laws
Of New York, children under ten are not
allowed to be employed in factory labor.
Though there are no means Of enforcing
this law, without complaint Of a citizen,
yet it is generally respectfully cigar manu-
facturers, who are not engaged in the tene-
ment system Of sweating" The needs
Of the parents, az well A. their ignorance,
combine in this matter, with the cIpidity
Of the manufacturers, largely to recruit
the " dangerous classes, if an early jour
ney to Gods acre" is escaped.
The operative cigar makers, af well as
their employers, who are not parties to
tins tenement system, are Of course bitterly
hostile The latter see the destruction Of
what they regard as the only legitimate
mode of doing business. But the opera
tives see in unmistakable form in its con
tinuance the utter decentralization and de-
gredation Of their craft. They realize that
it is rapidly reducing their wages
THE DECLINE
already felt, through it being estimated at
not less than forty per cent, and they be-
lieve this N ust go on in a more rapid ratio
hereafter. The more intelligent among
them are most painfully affected by the ef-
fects Of the system on the health Of those
engaged, and q the neighborhood, as well
the danger that arises from the spreading
OF infectious diseases through the articles
manufactured. Instances of small pox oc-
currlng III these tenements, the patients
some time before their removal
was effected, the operations Of cigar making
going on as usual, we're mentioned and au-
thenticated