Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-18
WHOLE FAMILIES MAKE VIOLETS
They Toll for Many Hours and Get
Small Returns,
From the New York Tribune.


Few who note the array of cheap artificial
fowers-especially violets-displayed In shop
windows and at bargain counters" give
any thought to their genesis or manufac-
ture. The finer flowers for the trade are,
of course, the work of experienced hands.
but the less complex-the small cotton va
rieties- are ''jobbed OUT in small quantities.
much after the order of the average sweat
shop work. and many of the poorer Italian
families exc out scant living by making
flowers from early morning till late at
night.
One Italian family of nine-the youngast
worker being the precocious age of three
were all found engaged in this occupa ton
the price paid for the finished work being
from % to 45 cents a gross of punches,
and as many as two or two and a half
gross were sometimes turned out in a day.
when the father, who earned s. a week as
day laborer, also took part in the evening
The ordinary cotton violet is composed OF
green stem, stir paste-tipped center and
two three layers of petals Each layer is
separate, with four or more lobes or petals
These come to the worker by the yard
strung on stout cord through the tiny hole
in the center. The stems also come by the
yard with a circle of black thread tied
tightly every three or four inches and the
centers, which are like tiny yellow headed
wooden pins of about half an inch in length,
are obtained by the pound So MANY
punches OF finished flowers are supposed to
be made from so many yards or pounds of
material. But sometimes the raw stuff Is
bought outright by the worker and resold
when completed. The youngest children
have the task of separating the petals
taking them off the string and pulling them
apart-for as they are stamped out in bulk
by machinery they are often pressed tight
ly together Another child has the box of
pin-like centers, each of which he
threads three four of the petal LAYERS
and passes 1t on to the presiding genius of
the glue pot, who dips the lower wooden
end Of the center into this pot and inserts
stems. The yard Of "stemming' is cut mid
way between each tie, so that when every
stem has received it's blossom twelve to
the bunch) and the bunch Is completed 1t Is
thereby at the same time tied and ready for
immediate handling.
Oddly enough, the question of caste is
most rigidly defined between the makers
Of flowers and the pickers of rags The lat
ter are usually Of the newly arrived or less
ambitious sort. They scavenge the big
sweatshop headquarters and from the big
cutting establishments carry away bars
and bales Of rags of all sorts mixed with
the dirt and litter OF the floors. In the
cellars which serve as home and workshop
both they separate the wooden from cotton,
clean from soiled, and resell them. But
even the children engaged In the flower
making business are imbued with the spirit
Of their small community. Him? In an
swer to inquiry a. to q bright-eyed little
chap not nearly so ragged and certainly no
dirtter than the speaker, soh, him picks
rags" with unmistakable contempt. Me
and her." indicating q diminutivs sister.
I'VE makes AoWers."