St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-08
GENTEEL ON SMALL PAY.
Clerks Who Dress Neatly on Salary
of $12 Per Week.
The Struggles of Young Married
People on Small Salaries.

1uclo ID ldrSo anu CONSTANTLY growing
element in the community who move along
quietly. attracting but little if any attention
of their fellow-citizens. They are the
young clerks, bookkeepers. statesmen, can
vassers, men of family, whose amending
struggles with poverty are among the open
secrets of the great city.
| They are to be seen everywhere. They
are noted for their industry, intelligence
and good breeding. They are. as rule,
clothed neatly and genteelly. They work
at occupations which force them to chime
in with ruling tastes, ideas and habits.
Excepting unskilled laborers, they are
the poorest-paid men in the community.
and statistics show that their income aver
ages $40 week.
1t puzzelS men who fare better when they
try to understand how these young men ex-
ist, especially those who have families de-
pendent upon them.
AJournl reporter Yesterday met young
bookkeeper employed in a wholesale hard
ware establishment. He receives $12 a
week, upon which he supports himself, his
wife and little boy.
| ''How do you manage to get along re-
specially on twelve dollars week?" asked
the reporter
sit often puzzles myself" he repIi ed.
cit taxes my mind as much to know how
to live on SIP as it does to make it. By
stinting ourselves in every way, by living on
the painest food and practicing rigid
economy, we get along. My rent costs So
week; food, SIS; fuel and light, 80 cents;
sundries, $3.50. That leaves $1.7O for
clothing and other things"
How do you manage to get clothing?"
II never have enough together to buy a
suit for myself or my wife. We must
resort to the installment plan, paying 81 a
| week or so for clothing. or buy secondhand
| garments"
A shipping clerk resided ON East Four
teenth street had similar story to tell re-
garding wages. He said he found it impos-
| sible to get along respectfully on $12 a
week. His wife. talented young woman,
goes out three times a week to give music
| lessons thereby earning 81.
Il takes all she earns to pay the rent"
he continued. land my $12 are swallowed
Wife'S aid / could not get along"
Another clerk, earning 50 a week, said
he often felt discouraged at the pros
poets in life. He said he was married
three years ago, but in all that time he has
not been able to save enough money to go
to housekeeping. Ee and his wife board
with her parents, to whom he pays 81 a
week
I'VE manage to dress pretty WE'LL" he
said, "but for that favor we are under obi
CATION to my good old father. If anything
happened him don't know what we should
do"
A fellow clerk, the son of Cleveland,
Ohio, clergyman, who graduated four years
ago from jefferson college, is now working
for SIS week. A beautiful young wife
and two bright children are dependent
upon his labors..
You find it pretty difficult to get along
on that amOunt?"
Very hard, indeed" he answered. MY
wife is seamstress, and she works when
ever she gets anything to do. She earns S.
and 81 week"
''HOw do you manage to dress so well?"
"Well, if depended on my salary could
not dress at all. When l need clothes my
father sends Inc check. That is twice
year My wife is put to her mettle in pro-
vidlng clothes for herself and the children.
She bought several suits when we got mar
ried; since then she has ripped them up sew
eral times, making them over again. When
she gets through with her garments she cuts
them up and makes little dresses for the
children"
''She bought bonnet last year and she
hasn't been able to get another since. When
it begins to look shabby she buys piece
of cheap silk or velvet and makes it over
again"
Crossing the Fulton ferry last evening the
reporter met an acquaintance. a young man
holding a rather responsible position in
publishing house at $14 week. He was
tired and careworn, Tor lie had spent busy
day in his Office.
He said he sometimes envied the lot Of
mechanics and laborers, although their lives.
he thought, were anything but rounds of
pleasure. They, he SAID, could go to work
clad i'll rough garments. They were not
compelled to keep up false appearances of
style beyond their means or to appear what
they were not, as was the case with nell
employed in the more genial branches of
toll. He added:
This role is poverty in good clothes, a
difficult one to assume. To be compelled to
live like a semi-aristocrat on a poor mans
income is calling to a mali of sense or
feeling. There are thousands who must do
it, however, in order to gain a bare eX
istence. New York Journal.