Evening star., 1918-03-28
HOW women MAKE
BOTH ENDS MEET
IHvtuH vXvLA IVIu
D. C. Workers Life Stories
Told in Labor Stats
tics Review.
FIGURES THAT sTARTLE

How working women in Washington
adjust their lives to their incomes is
brought out in brief biographies OF
.sMary., Josephine" Eva, 'Mabef
and others in an article appearing IN
the April number of the bureau of la
Dor statistics feview. This is the sew
enth article in the general series deal
ing with the cost of living in the Dis
trict of Columbia.
Previous articles showed tina: pa OF
the women interviewed by the bureau
or 4s per cent, received under s40O
wear. approximately SIS per week; and
aSl. or 81 per cent, received under $500
per year, or approximately $40 per
week.
Thirty-one per cent lived away from
home. as per cent were in receipt of
outside assistance, - per cent were
twenty-one years of age and over and
81 per cent had dependents.
Leaves orphanage at Eleven.
J One girl lived in an orphanage until
she eleven years old. the present
article states The report continues:
.,'She had to get a special permit to so
10 work and has been working in stores
ever siDce-for ten years. She was a
stock girl at S6 a week until April OF
1916, when she got ptomaine poisoning
in the employees lunchroom and had to
go to a hospital for thirteen weeks.
The store paid her hospital bill, but did
not pay her wages during that time. SO
She has been the rest of the year pay
ing up her expenses. When she came
out of the hospital she secured posi-
tfon as salesgirl in another store. I'm
til February she lived with married
sister and paid her $3.50 week for
o4d o. rad Lode M N
cause of the death of her sisters hus-
band. the two women broke up house
Keeping and took two unfurniShed
rooms for $50 a month, sharing ex-
penses equally. Their food averages s4
to S. week. They do all their own
Cooking. laundering, mending and make
their own underwear She says they
spend almost all of Sunday getting
ready for the next week.
In 1915 she worked at night for
Eve weeks as cashier for moving
Picture house, but according to her ac-
count one of the store girls '-peached"
on her and a policeman informed her
the next day she could have only one
POSITION at time. She has a little
brother living at the orphanage. and
rs soon as she finishes paying the
board money she owes for the time
she was sick, she expects to start saw
ing money to get him out.
-s"She is the sort of girl who, if
given a chance and good enough wages
20 that she could have a small surplus
above the necessary living expenses.
would have the ambition and health to
study and equip herself for more eff
eient service. AT present she feels for
tunate il she is able to meet her most
pressing obligations. and she uses up
so much energy making this effort
that it is not possible for her to do
more"
$11 Week After 10 Years.
Another girl is ribbon clerk. ''She
graduated from the eighth grade nine
teen years ago. and has. been working
ever since as sales girl. She is paid
t11 q week. She lives at home with
her parents and pays s5 week for
board and lodging. but as she is a
member of large family, she helps
with the housework one hour and a
half in the mornings and an hour at
night. and spends most of Sunday
doing additional cleaning and house.
work. In 1916 she took vacation of
. week and two days without pay. This
cost her SO in addition to the loss of
her wages She paid 10 cents a week
on her life insurance and 10 cents
week for sick benefit and this is as
near as she came to saving anything
during that year. While her rate Of
pay might be a living wage for
younger woman, it is not sufficient for
her to lay by any amount for her old
age"
"a Years Old, Gets S. Week.
Another girl started to work when
she was nine years old; she is now
thfrty-four. She has been a shaker in
q laundry for five years and gets IS a
week. She is one. of a large family
80 she gives most of her earnings to her
mother. Her insurance is 10 cents a
week, church costs cents week, and
last year she bought 81 worth of clothes
8he spends an hour a day doing dishes
and cleaning for her mother, and she
does her own mending and washing and
takes care of her own room. A friend
and last year paid doctor bill of 81 for
her.
Another girl, says the report, is an
information" operator. "She Is thirty
three years old and has been working
for ten years. Her annual earnings for
f91e were $603.99. She lives with her
sister and pays for the laundry. food
and gas. while her sister pays for the
rent and insurance. She spent $97 for
clothes in 1916, and her other expenses
included items for carfare. books. pa
pers and magazines, vacation, doctor,
church and gifts. She came out even at
the end of the year. In addition to do
ing cooking, marketing and cleaning
days and six hours on Sunday-she does
sorne of her OWE laundering and alter
ing of clothes.
The stories of the other telephone
girls are similar to the one above. All
but two out of twenty-three inter-
rfewed-and those two were young and
: beginners-paid board and lodging to
their families ranging from S120 to
S442. Their expenditures for clothes
ranged from s45 to s193. many of them
buying clothes on credit"
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