Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-01-03

terests.
It is n matter Of business with him.
His everyday routine compels him to keer
posted on the subjects have named.
Every branch of industry. and that In.
cudes employees, raw material Office and
operative forces, production, distribution
and wages is so much water to his mill.
He is the States statistician. He IL
Chief of the Bureau of Information in Sec
retary Woodward's Department of Internal
Affairs.
WOMEN in the last two or three years
" have invaded the fields Of industry
formerly occupied exclusively by men to q
greater extent than is imagined.
At least this Is the observation OF Mr..
GottSchall
He is most patient and persistent in
Likewise he Is a digger after the unusual,
the odd, the unique in every field Of man e
cndeavor in Pennsylvania.
1t Is survival of his college days. / am
sure: for when I first knew him he was
digging around Greek roots and Latin verbs.
One of his most interesting finds is that
the most numerous among the wage -earners
of the State are "hclpers." There are 224, =
los persons engaged in this business.
Householders will recall the "helpers" In
connection with plumbing jobs or frozen
pipes.
They hand the plumber his tools.
MIR. GOTTSCHALL has made some curl =
AVA ous discoveries as TO woman's work and
wages last year in Pennsylvania.
PARTICULARLY is this true as to the occipa-
tions and income Of the gentler sex. There
are women designers, pharmacists, chemists,
forewomcn floor walkers, ovcrseers, etc.
It might be imagined that the best paid
workers among the sex would be found In
some one Of these classes.
Not so.
Bricklayers were the best paid women
workers. outside the learned professions in
the Commonwealth.
Female bricklayers were paid an average
daily wage of $61S for nine hours work.
Carpenters, women. Of course, received
SOB per day Of eight hours.
Lady coopCrs worked an hour longer. nine
hours. and were paid S475 n day, which
was not bad considering the demand for re-
ccptaclcs for home brew.
NbAZlERS, Indies who make business
" of putting in window glass. which is
usually considered part of n painters lob,
worked nine hours for S4.O9.
cement workers, an exceedingly unhealthy
ana arduous employment. paid an average
TO ITS women employees Of S4.6S.
Perhaps the most startling exhibit made
by StatlStici0n Gottschall is that we have
women coal miners in the State
Ana they are invading the domain hereto
fore occupied by man in increasing numbers
every year.
There is one satisfaction. doubtless. 70
those who insist on the dignity that must
attach to the employment of women, and
1t is that female designers were the second
best paid of their sex. They received Sc. .15
for an eight-hour day.
EVliE war years unquestionably gave
4 woman her opportunity and nobly she
availed herself of It,
In many Office buildings female e,eyotor
starters and operators have permanently
Supplanted men.
Among other occupations into which
women are gradually pushing their way are
the following: "'o
Engineers in. industrial plants where the
seeming anachronism. where they tend lamps
III industrial establishments and railroads.
Loom hXerS In textile mills, car runners
IN street railway operation, weavcrs, pol
liShCrS and 'rippers."
There are women electricians. Among
the best paid of the sex are embossers who
receive an average of $5.37, as against S4,17
received by engravcrS.
lie average wage Of the ladies' of the
live wire, the electricians, approxinates
SD a week.
TT IS Il wcll-known fact that in certain
industries skilled employees decline To
itcd.
In past years glass blowing was trade
to which apprentices were admitted only
from tn" fact that they were relatives. chill.
dr"n, ncphcws or grandchildren of the
iourncymcn
Will" this practice is being invaded by
the operation of technical and trade schools.
there would still seem to be paucity of
apprentices in the State.
Tn THE various industries there was n
L total slightly in excess of 5000 ap-
nrenticcs who will some day occupy positions
as skilled workmcn
Although Mr., Gottscha'l does not indicate
1t in his statement, it Is possible that many
Of those listed MS helpers are really ap-
prcntic"s who, for the bosses advantage,
nre listed as such that they may charge
highcr rates for their services.
Those familiar wi'h the manufacture of
iron and steel will b. interested in certain
figures presented by the States statistician
In the old days puddlcrs, heaters and
rollers were the big money makers In the
iron mills Of the state.
The boss roller like Robinson Crusoe. was
monarch of all he surveyed .and was II
mighty poor head Of a roll gang If he could
not clean up from $50 to $50 n day.
puddlcrs on the average managed to exc
out nm existence on from SO to S15 for
nine hours work. while heaters averaged
practically the same.
Those We're days when the purchasing
power of the dollar was double what it is
today.
They were class of men whose families
lived on the fat Of the land.
They worked hard in the mills and they
demanded not only the necessities of life I'm
abundance, but its luxurios
What do the returns show today?
puddlers work ten hours for SlO15.
heaters work nine hours for $S. .2S. while
rollers draw $l2.7O for a ten hour day.
7 HAVE MENTIONED in a general way
l. the extent to which female workers are
undertaking employmrnts heretofore re-
gNrded rs strictly masculine and more or
less strenuous.
There were 1,130. S3l workers employed
in 2O5 occupations in this State the last
year.
Out of these 2O5 occupations 132 engaged
women.
Among these were numbered trades sun
N, lima