The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-10
.sephine leo1dmark. Nsational Con.
su1ners League.l
Exclusive Service The Survey Press
 Bureau)

@
 Bureau)
 Innate in most of us.is the dislike of waste. It ofrends us. Throwing food most persons normally inclined Worse than waste of matter is waste of ener- gy, waste of human effort. It does more than offend, it outrages-
 The girls who operate laundry ma chinery, bearing down with all their weight upon the foot treadles of the '.body-ironersP and ffpresAes,'' work hard How hard. a tested scale showed in the latest governments Investigation of women's work For ten hours a day, they expended about loo 600 pounds of f00t-preSSure per hour. This is not guess work, it Is arithmetic; the scale showed at certain machines 100 pounds pressure at each tread of the girl operators. They made Is treade per minute
 The test was tried in Milwaukee where Miss Obenauer of the Federal Bureau Of Labor Statistics nvestigated 3I power laundrieS in cooperation with the State Industrial Commission of Wisconsin Nor is this an extreme statement Conditions described in AlsYaulee can be found in most towns and cities throughout the country. Milwaukee was chosen the object of study because it is more representa- tive of the Industry as a whole than E me great ra1tWay centerS or seaport cities where the ebb and flow of traffic causes marked fluctuations in trade The results of the study appear in Bull letin 122 of the U. s. Bureau of Labor Statistics
 Eight physicians to whom the records Of the cuf-presses and body-ironers were submitted were unanimous in thinking the work detrimental to health A tendency to create. pelvic disorders Or spinal curvature was the danger emphasized
 Now if the Milwaukee investigation had done no more than record these pressureS accurately, service would have been rendered. But it did more. Far more significant, far more arrest ing, was the discovery that much of this effort was unnecessary. This too was simply proven The InXestiga tors forced down the treadles of certain machines until the garment in process Of being ironed received the finish or gloss necessary to pass muster. The scale attached to t:le treadle showed that unknown to the workers, un- known to the employers themselves a needless exertion Of from 25+ to 30 pounds was put forth at each tread, amounting. says the report, ito wasted exertion of Z70,0OO to 288, 900 pounds in a ten-hos1r day. Here we have an index in cold figures Of the wasted muscular effort of one girl dur ing one day.
 About a quarter of the 554 women individually interviewed in the Mil waulxee laundries, were employed at the foot treadle machines. Among the s0.OOO women laundry workers emu merated in the census, thousands are similarly employed throughout the country For years, since the first hot cylinder presses and ironeIs repla ced the familiar hatiron. these thousands of girls and women have thus day by day been wasting their most precious industrial asset, their working capaci- ties In a sport or watch, we deplore the spectacle of the player who waGtes his strength in ignorance. We applaud the player whose strength is focused, whose every stroke tells. Batting av- erages are familiarity discussed in dec imals- But these girls were not play ing a game They were earning an average of $5.45 pel- week at the cuff yoke and neckband presses, and an av- craze of $6.O4 per week ssc the body and sleeve ironers, all ''foot treadle ma chimes" says the report, shown by the records to mauke excessive occu- pationaI demands"
 Nor did the, waste of effort end with the excessive pressuree described above 4 foot rule showed that the treadles of the iruners and presses were in many cases from four to twelve inches high This means that contrary to the elements of common sense the girls were obliged to step upward before forcing the treadle down, instead of having gravity to help in a direct downward motion
 Readings of the thermome eter and hy- srometer showed also the great heat and humidity in the work rooms aris- ing from the gas-heated cylinders and the steam of wet linen. Everyone knows by experience-wha.t science has proved experim entally-how much more quickly we tire on a, hot and hu- mid day. when the atmosphere is dry and moderate.