The Washington critic., 1889-02-09
BEDS TOR MANYTHOUSAND
an INDUSTRY RETJTED ErERF
FOUR rEIRS.
Manufacturing Mattresses For the
Crowds That win he Here During
Inauguration WeeIt 49, Where They
VIII Have to Sleep.

A new industry has been started in
Washington during the past week.
AT least II is new in certain sense,
for it is only every four years that IL is
carried on to any extent. 1t is mat.
tross mandatory, and is doing q rush
ing business. Just before the Inaugu-
ration every-foRr years this is great
industry, but lis existence is brief, for
there is drop in prices when the city
is emptied of its visitors.
The factory is on Ninth street in q
big hall room that Is sometimes used
for public meetings. 1t presents
busy scene. Men. women and chill
dren are hard ut it, and as all of
the work is done by the. piece they
don't lose any time. They can't afford
to, either, for, Mt the prices that are
paid, they can earn but miserable
pittance to keep the wolf from tho
door. People, say that there is less
poverty in Washington than in most
cities but this is hard to believe, when
no difficulty Is, experienced in getting
people to work for the prices they do.
Think of it, making an entire mat.
tIess for five cents. But perhaps YOU
never made q mattress, perhaps you
don't know how much work there Is
on one Well, in the first place, there
are four long seams to sew, then as
many short ones, and then the corners
have to be squared. There's where
the work comes in, for it all has to be
done by hand When the tick is ready
fhn "a hno IN ba fnut In and alto.
gether IL is u good hours work. Do
you know what that means? Multiply
ten by five and the answer is fifty. 1t
means fifty cents for ten hours hard
labor.
The only one who is making money
is the proprietor. lie showed the re-
porter about and explained how he did
business. II have now nearly five
thousand mattresses on hand" he
said, as he waved his arm toward the
high pile. "and l expect to make
twenty thousand more before the 4th
of March. The demand is something
enormous, and even this early have
/ more orders than can supply. Who
are my customers Well, might an
swer that question by asking who are
not my customers. 1t seems that
everybody in Washington is going to
accommodate dozen or more visitors,
and many of my orders are from pri-
vate residences. The larger ones,
however, come from people who have
rented halls or vacant lofts. / am go
ing into it myself. You see by the
time the crowd commences to come
this business will be all through with,
and am going to fix the place up for
dodgers"
like many other places of the
kind the accommodations will be lin
tied. am going to put in three or
four good stoves, a bench with dozen
basins and as many buckets of water
and that's all. The mattresses will be
ranged along the floor at intervals of
two or three feet. and as ] am going to
keep the room pretty warm no cover.
ing will be needed. ! calculate to
lodge 200 men for week ut fly cents
night, and / would have no difficulty
in getting as many more II had the
room. 1t will be as good as the hotels
can furnish, for they are going to do
the identical thing. have an
order here from one of the leading ho-
tells for three hundred mattresses
They are going to clear their dining
room after 8 o'clock every night and
pack, the surplus guests on the floor
like sardines in q box. Yes, indeed,
you can depend upon 1t there's going
to be great hustle after the almighty
dollar in this town about the 4th of
| March,"