The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-11-08

TAI NUMBER OF persons interested III IAIS
great Industry is estimated at thirty
thousand. OF these thirty thousand
about fifteen hundred are kept busy the
year around making buttonholes by
hand. Many shops also make use of
the mechanical contrivances invented
for the purpose of quickening the pro-
cess. These, however, are not consid-
cred satisfactory for the finest grade
of goods, and their output is only used
on the cheap qualities and upon those
parts of the clothing where the but
tonholes remain more or less hidden
from view. AS in the case of basket
weaving, button sewing and a few 9th
er kinds of handicraft, buttonhole max
ing still continues and for many years
will continue to be done at its best
by handwork alone.
The work on buttonhole depends
upon two factors-first. the size, and,
second the thickness of the goods. The
size usually made for the coat Is con-
sidered the average, and it is upon that
that the following figures are based.
The work is for the most part done by
women and girls, and the number of
holes finished in a day of nine hours
by a skilled worker of sixteen or forty
six is about the same. The bosses aver
age it at fifteen coats, or. reckoning
five to the coat, seventy-five a day for
each hand. Multiplying this by 1900,
the number of workers estimated for
the city, supposing that in the busy
season they are all working, the total
is $4,000 buttonholes made in one day.
This is probably brought up to hum
bred thousand when the machine prod
uct is taken into consideration.
"a perfect buttonhole is work OF
art" said the head of a big clothing
company, where 1900 hands are Kept
busy the year around, and seVenty-nVe
buttonhole makers work nine hours
day supplying the demand for the
ready-made suits. He showed what ne
meant. A perfect buttonhole will lie
edge to edge, and the little circular hole
on the outer end will show up as clear
as the bore in a rifle barrel. Along the
clean cut edges the stitches will lie as
even and smooth as If they were made
in a metal mould. Much the same APP
pearance is gained from using the ma
chimes, but the smoothneSs is not quite
so glossy, the experts say. And when
one observes closely the perfection OF
the work, he cannot help admirlng the
skill of the hand which wrought 1T.
All the buttonhole maker has to do Is
simply to make buttonholes. In other
words the piece comes to her ready to
be sewn. It is cut by tool which is
a combination of a leather punch and
small knife, and the result is clean and
neat Then the deft buttonhole maker
picks up the coat thus prepared, draws
a piece of linen thread about the size
of fine white wrapping Irvine through
the goods near the inner end Of the
hole, stretches it taut along one side
of the slit and begins rapidly to over
cast it with long length of silk twist.
The stitch is a quick. almost battling
one to follow, but close attention shows
you that each time the needle pricks
through a half hitch is made around
the heavy linen thread, or cord" as 1t
is called. In this way, by series of
tiny silken half bitches, the cord is
bent around the entire hole until It
reaches the point where it started.
There it is tackled" or made fast, a
few extra cross stitches taken to in
sure the hole against tearing out, and
the job is completed and another one
begun. It takes about five minutes of
steady work to do a satisfactory job,
although at a pinch almost any of the
workers could finish one off in half that
time. The more deliberate and careful
the work is found to be the better are
the employers satisfied.
"And now for the pay. This is reck-
oned by the piece, and averages up TO
about two cents for each coat and
waistcoat buttonhole made and two and
one-half cents for each overcoat but
tonhole. The pay that can be depended
on week in and week out in an ordi-
narily busy season is between $1.75 and
50 a day At some seasons of the year
this decreases, at others increases;
taken on the average, il is as good
wages as any clothing worker gets, no
matter what his speciality may be.
The above refers to hand work alone.
Machine operators are paid different
ly A skilful operator can put out
Oh I h1IffOnhnIaq q daV the
old style machine and 1000 on the new.
For these he receives so cents a hun
bred. The work is purely mechani-
cal, and consists of two operations.
In one the cloth is placed under a
machine that has the outward APP
pearance of a huge sewing machine.
A lever drops and the hole is cut.
Another lever is pulled and the dyna-
mo sets the machine to sewing. The
cloth is clutched upon a steel dia-
phragm and needle with lightning
strokes sews the silk around the cord
and the slit automatically, turning it
at the sharp curve accurately and with
much noise. The other style of ma
chine holds the cloth stiff and turns
the needle. In each the result is the
same. The buttonhole is made and
sewed in about a half minute, includ-
ing the second process of lacking"
or making the threads fast by pass
ing the outer end of each buttonhole
beneath a rapid needle which throws
a stout silk thread crossways about
the ends and prevents tearing or un-
ravelling. BY this means thousands
of buttonholes can be rushed out in
a day; but what is gained in numbers
and time is lost in quality, as the
dealers believe, and as result only
the handmade holes are allowed on
the high grade goods.
The buttonhole making is all done
in shops. That is, there is only lit
tie work taken home and done private.
ly. Sometimes on a rush job from a
merchant tailor some worker may take
a job home from the shops and work
at it by lamplight until 1t is COM
pleted, but this is not often done. Nine
hours of daywork suffice to keep the
market supplied. Most of the work
is done in shops in the Jewish quarter
of the town, although many of the
great wholesale manufacturers keep
scores of busy fingers employed inside
the walls of their own factories. In
asmuch as a large percentage of the
piecework is done in outside shops
which owe allegiance to some one man