Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-26
NO SWEAT SHOP THERE
Public Printer Benedict Denies a State
ment About the Bindery
The Average Wages of the Employees,
He Says, Exceed Two
Dollars Day.


ment printing office is being managed like
sweat shop, SO that many employees are I'M
able to earn over eighty-five to ninety-seven
cents day, according to the class of labor
| performed, is denied absolutely by the pub
| lie printer
"Thc statement" said Mr.. Benedict to-
! day, "is wholly without foundation. 1 have
| here statement from the cashier showing
| that the average wages earned daily by the
| employees of the bindery from July l to No
vember 20, this year, is s2.1O. This is the
average for the whole force. There are not
a few women who earn as high as s.. 80
day. The regular daily wages of these en-
ployes is s1.92, SO that you can see that the
average during the past four or five months
has been in excess of the usual wages. The
statement that this force in the government
printing office is being run on the sweat
shop plan is simply absurd, and is made
only for the purposes of sensation. do
| not care to pay any attention to 1t, and the
only thing about it that l care to notice is
the statement that this thing was being
done without the knowledge of the public
printer. l want the public to understand
that l am not dummy in this office, and
that such A thing as this could not be done
without my knowledge. l know every nook
and crar ny of this bureau. 1 just tore up
and threw into the waste Basket a slip Of
paper which told me every revolution OF
every press in this office yesterday. A typo
graphical error occurred yesterday after
! T oon In one Of the DIVISIONS Of this effice ip
some work done for one OF the departments.
A printer spelled PittSburg with three ts.
Before he knew 1t, before his foreman knew
1t, before the work was sent out of the
| office, 1 knew it. There never was a more
efficient, alert and loyal staff of superin-
tendents and foremen than there is in this
office today, and rot one of them would do
what Is charged by this rumor and expect
for moment that 1 would not know it as
soon as he.
Details of the Office.
while this statement is not true, yet it
| should be distinctly understood that If it
| were that if employees did not receive
| much work at one time as at another, the
public printer cannot make work for am
poyes. This is the week before Congress
and necessarily the character of the work
is perhaps unlike the regular work during
the rest of the year. 1t consists chiefly of
proofs OF annual reports, which must be
hurriedly prepared and sent out of the CT
flee, thus entailing upon certain branches
of the office great deal Of work and giving
others less than usual. Some say that when
work runs short l ought to discharge en-
ployes in order to give others enough, but
this Is unreasonable. The public printer IS
| responsible to Congress for the working
eflciency and capacity of this whole office.
| He must retain his skilled labor through
| periods when he has little need of 1t in order
| to be able to cope with the rush of work
when it comes. And while / am speaking
| of this matter, let me say that at the Or as-
ent time with all regard possible to con-
Nenience ana space for each workman in the
office, l have increased the capacity of this
bureau for turning out work since the year
1881 seventy per cent We are using now six
ty-six per cent more paper than we did six
years ago. And We have done this without
any evident increase of floor space. If you
can tell where 1t is would like to have you
do SO. We have accomplished it by putting
In better machinery and more rapid presses.
And must say that the office is now at its
maximum If anything more is to be ex-
pected of it, it simply cannot be done.
Comfort of Employees.
And at the same time we have tried
here to make our employees comfortable. /
have replaced the gas lights in the bindery,
which heated it and made it uncomfortable
for the women employed there, with cleo
trio lights. There We're long stands of
steam pipe used to keep glue heated, and
sending off into the air its nauseating
stencil all cay long, making the atmosphere
unfit for the hundreds of women employed
there to breathe These have been taken
out and the smell of the glue wholly re-
moved from the work room. We are now
working all the help We possibly can, con-
siStent with convenience and efficiency,
and under conditions of comfort far beyond
anything known here in years past. Some
of the statements which were made in re-
gard TO the way in which the women in
the bindery do their work are calcula ted
to deceive. 1t is true that some women are
able perhaps by o'clock in the afternoon
to put on their things and go home and no
| one can blame them if they do. They are
working by the piece; they come early,
work faster than and Well others, go
without their lunch, perhaps, and so earn
the early departure. There is not day
that l do not go through every room in
this office, and in the bindery 1 know that
l see daily a large number of empty chairs
at o'clock, and 1 know that 1 also see
other employees still there at o'clock. 1t
is simply question of skill. The work of
all alike is inspected. and must be done
well. but If the operator is able to work
fast and gets through early 1t is and should
be her good fortune. 1 certainly do not
ask any employe to stay in this old ram
shackle building any longer than necessary
after his or her days work Is done"
Mr.. Benedict. during his conversation
quietly laid before The Star reporter q
huge stock of pay roll sheets, showing
what the bindery employees did and what
they Were paid for the fortnight prior to
November Is. The average earnings dur
ing that period, when work was lighter
than usual, was $20.90 making a weekly