The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1886-12-06
GIRLS WHO BIND BOOKS,
FEATURES OF THE WORK IN A
BIG BINDERY,
What the Feminine Employees Earn
The Hurtful Bronzc--A Talk
With q Bindcry Girl.

"Our girls earn on an average $o
week." said the proprietor of large
bookbindery. "Some of them earn $12;
the beginners earn s.; all of them work
'by the piece They can do any sort OF
work. and the finest books we have are
sewed by them. They cover the pam
phlets. but the bound books are done en-
tircly by men. The stamping and such
work is done by machinery. Our girls
work ten hours Il day, and sit down dur
ing the whole OF that time, or at least
the greater part of it. The girls who
work on the dry prcs,' are obliged to
stand. The dry press is q machine for
pressing the matter over night after it
has been folded"
"What sort of girls are they3"
"Good, quiet-going girls for the most
part. The majority of them live at
home. They are as neatly-dressed as
any girls you see on the street"
''Do you employ them steadily3"
"Well, some of them we do. OF
course, when it is dull we let our girls
90, but when we have big job we ad-
Yertise and get lot for the time being,
or if we know of some good hands we
send for them"
Several other publishers said substan-
tally the same thing.
The girls themselves were not re-
luctant to talk upon the subject. One of
them, when asked how she liked the
work, ran her hands through her shock
of curly red hair and protested that it
was lawful"
What is awful about it2'
"Wel, for one thing, the bronzing."
s.Is that o necessary and useful part Of
the work?"
"Any of US are likely to be given
job of bronzing at any time. We're here
to be generally useful, and if the boss
says bronze $1,000 covers for advertising
pamphlets, why of course we bronze
'em."
"But it is said you can most of you do
only one thing wellt"
What nonsense! Besides, any one
could bronze. All it needs is little
care"
''What hurt does it do?"
"Hurt enough! If you don't wear q
sponge over your mouth and nose the
bronze will get in the throat and make
terrible sores. A girl who worked here
once cot ulcers in her throat from work
ing in bronze, and was laid up four
months"
''Does it make much difference to you
what kind of work you are engaed
uponl"
20, my, yesl we make great deal
more at some kinds than we do at others.
The finer the class of work the less we
make at it. Heavy, expensive paper is
q great deal harder to fold than light pa
per such as is used for railroad guides. I
guess railroad guides are about the best
paying work we have. We fold them,
you know. Some of them have sixteen
or twenty folds, and girl has to be real
smart to remember all the twists and
turns so as to make no mistake"
so that is the best paying worka"
eyes"
"How much can you make week at
it?" =. .'. w
There's a girl over there that has
worked six years in bindery, and now
and then she makes 50 week. But then
she works through the greater part of
the noon hour"
"Not many of the girls make that
much, them"
''Well. should say not +, There's one
poor little girl here that never makes
cent over. 81. She's such slow little
thing and she can't remember from one
time to another how to turn fold or
make knot. You know we have an odd
way Of making knot with our needle
in the thread as we sew the sections.
There's one good thing about the bind
ing business. You sec most of US can sit
down all day long They have long
benches in almost every factory where
where We can sit"
'Is there uniform price among pub
fishers? DO all houses pay the same for
the same work."
''No, indeed, they don't. Some of the
bosses are as mean as dirt. But after we
find it out they don't get any bus green
horns to work fox them. There is quite a
difference in the prices the different
houses pay"
"Do you get steady work?"
"No: and that's the very, very worst
thing about bindery work. Cne week
a man Will have 135 girls, and the next
he won't have more than ten. suppose
it's all right. don't see any way to fix
it. But it seems wrong to me, some
way The mans work is done, but what
become, Of the girls2 If they amt liv-
ing with their folks they just have to
run in debt for their board till they get
more work. It's pretty hard, somtimes,
l can tell you"
"What should you say was the aver
age wages made by the girls?"
-Four dollars and fifty cents and So q
week by the ordinary workers."
How much do the forcwomen gct?"
eve have no forelady, but where I
worked last the forelady got $40 a week
and nothing to do but just look after
usn
"Do you ever set cheated out of your
pay2'
''Not in the large establishments.
Now and then some little concern will
fail"
do you get docked much in your
wages"
mot much. Some of those mean
bosses told you of make you pay if you