The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-04
London Shop Girl.

There is a system OF providing board
and lodging for clerks in the London de-
rartment stores. which is just becoming
known in this country, but which, lei us
hope. will never be adopted here. 1t is
known by the peculiar name of living in"
just as domestic service is coIIoquially
called, in some parts of America, "liY-
ing out" This is the plan in question:
All the young men and maidens employed
in a store are housed and fed in large
buildings. like the employees OF a hotel
They are paid. not living wages, but living
and wages, which some of them say is
quite different. This class of workmen and
women in the United States receive from
five TO fifteen dollars per week. ana pay
their own expenses. In London the aver
age pay Of a shopgirl is seventy-fse dol
lars a year and expenses.
People who have never worked in shop.
or studied the conditions of the employees
carefully. may say that there cannot be
much difference between the condition of
the London and the New York work woman.
The latter receives at least two hundred
and fifty dollars year, oftener perhaps
three hundred dollars or more. Out of
this she must pay her board and lodg-
ing, car fare, and laundry bills. The re-
mainder of her money she may spend for
dress or incidentaIs. or save it, Obvious
ly she cannot spend more than seventy
five dollars a year for these things. Why
then, should she, or the English shopgirl,
he dissatisfied with a system of things
hsy u-hf pf roll ~
of board and lodging, and given the same
sum of money for dress and other ex-
penses which they would be able to save
out of a yearly salary Of three hundred
dollars?
The fact remains. however, that they do
object. and that strenuously, and that the
iiying-in syrtem has never been success
fdlly tried in New York, simply because
the employees will not have it. When the
majority OF workiugmen or women raise
lively objections to any measure which ar
fects their welfare it IS generally safe to
assume that they have good reasons there
for. These people are not fools. They do
foolish things sometimes, like the rest OF
the world but when they find fault with a
plan winch Is supposed 10 De a good one.
they generally have sound. solid arguments
against it. Most shopgirls in our large
cities come from families In which the level
OF Intelligence is reasonably high, and they
have had certain amount OF education
More than that. they have from babyhood
been brought into contact with the realities
Of life. and some Of them have at a tender
age contributed to the support Of the fam
lily. A few years of such experience will
teach a young girl Or lad great deal abou;
practical things and so far as their reason
ing goes it is likely to be extremely log
ical.
theoretically, the living provided by en-
ployers in these big stores is as good as
that which the girls get at home. Prac-
ticaily. they know perfectly well that it
suffers from the defects incidental to the
usual cheap clearinghouse menu. plus
those of fare provided by contractors who
desire 10 save money II they are allowed
TO provide their own food. most of them
will live at home or with friends. or perhaps
keep house for themselves or board at a
cheap restaurant. In such cases they