The Connecticut labor news., 1924-10-11

A budget of $2O6 a week for recrea- ton and miscellaneous expenses rather limits the field of amusements. Leisure ed: Bathing, parks, museums, libraries, company and union picnics, church and Sunday school picnics.
 Commercial recreation: Skating rinks dance halls, boat rides and excursions, movies, carnivals and circuses, bus rides amusement parks.
 In Philadelphia there was reported the case of a factory girl who was mar rying frankly to escape the monotony of her factory life.
 Unemployment, it was agreed, was prevalent last summer. Those students who made thirty applications before receiving jobs were especially insistent on this point Five of the group were laid off during the summer and had to get new jobs. Others were promised lay-offs.
 Working conditions were, as is to be expected, described varing1y. Some were good and some were bad. To with, only one girl. was taken through the factory as new employee and instructed in the system. At one place where the bonus idea was in effect no explanation of it was made to new em- ployees.. They were left to find out the facts as best they could from fellow workers Almost without exception fel- low workers were found helpful and friendly, anxious to help a raw girl get along.S
 Except in a tobacco factory, where this foreman twas bully and swore at the girls" and the forelady was dom ineering, bosses were reasonably con- siderate. In union shops the girls were even urged against working too hard
 Sanitation and physical conditions were the subject of much 1ong-winded discussions. There were profound i'm pressions on this subject. A tobacco factory, an envelope factory, the stock yards and candy factory were. hit hard. Contrarily, gum factory and twine factory were highly lauded. Ex- cellent medical facilities were provided at the gum factory, where a hospital and nurses were at the disposal of em- a nurse was employed full time. At the twine mills an examination ofthe lungs and hearing was compulsory monthly and the girls were required to report to 3 nurse for every little injury. This es- subscribed employers lia- bility for its staff.
 A launry and one of the candy fac tories provided absolutely no medical attention. There were no lockers in half of the places and dressing rooms were nearly always in bad condition. Tn leather factory and an envelope ;actory glue dripped from the ceiling of he dressing room. There were no hang ITS. no hooks. Clothes had to be thrown ogether in pile.
 Ventilation and light were quite uni ormly good All eighteen workers eemed to be agreed on this point. Tue leat was said to be unbeatable in some 'f the stockyards. Several of the girls :ainted.t a
 Weariness and monotony, the girls aid, were prevalent everywhere, es ,ecially in the stockyards, tobacco fac ory and candy factory, where heavy fitting was required. The addresso- graph factory and creamery permitted en-minute rest periods each morning md afternoon. The speeding-up sys- em was most exemplifed in a corset ,actory, where 1t was said to result in n unbearable amount of nervous strain.
 Home, alas, was little relief. Rooms were obtained from a list furnished by he Y, w. C. A. and were n1arvels for he money. Owing to the average of rom three to seven roommates, privacy vas, nil. There were, on an average hf- cen to bathroom. Laundry was done 1t home and cut down expenses-forty girls to a stationary tub. A persistent battle waged between the house matron md bedbugs. Light was inadequate. There was wide range of degrees of cleanliness, but some of the places was actually unsanitary.
 Light housekeeping was recommended oy many of the girls factory associates for cutting down expenses. Economy ;ould be achieved by this expedient through very careful buying. On the whole, the students found boarding nore satisfactory Meals were adequate 1t the boarding houses but poorly bal lnced. The diet lacked fruits and veg tables, they said, to counteract super ,undance of starch.
 Unanimous was the opinion that the test imagination and the most colorful # ex0erienceS could not bridoe +ha |