The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-05
FACTORY GIRLS OF LYNN
STRAIN OF PIECEW ORK
Work, Wages and Life in the Famous. Shoe
 Town.

the Famous. Shoe | Town.
 Standing ill front of a swiftly re- volving and mysterious piece of ma ohinery in the greatest shoe factory
 in the greatest shoe town of America, l. watched the extraordinary rapidlty
 of the fingers of the young. woman who managed the machine. At first it seemed one might take pride In the iexpertness of 8 woman, who was, after all, only one out of 400 of her sisters in the same factory She earned, I was told, as high as $15 a week.
 Her work did not require any spe- cial training of the mind. It did re- quire long and tiresome training of the fingers, aeuteness of the eye and a general hustling capacity which al-
 ways brings better wages to it's pos sessor. She was one of the best types of the 'piecework system which is indispensable in the large shoe fac tories of Lynn, as well as in similar 4 establishments elsewhere, and in man. ufacturing and industrial pursuits the world over.
 Gradually one comes to see that ''plecework," which is, perhaps, indis- pensable, is a good thing for the man. ufacturer, but it is terrible strain upon the worker, whether he be man or woman. The necessity for putting out effort at the highest possible ten sion and without an opportunity for rest in between times causes a terri- ble strain on the nervous system. If these women in the mills and the fac- tories and the sweatshops were better educated than they are, if they had more imagination, if they saw more deeply into the ideals of a cultivated life they surely would break down much earlier
 It is he bright looking girl who generally does the most work on the piece system. She is not always the best educated, but she generally pos- sosses bright eyes and seems to un- derstand the genius of her work bet ter than her duler sister It is possi- ble if she were still brighter and had a better education she might do larger stint within the period of her days work, but the reaction surely wolud be greater and the breaking down period come the sooner
 This piecewerk system, which I must repeat again, is not at all peculiar to | the shoe business, is a terrible tyrant It drives the operative constantly to her full speed. She learns from the day of her entrance into the factory until the day she leaves it. generally | for her ownS home, but sometimes for the hospital, that the amount of her weeks wages will depend absolutely upon the rapidity of her fingers, and that she must pay in cash for a mo- ments idle 2 conversation with her lneighbor, or for a still longer time devoted to keeping her back Lalr in place. The result of this system is shocking intentness. A visitor is stared at bit, not unlandly, but the eyes are not often allowed to wander from the machineeor the work bench where the operative sits.
 If factory girl were required to do certain average of days work and then were allowed to go home or to rest when she had made up that av- craze, she might work like lightning for an hour and rest few minutes in between, as the average successful business man does. But when she knows that every fraction of leather which passes through her hands, every revolution of her machine, every dab of her nasty paste brush, means certain percentage of a dollar to her credit, she keeps up her best gait ev- cry minute. If she does not she misses in cold cash at the end of the week.
 In Lynn, as in other factory towns, the country over, there may readily be discovered peculiar bit of fem mine commercial pride That is to say, the shop girl. So far as the ques- ton of wages goes, the shop girl is at Ia disadvantage Her average income lis not so large as that of the mill girl. She starts at approximately the same low scale. The number of real shop girls who can earn $15 a week could be counted up without an add ing machine. The women engaged in manufacturing who make that amount are appreeiable.
 According to the usual statistics, the average, woman's wages in the shoe factories is about $S. These sta tistics are generally gathered from the timekeeper's books under the eye of the employer, and are apt to be gen. epous. They are, however. sufficient to indicate that the mill girl makes more money than the shop girl. Further more, her chances of a respectable marriage are at least equally as good As she lives in smaller towns and has less of supposed social status to maintain, her price of living is much smaller than that of the shop girl in the large cities.
 A single woman can exist for $3.50 In Lynn, and for $4 can be almost comfortable. The same rates for board and lodging do not go so far in large city It is more than probable, on the whole, that the mill girl has more to show on an average for her weeks wages after she has paid her board and oarfare. if she has any than tha shon girl in the large de-