B ^ b7b a-?^ OEPT.. GIFT NOV 4 1915 REPORT OF THE Senate Wage Commission FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI TO THE Senate of the 48th General Assembly OF MISSOURI ' 1915 REPORT OF THE SENATE WAGE COMMISSION FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI TO THE Senate of the 48th General Assembly OP MISSOURI "-^'^c^ciC*' 1915 \A^ Jeffersoj^ City The Hugh Stephens Co. Printers ,\Ft I 2,500 copies ordered printed. W. A. NORMAN, Secretary. February 4, 1915. 320775 REPORT MADE BY THE SENATE WAGE COM- MISSION FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI. (The Senate Wage Commission was chosen on a resolution introduced in the Senate by Michael Kinney for the purpose of determining the wages paid working women in Missouri, with a view to determining the advisability of securing a minimum wage. The committee as appointed consisted of Michael Kinney, chairman, of St. Louis; Lieut. Gov. W. R. Painter, of Carrollton; Francis M. Wilson of Platte City; W. W. Green of Kansas City; Thomas B, Whitledge of St. Mary's, and George D. Gates of Southwest City. Senator Wilson resigned and Thomas J. Lysaught of St. Joseph was chosen to take his place. The commission held sessions in St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Springfield, and Joplin. Four hundred witnesses were examined.) To the Senate of the Forty-Eighth General Assembly: The Senate Wage Commission begs leave to submit to your honorable body the following report. An investigation was made into the wages paid, conditions under which girls work, number of years they attended school, length of time they have been employed and whether they were earning enough for self-support in factories, department stores, laundries and all other industries where women are employed. Evidence was submitted willingly by all girl employees and by the employers in all lines of work investigated. The commission is indebted to George B. Mangold, director of the School of Economy of Washington University, who with Miss Anne M. Evans, former special agent of the Federal Labor Bureau, under authority from the commission, made an auxil- iary investigation into the wages, cost of living and conditions of labor of women in the manufacturing industries of St. Louis. Miss Mary E. Bulkley also rendered the commission valuable service. Probably 60,000 women and girls, not including serv- ants, are employed in the cities of the state. Of this number probably 10,000 are earning their own living. Thousands of these girls and women are not earning enough to properly feed and clothe them. Many showed evidences of tuberculosis and other diseases, due undoubtedly to condi- tions under which they are forced to work. ' • : 6 [48 Girls in some in-scartces are taken from school at the age of 14 and put to work in the commercial world to help support father, mother, brother or sister. The employers of these girls cannot shirk all responsi- bility. Neither can the state. There ought to be remedial legislation— either by a law fixing a minimum wage for women and girls or by the establishment of a wage board to adjust the pay of women in various parts of the state to insure for them an income sufficient at least to clothe and feed them properly. In our judgment a commission with power to fix wages, in the various occupations and to gracle same, from beginner to the expert would be best. The minimum cost of living for girls, according to the best estimates obtainable, is $8.53 per week in St, Louis, $8.50 per week in Kansas City, and probably $8 per week in the smaller cities of the state. The minimum wage fixed in Oregon is $8.28 per week; in Minnesota $8.65 per week; and in Wisconsin $8.50 per week. /In the last ten years the increase in food prices has been from fifty to one hundred per cent while the increase in wages paid girls and women has not been to exceed ten per cent, save in specific cases. Thousands of girls in the state are existing on $4.50 to $5 per week. Few of those who testified hardly knew how they did it. For the most part employers are taking an interest in the welfare of their employees, but the heads of several firms in St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Joplin and Springfield, ad- mitted they paid no attention to the welfare of the girls employed by them. The fine system still prevailed in many institutions. This is notably true of mercantile establishments in Joplin and one or two in St. Louis. Stools are provided in practically all stores ostensibly placed there that girls may rest when not busy, but they are rarely used for the reason that the employees do not deem it "advisable" and because they are told it is "unbusinesslike." Conditions of contract shops are not good. Old buildings, cheap and bad locations, poor light, and unsanitary conditions naturally bring disease and workers plainly show the results. There is little work in unsanitary homes. Mutual aid associations are maintained in many depart- ment stores. To these associations the employee pays 25 cents a month. In Joplin, fines collected go into this fund. 48] 7 ■ In all of the larger department stores throughout the state, rest rooms are provided. In some places these rest rooms are pleasantly furnished and for this the management deserves praise. Cash girls and bundle wrappers are started in department stores at $2.50 to $3 per week. In nearly every other line of work where women are employed, beginners are paid $4 per week. Just how employers arrive at the pay of beginners re- mains inexplainable, save that it appears to be a custom. Sales- ladies in department stores average from $6 to $9 in all parts of the state. In a few stores the amount of the wage of sales- ladies is determined by a percentage of the sales made. The average wage of nutpickers is $8.80 according to pay- rolls submitted, although several girls employed in this work in St. Louis testified they earned as low as $3 and $4 per week. Paper box makers average $7.60 per week. Beginners are paid $4 per week. Girls in candy factories are started at $4.50 and $5 per week. The work is piecework. Testimony showed the work is nerve- racking owing to the rapidity with which they are compelled to move. In the ten cent stores, $6 and $7 appear to be the maximum wage paid with one or two exceptions. The testimony of managers was that $4 was all they can afford to pay beginners. In laundry work women are paid as low as $4,50. It is common for girls to faint at work in the summer owing to the heat. Conditions of laundries in Kansas City are apparently better than they are in other parts of the state. Machine operators in envelope factories, turning out from 65,000 to 80,000 envelopes daily receive $6 to $7 per week. Girls injured in one St. Louis envelope factory have been sent to the city dispensary. Cordage mill workers average $6.62 per week. Compe- tition in the East controls this wage. Tobacco workers are paid from $9 to $10 per week, after they gain experience. Factory shirtmakers are started at $3 per week, and ex- perienced makers earn from $7 to $8.50 per week. Waitresses are paid from $4.50 to $7 a week, and tips run from 50 cents to $1 a day. One restaurant in St. Joseph and one in St. Louis were found to be working their girls more than nine hours per day. At the City Club in St. Louis, women are paid on an average of $7 per week. 8 [48 Scrubwomen in the office buildings of St. Louis and Kansas City are paid on an average of $5 per week. The irregularity of employment is an important factor in the annual wage income of girls, and while the wage received per w^eek for the weeks worked may be sufficient to properly feed and clothe the employees for those weeks, yet the total annual income is insufficient. That is a matter which only the employers can adjust. The better feeling existing between the employer and em- ployee brings better results for the employer. Out of a total of 215 employees in five establishments visited, 17 or 7.9 per cent of the total number received an average wage of less than $3 per week, 70 of 32.55 per cent of the total number employed received an average wage of less than $5 per week, 115 or 53.48 per cent of the total number received an average of less than $7 per week, while tw^o-thirds received a weekly wage of less than $8. One factory — factory No. 36 — visited is on the fifth floor of an old building. The ground floor entrance is on a side street and the only elevator for the six or seven floors is a large freight elevator. There was a great deal of waste paper or combustible matter on the floors and around the ground floor entrance. Windows on two sides of the large work room, a part of which is partitioned off and used as the employer's office, furnish insufficient light for those working away from the windows so that artificial light had to be used most of the time. No system of ventilation is used, and consequently the air is extremely bad. No provisions are made for adequate lunch rooms, the employees eating at their machines. Skirts and one piece dresses are made there. The factory operates nine hours a day except on Saturdays, when it closes at 12:30. One half hour is allowed for luncheon. This factory had a total of 84 employees, 7 or 8.33 per cent of the total number received an average wage of less than $3 per week, and worked for a period of one to eight weeks during the year, 30 or 35 per cent of the total number of employees received an average wage of less than $5 a week, and worked for a period of from one to 24 weeks, 50 or 59.02 per cent of the total number received an average wage of less than $7 per week and worked for a period of from one to 48 weeks during the year. Seventeen or 20.23 per cent worked for a period of less than five weeks. 49 or 58.33 per cent worked for a period of less 48] 9 than 25 weeks, 25 of 29.76 per cent of the total number worked for a period of 45 weeks and over. The period covered by the pay- roll was 48 weeks. Factory No, 24, a shirt factory visited, is situated on the fourth floor of a fairly sanitary building. The workroom occupies part of the floor, the other half being rented to another firm. The ventilation is poor. Artificial light is necessary for those working away from windows. The factory operates nine hours a day except on Saturday when it closes at one o'clock. This factory employes 69 women, ten of them receive less than $3 per week, and work for a period of from one to ten weeks, 27 receive an average of less than $5 per week and worked for a period of from one to four weeks, 40 received an average wage of less than $7 per week and work during a period of from one to 24 weeks, 23 of the total number employed work for a period of less than 5 weeks, 45 work for a period of less than 25 weeks, 5 work for a period of from 49 to 52 weeks. Factory No. 40 visited. It is located on the third floor of a comparatively new building. The sanitation and general physi- cal • conditions are good. The workroom is divided into two rooms by a partition. Twenty machines are operated. There are windows on only one side of the room. No separate lunch room is supplied. Shirt waists are made in this factory. The employers said there is no home work done, for he did not trust his employees to take their work home. He said it was difficult to get skilled labor and he always is in need of workers. Most of the women employed had been there for years. Two vacations are given without pay during the slack summer months. No