The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-06-23
Sewing Machines.

4 capital seanistrcss, living near this city,
used q few years ago, when ont OF work, 70 be
compelled to take "slop work, shirts aud
drawers, for the inferior clothing shops, and
first-rate sewing.woman as she was, could
hardly earn her sat. The wages puid her for
this sort of work were so very low that they
killed all the profits derived from her better
class Of custom, aud she found herself CON
tlnually growing poorer and poorer. At thus
iuucture she was enabled to buy for herself n
sewing machine, and her father, with whom
she lived, being boot aud shoe maker, she
had foresight to purchase a machine upon
which, in the intervals Of regular sewing, she
could stitch "uppers' Tor her father,
This seamstress is not any longer afraid of
a pauper's grave. With her sewing machine
she knows that she is a capitalist. When the
wages Offered her for regular work fall below
n profitable rate, or when that regular work
Is slack, instead Of being compelled to do
shop work at starvation wages she sews up
pers, or else can take good tailor work out
Of the better class establishments, This
seumstress, in other words, is now able to get
steady employment, TO regulate her own wages
and to feel both comfortable and independent.
The sewing did it all, and yet, when sewing
machines first came into market, it was the
sewing women who principally denounced
them, because they felt sure that they would
lose their bread by this new labor saving ma
chine
In natural state Of society, without artif.
cial laws aud especially without attempts to
lcglslate for purposes Of protection every
labor.sayiug machine tends to increase both
the demand for labor and the wages paid for
il by increasing the Udllc of it, In the final
tho a. iI
by tho value of the work done, since people
cannot afford to pay more for any sort of work
than il is worth to them. II ever we should
have state of society, bnilt upon commuuis.
tic principles, in which the State ordered
work and regulated wages under the dictution
Of the nottingham, individual orders for labor
and employment of labor would speedily cease
and we would have State builtupon Bastiat's
formula: u government in which everybody
was taxed for the support Of everybody.
The needlewoman aud the maker Of books
would equally present their bills 10 City
Councils and require to be paid "atair day.
wages for fair day work
So'ae of the statistics about sewing ma
chimes bear remarkably upon this point, Of
the benefits accruing from labor-sayiug ma.
chiucry. Stree Elias Howe aud Thimonniert
invented this machine, il is estimated tina
four millions of them have been placed in
use; about 100000 are annually made and
sold in Europe and rs many in the United
States, not to speak Of other parts of the
globe. Each machine has been rather cx
trayngau,ly estimated to save to its owner
$3.50 a week in wages, which, ON Il basis Of
10000 in use, would exceed S2,5OO,OOO,
900 per aunum.
The benefits of the general employment Of
this abor'Saying implement have been very
marked aud very large, 1t has increased
largely the wages Of the women; reduced sen
sbiy their hours of work, improved the con.
dition under which they do work, aud also
increased largely the demand for woman
labor. The hours OF woman work nave
fallen from eighteen hours per diem to ten or
twelve hours aud the London Eco tomii SAYS
that "thc demand for hand labor increased,
because, while the machine did the heavy
mechanical part Of the work, the cutting out
and preparation of the materials rendered
necessary more "hands,' and superior ap.
ttude and intelligence. u Is tins diversion
of female labor which lies al the root Of the
scarcity OF domestic servants aud the extra.
ordinary rise IN the wage. given to such SER
When the sewug.machinc was first applied
TO boot and shoe stitching the English North.
amptonshirc Crispins Immediately went into
II strike, but soon gave il and began buying
machines for themselves. As Plummor says,
in his history Of the sewing. machine, in Lei.
cester, "chcapuess, rapidity reproduction and
excellence led to a vastly increased demand
for boots and shoes; wages were raised; the
work was easier and the buildings in which
it was carried on were vastly improved, In
Leicester, in 1870, there were 100 operative
shoemakers; in 1851, there were 1870; in
1851, the machines having appeared, there
were 2,3lj; and in 1871 there were 5,703, or
nearly four times as many rs at the antc.ma.
chine date of 1851.
1t is thus apparent, from the facts adducrd
aud others which nigh, be easily brought for.
ward, that scwiugmachines have increased
the demand for labor 800 to 100 per cent,
doubled wages, trcblod consumption, cheap.
cned commodities and improved the comfort
and well,hcing Of female labor in every way.