HD 6096 .W3 19/4- IENTS UC - NRLI B E A33 D42 J) I ~>t GIFT JUN 10 19U REPORT OF THE INDUSTRIAL WELFARE COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON ON THE Wages, Conditions of Work and Cost and Standards of Living of Women Wage- Earners in Washington PREPARED BY GAROLINE J. GLEASON Olympia, Washington, March 1914 Olympja: frank m. lambobn <a^^b pltblic printer. 1914 REPORT OF THE INDUSTRIAL WELFARE COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON ON THE Wages, Conditions of Work and Cost and Standards of Living of Women Wage- Earners in Washington PREPARED BY CAROLINE J. GLEASON Olympia, Washington, March 1914 :ltm?:a INDUSTRIAL WELFARE COMMISSION. EDWARD W. OLSON, Chairman. MRS. JACKSON SILBAUGH. MRS. FLORENCE H. SWANSON. MRS. W. H. UDALL. ; ; M, H. MARVIN. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page Names of Commissioners 2 Table of Contents 3 Statistical Tables 4 Summary of Work of Industrial Welfare Commission 5 Letter of Special Investigator submitting Report 10 Section I. Introduction to Report 11 Section II. Wages 18 Mercantile Stores 18 5, 10 and 15 Cent Stores ' 21 Factories 23 Fish Canneries (Hours) 29 Laundries 30 Section III. Conditions of Labor 34 Laundries 34 Factories 37 Mercantile Stores 42 Section IV. Cost and Standards of Living 47 Board and Room 48 Rooms Investigated 52 Clothing and Laundry 55 Church and Association Dues 58 Magazines and Stationery 60 Vacation and Amusement 61 Medicine and Dentistry 63 Summary 64 Section V. Personal Comment : By Employers 66 By Employes 73 Section VI. Practical Problems : Nominal and Real Wages 77 Seasonal Work and Unempiojjasent 78 Time and Piece Rates of Payment 80 Wages Determined by Efficiency 82 Minimum not the Maximum 82 Conjugal Conditions 84 Residence at Home and "Adrift" 85 Pin Money Theory 87 Effect of Underpayment on Health : (a) Of Worker 87 (b) Of Next Generation 89 Effect of Low Wages on Morals 90 Minors and Adults 90 Learners and Experienced Workers 92 Misfits 93 Summary 95 Effect of Hypothetical Legal Minimum Wage 96 Regulations of Commission Governing Procedure of Conferences 97 Law Establishing Industrial Welfare Commission 101 Opinions of the Attorney General 108 £85683 LIST OF TABLES. Page Form III 12 Form IV 13 Form V ,. . 14 Table I. Summary of Wage Schedules Received, Classified by In- dustries 16 Table II. Cumulative Per Cent, of Workers in Three Largest Cities of the State in Various Wage Groups 17 Table III. Wage Schedule of 5,155 Female Employes in Mercantile Establishments in Washington 18 Table IV. Cumulative Wage Schedule of 168 Female Employes in 5 and 10 Cent Stores 21 Table V. Wage Schedule of 1.753 Female Employes in Factories. 23 Table VI. Cumulative Per Cent, of Wages of 1,753 Female Em- ployes in Factories 24 Table VII. Relative Number of 1,753 Female Employes in Factories (Time and Piece Rates and Minors and Adults) 24 Table VIII to XVI. Weekly Wage Schedules of 3,009 Female Employes in Factories in Washington, Classified by Industry 25 Table XVII. Showing Hours Worked by 1,420 Fish Cannery Employes. 29 Table XVIII. Weekly Wage Schedule of 2,304 Female Employes in Laundries in Washington 30 Table XIX. Cumulative Wage Schedule of Female Employes in Laun- dries 30 Table XX. Showing Weekly Hours of 2,185 Laundry Workers 32 Table XXI. Room and Board Offered in Response to Advertisers 48 Table XXII. Average Annual Cost of Room and Board of 341 Women. . 51 Table XXIII. Estimated Annual Cost of Clothing and Laundry 57 Table XXIV. Average Annual Amount Estimated as Necessary for Church and Association Dues 59 Table XXV. Average Annual Amount Estimated as Reasonable for Magazines and Stationery 60 Table XXVI. Average Annual Amount Estimated for Vacation and Amusements 61 Table XXVII. Average Annual Amount Estimated for Medicine and Dentistry 63 Table XXVIII. Actual Cost of Living of 27 Employes in Mercantile Stores 64 Table XXIX. Estimated Total Annual Cost of Living Expenses 65 Table XXX. Showing Relative Number of Female Employes in Fac- tories and Laundries Working by Time and Piece Rates SO Table XXXI. Conjugal Condition of 2,688 Female Employes in Washing- ton, Classed by Industries S4 Table XXXII. Conjugal Condition of 2,688 Female Employes in Five Cities, Arranged According to Population 85 Table XXXIII. Residence of 2,728 Girls in Five Cities According to Pop- ulation and Classified as at Home and "Adrift" 85 Table XXXIV. Residence of 2,705 Girls, Classified by Industries, and the Per Cent, at Home and "Adrift." 86 Table XXXV. Weekly Wages of 3.058 Girls, Classified as at Home and "Adrift." S7 Table XXXVI. Women Workers, Classified by Industries, and as Minors and Adults 90 Table XXXVII. Wages of 5,336 Adult Women Workers, Classified by Length of Service in Present Employment 95 Table XXXVIII. Effect of a Legal Minimum Wage on Wages of Experi- enced Women Workers 96 SUMMARY OF WORK OF INDUSTRIAL WELFARE COMMISSION SINCE ITS ORGANIZATION, JULY 12, 1913. The Act making it unlawful to employ women or minors in the State of Washington for "wages which are not adequate to their maintenance," and establishing the Industrial Welfare Commission to carry out the provisions of that act, went into effect on June twelfth, 1913. On July twelfth the following per- sons were appointed by Governor Lister as members of this Commission. The names are given in the order in which the terms of the appointees were to expire : Dr. Theresa S. McMahon, Seattle, for term ending Jan. 1, 1914; Mrs. Florence H. Swanson, Raymond, for term ending Jan. 1, 1915 ; Mrs. Jackson Silbaugh, Seattle, for term ending Jan. 1, 1916; Mrs. N. J. Laumer, Spokane, for term ending Jan. 1, 1917. Mr. Edward W. Olson, State Labor Commis- sioner, is ex-officio member of the Commission. Mrs. Laumer, because she is an honorary member of the In- ternational Typographical Union, was thereby prevented by the provisions of the law from qualifying, and her place was filled by Rev. M. H. Marvin, of Sunnyside, for the term ending Jan- uary 1, 1917. Upon the expiration of Mrs. McMahon's term on January 1, 1914, Mrs. W. H. Udall, of Tacoma, was appointed to succeed her for the term expiring January 1, 1918. On July 12th, 1913, Governor Lister sent a communication to the State Labor Commissioner, urging him to convene the newly appointed members of the Commission at as early a date as possible. This request was complied with, the meeting being held in Olympia on July 23rd, at which time a temporary organi- zation was created, Mr. E. W. Olson being elected temporary Chairman. It was deemed inadvisable at that time to elect a Secretary, partly from a desire to conserve as much as possible the appropriation allowed by the Legislature to carry on the 6 State of Washington work, and partly from the fact that it required time to consider the numerous applicants for that position. Mr. Olson therefore volunteered to care for the work until a Secretary could be elected. At this meeting plans were devised for conducting an investigation into the wages, cost of living and conditions of labor of women and minor workers in the different industries in the state, which, complying with the provisions of the law, was necessary before formal conferences could be called together to recommend an adequate minimum wage for the women workers in these industries. Three methods of procedure were outlined : (1) Five different blank forms were drawn up for the pur- pose of securing statistical information bearing on the question of wages paid and conditions of employment of women and min- ors, and the cost of living in all the details incident thereto. These forms are described in detail in the introduction to the re- port. Over thirty thousand of these blanks were distributed, either by mail or through personal canvas. Wage blanks to the number of about 5,000 were mailed to the different employers in the state and little difficulty was encountered in obtaining prompt response, a remarkably large percentage of returns being obtained. For the purpose of obtaining an expression from the em- ployers on the cost of living, about 400 personal letters were ad- dressed to employers of women in different parts of the state, en- closing therewith blank forms for estimates. One hundred and thirty-eight employers responded with carefully prepared esti- mates, showing that considerable thought had been given to the question. The work of getting blanks in the hands of the employes proved more difficult, owing to the fact that a mailing list of such names was not available. It was therefore decided to ask the different trade organizations, label leagues and women's clubs to aid in the distribution of these blanks and, accordingly, a personal letter was addressed to the secretary of each organiza- tion and a number of blanks forwarded in each case for distri- Report of Industrial Welfare Commission bution. This plan, after a fair trial, did not bring satisfactory results, and on October third, at a meeting of the Commission it was decided to employ investigators in the five largest cities of the state to obtain the desired information. The survey was not fully completed until the first of the year. In addition to mak- ing a personal survey, advertisements were inserted in the classified columns of thirty newspapers in different cities of the state to secure information as to the cost of board and room for a working girl. A total of 344 replies were received and tabu- lated. Only those that were personally investigated have been included in this report. (2) Certain divisions of work were allotted to each Com- missioner as follows: Mrs. Jackson Silbaugh was instructed to make a personal investigation of department stores, and being scheduled for a lecture tour through the East at a later date, which arrangement had been made prior to her appoint- ment on the Commission, she was -delegated to visit the Indus- trial Commission of Wisconsin and the Minimum Wage Com- mission of Massachusetts and become acquainted with their plans and methods of work. On her return trip to Washing- ton, Mrs. Silbaugh consulted also with the Oregon Industrial Welfare Commission to learn its method of procedure. During the middle of August Mrs. McMahon and Mr. Olson undertook an investigation of the fish canneries in the northern part of the state. One week was spent on this work, during which sixteen canneries were visited. Mrs. McMahon also directed an investigation of the wages and length of service of women employes in laundry, factory and mercantile establishments in Seattle. This was undertaken for the purpose of learning facts concerning the apprenticeship situation, which had been referred to Mrs. McMahon and Mr. Olson. In this she was assisted by four paid investigators, young women students of the University of Washington. An investigation of sanitary conditions in the establish- ments of the state was placed under the direction of Mrs. Swan- 8 State of Washington son, who was also delegated, with Mr. Olson, to attend a public conference of the Oregon Welfare Commission in the city of Port- land, on September twenty-third. (3) On October third, the Commission decided to hold in- formal conferences with employers and employes in the mercan- tile, factory and laundry industries in the five largest cities of the state to discuss the wages, cost of living and conditions of labor in those industries as they are affected by the particular locality. The first informal conference was held on October twenty- first, in Bellingham. Sixteen conferences in all were called, four each being in Bellingham, Everett, Tacoma and Spokane. Conferences were planned for Seattle but were not called at that time as two of the Commissioners were living in that city and felt that they had some comprehension of the problems there. As a result of these conferences the Commission decided to call formal conferences in the mercantile, factory and laun- dry industries in the state to recommend minimum wages for the women workers in those industries. These conferences were to be assembled as soon as a written report showing the conditions in the industries could be prepared. On September eighth, a permanent organization was ef- fected, Mr. Edward W. Olson being elected permanent Chairman. The work at this time having attained such proportion as to de- mand the services of a secretary, Mr. Stuart A. Rice was elected to that position. As soon as the statistical forms were returned, the secre- tary began the compilation of tables to show detailed facts on the labor conditions of wage-earning women, these facts to be presented to the formal conferences which are to recommend minimum wages. The secretary resigned on January fourth, before the tables were complete. At this time the Commission found that it was in need of expert assistance in the work of assembling into practical form the great mass of facts that had been gathered and in preparing Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 9 and writing the report, therefore a resolution was adopted ask- ing the Industrial Welfare Commission of Oregon to grant us the services of Miss Caroline J. Gleason, its secretary, long enough to perform this work. This request, though involving considerable sacrifice, was promptly and generously granted the Commission. Miss Gleason, who is a graduate of the University of Minne- sota, has had wide experience in this field of work. In connec- tion with a course at the Chicago School of Civics and Philan- thropy and in residence at Chicago Commons, she came closely in touch with industrial situations in that city. Through a three months' trip of investigation of establishments employing women in all of the large cities on the eastern coast, and of housing op- portunities for women "adrift," she gained an insight into wage- earning women's problems as they exist in the east. When the Consumers' League of Oregon decided to make a survey of wom- ens' wages, hours, conditions of labor and cost of living in that state, Miss Gleason was asked to take charge of the investiga- tion. The report of this survey resulted in minimum wage legis- lation on this coast. In summing up our work, we have only touched upon the salient points which have a direct bearing upon the questions that will be submitted to the conferences for their consideration. Many features of our investigations, those that are deemed not germane to the particular matters that concern the conferences, have therefore been omitted from this report, in order to make it as concise and simple as possible. All tables and explanations have been reduced to the simplest degree practicable, without impairing the value of the information gathered ; this is in order to facilitate the work of the conferences. In conclusion, the Commission wishes to express its appre- ciation of the co-operation of employers and employes, and the various organizations and interested persons throughout the state who have assisted us in making our survey, and especially 10 State of Washington do we acknowledge our gratitude to the Industrial Welfare Com- mission of Oregon which generously permitted Miss Caroline J. Gleason, its secretary, to prepare our report. Respectfully submitted, Industrial Welfare Commission, Edward W. Olson, Chairman. Mrs. Jackson Silbaugh. Mrs. Florence H. Swanson. Mrs. W. H. Udall. M. H. Marvin. Dated at Olympia, Wash., March 10, 1914. Olympia, Wash., March 2, 1914. To the Industrial Welfare Commission: I herewith submit a report on the Wages, Cost of Living and Conditions of Labor of Women and Minor employes in Mercantile, Manufacturing and Laundering Industries in the State of Washington. When I took up the work on January 19, I found that a great deal of tabulating had been done. Much more was necessary, however, before the tables here pre- sented assumed their final form. Your Commission has per- mitted me to visit the largest cities in the state and to obtain first hand information on all topics under consideration. I wish to thank the employes and employers who have cooperated in making the work a pleasant task. Respectfully yours, Caroline J. Gleason, Special Investigator. Section I. INTRODUCTION TO REPORT. Preparatory to making this investigation into the wages, conditions of labor and cost of living in the mercantile, factory • and laundry industries in the state, the Commission mailed five blanks to various persons and agencies in the state for the pur- pose of gathering information on the question of what a mini- mum wage should be. The forms sent out were as follows : Form I was sent to employers only. This form requested the number of female workers under 18 years of age and over 18, with the following information concerning each worker in both groups : (1) The average wage per week; (2) Whether the worker was employed at day rates or at piece work; (3) The average number of hours worked weekly by day and by piece work- ers. The wages were to be given by stating how many in each group were receiving under $1, $1 to $1.95, $5 to $5.95, etc., to $10 and over. The blank called for a certificate of correctness, to be signed by an official of the firm. Form II was similar to Form I except that the information desired concerned the wages, hours, nature of work and system (time or piece) of boys under 18 years of age. Form III was entitled "Female Wage Earner's Expense Re- port." This was supposed to be a correct statement made out at the end of each week for six months of the actual expenses incurred by the compiler for her maintenance. Each form had the following list of items and questions : board, luncheons, lodging, clothing, repair of clothing, laundry, medicine and dentistry, street car fare, newspapers and magazines, station- ery and postage, association dues, insurance, vacation expenses, amusements, church or other contributions and gifts. Kind of employment? Is this your first report on this kind of blank? Do you live alone? Do you cook your own meals? Do you live with parents or other relatives? Do you receive assistance from relatives? Do you contribute to support of relatives? What wages do you receive per week? 12 State of Washington Form III. Female Wage Earner's Expense Report INDUSTRIAL WELFARE COMMISSION, Olympia, Washington. No I, the undersigned, do hereby submit a correct statement of the actual expenses in- curred by me for my maintenance during the four weeks ending . , 191. ... ITEMS 1st Week 2nd Week Srd Week 4th Week Total Board Luncheons Repair of Clothing Stationery and Postage Association Dues Insurance Vacation Expenses Amusements Church or other contributions .... Gifts Grand Total Kind of employment Is this your first report on this kind of blank? Do you live alone? Do you cook your own meals? Do you live with parents or otHer relatives? Do you receive assistance from relatives? Do ycu contribute to support of relatives? What wages do you receive per week? Remarks: (Signed). Address.. No.. City.. Note: The above information will be of no value unless It is continued for a period of at least six months. The information you give will be known to the public by number only, as your name will be detached by the Commission and filed away for their refer- ence only. ^np^ Form 3. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 13 Space was given for four week's tabulation. At the end of each four weeks the employe was to turn in the schedule filled out and receive a new one. The Commission intended to file this information and at the end of six months to tabulate it, hoping thereby to arrive at a nearly perfect estimate of the cost of living of self-supporting women in the state. The plan has not been entirely successful as it is most difficult to persuade the young women to keep the weekly account and send it in. Form IV. 191 — INDUSTRIAL WELFARE COMMISSION, Olympia, Washington. Below is given a statement which I believe to be a fair estimate of the amount required yearly by a prudent, self-supporting woman employed in a mercantile, mechanical or other industrial establishment, in order to maintain herself in reasonable comfort. DESIGNATE ANNUAL COST OF EACH ITEM. Meals Room Shoes and Rubbers. . Repairing Shoes Stockings Underwear Petticoats Suit Coat Dresses and Aprons . Shirtwaists Handkerchiefs Corsets Corsetwaists Gloves Neckwear Hats Umbrella Repair of Clothing Laundry Medicine and Dentistry Street Car Fare Newspapers and Magazines Stationery and Postage Association Dues Insurance Vacation Expenses Amusements Church and Other Contributions. Incidentals Total for Year . WRITE REMARKS ON OTHER SIDE OF THIS SHEET. Are you employer or employee -Nature of business. _ Name Address.. Note: The above estimate Is desired by the Industrial Welfare Commission for the express purpose of determining the average of opinion and as a guidance for the Conferences composed of representatives of the Employers, Employee* and the Public, who will recommend to the Commission an estimate of a minimum wage, as provided by the law. It Is not Intended as a direct means of establishing a minimum wage. Your name in connection tcith this matter Kill be held in strict confidence by the Commission. If. after Investigation, the commission shall find that in any occupa to supply them neeessary cost of living and (o maintain the workers in he of the workers, the commission is empowered to call a conference eompo the occupation or industry in question, together irlth one or more disin public shall not exceed the number of representatives of either of the oth conference and chairman thereof. The commission shall make rules and procedure of said conference, and shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction or recommendations of said conference. On request of the commission, it sh estimate of the minimum wage adequate In the occupation or industry in in health, and to recommend standards of conditions or labor demanded tions of the conference shall be made a matter of record for the use of lion, trade or industry, the wages paid to female employes are inadequate 1th, or that the conditions of labor are prejudicial to the health or morals ed of an equal number of representatives of employers and employes in terested persons representing the public; but the representatives of the er parties; and a member of the commission shall be a member of such regulations governing the selection of representatixes and the mode of r alt questions arising a« to the validity of the procedure and of the jll be the duty of the conference to recommend to the commission an question to supply the necessary cost of living, and maintain the workers for the health and morals of the employes. The findings and recommenda. the commission. {Bee. 10, Chap, 174, Lows 1313] 14 State of Washington Form V. Occupation (be specific) Name Married? Address Do you line at home, if not, where? (i. e., in rooming house, private family, etc.) Number of other working girls or women in same house? Have you any roommate or roommates? Do you cook any of your meals? Amount paid per week for room $ For board $. For room and board $ How long have you worked in this establishment? INFORMATION ON APPRENTICESHIP SERVED IN PRESENT OCCUPATION. How long did you Wages per week work at that wage At start $ months First increase $ months Second increase... $ months Third increase. . . . $ months Now $ months Remarks City Date Name of establishment Kind of establishment Investigator Industrial Welfare Commission of Washington. Form 5. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 15 Form IV was sent out to employers and women employes. This contained a detailed list of items which might make up a self-supporting woman's cost of living. The recipient was re- quested to give a "fair est'vmate" of the amount required yearly by a prudent, self-supporting woman employed in a mercantile, mechanical or other industrial establishment, in order to main- tain herself in reasonable comfort. The estimator was requested also to state whether he or she was an employer or employe, was assured that the name would be held in strict confidence and was directed to write any remarks on reverse side of sheet. Form V furnished figures for the tables on the Conjugal Condition of the women employes, their residence and wage ex- perience. This blank was sent to women employes only. Besides basing the report on the answers to these ques- tionaries, the present investigator visited sixty of the largest establishments employing women, to learn by personal inquiry what the conditions of labor for women in the state are, to interview women while at work as to wages, cost of living, experience and character of work, to interview employers and to establish a relation between estimates and actual facts. At the same time a number of supplementary cost of living blanks (Form IV) was handed to the workers personally, with an ex- planation of the care to be used in filling them out. Not a suf- ficient number were returned by factory and laundry workers to permit of new compilations. Of the total number of forms issued by the Commission in- formation was returned concerning 11,059 employes. 138 were returned by employers. Of the 11,059 employes, 5,323 were from mercantile stores, 3,011 were from factories, 2,304* were from laundries and 421 were from office employes in the above named industries or in wholesale jobbing houses. A few blanks were returned by waitresses, telephone operators and housewives, but these were eliminated from the cost of living estimates as it was felt that they were too few in number to give an accurate picture of the situation. 