Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-11-04
SALARIES IN NEW YORK.
The Beggarly Pittance Earned by New York
Clerks and SaleSmen-Wages OF Working



hereafter he will not pay any part of
clerks salary TO the loan broker, who have
SO long fattened on this kind of usury,
says a New York letter 20 the Utica Her
aid. The pressure TO which salaried men
are subject makes them incessant borrow
ers, and after they have run in debt else
where as much as possible they apply to
the salary brokers, a class which has
reached permauence, if not respe2ta-
billty. Some OF their number limit loans
TO 50 or $40 a month"; and find their cus-
toners in retail clerks. Others hang
round the postoilice and city hall and deal
out large sums but the best pickings are
found a. the customs house, where most
of the officials live q month ahead and
pay large fees for cash advances. The
salary broker under such favorable cir
cumstances can clear $1,000 year, and
in an easy manner on the shaves inflicted
on others. When a clerks wages are
mortgaged a month ahead he il so afraid
that his employer will find it out that he
pays in selt-d6fense.
Secrecy, indeed, is of the highest i'm
portance and hence all sush transactions
are advertised as "confdential.n This
fact has led Comptroller Loew to his de
termination TO oppose the ruinous sys-
tenn. He will pay no more salary orders
TO brokers, and If any order is presented
it will not be paid until an explanation is
given why personal application is not
made. IL is one OF the common com
plants among salaried mon that they
can not live on their income. No won
der, for New York salaries are very low
compared with expenses. Clerks in re-
tail stores get from s. TO $l5 week
and the latter is paid only TO the best
statesmen, Bookkeepers receive from
$500 to $1,000, though few ia
yored men in fat places get 81
600 year. Situations in the post
Office ut $500 are in great demand. and
clerkships In public offices at $1,000 are
among the spoils of party success. Such
a berth, indeed, is often sought for by
bribery-that is, by paying So a week
bonus for the appointment. Now when
! you consider that set of apartments
costs, $50, and that n flat three stories
/ high rents from S35 TO $40 a month, it
| is not surprising that salaried men should
! be almost always in debt. There has
been for several years n reduction in
salaries Of all kinds, owing TO severe com
! petition in trade. Among the poorest
! paid class is the galemen at tho elevated
road, who only get ~ % n day and yet
many of them are married. There is a
great pressure, however, 20 get even such
an immense number of people in search
of work that the very smallest salaries
are accepted s" ,f
Muti;rdes of young men are now
tempted TO come to this city by the ad-
yertlsements for clerks, bookkeepers,
statesmen, and other help, most of which
is mere decoy. The object of the adj
vertisers is To fleece the unwary, and they
find their most facile victims in country
youths. Here is a sample of some of these
decoys
"A iirst.class salesman, of pleasing ad-
dress who can loan $1,000 on undoubted
security is wanted to solicit orders for
an established firm. Salary 800 per
month, or liberal commission. Address
Business, box--oifice.
"a partner wanted with 800. An edu-
Gated young man in the auction, real
estate, and store agency letting and col
Letting rents. Apply to r. g., auetioneer,
-Bowery"
The sole object of the advertiser is to
get possession Of the victims, and as this
can not be done in Il direct manner a
little trickery is necessary The appli-
cant finds tho business man in an office
where books are shown TO prove the profit
of the proposed transaction, but after
the money is paid il does not take more
than day or two TO reveal the fraud.
Every dollar that the victim has invested
is lost, and when he applies 20 the police
Office more money is wanted The police
will not trouble themselves with such
matters without pay, for they know that
!, .,ran L.. Ia.
and mt last the poor dupe will find him
self left to make the most out of his
costly experience. Such cases are oc-
curing daily, and this will continue rs
long as the supply Of greenhOrns is un
exhausted.
One bf the most painful features in
metropolitan life is the degradation of
women. do not here refer TO anything
Of vicious nature, but simply TO the
effect of extreme poverty. II is always
pitiable TO see the sex forced TO unfemi-
nine employments, but It's common
thing here. | have seen woman cut
ting grass with sickle in an uptown lot
in order TO make hay for the winter sup
port OF a goat. | have seen a woman
bring home a board from some demolish
"a building and then try TO break it up
with stone. ! saw another WOMAN car
rying coal in pail up three pairs of
stairs to her room in tenement house,
She had bought a small load Of this ar
ticle and was thus storing it away.
large part of the chiffoniers or rag and
waste-paper pickers are women, and
what horrid looking creatures they are!
On the other hand, dealer in fashions
told me that there are hundreds and even
thousands of women who spend $4,000
annually on dress. II may be difficult to
imagine the feelings of this fashion wor
shipping crowd, but how much mere so
10 imagine those of woman so degrad-
ed that rag picked from the streets is
prize. Taking a general view New York
life is not favorable to woman. Among
the rich the idleness Of luxury wastes its
victims into helplessness. while among
the poor one notices that disproportion
ate degree of hardship which so often
stamps the countenance with fearful ugh-
ness. You can find the most repulsive
creatures here that can be imagined,
some of whom would have justified Mac
beth's exclamation