employe received an average wage of less than $4 a week. Three of the total number employed received an average wage of less than $5 a week and worked during a period of from one to sixteen weeks. Five of the 20 employed received an average wage of less than $7 and worked during the period of from one to 48 weeks. One employee worked during the period of less than . five weeks, five worked less than 25 weeks, and 8 worked from 49 to 52 weeks. Factory No. 11 visited. It is located on the third floor of an old residence building. It is with difficulty that the insecure wooden stairway is ascended as the stairway is used as a store- room for boxes and lumber. Only seven operators are employed. The floor is unswept, but the general sanitary conditions are not worse than are found in such factories. No artificial lighting 10 [48 is required. Only petticoats are made. The factory operates 49 hours per week. None of the employees received under $5 a week, but five of the seven received less than $7 per week. None of the employees worked less than five weeks. One worked about 8 weeks, two worked 25, and one worked the entire year. Factory No. 48 visited, is located in a congested district where many factories are located. The machines are arranged in two rows in a long narrow room with windows in the ends only. The room is well supplied with electric lights which are burning even at noonday. Ventilation is inadequate, although boards are placed in the windows which would provide a good system, but the employer said the women objected if the windows were opened. Only girls who live at home are employed, 35 women are employed. None receive less than $3 per week. Ten received less than $5 per week, and worked during a period of from 9 to 52 weeks. Fifteen received less than $7 per week, and worked during a period of from 9 to 52 weeks. None of the employees worked less than 9 weeks. 8 worked during a period of less than 25 weeks, 7 worked for the full year. From two factories visited it was possible to obtain the exact number of days worked and lost by each employee. The table showing these figures follows: EMPLOYEES RECEIVING Factories listed. Under $3.00 $3 to $3.99 $4 to $4.99 $5 to $5.99 $6 to $6.99 $7 to $7.99 $8 to $8.99 $9 to $9.99 $10 to $11.99 $12 & over Total Factory 45 Factory 55 31 29 2 29 2 25 6 23 29 19 34 20 19 21 13 16 3 4 217 108 Totals. . . 31 31 31 31 52 53 39 34 19 4 325 Of the 325, 31 received under |3 per week, 93 under $5 and 176 under $7. Underwear factory No. 45 visited, is controlled by a strong corporation. It is on the seventh floor of a large building and employs 217 women, the walls and ceiling are white. The material piled high beside the machines is white. Large windows on three sides permit of much natural light. Electric lights are kept burning most of the time. Every worker at the ma- chines is keyed to the quickest production. She moves with a nervous tension from which she cannot relax. The deadening noise of wheels, the clamp of button stampers, the needles being 48] 11 driven through the cloth, the whir of the plaiting machines fill the air with vibrations which make conversations difficult. The girls are piece workers. No lunch room is provided. The girls eat lunches at the machines. Factory No. 6 visited, operated 301 days a year and em- ploys 217 women. Thirty-one receive an average weekly wage less than $3 and work from 1 to 48 days. Eighty-nine receive an average weekly wage less than $5 and work from 1 to 301 days. One hundred and thirty-seven receive an average wage of less than $7 and work from one to 301 days, 73 work less than 25 days, 122 work less than 145 days, and 29 work from 289 to 301 days. Factory No. 55 visited is on the Consumers' League white list. Conditions are good. Only silk petticoats are made. The workers are under a greater strain than in the small factories. The factory occupies one large square room on the fifth floor. There is an office and small rest room on the same floor. The machines are arranged in four rows across the room. Workers are paid by the week. The raising of the wage rests largely with the forewoman. Payrolls show that much home work is done. Payrolls show that some workers work seven days a week. Factory No. 7 visited had 108 employees and operated 304 days. None of the employees received less than $3 a week. Four received less than $5, working from 1 to 106 days during the year. Thirty-nine received less than $7 working from 1 to 304 days. Eleven worked less than 25 days, 53 less than 145 days. Two for a period of 267 to 282 days and 2 for 304 days. PAYROLLS OF FIVE FACTORIES. EMPLOYEES RECEIVING Under $5.00. $5 to $6.99. $7 to $8.99. $9 and over. Number of factory. No. Percent. No. Percent. No. Percent. No. Percent. 36 9 6 20 23.07 10 2 3 18 18 22.22 7.69 18.75 16.51 26.09 11 4 4 25 29 24.44 15.38 25 22.93 42.03 15 14 9 45 18 33.33 24 59.83 40 57.25 45 21 4 19.27 5.67 41.29 55 26.09 12 [48 Forty-four women, or 8.14 per cent of the total number for whom the payrolls were obtained were visited. The women visited were chosen chiefly on account of their low wages. Only 7, or 16 per cent of the 44 were adrift, the remaining 37 being girls living at home or married women living with their children. Four of the 44 were married, of whom 2 were widows and 2 had separated from their husbands; the remaining 40, or 90.9 per cent were single. Sixteen or 36.3 per cent of the total number of women were of German parentage. Two, or 12.5 per cent were born in Germany, the remaining 14 were born in the United States. Fourteen, or 31.8 per cent were native Americans, 4 were Russian Jews, 4 were Bohemians, 2 were Irish, 2 were Roumanian Jews. There was a Polish Jew and 1 Hungarian. Thirty-three, or 75 per cent of the total number were under 24 years of age, 19, or 43 per cent were under 20 years of age. One girl began w^ork at the age of 13, and 11, or 25 per cent of the total number, began at the age of 14. One-half of the number began work under 16 years of age, and 10 were 16 years old. The average weekly wage of the 44 women visited was $6.03. Thirty-four received an average weekly wage of less than $7, 13 less than $5. The average yearly earnings were $263.82. Twenty-eight received an average yearly wage less than $300. No one of the 44 women visited received as much as $400 per year. Four could neither read nor write and had never attended school. Of these, one was a German, one a Rus- sian Jewess, and 2 Roumanian Jewesses. Twenty had attended school eight years and over. Eight had been at school 6 years. One had worked in the same factory 12 years and is now getting an average weekly wage of $6. She lives with a married sister whom she pays $2.50 for board. Another aged 36 averages $5 a week and is the main support of her father and mother. A married sister and brother help her. Reports from 190 factory women showed 160 are single, 20 are married, 8 widows and 2 separated. Twenty-nine out of 179 are between 16 and 18 years of age. The average age is 21.59 years, the oldest being 59. Resolutions have been adopted by various organizations over the state favoring the creation of a minimum wage com- mission for Missouri. The Federation of Women's Clubs has written the commission that it is anxious to aid in furthering the measure before the Legislature. 48] 13 Women School Teachers. Figures submitted to the commission show that women school teachers throughout the state are greatly underpaid. It would be a pity if they were to be omitted in the considera- tion of what is a just wage for women. In many places over the state they are earning as low as $5, $6 and $7 a week on a yearly basis. Certainly they are entitled to much better pay if they are competent to teach children. While the commission was sitting in St. Louis members of the Illinois Wage Commission visited the Missouri commission and gave splendid aid in certain lines of investigation, particu- larly in the shoe industry. At the Kansas City meeting, men and %vomen interested in the betterment of working girls of Kansas, attended the session and numerous inquiries have been received from all over the United States concerning the in- vestigation. Unemployment. The question of unemployment as shown by figure wherein presented show: 1. Only a small percentage of the total number of em- ployes \vork over eleven months per year. 2. A comparatively large group are included as casual workers, that is, those who work under four weeks at one estab- lishment. 3. In factories where a system of keeping the number of hours worked a week prevails, the limit is seldom, if ever, reached. 4. Where a time rate exists, the number of hours lost per week reduces the wage received very materially. 5. The annual wage (which represents the living wage) depends upon the control of unemployment as it does upon the rate of pay per week. 6. Only about 24.9 per cent of all workers whose payrolls were secured for one year worked the full time, and of this number the annual wage in nearly all cases falls in the $300 and $400 groups. . Twenty-three corporations employ 91.18 per cent of all female help on the men's clothing industry. This is an important fact in any legislation in the control of wages both as to the kind of legislative enactment as well as method of enforcement, 14 [48 since corporations secure their right of existence from the state. Pay rolls show that the large number of women workers in this industry receiving under $7 per week are employed by these corporations. In this' number are included 63 girls under 16 years of age, 57 of whom receive $5 per week. There is a direct relation between the employment of women and organizing as a corporation. In establishments employing women the greater the number of employees the greater the tendency to incorporate. Corporations pay a larger proportion of their employes under $7 per week than do estab- lishments organized as individual concerns or partnerships. The welfare of women in this industry, therefore, is dependent upon conditions existing in the corporations. Among the manufacturing industries, the manufacturer of men's clothing ranks fifth in the value of product and first in the number of women employed. In the manufacture of women's clothing, the number of women employed ranks third. It is the large establishments which will be most directly affected by the establishment of a minimum wage. There is practically no reason why, from an economic standpoint, a firm employing 100 women should be forced to underpay its women more than a firm employing 40 women. It is this class of employers, owning medium-sized establishments, which will either become more efficient, or go into other lines of work, or drop out entirely if the workers are organized to the best advantage, and only a reasonable amount of profit is realized. Concerning these smaller establishments, of which 20 employed less than 5 women and 5 pay all their women less than $7, it appears that these are the establishments which are the remains of the domestic system and only by underpaying are they able to compete with the larger factory. And if this be the condition, for the good of society, it would be better that these smaller shops be eliminated. Conditions in Other States. Your commission also by letter made inquiry into women's wage conditions in other states. We find that minimum wage orders are in effect at present in the United States, in Utah through statute, and in Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Massachusetts, through the orders of wage boards and com- 48] 15 missions. California has adopted minimum wage legislation, but the law is not yet in effect. There has also been legislation looking toward a minimum wage for women in Michigan, New York and Nebraska. The Utah scale provides: Minors not less than 75 cents a day; apprentices not less than 90 cents per day; women not less than $1.25 per day. The Washington commission has ordered a minimum wage as follows: For mercantile establishments, $10; factories, 18.90; laundry and telephones, |9. The minimum for workers under 18 years of both sexes is $6 in all industries. The Oregon commission has ordered for Portland manu- facturing establishments wages of $8.64 per week for adult and experienced women; $9.25 for Portland Mercantile establish- ments; $40 per month for Portland office workers; and $8.25 for all the industries of the state. In Minnesota the commission issued its first order in November, 1914. It fixes the remuneration of women of ordinary ability in mercantile, telephone and office work at $9 a week in cities of the first class; $8.50 in cities of the second, third, and fourth classes; and $8 per week in all other parts of the state. In manufacturing, laundry and restaurant work the rates are 25 cents less than the above in the cities, but never less than $8 per week. The constitutionality of the law has been attacked. The only Massachusetts order issued applies to the brush making industry and fixes the minimum wage at 15 3^ cents per hour, with a rate of 65 per cent of this figure beginners. This is expected to yield about $8 per week. The National Harvester Company has fixed a minimum wage of $8 per week for its women workers in Missouri. The Montgomery Ward & Co., a mail order department house, has fixed a minimum wage of $7.50 for its women employes. .:■?■ 5^ "-».» 16 [48 ST. LOUIS MEETINGS. The first session of the commission was held in St. Louis, May 20, but the taking of testimony did not begin until May 2L Witnesses were chosen from factory and store without regard to a studied effort to obtain the highest paid or the lowest paid girl. ' In this manner a splendid average of wages received by girls and women was obtained. Hearings were held in Parlor B, Planters Hotel. Questions were asked by all members of the commission with Senator Michael Kinney as Chairman. It was decided to withhold the names of girls giving testimony to avoid an^^ humiliation attached to those called concerning wages and dress, board, etc. The first line of investigation taken up was into the nut- picking industry in down-town factories. Miss Mary Bulkley, chairman of the Industrial Relations Committee of the Central Council of Social Agencies was first heard. Miss Bulkley said the nut pickers — women who remove the nut kernels from the shells — were among the lowest paid women workers in St. Louis. Cash girls were the next lowest paid. Miss Bulkley had made a personal investigation only into the working conditions and wages of the scrub women in the various local office buildings. All her other information was furnished through other investigators. She said the scrub women received from $20 to $30 a month working from 5 a. m. until 9 a. m., and from 5 p. m. until dark. They are forced, she said, to pay 20 cents a day carfare, owing to their split hours, and were away from home in the morn- ing and evening during the hours when meals were prepared. Most of the women were mothers, she said, and it usually fell upon the oldest child in the family to prepare the breakfast and dinner during her absence. Miss Bulkley urged the commission to take up an investiga- tion into the wages paid the telegraph messenger boys, but was told that the scope of the investigation was limited to women and girls. 48] 17 Session of May 21. The first girl worker to be called was an employee of the R. M. Funsten Dried Fruit and Nut Company. She was designated as witness "A." Witness "A" (single) testified she had been employed at Funsten's a year and a half and her average earnings had been 75 to 80 cents a day until she became an expert, after which she earned $7 to $9 weekly. In the busy season she said she earned $10 a week. The surroundings of the shop were all right, she said, and none of the employes had any fault to find on that score. The price for picking nuts previous to Christmas is 9 to 11 cents per pound. After Christmas it is cut to 8 cents. She lives at home. She was unable to give an estimate of her expenses, or the cost of her clothing, or the amount of her savings. Witness "B" (married) from the Funsten concern said she could support herself on $8 or $9 a week, though it depended largely on "how the girls wanted to dress" as to their living ex- penses. She received help from her husband. Witness "C" (single) said she averaged $10 a week at the Funsten plant. She lived with her parents, but declared she could support herself on $5 a week and dress as well as she wanted to dress. She ate ten cent lunches down town, and spent but 40 cents for her Saturday night and Sunday meals at home. She lived 20 blocks from the factory and seldom used the street cars. "But all working girls can't live as cheap as I do," she said. "Some of them want finer clothes." E. M. Funsten, vice-president of the R. M. Funsten Dried Fruit and Nut Company, was the first employer to testify. He said his firm employs between 300 and 500 girls and women to pick pecan nuts all the year round. The employees are paid by the piece and their earnings depend upon their dexterity in extracting the kernels whole. Broken kernels are not paid for. The price paid is 8 cents a pound. In answer to Senator Wilson he said employes earn as high as $15 and $20 a week in the busy season, but he could not furnish the names of those earning that amount. The lowest earnings was $3 a week. The average earnings, between $8 and $9. A good many earned not more than $4. 48 — 2 18 [48 "The girls that earn 34 a week," asked Senator Wilson, "do they live at home or do they board?" "I don't know." "Don't you ask them where they live or how?" "No, it is nothing to us where they live or how they spend their money. We employ them to pick nuts and pay them what they earn." "You are not concerned with the surroundings or the welfare of the girls who work for these wages?" "No. It is their labor we are after. We have no time to inquire into their mode of living." "You regard them simply as human machines, whose labor you buy at so much per week?" "Well, we have no time to look up the records or the cir- cumstances of all the girls we employ. We look only after their efficiency in the work we want them to do." Mr. Funsten said that no girl earned as low as 31.50 or 32 a week. There is only one woman who earns as low as 33. Mrs. Harry January, secretary of the St. Louis Consumers League said she had made a study of working conditions in factories and shops in St. Louis, and had found them good in general. Some houses, she said, provided good surroundings, fair wages, and a moral atmosphere for their employes. It was not alone the small houses in which small wages and bad moral and sanitary conditions prevailed, she said. Nor was it in the large establishments that the better wages a nd conditions of work prevailed. Good conditions were found in one shop, and in another alongside, the opposite would be found. She said the lowest paid class of help in St. Louis was the cash girl, and her successor in large houses, the register girl. In some places these are paid as low as 32.50 a week. As a rule, she found the factory paid better wages than the shop. A comparison of wages in St. Louis and those in other cities, she said, revealed that St. Louis was not behind in women's wages. In New York the women are paid less than in St. Louis. Mrs. January preferred not to mention specific instances of houses here in which women are paid smaller wages than she thought they should be, and in which their surroundings were not up to the standard, physically and morally. In one instance, she said, a house, by the installation of an educational secretary to educate the women employes to 48] ' 19 greater efficiency in their work, had so increased their standard of efficiency that it raised the wages of its employes an average of 50 cents per week. Mrs. Kate Richards O'Hare, 3955 Castleman Avenue, magazine writer on social service working, testified that a mere existence wage for girls was approximately $8 a week. She had made actual tests as a waitress in restaurants, and in packing houses, telephone companies, department stores and other places. Mrs. O'Hare told the commission the wages paid cash girls to begin with in large stores is $2.50 per week, wrapping girls $3.50 per week and cashier^ $4 to $6 a week. Girls in five and ten cent stores were usually paid $4.50 and never more than $6 per week, she said. Waitresses made more money because they had their tips added to their salary. Packing houses paid the lowest, starting at $2.50 per week. Mrs. O'Hare estimated modest clothing for working girls at $80 per year not including laundry. She itemized the clothing account as follows: 4 Pairs of shoes a year $12.00 2 Hats, $5 each 10 . 00 2 Suits clothes, $12.50 each 25 . 00 Underwear 6 . 00 Corsets 3 . 00 Stockings 2 . 00 Miscellaneous articles, soap, toilet perfumes, etc 4.00 Gloves 4 . 00 Coat, which lasts two years 20.00 Board or light housekeeping in comfortable places costs $5.00 per week. Mrs. O'Hare made the statement that a young girl would get so tired of living alone, and cooking her own meals, that in six months she would get in such a condition that she could not eat and her health would fail. She declared that for a young girl to have the proper environment, taking into consideration her spiritual and mental welfare, it would require at least $9.50 per week, and if she laid aside money for sickness, $10 was the minimum. A woman 40 years old employed at the Paris Medicine Company at $5 a week, testified that she and her mother, a widow, bought all their provisions and what clothes they had to wear on her wages, after deducting 60 cents a week from the $5 for carfare. She explained her mother owned the home where they lived and raised vegetables in a garden. She esti- mated the lowest wage on which a girl could live at $9 a week. 20 • [48 Two other girls employed by the Paris Medicine Company testified that they were paid |4.50 per week and lived at home with their parents. They declared that they could not live on that amount if compelled to pay board. One of the girls said she had at least two suits a year costing $22.50 each. Session of May 22. E. M. Funsten, vice-president of the R. E. Funsten Dried Fruit and Nut Company, who testified May 21, appeared with his pay rolls for six months. These pay rolls showed his em- ployes earned an average of $8.80 a week during that period. Lieut. Gov. Painter asked Mr. Funsten what dividends his corporation paid last year, and Mr. Funsten refused to answer. Mr. Funsten denied the statement made by Miss Bulkley that nutpickers were the poorest paid class of help in the city. He said his pay rolls were evidence of the falsity of that charge. He said his employes are the best paid of any similar establish- ment in the country. Otto Moser, president of the Moser Cigar and Paper Box Company, employing 150 girls making paper boxes, gave his average wage as $7.60 per week. Wages of his