16 State of Washington Table I. SUMMARY OF WAGE SCHEDULES RECEIVED— CLASSIFIED BY INDUSTRIES. Mercantile 5,323 Factory 3,01 1 Laundry 2,304 Office 421 Total 11,059 A number of tables had been computed when the present in- vestigator took up the work, showing the wages paid in all lines of work in each of the five largest cities in the state, in cities of over 20,000 inhabitants in one group and in towns under 5,000 in another group. As the law is construed to mean that every ruling made must apply to the entire state, the wage tables by cities have been almost entirely disregarded. The one below, table II, has been drawn up to show the standard of wages paid in the three largest cities in the state. Table II. SHOWING CUMULATIVE PER CENT. OF WORKERS IN THREE LARGEST CITIES OF THE STATE IN VARIOUS WAGE GROUPS, CLASSIFIED BY INDUSTRIES. INDUSTRY Per Cent. Receiving Under $8 Per Cent. Receiving Under $10 Seat- tle Ta- coma Spo- kane Seat- tle Ta- coma Spo- kane Mercantile Stores 23.1 42.6 23.3 40.1 32.4 39.7 33.5 48.1 34.3 54.1 70.2 59.3 61. 69.4 87.4 58.6 76.9 63.3 INDUSTRY Per Cent. Receiving $10 and Over Wage Rating of Cities Seat- tle Ta- coma Spo- kane Highest Second Lowest Mercantile Stores. Factories 45.9 29.8 40.7 39.0 30.6 12.6 41.4 23.1 36.7 Seattle Tacoma Seattle Spokane Seattle Spokane Tacoma Spokane Tacoma Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 17 WAGES. The lowest wage recorded was $3 a week, but this does not include wholesale millinery houses and retail millinery shops some of whom employ apprentices at $1.50 a week. The wage rate most generally received is approximately $8 a week. 55.6% of mer- cantile store employes, 71.2% of factory employes, and 72.4% of laundry employes earn less than $10.00 a week. CONDITIONS OF LABOR. Conditions of labor in the State of Washington are very fair. A detailed account of conditions as they were seen in sixty (60) establishments in the state where women are working is found in Section III. COST OF LIVING. Two averages obtained from entirely different sets of figures estimated the minimum annual cost of living for an employe in a mercantile store to be $523.27 and $568.28. Factory employes estimated the necessary cost of their liv- ing at $489.2-1 a year and laundry employes at $499.27 a year. PERSONAL COMMENTS. Much light on individual struggles of employes and the attitude of employers toward minimum wage legislation was given by means of personal observations written on the reverse side of the Cost of Living blanks. A number of those are given in Section V. A number of practical questions present themselves in view of the proposed re-adjustment of wage rates. Several of these subjects are discussed in Section VI. 18 State of Washington Section II. WAGES. MERCANTILE STORES. Wage schedules of 5,323 employes in mercantile stores throughout the state are tabulated. Of these, 168 came from clerks in 5, 10 and 15c stores and will be discussed under a sep- arate heading. Table III below gives information concerning 5,155 employes, both minors and adults, who were employed in retail stores, exclusive of the 5, 10 & 15c stores. In the classi- fication of minors and adults, a minor is any girl under the age of 18 years. Table III. WAGE SCHEDULE OF 5,155 FEMALE EMPLOYES IN MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS IN WASHINGTON. Un- $4.00 $5.00 $6.00 $7.00 $8.00 $9.00 Total der to to to to to to under $4.00 $4.95 $5.95 $6.95 $7.95 $8.95 $9.95 $10 Under 18 yrs.. 25 97 121 200 94 48 14 599 Over 18 yrs.. 25 50 140 99 332 488 660 620 2,267 Total. 220 532 582 708 634 2,866 Total $10 or over 12 2,277 2,289 Three dollars a week is the beginning wage in some depart- ment stores in Washington. Out of the total, 5,155 workers, 25 minors and 25 adults were receiving $3 a week. These are wrappers or errand girls whose positions occasionally require only swiftness of foot or of hand. In some establishments though, ( the girl who wraps the articles must inspect them, meas- ure each yard which passes through her fingers and see that the check-has been added correctly. This removes her from the position of a mere automaton to that of a responsible overseer. In the offices too, we find girls Avho begin at less than $20.00 a month tabulating checks on machines. Advancement here is Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 19 slow, much to the disappointment of some girls who think that if they can start in the office they have an excellent chance to work up to a better position. Until we come to the group earn- ing $9.00 a week, we find the girls who are less poorly paid in- creasing steadily in number. This report shows that there are over 400 girls earning less than $6 a week and over 900 earning less than $7.00 a week. When the $9.00 a week wage has been reached the number in each group begins to decline. $8.00 a week is the highest wage to which a great many of the girls attain. This does not permit them to obtain the necessaries of decent subsistence. Out of the total 5,155, we find over half, or 55.6 per cent., receiving less than $10.00 a week, a conservative estimate, as we shall see, of a living wage, and 44.1 per cent, re- ceiving over $10.00 a week. EFFICIENCY NOT ALWAYS THE STANDARD. A frequent claim made by managers of department stores is that close watch is kept on the sales of every clerk. Each one is expected to sell a sufficient amount so that her salary will not average above a certain per cent, of her sales. The lower she can bring her per cent., the better saleswoman she is. Managers state further that, whenever a clerk's sales improve noticeably, she is called to the office and voluntarily given a proportionate raise. In a very few instances this is found to be true. In the majority of cases the young woman clerk has to ask for each increase of salary that she receives. Some timid ones work on from year to year rather than run the risk of refusal. The girl who succeeds in securing the raise may not be a more proficient saleswoman but she realizes her worth and prefers to look for another position rather than to stay at one level. When convinced of her ability to find other work, her employers sometimes grant her request rather than lose her. Instances are known where old and trusted employes, who had been given a vacation in the dull winter season, were advanced $20.00 a month without question when rival firms offered that inducement. One of the real forces in determining the wages is the buyer or head of the department. Naturally he sees the woman at 20 State of Washington work and learns her qualifications. It is to his advantage, how- ever, to have his department make an excellent showing and, if the wages can be kept down, the returns will figure higher. Some realize that the more efficient the clerk, the greater the output of the department will be. Further, that efficiency, phy- sical, mental and moral, is encouraged by an increase in wages. Personal dislike on the part of the head of the department for an individual too frequently forces capable girls out of their positions. Amount of sales is not always a fair basis on which to estab- lish a wage. The stock in certain departments requires much careful cleaning and arranging and a good stock girl is abso- lutely necessary. An illustration of this is the jewelry depart- ment, which is one of the most seasonal in a store. Summer sales are very small but the stock must be attentively looked after all of the time. In the cloak and suit department how- ever, where sales are large and the season much longer, stock boys or girls are employed whose sole business is to come after the clerk and hang up garments as soon as a customer is served. The notion department is another place where much work on the part of the girls, brings small results. Here sales fall as low as one penny and the average probably does not go much higher than twenty-five cents. Moreover, a deal of patience and tact is sometimes required to please a customer with a match in a spool of silk or the width of a strip of elastic. Another fact which would seem to disprove the statement that women are advanced as fast as their efficiency permits is the rule, written or understood, that wage rates are to be ab- solutely confidential between employer and employe. The fol- lowing is quoted from an application blank: "Salary and other matters pertaining to your employment are absolutely confidential." One can understand from the employe's view point that her salary is a personal affair which she may divulge if she sees fit. Employers claim that if they permitted women workers to discuss salaries there would be constant turmoil. This might be expected were the standard of compensation any- Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 21 thing but that of efficiency. But if a woman could be shown a reason for her lower wage, such as lower sales, indifference to- wards customers, or untidy appearance, we believe that she would shortly bring herself up to the better standard. WAGES IN 5-, 10- AND 15-CENT STORES. Wages in 5, 10 and 15c stores have always been shockingly low. Managers justify this condition with the statement that their stores are training schools for girls who wish to fit them- selves to be first-class saleswomen, who, when they leave their establishments can demand a much higher wage from "regular" department stores because they are "experienced." Table IV. CUMULATIVE WAGE SCHEDULE OF 168 FEMALE EMPLOYES IN 5- AND 10-CENT STORES. Under $5 a week Under $6 a week Under $7 a week Under $8 a week $8 or over Under 18 years. . . . Over 18 years 37 21 56 47 63 81 64 94 None 10 Table IV shows the wages received by 168 girls in 5, 10 and 15c stores in Washington. Of these 168, 90 per cent, of the adults and all of the minors receive less than $8.00 a week, and 144, or 85.5 per cent, receive less than $1.00 a day. That dishonesty frequently results from the employment of irre- sponsible and under paid girls is admitted by those in charge. The cash register in each department makes it possible for the clerk to ring up a false amount and conceal the change in shoes, hair or low necked blouse. Discrimination in the size of orders to friends is another source of loss to the firm. Some managers are wise enough to admit that to pay higher wages and insist upon better standards of salesmanship and honesty would be money in their pockets. 22 State of Washington A glance around any 5, 10 and 15c store will show that the vast majority of employes are drawn from the last class that slipped from the schoolroom, more often from the eighth than from the twelfth grade. Naturally too, the great majority of them live at home. When the more ambitious ones, who give the best they have to the firm, realize that a long period may be spent here with no appreciable gain in salesmanship or financial income, they leave, and start practically afresh with a strange concern. HOURS IN MERCANTILE STORES. There need be little discussion of the question of hours since the eight-hour day is in force in this state and the Com- mission has no power to make different arrangements. Over- time is still found in the rush seasons such as the Christmas holi- days and again after the January sales when yearly stock tak- ing begins. This is an abuse which it is difficult to overcome. It is practically impossible to induce an employe to testify against her firm. If summoned into court she will often lie rather than lose her position. The women workers protest against overtime but dare do no more than write anonymous letters to the authorities about it. With three exceptions, Saturday night work had been gen- eral in all stores until the beginning of the current year. Jan- uary 1st saw a move forward to the custom of dismissing clerks at 6 p. m. in Seattle and Spokane. The stores in small towns throughout the state close at half past nine and ten o'clock. No movement "forward" to close Saturday evenings has been started in the towns. The clerks who work at night, work in shifts of eight hours. The eight-hour day in Washington does not mean a forty-eight hour week ; seven days of eight hours each are permissible under the law. Telephone companies, res- taurants and hotels are the only industries at present taking advantage of this. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 23 FACTORIES. Information concerning the wages paid in manufacturing establishments was gained in three ways: (1) By requesting employers to fill blanks calling for the number of femal em- ployes, the wage paid, and whether each was employed by piece rate or by time rate. (2) By blanks sent to employes asking for the present wage and the first wage earned. (3) By per- sonal interviews ascertaining not only the wage but the condi- tions of work, home surroundings and individual efficiency. Wage schedules discussed in Table V are from industries enum- erated in detail in Tables VIII to XV, inclusive. Table V. WEEKLY WAGE SCHEDULE OF 1,753 FEMALE EMPLOYES IN FACTORIES SHOWING NUMBER RECEIVING: Under $5 $5 to $5.95 $6 to $6.95 $7 to $7.95 $8 to $8.95 $9 to $9.95 $10.00 or over 69 121 226 256 410 166 505 Table V shows that something under $5.00 is the beginning wage for 69 out of 1,753 factory workers. The factory blanks returned revealed the fact that in several instances this wage is $3.00 a week — 50c for 8 hours work or 6V2 C an hour! There, are few persons in every-day life who would think of asking a child to spend an hour on an errand and pay him not more than 5 cents. What is to be thought of the conditions in which girls of 16 years and over are employed day after day at steady, and often difficult work, for little more than that sum? $4.00 is the lowest wage offered in other factories, but $5.00 is the more common beginning wage. Out of the 69 receiving less than $5.00 a week, 25 showed a wage of less than $4.00. Thirty-six were piece workers, which fact accounts somewhat for the num- ber receiving this low wage. Moreover, among these 69, 25 were under 18 years of age and 44 over 18 years. Employers whose first wage for time workers is $6.00 a week say that piece work- 24 State of Washington ers who cannot make $6.00 a week after the first month are not worth keeping. Table VI gives the wages and cumulative per cent, of employes receiving each wage. Table VI. CUMULATIVE PER CENT. OF 1,753 FEMALE EMPLOYES IN FACTORIES RECEIVING: Under $5.00 Under $6.00 Under $7.00 Under $8.00 Under $9.00 Under $10.00 3.9 10.8 23.7 38.3 61.7 71.2 Under $10.00 $10.00. or more. Number 1,248 505 Per Cent 71.2 28.8 Table VII is interesting in that it shows the relative number of women employed at time and piece work. We find over twice as many who are paid by time rate as by piece rate. By com- putations made from Tables VIII to XVI, inclusive, we learn further that two-fifths of the time workers and one-third of the piece workers receive $9.00 or more a week, an approach to a living wage. This means that three-fifths of the adult time workers get less than $9.00 a week. Table VII. TABLE SHOWING RELATIVE NUMBER OF 1,753 FEMALE EM- PLOYES IN FACTORIES WORKING BY TIME AND PIECE RATE AND CLASSIFIED AS MINORS AND ADULTS. Piece. Time. Minors (under 18) 88 177 Adults (over 18) 445 1,043 Totals 533 1,220 Tables VIII to XVI, inclusive, give the wages of 3,011 fe- male workers in factories, classified according to the nature of the industry, the rate of pay and whether the worker is a minor or adult. These tables are arranged as far as possible in the order in which the largest per cent, under $6.00 and the smallest per cent, earning $10.00 and over a week appear. Tables XV and XVI are put at the end of the list because they are indus- tries which operate not more than six months in the year and which, because of the perishable nature of the material, are exempt from the eight-hour law for women. CO o to i^ t^ 00 CO oo in rj- CO CO eg co m o CO- CO o *H ^S <N CO *- m to * CO *-; IO (O o» co OS «* ^~ ^ CO OS ^ CO C\J T— T— CxJ <M rj- to T— (O C 60- 00 CO CO Cvl (0 CO m m s! CO 00 CaJ CO eg ,-! (N Cxi T - ,_ 0) O CO o r-> o o o l-~ o m o o o o o eg Tj- CO rf +j CJ CO r>- co m t~ CAJ rt o > m N. tf rH O CJ <D O m O Tj- CO 00 o o o o o r». o eg o o CO o> CO CO 00 P-, +J OS OO OS co t - "* t- CO eg co co >> se-<^ O ■rt O us *> OS O O eg co t- eg o o o o r- •* eg e\i o o CO l- t- eg n. in I- eg co CO to c— T— CO •©•««• FH u s-. o o m f^ o o o o O O T- ,_ o o OS OS OS l^» oo o T3 <© eg CM eg o £ C 6 * P ^- a> (H G U r- O T- Tj" i- ■* o w o <* o o o eg O N. OS o in — <X> eg m e\j ^ eg m rj- co h~ rt o > ■<]- CO rt iH O a> s W3- O in co h» eg o in t- m co T- <S" O h- T- T- 00 Tf OS O ,_ >> $8 t $9.9 T™ in T- CO eg co co eg m ■a 1 rti O m r>~ a> oo e\j N. CO o co m o o ■* ■<t m O CD 00 N- 00 Ph +J OS to t^ eg eg co i- m r- eg T— eg Tj- CO CO «cf 6^-60- 0) X U a — o ■*■ m h» co CO CO m cj r- O o <fr eg o o o T~ T— ■* •a «> t— i— t- CO o G^ *~ P P, 6 5 o H Z a in i- <N OS *- o 1^- o CO t- CO <* o h» CM CO co n- co co o oo f>«. 00 CO 00 CO * 00 eg O co CO CO CO T- o CO ?„'<« cb c W) CO y O O CO S « P w t CO ott oi- oi C3 C3 C3 C3 ■- -a ■- -a ~T3 ~ti CO co on. o±; o- C 3 C 3 C 3 - TI ~73 ~ T3 5< 2< S< S< 5< S< S CO o±: C 3 i3 c o cj a o o O X o m t. V Q. IS a ■v c re I t ~ a. — re >Q- c i) U re l. O ■o c re V IB 20 to 3= 3 4-1 (0 1 ° XL. 10 c V CO c IS •a c o O O) c u re 4- 3 C re v o 00 X CD H c re c V 1 £ _ L. — re XC5 e 73 ll > O — o xm CO as 'Z. v c c re O Xu- co c cu c C re O > X V) re o h 26 State of Washington a Paper and paper box factories have the greatest number of workers receiving less than $6.00 a week. (Table VIII) The largest group of workers is that receiving between $6.00 to $8.00 a week. Out of the 116 workers, one-fourth (25.3 per cent.), receive less than $6.00 per week, while 23 per cent, re- ceive $10.00 or over. Candy and cracker factories have nearly one-fifth, 17 per cent., earning less than $6.00 a week and a slightly larger pro- portion, 19 per cent., earning $10.00 or over, which means that the very large majority of candy and cracker shop em- ployes, 63 per cent., are earning between $6.00 and $10.00 a week. The largest number of workers in any one wage group here are those earning btween $6.00 and $7.00 a week. These numbered 112 girls. The Food Stuffs schedule includes tea, coffee, spices, extracts and peanut butter. The wages here do not seem to vary greatly and are generally low. But a small per cent., 3.3, are earning under $6.00 a week, while a correspondingly small number are earning over $10.00. $25.00 a month is a fre- quent beginning wage. The work is simple, requires no skill and is all done "by time." One girl was interviewed who started with one firm three years ago at $25.00 a month and is at present earning $35.00. Some firms raise girls at the rate of $2.50 a month every six months. Milk condensing plants in the state returned 87 blanks. Out of this number 2.5 per cent, earned under $6.00 a week. One firm starts no woman on a wage of less than 15 cents an hour. All beginners are kept on this for a month. If they "make good" they are raised to 16 cents an hour. Certain classes of work never receive more than 17 cents an hour which for a 48 hour week amounts to $8.40. This is in the can making room where two girls have merely to sit back and watch the cans pass through the machine. If anything goes wrong it is the duty of the girls to stop the machine. So little is required here that the investigator was told that they bring their fancy work and sew while on duty. While this responsibility involves absolutely no Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 27 work, the noise from the rattling tin, the rolling cans, tops and bottoms in several stages of manufacture, would be too much for the nerves of many a strong person. One-fifth of the workers in this trade (Table XI) receives $10.00 or more a week. $5.00 a week is the beginning wage in Shoe and Glove manu- facturing plants. The former industry is more complicated and offers a greater variety of departments for women's work than the latter. The shoe industry, like that of coffee, tea and spice packing, has a narrow range of wages. Only one girl and that a minor was earning under $6.00 a week and but 21 per cent, of the total earned $10.00 or over. One-half of those reporting, or 21, earned between $8.00 and $10.00 a week which is a fair record. Garment and Textile factory schedules were tabulated to- gether. Though the nature of the work is entirely different, an advanced degree of skill is required in all first class employes. Garment and textile factories in Washington may be classed as industries which recognize that efficiency depends upon a decent subsistence. Only 3 per cent, in garment and textile factories start for less than $6.00 a week. This would seem bad enough but it must be remembered that some of these are minors. Nearly one-half of the garment and textile workers, 48.5 per cent., earn $10.00 a week or over. A characteristic of the garment making trade is that the work is highly specialized and furthermore is done on highly speeded machines. A result of this is that women of much experience on one class of work develop a speed which brings them from $20.00 to $25.00 weekly. The same thing is true of weavers in woolen mills where processes which women handle are not so many nor as a whole so complicated as in the garment factories. On the contrary one or two of the processes here are extremely simple, but others demand sufficient skill to bring in high wages. In the book binding trade 2.5 per cent, start for less than $6.00 a week but none of those are adults. Some firms were found whose beginning wage was $7.00 and one whose first wage 28 State of Washington was $8.00 a week. 69 per cent, of the total number of women employed at book binding earn $10.00 a week or over, (Table XIV) while one-half of those reporting earned $11 or over. One further fact in connection with this trade is that $11.00 a week may well be named as a maximum wage for women em- ployes. This excludes linotype operators who are really printers and who advance to professional skill and a wage of $5.00 a day. Women who have spent ten and twelve years at book binding say that except for the opportunity furnished by a forelady's position, much difficulty is experienced in rising above $11.00 a week wage. Investigation proved that firms doing very high class work have $14.00 as a stated maximum for binders on machines. These are so few, however, that the statement of $11.00 as a general maximum is not disturbed. Fruit and fish canneries have been grouped together because of the seasonal character of the work. Both industries, while in operation, employ a large number of workers. Fruit canneries reported 334 and fish canneries reported 1526. Fruit canning (Table XV) calls for less skilled work from women than fish canning. This accounts partly for the fact that 11 per cent, of those in the industry work for less than $6.00 a week and that only 11 per cent, receive $10.00 or more a week. We find that a large per cent of those earning less than $6.00 a week are adults, — 29 adults to 9 minors. It is well known that a certain per cent of women who work in fruit canneries are merely "summer workers", — women in families who wish to help out the income by this extra work. It is claimed by cannery men that a large per cent of the workers are women who are not adept at picking fruit, who are too old or too young to be good workers. Most of the work is done at piece rates. (79 out of 334 were time workers.) The amounts that some of the "poorer" workers do in a day would indicate that the rate of wages was more at fault than the speed of the workers. The fish canneries have a much greater per cent, 68.5, who earn $10.00 or over a week. This may be due to the fact that salmon canneries find the same workers returning year after Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 29 year, and to the fact also that the industry is not covered by the eight hour law. As many of the canneries operate at least part of the force on Sunday during the busy season, some women work over 10 hours a day for seven days a week at work which is described as revolting to the average human being. The earnings tabulated here therefore are the results not of a normal but of a forced day's work. Table XVII. TABLE SHOWING HOURS WORKED BY 1,420 FISH CANNERY EMPLOYES IN ONE WEEK. 48 hours and under 345 49 to 56 hours 399 57 to 64 hours 457 65 to 69 hours 41 70 hours 119 75 hours 59 Total 1.420 Statistics collected concerning the hours of 1420 fish cannery employes showed that of that number only 345 worked the normal or less than the normal week of 48 hours. The remain- ing 1075 varied from 49 to 75 hours a week, an average for some of twelve and one-half hours a day on the basis of a six- day week. No statistics were returned from tobacco factories, but managers in this industry state that they do not employ girls who are not living at home as the wages will not sustain a self- supporting girl. The conditions of the work are anything but conducive to the health of those who strip and sort the tobacco leaves. LAUNDRIES. WAGES. The similarity of the standard of wages in factories and laundries is remarkable. We found that (Table VI) 71.2 per cent, of factory employes earn less than $10.00 a week. From Table XIX we see that 72.4 per cent, of laundry workers earn less than $10.00 a week, while 27.6 per cent, are above that standard. 