New-York tribune., 1912-02-11
CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER MI.
Welfare work is barely dozen years DID,
yet it is to-day one Of the best paid profess
slons that calls for the qualities that are
peculiarly possessed BY women. The saia-
ries. so the foremost authority on the SUBJ
| iect saws. are usually from 500 TO sZO a
month IL Is a coming profession, for al
though there are now probably less than
eight hundred women welfare workers In
the country in the next few years there
! is bound TO be a call for many more. sue
cessful welfare work already done Is bring-
! ing the necessity of employing such work
ers to the attention generally OF owners oil
stores and factories throughout the Unteu
States who because OF the growing NUM-
ber of their employees, find 1t Impossible TO
deal personally with the problems OF the
employees welfare. Moreover, it Is pro-
! fession full of opportunity for helpfulness
and a regular three-ring circus for excite
ment and variety. Yet II would be safe
guess that not one person in a hundred
knows what a welfare worker really Is.
II you have an idea that a welfare worker
| is kind of college settlement worker,
philanthroplst or charity agent, you are
oui,e mistaken. Also. IL you think that
Young woman needs TO have graduated
from a college or school of philanthropy or
has 10 know how 10 talk slibly about the
latest sociological theories in order TO do
this work, you are again mistaken. These
things may add 10 her own satisfaction, but
they will not take her very far when II
comes 10 getting right down to brass
tacks" i'm the store or factory where she
goes 10 do her welfare work.
What the term welfare worker, welfare
manager or welfare secretary is now under
stood to mean is the person Uho Is en-
ployed by the owners of large factories or
stores or office plants to improve the work
ing and living conditions of the employees
To the employer there is usually no phil
anthropic motive behind this work, and the
large sums OF money he cheerfuly-or
otherwise-ap for the use of his
welfare worker he parts with because he
knows that in the long run It will make his
employees more efficient. that he will have
fewer strikes. fewer suits for damages,
fewer fines for breaking state regulations,
fewer pieces Of bad work.
The welfare worker in a large engraving
factory employing fifteen hundred girls
saw that considerable time and some ma
terial-in a year amounting TO thousands
OF dollars In value-Was lost every day be-
cause the girls did not keep their hands
clean enough. Every forewoman in the
factory knew this and spent much time
and breath scolding about IL, but 1t took
the welfare worker to get at the root of
the matter and institute a system of soap
and two clean towels a week for each en-
ploye. In another big factory the girls
were always slower and more careless
when they had come to work on a rainy
morning "Wet feet" thought the welfare
worker, and by insttuting system of
supplying dry stockings TO the employees on
rainy days tho rainy mornings were made
as profitable as the sunshiny mornings In
the factory. Still another welfare worker
saw that the girls of her employers fac
tory frequently caught colds after rainy
days. She induced her employer to lay
in a supply Of umbrellas. waterproofs and
rubbers TO be lent to his employees when,
needed and as result the factory saves
many thousand dollars a year in more efii-
cent work.
So, you see, although the welfare work
er draws n good sized pay envelope, II
she is OH to her job. she Is worth many
times what she draws.
or course wise employers have always
realized the economy of treating their en-
ployes decently, and welfare work, known
by this name or not, has been going on
ever since there were any factories or
stores. but as distinct profession IL is a
new idea The first welfare worker was a
woman-an office omploye in the factory
where she inaugurated the system that she
had worked out Women arc particularly
fitted for this work, and even In factories
employing men exclusively women welfare
workers have occa sionaly met with un-
usual success, while in stores and factories
employing women woman welfare worker
is almost necessity. To be sure, the man
welfare worker is sometimes a necessity,
especially in cases whore problems of fac
tory architecture, engineering and santa
tion call for a decidedly technical training.
But the tact. sympathy and concliatory
ability long sscribed particularly to women
make them better fitted for this work than
men. It is a part of woman's home
making instinct. too. that makes her keen
er in observing simple ana practical ways
OF increasing the comfort Of workers.
There arc two possible ways to get into
this wcrk-one from without and one from
within.
Tho welfare manager in a department
store employing some fifteen hundred
women was herself one of the saleswomen
In the store ten years ago. She was nat
urally quick -witted. interested In other
people and capable of doing a great deal
OF work-three characteristics that no sue
cessful welfare worker ever yet got along
She worked her way up through
several positicns-frst as cash girl. then
as saleswoman. then as head Of her de-