The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-02-25
Men Who Do Manual Labor
Receive Good Wages and
Are Much in Demand.
CLERKS POORLY PAID
Artisans as q General Rule Are
Much Better Off Than the
Department Clerk.

Are the men VINO labor with tne1r
brains in stores and Offices in a more
fortunate position In Grand Forks than
those who work with their hands and
arms?
Are the men who work selling goods
in stores, or who are figuring and writ
ing is stuffy Offices, more fortunate
than those who assist in the building
of structures by doing their small part
In using their muscles and bodily
strength?
In partially answering these ques-
tons 1t is an interesting question 20
figure upon which of these two classes
of the great employed force in Grand
Forks is earning the biggest amount
of money. Does the 1aboring man who
works by the day or by the hour re-
.ceive more in wages every week on the
average than the ordinary clerk or
bookkeeper or stenographer? In a
city the size Of Grnad Forks, where
the living expenses are unusually high,
it seems that the clerks have an un-
usually hard time in keeping the bills
paid and good clothes upon their backs.
After the figuring upon these COM
parative wages and salaries of these
different classes Of employed citizens,
1t is generally admitted that the labor
ing man is far in the lead in this re-
spect, and in nearly every case Is earn
ing more money every week than his
fellowmen who are working in the
stores and offices. This Is especially
true among the members of the differ
-ent building trades where considerable
skill and Intelligence Is required.
Taking the clerks first, the average
wages paid vary from the small sum
of 81 and IS a week paid to girls and
beginners in the department stores to
$40 to $25 a week received by the old
men of the profession who have shown
that they know the business and can
sell goods every time. There are, of
course, several different grades among
the clerks, as the wages given above
would indicate.
There Is the department store clerk
who is probably the lowest paid of the
whole number. Girls are employed
largely in these positions, and they are
willing to work for from 81 to 81 or So
a week. This tends to keep the salary
of the men clerks at low figure, and
those who work in department stores
receive from S. to SO a week. These
are mostly young men, however. and
are generally only beginners. Some
more experienced clerks are employed
at salaries of from $12 to SIG week.
Then there are the clerks who work
in mems clothing stores, who are, as a
rule, better off than those in the de-
partment stores. The clerks in these
stores are mostly experienced men, and
their pay averages about SIS week.
The beginners, of course, receive less
than this, and the old hands get con-
siderably more. The hours of the
clerks average about nine the year
around, although they put in extra
hours on Saturday evenings.
Stenographers are considerably bet
ter off than the clerks, as general
rule, and expert stenographers get
very good pay. There are women and
girl stenographers the same as there
are girl clerks, and they average from
$35 to $40 a month to SOS or $40. The
men stenographers receive about SIS
and $50 to $S5 and $50 a month. OF
course, there are exceptions in both
these cases, but the average Is about
as given above. A few confidential
stenographers in large Offices receive
as high as 500 to $125 per month.
The hours of the stenographers vary
greatly in the different offices, but are
generally the same as the clerks, with
the exception of the Saturday evening
work. In some Offices the hours are
from $3.50 to 4:30, but in the majority
of cases they work eight or nine hours.
Bookkeepers are paid at little high
er rate than ordinary stenographers,
and those who are capable of doing
bookkeeping work as well as steno-
graphic work get still more pay.
Among the skilled laborers the brick
layers probably are paid as literally
for the work as any, while the plumb
ers come along close behind. The
bricklayers receive from 60 cents to
80 or 80 cents an hour and stonema-
sons are paid at about the same rate.
Plumbers receive from As to 60 cents
an hour The carpenters have scale
Of wages of 81 cents an hour or about
that figure and are about to demand
raise this spring. The hodcarriers re-
ceive 30 cents an hour, the boilermak-
ers $3.50 day, freighthandlers about
IS cents an hour and blacksmiths from