El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-10

the daytime by nearly a half million
people. At night it is absolutely de-
serted except for the Waterman The
buildings themselves, designed for
their especial purpose, are a great
improvement over the factories and
sweat shops formerly existing on the
lower east side. The average loft
building has a frontage of from 40
to so feet and a depth of about 125
feet. The average manufacturer Occu-
pies one floor of such a building, al
though the larger ones have two,
three and even four floors, or lofts.
Access to the loft is gained by the
elevator. At the front of the build
ing on the north side wherever pos
sible, are the shOwrOoms, the sample
rooms, the office and the stock rooms.
Back of the thin partitions dividing
these rooms, is the factory. usually Oc
cupying a space so feet wide and 100
feet long. Here is the designers
throne room, here are the cuttors
driven machines that are turning flat
fabric into finished garments.
Electric Cutters Slice with Precision.
By far the greater part of the work
is done by the factory method: that
is, suits are cut out in great num-
bers, electrically driven knives cut
ting through the cloth with a preciS-
ion impossible to scissors. The cut
out garments are then sent through
a series of machines and are handled
by successive operators, each opera
tor doing but one little part of the
work.
In the better gown and costume
factories this method is not followed.
For gowns and costumes that retail
at say $50 and more the fabric is cut,
the trimmings and findings aid out,
and the whole pile of raw material
is turned over to one operator, who
makes and finishes the garment. This
Is necessarily a much more expensive
Err0d nd - 81 H.
garments where there is a compare
lively large margin of profit
Jewish Workers PredOmInatc.
Most of the manufacturers, many Of
the statesmen, and a very large ma
jority of the working people are i'm
migrants, mostly Jews from Russia
and the Balkans. Wage conditions in
these factories are. on the whole. sat
isfactory- It has been only in the
cheaper garments. such as shirtwaists
and underwear. that there have been
serious and long continued labor trou-
bles- And yet, the fear of a strike is
ever present, and this fear, acting
upon the Jewish temperament, has had
much to do with increasing wages,
shortening hours and improving con-
ditions. The garment manufacturer
prefers to take his chances on getting
an increased price from the consumer
rather than to shut down his shop by
refusing a demand for higher wages
ufacturing community in New York is,
in some ways. the most remarkable
industrial center in the world. 1t eX-
hibits the modern tendency toward
cooperation and consolidation by con-
gregating in one area But It is still
intensely individualstic since the in
dividual factories are nearly all of
them small concerns. The more pros
porous constantly endeavor to increase
their plant and expand their busi-
ness, thus tending toward consOlida-
ton, but this movement is resisted by
the continual multiplication of estab-
lishments.
How Some New Firms Begin.
The cutter and the designer of a
successful firm are looking forward
to the time when they can save
enough to break away and open an
establishment of their own. For this
reason an especially good cutter. or
designer, is often taken into the firm,
that his skill and experiences may be
anchored in the home harbor.
The equality of the sexes in business
is nowhere so universally recognized.
Many of the best designers, contrary
to the prevailing opinion, are women.
Not lnfrequently, a young man of ex-
ecutive capacity and a genius for
craftsmanship, marries a young woman
designer. sets up a manufa cturing es-
adjustment, and thence forward it is
a family affair.
IV-Selling the Goods.