30 State of Washington Table XVIII. WEEKLY WAGE SCHEDULE OF 2,304 FEMALE EMPLOYES IN LAUNDRIES IN WASHINGTON. NUMBER RECEIVING: Under $5 $5 to $5.95 $6 to $6.95 $7 to $7.95 $8 to $8.95 $9 to $9.95 $10.00 or over 31 89 224 560 514 250 636 Number. Total under $10 1,668 Total $10 or over 636 Totals 2,304 Per Cent. 72.4 27.6 100 Eleven workers in the laundries reported receiving less than $4J.OO a week — three of these were minors and eight were adults. Table XVIII gives the wage groups and the number in each of 2,304 workers. Thirty-one earned less than $5.00 a week. These may have been short hour workers but in view of the fact that 12 cents an hour has been the wage for unskilled workers, $5.76 a week would be the most that these girls could earn if they put in a full week, which is not usual. Table XIX shows that 61.5 per cent, are earning less than $8.95 a week or less than $1.50 a day. Table XIX. WEEKLY WAGE SCHEDULE OF 2,304 FEMALE EMPLOYES IN LAUNDRIES IN WASHINGTON. CUMULATIVE TABLE SHOWING PER CENT. RECEIVING: $4.95 or less $5.95 or less $6.95 or less $7.95 or less $8.95 or less $9.95 or less $10.00 or over 1.3 5.2 14.9 39.2 61.5 72.4 27.6 HOURS. The quest ion of hours and irregularity of work are so closely connected with that of wages in the laundering industry that it Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 31 is impossible to discuss the latter without giving some account of the former. Three systems of remuneration are in vogue. The first and oldest is a combination of the piece and time work system ; the second places everything on the piece-work basis, while the third disregards piece-work altogether and puts every employe on a straight time salary by the week. The third system is the one which laundrymen have been contending would ruin their business if it were adopted. Their reason is that the volume of business varies much from week to week ; they cannot be expected to pay for slack seasons which affect them as well as the girls. Another reason is that the piece- work system increases the efficiency of the workers whose earn- ings then depend upon how hard they work. Not much need be said in explanation of those laundries whose work is arranged entirely by piece-work. Computation of wages has been simple in departments such as hand and body ironing where each woman handles as many garments as she is able, or as may be furnished her when work is slack. But in the mangle room where shakers, feeders and folders in team work, handle large and small pieces, where the individual skill required is reduced to a minimum, the problem of paying by the number of pieces handled is somewhat more complicated. This has been taken care of in some laundries by reducing all articles to the towel basis and by establishing a rate of 80 cents for 1,000 towels. One sheet equals 5 towels, a bedspread 20, 1 pillow case 2, etc. Six girls form a crew at each mangle : Two shakers, two feeders, two folders, and they keep account of the day's work. At the end of the day, the amount made by the crew is divided equally among the six girls. On the other hand one manager who recently placed all of his employes on a weekly basis said that he felt certain that the system would be a success. He did not fear a decrease in efficiency of his employes as he thought that a guaranteed wage would make them more interested in their work. It is encourag- ing to see the weekly system of pay adopted by laundrymen 32 State of Washington with years of experience who would not adopt it if they could not make it pay. Table XX. TABLE SHOWING WEEKLY HOURS OF WORK REPORTED BY 2,185 LAUNDRY WORKERS— CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATIONS. I Number of Employes and Per Cent. Working No. of em- Occupa- Less than 33 to 40 41 to 44 45 to 48 tion ployes 32 hours a week hours hours hours No. % No. % 1.07 No. % No 7c Mangle 534 7 1.3 67 53 9.9 407 76.2 Starchers 95 0.0 12 12.6 33 34.7 50 52.6 Markers & Sorters 173 5 2.9 18 10.4 12 6.9 138 79.7 Folders . 24 0.0 6 25. 12 50. 6 25. Ironers .. 571 21 3.7 122 21.4 174 30.5 254 44.5 Sewing & Mending. 19 0.0 5 26.3 3 15.8 11 59.9 Fore- ladies. . 18 0.0 4 22.2 3 16.6 11 61.1 Office . . . 69 0.0 5 7.3 1 1.4 63 91.3 Pressers and Dye Work ... 109 0.0 5 4.6 33 30.3 71 65.1 Miscel. .. 573 22 55 3.8 2.5 124 21.6 17.0 141 24.6 286 1,297 49.9 Totals. . 2,185 368 465 21.0 59.0 The number of hours a week a laundry worker may put in is the final gauge of the amount in the pay envelope. Table XX shows the number of weekly hours of work reported by 2,185 laundry workers classified by occupation. A glance at the table shows us that 2.5 per cent, of the workers put in less than 4 days a week. Of those working less than four days a week the ironers as a single group are greatest in numbers. The last column of Table XX shows that the office employes are the only ones who approximate a full week. Next to them are the markers and sorters, 80 per cent, of whom work between 45 and 48 hours. At present 14 cents is the lowest rate per hour paid in some laundries. On a 48-hour week at 14 cents an hour this should mean that no laundry employe receives less than Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 33 $6.50 a week. Yet (Table XVIII) we find 31 receiving less than $5.00 and 89 receiving less than $6.00 ; 224 are receiving be- tween $6.00 and $7.00 a week, making a total of 444 who are re- ceiving less than $1.00 a day. Hourly rates range as high as 25 cents an hour for skilled hand ironers, one-third of whom, however, work between four and one-half and five days a week and over one-half of whom work less than five and one-half days a week. Out of the entire 2,304 reporting wages, 149 were minors. Of these 2 were working by the piece. Of the remaining 2,155 adults, 131 were piece workers. The rest were paid on the hourly basis. Looking at Table XIX we find that out of over 2,300 work- ers, 72 per cent, or nearly three-fourths are receiving less than $10.00 a week. Thus it is that laundry workers complain with reason when they say that they never know what the pay envelope at the end of the week will bring and would not quarrel with the rate per hour so much if they could be certain of a regular income and be able to plan somewhat on the future. 34 State of Washington Section III. CONDITIONS OF LABOR. Parallel with the evils resulting from underpaid work, are the evils attendant upon insanitary work rooms. Conditions in Washington cannot be described as a whole either as "very good'' or "very bad." There are some establishments in which many devices have been adopted to lessen the difficulties of the work and to make the surroundings pleasant and healthful. Others are indescribably poor and in these comfort and con- venience receive small consideration. There are certain kinds of work which at the best are extremely wearing. Laundry work is one of these. LAUNDRIES. Laundrymen say that the conditions surrounding the work are greatly improved today over those of twenty years ago, but in the majority of the establishments, much may be done to make the work lighter. Some of the evils that are still a part of the work are the excessive heat, clouds of steam, damp at- mosphere, strong odors from disinfectants, lack of good cir- culation, extreme physical exertion needed to run some of the machines, standing on concrete floors and on wet wooden floors and handling clothes in all stages of filth. In this state some laundry buildings have two sides built al- most entirely of windows with exhaust fans so arranged on the opposite side that excellent circulation of air could be estab- lished. In others there were no exhaust fans at all ; in some in- stances ceilings were high, and wall and ceilings were white- washed. Other buildings with low unfinished ceilings were not much better than old shacks. In several cases, the floors of the washroom were concrete, but the remaining sections where the women stood were of wood which is much easier on the feet. In others, the mangle was so near the washing machines, that though the mangle itself and the mangle girls stood on the Report of Industrial Welfare Com/mission -'}"> wood floor, the girls shaking out the articles stood in water on the concrete floor. In some instances where the manager proudly showed the size of his windows and the ease with which they swung up, he had not one asbestos shield on a body ironer, nor one exhaust pipe for steam over the mangle. In other places where the window surface was smaller and the general appearance of the plants shabbier, both asbestos shields with pipes leading from them were on the body ironers, and exhaust shields and pipes gathered the steam from the mangle. The shield mentioned is a concave piece of asbestos bound with zinc or tin and raised slightly above the large gas heated roll used for ironing the body of the shirt. A padded roll is con- nected below the heated roll over which the ironer bends when at work. A lever worked by foot brings the two rolls together and releases them. Besides having to bear the heat pouring into her face, the working of this lever is a difficult task for a woman. Some managers have adopted the asbestos shield but have not added the extra pipe which leads the heat out above the girls' head. A number of women working on shielded machines were asked whether they had ever worked, on body ironers which had no asbestos shields and whether they noticed the difference in heat. In every case the women said that there was a very great difference. Several laundrymen were asked about the price of these shields; in no instance was the estimate higher than $2.50 each. Shaking, though it has no accompaniments of heat or steam is one of the hardest though most unskilled departments of laundry work. It seemed to the investigator in several in- stances that but little thought was given by some managements to the arrangement of machinery so that, the warmest work might be nearest the light and air. In discussing this question with laundrymen, the fact came out that machinery is usually arranged so that the least amount of time can be lost in the transit of goods from one stage of laundering to another. Toilet, conditions in some establishments were very good while in others they were very bad. Some firms have only one toilet on a floor for both men and women employes. One of 36 State of Washington these was so placed that the women had to pass the men to reach it. Sanitary drinking fountains in the center of the room within easy reach of all employes was a very commendable feature in one plant. In another, on one floor the employes had to draw the water from a spoutless pipe that hung over a barrel in the engine room. This plant uses peanut shells for fuel, and the water pipe was well decorated with them. Here, as in several other plants, the manager stated that he was putting in improvements. One does not wish to express doubt of the good intentions of these men, but very little excuse can be made for the presence of intolerable sanitary conditions. In some cases, much care was shown in the provision of dressing and cloak rooms. In others shoes had to be changed in the little box of a toilet, and left there. Hats and coats were in heaps in other parts of the room. Some firms with 40 or 50 em- ployes on two floors, had provided only one dressing room for both groups. Invariably the employes on the floor which had no dressing room, had made other, poorer arrangements for dis- posal of clothes. Dressing in the one room, a floor removed from their work, meant loss of time, confusion and dela} r and not without reason did they refuse to do it. Very few laundries furnished accommodation for eating lunches. In some cases dressing rooms had stools and occasionally a gas stove for mak- ing coffee. Undoubtedly the Japanese laundries are a source of much trouble to white laundry men. In nearly every case the Japs employ women of their own race who can "no savvy" as much as the men when they wish. A plan common to the Japanese laun- drymen is that of community dining room and sleeping quarters over the laundry. One long room with oil cloth covered tables, sufficiently long to accommodate all of the Jap help, serves as both kitchen and dining room. An hour, they say, is taken for lunch. On the same floor are the sleeping quarters. In several instances, these consisted of separate rooms on two sides of a long hall. In one instance the hall opened into a curtain- less dormitorv with accommodations for seven men. Off the hall Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 37 were four or five bedrooms for the women and married members of the crew. One toilet served all. In one laundry visited where 5 white women were employed, the only toilet in the building was the one upstairs in the Japs' quarters. Some of the women said they never went up there. The interesting part of the interviews with the white women employed in these places was the unanimous statement that they preferred to work for the Japanese. All were being paid straight time by the week ; in one place, one woman said that sometimes they had only 2 hours work a day, yet they were paid just the same. Every morning and afternoon a lunch is served them at the Japs' expense. Furthermore, women here and in another laundry said, they never received an insult from these men and were not afraid to be alone with them as they had had occasion to be when working with white men. The complaint is often made by girls in "white" laundries that they must put up with much that is coarse in language and familiar handling from the men employes if they are to hold their posi- tions. This is not the fact in every case, but so frequently is the complaint made that one cannot disregard it altogether. FACTORIES. Factories and laundries in the three largest cities of Wash- ington are found in the heart of the business district and in the outskirts. In Seattle, a custom exists, common on the east- ern coast, of placing factories in "lofts," the upper stories of business buildings. Tacoma has a group of different industries situated near together in one end of the city. Spokane manu- facturers seem to prefer the separate roof. In the last named city many of the factories are within ten minutes' walk of the business section. The housing and location of the plants with reference to center or suburb of the city is mentioned because on these two characteristics depend much that pertains to the welfare of the workers. A loft factory is much more likely, unless it is in a corner building to be dark and poorly ventilated than is a 38 State of Washington detached building. Two loft buildings which were visited were corner buildings and were well lighted and airy. Pleasures and hardships of work vary with the industry. Some kinds of work which require but little physical exertion, drain heavily on the nerves. Others which are neither physically nor nervously severe are monotonous to a wearisome degree. Some work which is clean, permits clean surroundings ; other lines which are dirty, degrade a worker visibly. Shoe and glove sewing, garment making and textile weaving are lines of work which are clean in themselves and which require an accurate eye, quick hand and ability to concentrate. In the sewing trades, nervous diseases follow long years of alert attention to the high speeded machines. The noise of the weaving machines in the textile factories has the same result. Sometimes this does not appear until the worker is suddenly forced to leave the trade, for the high tension under which she works serves as a stimulant. Sanitary conditions in needle trades in the state with the exception of one or two plants are excellent. In one of these establishments was seen the only couch found in the entire in- vestigation of factories and laundries. This same establish- ment was immaculately clean, had two clean toilets, well screened off from the work room, an excellent, orderly dressing room, well provided with books, six wash bowls and six linen towels which are changed every day, and a neatly arranged gas plate for making tea and coffee. The dressing room had been a read- ing room formerly but with increase of workers had to be used for the other purpose. The forelady said, however, that a new reading room would be the next improvement. Contrasted with this was a second plant where the depart- ments were scattered over two large floor spaces, with the light coming from the front of the building only. In the rear, a large air-tight stove without any fire served apparently to heat the place. It seemed too far from the power machines to do the workers any good even if the fire were burning. A good sized dressing room was in the rear also, but the place was not tidy; there were two toilets; one needed repair badly. A freight Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 39 elevator did some service as a passenger lift. Around this a stairway wound from the first to the second floor, which would be a greater menace than it would be assistance, in case of fire. The stair passage was so narrow that not more than one person could thread it at a time and the steps were so narrow that one unaccustomed to them, walked cautiously. Candy factories in Washington offer extremes of convenience and comfort. Cracker and cooky packers have the hardest work of women employes for the reason that their work is all done standing and in close connection with the ovens. Several plants had the cracker packing departments on the floor above the ovens with good air space surrounding the workers. The trolley conveying the crackers from the ovens to the girls leaves an open space in the floor which serves as an escape for much of the heat from the ovens below. Girls at the farther end of the trolley feel very little of the hot waves, but those near it have much to endure, especially in the summer time. Some plants have a system of changing the girls' positions, not to avoid the heat, but to give all an equal chance at packing. Others have a system of promotion whereby the latest comer stands at the foot of the conveyor farthest from the heat ; this gives the older employe the best chance to get the crackers as the full trays come up but keeps her always near the heat. The girl at the foot has a promotion toward more crackers, hence more wages and also more heat as the girls above leave the plant. One plant, installed in an old building has its packing depart- ment on the first floor, and in the same, close room with the ovens. Windows on one side were very close to the adjoining building. The remaining two sides were solid wall. There was no chance at all for a draft unless the narrow door leading into an outer hall behind the offices, were left open. Even then, the draw would be so indirect that but little relief could come from it. Exhaust shields and fans extended beyond the ovens, so that gases and heat could be carried off, but nevertheless the room was uncomfortably warm. The upper floors had good light at the front and one side of the building; but the whole 40 State of Washington effect was gloomy. The manager appeared to be doing his best to keep the place comfortable and clean. He said that numberless efforts had been made to whitewash or paint the walls and ceiljng white but that the grease soaked beams would not hold a coating of any kind. The building is an old one, had been designed for a store, and never should have been used for its present purpose. Separate toilets are maintained for women on alternate floors. Candy factories are hard to keep clean but one may expect that they will not be models of neatness when the girls are re- quired to do the scrubbing toward the end of a day's work. In most establishments this duty falls to the men who are more able to handle the heavy brooms and mojps and to apply needed masculine energy to the sugar covered floors. It appears, how- ever, that where a large number of men are not employed, the saving in janitor cost through the labor of the girls compen- sates for a reputation of uncleanliness. Some factories also continue to furnish only one toilet for both sexes. In one plant, where women are working in the basement, the toilet opens into the work room. Neither is there any heat here. The one toilet on the floor above was dirty. A little wood stove is supposed to do the work of a heating plant. On the day the visit was made in midwinter, the visitor could place her hand flat on it without injury. Coats and hats were piled in heaps on a window sill in lieu of other arrangement. It is worth remarking that employers who con- duct their business with the poorest of equipment, in uncleanly fashion and with least consideration for their employes are the ones who protest loudest against minimum wages, short hours or any other sort of regulation which is forced upon the well intentioned by just such types of men as they are. One plant visited was undergoing many improvements, such as new equipment in the way of tin covered tables (more easily cleaned than wooden ones), fresh white paint throughout on shelves and walls, exhaust shields and pipes over cooking kettles, etc. Here, too, were found large dressing rooms for employes and cold Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 41 storage pipes running through the chocolate dipping room for summer use. In one other factory one girl reported that last summer she dipped chocolates at night from 10 P. M. to 6:30 A. M. Another plant furnishes uniform caps and aprons for all of its employes. A clean garment is given out every week. The effect is most attractive. As the smell of sugar in candy factories is sickening to many employes until they become accustomed to it, so in a different way is the odor of glue in paper box factories nauseat- ing. Improvements are being made constantly, both in equip- ment and materials, which it is hoped will eventually lessen the disagreeable features. One plant with its women workers con- fined to one large floor had windows on two sides of the build- ing, one side of which faced the bay. Here, by means of a grate like arrangement, the glue pots were raised so that the worker's face was not as directly over the pot as when the latter is sunk into the work table. The work tables were arranged around the outside walls of the room where the girls obtained full benefit of the light and air. The toilet arrangements were good and located in an inconspicuous corner of the room. A second establishment visited has the advantage of being a new building built for factory purposes. Such being the case, one expects to find good space arrangement, light and air. One cannot commend, however, the placing of the toilet in the center of the wall in full view of an entire work room. During; a quiet season, when only a few girls are employed, conditions are not so bad. During the busy season when both sexes work on one floor, some girls would run the risk of injuring their health rather than make use of such facilities. This is true not only of those in this industry but of many others thrust through thoughtlessness into a similar condition. In every establishment visited, special care was taken to note how many and what kind of stools were provided. In some cases where stools could very rarely be used at work, none at all were in sight. In others one. stood near each girl. If the in- dustry was such that a number of empty boxes was on hand, no 12 State of Washington stools at all were provided. In laundries, the folders at the mangles are the only employes, besides seamstresses, who sit at their work. In summing up conditions of labor it is but fair to say that as all of the factories and laundries in the state were not visited, pictures presented above may have omitted some of the fairest working conditions, but also they may have missed some of the worst. The investigator "heard" of other unfavor- able conditions but described only those which she had had an opportunity to see. Of these, the most crying needs are for separate toilets, adequate dressing and lunch rooms, decent drinking water facilities, warm work rooms, stools wherever possible with permission to use them, and janitor service when the establishment lacks male employes to do this heavy work. MERCANTL1E STORES. The general public which can see nearly every nook and corner of a department store may think that is has a thorough knowledge of the conditions of labor of the saleswomen. A number of conditions which the shopping population does see, however, probably never arouse a second thought as to whether that particular state of affairs makes life easier or more difficult for the smiling young lady behind the counter. The reputed colder climate in winter of the eastern section of the state brings forth a provision which is omitted in the mild, damper, but equally uncomfortable western section. This is the provision of a vestibule permanent, or temporary through storm doors, and of heat in the vestibule. Shoppers in a store all afternoon become heated and tired and on leaving the store, exclaim over the lovely fresh air as it comes rushing in through the swinging doors, wholly unmindful meanwhile of the clerks who receive the full force of the cold