girl employes are fixed by competition. He offered to increase wages provided his competitors would do the same. Girls are paid for piece work. . Moser's salary is $6200 a year; that of his son $1800. This is the total profits of the company which is capitalized at $12,000. He estimated his present plant worth between $35,000 and $40,000, having grown from $12,000 to its present value in 39 years. His company is a "family affair," with no outside stockholders. "Then your annual salary is equal to the pay of 100 of your girl employes for ten weeks?" asked Lieut. Gov. Painter of the commission. "Something like that," Moser replied. Moser Said that some employes had been working in his factory 25 years. "Of course, some of the older ones get so old that they are not as fast as when they began," Moser explained. "It takes the young ones to make the biggest wages. Some of the fastest girls make as high as $14 and $15 a week. We start the girls at $4 a week, but they are little things and it takes them about six months to earn more. All our girls live at home. The av- 48] 21 erage wage is about $7.60, not counting the little girls who are learning." Moser said at one time he employed girls at 25 cents a day. He pays about $1 now. His salary 39 years ago was $1000. "Then your increase in pay is out of proportion to what you have been paying your employes. You are making money a great deal faster than they are in proportion, aren't you'?' asked Lieut. Gov. Painter. "Well, I'm not in the business for my health. I am in it to make as much money as I can." "How do you arrive at the fact that the girls' services are worth only $4 a week when they begin? How do. you determine how much to pay these girls by the piece, so they will earn $7 or $8 a week?" "Well we figure what the machines will do when working at their capacity and what the price is to be when we sell our goods. I don't know whether the wages are right or wrong. Our prices seem to be the practice here in St. Louis." "What do you figure is the living wage for a girl?" "Oh, $7, $8 or $9 a week is good enough. I could live on that." Moser said that he formerly tried to fine the girls for spoil- ing boxes in the making, but had to abandon this, as the girls quit him. Henry C. Haeckel, manager National Candy Company's paper box factory testified he paid beginners $5 a week. He presented a statement showing the pay to be from $8 to $12 weekly. Girls work nine hours a day. Four girls testified they earned from $10 to $14 weekly in the National factory. All were stylishly dressed. Two young women, employed by the Moser Paper Box Company, said they were well pleased with their positions, had comfortable surroundings and were making $13 and $14 a week. Both lived with their parents. They began at $4.50 a week. One of the girls employed by the National Company said she made $5 a week when she first began. She said she had to work steady to make $10 a week. Another National Company girl said she earned an average of $9.15 a week, all of which she turned into the family treasury. She had been with the company for three years. Women employed as dish washers at the City Club are forced to walk from their homes at Twentieth and Wash Streets and 22 [48 Twelfth Street and Cass Avenue to the City Club at Ninth and Locust Streets, because their wages are not sufficient to allow them to pay carfare. Two women testified that they worked from 8 o'clock in the morning to 5 in the afternoon for $5 a week, and when called upon to work extra time at banquest, from 5 to 9 in the evening, received only 50 cents extra. One woman gets up before 6 in the morning to cook break- fast at home and prepare four children for school, and cooks their supper when she reaches home in the afternoon. Both are married. Floyd J. ^loan, manager of the City Club testified that he employed about 11 women and the average wage was about $30 a month, including two meals. Sloan said the lowest wages paid was $5 a week to the women washing dishes and the amount was the uniform wage paid by other restaurants and clubs. He said the highest wage paid to women employes was $40 a month for chief pastry cook. He declared the City Club was not a money-making institution. Mr. Sloan estimated a girl's living wage to be about $7.50 a week. To Senator Wilson's questions that he gave no thought to the girls' social conditions, he said he was interested in their welfare sufficiently to help them out if they would ask them and he thought they needed assistance. "Well, the fact is," replied Senator Wilson, "you look upon the girls merely as human machines to carry out the labors of the day." "That's about it, I suppose." "Well, if you could get a girl in the kitchen for 25 cents a day would you employ her?" "No. I don't think that would be right, as she would be capable of earning more. We pay what we imagine the work is worth." Witness said that he did not pay his employes every Sat- urday night, because they seemed satisfied with the twice a month plan. He said he saw no reason why the members of the City Club couldn't pay 55 cents for their lunch instead of 50 cents, and let the extra 5 cents go as increased wages to the kitchen girls. Men employes had asked for an increase in wages, but the girls had never done so. Six girls from the Kresge 5 and 10 cent store testified they lived at home and turned over their wages to the family. Two 48] 23 of the girls lived in East St, Louis and another in St. Louis County, and paid $1.20 a week carfare. They received from $4.50 to $6 a week wages. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "How long do you work daily?" "I go to work at 8.15 in the morning with three quarters of an hour for lunch, and quit at 6 o'clock at night. Saturdays I work until 6.30. "Doesn't the store close at noon Saturdays?" "No sir." "Do you pay board?" "No sir, I take all of the money I get, and give it to my mother." "Are you married?" "Yes, sir." "How much do you consider your board is worth?" "About $3 a week, I think." "How much do your clothes cost you?" "Maybe $50 a year. I guess about $1 a week." "If you had to pay for your room what would it cost you?" "One dollar, maybe $1.50." "Had you rather work in a store than in a factory?" "Yes, it is cleaner and better work." Another 5 and 10-cent store employe testified that she gives her mother $3 a week for board. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "How much do you spend for clothes?" "I don't know exactly, but I think about $3 a week." "Do you buy your own clothes?" "Yes, sir." "How much are you paid weekly?" "I get $4.50." "Is the work hard?" "Not very. You have to be quick. On Mondays, Wed- nesdays and Saturdays the work is heavier." One married woman, wife of a laborer, said her board cost her about $3 a week, clothing $1, carfare $1.20, house rent, $2.00. Her wages are $6 a week, the highest paid in the store. Her husband's wages go to make up the weekly deficit. Another girl living in St. Louis County received $4.50 a week. She lives with her parents, but pays $3.00 a week board. Her carfare costs her $1.20 a week, and her clothes $3.00 a week. 24 [48 A third girl examined from Kresge's received $5.00 a week. She has two brothers and two sisters all working. She turns in her wages to the family. Witness No. 18 was ashamed to tell what she received from the ten-cent store as wages. "We girls don't tell one another how much we get", she told the commission. "I get $5 now, but I used to get only $4." Witness No. 19 had been employed at Kresge's four weeks. It was the first job she ever had. Question by Chairman Kinney: "How much do you get?" "Four dollars a week but my sister gets $7 a week." J. F. Lang, manager of the Paris Medicine Company sub- mitted his payrolls that showed several girls to be earning §4 a week. "What do these girls do?" asked Senator Wilson. "They are mostly beginners," said Lang. "They pack medicine in bottles." "Do you ask them if they can support themselves on $4 a week?" "It is not our business to inquire how much they live on." "Do you think a girl can support herself on $4.00 a week?" "I don't pay any attention to that feature of it. Four dollars is all we can afford to pay for what they do." "You just hire them for the least you can get girls for?" "No, we could get plenty of girls for less, but we fix $4 as the lowest figure. Most of our girls average $6.00 a week, count- ing the extra wages we pay them twice a year." "Can they support themselves on that?" "Some of them can. Some of them can't, I suppose." Lang estimated that a girl ought to support herself on $5.50 a week. ' "How much would it cost a girl for room rent?" asked Chairman Kinney. Lang showed impatience and refused to answer. "I would like an answer," said Chairman Kinney. "The question is not fair," replied Lang. "Then you refuse to answer?" "I do," said Lang. One scrub woman at a department store testified that she worked from 8.30 a. m. to 6 p. m. for S5 a week, and was given coffee and rolls at 11 o'clock and dinner at 3 p. m. Her husband worked part of the time. They are nearly always in debt, she 48] 25 said. Out of her wages she paid 25c a month for medical aid. She lives close in and saves carfare. It developed that this is the average paid scrub women in department stores. Witnesses testified that 25 cents per month is taken from the wages of girls employed at Schaper Bros, department store. The first girl testified that she started in at $4.50 a week and was told that her sales would be raised according to what was sold. She reported that many never received the benefit of an increase for increased sales. Lieut. Gov. Painter asked her if a physician was maintained at the store. She replied that she was so informed, but never had seen him and never had been ill. Another employe of Schaper Bros, testified she started at $3.50 per week and at the end of two years was receiving $5.50 a week. She also said 25 cents a month was deducted from her wages for a sick benefit. Her lunches cost her $1 a week, carfare 60 cents. A girl called from Schaper Bros., said she worked there six weeks for $4.00 a week, and liked the place. She worked at a box factory before she went to Schapers and she liked the store better than the factory. "I used to get 25 cents for folding down 1000 boxes," she said. Lieut. Gov. Painter asked," Are there any stools behind the counters at Schapers where you can sit down and rest?" "Yes." "Are you warned against using them?" "No, sir." "Are you assessed for any benefits?" "Yes, they take 25 cents a month out of my pay every month for a doctor." "Would you rather work in a store than in a factory?" "Yes." Another girl called had worked at Schaper Bros, two years. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "How much did they pay you when you began?" Answer: "I got $3.50, but they pay me $5.50 now." Question: "Do you bring your lunch?" Answer: "No, I eat lunch at the store, it costs me 20 cents a day." Question: "Are you permitted to rest, by sitting back of the counter?" 