St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-27

| City 1OI ClSdtlildhtIS, dIu Ill Slri mead
was level she'd appreciate the advan-
tages of the place and stay right there
and wait for raise of wages.
L wasn't much impressed with his
arguments, because | had seen other
| factories and knew that they often paid
higher wages than his. So said, |
| thought wouldn't stay. On my way
out one of the girls who worked ait
''bunch breaking" asked me if l wanted
! to take her place for. week, as she had
to stay out. | tried it, and learned sew
eral things about the trade.
The tobacco, as received from the
shippers, comes in wide rolls for wrap
pers, and also short pieces for filling.
The wrappers are cut suitable length
and filled with the short tobacco. This
makes a rough-looking cigar. These
are pressed into molds, each mold cont
tanning twenty cigars. After being
dried in the mold the cigars are ready
| for the outer wrapper. In some factor
les each girl makes the whole cigar, and
is paid by the thousand, but in Hooker
Manley'S each girl had one sort of
work and did nothing else.
L worked the week at "bunch break
ing" The pay was Is cents per 100. /
could not make more than 300 day,
and was ready to conclude at the end of
much faster at cigarmaking than at any
other trade. | watched the girls getting
their pay, and was surprised to see some
who had boosted of making from SD
to $14 week receiving instead from
81 to 50. Indeed, the latter figures
seemed to be the correct average for
girls who had four or five years. expert
ence.
My pay for that week would have
been S3.17, but l found that l had been
locked IA cents for being late two morn
ingS. 81 don't think it's just to dock a
girl for being late when she works by
the piece" demonstrated; 'siSn't it her
own loSs?'
"That's our rule" twas the reply:
"you needn't get so independent, you
can leave if you wiSh.''
Il was ready to leave, although we
were allowed to sit at our work all day
and
WASTE OUR TIME IN TALKING
if we pleased; yet thought there were
many disadvantages. 1t was dirty work,
the dust and smell very disagreeable;
often there was not enough work to
keep US busy; the foreman used to come
along three or four times an hour to in
spect our work, so that the girls felt as
ii under constant surveillance.
what makes you tell people that you
earn SO much more than you do?' |
asked one of the oldest hands.
mo reason in particular, only that
girls have habit of telling outsiders
that they earn great deal more than
they do; often they would be ashamed
to admit that they earned so little"
swell, am not an outsider. I've
worked here for two weeks,' said.
The sum total of my earnings for that
time has been So. 1 couldn't pay my
board and car fare out of that, let alone
buy anything to wear. Now, how long
will it take to earn living wages?"
You hadn't ought to try this work if
you have to support yourself, because
for the first year your wages wouldn't
average over s. week under the most
favorable conditions"
Chow do girls manage to live Oh such
WageS?' ] asked.
''They live at home, don't have any
board to pay, and their wages help to
dress them respectfully"
elf you have so much idle time of
course you would have to find other
work when you are not in the factory?'1
l asked.
"It's all right to talk about other
work, if you were able to do it, but most
cigarmakerS are glad to rest and gain
be able to work again."
Her words were suggestive. If a
habitual smoker is injured by the nico7
tine poison in tobacco, must not the
girls be much more exposed to that
danger. They are constantly breathing
the fumes of the weed, handling it at
the same time. The damp tobacco
stains the hands brown.
''Will that stain wash OFF," l asked
one day.
"Oh, yes" said my companion. "You
want to just scrub your hands every
night with soap and water so people
locking at your hands,"
L didn't care if people knew where /
worked, nor did l think it was any
body's business except my own, but
being afraid of blood-poisoning l indus
triously scrubbed my hands until the
stain came off, the
SKIN CAME OFF, ALSO.
The third day worked in the factory
the girl who sat next me at dinner in
the boarding house politely requested
me to move, saying thatthe smell of to-
baccO from my clothes took away her
appetite. Her request veXed me, and
being rather spiteful, like the rest of
my sex, retOrted: 81 saw you out
walking with young man last evening;
he was smoking and you didn't seem to
mind it,
She didn't think the cases were at all
similar, and persisted in wanting me to
leave the table. There was no help for
it, and the remainder of the time that |
worked at cigar making l had to eat my
meals after the other boarders had fin
ished. Sometimes they didn't leave me
much to eat, either.
On the whole my personal experience
at cigarmaking was not encouraging,
although | was assured that l did as
well as could be expected. So at the end
of two weeks l quit. Before writing
this article | made second trip through
various factories. Work was rushing in
many places. There seemed to be
eighty girls at Hooker & Manly's, be-
sides a number of men. | asked the
proprietors if wages were any better
than when l worked there, but they
assured me that in some cases they
were less. It's hardly necessary to re-
mark that l have no further ambition in
regard to that trade. EVA GAY.
AN EHTERNOON NVEnRTNC