blast all day long. Some of the stores in the western section of the state have vesti- bules, but a number of others have not. Arrangement of counters has much to do toward increasing or lightening the work of the clerk. Time did not permit inves- tigation to learn how many stores had spaces behind counters uncomfortablv narrow, or stock shelves so narrow that bolts pro- Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 43 jected in the way of the clerk, nor of systems of cashiering and wrapping which expedited sales to the benefit of both customer and clerk. Nor could time be given to an inquiry into the differ- ent systems of ventilation to determine how often the air in base- ments, usually the most poorly ventilated section, was changed, nor to what extent balconies infringed on the air space of the first floor. Two conditions easily noted were taken into account. One was the arrangement of aisle counters generally used for bargains, the other the provision of stools. Many stores have simply the straight counter for the display of special attrac- tions. If a big sale is on, the clerks have not only the work of serving the extra crowd of shoppers, each eager to be first and get the best bargain, but in addition she must stand the annoy- ance of being pushed, shoved and knocked this way and that because the only way in which she can tend to her counter is to stand at it in the thick of the crowd. Clerks despise the straight aisle counters and once removed from them will do anything even to giving up their positions rather than go back to them. An arrangement which serves equally well for display, gives greater comfort to the saleswomen and should permit her to make sales faster, is the hollow square counter, from the hollow of which she can survey all buyers by a turn of her head. Stores in Washington have both types with the straight aisle counter in use in the majority of cases. In one store only was the visitor unable to find stools behind the counters. But in all of the others once only did she see one clerk making use of a stool when she was not busy. In the others she saw clerks not busy but standing at attention. Com- pliance with the letter of the law has not meant compliance with the spirit always ; some of the employes report that though the stools are there, they would not risk the displeasure of their superiors and the loss of their positions by sitting down during dull business hours. It is unfortunate that well meaning managers do not always realize fully the character of some of the men employed as 44 State of Washington floormen or heads of departments. A commendable rule which exists in all stores is that all clerks must ask permission when they wish to leave the floor. The hardship comes when a coarse man who is in charge of a department must be asked for all permissions. Reliable accounts of veiled insults are heard from time to time but during this investigation one such story well authenticated came to the investigator's ears which surpasses any other for plain brutality and indecency of feeling. It would be printed here if it were not too indelicate. It will be a happy change when the responsibility for a clerk's presence in a depart- ment can be placed on another woman clerk's shoulders, but meanwhile it is a shame that clean minded, refined girls should be subjected to such humiliations. WELFARE WORK. An activity becoming more prominent year by year in mercantile stores is that known as welfare work. It usually covers all efforts, over and above the absolutely necessary pro- visions for the conduct of its business, which the firm makes for the promotion of the comfort of its women employes. Wel- fare work frequently means that a woman secretary is employed who devotes all of her time to becoming acquainted with the women employes, their home surroundings and personal strug- gles, their characters, good and poor points as saleswomen, and who is prepared to advise or assist them in any way that may be required. An employes' lunch room and rest room or hospital for emergency illness is considered part of the welfare work and of these, the secretary has charge. Occasionally the duty of instructing the new clerks in the rules of the house and of reminding the older ones falls to her lot. All of the large department stores employ a matron for the women's lunch and rest room. In three stores a welfare secre- tary also is employed. A space to eat lunch is provided in every instance but in addition to this some stores furnish warm drinks free of cost or at reduced rates and others maintain a cafeteria for the use of the women employes only. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 4<5 VACATION WITH PAY AND NIGHT WORK. One week's vacation with pay is given in one instance after six months' service and two weeks vacation after one year's serv- ice. This arrangement is the most generous one known. Other stores give no vacations at all except at the employes' expense ; others, one week after one year's and still others one week after two years' service. Two stores allow one week's wages for ill- ness during the year. This would be paid in a single sum if the employe were ill a week at a time. It is made up in another way if necessary by not docking an employe for a day's absence at different times on account of ill health. A strong movement is on foot in the three largest cities to close all of the department stores Saturday evenings after 6 P. M. by voluntary agree- ment. Seattle is ahead of both Tacoma and Spokane in this respect. In that city two stores have been closed at 6 P. M. for a number of years, Christmas holidays not excepted. Two others have followed suit since the first of the year. In Spokane several stores have agreed to close Saturday evening if all will. To date no concerted action has been taken. All 5, 10 and 15 cent stores are open Saturday evenings. In the small towns closing Saturday evenings before ten o'clock is practically unheard of. The almost universal requirement of a black waist in winter and black or white in summer with a dark skirt at all times is to be commended for several reasons. It gives the employes a standard to follow, it assists them to be economical in cost in dress and to save on laundry. It diverts the mind of the clerk from the question of dress at the same time that it assures her a neat and attractive appearance. 5, 10 AND 15 CENT STORES. The chief condition calling for remark here is the miserable sanitary accommodations provided for employes in some of the 5, 10 and 15 cent stores. Patrons are advisedlv warned to "Keep Out." Could they see the location and condition of toilets, we think that even the most indifferent would protest. 46 State of Washington Toilets in stores visited were in the basement, dark and chilly ; one small corner had been partitioned off with ceiling board in one instance to form a dressing room and toilet. In an- other instance just the toilet and no dressing room was at the foot of the two-flight staircase. Whitewashed walls relieved the gloom slightly but gave no suggestion of regard for employes comfort. The outside surroundings were not even clean. Not much respect or loyalty can be engendered in the hearts of em- ployes when they see their firm showing such utter indifference to their welfare as does this case. In no instance either was more than one toilet for the entire force of girls seen. One 5, 10 and 15 cent store in the state is an exception to this description, but this was an independent store, and not one of a chain of stores. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 47 Section IV. COST AND STANDARDS OF LIVING. In discussing the cost and the standards of living several facts must be borne in mind. One is that standards of living vary with climate, nationality and customs peculiar to localities, and also with individual tastes and dispositions. The standards of living will vary directly as do the wages. Despite the variety in the standards of living of persons in one locality there are certain requirements which can be described, without which we can safely assert that a woman is not maintaining herself in decent and healthful subsistence. These requirements are three full meals a day, comfortable and respectable lodging, clean and sufficient clothing, some provision for recreation and amuse- ment, and a little surplus to put aside against future needs. For all of these requirements there is a minimum cost. For. example, cotton handkerchiefs ordinarily cost five cents each. Once or twice a year they may be on sale at six or eight for a quarter, but the average girl employed all day rarely has time to follow the sales, so five cents is a safe minimum for this article of clothing. Yet by an unwritten rule, linen is a mark of refine- ment, and we can scarcely call ten cents for a handkerchief an extravagant outlay on the part of a self-supporting woman. To define a "square" meal may be more difficult than to fix the cost of clothes ; but one can say what diet is not a full meal ; moreover girls who have a slice of bread and a cup of tea for rations twice a day with a dinner that must be confined to twenty cents are not maintaining themselves "in health." Out of the blanks forwarded by women employes, only those were tabulated which showed care and common sense in the estimates. This selection eliminated those which exceeded $700 a year and which fell below $300 a year. In order that the claim might not be made that these were unreliable because sub- mitted from a distance and without investigation of the sender, 27 self-supporting women employed in mercantile work were 48 State of Washington visited personally and the object of filling the blanks out ex- plained to them. The average of these 27 is presented in Table XXVIII as picturing the situation accurately. BOARD AND ROOM. Three methods were followed in determining the cost of room and board. (1) From answers to advertisements inserted in daily papers asking for room and board for a self supporting woman. (2) From estimates of women wage earners. (3) By personal inspection of rooms, housekeeping and "single" and of homes offering room and board. Table XXI. ROOM AND BOARD OFFERED IN RESPONSE TO ADVERTISERS BY PERSONS IN VARIOUS CITIES IN WASHINGTON. No. Average Au- Offered. nual Cost. Within walking distance. . . 40 $273.87 Outside walking distance.. 46 267.78 Totals 86 $270.82 Table XXI gives the cost of room and board as offered in 86 answers to advertisements. 40 were within walking distance, 46 outside of walking distance. The average annual cost of those within walking distance was $273.87 or $22.82 a month. Outside of walking distance we expect to find accommodations somewhat cheaper due to the added cost of carfare. We find the 46 averaging $267.78 a year or $22.18 a month, a difference of 64 cents a month, but not great enough to supply the carfare. This gives no support to the theory that if a girl will go far enough out she can find a comfortable, home-like room at a reduced rate which will compensate her for the added carfare cost. Sometimes this is true. While comfortable, clean, at- tractive rooms within walking distance are expensive, equally comfortable rooms are likewise expensive outside of walking distance. One pays for accommodations wherever one finds them. The householder in the suburbs realizes the advantages of her rooms over the city and often charges accordingly. Cheap rooms were seen within ten minutes" walking; distance of the Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 49 heart of the business district in large cities but they were such rooms as would drive a girl to the sidewalk and the stars, the chance acquaintance and the cheap moving picture show. Cheap rooms in the suburbs were seen also, but with them often goes the request for companionship, assistance with work or some similar service which should be added to the cost. An item which is sometimes lost sight of in determining cost of room is that of heat. A room is offered with many attractions : sun- light, cleanliness, attractive furnishings, well kept locality, low rent ; but when the visitor has finished sounding the praises of the offer she discovers that the room is heated by gas with a quarter meter or an air tight stove will be put up — if she needs it. She must furnish her wood, or if a coal oil stove is installed, she must furnish the oil (and if the stove is an old one, must bear with the fumes). An example from the investigator's experiences will illus- trate: One landlord before showing any rooms scrutinized the visitor closely, inquired after her trade and very plainly asked her morals. On being reassured that she could furnish references and desired no less than he to live in a respectable house he showed her his rooms. All were clean but bare and unattractive. One at $1.75 a week had a gas stove in it but the tenant must furnish her own gas. One at $1.50 a week had no heat in it. To the visitor's suggestion that this might be a little chilly, the respectable housekeeper replied that one did not need heat especially if one were in her room only night and morning. The investigator urged that if one were to sit in her room evenings, especially during the damp, rainy weather, one would find it rather chilly. The landlord said, " Perhaps so, but then most people are out in the evenings." He was typical of some others, admirable for their morals but ready to censure a girl if she were not willing to freeze to keep respectable. None of the cheap rooms visited were picked out with malice prepense. The visitor was delighted to find well heated, light rooms in private homes as well as the cheap, dingy ones, but the conclusion was forced upon her that to obtain decent, clean 50 State of Washington rooms in the larger cities, $10.00 a month at the very least is required; to obtain comfortable, attractive ones $12.00 and more a month is necessary. It has been said that a girl may save if she rents a house- keeping room at a slightly higher cost but cooks her own meals, the saving to be made on the grocery bill. This suggestion has been adopted by many girls at the expense of their physical energy. For with a housekeeping room a girl may eat just enough "to keep her going" and no one be the wiser, this because she cannot afford two full meals at home and a lunch away every day. Or another reason which enables her to save is that at the end of the day she may find herself too tired to cook her own meals. As a consequence she nibbles at cold food until the feeling of hunger is satisfied; then she goes out for some amusement or to her sleep half fed. During the investigation two girls were found who had not had a warm meal for a week. Another solution of the room rent question adopted by many girls is that of rooming together. This is a plan which cannot be universally condemned. Like many another plan, it can be worked out under pleasant, healthful conditions, but frequently it means that to save expenses a room with a bed large enough for one girl will be adapted to two or even three. Disorder of room, of sleep and distemper of mind and body result. Such a condition was found where one room with one bed was oc- cupied by four girls, two of whom took turns sleeping on the floor at night while the other two occupied the bed. During the investigation statistics were collected to see whether the low wages bore any relation to the number of room- rates. The returns showed very little. If there was a difference it tended to show that the more poorly paid girls took in room- mates more frequently but the better paid girl roomed with another in so many instances that it was almost impossible to draw any useful inference. A fact worth noting is that standards of decent subsistence vary with the occupation. We find that mercantile store and Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 51 office employes pay more per year than do factory and laundry employes. Table XXII. AVERAGE AMOUNT SPENT ANNUALLY ON ROOM AND BOARD BY 341 WAGE EARNING WOMEN IN WASHINGTON LIVING ADRIFT AND CLASSIFIED BY INDUSTRIES. Industry Mercantile Factory . . Laundry . Employers Number Report- ing on Room 162 49 130 138 Annual Room Rent $119.60 113.36 109.20 $86.77 Number Report- ing on Board 105 35 89 138 Annual Cost of Board $192.40 169.00 171.60 $191.61 Total $312.00 282.36 280.80 $278.38 Table XXII gives the average annual cost of room and board for wage earning women adrift in Washington. 162 mer- cantile employes average $119.60 a year for room rent. Board costs 105, $192.40 a year. The total of the average for a year is $312.00. Factory employes live in cheaper rooms than the department store girls — 49 of the former average $113.36 a year for room and 35 average $169.00 for board. $14.09 is the cost of board per month or 46 cents per day, an average of 15 cents for each meal. If the woman takes her meals in a restaurant this means scanty provision. If she were so placed that she could plan her own meals, buy quantities of staple foods ahead and cook her own meals, she might be able to exist on this allowance. In any case it scarcely furnishes sufficient nourishment on which to perform a hard day's work. Laundry employes require less than factor}^ employes for room, $109.20 a year, but slightly more a year for board, $171.60. The total $280.80 falls a little below the total of the factory employes which is $282.36. The annual cost of room and board as estimated by 138 employers averaged $278.38. Although not so stated, these estimates probablv cover the cost of two meals only as but few private boarding houses serve 52 State of Washington the noonday lunch. If we allow 15 cents a working day for lunch the cost of room and board is raised $3.90 a month and $45.00 a year. ROOMS INVESTIGATED. (Answers were received to advertisements but only those which were investigated are described here.) SEATTLE. 1. Ten minutes walk from town, 2 rooms, one upstairs, 1 down, each $2,25 a week, both housekeeping; old house; down- stairs room dingy, one strip of carpet, one strip of matting, sanitary couch ; room heated by coal oil stove ; pay for own oil for heating and furnish gas for cooking. Room upstairs heated by tiny coal stove; three-quarter bed, supposed to be rented for two. With two in room would cost $2.50 a week. The walls were cracked. . The furniture was old, the room ragged in as- pect, stove rusty ; furnish own coal. Upstairs water for cook- ing, etc., obtained from faucet in hall but downstairs from bath tub faucet. 2. Walking distance, no bath ; visitor was informed that toilet was in yard but was not given opportunity to see it ; housekeeping rooms $1.75, $2 a week and up. 3. Attractive flat exteriorly ; 1 front room upstairs, small and dirty ; bath room and toilet formed part of hallway opening between kitchen and bed room ; bath screened merely by por- tiere which did not extend clear across ; woman not particular about tenants ; room $2.50 a week, heated by gas, electric lights ; place generally of untidy appearance. 4. Room in same neighborhood as 1, 2 and 3; steam heated, upstairs very clean, clean bath, electric lights, no clothes closet in room, $3.50 a week ; 1 front room same house, well- kept and attractive room. At time of visit about to be vacated by young man; atmosphere of room reeking with tobacco; $3.00 a week. 5. One room, upstairs, front, $1.50 per week; no heat, stove in room; must furnish own fuel; out quite a distance. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 53 6. One room in frame house, $10 per month; no board; heat, stove in room ; will allow one bath a week ; landlady sick ; within walking distance. 7. One room, $1.50 per week; no heat; beyond walking dis- tance. 8. Two rooms, $2.50 and $4.00 per week ; no board ; heated by furnace ; bath ; larger room big enough for two ; within walk- ing distance. 9. One room, modern house, $12.50 per month; would give breakfast at 25 cents per meal ; beyond walking distance. 10. One large front room, $10 per month; double windows, small stove, but uncertain whether fuel included ; good location, beyond walking distance. . 11. One room, nice home, $10.00 per month; widow and sister living alone ; would be treated as one of family ; on three car lines ; 30 minutes walk from town. 12. One room, $10.00 per month; heated from stove in ad- joining room; beyond walking distance, 15 minutes car ride from business center. BELLINGHAM— (Rooms Only). 13. One front room "very cheap;" $8.00 or $9.00 per month ; use of parlor. 14. One room, has always rented for $15.00 per month, but will take $10.00 per month for permanent roomer ; board obtain- able next door at $4.50 per week for two meals ; wood heater in room; bath; 10 minutes walking distance from business center. 15. One small upstairs room, $3.00 per week; steam heat, bath ; use of piano ; within walking distance. 16. Three or four rooms, $10.00 per month each; room and board, $5.00 per week; same rate if two in a room; steam heat, bath; use of piano, parlor and laundry facilities; 10 min- utes walking distance from business center. 17. One room, $10.00 per month, extra charge for wood ; no use of parlor or piano ; 20 minutes walk from business center. 18. One room, $10.00 per month; steam heat; may use parlor occasionally ; 5 minutes walk from business center. 54 State of Washington 19. Three rooms, $2.00 per week each; small, no heat; bath ; use of parlor and piano ; 20 minutes walk from business center. 20. Two small housekeeping rooms, upstairs, $4.50 per week for both ; small heater and gas stove ; wood and gas fur- nished ; care for own rooms ; no bath or toilet ; parlor and piano may be used at any time ; "homelike" ; 5 minutes walk from busi- ness center. 21. Two rooms, $9.00 and $8.00 per month; well furnished and convenient ; gas, bath ; use of parlor, no piano ; board in next block at $4.50 per week. 22. One room, $10.00 per month; well furnished; furnace heat, bath; board two doors away at $4.50 per week for two meals ; 10 minutes walk from business center. 23. One room, $10.00 per month for one, $9.00 per month each for two ; furnace heat ; "use of bath if careful" ; "cannot use parlor or piano" ; 15 minutes walk from business center. 24. One room, $8.00 per month; with two meals, $18.00 per month, room unheated ; bath ; use of living room, parlor, piano, etc. ; on good car line, 35 minutes walk from business center. SPOKANE. 25. $25.00 per month ; bath ; beyond walking distance. 26. $6.50 per week ; small room ; heat ; bath ; use of piano, etc. 27. Wants someone for company; $12.00 per month; roomer must sleep on couch when husband of landlady is at home. 28. If not a hearty eater, room and breakfast for $3.00 per week ; will allow one bath per week ; room poorly furnished ; beyond walking distance. 29. "Lone woman" wishes to share room and expenses. 30. Two meals, $20.00 per month ; walking distance. BELLINGHAM— (Board and Room). 31. Two meals, $3.50 per week; room poorly furnished with one small window; kerosene lamps; no bath or toilet; room Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 55 heated by chimney from down stairs ; no carpet in room ; rather noisy ; no piano ; 20 minutes walk from business center. 32. Two meals, $5.00 per week; with two sharing room, $4.00 per week each; stove in room, bath; use of parlor, no piano ; "very dark stairway leading to room" ; 10 minutes walk to business center. TACOMA— (All Walking Distance). 1. One front room for one or two, $4.00 a week, first floor, very clean. One rear room, $2.50 per week, third floor, wall paper torn. Hot water heat in this building. No toilet on the third floor. 2. One front room, $3.00 per week, pleasant and clean ; separate toilets for men and women. 3. One room, $1.75 per week, heated with gas stove. Ten- ant furnishes gas. Room arranged for housekeeping. One rooni, $1.50 per week, no heat of any kind provided. Landlady here very particular about the character of tenants. 1. Two housekeeping rooms, very clean, $2.75 per week. Furnish own gas for cooking and wood for stove. This lady had two floors and arranged it so that all of the men tenants were on one floor. 5. One housekeeping room, $3.50 per week, ragged carpet, dirty walls, toilet clean. 6. One single room, third floor, sanitary couch, one gas plate, cheap furnishings, $3.00 per week. CLOTHING AND LAUNDRY. Two conditions exist which influence the cost of clothing; of the woman in the business world. One is her occupation, the other is the amount she has on hand to spend. The nature of her work affects the cost in three ways: (a) what the position demands from her in appearances, (b) the measure of its wear and tear on her clothes, (c) the degree of physical wear that it requires of the worker. 