26 [48 Answer: "They tell us that it is unbusinesslike, and don't want us to do it." She said she was working at 14 years of age as a cash girl at Nugents, and they paid her $2.50 a week. "They took 25 cents a month out of our pay for a doctor," she said. An elderly woman employed to clean up in the dining room at Schapers said she received $5 a week, and is supporting her- self and husband on that sum. "I used to get two good meals a day when I worked for the Grand Leader," she said, "but now, I get a lunch and one good meal." A girl from Plow's Candy factory testified she started in at $3.50 a week and after two years was receiving $5.50 a week. Question by Chairman Kinney: "What work do you do?" Answer: "I work in the 'Honey Boy' department. I used to work piece work, getting about $7 a week. The girls in the fme chocolates get from $7 to $9 a week. Question: "Do you make enough to support yourself?" Answer: "No, I don't think I do." Question: "Could you keep a little home on that?" Answer: "No, I could not." Question: "Do you expect to marry a man who can support you?" Answer: "I hope he makes more than $11 a week, whoever he is." Another girl from Plow's who had been married, testified: "If mother did not help take care of me and my baby, I could not live at all. She helps me, and I give her all I earn." Question by Chairman Kinney: "How much do you make?" Answer: "$6 a week." A girl from Blanke-Wennaker Candy Company estimated a living wage for women at $8. Question by Senator Cates: "How much do you get?" Answer: "I receive $5.50 per week." An employe of the Moser Paper Box factory testified she earned from $6 to $7 a week on piece work. Question by Senator Cates: "How much does it cost you to live?" Answer: "I pay my sister-in-law $3.50 a week, and help her a little with the work, when I am not too tired." Question: "How much do you spend for carfare?" 48] 27 Answer: "Nothing. I cannot afford to spend a nickel." Question: "How far do you walk?" Answer: "It takes me nearly an hour to get to work." She testified that she had worked at the Peters Shoe Factory where she had received $3.50 per week. Question by Chairman Kinney: "Why did you leave school?" Answer: "Why, I had to quit and go to work." Question: "How much could you live on?" Answer: "About $9 a week, I think." A 14-year old girl employed in the same box factory de- clared she had quit a place in a lamp factory and come to work in the box factory because labeling bulbs in the lamp factory was ruining her eyes. "You have to look right into the lamp and then you turn it off and you are in the dark," she explained, "And then when the light comes on again, your eyes hurt." It's lucky we don't get sick very often, for we don't make enough to pay for medicine." A girl from the Hohlman Paper Box factory testified that she got as low as $3 a week. A girl from the St. Louis paper box factory said she made from $3.60 to $5 a week. The week of May 20th, 1913, she made $4.70. She is 14 years old, and has lived with her sister-in-law since her parents died, a year before she started to work. She has to walk to work, because she does not make enough to afford carfare. Another girl at the same factory started work and after a year and a half was making $6.75 a week. Girls employed in the soddering department of the Schleuter Can Company, testified they was able to make from $6.00 to $7.00 a week. One girl testified she lived away from home. She said she bought her clothes on the installment plan, paying 50 cents a week. She lived on her income, she declared. Dr. Geo. B. Mangold, director of the school of Social Econo- my at Washington University, appeared before the commission and said there are two organized boarding houses in St. Louis. At one, board and room is $5 a week, and at the other, $5 a week for one girl in a room, and $3.75 for 2 girls in a room. He said that investigation showed him that good board and room could not be secured for less money. Session of May 23. Girls from the department stores were called in during the 28 [48 forenoon session, and in the afternoon laundry workers were heard. An orphan 14 years old, bundle wrapper at Penny & Gentles department store told of living with an aunt who was forced to help her, as her salary of $3.50 a week only paid her board. Another bundle wrapper at Penny & Gentles testified she received $2.50 a week which she gave her mother. She was forced to quit school on account of the illness of her mother and go to work. She walked to the store. A woman of 22 employed at Penny & Gentles testified she received $6 a week salary, and extra money for selling what is called P. M.'s or old stock. The extra money made her from $1.50 to $2 a week. She testified she and her sister roomed together and she lived on her wages. An income from her home town in Illinois provided part of her clothes, however. She estimated her living cost her $8 per week. A woman 24 years old, buyer for the fancy goods department at Penny & Gentles testified she received $10 a week and lived with her parents. Girls in other departments, employed as salesladies, re- ceived about $6 a week besides their P. M.'s she said. During the holidays, girls received as much as $3 and $4 a week on P. M.'s, and about $1.50 a week at other times. She testified that bundle wrappers received from $3.50 to $4 a week. She denied that the company took out a monthly allowance for sick benefit. When asked what time the girls had to sew, she replied, "On Sundays." A girl employed at Nugent's store receiving $6 a week, testified that she sold over $140 worth of goods a week. She was allowed 3 cents on the dollar. She said 20 cents a month was taken out of her wages for sick benefit. She had been ill a great deal and had been at the hospital three weeks. During her illness the company paid her $10 from the benefit fund. She estimated she could live on $8 a week. A laundry worker testified she was employed on the lower floor where the steam heating, drying and ironing machines are located. Her hours are from 7:30 to 5 with 30 minutes for lunch. Her wages are $5 a week. She and her brother keep house. Question by Senator Kinney: "Is the work hard." Answer: "Yes, in the- summer it is a common thing for girls to faint." 48] 29 Question: "How often have you seen this happen?" Answer: "Sometimes every day, sometimes twice or three times. I myself have fainted several times." Question: "What is done for girls who faint?" Answer: "They are carried to a room and laid on a lounge. If they recover they go back to work. If they are not able to go back to work the company sends a girl home with them." Question: "Is there a doctor provided?" Answer: "I never saw one." Question: "Are the girls docked for the lost time when they faint." Answer: "They lose the time they are away at home, of course. If they are away too often they lose their place, as the company thinks they cannot do the work." Question: "Could you live on your wages without outside help?" Answer: "No, no girl can live on that amount by herself." Question: "What does it cost you to dress?" Answer: "Very little. I cannot afford style. I pay $2 for shoes twice a year, $9 or |10 for a suit once a year, and buy a skirt or waist occasionally to help out. Hats cost most." Question: "How do the girls who have no homes live on the wages they earn then?" Answer: "Most of the girls get their clothes on credit. They wouldn't get anything if they didn't. That is as far as I can go." Question: "Is there a system of fines in the laundry?" Answer: "No, but they hold back a week's wages when you start. One girl who was living at the Home for Girls was unable to go to work in my laundry on account of this rule. She could not afTord to go two weeks without her wages. They pay you that week's wages when you quit them." A slender pale young woman, the mother of a two-year old baby who had been deserted by her husband, testified that she was existing with her child on $4 a week. She is a laundry work- er. An employe at Munger's Laundry declared that girls fre- quently faint from excessive heat, and were laid on tables by the other girls, and would sometimes lie there for an hour or more before they were revived sufficiently to go to w^ork. One girl, she said, was left on a table for three hours. No physician was called. 30 [48 She testified she earned $11 a week working by the piece. She said the laundry paid her $1 a hundred for shirts and she finished 200 a day. Out of her wages she paid $3.60 room rent, 20 cents for breakfast, 20 cents for luncheon and 25 cents for supper. Another girl from Munger's, 14 years old, testified she re- ceived $3.80 a week, and out of that she gave her mother $3 a week for board and had 80 cents to clothe herself. She said she never went to the parks on Sunday because of not having carfare. She said her father and mother had been sick much of the time. Her father was not able to hold steady employment on account of sickness. She exhibited a suit of clothes she was buying on the time-payment plan, paying $1 down and 50 cents a week. A bundle wrapper at the American Steam Laundry, 16 years old, receiving $5.95 a week, testified that during the sum- mer months, girls at that institution often fainted at the fold- ing and wrapping tables. She remembered six girls who had been overcome by the heat in one summer. No emergency hos- pital is provided in this laundry, although a physician is kept within calling distance, in case of accident or sickness. Sick girls are taken to the manager's office to be revived. "The heat in the summer time is awful," she said. "In the winter we don't notice it much, as the steam keeps the building warm, I suppose." This girl said she began working when she was 14 years old at $4.80 a week. She is compelled to arise mornings at 5.30 o'clock in order to get to her work. She said her increase in wages was due to the fact that her hours were increased from 8 to 9, after she had been working about a year. Her mother and father are separated and she is helping her mother support a family of three. Another girl from the American Steam Laundry testified she began work when 14 years old, because she didn't like to go to school, although she did not have to work "as papa was working." She left school when in the seventh grade. She is 17 years old and about the size of a normal 14 year old girl. She pays 15 cents for her lunch daily. Two girls from the Peerless Laundry told practically the same story of wages, though one of them, a head collar girl, received $7 a week. The parents of both of these girls are separated and the girls turn all of their money over to their mothers. 48] 31 Two scrub women from the Pierce Office Building testified they received $26 a month, payable $13 twice a month. Both were married, but one was separated from her husband and tak- ing care of her father. The other woman, 61 years old, said she ate only two meals a day. She arose mornings at 4.45 o'clock. The scrub women work "split" hours — from 6 a. m, to 9. a. m. and from 5 p, m. to 9 p. m. Both had been working for six years, and their only income aside from their scrubbing came from Christmas presents from the tenants of the building. One widow, 18 years old, frail looking, employed at the Cupples Envelope Company testified she earned from $6 to $7 a week. On this amount she supported one child. She lives with her mother who takes in washing and works in , private families. Between them they pay rent, buy their clothes and support two other children. She operates a machine which turns out from 65,000 to 68,000 envelopes daily. Question by Senator Wilson: "Wouldn't you prefer to be a maid in a pleasant home in the country at $5 a week and board, than to work in your present position and live in the city?" Answer: "No, I would rather be here with my mother." "Suppose you study over such a proposition," said Senator Wilson. "There would be plenty of people in the country to help you." This question was asked of several other employes of envel- ope factories and in every instance the same reply would be made. One young woman employed in the Hesse Envelope factory testified she made $7.50 a week and started at $4.50. She lived with her parents. She operated one of the fastest machines and turns out 60,000 envelopes daily. She declared the machines had no safety appliances and nothing to protect her from getting her hand caught. "Few are hurt, however," she declared. Another employe of the same envelope factory testified she earned $7 a week. Question by Senator Wilson: "You say you are familiar with housework. Why don't you go to the country where you can obtain from $5 to $7 a week, a good home and comfortable surroundings?" Answer: "Not me. I just came from the country a couple of weeks ago, and glad to get away. They offer you as much as 50 cents, 75 cents or $1 a week for 14 to 18 hours work a day in the country. I have had enough. 