The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-10-24
SALARIES IN NEW YORK.
The Beggarly Pittance Earned by
Clerks and Statesmen.

nave SO tOUR tdtCeneQ on THIS KInu OF
usury, says New Ycrx letter TO the
Utica Herald. The pressure to which
the salaried men are subject makes them
i Icessant borrowers, and after they
have run in debt elsewhere as much as
0ssiDle they apply TO the salary brOk-
ers, a class which has reached per-
manence, If not reSpectabilIty. Some of
| this number limit loans to 50 or $40 a
month, and find their customers in re-
tail clerks. Others hang round the
postOffice and city hall and deal out
large sums, but the best pickings are
found at the custom house, where
most of the officials live a month
anead and pay large tees for
cash advances. The salary broker
under such favorable circumstances
Can clear $1,000 a year and live in an
easy manner on the sh8yes inflicted on
others. When q clerks. wages are
m ortgaged a month ahead he is so
afraid that his employer will find it
out that he pays in self-defenSe. Sc
crecy, indeed, is of the highest import
ance, and hence ali such trarSaclions
are advertised as confidential. This
fact has led Comptroller Low to his
determination to oppose the rulnOus
system. He will pay no more salary
orders 70 brokers, and if any order Is
presented IL will not be paid until an
explanation is given why personal ap-
pucation Is no. made. 1t Is one of the
common complaints among salaried
men that they can not live on their in
come. No wonder, for New York sal
aries are very low compared with ex-
penses. Clerks in retail Stores get from s.
to SIS week, AID the latter is paid only
To toe best salesmen.@ Bookkeepers re-
ceiVe from $500 to 1000, though a few
favored uea In fat places get 5000 a
year. Situations 10 the pOstofice at
5000 are IN great demand, and clerKships
IN public Offices at 81 500 are among
the spOl!s OF party success. Such
berth, indeed, IS often sought for by
brIbery-that j., hy paying S. a week
bonus for the appointment. Now,
when you consider that set of apart
ments costs $40, and that fiat three
stories high rents from $35 TO $40 a
month, it is not surprising that
Salaried man should be almost always
in debt. There has been for several
years reduction of salaries of all kinds,
owing to severe competition in trade.
Among. the poorest paid class is the
ga. emen at the elevated road, who only
are married. There is a great pressure
however, t. get even such pc ty be7ths
and New York, indeed, contains sucn
an immense number of people in search
of work that the very smallest salaries
are accepted.
Multitudes Of young men are now
tempted to come to this city by the ad-
vertisements for clerks, boOkkeepers,
statesmen, and other help, most of
which is a mere decoy. Inc object of
the advertisers is to fleece the unwary
and they find their most facile vicUims
10 country yOuths.f Here is a sample
Of some of these deSoys:
A hrst-c'asS salesman OF pleasing
address, who can loan $1,000 on un-
do4bted security. Is wanted TO solicit
orders for an eS .4bIished firm. Salary
500 per month, or aliberaI commission.
Address Business. box - Office
"A partner waHted with S4Q0. An
! educated young man in the auction,
real estate, and store agency, letting
and collecting rents Apply TO 2. G.,
auctioneer, - B0Iery,"
The sole object of the advertiser is to
! get possession of the victims, and as
! this can not be done in a direct manner
little trickery is necessary. The ap-
plicant finds the "busin SIS man IN an
once, where bOUks are shown 10 prove
the profit of the proposed transaction,
but after the money is paid it does not
take more than day or two to reveal
the fraud. Every dollar that the victim
has invested Is lost, and when he ap-
plies TO the DO ice office more money is
wanted. The police will not trouble
themselves with such matters without
pay, for they know that nothing will
boc or Of 2 10 ~ ~,
poor dGpe will find himself left to make
the most of his costly experience. Such
cases are occurring daily, and this will
continue as long as the supply of green
horns is unexhausted.
One Of the most painful features in
metropolitan life is the degradation OF
women. | do not here refer TO any
thing OF ci0us nature, bIt simply tC
the eftec. OF extreme poverty. It is al
ways pitiable to see the sex forced to
unfeminine employmeRts, but it is a
common thing here. | have seen a
woman cutting grass with sickle in an
uptown lot in order to make hay for
the winter support of goat. | have
seen woman bring home board from
some demolished building and then try
to break it up for fuel by pounding it
on the sidewalk with a stone. l saw
announcer Weman carrying coal IN pall
up three pairs of stairs TO her room in a
tenement house. She had bought a
small load of this article and was thus
storing it away. A large part of the
chiffoniers, or rag and Waste-pspsr
pickers, are women. and what hGrrId-
looking creatures they are On the
other hand, dealer IN fashions told
me that there are hundreds and even
thousands of women who spend SIS, 900
annually on dress. 1t may be difficult
TO imagiI the feelings OF his fashion !
worshipping crowd, but how much
more to imagine those of woman so
degraded that a rag picked from the
street is prize. Taking a general view,
New York life is not favorable to
women. Among the Iich the IL eness f
luxury wastes It's victims into helpless
nes-, while among the poor one notices
that disproportionate degree of hardship
which SO often stamps the COuntenance
with fearful ugliness. You can ind the
most repulsive creatures here that can
be imagined, some of whom would have
justified Macbeth's exclamation:
Each at once her choppy I'm gers laying
Upon ner skinny ps.