56 State of Washington (a) Undoubtedly, mercantile or any other work which places a woman before the public requires that she dress pleas- ingly in up-to-date clothes. In manufacturing and laundering establishments, where workers do not meet the patrons at all, hand-me-down, soiled and worn garments are possible. (b) The nature of the work will affect in great measure the length of wear which a woman may get from her clothes. Fac- tory employes who use only their hands, stenographers, mani- curists, telephone operators, will not have the shoe bill of laun- dry women who must stand and work at foot pedal machines and who, in some cases, stand on wet floors ; of employes in manu- facturing plants whose shoes are exposed to spattering dirt, or of clerks and errand girls in department stores, who are on their feet all day. The heat and perspiration unavoidably con- nected with some lines of work hastens the end of the usefulness of clothes. (c) The physical wear of an employe's work lessens her ability to plan her clothes, make them herself and keep them mended. Several employers submitting cost of living blanks, remarked that girls should do their own laundry and make their own clothes, "since they have the eight hour day." The fact that a girl -has the times does not necessarily mean that after a hard day's confining labor, she has the energy, however much she desired it, to start a second eight hours of domestic work. The final cost of clothing depends a great deal on how much a girl has to spend for an article at the time she needs it. So- called "sample" houses and installment-plan clothing houses probably could not exist at all if self-supporting women were earning a living wage. For lack of funds the girl adrift espe- cially buys the lowest priced article she can find. The flimsy, lace-trimmed, waists for which they are so often condemned are worn less from choice than because they can afford noth- ing better. Cheap suits are another expensive necessity. Pass- ing for wool, but composed largely of cotton, they have not the warmth nor the weather-resisting qualities which a better suit has. Moreover, they are poorly made, with weak thread, Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 57 crooked seams, but with attractive coat linings, which are soon worn to shreds. What is true of suits and waists is true of every other article of wear. Underwear for 30 cents a suit, stockings for 10 cents a pair, shoes $1, underskirt 59 cents, corset 79 cents, suit $6.98, waist 69 cents, hat $1.50, gloves 25 cents, handkerchiefs 5 cents — $11.25 for the outfit! but the woman who can thus dress herself and feel entirely content with her condition is not the woman whom employers care to place on their payroll. Cheap clothes in the true sense of the word are expensive, but for lack of money at the proper time this is an expense which many a wage-earner must unwillingly assume. The proposition is the same when it is worked out with a credit- clothing house. The cost of the article in the end is much higher but the quality no better. "It's awful," one girl said, who was attempting to get started by this means. "You never get through paying and you haven't anything when you're done." Table XXIII. AVERAGE ANNUAL AMOUNT ESTIMATED AS REASONABLE MINIMUM EXPENDITURE FOR CLOTHING BY 112 GIRLS CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. Occupation Mercantile Factory Laundry Miscellaneous Office, Telephone, etc Employers No. 51 15 14 32 138 Estimated Annual Expenditure Clothing $139.16 126.48 144.08 150.35 $118.17 Laundry $21.29 19.14 20.18 16.62 $21.60 Table XXIII represents the annual cost of clothing for self- supporting women in Washington as estimated by 112 girls, classified by occupation. Girls in mercantile stores have the advantage over women in all other occupations. They usually receive a discount on pur- chases made in the store and some firms even offer discounts to 58 State of Washington clerks coming from other stores. A woman in a store is given some time off for "house shopping ;" then too, they are on the ground when reductions in price are made and are able to buy good things at a saving; whereas women in other occupations, with their limited time for shopping, are not able to be on hand for bargains, nor are they always able to investigate shops until they have found where they may make their purchases at the greatest saving. Even with these advantages we find the mer- cantile store girl's clothing averages $139.16 a year. If we allow the 10 per cent, discount this sum is increased to $154.60 a year. Factory employes, on the other hand, spend on an average of only $126.48 a year, while laundry employes total $144.08. This increase above the factory employes may be due to the greater wear and tear on the laundry employes' clothing which their work entails. The average annual amount allowed by one hundred and thirty-eight employers, who reviewed the clothing question, was $118.17. Annual laundry costs are put on the clothing schedule as the former item must always be taken into consideration when buying clothing. Table XXIII shows that mercantile store em- ployes spend on an average of $21.29 a year. This exceeds the cost of both laundry and factory employes as do other expenses of saleswomen which have a direct bearing on their work. CHURCH AND ASSOCIATION DUES. Table No. XXIV shows the annual amount estimated as necessary for church and association dues by 112 girls, classified by industry. Mercantile store employes expend the least, fac- tory workers the most, for lodge, clubs and church affiliations. The least amount is slightly less than $1 a month for mercan- tile women, the largest about $1.35 a month for factory em- ployes. No record is made here of the amounts estimated for in- surance for the reason that too few were given to be of much value. Out of the 27 reports from mercantile clerks of actual expenditures, 12 who reported on insurance, average $12.79 Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 59 for the year. The highest individual estimates here for the year were $27.50, the lowest, $5.20. We are not surprised at the lack of records on insurance premiums. The vast majority of self-supporting girls today find it too difficult to make ends meet to be able to put away enough for a decent burial. They are glad to be able to keep life together and to this end spend what money they do save as in- surance on hospital and sick benefit associations. And our fig- ures show that less than half are able to do even that. Table XXIV. AVERAGE ANNUAL AMOUNT ESTIMATED AS REASONABLE MINIMUM EXPENDITURE FOR CHURCH AND ASSOCIATION DUES BY 112 GIRLS CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. Occupation. No. Amount. Mercantile 51 $11.58 Factory 15 16.40 Laundry 14 13.69 Miscellaneous (Office and Telephone, etc.) 32 10.78 Employers 138 $12.79 One employer who submitted an estimate on the cost of living, gave no amount for church dues, stating as his reason that he did not believe "in taking church money from a working girl." The question is to be looked at not so much from the point of view of the "church taking" as from the ability of the girl to give. If a young woman is a church member she takes pleasure in her church affiliation and receives more mental and moral courage from this association than from any other she forms. Possibly she realizes that there is a physical rest also to be had from relaxation of spirit. Granting that she actually feels that she is deriving benefits from her affilia- tion, she should not be denied the right w T ith others better placed financially, to assist in the support of the organization. It is a right which the self-respecting church-goer does not wish taken away from her any more than the right to employ her own physician rather than the charity doctor. 60 State of W ashington MAGAZINES AND STATIONERY. Table XXV. AVERAGE ANNUAL AMOUNT ESTIMATED AS REASONABLE MIN- IMUM EXPENDITURE FOR MAGAZINES AND STATIONERY BY 112 GIRLS CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. Occupation. No. Amount. Mercantile . 51 $7.48 Factory 15 7.09 Laundry 14 8.43 Miscellaneous (Office and Telephone, etc.) 32 7.78 Employers 138 $8.41 Table XXV gives the amount estimated by 112 girls as neces- sary for newspapers and magazines, stationery and postage. In personal and written correspondence with young women con- cerning all of the items in the "Cost of Living," the same state- ment was frequently made concerning this and other items (va- cation, recreation, etc.) "I can't afford to buy magazines." The amounts spent by employes differ but little- — nothing over 70 cents a month, "60 cents a month for magazines" — and sta- tionery. The "and stationery" changes the complexion of the figures. A girl away from home writing at least one letter a week to her people would have to spend about 25 cents a month. If she has a sister or a friend her outlay for stamps is double. Few of the better magazines are less than 15 cents apiece. It is not long before her 60 or 70 cents for magazines and station- ery is exhausted and she has the rest of an empty month to face. The suggestion is made "Let her use the public library." 'Tis a good one and many of the girls do so, though some are pre- vented by distance and lack of carfare from going to the li- brary. But the fact to be absorbed here is not, that because a girl has not one dollar or two a month for magazines and sta- tionery she must have it, but that the cramped attitude she must hold toward every innocent desire, the constant restric- tion she must place not only on her craving for amusement and relaxation, on her ambition to read and grow, but even on her vital, insistent longing for sufficient food, a clean room to sleep in and warm attractive clothes to wear, is what ultimately Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 61 breaks her spirit, drags her down, not always in morals neces- sarily, but in efficiency, in desire for personal progress, in the general sense of being of some value to a community as one of its precious human citizens. VACATION AND AMUSEMENT. Table XXVI. AVERAGE ANNUAL AMOUNT ESTIMATED AS REASONABLE MIN- IMUM EXPENDITURE FOR VACATION AND AMUSEMENTS BY 112 GIRLS CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. Occupation. No. Amount. Mercantile 51 $24.78 Factory 15 27.50 Laundry 14 27.23 Miscellaneous (Office and Telephone, etc.) 32 32.03 Employers 138 $29.23 Table XXVI with its estimated account of amounts neces- sary for vacation and amusements shows the same pitiful tale of economy which does not economize. Suppose, before examin- ing the table, we list our amusements and vacations. We place here diversions which the ordinary man and woman may per- mit themselves occasionally and not be considered extravagant. 1. A dish of ice cream once a month, 10 cents each time. 2. A street car ride to the outskirts on Sunday, $5.20 a year. 3. A moving picture show once a week, first class, 10 cents. 40 cents a month ; second, third, fourth class, 5 cents, 20 cents a month. 4. A vaudeville entertainment once a month, first class, 25 cents ; second class, 15 cents ; a good concert, 50 cents, or a first class play, rear seat, third balcony ; 10 cents worth of candy once a month. A week's vacation once a year at the beach or in the mountains — to go 100 miles excursion rates $5 round trip, room and board one week $5 or $6. Summing up with first class entertainments, our total is $29.80 a year. Looking at our table we find that among the three trades $27.50 a year is the maximum amount spent. Review the list of expenditures and 62 State of Washington suppose the table for a man. As no amount has been stated for tobacco expenditure we substitute smoking supplies for candy, ten cents a month for cigars ! We do not eliminate the ice cream because during the busy hours the stools at the soda water fountain rarely lack a patron. It is interesting to note that the average of the employers' estimate, $29.23, very nearly covers the cost of the suggested program. One thing further must be noted — this allowance for amuse- ment has been made out for one. Exceeding as it does the actual expenses of the girls (Table XXVI), it denies a girl the privilege of ever asking another girl to share her street car ride or moving picture show — to share anything except her ten cents worth of candy once a month. This is not a plea for the treating habit; it simply recognizes the fact that part of the pleasure of human existence comes from our ability to give and take. With the opportunity for giving gone, a girl with self respect refuses the pleasure of taking, which without ability to make return soon becomes the habit of "sponging.'' Only in her friendship with men does she feel that her company is re- turn sufficient for his outlay of money. Here, however, the girl away from home is at a great disadvantage. She does not care to become friendly with any casual acquaintance as she might with safety in a home circle; her opportunities for meeting re- liable young men are few and far between. Not only must she be careful with the young man of apparently good intentions but she must be on the lookout, especially if she is at all at- tractive, for actual traps to ensnare her and rob her of her virtue. Such statements will not receive credit even with some of the girls themselves who have not happened to "run into any- thing," or who are naturally so aggressive that the ordinary trapper of humans would flee them. But to those who mingle with the girls day after day, the question, as it affects the girl away from home, of ability to find and pay for her own decent amusement becomes steadily more serious. The question of the yearly vacation of a week has been pro- vided for with meager allowance in our estimate. Managers of Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 63 mercantile stores sometimes give a week's vacation with pay. Factory and laundry employes, however, must take theirs at their own expense. Employers who have opportunities occa- sionally to take a run South, or East or just across the ocean, are heard to say that they have not had a vacation in ten years, etc. Yet to few does this statement mean that they have had their noses to the grindstone day following day for ten years. A Sunday spent hunting or fishing or as a "week end in the country" is a taste of a vacation. The subject scarcely needs further discussion. Physicians, alienists and nerve specialists are agreed that every person should have a change from his surroundings at least once a year for the gathering together of his forces, and for the relief to his mind and body that new faces and scenes give. MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY. Table XXVII. AVERAGE ANNUAL AMOUNT ESTIMATED AS REASONABLE MIN- IMUM EXPENDITURE FOR MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY BY 112 GIRLS CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. Occupation. No. Amount. Mercantile 51 $15.67 Factory 15 16.70 Laundry 14 22.16 Miscellaneous (Office and Telephone, etc.) 32 13.27 Employers 138 $13.23 Table XXYII has a story which throws light on several facts. For medicine and dentistry laundry women spend the largest amount, $22.16 a year, or nearly $2 a month; factory girls are next in order and mercantile clerks spend least. The class whose general standard of living is lowest spends most for medicine and dentistry. Is there not room for an argument here proving that it pays a community to see that its wage earn- ers receive enough wages to enable them to maintain themselves "decently and in health." Coupled with the facts that laundry workers live under the meanest conditions and spend more in maintenance of health than do the employes of other trades re- 64 State of Washington corded, is the third fact that as a trade, laundry work is prob- ably the most physically exhausting of any that women engage in. We speak advisedly when we say "physically exhaust- ing." Telephone operating and certain kinds of high speed power machine work is "nervously exhausting." Clerks on their feet all day grow physically weary from standing, but of all the other occupations, none has with it the weakness and weari- ness that comes from standing on concrete floors (sometimes wood), working with arms or feet, or both, in an over heated atmosphere and until recent days, often in foul, heavy air. SUMMARY. Table XXVIII, which give's the actual expenses of 27 young women, would seem to indicate that in making out esti- mates the 112 girls did not allow a sufficient amount for phy- sicians' and dentists' care. Of these 27, 25 reported a total outla}' of $515.50 or $20.62, as an average for the year. Two girls gave $5 as their expenditure. None of the others fell below $10 and one, who had spent nothing for laundry, news- papers or magazines, stationery, postage, association dues or insurance, but $5 for vacation and $6 for amusements, had spent $80 for medicine and dentistry. Table XXVIII. ACTUAL COST OF LIVING OF 27 EMPLOYES FROM MERCANTILE STORES FOR ONE YEAR. Room and Board $287.56 Clothing 131.80 Laundry and Medicine 22.92 Car Fare 20. 62 Newspapers 29.17 Magazines 4.15 Stationery and Postage 3. 98 Association Dues 3.45 Insurance 12.79 Vacation Expenses 13.81 Amusements 11 .47 Church 7.05 Incidentals 9.51 Total $568.28 Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 65 Table XXIX. ESTIMATED TOTAL ANNUAL EXPENDITURE BY 112 GIRLS CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. Occupation. No. Amount. Mercantile 51 $523.27 Factory 15 489.24 Laundry 14 499.27 Miscellaneous (Office and Telephone, etc.) 32 518.96 Employers 138 $535.10 —3 QQ State of Washington Section V. PERSONAL COMMENTS. (A) EMPLOYERS' COMMENTS. Schedules were sent to a large number of employers request- ing that they estimate the cost of items necessary for a wage- earning woman's decent subsistence. 138 were returned accom- panied by explanatory letters or with comments. The following are presented to give an idea of the attitude of employers to- ward the establishment of a minimum wage. 1. This estimate for the cost of living for one year amounted to $441.00. The sender says: "I am very much op- posed to girls working in public places, under 18 years of age, and a great believer in paying all employes all they are worth, making them feel that their efforts are appreciated, which by experience I have found very profitable, thereby receiving all and full value of their ability." 2. A man who allows $544 a year suggests a graduated wage scale. He says : "Girls without experience should have at least $5 a week ; girls having from one to two years' exper- ience, should have at least $7 a week ; girls having from two to five years' experience should have at least $10 a week." Pro- gress in this case would be discouragingly slow. ' 3. $519 is the estimate of this employer. "I consider $10 per week salary about as low as a woman can get along with and be what is required of her in the average Seattle store. If a young lady lives at home with her folks, the amount can, of course, be somewhat less. A saleswoman worthy of the name should earn from $12 to $15 per week. My estimate applies only to saleswomen in dry goods and in other city stores. I have often taken young girls that have homes and started them with $7 a week. In two or three years their salary was always $10 or more, or they did not stay with me." 4. A man who gives $623 for a year's maintenance says that these figures are for the woman "untrained to do or make Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 67 anything for herself, who would be, of course, an exceptional character. The list is prepared for only such people. Multi- tudes of men support and educate considerable families with such an amount of money." 5. "In reply to your request, the writer has made an es- timate based on the theory that the girl or woman employed was not living at home, or with friends, but was compelled to pay her way the same as a man would among strangers. There is one important item of expense not enumerated in the schedule, viz., lost time on account of sickness or the want of a job. Therefore, the writer believes his estimate of $633.70 is a con- servative one." 6. A man who allowed $611, excluding repair of clothing, says : "These figures ought not to apply to girls working in factories so far as clothing is concerned. A girl in a factory can dress respectably for much less than a girl in an office or a store. The big department stores today in the cities do not pay their help, in proportion to expenses, as much salary as the merchants in small country towns. I sincerely hope the In- dustrial Welfare Commission will be a means of bringing about better salaries for those who have been underpaid and over- worked." 7. An employer whose total is $529.96 allows 50 cents a day for meals. 8. The total here is $370.30. "(1) The foregoing schedule is based upon the assumption that the person under consider- ation is all the term prudent implies, and based upon the annual cost of maintenance under normal conditions. This is a fixed quantity. (2) Being prudent has the person the mental and physical strength to earn her own living? Right here is the problem. Has she had the training necessary to qualify her for the battle of life? True, she has the right to live. But she must be a producer of the means necessary for her maintenance, otherwise she is an incubus and a victim of her own inability. This brings us face to face with conditions. A woman under normal conditions qualified to perform the duties of every day life 68 State of Washington should not receive less than $2 per day of eight hours, or a total of $576 per year, to be increased according to ability to earn the same. Further comment is unnecessary." 9. "Estimates in this schedule are taken and given under conditions that two or more girls live together in one apartment of rooms, do part of their own cooking, do their own mending of clothes and make part of their dresses, as alterations, etc., which kind of work they have plenty of time to do when employed only 8 hours a day. Street car fare is eliminated in my estimate because in smaller cities we do not have this facility and in larger cities, room rent would be cheaper in a suburb and affect the street car fare." The total of this estimate (allowing only half rates for room) is $406. 10. "It is almost impossible to itemize accurately as the ex- pense depends largely upon locality, etc. The average sales girl lives at home and wages are used principally as spending money. Also the expenditures of some, manv of them, are largely in excess of necessity. The figures itemized are suffi- cient to dress a sales girl as the up-to-date girl of today demands and undoubtedly better than the average married lady of the working class today. Personal opinion is not requested on this sheet but my idea of justice is to see wages of men increased sufficiently to enable them to support a family comfortably. This would bring about more marriages, less divorces and happier homes amongst the married class." The estimate is for $443.50 with $5 a week allowed for room and board. 11. A man giving an estimate of $450 for one year says: "The estimate given on the other side of this sheet, to my way of thinking, is liberal. I know of cases where girls can get along with 50 per cent, less than the figures given herewith ; however, those are in the minority." 12. "I have given this matter my earnest attention and beg leave to submit a statement which is the best that I can arrive at. In doing so I understand that the items are more or less arbitrary but I have reduced them to as low an amount as I think it is possible to do. This would make a minimum wage Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 69 of $13.93 per week, possibly a little higher than has been fixed in other states. I notice, for instance, that the minimum wage in Oregon is $9.25 per week, but this to my judgment is too low." 13. A laundryman giving an estimate of $400 for a } r ear says : "The ordinary working girl wears a suit, dresses, under- wear, etc., two or three years." ( !) 14. The man who submitted this estimate allowed $572 a year : "To the Spartan mind this might seem an exhorbitant sum for the support and maintenance of any woman, but taking into consideration the 'meals and room' in all our large cities like , a woman cannot procure a room in a respectable hotel or room- ing house for less than $3 or $4 a week and is compelled to take her meals at a restaurant, at, in most restaurants, a minimum of 25 cents per meal. The other items shown, I believe, are entirely within reach." This gentleman at first allowed $375 a > T ear for room and board but reduced it $100, which left his total the figure given above. 15. A member of a large mercantile firm who allows $482.45 a year says : "Estimates are for girls dependent on them- selves and away from home. Girls living at home, as nearly all of our girls do, would require much less than $480." 16. No sum was stated on this blank, a manufacturer's, but the following comment is offered : "I am in no position to know how much it requires for a woman to maintain herself, still I do not believe that it can be done for less than from $10 to $12 per week when relying entirely on herself." "I find, however, that in a great number of cases where girls are living with their parents, even when receiving from $6 to $8 it adds to the family income. The same is also the case with married women who have no families and whose husband as well as the wife is working out. A number of women employed by us are married, but have no children and, although they would not need to work their husbands being well able to support them, all being steadily employed, still they prefer to work rather than sit around at home. The average wage paid by us to 70 State of Washington women is over $12 per week. I do believe that the minimum wage per week for a woman should be not less than $10; there should however be provision for apprentices who are learning a trade." 