The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-09-01
STITCH! STITCH! STITCH!
Poor Women Who Faithfully Sew
Their Own Shrouds.
Prices Received by Taiiors for Their
Goods and by Seamstresses for Their
work-Clubbing Together and Liy-
Ing Oh Three Dollars q Week.

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AS rule seamstresses on mems wear
receive the least pay, according to the
fneness of the work and the extreme
care bestowed upon it, though work on
some women's garments is i'll enough
paid. The large tailor and manufacture
ing establishments give all their work
outside and it is curiously divided up.
Some women receive those parts that
require special basting. The cutter cuts
out so many coats and with them all
Innings, buckram and velvet which are
necessary, and these are graded in a
methodical manner and each size placed
by itself. In some cases men do the
stitching of the seams, but generally
women do that. Then they are all
given to the pressers and then to the
basters. From them they go TO the
liners, after which they are sent to the
fnishers and buttonhole makers. They
are afterward given to those who sew
on the buttons, and then others take out
the hastings. after which the pressers
again have them, and finally the in
spector orders the tickets and little silk
patch with the firms name sewn on.
Thus ten persons work on each coat.
Each part of work is done on dozen
coats and each dozen as soon as finished
is fastened together and returned.
When the work is returned it is in
spected, and if the least imperfection is
discerned the mistake must be rectifed.
The cutter and inspector are we'll paid,
but those who do the work piecemeal
only earn about thirty-fve or forty
cents day, working constantly and
giving half a day to take the work and
get more. In one tenement house lives
a woman who supports herself and
three small children by finishing gen.
tlemen's fine overcoats. She hens the
satin Innings and sews in the sleeve lin
ings and the velvet collar and puts in
several stays, in all setting from eight
to ten thousand stitches ON each, and
earns at most thirty-fve cents day.
Out of this she pays S5 a month for
rent She works Sundays too, She
sends her babies to kindergarten,
where they are fed, but in the summer
the school is closed, and how she lives
and keeps them in clothes and fire none
but those who live in the same way
know. Just now another woman with
one child is sharing her room and her
rent, which relieves her little. The
man she obtains work from has a fac
tory. also fine tailoring establishment,
and the class of work these women do
is for overcoats which cost forty and
fifty dollars. Allowing each of the ten
workers on each coat ten cents
for what she does, and the cutter
and inspector each fifty cents, the
cost of making a mans fine overcoat
is about two dollars. Many manufact-
urers give all their work to contractors
after it is cut out, and they in turn give
it out in small parcels to the poor w0rn-
en- who do it, and to make money them
selves grind them down to the very low
est figure. Other contractors take in
large quantities of work, and then hire
hands in their own work-room and set
them to work there. When the work
requires machine stitching they allow
the girls the use of machines, charging
them so much day for the use of them,
and they pay by the piece always. Some
of the work is of the cheapest quality
and some of it again of the richest and
finest, but however it is the girls pay
remains about the same, just enough to
keep body and soul together, while liv-
ing in the most squalid manner. There
are immense quantities of this work
done in the poorer houses in the city by
the mothers of families who can not
leave their little children. In cases OF
contagious diseases the work goes on
Just the same, and the germs of sick
ness can be carried in the fine coat OF
the society man. Where the girls or
women can leave and 60 into stores or
factories they have chance to earn
more money, but on tailoring the pay is
cruelty small.
There are several places where shrewd
men have bought up numbers OF old
sewing machines, and these they either
i0itt VI Sell W tllOSc WHO nave uoHc, anu
take their pay in work. For an old
machine not worth $40 they will make
these unfortunate poor pay from $50 to
500 in work at starvation prices. The
work they give is usually mems COM
mon drawers and overalls and jumpers,
as well as the commonest calico shirts.
And they earn the gratitude OF these un.
fortunate women by only retaining half
the price of the work toward the pay
ment of these machines each week.
Sometimes it takes two years to pay for
aramshackle old machine that these
men have bought up for few dollars,
and by the time they get it paid for it is
good for nothing at all Mems shirts
are sometimes made by giving out lots
OF dozen or so to those who can make
them complete, but generally they are
gwen out piecemeaL For instance. q
dozen pairs OF wristbands and those lit.
Tie flaps which 60 at the bottom OF the
bosoms, the yokes, and then the sleeves
and bands together, and finally the
bosom. then the body and al
LAST the finishing off. The swift.
est and neatest sewer on bands ane
aaps, with the aid of first-class ma.
Chine. can make at home about so cent;
day, from early morning to ten a,