The San Francisco call., 1896-07-31
His Female Help Skipped Out
the Door When Green
Appeared.
YESTERDAYS INVESTIGATION.
The Average Wages Found to Be
Paid-Some Very Dirty
Tailor Shops.

the East in general and New York in par
| ticular, over which 10000 taiiors are now
out on a strike, does not exist in San
Francisco. There is no little foul-smell-
ing room in which people eat, sleep, work
and exc out miserable existence on a
pittance OF pay month in and month out.
That is the real Eastern 'sweatshop."
| But there are dirty, dingy, malo dorous
tailor-shops in this City where small
enough wages are paid. There is a sort of
a sweat system in prices in which the
| proprietors of some tailor-shops make
the proprietors of other tailor-shops per-
spire over the small figure at which they
must take work. "That is the real abuse
| in San Francisco, together with the fail
ure of the tailors themselves to unite and
stick together so far as long hours and
small wages and child labor in tailor
shops are concerned" said tailor yester-
day.
Deputy Labor Commissioner E. NJ.
Greene continued yesterday the. .investiga-
tion instituted the day before by Commits
| sioner Fitzgerald on complaint of a COM
mittee of the Garment workers Union.
This committee furnished the Labor Com
missioner list of ''sweatshops," and
promised to send a man or two around
yesterday to show where the places were
located. Nobody appeared for this duty,
but Deputy Greene started out anyhow.
Eight places were visited. The worst
shops are located south of Market. The
worst for ventilation and general ram
shackleness was the shop of K. Baago at
246 Jessie street. He employs eight
women and girls, one man and a boy, and
the proprietor himself was sweating at
hard labor over a pressing-board when the
Deputy Commissioner arrived.
! The finishers in this shop can make
about 81 80, il they work full week, but
they usually earn about S5, as business is
dull. The boy gets 81 IS. He runs
errands. The operator on machine that
is run by electric power gets 81 75 a day.
She said that she got that much, but Mr..
Baago said she was paid 50. The floor ot
this room sagged; the ceiling was low and
threatening. the light comparatively poor
all of which was reached by stairway
that would take first prize in a contest be-
tween dilapidated starways. But the
snop was no dirtier than the average tailor
shop.
About the average wages paid among
the shops visited yesterday for appren-
tices is 81 so per week; for hnishers, from
$6 to $9 for machine operators, $12 to $14;
pressers, So to IS. In piece-work shops a
com mpetent girl can make almost as much
when there is plenty OF work to do. But
now there is not plenty of work, and the
amount of wages must be scaled down
from % 10 so per cent.
The publication of the visits made
to the shops the day before in which
the worst showing was made, evidently
had precautionary effect on several shops
that were visited yesterday.
At shop on Howard street there were
no girls at work. The only persons on the
premises were the proprietors. The pro-
prietors of many of the shops objected to
the girls being questioned as to the
amount of wages received, number of
hours they worked, etc.
At the shop of NJ. Buchanan, 291 Everett
street, near Fourth, there was general
exodus of employees when the Deputy
Labor Commissioner and CALL reporter
entered. The six or seven girls sat for a
moment or two until they got an lnkliLg
as to who the visitors were; then they all
threw aside their sewing and made dash
for the door. There was Gathering OF
chairs, scurrying OF feet a giggle and a
little scream or two, and the six or seven
| flying skirts were out of sight. These
were robust girls.
! Proprietor Buchanan is Pole. He
hardly noticed the stampede. In fact, he
appeared to have expected it and pre-
arranged it. The explanation he gave was
that the girls went out fearing to get their
pictures in the newspapers.
Then he made matters worse, particu-
Iarly for himself, by refusing to answer
the questions of Deputy Greene.
The deputy forthwith ordered MIN to ar
pear at the Commissioners office inside
of two hours to answer questions or he
would arrest him, and he made out for
m al subpoena.
The system of forcing reductions of
prices by shop proprietors, in use by seve-
raj we'll known tailors. is thus described by
Deputy Greene:
members of the Garment-workers'