The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-31

dl4NeS dependent upon tnem. Tlefe, as IN
all the shops visited. the women ex-
pressed themselves we'll in talking, dress
ed well, and appeared thor oughly self
respecting.
At the McDernid Manufacturing COM
peny large number of women are en-
plOyed in insulating ard winding wires.
The managers said frankly that men and
boys failed to DO the work satisfactorily
and they had Teen compelled to employ
women.
No matter what a woman earns ac-
tually. said the manager, I'VE never pay
less than a living wage. Manufacturers
are not the slave drivers Mr.. Smith evil
IDENTIFY thinks they are"
Here the forewoman, a rosy-cheeked
healthy young woman, told of one of the
girls leaving a week or so before TO take
position as stenographer down town.
She came back In a few days and said
she preferred her old place in the fac
tory.
Down on Dearborn street the bindery
girls have heard of Mr.. Smith and some
publisher may bring out an edition of
the things they say about him.
Wow, wow" said one, and refused to
say anything further.
If Mr.. Smith wants to sit on a high
chair and paste tin foil all day he can
have my job said another. Sorry he
thinks I'm takin the bread out of his
mouth, but l get hungry myself"
Right he is" said a third. men
ought TO support the women. I'm an
orphan, and as soon as ne sends the
money I'll quit the book trade"
Two printing establishments, Donohue
& HennCberry, and r. Fl. DonneIly &
Sons, were visited. Both employ girls
in the folding department in FASTING tin
foil and gold foil on the backs of fancy
bindings, and in examining books as
they come from the press. The work
is light and the girls earn small wages
from "a 10 Sc a week. In all of the work
shops visited. there was apparently dis
position to treat the women fairly and
none to grind them in work or wages
or regulations. That there are such fac
tories nobody doubts, whether it con-
Germs mems work or women's work. but
the reporter did not find them and they
certainly not the rule.
EXTENT OF WOMENS OCCUPATION
Those employers who talked least of
charity and sociology and viewed the
matter as a business transaction entirely
were found on the whole to be doing
the best by their employees Outside of
the regular professions of law. medicine
teaching. trad ng. etc, women in Chica
go work in about fifty industries pursu-
ing about 800 different occupations. They
are employed IN making clothing of all
sorts, cigars, tobacco works, tinWare,
rattan furniture, boxes, paper, shoes,
hrooms, baking powder, in various meat
packing industries, sewing, homework,
and similar employments all light and
we'll suited to women. In the regular fac
tories conditions in at least 80 per cent
of the cases are favorable 10 health and
morality. The state factory law forbds
fr,y-r Of oh
tain limited lines. Sweat shops, which
Mr.. Smith no doubt refers to when he
speaks of the modern factory system,
are not part of the factory sys-
tenn" hut ar evil attendant upon the
system and affecting a comparatively
small class. 4 rigid enforcement of the
law in regard to them has now abolished
their worst features in Chicago.
An exhaustive report by the Illinois
bureau Of labor statistics upon Working
Women of Chicago" established facts
contradictiHg all Of Mr.. Smiths main
propositions. Ninety-five per cent Of all
the working women OF Chicago are I'M
married; , Per cent are married. and 8
per cent are widowed. The proportion
Of young and unmarried women in in
dUstry is so Overwhelmingly large" says
the report, that the presence Of married
women and widows among them may
properly be regarded as exceptional and
accidental"
"Eighty-four per cent of the whole
number live at home with their parents,
and 20 per cent of the remainder live in
private families, leaving only per cent of
the whole who live In boarding or lodging
houses, detached from domestic service.
Similar facts as to the proportion OF
working girls who live at home have been
deduced by other Investigations in other
states and many cities; the percentages
varying so little that the general rule for
the whole country is abundanuy estab-
ished. There Is clearly small occasion,
continues the statiStician, for apprehen-
sion concerning the moral influence of In
dustrial employment upon young women
as a class, when 50 per cent of them are
securely sheltered within the home circle
and when 10 per cent of them are assist
ing their parents, and thus giving daily
outward expression of the cardinal vir-
tue, filial piety.'
OF the whole number of working women
in Chicago, 10 per cent reported their
health as impaired and 927 as unimpaired
and this is considerably above the aver
age health report of women who work
in their homes in carrying on the avoca-
ton of housekeeper. Among office en-
ployes and forewomen 10 per cent suffer
from impaired health; > per cent of shop
girls have Indifferent or poor health;
bakeries, y per cent; dressmaking, 10 per
cent; general factory work, Z per cent
AVERAGE AGE OF WOMEN.
The average age of Chicago working
women is twenty years, the average age
in five groups being: Cloak makers, TWEEN
ty-siX; clothing, twenty-seven; dressmak-
ing, twenty-five; printing, twenty-six
cigarmaking and lthographing, seven
teen.
In confirmation of the general correct
ness of the facts here deduced reference
may be made TO the report of an in
Nestigation conducted in 1888 by the Unit
ed States department Of labor, in which
it was found that the average age Of
chicago working women was twenty
years and eight months, in twenty-five
large cities, twenty-five years and seven
months
As a class" says the Illinois stats. l.
clan, girls begin 10 work at about The
age eff fifteen; they continue to earn
wages for their own support or the as
lslance OF their parents, alb Jut five ye rs
ana then rapidly disappear from the
ranks of workers and begin to assume
their places in domestic life"
MI. Smith di= agrees sorlewha. violently
with statst1cians IS To the number OF
women engaged in the work of nanufac-
ture. Mr.. Smith says they do 81 ner cen
OF the manufac, ur ng. The United ates
census for 1890 says 70 per cent. In 1880
4,Oe405l men and 1,0c12s2 women were en-
gagged In manufacturing and mechanical
industries Of these women 4I2.220 CT
tWo-fifths, were dressmakers, tai!ore ;ses
ard milliners.
ARE NOT SUPPLANTING MEN.
Chicago working women are not SIM
planting men eXceDt in . few .o-+orca.