Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-09-04
A CITY's SEWING GIRLS
sEAMSTREsSES AND THEIR SMALL
WAGES IN NEW YORK.
Working Long Hours for a Pittancd
Work They DO. and the Prices

AS a rule seamstresses on mems wear
receive the least pay, according to the
tineness of the work and the extreme
care bestowed upon it, though work on
some women's garments is lily enough
paid. Tue large tailor and manufactur
ing establishments give all their work
outside, and it is curiously divided up,
Some women receive those parts that re
quire special basting. The cutter cuts
out so many coats and with them all the
Innings, buckram and velvet which are
necessary, and these are graded in meth
odical manner and each size placed by
ITSELF In some cases men do the stitch
ing of the seams, but generally women
do that Then they are all given to the
prcssers and then to the basters. From
them they go to- the liners, after which
they are sent to the fnishers and the but
tonhole 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 inspector orders the tick
cts and little silk patch with the firms
name sewn on. Thus ten persons work
on each coat. Each part of work is
done on a dozen coats and each
dozen as soon as finished is fastened to-
gether and returned. When the work is
returned it is inspected, and if the least
imperfection is discerned the mistake
must be rectifed. The cutter and inspec-
tor are well paid, but those who do the
work piecemeal only earn about thirty
five to forty cents day, working con-
stantly and giving half day to take the
work and get more. In one tenement
house lives woman who supports her.
self and three small children by finish
ing gentlemen's fine overcoats. She
hens the satin Innings and sews in the
sleeve Innings 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-tive cents day.
Out of this she pays So 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
a little. The man she obtains work from
has factory, also f1ne tailoring estab
lishment, 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 mans
fine overcoat is about two dollars. Many
manufacturers give all their work to con-
tractors after it is cut out, and they in
turn give it out in small parcels to the
poor women who do it, and to make
money themselves grind them down to
the very lowest 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 ithe 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 ot the
cheapest quality and some of it again of
the richest and finest, but however it is
the girls pay remains about the same,
lust enough to keep body and soul to-
gether while living 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
carnot leave their little children. In cases
of contagious diseases the work goes on
lust the same, and the germs of sickness
can be carried in the fine coat OF the
society man. Where the girls or women
can leave and 90 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 anumber of old sew
ing machines, and these they either rent
or sell to those who have none, and take
their pay in work. For all old machine
not worth $40 they will make these un-
fortunnte poor pay from $50 to $50 in
work at starvation prices. The work
they give is usually mems common
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
ramshacxle old machine that these men
have bought ap for few dollars, and
by the time they get it paid for it is good
for nothingat all. Mems shirts are some
times made by giving out lots of dozen
or so to those who can make them com
plete, but generally they are given
out piccemeal. For instance q
dozen pair of wristbands and those
little flaps which go at the bottom
of the bosoms, the yokes, and then the
sleeves and bands together, and finally
the bosom, then the body and at last the
finishing off. The swiftest and neatest
sewer on bands and flaps, with the aid Of
a first class machine, can make at home
about fifty cents day, from carly morn
ing 10 10 at night. Those who do the
fells and bodies, in short the other worA,
earn on an average about the same with
the aid Of their machines. The shirts
when all done but ''fnishingn require
four gussets, six buttonholes and five but
tons, and this work is given out in large
quantities TO women in tenement houses.
They are paid for the common ones seven
cents dozen shirts, and for the finest
shirts nine to nine and half cents a
dozen shirts-forty-eigh gussets, sixty
buttons and seventy-two buttonholesl--