Dodge City times., 1890-07-11

trade are either employed in the large
shops on finer grades OF work or are
the wives of his men aud help them in
their work in the tenements.
Four or five thousand persons. chiefly
women and girls. are employed at
shirtmaking in the establishments OF
the large wholesale manufacturers.
Those are the aristocrats of the busi-
ness and make fair wages in ten hours
a day. all the cheaper grades OF work
are given out to be done in small shops
or tenements. Nearly all of it goes to
middlemen or sweaters" who divide
it up among employees whose services
they control.
How the Russian Jews first got into
the business is not known now, but .
few of those who first came to this
country did get into it somehow. tax
ing work from manufacturers and do
ing it at their homes. Before that the
bulk of it was done in regular shops.
and most of the hands were Irish or
German girls who preferred such work
to domestic service. Succeeding par
ties of Russians. finding their coun-
trymen sewing shirts, and knowing no
trade or other occupation, besOught
the first comers for work. So another
machine would he set up in the tene-
ment-room, and the original shirt
makers took out more work and paid
the newcomers whatever pittance they
pleased for helping them do it, deduct
ing from their pay the installments on
the machine. but generally keeping the
machine as their own all the same. In
time, rs the immigration of Russians
increased the original shirtmakers got
to having ten or a dozen later comers
working for them each. and became
s.contractOrs" or sweaters" The
newcomers were willing to work for
merely enough to buy the cOarsest food,
49,. to sleep on the floor beside their
machines. and the cost of labor to the
sweaters became almost nominal. To
get work they bid under each other at
the manufacturers. and prices got SO
low that shirtmakers of other races
were quickly driven out of the busi-
ness.
As soon rs Russian obtained lit
tie acquaintance with the English Ian
guage and the customs of the country
he bought machine on the INSTALL
ment plan. which he could do for Is
cents q week. and set up in business
for himself. hiring two or three late
comers to work for him. as he had
worked for his first employer. So the
number of sweaters multiplied daily
until whole blocks of tenements are
filled with their shops and the whirr of
their machines is constant on the east
side from early in the morning until
late at night.
The. sweaters rarely had SO much as
$40 capital. They have money only
when they get pay for lot of work.
They may take out enough to keep
them busy for ten days at time. and
while that is being done they and their
employees arc penniless. Sometimes
the work is rejected, or the deductions
for bad work are so heavy that the
sweater has not enough to pay his
hands. Then he goes out of business
and starts up again in a new place.
The hands sue him for their pay and
yet judgment, but very rarely any
money. There are thousands Of such
suits in the district courts every year.
One lawyer had over 800 of them last
year. and found goods upon which he
could levy in only sixty-iive cases. FIRE.
quently sweater will take out large
quantity of work and run away with it
to Canada, leaving in the lurch both
his hands and the owners of the goods.
There is no way of forcing sweater
who has no property to pay his hands.
il they are men. An employer OF
women who does not pay their wages
can be arrested and locked up in Jail
until he does so.
1t is not believed that the shirt busi-
ness can be kept up in New York for
many years longer. in spite of the
cheap labor of the Russians. 1t costs
less to live in smaller cities. and labor
there is correspondingly cheaper. so
that they seem bound to take away the
shirt trade. Baltimore within ten
years has run New York out of the
overall, drawer, and chevoit shirt
trade. aggregating from 5000, 900 to
$1,000, 900 annually. Prison competi-
ton has helped to break down the
white shirt trade. and now it is mon
opolized by Glens Falls and other
small towns in Northern New York.
Chicago has already built up great
shirt manufacturing business, and the
prospect for New York retaining what
she has left are very small.
..HaM COlumbia'' National Air.
The somewhat singular statement
from a Chicago theatrical manager
crcpt into print the other day that the
''Star-Spangled Banner is the only
National song in America.
Hail Columbia" was National music
before the author of the ''Star-Spangled
Banner" was heard of, and as it is
music today. as when it was first writ
ten, something of its origin. In the
face of the statement of the Chicago
manager may be of interest:
The first National air we had in this
country was the Presidents March. "
1t was written somewhere about 1898.
but the name of the composer has
been lost in the shuttle of events.
One day, while this country and
France were engaged in dispute
which threatened to terminate in war,
and while Congress was in aession in
Philadelphia. a young man who was
singer and who was to take a benefit al
one of the Philadelphia theaters called
upon Joseph HOpkinscn. a young writ
er. and asked Hopkinson to write him
song. The war spirit was abroad.
The trouble with France was on every
body's lips. Hopkinson and the young
singer agreed that the words of the song
must be a patriotic appeal. Nothing
else would catch. Hopkinson told the
young man to call the next day and
get the song. and on the next day the
words of Hail Columbia" were hand
ed to the young singer and that night
/ .,,.<v h.. ks,v, IN, tho ynnsiC nj the