17. A man giving $523 a year as a minimum cost of living says : "A woman to live on this amount must be of good health and can't, as I see it, save anything for sickness or old age, just live as I think anyone willing to work should live." 18. "In submitting these figures, I have allowed on most items sufficient lee-way to save from $2 to $3 per week, as I consider that also a necessity and that there is no comfortable living without saving a little each week regularly." The esti- mate is for $790.50. 18. "This estimate ($455.70) is a reproduction of the ac- tual expenditures of a clerk of mine who receives a salary of $15 a week and I believe a very good estimate of what can be done if a woman so desires." "I also have another clerk who works in the same department and receives the same salary but cannot show such results. The first lady can show a bank account and the other cannot. She tells me she will show a still larger bank account the coining year. These two ladies have no home and must figure to make ends meet. I have another lady who is receiving $15 a week and sup- ports a mother and saves money each week. I have three other young ladies who receive $9, $10 and $12.50 and buy their mer- chandise of all descriptions at 10 per cent, above actual cost and still cannot save a cent and also live with their parents. These three ladies are just fair clerks and are getting all, if not more, than they are worth, still they think they are underpaid and are never satisfied. Why? Because they have no purpose in life and even if they were receiving $15 a week their ideas would re- main the same. Give me the homeless woman and I will pay her a good salary. I will then have the best type of American womanhood. But what are you going to do with the last three I have mentioned? Shorten their hours for work and raise their salary and by doing so lessen their ability?" Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 1 19. "As per your request of October 10 I have used my best judgment in this matter and have answered the questions for a girl either employed in an office or store. A girl of domestic work should not need as much. I also think that there is some difference in a town and in a city. Meals — If the girl does not live at home she will need $208. Room — Two girls would have to pay here $7.50 but in city $10. Shoes and rubbers — She needs 3 pairs of shoes at $3 each, a pair of dancing pumps and a pair of oxfords. Underwear $11.50 — In this I have included her muslins. Petticoats $10.50 — This includes 3 silk petticoats at $2.50 each. Stockings $7.50 — This includes 3 pair of silk stockings and 6 pair of lisle. Suits $35.00—2 suits a year at $17.50 each. This is as much as she needs to pay if she has good judgment and buys right. Some ready-made-to-wear stores should be compelled to make a report of what profit they charge. It's a bad game. Coats $17.50 — Two coats in three years at an average cost of $17.50 is all she should pay. Good summer coat need not cost her more than $10.00. Dresses $27.50— Two good dresses at $10.00 each. This again depends on her qualities as a buyer. $7.50 for house dress and kimonas should be enough. Shirtwaist — $4.00 worth properly bought should last a year. Corsets $4.50 — Two corsets $2.00 each, should be plenty. Handkerchiefs $3.00 — They lose a lot of them and need about 2 dozen. Corsetwaist $1.50 — Depends on style of dress, $1.50 may be a little short. Gloves $6.50 — 3 pair kid gloves at $1.50 each, balance for silk and lisle. Neckwear $1.50- — $1.50 properly bought is good. Hats $12.50 — She has to have at least two a year at $5 each, balance for auto caps and veils. 72 State of Washington Umbrella $1.50 — One every two years at $3 is enough if bought right. For this price she can buy a silk one. Repair on clothing she must do herself so long as she only works eight hours. Laundry $39.00 — This depends on the people she rents her room from. Many people do not want to rent rooms to girls because they do some laundry work ; for this reason I have al- lowed $39.00 which can be shaded. Since she works only eight hours, she could do most of it herself, but she is not allowed to do so by landlord. Medicine and Dentistry — She should not spend more than $5 by visiting the dentist frequently. She should learn not to use medicines. The $5.00 is short when toilet preparations are figured in. She needs under this head soaps and creams and tooth powder. Street car fare $36.50 — If she lives in place where there is none she needs the same amount for pleasure boating and auto- mobiles. $36.50 is little high unless she has to go to work every day in some conveyance. Newspaper and magazines — $4.50 is as little as it ought to be. Stationery and postage — $3.00 ; when she writes more than what that will pay for she is wasting her time, it would be bet- ter to do some fancy work. Association dues $3.00 — I am allowing her to belong to one or two clubs on an average of $1.50 per club dues; she should belong to one music club and something else that might strike her fancy. Insurance — Unless she has a mother depending on her for her living, she has no business with any insurance and the first fellow or agent that makes her believe that she should, ought to lose his license. Vacation— $30.00 is not too much for this. She ought to have $3.00 a day for ten days. Our wives can not take theirs on that amount. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 73 Amusements — $31.00 should be spent while she is working; she has to see and do something to laugh at. Church — No girl should be asked to contribute more than $5.00 to any church ; $2.50 for little church amusements. Incidentals — Wedding, birthday and Christmas gifts should come under this head ; also some fancy work material and a few music lessons." Total $628.50. (B) EMPLOYES' COMMENTS. No. 1. This woman gives her estimate as $445 a year. She says that she does not attend church and she doesn't have any vacation. No. 2, who gives an estimate of $710.75, states that girls who have no home and must depend entirely on themselves could not live on less than this amount. "If a girl could do her own laun- dry and sewing, of course it would be a little less, but after a girl has worked all day she needs recreation instead of sitting up half of the night to sew her clothes. As for washing her clothes, I do not think there are many places, if any, where it is con- venient for a girl to launder her clothes." No. 3. A waitress places her estimate at $530. She says : "I have no insurance, I repair my own clothing, I have no chance for vacation and work others for my amusements." No. 4, with an estimate of $541.50, states that she figures on doing the greater part of her laundry and all of her plain sew- ing. No. 5 says : "I live at home with my brother and mother. My brother and I support my mother. Mother and I make all our own clothes and do our repairing of clothes. Mother does my laundry. There are no street cars. I do not belong to any association or carry any life insurance. I have not taken any vacation. The first of September I had an operation for appen- dicitis which was very expensive. I had to stay at home for a month which meant a loss of wages for that time." No. 6. "My income is $365 a year and I am living at home, which accounts for my being able to live within my income.'' 74 State of Washington No. 7. "There are a number of girls working in this town for $5 a week. I earn $10 per week and couldn't begin to make ends meet with the high cost of living if I didn't live at home." What the home supplies to this girl is shown by the fact that her income is $520 and her cost of living $823.25. No. 8. A bookkeeper in a 5, 10 and 15c store started at $4 a week five years ago. At present she is receiving $8. She lives at home and contributes $1 a week to the family income. Her cost of living including this contribution is $413.75. She has no laundry bill and no bill for repair of clothing, no association dues nor insurance. No. 9. A woman giving $600.25 as her estimate for a year, a stenographer, states that items such as vacation expenses, amusements, incidentals vary to such an extent that it is almost impossible to estimate them with any degree of accuracy. "Inci- dentals as a rule amount to a good deal more than I have stated ($10) while the other items are governed almost entirely by the state of one's pocket book at the time." No. 10. A stenographer, cost of living $610.00 a year. "As I live at home general expenses are not as high as though I lived in rented rooms. Also I carry life insurance with practi- cally $50 as a yearly premium. My church contributions are $12 a year, but I have suggested $5 for the ordinary person. The insurance item I consider necessary although it might not be considered so by many people." No. 11. A waitress, states $470.25 as her cost of living which includes $7 a month for meals. She says : "I am a wait- ress and get nearly all my meals where I am employed. If I had to pay for all of my meals I could not make ends meet." No. 12. A woman with an income of $15 a week for 50 weeks who saves something each year says : "$75 a year saved for future needs is the least any woman should be expected to bank." No. 13. "I wish to ask you if you ever thought that lots of the immorality and low wages do not come because married women working take the places of the girl and woman that has Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 75 to work, and let their children run on the street. I have no- ticed that it is the single girl who has to fight for better wages while the married woman will take what is given her or what the girl fights and gets for her. Now if there was some kind of a law that a married woman had to go before a court and swear to an affidavit that her husband could not support her, or that she could not live within his means I think the wages would be better for the girls and the children would have home influences that are lacking now, for many women would not go to work nor would their husbands let them (if they had to make such affidavit.) Now, if you really wish to help the girls, do try to get some law that will rid stores, factories, schools and offices of so many married women, and then girls will look out and get someone who can support them instead of getting married Saturday night and coming to work Monday morning as is so often the case. I believe that there will not only be better wages for the girls, but also for the men, less immorality, fewer divorces, better homes and lots more happiness. Think this over." No. 14. One girl giving her cost of living as $634.75, says : "I do my laundry in the evening or on Sunday and also my mending. I have not had a vacation since earning my own living. I cannot afford amusements." No. 15. "I have filled this out to the best of my ability. As I am a widow and have a child to support, my wages are $6 a week. But I have my own home and do my own washing, sewing and everything like that at night. My boy is big enough to go to school and stay home till I get there, but I for one will be very glad if they will only do something to make it better for the women." No. 16. This comment came from a woman earning $65 a month. She spends $10 a year on vacations, $2 on amuse- ments. Her room and board cost her $31 a month, her clothes $137 a year. Her total estimate was $631 for the year. She says "I have no money to spend for newspapers and maga- zines. 55 76 State of Washington No. 17. "I think that all waitresses should get two dollars per day. We cannot live comfortably on less. Our work com- pels us to wear good, neat and clean clothes." No. 18. "In this estimate, $561.35, I figure on doing all my own sewing except the making of my suit and coat which will be worn for two years. I trim my hats, repair my clothing. Also do some of my laundry. For reading matter I expect to take advantage of the public library." Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 77 Section VI, PRACTICAL PROBLEMS. The preceding sections have set forth the present low rate of wages in the mercantile, factory and laundry industries in the state, and have given detailed computations of the costs of liv- ing which indicate what is the minimum cost of subsistence for self-supporting women workers who are attempting to maintain a decent standard of living. The figures show that $10.00 a week is approximately the minimum for decent sub- sistence and that 67 per cent get less than that amount. This investigation has been made with a view to the admin- istration of the law enacted by the state legislature which de- clares that "it shall be unlawful to employ women in any in- dustry or occupation in the state of Washington under condi- tions of labor detrimental to their health and morals and * * * at wages which are not adequate for their maintenance." (Sec- tion II). It is clear from the facts presented that considerable re- adjustment of the wage scale will be required. The study would not be complete without a discussion of some of the questions involved in the payment of wages at pres- ent and of some of the results of under-payment. The latter topic leads not only to a consideration of physical and moral aspects of the problem, but also of the industrial education phase. NOMINAL AND REAL WAGES. When we speak of a minimum cost of living and a minimum wage to take care of it, we base the cost of living on the ex- penses for one year. We speak of ten dollars a week as neces- sary and feel that all is well if provision is made for that amount. A point to be remembered, however, is that nominal wages are not real wages, and that a girl who is earning at the rate of ten dollars a week, in the end may not have more than seven dollars to spend. 78 State of Washington SEASONAL WORK AND UNEMPLOYMENT. The distressing, complicated questions of seasonal work and of unemployment are the most vexing of the day. Every industry has its rush and dull periods. Manufacturers' busy seasons vary from three to six months. Laundries are open the year around, but in the months from October to April work slackens. The three summer months are the busi- est of the year. Then the week is a "full week" of hours, but during the other nine months the wages received fall considerably below the amount anticipated from the rate of pay. Table XX showed the weekly hours of work reported by 2185 laundry workers classified by occupations. The ironers as one of the most skilled classes, are taken for an example. Ironers re- ceive from twenty-five to thirty cents an hour. In the table, 30.5 per cent of the workers reported a week averaging be- tween forty-one and forty-four hours a week. Let us take forty- two and one-half hours at twenty-five cents an hour as an average week. A woman at this schedule would earn $10.62. But a woman who works a full week of 48 hours at the same rate would earn $12.00. The problem is more worrisome to the mangle crew, 76 per cent of whom work less than a full week, and in some laundries at a rate of 121/2 cents an hour. If the maximum amount that a girl is promised be $6.00 a week, she has reason to be alarmed if she is hindered by short weeks or dull seasons, from earning the smallest fraction of it. Fruit and vegetable canneries are open in full force from June to October ; then the work grows lighter and in December they close for another six months. Candy and cigar factories are busy in the fall and up to the Christinas time. A dull month follows, but February finds the candy makers busy again with the eggs and other fancies for Easter. Seasons for retail stores vary somewhat with the class of wares carried. Confectionery stores which are usually oper- ated in connection with ice-cream parlors are busiest in the summer months, but they, too, arc rushed for a month before the winter holidays. The large department stores have ja steadier flow of trade than do factories and laundries. Besides Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 79 the seasonal "openings" which may last for two months at a time, there are spasmodic rushes centering around specially arranged sales. For the former, extra clerks are engaged, but during the latter, the shoppers are served by transferring sales- women from one department to the "specials" counter. During the Christmas holiday rush some firms double the regular number of women employes. For some of the girls, employ- ment lasts through six weeks, but for others only three. But even the permanently employed force feels the weight of the slack winter season, because of the custom of giving unpaid "vacations" two weeks to a month in length. The dull seasons are a problem to many girls. For it means that even during their periods of employment they have unpro- ductive weeks ahead staring them in the face, and if possible they must save for these days when they will probably be out of work. Some girls take advantage of the busy seasons in various industries, which come at different times of the year, and find employment at several lines of work for the greater part of the twelve months. How the seasonal character of work may affect a wage- earner is apparent if we take 10 months a year as her maxi- mum length of employment. Ten months approximate 43 weeks of employment, which at $10 a week would mean $430 as her annual income. Yet if the bare cost of living for her is $10 a week for 52 weeks, she is $90 short for the year. $430 a year averages $8.25 a week. And at that, steady employment for ten months would be unheard of good fortune for many a girl. 80 State of Washington TIME AND PIECE RATES OF PAYMENT. Table XXX. TABLE SHOWING RELATIVE NUMBER OF FEMALE EMPLOYES IN FACTORIES AND LAUNDRIES WORKING BY TIME AND PIECE RATE AND CLASSIFIED AS MINORS AND ADULTS. AGE PIECE TIME Factories Laundries Factories Laundries Minors (under 18) Adults (over 18) 88 445 2 131 177 1,043 147 2,024 Totals 533 133 1,220 2,171 Two-fifths of adult time workers in factories get $9.00 or more a week. One-third of adult piece workers in factories get $9.00 or more a week. Table XXX gives the relative number of 1753 women in factories and of 2,304 in laundries who are working by time and piece rates. In factories out of 533 working by piece rates, 88 were minors and 455 were adults. Among 1,220 working by time rates, 177 were minors and 1,013 were adults. In laundries, out of 119 minors, two only were employed by piece rates, but 131 adults from among 2,155 worked under this system. Payment of wages according to the amount of work accomplished is a custom so well estab- lished that employes as well as employers would not like to see it abolished. Yet there are several dangers attached to the use of it. Some of these are a developing greed on the part of the employers which impels them to cut the workers' rates, and a driving attitude which sometimes loses sight of the fact that the employes are human beings. On the part of the worker, piece work, because of a necessity induced by the low rates, or because of a desire to increase her wage and because of a mis- taken ambition to make a record by overtime forces a worker to speed up to a degree which eventually causes a breakdown. These several dangers have been so clearly illustrated by Miss Josephine Goldmark, Publication Secretary of the National Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 81 Consumers' League, in her book, "Fatigue and Efficiency," that her description is quoted below: "Briefly, piece-work presupposes a naturally varying rate of work and output among individuals, according to which each worker is paid. Obviously, this should be the most just way to allow the play of natural talents. Increased effort or skill brings its immediate reward, and the best worker is the best paid." * * * "In criticising the piece-rates, therefore, we are dealing with an entrenched practice, and criticism must attack not the system, but its flagrant abuses. These, unfortunately are common and widespread, especially among workingwomen in poorly organized trades, where no collective bargaining protects individuals from pressure. In such occupa- tions, of which the ramified needle and clothing trades are the best examples, piece-work devolops chiefly into a system of 'speeding up' the workers in both machine and hand work. The workers are spurred to a feverish intensity. They apply themselves hectically. It is almost inevitable that the most rapid workers should be so called 'pace-makers' and set the rhythym for all the other workers. For pay is usually ad- justed to the rate of the quickest workers, and in order to earn a fair wage, all the others must keep up as near to them as pos- sible." "Many employers contend that unless workers have such incentives, or a personal stake in working steadily, they tend to slacken and are indifferent to the amount of their output so. long as wages are assured. The workers, on the other hand return, that in piece-work, even the utmost speed does not assure them of their wages, since the piece-work price is often cut when the rapid workers are thought to be earning too much in one day. The rate per piece is lowered. Then the same speed is required to earn the lower wages."' "Another hardship in piece-work of which the workers justly complain and which adds greatly to the nervous tax of any oc- cupation is due to the extraordinarily rapid changes of fashion." "Thus, though the piece-work system is sound in theory and works admirably in highly organized trades where collect- ive agreements assure the workers fair, fixed rates, it fails among the most helpless workers who most need to be protected from over-pressure and the inroads of fatigue. With them it almost inevitably breeds a spirit of permanent 'rush' in work, and to that extent, it is physiologically dangerous : 'the most 82 State of Washington pernicious thing that could be described as the dynamic effici- ency of the nervous system,' writes a physician familiar with the effects of unregulated piece-rates among garment workers." —Chap. Ill, pp. 82-83. WAGES DETERMINED BY EFFICI ENCY— MINI MU M NOT THE MAXIMUM. It has been suggested that if a minimum wage is established it will tend to become the maximum and that the present high salaried workers will suffer an injustice to the benefit of the poorer workers. The establishment of a minimum wage will mean the setting of a new and better standard for the least efficient, which standard will automatically raise the value of each more competent group. Highly skilled workers are always in demand in any well conducted trade. When wages are deter- mined by efficiency, competition will arise for the most efficient workers, and thus the minimum will be prevented from becoming the maximum. Another reason which will prevent the payment of the low- est wages by saving on the highest will be the increase in the efficiency of the employers. Keen employes who attend to the business end of establishments say that often much money is spent in expensive, unnecessary office equipment, by dishonest traveling-men whose expenses are not checked up, in useless ad- vertising and in many other ways. If these leaks were stopped and the money applied to wages, both the employes and the firm would be much better off. As a matter of fact the problem has so worked itself out and the minimum wage has not become the maximum in other countries which have had minimum wage boards for a number of years. We quote here from the annual report of the New Zea- land labor department, 1902: "It was asserted that when the court fixed a minimum wage in a trade, that wage tended to become an average wage or even a maximum. Such a system would scarcely be possible in a large business, or even in a go-ahead small one, for a capable workman knows his own value too well to work under such con- ditions, and if an employer wants to keep up with or to surpass Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 83 his competitors he must get the most efficient hands he can find or pay for. It is true, however, that when a workman leaves his old employer and gets new work, he often has to start on a minimum wage, but if he is a valuable man he does not long remain at that rate. In practice, however, it is found that the best men leave the minimum wage far behind, and there has been no proof presented that during the last two or three years — during which most of the awards have been made — any suffer- ing has been caused by the institution of a minimum wage, while the benefit to the majority of workers is indisputable." (Page 5.) Victor S. Clarke says in U. S. Labor Bulletin No. 56 on the Labor Conditions in Australia : "The manager of a boot fac- tory in the same state said : 'We don't hold our men down to the minimum wage. Our cheapest men are those to whom I give the most money. I make the foreman of each room judge of his employees, and he must make his room pay — and pay wages that will produce that result.' : ' (Pages 122-123.) Later in the same bulletin Mr. Clarke quotes a proprietor who has worked under the minimum wage laws, to the effect that the enforcement of the law has been a benefit to compet- ing employers. "The proprietor of probably the largest boot factory in Melbourne, a new and model establishment, expressed the fol- lowing opinion of the Factories Act in an interview : 'We have invested largely in our business since the act has been in force. Under it, our conditions are more settled, and this gives us an advantage over New South Wales. Before the act went into operation sweating was rampant, and for that reason the fair employer has benefited by the change. We pay many of our employes more than the minimum wage. There are incompe- tent employers as well as incompetent employes, and it is the employer who never ought to be in his position who is forced to sweat men. The act eliminates that sort of an employer.' (Page 73.) CONJUGAL CONDITIONS. Another fact which has some influence on the standard of wages is the number of married women whose husbands are 81 State of Washington supporting them, who themselves are wage-earners. Table XXXI, showing the per cent of women workers by industries and classified as to whether they are married or unmarried in- dicates that in manufacturing industries twelve per cent of the workers are married, thirteen per cent in mercantile stores, while in office and telephone work this per cent is almost negligible. In laundry work, however, married women figure largely; thirty-three per cent here fall into this class. This greater number in laundry work is undoubtedly due to the fact that certain departments have half-week or short-hour work which permits a woman to keep up her house and earn outside at the same time. As married women with husbands do not, in the majority of cases, have to be the wage-earners, we find them willing to work for less than the woman who is entirely depend- ent upon herself. The small per cent of "married" in tele- phone work may be ascribed to the fact that young girls are required for the success of the service and that twenty-five years is the age limit at which girls are taken on to be taught the work. Table XXXI. SCHEDULE SHOWING CONJUGAL CONDITION OF 2,688 FEMALE EMPLOYES IN WASHINGTON CLASSIFIED BY INDUSTRIES. Occupation No. of employes Unmar- ried * No. Married Per Cent. Married Laundry 591 524 1,246 115 190 515 350 1,078 111 189 76 174 168 4 1 12.9 33.2 Mercantile 13.5 Office 3.5 Telephone 0.5 2,666 2,243 423 16.1 * "Unmarried" includes widows and divorcees. The term "married" here includes only those women who are living with their husbands. If widows, deserted wives and di- vorcees had been classed here instead of with "single women" the per cent of "married" women wage-earners would have been much larger. