Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-02-18
GARMENT TOILERS'
WAGES TOO Low
Ex-senator colby's InVestiga-
ton Results in Revelation
of Startling Conditions.
continued from First PnEeD

I nnHAnuEu 7 hNNsf
account is taken Of the fact that the
books of Levy & shartoff, which
were examined, and which gave the
wages of over SO per cent. of the
whole number of cases investigated,
covered only the three most active
months in the year. when the highest
wages are received. Il must also be
remembered that these figures do
not cover wages for home work.
which is the poorest paid, nor do they
show the cases where the employee
divided his wages with assistants.
Against this it should be noticed that
there is no deduction of time for sick
ness although allowance has been
made for periods when strikes were
in force. Taking all these things into
account. especially the fact that Levy
G Shartoff pay about the highest
wages. it may be said that with
Reasonable certainty that from so 40
10 per cent. of the women are not re-
ceiNimg wage of IS per week, and
40 10 10 per cent. of the men are not
receiving n wage of Sl2 week. The
Minimum Wage Commission of Mass
achusetts places the minimum wage
for women mt So "a week, and he
Iievc ST. II week is the minimum for
Incn set by the Russell Sage FOun-
dati0n.e
He then takes up the strikers de-
mand that fifty hours shall constitute
a weeks work.
In Our investigation of this de-
+ mand We found that the hours Of
labor in the industry are regulated by
the workers themselves The work
being paid for generally by the piece,
it makes little difference to the con-
tractor when the employee comes to
or leaves the shop, so long a S the
work is done. The result is that dur
ing the busy season twelve and thir-
teen hours a day is not unusual for
an employee to put in, but during the
slack season they are often obliged
to wait about the factory with little.
if any work to do. The evidence did
not show that the employees were
obliged TO work overtime or that they
were compelled to remain In the fac
tory when there was no work to be
done, but it did appear that the
wages are such that unless the en-
ployee in the rush season crowded
more work into a day than could
Reasonably be called a normal work
day. he could not make sufficient
during the dull months even to APP
proach a living wage.
Working Hours of Women.
ct was also clearly established that
many of the women during the rush
season go TO worI, at $3.50 a. M. and re-
hSHin until o'clock, and then take work
home TO do at night.
"These cases are cited, not at all
as average cases, but to show the
terrible pressure under which the
trade works during certain months
This feature of the industry is one
OF the most objectionable. but curl
ously enough it has not always been
Characteristic of the trade.
Ten years ago any one of the large
houses would invest a million dollars
in the manufacture of a stock of
coats to be put on the market about
the first of April. These coats would
be made up some months before they
We're required by the trade and sent
TO their retail customers throughout
the country. Now, however. the
overhead charges in the wholesale
garment business have become so
heavy and so many different styles
in the same garment are demanded
that it is found to be more profitable
to manufacture the stock only after
having sold from samples. The result
is that orders for the spring season
rush is about the middle of Septem-
her, orders that must be cut. made
up and delivered in the month of
March To put stop to this prac-
tise of crowding eight months work
into four and compel the manufac-
turer to spread the work out more
evenly through the year the union
demands that not more than fifty
hours shall constitute a weeks work
''At present the average is about
ffty-nine to sixty-fve hours a week.
but the following table will give some