367. Upholsterers.
Some branches of upholstery are hard work in consequence of the heaviness of the materials. At some upholsterers in Philadelphia, when a girl applies for work, she is taught during a fortnight, and receives enough to pay her board—usually $1.50 per week. At the end of this time, if found faithful and diligent, she is put upon full wages, $3.50 a week. In this trade there is the serious drawback of remaining a great part of the year unemployed, as it is only in the spring and fall that the business is brisk. Men usually put up tapestry, and lay down heavy carpets. The price to girls by upholsterers is about on a par with other work done by females. H., Philadelphia, employs several women. The forewoman receives $5.50 per week; the next best hand, $5; the less proficient, from $2 to $5. The business requires a good amount of intelligence, and about a year's application to acquire it. H. is not exacting as to the number of hours his operatives work. When business is slack they have easy times. He employs his good hands all the year. In one of the principal importing and manufacturing upholsteries and carpet establishments in New York about seventy females are employed. They make up a great many lace and damask curtains, and are under the supervision of a forewoman. Seventeen sewing machines are kept, though most of the sewing is done by hand. Any person that can sew well can do all the work, as it is cut out and prepared. With a very few exceptions all are paid by the week, receiving from $3 to $4, working ten hours a day. The piece workers can sometimes earn $5. They are employed the whole year. An upholsterer told me that his work is done to order, and consequently the measure for beds, mattresses, curtains, &c., is always taken. There are many women in Boston, I have been informed, working in sofa, chair, and lounge manufactories that earn from $1 to $1.50 a day. A firm in Boston writes: "I employ women to sew and attend sales, and pay from $3 to $4 a week. Men are paid two thirds more than women, because it is the fashion. It requires three months to learn. A knowledge of the needle and figures is desirable. Learners are paid. Females work nine hours and a half. Some parts of our work are in wood, and too heavy for women; the rest they can do better than men. Board, $2 to $4. A firm in Boston, "employing two women to make sofa cushions, pay them $4 each per week, working from eight to ten hours a day. They pay women less than men, because female help is generally cheaper. Men spend three years learning; women, one month. Learners have their board paid. The prospect for work is good. Spring and autumn are the most busy seasons, but they have work all the year." Another firm in the same place write they "employ fifteen women, pay by the piece, and their hands earn $5 per week. The prospect for work is good, but there are plenty of hands there."
368. Beds.
At a feather store I was told feathers for stuffing beds are bought from merchants, who employ agents to travel through the country, and buy them up. They get their feathers from the West. Live geese feathers are the best. All imported are from Russia. It requires great experience to buy feathers. At another store I was told feathers must be baked to render them light—otherwise they are flat and heavy. The salesman never knew of a woman being employed in baking—thinks it not suitable, for the down gets in the mouth and nostrils, as the feathers must be constantly stirred. In the spring and fall, when most people go to housekeeping, most beds are sold.
369. Carpets.
Two thirds of the inhabitants of Saxony are employed in weaving. It requires from two to three years to become a good carpet weaver. To prepare warp and rags for rag carpets is very suitable, but the weaving is rather hard for women. Mrs. W. says it does not require a great deal of strength to weave rag carpets, when the loom is a good one and in proper order. In weaving, both the arms and lower limbs are exercised, particularly the latter. She wove when she was only thirteen years old. The exercise tends to develop the chest. The price for weaving in small places is from 12½ to 18 cents a yard. She knew one lady that often wove fourteen yards a day, amounting to $1.75; but her health failed, and she changed her occupation. I called in a weaver's, in Brooklyn. He charges 18¾ cents per yard for weaving, and can weave from eighteen to twenty yards a day. Some rags are much more difficult to manage than others. The dust from the rags in spooling and weaving must be disagreeable. When not working for customers he makes carpets to keep on hand for sale. He buys the rags of old women, who get the scraps at tailors' shops every Monday morning, and cut them into strips, then wind and sell them at $7.50 a hundred pounds. The women are mostly Germans, and make a scanty living at it. In the Old Ladies' Home, Brooklyn, some of the inmates pass part of their time in preparing rags for weaving. Some old women buy of junk dealers the rags they sell to weavers. A woman whose husband was a carpet weaver in New York, continues the business since his death, employing two old men to weave. She charges eighteen cents a yard for weaving. She says that kind of weaving could never be done by machinery, as it would pull the rags all to pieces. She buys listing and cloth of old women who get it from the tailors and bring it around to sell. She pays twelve cents a pound for listing, six for cloth. She cuts them herself. A weaver told me he charges eighteen cents a yard. He buys pieces of cloth from the tailors for making up a stock to keep on hand. A pile of listing lay on the floor, for which he had paid nine cents a pound. He can weave from eight to sixteen yards a day. I have seen the average price of weaving carpets stated at nine cents a yard. The dust that flies in preparing carpet rags is disagreeable, and injurious to the eyes and lungs.
370. Curled Hair Pullers.
Hair pullers are mostly Irish women, the wives of foreigners and laboring men. A few are women of a better class reduced in circumstances. In Philadelphia, at the shop of a kind old man, I saw women picking hair for mattresses. He pays two cents a pound for picking. The women earn from forty to sixty cents a day. The dust that flies from the hair is injurious to the lungs, and the constant watching is trying to the eyes. At one curled hair factory in New York I saw women employed at one cent a pound, at another two cents. A smart woman can pick twenty-five or thirty a day. An upholsterer in Boston writes: "We have women to sew, pick hair, &c. We pay by the piece. Men receive one third better pay than women. Women receive less, because they have not brass enough to ask more. Any woman can do our work. The prospect of work in our line is very fair. We have twenty women who work all the time. The demand for hands is small, surplus large. Large cities are best for our trade. Board, $2.50." 371. Curtain Trimmings.
I saw two girls, in New York, who work at the trade. Their employer does not pay learners for two weeks, then according to what they do. Some are paid by the week, and some by the piece. The last plan pays best. The girls earn from $3 to $5 per week, some even as much as $7. Plenty of hands can always be had. They have most work in summer. At another place I was told it takes three or four months to learn. Good hands can earn then from $4 to $5. Mrs. B., in New York, told me her girls work by the piece, making curtain trimmings, and earn from $5 to $6 a week. They
work from 6 A.M. until 7 P.M. They can learn it in a few weeks. At Y.'s, in New York, I saw a plain, genteel-looking woman engaged in making tassels. She pays $2 a week for board—washing extra. She spoke very well of her employer, for whom she had worked twelve years. She mentioned an old lady upstairs who had been in his employ twenty years. He has fifteen women in the tassel department, and fifteen making gimps and fringes. Some of the hands are paid by the piece, and some by the week—ten hours a day. They are paid every two weeks on Saturday afternoon. In the old country women make twisted cord, but not in this. Cordmakers are on their feet all the time. Y.'s women g
