Evening star., 1899-04-08
Miss Glare De Graffenried Talks to
the Industrial Commission.
NORTHERN And SOUTHERN MILLS
Constant Tendency Toward I'M
proved Conditions.
VALUABLE ESTIONS

Dor conditions in this country and abroad
before the industrial commission yester-
day afternoon after The Stars report of
the proceedings of that body was closed.
Miss De Graffenried has been connected
with the department of labor for thirteen
years, and has made a large number of IN
vestigations for that branch of the govern
ment. For several years her work has been
on the subject of wonen's employment to
show conditions of such employment in all
their phases. She has carried on investiga-
tions in all parts of the United States and
has twice travelled in Europe to examine
into conditions there. She has also looked
extensively into the questions of capitaliza-
ton and earning capacity of water works,
gas, electric and other classes of semi
public corporations. She has long been a
frequent contributor to leading periodicals
of the country.
Miss De Graffenried explained the scope
of the Investigations she had conducted for
the department, of labor. The results of her
work had been incorporated in the fourth
annual report of the commissioner of labor
That was made about 1888, and at that
time women We're engaged in 324 different
lines OF employment, and since then the
number of their industries has increased 10
over 800. She said women in large cities
earn much greater salaries than those in
smaller places, yet the latter freuuentiy
are enabled to live much better
Working Women i'm New ENGLAND
The condition of working women in New
England varies greatly She knew no
other part of the country where such model
mills could be found, and yet in other parts
OF that section were found the worst regu-
lated mills in the country Fall River
Mass, was one of the greatest tenement
sections of the country, and the tenements
pulld by manufacturers after the civil war
are not today desirable. These tenements
are constantly being greatly improved and
are not less desirable than teuements owned
by the ordinary real estate investors. The
new tenements being built by corporations
are vastly superior to the old ones. The
employees are not intimif Sted in Fall River
IN order to make them Eve in the corpora
t1on tene1nents, except in rare cases. though
influence is brought to bear on them to get
them to occupy the conlpany's tenenlents.-
The tenement system there grew up after
the civil war because. the great increase
in the textile industry brought large num-
befs OF Canadians into the factory districts,
Where there were no houses for them to oc-
cupy. The companies put up the tenements
because of necessity.
A PatriarchaI Condition.
Previous to 1S4S she said there was a
patriarchal condition in New England in
the textile factory sections. If a girl
should stay away from church on Sunday
her employer would inquire about it. If
she were sick a physician would be sent
to see her. But IN 1S4s there was a great
influx from Ireland and the conditions
changed when the American labor was no
longer solely employed in the mills.
She said the factory laws of New Eng
land are far ahead of anything of the kind
in any ether part of the United States but
Trey could in her opinion, be improved.
She said the tendency of the factory en-
ploye to stinMlants was largely the re-
suit of the condition of their lives. She
had found that where working hours were
Snort, and sanitary conditions good, there
was little tendency TO the drinking of
liquors. But where long hours of work
were demanded in badly ventilated places
the men and women were exhausted
when they were through their days labor
that they would drink some stimulant.
Foreign Mill Operatives.
Miss De Graffenried said that in New
England the native mill operative is passing
out of existence and Is supplanted by for
eigners. Viewing the life of the mill opera
tives of New England as whole, she said,
she believed their standard of living was
getting better The Improvement in the
past ten years was very marked
|, speaking of the tendency of long hours
or work toward drunkenness, she said she
had heard that a certain manufacturer in
Maryland marked the money he gave his
employees and then traced the money that
was taken at a. saloon and found that more
OF the money paid to men working long
nours got there than the money paid to
those VINO worked short hours. She did
not find that foreigners are more given TO
the drink habit than are Americans She
thought the French-Canadians We're more
sober than the native Americans.
Favorable Outlook in the South.
She said the condition of mill operatives in
the south compared very favorably with that
OF those in the north. The south, she said,is
today where the north was forty years ago
III relation to the class of native labor, and
the patriarchal conditions that existed in
New England previous to 1S4S exist to
large extent in the south, though that fea-
ture of factory life thefe-is passing away
She said that where educational advantages
had been introduced in the south the intel
iigence among mill operatives was greater
tives in the south, she said, did not
work quite as hard as the mill opera
tiVes In the north This was the re-
suit of climatic conditions She said she
had found a Misrepresentation i'm the north
on the subject of the class OF labor employ
ed in the southern textile; mills. She had
found people who thought the negroes
worked In those mills, but the opposite was
the fact. There were no negroes In the
southern mills, except in certain restricted
classes of the work. The south had been
slower TO decrease hours of labor than the
north. In only few states of the south
were there legal restrictions in regard 70
the hours of labor. Children We're em-
poyed in southern mills at too young an
age, though this condition is improving,
and now manufacturers generally will not
have children in the mills under twelve
yeas of age.
Higher Education Needed.
Miss De Graffenried advocated a higher
| education for factory hands. She said the
| better education they have the better work
| they do. She referred to manual training,
and not to academic accompHshments. She
| wanted the girls taught cooking and other
household arts.
| Comparing the factory laws of England
with those of the United States she said
| the great advantage in England was in the
fact that the laws, being federal, applied to
| every part of Great Britain, while In he
| United States they vary In each state
| She thought that this country could with
advantage adopt several important features
| of the labor laws of Europe. She included
in this list laws providing for medical ex-
aminations of children, an insurance for
working people which would not be losi
upon leaving particular employlnen mt and
1 Germany.