32 [48 A woman, 21 years old, waitress at the Midday Lunch Club, having a baby to support testified she depended on her tips to buy the necessaries of li€e. "My baby costs me $2 a week," she testified. "I leave her with a woman. I room with another girl and we each pay $^.25 a week for the room including gas for cooking. If I am right pleasant and lucky, I get from 75 cents to 80 cents a day in tips. If I manage right I get through, but it is hard at times." Question by Chairman Kinney: "Do you have enough to eat?" Answer: "Oh, I suppose so. I get along anyway. I have to." Question: "Does your roommate share her food with you." •Answer: "There isn't much for either of us to share." Question: "Do you have to pay carfare." Answer: "Yes, when I have it." Question: "Do you have time for amusement? Do you ever go to the parks?" Answer: "Yes if someone takes me. But that isn't often." Question: "How much do you estimate that you pay for the food that you cook in your room?" Answer: "That costs me about $2 a week. Sometimes I have to keep out carfare and don't eat so much." Question: "How much do your clothes cost you?" Answer: "That depends. I suppose an average of $3 a week. I buy only one piece at a time. If my tips are good I can buy more." She testified she could live on $7 a week if it was a steady wage. A waitress from the Gem restaurant testified her wages were $7 a week. She works 10 hours a day and every other Sunday. In addition to paying her own room rent she is sup- porting a daughter. She pays $2.50 a week for her room, $1.50 for her laundry and about $1 a week for clothes. She said she received about $7 a week in tips. She has a bank account. She declared she could live on $5 a week aside from her board. She said that no girl could board herself and eat what she needed for less than $5 a week. Session of May 24. An employe of the Hesse Envelope Company was the first witness before the commission. 48] 33 She testified that girls who had been injured by machinery at the envelope factory had been taken to the city dispensary for treatment. She testified that she earned $6 a week. Two other witnesses heard were from the Woolworth 5 and 10-cent stores. They said they received $5 a week, and used the money to help support the family. Evidence showed that the pay ran from $3.50 to $6 a week. Only a brief session was held and the commission adjourned. Sessions of Tune 3, 4, 5. Mrs. Lillian Stuart appeared before the commission and discussed the question of clothing for working girls. She de- clared that tight lacing and clothing and high heeled shoes caused more illness among girls than many conditions under which they work. In answer to a question by Chairman Kinney she said she thought a girl ought to have at least $40 a year to pay for her clothing. She declared that women with less clothing than they now wear would be more moral. She expressed the belief that the proper training of girls in the buying of clothes and in wear- ing them would do more toward alleviating their condition than anything else. One witness, a widow, employed at Lungstras, a glove clean- ing establishment, said she was forced to support herself and a married daughter on $9.10 a week. She began working three years before at $5 a week. Another widow employed at the same establishment at $9 a week said she supported herself and mother on her wages by paying her mother $4 a week board. A forelady in the same establishment who receives $10 a week after working five years, told the commission that nearly all the women employed at the place were married. She knew of only 6 girls out of 35 who were unmarried. She said the firm started the inexperienced girls at $5 a week increasing their wages every two or three months until the maximum of $9 a week was reached. If a girl did not show aptitude in one de- partment she was transferred to another where she could get her increase. One young woman, employed in the Woolworth 5 and 10- cent store said she was forced to live on $5 a week. She was living with a friend, whom she paid $1.50 a week for two meals 48—3 34 [48 a day. She said if she did not have this friend she could not live on her wages. She said she ate her midday lunch at the Y. W. C. A. where she paid 12 cents for her lunch. One girl, 18 years old, employed at Scruggs,-Vandervoort- Barney Dry Goods Company, said she had been working two years. She was receiving $6 a week, and began at $2.50 a week as a check girl. She said the girl beginners were first made check girls at $2.50 a week, then cash girls at $3.50 a week, and maybe after a year's service were made sales girls at $6 a week. Another sales girl, at the lace counter, told the same story. The parents of both girls are living. Robert P. Wilcox, general manager of the Grand Leader department store testified that his firm employed about 2000 salesmen, clerks and cash girls, of whom 1298 were women. Of these women, 149 boarded outside, the remainder lived with their relatives or friends. He explained the workings of the company's welfare secretary, a woman employed to look after the general welfare of the girls employed. The company also maintains a hospital service, rest rooms and a savings bank for the benefit of its employes. Mr. Wilcox declared that his firm paid an average wage of $9.25 a week to its sales people. This did not include the high priced buyers nor the cash girls, but the average only of the sales people. He declared that some of the girls employed by the firm at $6 a week who were living with their parents, were putting $1 a week in the savings department maintained by the firm, for which they received 5 per cent interest. Mr. Wilcox said that his firm found it more satisfactory to maintain a system of commissions for its employes based on the amount of sales made by the girls. A certain minimum sales per month is fixed for each employe and she is given 2 per cent on all she sells over this minimum. A record of the sales of each girl is kept, and a comparison is made each year with the corresponding month of the year previous. If her sales show a good increase, the girl is promoted. An efficient sales girl will show at least 5 per cent gain each year. Mr. Wilcox said. If the girls make their increases each week, the firm allows them to take a half holiday, or to apply the extra time on their wages. Most of the girls take the half holiday. Mr. Wilcox said the firm maintains a lunch room for the employes at a loss, where each girl could get a good meal of four 48] 35 selections for 12 cents. He said that of the total number of girls now employed by the firm, about 800 of them have been with the Grand Leader for more than three years. Air. Wilcox said that if a girl did not show efliciency by an increase of sales she was called in and urged to do better. The third call usually was serious. He said the company attempted to help the girls to help themselves by offering from $1 to $5 for suggestions to improve the department where the girl worked. He said the company tried to fix the monthly minimum sales low enough to encourage the girls to stay and become efficient and obtain promotion. He said the greatest proportion of the girls leaving the firm, left to get married. In answer to a question by Lieut. Gov. Painter, Mr. Wilcox said that "the more things we do for our employes, the greater harvest we reap." Mr. Wilcox told the commission that the average working conditions in St. Louis were better than in any other city he had visited in a recent investigating tour. He said there had been a general advance in wages paid to women in the last two or three years, averaging about $1 a week. He said that his company did not discharge a girl who was found lacking in moral courage as was done in some places, but it tried to help her. When she w^as employed she was re- quired to give three personal references and two business refer- ences. Investigations made by his firm showed that it cost a girl about $7 a week to live. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "How do you figure the amount you pay your sales people?" Answer: "We try to arrive at it on a percentage basis. We figure about 5 per cent on the sales. Some of our girls earn as high as $45 a a month over and above their salaries, and we have some salespeople who earn $40 and $45 a week. Wilcox declared the interest of the store in the girls did not cease with the day's work. The welfare department of the store looks after them in their homes and boarding houses. All girl employes who marry are given wedding presents and there is a $50 funeral benefit for those who die. The store employs nurses who go out and look up the girls when they get sick. "The Retail Association in the different cities ought to look into the wage question", said Mr. Wilcox. "Our associa- 36 [48 tion in St. Louis has spoken to several members who were not paying what the association considered proper wages. The result has been a general beltermcnt of wage conditions, and better treatment for the employes. We find that the more we do for our help, the greater harvest we reap. There has been a general wage increase throughout the country in the past few years owing to the interest employers take in their help, and conditions have improved much since I came to St. Louis three years ago." A 15 year old girl in the employ of the Brown Shoe Com- pany was the next, witness. She was getting $9 a week on piece work. She and her older sister are supporting their mother and four other children. Another 15 year old girl from the Superior Shoe factory testified she w'as forced to leave school three weeks before this meeting because her father had become sick. She was in the fifth grade. She is making $4 a w^eek in the packing room. There are five children in the family. W. H. Moulton, manager of the International Shoe Com- pany, a $25,000,000 corporation testified that his company had started the move for an organization to look after the home conditions of the girls and was waiting the outcome of the hearing of the commission. He testified that the International Shoe Company never paid a girl less than $5 a w^eek to begin with, and this to inexperienced girls. He presented records to show that the average wage paid girls was from $8.40 to $10 a w^eek. He said the minimum was fixed at $5 after it had been found that this was all that could be paid to inexperienced help, considering, also the fact that girls could be found who would work for $3.50 and $4 a week. He said girls could get board for $4 a week and exhibited new^spaper advertisements showing this to be true. Some of the machine girls made as high as $24 a w'eek, he said. Mr. Moulton told of finding that 80 per cent of the girls employed in the International Shoe Company's plant lived at home w'ith their families or with relatives. He said the com- pany tried to look after their welfare while they were at work, and the company always paid for a physician when a girl be- came sick. When she w^as ill more than a w^eek, she has to pay for her own physician. In answer to a question by Senator Whitledge, he denied that the company cut the price of piece work when girls became so efficient that they earned $16 and $18 a week. 48] 37 Mr. Moulton testified that the company employs 8500 persons, 2800 of them girls and women. When a girl applies for work, her name and address are taken, but she is not required to furnish references. He denied that the company has dull seasons and said that occasionally the girls complained because they do not have enough idle days. He said the plant had never been closed down a week in five years. Eighty per cent of the girls do piece work. Question by Senator Whitledge: "What do you think a girl's salary should be?" Answer: "A girl should get all she can make. If she is a recent arrival from the country, is clumsy and awkward, she cannot be expected to make as much as a girl who has had more experience." Geo. F. Pittman, general manager of the St. Louis Cordage Mills testified that he employed 450 persons about 175 of them being women, and wages range from $5.40 the lowest, to $12.30 the highest. He said the average wage for the week that the commission was in session was $6.61, the week previous it was 16.59, and three weeks before $6.63, an average of $6.61 for three weeks. Competition by other manufacturers located in Ohio and the East largely controlled the wage scale at this factory according to Pittman. He testified that 90 per cent of the employes were foreigners who were opposed to suggestions regarding the betterment of their health. Mr. Pittman said the company leased a piece of land on the Merremac River five years ago as an outing place, and per- mitted the employes to spend two days there for 25 cents. Dur- ing the first year the weekly attendance was about three hundred. This fell off so much during the next two years that the plan was abandoned. On investigation, he said, he learned that the girls complained that the men were not given any liberties. By that, he said, they were not permitted to drink intoxicating liquor on the place. A woman physician is in daily attendance at the factory and in case of accident the company pays the doctor bills and allows the employe half pay while she is idle. Mr. Pittman said he advanced the wages of girls 30 cents per week each year after the first year, until they were paying $1.50 more to the girls when they had been employed five years or more. 38 [48 During the sessions of the commission, the Cordage Com- pany's plant was closed. E. T. Nolen, superintendent of the Tower Grove factory of the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company testified that the average wages paid to the women workers was $9 to $10 a week. He said between 800 and 1000 women were employed in St. Louis on piece work. No money is set apart by the company to look after the general welfare of the women employes. Lieut. Gov. Painter suggested he take up the question with the direc- tors with a view of having something of that kind done. He promised to do so. F. A. Field, manager of the Woolworth Sixth Street store testified that his salesgirls were started, with few exceptions at $5 a week. Occasionally they were given raises of 50 cents a week. In some of the older stores, Mr. Field said, the girls were paid as high as $10 and $12 a week. Chas. F. Wenneker, president of the Blanke-Wenneker Candy Company testified that it would be impossible to use other employes than women in many lines of his work. The company employed 250 girls, and Mr. Wenneker said the av- erage paid was $7.50 per week. Some of the girls make as high as $16 per week. Mr. Wenneker said the minimum wage law would not affect the employ of women in any factory. He urged that a minimum wage greater than $7.50 be adopted. He said: "We wish that every candy factory would be forced to pay high wages for then they would get girls who would take more interest in their work, and conditions would be better." The scale for candy workers in St. Louis is 25 per cent higher than in the East. Question by Senator Wilson: "Do you think that a mini- mum wage law would cause the retirement of women in factories and their services displaced by men?" Answer: "I would rather have an $8 a week girl than an $8 a week man, for he is out looking at the baseball score while she is wrapping candy." George E. Sweitzer, manager and superintendent of the shirt factory of the Ferguson-McKinney Dry Goods Company leslificd the average wages for the girls employed making shirts is between $7 and $8.50 per week. Beginners receive $3 a week. Most of the girls in that factory are employed as piece workers. The forewomen are paid from $18 to $21 a week. 48] 39 "These heads," said Mr. Sweitzer, "act as mother to the thou- sand girls employed. They look after the girls after business hours." Mr. Sweitzer said that the girls in St. Louis receive higher wages than in the East, where shirts are manufactured almost entirely by foreign labor. A girl employed by the Columbia Canning Company tes- tified she supported herself and family on $5 a week. Two girls emplo^^ed by the Western Union Telegraph Company testified they are paid $45 a month. Girls from the Union Biscuit Com- pany testified they receive from $7 to $11 a week. At the session of June 5, Melville L. Wilkinson, president of the Scruggs, Vandevoort-Barney Company testified he favored a national minimum wage law but was doubtful about the wisdom of state minimum wage laws. He said his store employs 986 with wages paid as follows: Average of all, including cash girls for 1911 $7. 17 a week. Average of all, including cash girls for 1912 7.91a week. Average of all, including cash girls for 1913 8.45 a week. Average of sales girls for 1911 8. 75 a week. Average of sales girls for 1912 9.35 a week. Average of sales girls for 1913 10 . 75 a week. Mr. Wilkinson said the sales girls' average wage per week was increased by an average of 52 cents a week commission, making her total pay $11.22 a week. He testified that vacations were given on pay. Cash girls are provided with their clothing and their laundry done free. Rest rooms and lunch rooms are provided, and any girl found to be ill is permitted to go home. The store also employs persons to look after the welfare of the girls, visit their homes, their minister or priest, and throw every protection possible about them. Once a year the store is closed all day for a picinc. Employes are given 10 per cent discount on everything they buy at the store and 15 per cent on millinery. Mr. Wilkinson testified that all sales girls had been notified that they would be expected to earn at least $8 a week and told the commission he did not want sales girls at less than $10. He said there had been persons in one department of the store for 52 years and for at least 30 years had been receiving the same salary because they had reached the summit of their efficiency. He said the high salaried employes are never discharged because the store cannot get enough of them at from $12 to $30 a week. Mr. Wilkinson said that if a minimum wage were estab- 40 [48 lished it should be $8 for sales girls, but he opposed the idea because there would be a large element satisfied with the mini- mum and their efficiency would be lost. He declared that con- ditions were better for the girls in St. Louis than in New York State where he was formerly in business. He told of having started in business at $8 a month and agreed with Senator Green that the "school of adversity" was a fme one to start in. "Well, do I understand, then," inquired Senator Wilson, "that you gentlemen fear that the minimum wage will blot out the school of adversity? Is that what you are afraid of?" Mr. Wilkinson said no. He said there was no system of fines in his store and he did not know of any big store in St. Louis where there was such a system. P. C. Baker of the Famous and Barr Company testified the average wage paid to sales girls was $9.08 a week including sales and commissions. Out of 950 girls employed at the store only 64 live among strangers and were entirely dependent upon their wages for their living. He said the store looks after the welfare of its employes, providing a farm for them on the Mera- mec River, pays their doctor bills when they are ill and employs a woman simply to look after them in their homes. He presented statistics prepared by the welfare secretary showing the actual cost of living. Three of the store's girls, he said, kept house, renting a three room and bath flat at $17 a month. The actual items of expense from their account books were: Gas, $2; coal, $2; meats, 60 cents; flour and bread, $5; sugar, $1; butter, $1.40; eggs, $L50; canned goods, $2; fruits, $2; rice, meal, etc., 20 cents; coffee, $1; tea, 15 cents; laundry supplies, 50 cents; making a total of $38.35 or $12.88 each. Carfare, lunches and clothes brought the cost of living up to $19.88 per month for each girl. Mr. Baker said the store had excellent rest rooms and places of amusement for its employes. The minimum wage was $6 a week with commissions, and $3, $4, and $5 a week for girls between 14 and 16 years of age employed as check girls, cash girls and bundle wrappers. Mr. Baker said he believed a minimum wage law would force the store to do away with cash girls, or junior employes. He said the company arranged the maximum wage on a per- centage basis, ranging from 4 to 6 per cent of the profits of the store. 