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 85 Table XXXII. SHOWING CONJUGAL CONDITION OF 2,688 FEMALE EMPLOYES IN FIVE CITIES ARRANGED ACCORDING TO POPULATION. Per Cent. City. Married. Everett 9.6 Bellingham 11.9 Tacoma 11.9 Spokane 18.2 Seattle 26.1 Total 16.1 Table XXXII shows the conjugal condition of women em- ployes in the five largest cities of the state. We note that as the population increases the per cent of those married and earning increases also. RESIDENCE AT HOME AND ADRIFT. Among several causes that tend to keep the single and younger woman's wages below a standard of decent living, one stands out prominently. This is is the idea, prevalent with em- ployers, that the majority of young women live at home and work for pleasure or merely for pin-money. Tables XXXIII to XXXV inclusive throw light on the questions of the number of girls who are supporting themselves away from home and at home and on what wages they are doing it. For the purpose of conciseness all girls who reported that they were rooming in single rooms, rooming and boarding, or doing their own house- keeping are classified as "Adrift." Table XXXIII. SHOWING RESIDENCE OF 2.728 FEMALE EMPLOYES IN FIVE CITIES ARRANGED ACCORDING TO POPULATION AND CLASSIFIED AS AT HOME AND ADRIFT. Per Cent. Per Cent. City. At Home. Adrift. Everett 80.3 19.7 Bellingham 68.4 31.6 Tacoma 69.2 30.8 Spokane 56.1 43.9 Seattle 54.4 45.6 Totals 63.3 36.7 86 State of Washington Table XXXIII shows the distribution of 2,728 women wage-earners in the five largest cities of the state who reported on their residence at home or away from home. In Seattle, nearly one half of the wage earning women, 45.6 per cent are adrift. Spokane next in size has 43.9 per cent. Everett, the smallest of the five has less than one-fifth living away from home. As table XXXII showed that the number of married women in- crease in the cities as the cities increase in size, so do we find the number of girls adrift increasing in large cities. Table XXXIV. SHOWING RESIDENCE OF 2,705 FEMALE EMPLOYES CLASSIFIED BY INDUSTRIES, SHOWING NUMBER AND PER CENT. AT HOME AND ADRIFT. INDUSTRY AT HOME ADRIFT Totals No. % No. % Factory Laundry Mercantile 436 204 831 85 162 74. 38.3 65.4 70.2 83.9 153 328 439 36 31 26. 61.7 34.6 29.8 16.1 589 532 1,270 121 Office Telephone 193 Totals 1,718 63. 987 36.5 2,705 Table XXXIV shows the ratios of girls at home and adrift by industries. Laundry work has the largest per cent of women away from home; 61.7 per cent. Mercantile stores stand sec- ond, but with a much lower number. Factories rank third in the three industries under consideration, with slightly more than one-fourth of their women workers adrift. In no one of the five lines of work described is the per cent, small. Telephone work, which has the fewest numbers still has one-sixth of its girls adrift. The significant fact is that laundry work is the one division here in which a large number of workers may not be classed as "girls." Eighteen is the age at which girlhood or minority ends, in this report, but a girl of eighteen in spite of her majority, is Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 87 young to be thrown on her own resources, alone in a large city. Twenty-five years is nearer an age at which she may be expected to "fight her own battles" wisely and without loss of heart. PIN MONEY THEORY. Table XXXV. SHOWING WEEKLY WAGES OF 3,058 GIRLS CLASSIFIED AS AT HOME AND ADRIFT. I Totals % of Totals Un- $6 $8 $10 Total der to to or un- Un- $10 $6 $7.95 $9.95 over der $10 No. % 56.1 der $10 or over At Home. 264 551 439 462 1,254 1,716 67.9 38. Adrift 78 206 305 753 589 1,342 43.8 31.9 61.9 Totals. 1,215 1,843 3,058 Table XXXV has a volume of interest within it. This table gives the wages of 3,058 girls, classified as At Home and Adrift. Of these fifty-six per cent are living at home and 4<2.8 per cent are adrift. 1,843 of the girls are receiving under $10 a week and 1,215 are receiving over. $10. Of the 1,813 under $10, over two-thirds, 68 per cent., are living at home and nearly one-third, 32 per cent, are adrift. Of the 1,215 earning $10 or over, one-third, 38 per cent., live at, home, and less than two-thirds, 62 per cent, are adrift. Of the 1,716 employes liv- ing at home, 1,112, or 66A per cent, reported that they con- tribute a definite amount of their earnings to the family income. These figures would seem to disprove the "pin-money" theory. EFFECT OF UNDER PAYMENT ON HEALTH OF WORKER. The application of the minimum wage law to the problem of the girl adrift is one of the most fundamental goods which the law will accomplish. Some mention of the effect on the wages of the girl adrift, by the presence of the girl living at home was made in the section on the cost of living. It is an undisputed fact that most employers openly prefer the girl who is living at 88 State of Washington home. Their theory is that they are not required to pay a girl with a home as large a wage as they might feel obliged to give to a self-supporting girl. "Parasitic industries," the de- scription that has been applied to them before, is the one still most applicable. The belief that a woman who is giving her entire time, energy and experience to upbuilding the success of an establishment, may be reimbursed with merely enough to pay for her clothes and carfare and then fall back upon her male relatives for cost of room and board is illogical and unjust. But the expectation of the firm to profit by this arrangement often forces on the girl adrift the same wage which the girl at home accepts. As the girl adrift must produce hard cash for her room and board and clothes, yet cannot obtain the comforts for the sum at her disposal which the girl at home enjoys, she must retrench some place. Each week finds her half fed and the week in which new clothes must be bought finds her half starving. The eyes of one girl popped at the mention of the price of her dinner. "I scarcely know what it is to have a full meal," she said. "Once in a while a girl that lives at home invites me to her house and occasionally some boys rooming near here agree to get the provisions if my room mate and I will cook them. Then we do have a feed." Present efficiency depends most surely upon a supply of food sufficient to keep up the workers' strength. Future efficiency as a mother depends upon keeping her health sound now; — efficiency not only to bear children, but to raise them. We can- not expect a race of healthy nor of well governed children if the mothers-to-be are permitted to grow aenemic in their young womanhood. On this subject we quote below from Elizabeth B. Butler's "Women and the Trades," a thorough report on the condition of women's work in Pittsburg. (Page 34-9.) "For social strength it would seem that the question ought to be: What wage must a girl have in order to live decently, maintain sound health, and have reasonable recreation? For decency's sake, a community cannot afford to permit five girls Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 89 from an iron mill to diminish expenses by sharing one room with five men from the same work place ; neither can it afford to permit a girl to hire board and a couch in the kitchen of a crowd- ed tenement flat for $3.00 a week. I question whether it can even afford the dimming of bright thoughts, the effacing of individuality, that tend to follow occupancy of one bed in the dormitory row of a working girl's home." "For health's sake, the community cannot afford to permit its girl members to receive a wage too low for nutrition, or for the refreshment of exhausted strength. It reacts ultimately to the harm of society when a garment worker has weak coffee for breakfast, goes without lunch altogether, and eats two or three sandwiches for dinner, as her habitual diet. She may keep up through her working life, but in her domestic relations she leaves a heritage of weakness and inefficiency. We are all the sufferers when a shop girl continues at her work after vitality has ebbed because her wages are too low to permit treatment or rest." (Page 349.) EFFECT OF UNDER PAYMENT ON THE NEXT GENERATION. B. S. Rowntree in "Poverty— A Study of Town Life" (Pages 135-136) graphically portrays the effect of under- nourishment of the mothers-to-be in our day on the coming generation. "Low wages mean insufficient food, insufficient food unfit- ness for labor, so that the vicious circle is complete. The chil- dren of such parents have to share their privations, and even if healthy when born, the lack of sufficient food soon tells upon them. Thus they often grow up weak and diseased, and so tend to perpetuate the race of the 'unfit.' " (Page 16.) "These unseen consequences of poverty have, however, to be reckoned with — the high death-rate among the poor, the ter- ribly high infant mortality, the stunted stature and dulled in- telligence — all these and others are not seen unless we look be- neath the surface; and yet all are having their effect upon the poor, and consequently upon the whole country." (Pages 135- 136.) 90 State of Washington EFFECT OF LOW WAGES ON MORALS OF WOMEN WORKERS. Another phase of the wage question which must not be omitted is the effect of the application of the law on the morals of women workers. No well-informed person will urge that the morals of a self-supporting woman depend directly upon her wage. There are too many proofs to the contrary. This is true however, that slow starvation will gradually break down a woman's power of resistence and her fall results not because at the particular moment she wants a square meal. It is more likely to be due to the fact that constant cravings of hunger have weakened her physical condition, her mental poise and her outlook on life. If the state of hunger were not accompanied with chill of body and cheerless surroundings, her defeat might not be so complete. But this is an equally important fact, that once having entered upon a life of degradation and having en- joyed again the comfort of pleasant shelter and plenty of nourishing food, the inadequate wage she has left and the im- possibility of receiving a higher one is the effectual bar which keeps her from returning to a moral life. MINORS AND ADULTS. Table XXXVI. 11,059 WOMEN WORKERS CLASSIFIED AS MINORS AND ADULTS. Minors Adults Total Per Cent. Minors Mercantile 611 64 149 19 576 4,544 104 2,155 402 2,435 5.155 168 2,304 421 3,011 11 .7 5 and 10c. Store Laundry 38.0 6.4 Office 4.5 Factory 19.1 Totals 1,419 9,640 11,059 12.8 Section 14 of the law which gives power to the Commission at any time to "inquire into wages and conditions of labor of minors, employed in any occupation and to determine wages and Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 91 conditions of labor suitable for such minors," is based on the theory that a minor is one who is still under the care of her parents and as such should not be expected to be self-support- ing. The Child Labor law, however, authorizes the employ- ment of children over sixteen years of age without special per- mit. Children between sixteen and eighteen years then may as- sist in the support of the family, but by very reason of the fact that they are not experienced, they are not expected to have knowledge requisite to demand a subsisting wage, nor are they expected because of their physical immaturity to have the strength required for the day's work of an adult person. Yet we do find (Table XXXVI), a large number of minors working side by side with adults in similar occupations and accomplish- ing frequently as heavy a day's work. Out of 11,059 workers, 1,419, or 12.8 per cent, were minors. On account of their youth and inability to bargain, they are frequently paid wages which far from compensate them for the hours and labor spent on their work. Table XXXVI classifies 11,059 female employes in four in- dustries as to whether they are minors or adults and the per cent of minors in each industry. Though the 5, 10 and 15 cent stores are not an industry separate from mercantile stores, they are registered separately because of the big per cent, of minors employed, which is thirty-eight per cent here. Nearly one-fifth of the employes in factories are minors, and slightly more than one-tenth of the remaining mercantile store em- ployes. There are other reasons for urging a reasonable minimum wage for minors. One is that in the very beginning of their industrial life a certain standard of efficiency will be set for them. The minimum wage may result in keeping some of the less alert or duller ones in school longer, but if this means better prepar- ation for later work it cannot be counted a disaster. Much of the work to which minors are put is unskilled. As fresh re- cruits swell the ranks constantly, their labor may be had for the 92 State of Washington price of a song. With the price of young labor so low and the supply large, the price of adult labor tends to decrease also, so that in states where child labor laws are wanting; we find parents shoved out of industry and the burden of the support of the family falling on baby shoulders that are unable to bear it. If the minimum wage for minors restricts the supply of child labor, the natural supporters of the family, the adult-*, will resume their work at better and more liberal wages. LEARNERS AND EXPERIENCED WORKERS. The question of how to arrange for the inexperienced work- er is one to which a variety of solutions has been offered. The law (section 13) permits the Commission to issue to an ap- prentice in such class of employment or occupation as usually requires to be learned by apprentices, a special license author- izing the employment of such licensee at less than the legal mini- mum wage; and the Commission shall fix the minimum wage for said person * * * and such license for apprentices shall be in force for such length of time as the said Commission shall decide and determine is proper." Undoubtedly there are a number of lines of work which re- quire very little teaching and an equally small amount of apt- itude on the part of the worker. Packing chocolates in a candy factory for the wholesale trade, wrapping carmels, "all day suckers" and other cheap hard candies, requires no con- centration whatever to learn. A worker knows how after the first day, and the ■"■apprentice'' period might be said to end there; but one essential for success as a candy wrapper or packer is the attainment of a certain degree of speed which may only be acquired with practice. Shaking clothes in a laundry is absolutely unskilled. Lidding boxes in a paper box factory, stripping tobacco in cigar factories, pulling basting stitches in a dressmaking shop, picking over fruit in canneries, combing out old hair combings for switches are all classes of work which require in some cases care, in others speed, but in none special knowledge of any kind. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 93 In the same industries in which the above lines of work are found are other departments in which much care, judgment, ex- perience, personal adaptability and professional skill are re- quired to make a worker competent. A first class hand ironer in a laundry can command twenty-five cents an hour or in the better class hand laundry a still higher wage. To roll a cigar properly is an accomplishment several degrees removed from stripping tobacco. Designing, cutting and fitting gowns may be the work of an artist to whose position the little basting- thread puller may aspire but will never attain. So an artistic hairdresser requires much keener judgment, greater deftness and daintiness, and appreciation of the fine points of facial contour than the learner who might handle greasy combings all her life, but yet never be able to handle a strand of hair becomingly. The statement frequently made that anyone can sell goods is not true. The principle on which the mercantile business is conducted today is not that of furnishing people what they want, but of persuading them to buy what they don't want. The clerk who can do this is the one whose sales will average high. And to do it, one must have powers of salesmanship that involve something more than merely the ability to pass a parcel across the counter. Not only must all of the good points of the article exhibited be known, but the good and bad points of rival articles, and more important still, in a few short moments the customer must be "sized up," and the best method of winning her decided upon. Genuine psycho- logical insight is required in a first-class saleswoman. One year is required in certain departments before an inexper- ienced woman is expected to know her goods thoroughly and develop the art which we have described : yet some depart- ments there are to which shoppers come because they need the articles and do not have to be pleased; the notion department is one of these and one year as the learner here is unnecessary. MISFITS. Under the present lack of arrangements for learners' wages the employers statement that a beginner is not worth $3 a week 94 State of Washington may sometimes be true. With no particular degree of efficiency demanded of her at the low wage, a girl or woman may start to learn a trade for which she has no particular taste, and to which she is not adapted. She stays on because it is the easiest thing to do or in the case of the younger girl because her mother has put her there. Her employer keeps her because he has to have unskilled help to do the unskilled work, and if the beginner never makes much headway it is easy to place the responsibility upon the beginner's stupidity. But the beginner may be the square peg in the round hole who would do excellent work in another place. This brings us to the question of trade schools. American citizens realize more and more keenly that the inefficiency of the unskilled laborer, the problem of unemployment and poverty is due to the lack of preparation of workers, to their inability to carry on one trade well. If the establishing of a minimum wage will force back into the home the thousands of youths and girls who start out to earn with no thought of at what they will earn, it will have given the movement for more vocational schools, an impetus which will result speedily in establish- ing them. For it will mean that the young wage earners to be will actually be taught something, which is contrary to the real situation in many of the large shops employing them. For not all employers, but many, deceive themselves, the workers and the public, when they say that a beginner is taught. In the first place, the employers admit that they are too busy to teach "green" help. In the second place all don't know how to teach and in the third place when they find that a learner is an adept at the routine work, they keep her at that for their own interests for months at a time. This is the case in millinery and dressmaking shops. A girl with some liking for the sew- ing trade learns how to make linings well, how to sew on hooks and eyes quickly. What the girl learns then about the trade depends upon how much she can pick up by herself. "Three years," some dressmakers say, "are necessary before a girl can earn eight dollars a week.*" The same is true of the wholesale Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 95 and larger retail millinery shops where an apprentice may spend one season making bandeaus and another season doing a similar kind of work; at the end of four seasons or a year she is declared through her apprenticeship but not worth one dollar a day. The complaint is made by the manager that trade schools are not practical in their instructions, do not teach pupils to be swift, but instead to be so careful that they are slow. The latter characteristic it would seem might be con- sidered a point in favor of the vocational schools as against a possible reputation for speediness which could develop into shiftlessness. SUMMARY. Table XXXVII. WAGE SCHEDULE OF 5,336 ADULT WOMEN WORKERS CLASSI- FIED BY LENGTH OF SERVICE IN PRESENT EMPLOYMENT. Time Employed Receiving Less Than Receiving More Than $9 a week • $10 a week $9 a week $10 a week Less than 1 year More than 1 year 1,044 475 1,140 681 342 827 246 581 Table XXXVII shows the present proportion of 5,336 workers who have worked less or more than one year and the wage each group is receiving. Out of 2,772 working less than one year, only 34-2 were receiving between $9 and $10 a week. 1,04-4 were receiving less than $9 a week. Of 2,564 working- more than one year, 475 were receiving less than $9 and 681 less than $10 a week. For purposes of illustration, one year is mentioned here as the period necessary before a girl adopting a line of work of which she is ignorant, may be called "experienced" in it. 96 State of Washington Table XXXVIII. EFFECT OF A HYPOTHETICAL LEGAL MINIMUM ON WAGES OF "EXPERIENCED" WOMEN WORKERS. Average Legal Number Present Total Total increase minimum directly total required increase of weekly wage affected weekly by legal in weekly wage of payroll minimum payroll individual employe $9.00 a week 475 $3,632.00 $4,275.00 $643.00 $1.35 $10.00 a week 681 5,589.00 6,810.00 1,221.00 1.81 Table XXXVIII shows the result of establishing $9 a week as a minimum wage for girls with one year's experience. The present weekly payroll for the 475 girls is $3,632.00. If these 475 were raised to $9 a week, the total payroll would be $4,275 or an increase of $643 a week, an increase on an average of $1.35 for each employe. The total number in this table re- ceiving under $10 is 681 with a weekly payroll of $5,589. If these 681 were raised to $10 a week it would mean an increase in the payroll to $6,810 a week or an additional cost of $1,221 or an average of $1.81 per employe. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 97 REGULATIONS OF COMMISSION GOVERN- ING PROCEDURE OF CONFERENCES. The Industrial Welfare Commission for the State of Wash- ington, duly appointed and qualified as provided by Chapter 174 of the Session Laws of 1913 of the said State of Wash- ington, having heretofore made investigation as provided by law, concerning the employment of women and minors in the mercantile industry, the wages paid said women and minors, and the conditions surrounding their work and employment in said industry, and being fully advised in the premises, finds as follows : That in the said mercantile industry, within the State of Washington the wages paid to female employees in said in- dustry are inadequate to supply them necessary cost of living and to maintain the workers therein in health, and that the conditions of labor therein are prejudicial to the health and morals of the workers : Therefore, by virtue of the authority conferred upon this commission by law and in pursuance thereof, it is hereby ordered that a conference be called for the consideration of wages paid and conditions of labor in said mercantile industry, said con- ference to be composed of an equal number of representatives of employers and employees in said industry, together with an equal number of disinterested persons representing the public as hereinafter provided, the date of the first convention of said conference to be fixed by this commission after the representa- tives of said conference have been duly selected as hereinafter provided. The term "commission" shall mean the Industrial Welfare Commission of the State of Washington. It is hereby further ordered that the following rules and regulations be and the same are hereby adopted as the rules and regulations governing the selection of representatives and the mode of procedure of said conference. 