The morning call., 1892-11-18
HER PAY Is PETTY.
The Average Girl Worker
Gets Little.
CROCHETING LADIES' SKIRTS.
One Only Can Be FIade by Woman i'm
aDay, and the Price Is but
Forty Cents.
-ROCHETING LADIES' SKIRTS.

Two women were looking at the display
windows of welI-known ladies' and chill
dren's furnishing establishment few days
since, when one of them said:
Its perfectly outrageous the way some
OF these stores charge for things that cost
them next TO nothing"
The reporter who heard the remark Mt
once started out to investigate its truth.
with the following result
Three ladies who do crochet work for the
retail houses were found in a coy little
room oat on Oak street. and in reply to the
reporters request for information one of
them said
You can see the Kind of work we do
here. and l tell you we don't lose much
time II we make ANYTHING. This work is
called piece work. That means that we are
furnished the material and get so much
apiece Tor the articles we make.
heSe are 'mitts.' They are machine
made. all but the tips of the fingers and
thumbs, and we get three bits a dozen for
putting on these tips. Each pair has to be
handled fourteen times.
This IS lady's skirt" continued the
speaker, catching up a soft. fluffy looking
thing from the table, land we get 40 cents
apiece for making them.
How many can | make In day? Well,
by real hard work. l can finish one in a day,
pat the average is two in three days"
How do the prices paid for work and
material compare with the selling prices of
these things?" was asked
Inc lady smiled drily and replied that
they didn't compare at all.
Just TO show you" she said ST worked
large white shawl of wool and tinsel some
time ago and they paid me 81 90 for the
Work, which took me three days and the
material cost them not over So at the most
They sold that shawl for S25- Pretty good
profit, wasn't it?
mo. we don't make much-about 30 cents
a day-and unless we had other means If
support l don't know how we should man.
age"
The Woman's Exchange was next visited,
and from one of the salesgirls the follow
Ing Information was obtained:
This place." said the girl, "has been in
operation Tor several years, and the busi-
ness IS on the increase.
"All articles brought here for sale are sub
mitted to the inspection of a committee. and
If not up to the standard are rejected. If
accepted the lady's number, together with
the price she asks. are placed on the article
and then it is offered for sale.
he producer puts her own price on her
work. and when sold we pay her the price
asked less commission of 10 per cent
1es, every thing we have here is the
Work OF women, and as you can see the
variety is not small. We set a lunch every
day from II TO 3 o'clock, aud many ladies'
taurant
1.-The Woman's Exchange is only Intended
as market tor the work of women who
have known better days and are incap able
OF doing other or more irksOme work"
es, some of the ladies who bring their
work mere make very good pay. As an ex-
ample. lady who lives in Oakland aver
ages about 500 per month, and she does this
by making doughnuts."
Several retail stores where much OF the
stock Is the product of woman's work were
next visited. but there seemed to be a very
strong aversion to giving the information
desired. and but little could he learned from
this source.
a lady was found who has had occasion
TO collect much information and many valu-
able figures regarding woman's work and
pay, and from her it was learned that the
condition of the average female bread-win
ner I'D TINS city Is far better than in any Of
the Eastern cities, both by reason of The
climate. which permits of the wearing If
the same kind of clothes the year round,
and also the eXsenSe of fuel for heating
purposes, which IS comparatively light.
linen there is better pay and shorter hours
I'm this city,, said the lady. there are
about 10000 working women, with paw rang
ing all the way from $3.50 per month to S12.
The Song of the Shirt is very pretty
and pathetic, but TO the work ing women Of
San Francisco it cannot be applied. That
women doing the same work as MEN get
ABOUT nail pay IS a weli-knOwn fact But
1t is the Iault of the women themselves
Not only do they reduce their own pay. but
they force out men who IN many instances
have families to support. The employer
cannot be blamed for hiring woman at So
week to run typewriter instead of man
al S15 to do the same work
The average pay of women workers is
about 81 so per week. and the number OF
those who depend solely on themselves for
support is very small indeed-less than 10
per cent of the whole
The soap and candle makers are perhaps
the poorest paid" continued the lady, land
they receive IS cents per day. The cracker
makers get about the same. The best pay
made by any considerable number is made
by the fancy-goods salesladies, VINO aver
age SO 80 per week. | have here the yearly
payroll OF one of these ladies', which shows
a yearly income of $500 %
80. you see, the condition of the work
ing women of San Francisco Is by no means
bad"