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

/ A capital se,mstress, living near this city,
/ used lew years ago when out Of work, TO be
compelled to take ''slop'' work, shirts and
drawers, for the inferior clothing shops, and
first rate sewing woman as she was, could
hardly earn her salt. The wages paid her for
this sort Of work were so very low that they
killed all the profits derived from her better
class Of custom, and she found herself con
tlnunlly growing poorer and poorer. At this
iuncture she was enabled to buy for herself q
sewing machine, and her father, with whom
she lived, being a.buot and shoe maker, she
had foresight TO purchase 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
a profitable rate, or when that regular work
is slnck, instead of being compelled TO do
shop work At starvation wages, she sews up
pers, or else can take good tailor's work out
Of the better cuss establishments. This
seamstress, 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
sowing women who principally denounced
them, because they felt sure that they would
lose their bread 10y this new labor saving ma
chine
In natural state Of society, without artif
cial laws and especially without attempts to
lcgisate for purposes Of projections, every
abOg.saying machine tends to increase both
the demand ior labor and the wages paid for
II by increasing the UGjue of it. In the final
analysis the rate of wages must be determined
by the 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.built upon communis.
tic principles, in which the State ordered
work and regulated wages under the dictaton
Of the workngman, individual orders for labor
and employment Of labor would speedily cease
and we would have State builtupon Bastiats
formula: n government in which everybody
was taxed for the support of everybody.
The needewoman and the maker Of books
would equally present their bills to City
Councils and require to be paid "atair days
wages for fair day work
Some Of the statistics about sewing ma.
chimes bear remarkably upon this point, Of
the benefits accruing from labor.saving ma.
chinery. Stree Elias Howe aud Thimonniert
invented this machine, il is estimated tina
four millions Of them have been placed in
use; about 200, 600 are annually made and
sold in Europe and as many in the United
States, not to speak of other parts of the
globe, Each machine has been rather ex,
trayngantly estimated TO save to its owner
Sl2.jO a week in wages, which, on u basis of
10000 in use, would exceed s., 800, 600,
900 per annum.
The benefits of the general employment Of
this labor saving implement have been very
marked and very large. II has increased
largely the wages of the women; reduced SEN
sibly their hours Of work, improved the con.
ditiou under which they do work, and also
increased largely the demand for womans
labor. The hours Of womun's work nave
fallen from eighteen hours per diem to ten or
twelve hours, aud the London EcO. lymjst saws
that 'the demand for hand labor increased,
because, while the machine did the heavy
mechanical part of the work, the cutting out
aud preparation of the materials rendered
necessary more "hands, and "a superior mp.
ttude and intelligence Ii is this diversion
of female labor which lies at the root Of the
scarcity OF domestic servants and the extra.
ordinary rise IN the wage. given to such ser
When the sewing machine was FIRST applied
to boot and shoe stitching the English North.
tiNNliHltttf NAANI'lll1 liltlAFAlAA'lg N'NA ltb
Il strike, but soon gave up and began buying
machines for themselves. As Plummer says,
in his history of the sewing machine, in Lei.
cester, 'cheapncss, 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
II WIS carried on were vastly improved. In
Leicester, in 1890, there were 100 operative
shoemakcrs; in 1851, there were ,375: in
1861, the machines having appeared, there
were 2,3lj; and in 1871 there were g. FOB, or
nearly four times as many as at the ante-ma
chine date of 1851
II is thus apparent, from the facts adduccd
and others which might be easily brought for.
ward, that sewing machines have increased
the demand for labor 800 to 400 per cent,
doubled wages, trebled consumption, cheap.
ened commodities and improved the comfort
and well.being Of female labor in every way