98 State of Washington 1. A conference shall consist of nine persons and a member of the commission who shall be chairman of said conference, three to represent the employers, three to represent the em- ployees, and three to represent the public. One of the members representing the public shall be appointed by the chairman as chief interrogator. A member of the commission shall act as chairman of the conference. 2. The method of selecting members of the conference shall be as follows: Each member of the commission shall nominate and send nine names to the secretary thereof: Three of these shall be employers in the industry for winch the conference is being called ; three shall be employees in said industry, and three shall be disinterested persons to represent the public. The secretary in turn shall then send a complete list to each member of the com- mission for his or her investigation, a period of at least one week being allowed for that purpose, after which the commission, sitting in regular session or any special session of the commis- sion called for said purpose, shall select from among these names nine persons who shall constitute the conference, of whom at least one employer and one employee shall be from that portion of the state east of the summit of the Cascade moun- tains. 3. After the selection of the members of the conference in each industry as provided in the foregoing section, the com- mission shall, from the names remaining, select nine alternates who shall have the same qualifications for membership on the conference as the regularly selected members ; these alternates to fill any vacancies that may occur, according to a definite priority to be determined by the commission at the time of their selection. 4. A conference thus selected may upon request by the commission be called together at any time and place that the commission may designate, provided, that each member of said conference shall be given at least ten days' notice of such meeting and at the time of serving such notice shall be pro- Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 99 vided with a copy of the report of the findings of the commis- sion in its investigation of the wages and conditions of labor of women and minors in the trade or industry for which the conference is called, and shall serve until discharged by the commission. 5. When the conference is called to order by the chairman, it shall deliberate under parliamentary law and no question shall be discussed that is not germane to the conditions of labor or cost of living of working women or minors as applied to that particular trade or industry. Roberts' Rules of Order shall govern. 6. The Commission may at its discretion fill any vacancies that may occur in its conferences. 7. The conference in its deliberations shall proceed on the principle established by the commission that a minimum wage or condition of labor of women and minors shall be general throughout the state as to the particular trade or industry affected wherever same shall be established. 8. The chair shall not permit the discussion of the ques- tion as a whole until after each item of the cost of living has been taken up in the order given in the estimate blanks prepared by the commission, unless otherwise directed by a majority vote of the conference. After proper deliberation and discus- sion of questions that have been presented to the conference by the commission, the conference shall then, upon request of the commission, proceed to make recommendations upon such ques- tions as the commission may designate. 9. The members of the conference so selected shall be paid their actual traveling and hotel expenses while attending said conference (out of the regular appropriation set aside by the legislature) provided that evidence of such expense be filed with the commission and sworn to in the manner provided by law, and it is further provided that before being allowed, said expenses are to be approved by the commission. 10. The secretary of the commission or a shorthand re- porter shall be present at each conference and shall record the 100 State of Washington minutes of the meetings, and shall be ex-ofpcio secretary of said conference. 11. No member of the conference shall be entitled to speak more than twice on any subject, or more than five minutes at a time, except by unanimous consent of the conference. 12. The Commission may amend, modify or suspend, by a two-thirds vote, any of the foregoing rules or regulations. INDUSTRIAL WELFARE COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON. Dated at Olympia, Washington, this 10th day of March, A. D. 1914. EDWARD W. OLSON, Chairman. MRS. W. H. UDALL. MRS. FLORENCE H. SWANSON. MRS. JACKSON SILBAUGH. M. H. MARVIN. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission l(5l MINIMUM WAGES FOR WOMEN. CHAPTER 174. An Act to protect the lives, health, morals of women and minor workers, establishing an industrial welfare commission for women and minors, prescribing its powers and duties, and providing for the fixing of minimum wages and the standard condition of labor for such workers and providing penalties for violation of the same, and making an appropriation therefor. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Washington : The welfare of the State of Washington demands that women and minors be protected from conditions of labor which have a pernicious effect on their health and morals. The State of Washington, therefore, exercising herein its police and sovereign power declares that inadequate wages and unsanitary conditions of labor exert such pernicious effect. Sec. 2. Prohibiting Employment Under Certain Conditions. It shall be unlawful to employ women or minors in any indus- try or occupation within the State of Washington under condi- tions of labor detrimental to their health or morals ; and it shall be unlawful to employ women workers in any industry within the State of Washington at wages which are not adequate for their maintenance. Sec. 3. Establish Standards of Wages. There is hereby created a commission to be known as the "Industrial Welfare Commission" for the State of Washington, to establish such standards of wages and conditions of labor for women and minors employed within the State of Washington, as shall be held hereunder to be reasonable and not detrimental to health and morals, and which shall be sufficient for the decent maintenance of women. Sec. 4. Appointment of Commission — Commissioner of Labor to Be Ex-Officio Member. Said commission shall be composed of five persons, four of whom shall be appointed by the governor, as follows : The first 102 State of Washington appointments shall be made within thirty (30) days after this act takes effect; one for the term ending January 1st, 1914; one for the term ending January 1st, 1915; one for the term ending January 1st, 1916; and one for the term ending Janu- ary 1st, 1917 : Provided, however, That at the expiration of their respective terms, their successors shall be appointed by the governor to serve a full term of four years. No person shall be eligible to appointment as commissioner hereunder who is, or shall have been at any time within five years prior to the date of such appointment- a member of any manufacturers' or employers' association or of any labor union. The governor shall have the power of removal for cause. Any vacancies shall be filled by the governor for the unexpired portion of the term in which the vacancy shall occur. The Commissioner of Labor of the State of Washington shall be ex-officio member of the commission. Three members of the commission shall constitute a quorum at all regular meetings and public hearings. Sec. 5. Commission to Serve Without Compensation — Secretary Al- lowed Salary. The members of said commission shall draw no salaries. The commission may employ a secretary, whose salary shall be paid out of the moneys hereinafter appropriated. All claims for expenses incurred by the commission shall, after approval by the commission, be passed to the state auditor for audit and payment. Sec. 6. Duties of Commission. It shall be the duty of the commission to ascertain the wages and conditions of labor of women and minors in the various occupations, trades and industries in which said women and minors are employed in the State of Washington. To this end, said commission shall have full power and authority to call for statements and to examine, either through its members or other authorized representatives, all books, pay rolls or other records of all persons, firms and corporations employing females or minors as to any matters that would have a bearing upon the Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 103 question of wages of labor or conditions of labor of said em- ployes. Sec. 7. Employers to Keep Records. Every employer of women and minors shall keep a record of the names of all women and minors employed by him, and shall on request permit the commission or any of its members or authorized representatives to inspect such record. Sec. 8. Minor Defined. For the purposes of this act a minor is defined to be a person of either sex under the age of eighteen (18) years. Sec. 9. Public Hearings — Power to Subpoena Witnesses. The commission shall specify times to hold public hearings, at which times employers, employes or other interested persons may appear and give testimony as to the matter under con- sideration. The commission shall have power to subpoena wit- nesses and to administer oaths. All witnesses subpoenaed by the commission shall be paid the same mileage and per diem allowed by law for witnesses before the superior court in civil cases. Sec. 10. Commission Empowered to Call Conference and Determine Mode of Procedure. If, after investigation, the commission shall find that in any occupation, trade or industry, the wages paid to female employes are inadequate to supply them necessary cost of living and to maintain the workers in health, or that the conditions of labor are prejudical to the health or morals of the workers, the com- mission is empowered to call a conference composed of an equal number of representatives of employers and employes in the occupation or industry in question, together with one or more disinterested persons representing the public ; but the represent- atives of the public shall not exceed the number of representa- tives of either of the other parties ; and a member of the com- mission shall be a member of such conference and chairman thereof. The commission shall make rules and regulations gov- erning the selection of representatives and the mode of proced- ure of said conference, and shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction 104 State of Washington over all questions arising as to the validity of the procedure and of the recommendations of said conference. On request of the commission, it shall be the duty of the conference to recom- mend to the commission an estimate of the minimum wage ade- quate in the occupation or industry in question to supply the necessary cost of living, and maintain the workers in health, and to recommend standards of conditions or labor demanded for the health and morals of the employes. The findings and recommendations of the conference shall be made a matter of record for the use of the commission. Sec. 11. Minimum Wage to Be Established. Upon the receipt of such recommendations from a conference, the commission shall review the same and may approve any or all of such recommendations, or it may disapprove any or all of them and recommit the subject or the recommendations disap- proved of, to the same or a new conference. After such approval of the recommendations of a conference the commission shall issue an obligatory order to be. effective in sixty (60) days from the date of said order, or if the commission shall find that unusual conditions necessitate a longer period, then it shall fix a later date, specifying the minimum wage for women in the occupation affected, and the standard conditions of labor for said women; and after such order is effective, it shall be unlawful for any em- ployer in said occupation to employ women over eighteen (18) years of age for less than the rate of wages, or under conditions of labor prohibited for women in the said occupation. The com- mission shall send by mail so far as practicable to each employer in the occupation in question a copy of the order, and each em- ployer shall be required to post a copy of said order in each room in which women affected by the order are employed. When such commission shall specify a minimum wage hereunder the same shall not be changed for one year from the date when such minimum wage is so fixed. Sec. 12. Conference May Be Re-opened by Petition. Whenever wages or standard conditions of labor have been made mandatory in any occupation, upon petition (if either em- Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 105 ployers or employes the commission may at its discretion re-open the question and re-convene the former conference or call a new one, and any recommendations made by such conference shall be dealt with in the same manner as the original recommendations of a conference. Sec. 13. Special License for Physical Disability. For any occupation in which a minimum rate has been estab- lished, the commission through its secretary may issue to a woman physically defective or crippled by age or otherwise, or to an apprentice in such class of employment or occupation as usually requires to be learned by apprentices, a special license authorizing the employment of such licensee for a wage less than the legal minimum wage ; and the commission shall fix the minimum wage for said person, such special license to be issued only in such cases as the commission may decide the same is applied for in good faith and that such license for apprentices shall be in force for such length of time as the said commission shall decide and determine is proper. Sec. 14. Extraordinary Power of Commission. The commission may at any time inquire into wages, and conditions of labor of minors, employed in any occupation in the state and may determine wages and conditions of labor suitable for such minors. When the commission has made such determination in the cases of minors it may proceed to issue an obligatory order in the manner provided for in section 11 of this act, and after such order is effective it shall be unlawful for any employer in said occupation to employ a minor for less wages than are specified for minors in said occupation, or under conditions of labor prohibited by the commission for said minors in its order. Sec. 15. Statistics — How Obtained. Upon the request of the commission the Commissioner of Labor of the State of Washington shall furnish to the com- mission such statistics as the commission may require. 106 State of Washington Sec. 16. Employer Subject to Penalty if Employe Is Discharged for Testifying. Any employer who discharges, or in any other manner dis- criminates against any employe because such employe has testi- fied or is about to testify, or because such employer believes that said employe may testify in any investigation or proceed- ings relative to the enforcement of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of from twenty -five dollars ($25.00) to one hundred dollars ($100.00) for each such misdemeanor. Sec. 17. Penalty for Violation of Act. Any person employing a woman or minor for whom a mini- mum wage or standard conditions of labor have been specified, at less than said minimum wage, or under conditions of labor prohibited by the order of the commission ; or violating any other of the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100.00). Sec. 17[/2- Commission May Be Requested to Investigate. Any worker or the parent or guardian of any minor to whom this act applies may complain to the commission that the wages paid to the workers are less than the minimum rate and the commission shall investigate the same and proceed under this act in behalf of the worker. Sec. 18. Employe Entitled to Recover in Civil Action. If any employe shall receive less than the legal minimum wage, except as hereinbefore provided in section 13, said employe shall be entitled to recover in a civil action the full amount of the legal minimum wage as herein provided for, together with costs and attorney's fees to be fixed by the court, notwithstanding any agreement to work for such lesser wage. In such action, however, the employer shall be credited with any wages which have been paid upon account. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 107 Sec. 19. Appeals. All questions of fact arising under this act shall be deter- mined by the commission and there shall be no appeal from its decision upon said question of fact. Either employer or em- ploye shall have the right of appeal to the superior court on questions of law. Sec. 20. Report to Governor. The commission shall bienially make a report to the governor and state legislature of its investigations and proceedings. Sec. 21. Appropriation. There is hereby appropriated annually out of any moneys of the state treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) or as much thereof as may be necessary to meet the expenses of the commission. (Chap. 174, Laws 1913.) Passed the Senate February 21, 1913. Passed the House March 12, 1913. Approved by the Governor March 24, 1913. 108 State of Washington OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. Olympia, Wn, October 24, 1913. Hon. E. W. Olson, Chairman of Industrial Welfare Commission, Olympia, Washington. Dear. Sir : I am in receipt of your letter as follows : "I desire to obtain your opinion upon the following points, relative to the powers of the Industrial Welfare Commission for the State of Washington, as established by Chapter 174, Laws 1913, State of Washington : "(1) In the event that any conference called by the com- mission shall find the health or morals of women or minors to be perniciously affected by the employment of said women or minors in any industry (a) for a number of hours per day or week not specifically prohibited by the Eight Hour Law, or (b) during a period of each twenty-four hours not at present specifically prohibited by law ; and in the event that such con- ference shall recommend to this commission that such number or arrangement of hours be changed, does the power reside in this commission to issue an obligatory order embodying such recommendation ? "(2) In the event that the cost of maintenance for women workers shall be found to vary in different parts of the state, does the power reside in this commission, upon the recommenda- tion of any conference, to issue an obligatory order which shall specify different wage minimums in different parts of the state for women workers in the same industry or occupation?" First. In my opinion chap. 174 of the Laws of 1913 does not repeal chap. 37 of the Laws of 1911, commonly known as the "eight hour law for women." It would seem, therefore, that the commission has no power to issue an obligatory order em- bodying a recommendation of a conference as to the number of hours per day or week, or the number of hours within any twenty-four hours, women may be employed, where such women are within the terms of the eight hour law. Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 109 Second. From a careful reading of chap. 174, supra, it is my opinion that any order fixing a minimum wage for women must be general throughout the state as to the particular trade or industry affected. These questions, however, are by no means free from doubt, and if it is deemed advisable to enter orders in conflict with the conclusions above stated, I would suggest that such orders be entered, and the matter of the determination of their validity be left to the courts. Yours respectfully, W. V. Tanner, Attorney General. Olympia, Wn., January 13, 1914. Hon. E. W. Olson, Chairman Industrial Welfare Commission, Olympia, Washington. Dear Sir : You have requested the opinion of this office upon the following question : "Does the power reside in this commission, in pursuance of the duties imposed upon it in section 10 of chapter 174, Laws of 1913, to determine and define what shall constitute an occupa- tion, trade or industry?" Section 10, chapter 174, Laws of 1913, provides in part as follows : "If, after investigation, the commission shall find that in any occupation, trade or industry, the wages paid to female employes are inadequate to supply them necessary cost of living and to maintain the workers in health, or that the conditions of labor are prejudicial to the health or morals of the workers, the commission is empowered to call a conference composed of an equal number of representatives of employers and employes in the occupation or industry in question, together with one or more disinterested persons representing the public; but the representatives of the public shall not exceed the number of representatives of either of the other parties ; and a member of the commission shall be a member of such conference and chairman thereof. * * *" No particular classification being directed by statute, it follows that the commission is authorized to exercise a reasonable 110 State of Washington discretion in making proper classifications for the purposes of investigations and conferences. You are advised that the commission has authority to make investigations and to determine and define, within reasonable bounds, what shall constitute an occupation, trade or industry for the purpose of investigations and conferences. We must not be understood as advising that the commission is authorized to make, or is justified in making, arbitrary classifications or dis- tinctions, so as to include within such classifications or defini- tions, occupations, trades or industries having obviously no reasonable relation one to the other. Yours respectfully, Scott Z. Henderson, Assistant Attorney General. Olympia, Wn., January 13, 1914. Hon. E. W. Olson, Chairman Industrial Welfare Commission, Olympia, Washington. Dear Sir : We are in receipt of your request, which is as fol- lows : "I desire to request from you whether or not under the pro- visions of section 13, chapter 174, Laws of 1913, it shall be necessary for this commission to submit to a conference for its recommendations the question of the adoption of rules to be fol- lowed in issuing through the secretary of the commission to a woman physically defective or crippled by age or otherwise, or to an apprentice in such class of employment or occupation as usually requires to be learned by apprentices, a special license au- thorizing the employment of such licensee for a wage less than the legal minimum wage." Section 13, chapter 174, Laws of 1913, provides : "For any occupation in which a minimum rate has been established the commission through its secretary may issue to a woman physically defective or crippled by age or otherwise, or to an apprentice in such class of employment or occupation as usually requires to be learned by apprentices, a special license authorizing the employment of such licensee for a wage less than the legal minimum wage; and the commission shall fix Report of Industrial Welfare Commission 111 the minimum wage for said person, such special license to be issued only in such cases as the commission may decide the same is applied for in good faith and that such license for ap- prentices shall be in force for such length of time as the said commission shall decide and determine is proper." No reference is made in said section to a conference, and no- where in the act is there provision made for submitting to the conference for its recommendation the question of the adoption of rules to be followed with reference to the provisions of sec- tion 13, supra. You are, therefore, advised that the matter of the license referred to in said section is within the discretion of the com- mission, subject to no condition with reference to recommenda- tions of a conference, except that a minimum rate must have been established for such occupation. Yours respectfully, Scott Z. Henderson, Assistant Attorney General. I I RETURN Government Documents Department TO— ■+► 350 Main Library 642-2568 LOAN PERIOD 1 2 : I 4 5 < ' ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS DUE AS STAMPED BELOW AUTO 1 i r fill AV 9 1ftrt % HAHGE MAY «5 l99 KEW IN DQCS pFFT HI 1 3 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY FORM NO. DD7. 68m. I /82 BERKELEY, CA 94720 (taylord Bros. Makers Syracuse, N. V PUT- JAN. 21. 19D8 U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 00251^776 285685 UNIVERSITY Or CALIFORNIA LIBRARY