The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-07-26
SEWlNG-W MEN'SPAY.
.tf
STARVATION WAGES CAUSED BY
CHEAP AND ROTTEN GOODS.

CHEAP AND ROTTEN GOODS.
An Inside View of the Shoddy Business
A Small Margin of Profit-Future
Prospects Not Bright-The Lowest
Grades +-..Misft" Goods. I.
The general public was surprised and
-hocked to learn OF the miserable remuners-
ton of tue sewing women Of Chicago re
marked tue g nteman who had opened the
cons ersation at appears that the song of
the shirt is still a true picture, despite the
sewing machine, the cutting, and other
modern mechanical inventions which have
rev outoni2ed your trade
"ihe wretched pay Of the maiority OF
women tailors Is a deporalie but easily ex-
planned fact, replied the merchant For
a few yo,.is after its first introduction the
sewing machine did work wonder
tul Impro, ement il tho condition of
this class OF workers, but by degrees its
benefits, as far as sewing women are con
cerned, have disappeared, until now they
are almo t If not quite as badly oil as they
were before iIlias Howe removed the eye OF
the needle from the head TO the point
GLOW DO you account for this
There have been several causes at work.
First, this machine has boen so simpitied
and improved and is now SO oasy to oper
ate that all but the finest work has Il come
unskilied labor. Though the amount of
tailoring during the thirty years of the
sewing machines existence has undoubtedly
increased more than a hundred fold, still the
competition Tor this work is now strong
as it was under the old order of things But
the main cause of tine starvation wages is
the manufacture of an enormous and con
tinually increasing quantity OF cheap and
almost worthless goods Not many People
are aware that in our line, one OF the prime
necessaries of life the amount of imposition
and fraud practiced is incalculable. The
misfortune is that almost every man,
woman or child believe themselves to be
competent judges CT clothing, whereas
ninety five out of every 100 know no more
about it than they do about architecture
SHOpDN THAT LOOKS WELL.
There are large number of firms all
over the country, whose main business is TO
make up shoddy piete goods of handsome
appearance, but for wear and durability
ship of these garments, while effective for
the eye, is OF the toughest and most despic-
able character In New York, which has
always so large Coating population, and
where hordcs of women are forced by their
necessities to accept whatever Is offered, the
rates for sewing tbs stuff are SO low that
starvation wages is the only proper term
To add to the wretched condition of these
- 4,
only through corinorant middlemen, called
sweaters, who make large incomes out of
this white slavery.
Il his mass of rubbish is not only injurious
in itself -compeiing as it does with genuine
goods-tut IL also has a great influence in
fixing the rates of payment in the better
grades Under this influence the earnings
of The least protected ciass--the women
| have gone lower and lower. The manufac-
turers are not to blame The margin of
profit is now SO close, the competition be-
tween the different sections of the country
SO strong, that they are forced to take every
advantage Of the cruel but inevitable laws
Of supply and demand.
AN organization for the protection of the
| women employed in the manufacture OF
clothing provided that it was universal
throughout the country have the
entire sympathy OF the majority of manu-
facturers, as it would aid bat small frac.
ton to the cost of the output and relieve a
class whose condition Is a bad as it can lie.
The prospects for the establishment of such
an organization in the near future, however
are not very bright Those women are SC
utterly dependent on their daily earnings
| the cohesion among them is SO weak that il
| would require strong efforts from the out
side to start and carry through any sucl
movement fhilauthropic individuals with
| talent for organizing, or societies who SEM
| enormous sums out of the country for mis-
sicnary purposes, might turn their attention
| toward the solution of this problem The
need is urgent, the field is almost unbrcb en-
| and would amply compensate for all the
| time and money expended on it.
Where are these sho1dy garments usually
| on sale,"
They are on sale wherever bargain ma
MACS are to he found, wherever foolish PEG
pie can be duped by means of catchy ad ) er
| tisements or braZen assertion They ar.
sold by the wagon load in cutting and catch
penny stores throughout the country
IN THE LOWER DEPTHS
Even in this stuff there are severa
grades Resident store-keepers howeve
unscrupuloLs dare not keep the lower ones
Those are disposed of in another manner
There are several perambuating firms VIII
are continually travelling from city to cit,
III the western. northwestern and southern
states One or more of these concern
strike Chicago every month or SIX weeks
| They pretend to work off some enormou
grafton stock They are beralded by a.
advance man who rents n large unoe Gu
pied store on a prominent thoroug hfar,
He inserts their deceptive advertisement
in one or two of the city papers, and in a
the sheets issued in the small towns an
villages within radius Of twenty mile.
A few days before the opening up he flood
the city and the adjacent suburban district
with hand bills p"
is he business of handling misdt good
genuine one:
The merchant laughed heartily and sal
that business was not so in ,urious as til
ether. The rise and progress of the mist
business he continued, rs one of the cur
Ositles in our line. 1t first started in q
eastern ity--thiladeIphia, believe abou
ten years ago A party vino was then eleri
Ing for retail clothing store was struck b
a brilliant idea, and backed by a Iarc
Wholesale firm, proceeded to put it into o.
GRAFTON. In the course of two OF three veal
he built up an enormous business. He wa
u large and skillful advertiser and retired
year or two ago worth about Sj01001 In
ltators by tue hundred soon stated up a
over the eastern states. but 1t is only with
the last four or five years they have a,
peared in the west. The modus operandi
this business is very simple and very effe
tive. The garments sold by some misfttel
III Chicago are manufactured for them b
two or three firms here who make the wot
, study the whole secret lies in the c,
and fine trimming. While not one man
100 can judge Of the value of cloth with
g or s. yard, almost everybody can pri,
a good piece of silk or satin, a fine bindin;
; or handsome buttons. The misflt dodge is I'll
outcome of this simple point The piec
goods worked up into these garments al
skilful limitations of highprice1, importe
cloths costin.; on the average about on
third as much as the genuine article II
garments are cut by thorough workme
and are made up fully as well as the gener
run of ready made clothing but the ma
point is sparing no money on trimming