The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1914-01-23

OF an apprenticeship WhlCh mas long
since been dead in these occupations.
Why? To give the young people a
chance to learn trade they can fol-
low when they reach maturity? Or
do they ask for an apprenticeship
period in unskilled trades as sure
way of preventing any inroads being
made upon their dividends?
If an apprenticeship of even six
months is granted-in most instances
one year has been asked for-the girls
in need of the protection of the law
will for the most part be excluded
from its benefits. In one of the laun-
dries of this state-a typical laundry
SO girls were employed at the mangle
in October and AZ in July, making an
average of 40 positions. These 40
positions were filled within six months
by 1852 girls. At the end of the six
months only 10 of these girls were
still in the employ of the firm, and
only three at the end of the year. All
these girls received less than $500 per
week with the exception of three of
them.
Let us take the other departments
of work in this same laundry There
were 81 girls employed in October,
and 80 in July, making an average of
3S positions. Sixty-one girls were
employed in these SO positions during
six months. AT the end of six months
SO of the girls were still in the en-
ploy of the firm, and 25 at the end of
the year. OF these 25 girls only five
were receiving less than $500 per
week. None were receiving less than
$500 per week. 1t is apparent from
these figures that it is the mangle
girl who is most in need of a legal liv-
ing wage, and yet she is the one who
would receive no benefit if an APP
premiership is acknowledged, and
there is serious danger of it doing
her harm if it is a means of cutting
short an already brief period of en-
ployment.
The factory offers a similar situa-
ton. Two hundred and one girls
worked from one to six months. Of
these 1874 received less than $500 per
week. Only % out of these POI girls
were in the employ of these two firms
at the end of the year.
We find the same story in mercan-
tile establishments. In one of the
large mercantile establishments in
this state 1854 girls have been en-
ployed during the last six months. In
the month of October 617 of these
girls were on the pay roll of the firm
What became of the other 431 girls?
The average poorly paid girl drifts
from employment to employment Dis
cOuraged by the small pittance called
wages, and her inability to attain suf-
ficient speed in the factory work to
earn enough to keep soul and body
together she drifts from one industry
to the other, and makes the complete
round of factory and mercantile estab-
lishments. She is always poorly paid
no matter where she goes, for she is
just an average girl, with average in
telligence and average attractiveness
of personality.
There is another reason why she
shifts from industry to industry. All
industries have their busy seasons and
slack seasons. Many girls have been
employed in mercantile establishments
during the last few weeks to meet the
holiday trade. An equal number will
be dropped after the holidays. Where
do these girls come from? Where do
they go when their period of employ
ment ceases? You say they live at
home and others support them. Are
you sure? Many girls live at home
with parents, and with their assist
ance exc out a livelihood from their
small wage but not all. The employ
ers say they give the preference in
the hireing of girls to those who live
at home. This practice makes it doub-
ly hard for the self-supporting girl to
get along. She is even denied the
small pittance of few dollars a week
because she has the misfortune of be-
ing without home folks.
Extra help will again be demanded
for the spring trade, and the labor
force cut down when you leave the
city for your summers rest in the
country.
Your factory goes through the same
stages of busy seasons and slack sea-
sons and the employer adjusts his la
Dor force accordingly. When the log
ging camps shut down no gloves need
to be made for the loggers. The max
ing of mems shirts and overalls re-
Ispond to the demand for these gar
l re oh iC not tho eo,,oo tho Won -