The morning call., 1893-01-08

baccO, loose cigarettes and cigarettes In
packages. Some were rolling, others
counting and others packing the cigarettes
away in tiny boxes.
''Sit down aud watch how we work." said
pretty dark-eyed girl You see at this
table five Of us are making cigarettes aud
two packing them. 1t is nice, clean work,
and after the first day the odor Of the to-
bacco does rot annoy US"
In front of her, on the table, were two
steel tracks" separated by the length of
cigarette. and between these tracks Jay
strip of tracing cloth. nailed at one end to
the table.
Deity selecting the right amount of to-
bacco for one cigarette from the pile that
lay at her left hand, she placed it across the
cloth and in front laid strip of rice paper,
slightly mOistened with starch. Then she
folded The tracing cloth over the tobacco.
and holding 1t down against tie table with
knife, pulled at the free end OF the cloth,
which caused the tobacco to roll round, be-
come enyeloped in the rice paper and come
out nice, compact cylinder, that only
wanted cutting at the ends with pair Of
scissors to he perfect cigarette.
Another girl then wrapped the result of
the first girls labor in wax paper and tin
foil. affixed brand, and the package was
ready to 60 forth into the world.
Handmade cigarettes are better than
those manufactured by machines" the girl
observed, taking up cigarette from an
other pile and comparing it with one she had
just finished.
But a machine can turn out from SC, 600
to coo day."
The girl working at the machine that
stood near MS only had to throw occasional
handouts Of tobacco into what looked like a
large stowpan on stone. stir 1t round a. iu-
terVels with a pointed instrument, and the
cigarettes came out al the other end ready
TO ba packed.
"Pieceworkers are paid 60 cents thou
sand for cigarettes like these" continued
my informant "Our hours are from half
past TO alf.past o'clock. An experienced
girl can make $500 day. OF course a
beginner could not make more than 81 to
81 80 a week, but we do not have beginners
here now. When the proprietor wants a
new hand he is generally able t. find girl
who has worked in Eastern factories.
Working in Eastern factories. it may be
observed Is very much harder than work
ing in san Francisco. During the neat of
summer, IN places like Richmond, where
there are often 400 to 900 girls on the fl or,
it IS no uncommon thing for one to he car
ried out fantlng on an average every hour
That girl at the other table has diff
ferent way OF making these cigarettes
continued the one who used the tracing
cloth and the tracks 'She rolls them with
prefer her way OF working, bat there ia
really not much difference in the cigar
ettes."
Opposite us a plump and pleasing blonde.
packing and labelling industriously. was
singing Justify over her work. though the
rafting OF the cigarette-maehine prevented
her song from filing the room All the
other girls were working and talking occa-
slonally, except the one at the machine,
whose occupation Isolated her, and two
dark-eyed girls. who had large tins before
them filled with Havana tobacco that looked
like coarse coffee. This they were making
up into yellow cigarettes with a rapdity
that was positively astonishing.
mat IS Rosa" said another worker, in
dicating the dark-eyed girl nearest TO me.
''Shs comes from Mexico and speaks very
little English
400 cigarettes an hour ami pack ana label
them too. She Is paid 80 cents thousand,
comes later than the other girls and makes
more money! | afterward learned from the
proprietor that Rosa's talents enabled her
TO be very Independent.
This Mexican girl struck me as being
more like the ideal cigarette maker than
any OF the others. because she was SO dark
and spoke Spanish. but it is very improb-
able That II there was guardhouse outside
the factory Rosa would fool away her
time In throwing red flowers as Carmen
u.
10 her time is money. She did not seem
anxious TO waste any in conversation. Ali
tie English the other maker of Spanish
cigarettes knows is Good morning."
Il never made cigarette in my life"
observed one OF Rosa's neighbors. 1T
seems more natural to me 10 pack / can
make from 81 TO 50 day, and by working
night-tiine have earned even more. Oh, of
course | am experienced" she added. II
have been at the business now seven or
eight years."
The next room. which was larger, was
Uttered with boxes of all sizes of gayly
colored packages OF cigarettes that the girls
were busily engaged in packing. There was
less pungent odor OF tobacco than In the
other room, and the Gathering Of the
machine was absent. but the packers are on
their feet all day. aud the cigarette makers
do their work sitting.
Upstairs was floor filed with more
tobacco than the most industrious smoker
could consume In ifetime-enough to
bury regiment. The business OF the girls
who worked here was TO SOFT the piles Of
tobacco. leaf by leaf. discard any withered
or blackened fragments, and only allow the
well-dred leaves to pass on to the cutting
machines. Then again it was wonderful TO
note the rapidity with which the girls
worked.
They get on as well together as If they
were ono family" observed the proprietor.
Indeed the workers looked healthy and
happy as well as nice ana neat. but any IL
lusions connecting cigarette-makers with a
grand opera in this country, at least. were
all gone.
They are just as much part OF the work
aday world as the rest of us; they doi not
wear Spanish hats the factory floors are
so Uttered with boxes and packages OF cigar
elites that there is no room to dance the