Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-28
THE MAN WHO Is BROKE
ONE RESOURCE HE CAN ALWAYS
DEPEND UPON.
Copying Addresses at Seventy Five
!!
Cents ThousAndIAn Occupation
Only the Hafd-up Engage In.

From the New York Sun a.
OF the occupations. by which men make
e living in great city, that of an address
ser offers apparently as easy an opening
as any, and pays as little. 1t is adopted
temporarily at least.2by thousands of men
in reduced circumstances. and 1t may be
added, abandoned almost as quickly as
begun by nearly every one of them.
Seated at long tables in dingy loft at
the top of some old building. men write
for dear life to keep soul and body to-
gether by copying addresses at usually
70 cents a thousand. A fair average is $50
an hour, and the man who can do 30
an hour Is rare; more often the average
is 100 an hour than even $50.
And, what is more when the days work
by the number of hours does not make the
total by considerable, for there must be
deducted all the minutes, frequently hours.
during which no work was done, owing to
delays in getting new copy alter finishing
a list, in waiting for more envelopes per-
haps. and from many other causes un-
looked for, but certain to occur. AS it is
all piecework these delays materially re-
duce the possible earnings of wri err SO
that by the end of the week he finds his
wages aggregate but a very small amount
The most he has probably averaged on six
days work Is 1900 Gay. and many days
he will have done only from 25U to 1000:
so If at the weeks end he has earned ST
he is more than lucky, and the chances are
that his earnings VIII be considerably less.
Advance of Pay.
All work Is paid for on Saturday night
but owing to the needy condition of those
who work at the business, it is customary
in some establishments to relieve the needs
of the moment by-fa system Of loans to
employees made by the manager at .he
close of work every evening. Not more
than % cents is do.ed out to each man.
and for the sum -eeived he gives his l.
o. U.
1t happens. therefore, most frequently
that an addresser has little or practically
nothing coming to him by the time Satur-
day gets around-perhaps $3.50 possibly So.
sometimes even as low as three cents. AS
a get-rich-quick occupation addressing is
not a success,
To become an addresser is simple. Ad-
vertisements inserted almost daily in the
newSpap erS show where the work is to be
had. Applicants are required merely to
write their name and address d slip of
paper, and If the penmanship is satisfac-
tory the writer is immedia tely accepted.
No questions are asked, no references re-
CURED.
Work begins at 7:3O or o'clock in the
morning and lasts generally until 6 or as
much later. up to 10 o'clock. as a man is
willing to work. Frequently there is no
meal, other than possibly a glass of beer
and free lunch. is a luxury many ad-
dreSSerS cannot afford
Time of Work,
1t is optional with an addresser at what
hour he begins in the morning and quits in
the evening, and how much or how little
he does during the day.
Copy and envelopes. postal cards or what
ever it may be thai is TO be addressed are
handed out at the foreman's desk, usually
from 100 to 800 at a time to each man.
These are taken to a table and when COM
pleted returned to the foreman who gives
credit on his pay roll of the day for the
work done. One may have to wait from
seven minutes to seven hours for any work
to do. 49,
Copy IS usually plain and easily read.
Three lines constitute the usual address
Four or five lines make SLOW work
1t is to be observed in passing that de-
spite the prevalence nowadays of labor
saving devices and the substitution of ma
chine for hand work. the writing of ad-
dresses by hand seems apparently in no
way to have diminished and there is al
ways job open for the plain, rapid writer.
Typewriting addresses comes higher and
even in these times of Improvement, has
in no appreciate measure displaced the
more laborious, but cheaper, addressing by
hand. .--.. .r