The evening world., 1888-09-18
LOT OF THE AVERAGE CLERK.
1T INVOLVES SMALL PAY, HARD WORK
AND FEW LUXURIES.

The life of the average clerk in New York
stores is not a happy one by any means. Let
any one listen to the plant of one of them,
and he will pour a tale Of Encouragement
into the listeners ears that will make him
WISH he were a millionaire, or q Millionaire
rather, so that he might - scatter the chink
and make the tens of thousands Of clerks
happy.
lake any of the retail dry goods stores
where the measurer of calico and tape stands
all day long fir ON 8 A. NJ. until 6 or 0 p, NJ. in
q cramped space, with scarcely time to snatch
q dyspeptic lunch of pie and milk, coffee and
cakes or beef and" and he will tell the
gentle reader that he wishes he were out of
it. He is always looking for another job. but
few clerks get out of the rut.
Such q thing as getting n quarters pay, like
the two clerks so cleverly sketched by
" Boz" and making q night of It," is
clerk, who gets all the way from IS to $l2 o
week. He gets his wages on Saturday night
as a rule. and after settling with his board:
ing-house mistress. squaring his laundry bill
and buying q few very necessary articles, he
is nearly broke, and sad y resumes his work
after q lonesome Sunday, spent in ruminat-
ing over the question of how and in what
manner he will get q new winter oyercoat and
o suit of clothes.
If he is a dollar clerk he may create
a splurge for a day or a night, and go TO the
store again to mediate. over the sad aud de-
moralized condition of society and the I'M
equal state of affairs which does not give him
a good ''divvy" in this worlds wealth, so
that he can start into business Tor himself, or
enjoy n perpetual picnic.
IL Is useless tor the average clerk to talk of
marriage to any girl not richer than himself.
He is always in search. OF a girl whose
father or guardian can set him MP. in business
"a. H. ,,nrr;ag hnr haltaptrn that ha
love a rich girl just as much as a poor. one,
and that it is far more convenient and less
laborious. The opinion of said average
clerk on marriage Is vel worth consldering.
WORLD man VINO incidentally asked a perti.
nent question OF a Third avenue grocery
clerk:
1 see The EVENING WoRLD is agitating, the
matrimonial question. Very good for those
who can stand marriage, but Il let a cooky
III 1t there amt one clerk in ten thousand of
manageable age who thinks of marrying a
poor girl unless that girl is earning about as
much as himself; or has some income from
the old folks"
Eight dollars, but don't give it away. 1
generally give 1t out that l am getting Sl52,
because / don't want to have my friends
know l can get 80 little money. But Il get
!, out of here some fine day. you bet. How
many hours do l work ? Fourteen and ft-
teen a day. / open up at $50 and stay on
until 9 every week day night but SATURDAY.,
when l have to remain until IL. It's long
hours for SO q week, and, just think, l am
twenty-five years old.
But ri. tell you one good thing, this
/, clerking business does, and that is it makes q
fellow mighty anxious to- get out of it and
do something better for himself If he's got
J. any life in MIN. Pm always. looking around
a at every oporunity tor another situation at
. som business where / can show what i can
a do and get better wages"
' Visits on the east side revealed the fact that
but one clerk in a hundred received $40 a
week in the grocery stores, while the wages
do not aveiage more than So for men grown.
and thousands do not receive more than SIS
or SIS O week each.
Clerks in dry goods stores, If experienced
and clever in certain lines Of traue, obtain
. fair wages, some getting as high as 1925 q
+. week, but the average clerk in the leading
: dry-goods stores does not exceed $40 q week.
!, Young men IN these stores are required to
, dress we'll. and it takes nearly oil the money
e they can get to pay tailors' bills.
) The same applies very nearly In the shoe
and hat stores, though in the shoe houses tho
average wage is q little higher than In the
dry goods stores.
!, A young man of twenty-seven years. who is
employed in a big hat store in the Bowery,
+ at 8 A. Nj. and left at 7 P. M. for which he
e gets SO a week. and he knows that if he were
to quit a hundred greedy applicants would be
on hand to fill his place. The hats arc all
IluThtu, bo tuhL j Icluilco Ii0piO VI ~ bhlii
to sell them, and any young man of ordinary
intelligence can act as clerk.
In the larger and more pletentious hat
stores on Broadway a few statesmen get 1925
a week, but they are old and experienced
men and control quite a trade from friends.
The abode of the average unmarried clerk
in in the cheap clearinghouse or in houses
where furnished rooms are let. He pays
from 81. so to sc a week for board and lodg-
ing in the "hasheries." as he calls them,
and if he takes his meals in the cheap restau-
rants or coffee houses he pays 80, 90 a week
His meals will fetch the total expense OF
board and lodging to $5 a week, at least. If
he lives with relatives he may get off " on
So a week.
Many New York clerks are inclined to be
of a c~onvivial and sociable nature, but limited
means will not permit OF more than one night
q week in :" settin' 'em up" If he 90 out on
everything in the shape of luxuries for the
rest of the week; for two dishes of ice-cream
and perhaps the car fares to Central Park, If
the walking is not good. or he distance Is
too great. causes q very close financial calcu-
lation in ord, r to avoid future complications
If a clerk is reckless enough to expend
Q 81. 80 for himself and girl to go to a theatre.
he considers that he has done himself proud
n and p~ractises the most rigid abstemiousnes s
for a week or two. 1t is really astonishing,
however. how much of a dash the average
10 retail store clerk can cut on 50 or SO.
But the clerk who gets such small wages
Id and who manages to live within them and
presents a respectable appearance, is certainly
n TO be commended for his self-sacriice, and
as shown in the lives OF many prominent men
10 of to-day. he seizes the first opportunity to
~ better his condition, and ID almost always
ambitious and economical. Still, the chances
NOWADAYS for advancement are comparatively
u few, and many thousands are compelled to
a exc out an irksome, health-d destroying ex-
= istence behind the narrow counters, while
III their employers reap large profits and be,
Of come wealthy, partly through the industry
o. the POOR clerks.