48] 41 He says the company has a farm of 25 acres near St. Louis, arranged for the girls during their vacations where they paid from $3 to $4 a week. He said the firm employed a woman whose sole duty was to look after the welfare of the employes. He says the Welfare Association of the girls is entirely optional with the employes in joining. About 90 per cent, however, always joined. They pay in from 10 cents to $1 monthly for sick benefit and receive service during illness ac- cording to the amount they pay monthly. Mr. Baker declared the wages paid girls and the comforts given them in St. Louis department stores were far better than in Minneapolis and other places where he had been employed. Daniel C. Nugent, Jr., of B. Nugent & Bro. Dry Goods Company testified that the average wage of the 650 girls em- ployed in that establishemnt on May 24th was $7.86 for the entire force. The average wage for the saleswomen he placed at $9.70 a week. Lie said the company allowed its employes a 10 per cent discount on all goods bought there. All the girls living away from home he said, were paid $8 a week by the com- pany. Until the meeting of the Senate Wage Commission, Mr. Nugent explained, he had 32 of these girls living with strangers, but 8 were discharged because they were not efficient enough to earn the minimum of $8 a week. He said that on May 23 about 468 employes ate at the Company lunch rooms, for whose meals the company received but $24.24. He said the company paid $120 a year for the employes picinc, giving them the day off on pay. The company employs a salesmanship instructor for the benefit of the salespeople. Members of the commission suggested to Mr. Nugent that the company should provide a woman in the institution to look after the welfare of the cash girls. Mr. Nugent thought the idea a good one. He said the company discouraged the girls buying expensive clothes above their wages, by refusing them credit except in certain instances. Mr. Nugent thought the minimum wage law would not work to the benfit of the employes because many of the girls now working were not merely working for the wages,, but were working in order to earn a living until they could get married. T. J. Couzens, superintendent of Penny & Gentle's Dry Goods Store testifid the average wage of^ 190, girls in his em- ploy was $7.21 a week. The lowest salary paid a salesgirl was 42 [48 $5 a week and $3 a week to cash girls, Mr. Couzcns said the store was liberal in its treatment of girls sending them home in taxicabs when they were ill and providing a physician to attend them. Mr. Schaper of Schaper Bros. Dry Goods Company tes- tified that the girls employed in that store pay for their own vacation, amusement, and medical attention. The expenses for these attentions comes out of the sick benefit fund that is col- lected from all employes. The employes pay 25 cents a month to this fund. Mr. Schaper said girls were given two or three weeks trial before they were paid a salary. If they did not prove their efficiency in that time, they were discharged. He said he em- ployed 300 girls, the lowest wage being $4.50 and the highest $25.00. He said there were only a few getting the maximum. He said that girls in the "bargain square" received the lowest wage. Cashiers receive from $5 to $8 a week. Mrs. Raymond Robins, president of the National Women's Trade Union League, Miss Alice Henry and A4iss Agnes Wilson, daughter of Secretary of Labor Wilson, appeared before the committee and gave testimony on their investigations. Mrs. Robins declared Missouri would be compelled to pass a widow's pension law if the minimum wage law for women and girls was enacted. She based her statement on the belief that a minimum wage law would throw out of employment many 14-year-old girls and elderly women, under the efficiency test, which would naturally follow a minimum wage. Mrs. Robins favors minimum wage boards for each in- dustry, the employers and employes of each trade to agree upon a minimum wage. In Chicago, she said, the Woman's Trade Union had fixed this minimum wage at $12.00. She declared that every industry that did not pay a living wage to its women employes was parasitic and that the community had to pay the difference. Here LieuL Gov. Painter asked Mrs. Robins whether a minimum' wage law would not drive girls out of employment and cause their places to be filled by men. She said she did not think it would. She said before the law in Illinois was passed, girls employed at the elevated railroad stations were paid $2.50 a day for 12 hours work seven days a week. The employers threatened to discharge the girls and employ men if the ten hour law were passed, she said. When the law was 48] 43 passed the company reduced the working hours to nine hours a day, increased the pay to $2.15 and gave the girls every third Sunday off. Mrs. Robins declared women not only ought to work, but that they enjoyed being among the multitude, preferring that to the home. She said her work was to make women more rebellious, for the purpose of demanding more for their services and better working conditions. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "Has not women's em- ployment in the industries enforced women's slavery in this country?" Answer: "Yes." Question: "Are not the women workers more firmly in bondage than the African slaves, who were valuable to their owners and were properly fed and taken care of? Do not em- ployers now know that they can wear one girl out and get another to take her place?" Answer: "That is true." Question: "Then if women were taken out of the industries and lived at home and took care of their families, would they not be better off, and would not the men get higher wages and be better able to provide for their families?" Answer: "Every woman is entitled to work in this country." Question: "Will not her employment in industries result in such a decrease in children that the country will eventually be depopulated." Answer: Oh, no, there are 25,000 children in my ward in Chicago." Question: "But are they not the children of foreign born people and do you not find in every city among the American born people that there are fewer children from year to year?" Answer: "Yes, that is true." She said she would be glad to see people go to the country to live where they would have more room and be better off, but under existing conditions there was not enough work for women to do in homes and it was better for them to be engaged in gainful occupations. W. W. Williams former factory inspector was the next witness. Mr. Williams said he favored a permanent state wage commission to investigate each industry. ITc thought a mini- mum wage law would put a "premium on ignorance," but if 44 [48 adopted should be based upon the employers income, as well as the efTiciency of the employes. Specific Investigation. The condition of ten girls and women, working in one place in St. Louis was made the subject of a special investiga- tion. The ages of the girls were as follows: 16, 18, 20, 24, and the others over 24 years of age. The wages were as follows: 16, $6, $7, $8, $8 ,$8, $9, $9, |10, $13. Average $8.40 per week. Each girl was given a list to fill out and asked to put down the prices of the garments necessary per year; where a garment is used more than one year, to divide the cost. The prices are for new goods of qualities used by these girls ordinarily, and does not include Sunday dresses or even- ing gowns; just clothing necessary to wear to and from work. All of the ten girls live at home and were able to save some out of this estimate. The average cost per year which is $83.11, is a fair estimate of the minimum cost of a girl or woman's clothing at this time and at prevailing prices. The estimates follow: 481 45 o . bO HM o lO -W -(r. 05 .^c. c3 lO o lO t^ o OOOOO '#t^Ot^'^iO>Ct^ I-H IL. t^ o o CO CO •OiTt< COCOOCO«OOOiO I-H Cj "* CO > t^ lO ^ lO t^h- OiN(NC0lOOIMCOiOiOl> to L. t-l t^ t-t . . . t- d 'A t^ >i IN >> rt lO ^ (N !*>CqfO ^CO'-iCO'-< ■^ 1-^ m (N w (N IN ^ CO ■"^ ^~^ > — O o o o OOO^iOOOOOOOO "O 05 lO lO o o oioo wt^icoooooo t^ 6 t^ t- o m lOCOCO t^COCOIMCOCOeON'-* lO >^ m IM to ^ o o o o o ooo-^oooooooo o 00 K ir5 o o o o OOO wiOOiOCOOOO lO 6 ^tJ M CO T*( "O 10.t>: CO 1^1 lO CO cococq^^oo^rHioMco ^ I-H ^ w ^ s ■o o o o o o o ooooooooo O O o o o o o o o o OOO toOOOCO o o lO 6 K iC. o O lO ■* COOCO ^^lOt-HCOCOCO C^' CO CO ;zi « ^ 00000 lO 6 ir «; lO « c 'J' rJ<00CO ^lOINCO-HlMlOiNCO o ^ ^ '^ CO o c o o o o o 000'700000000 o "t o o o o o o OOO MOOOOOOOO o d ir o -* ■* CO CO cooito t^ococO'*'oo toiooiooioooo o 6 IC L-; o ■>l>^^fO'-iNfOcO CO % ss iM 00 m o o o o o ooo^eoooooooo CO (N o lO o o >« 0"50 COCOOOOOOOO CO d ir 00 CO CO CO C0O>C0iOiOiOC0iNC0»O lO Y. 5 '-' -^ CO c c c o o o OOO^OOOOOOOO 00 '-' c c o o c o OOO mcOOiOOOOiOO 00 d c L'- 10 •rti lO 10 COON '*'OCO(NCO-*'Or^C er u r iin oats 3 . . . iorie artl O 5 3 < c c 8 c c 5 a p. > c c c < 3 a, cr t. c c E- 46 [48 Information Furnished the Commission by the School of- Social Economy of Washington University. The school of social economy of Washington University asked for and was granted permission by the commission to secure information on the minimum wage question in St. Louis. The work was conducted by Dr. Geo. B. Mangold, and Miss Anne M. Evans formerly special agent for the Federal Bureau of Labor. The work was carried on under the immediate super- vision of Miss Evans. Following is a summary of the report prepared. An undue proportion of women although capable and indus- trious, are receiving abnormally low wages, due in part to com- petitive conditions but in part to a lack of protection from the state and lack of organization among women workers and regu- lated corporate organization. The topics studied were: First, the cost of living in St. Louis; second, a general study of wage conditions in thirteen selected industries, employing 18,523 women; third, an intensive study of the wages 1569 women employed in the men's clothing industry and of the con- ditions under which the contract shop and factory work were carried on; fourth, an intensive study of the wages of 541 women employed in the women's clothing industry, and the home con- ditions of a limited number of these women. Although skill and experience are factors in the deter- mination of wages, two other factors co-operate in fixing the basis of wage payments. They are: First, the supply of labor; second, the minimum cost of living. The supply of labor affects wage rates most heavily when it has outstripped the apparent demand. The capital invested in a manufacturing plant is useless without a labor force, but usually the wage paid is the smallest necessities of labor require. As one of the results we find that among unskilled workers women receive on the whole a wage equal to approximately one-half of that received by men. Owing to the forces that depress wages, the wage scale has been so adjusted that the earnings of the unskilled laboring man are little more than suf- ficient to maintain a single man without dependants and the wages of the unskilled woman are less than her average cost of living. Startling effects on industry and on family life nec- essarily follow such conditions. 48] 47 On the other hand a normal woman of average intelligence devoting her time and energy to an industry should be capable of complete self maintenance and should not be dependent on parents, other relatives or friends for partial sui)port. Weekly Wages — The weekly earnings of women constitute an important but not the decisive factor in the wage problem. Investigation shows 40.8 per cent of 7562 women employed in clothing, boot and shoe, tobacco, printing and binding, millinery, groceries sundries, candy, drugs, bags and baggage, paper boxes, cotton, and fur industries receive less than $7 per week. In the drug making 68.8 per cent of the women employed earn less than |7 per week, while in printing and binding only 27.4 per cent earn less than |7. In only four industries were any children paid as much as $7 a week, and out of a total of 1007 children, 13 received more than |7. Of these nine were in the boot and shoe industry. The great majority of the children received less than $5 a week. Boys received higher wages than girls. Children's work is almost invariably unskilled and con- sists of such simple forms of work as sorting, pasting, packing, etc. In the following table six specified industries in which com- paratively low wages are paid are contrasted as to the number of women employed in each and the various rates of wages paid. Industry. No. Women earning $5 to $6.99. .¥7 to $8.99. $9 and over. Total No. Tobacco 283 7 105 109 33 103 513 179 328 154 203 346 315 69 136 174 158 236 304 25 60 136 142 92 1,415 Cotton Drugs Bakeries Paper box Candy 280 629 573 536 777 Totals 640 1,723 1.088 759 4,210 This table includes 217 girls less than 16 years of age, nearly all of whom receive less than |5 a week. Fifteen per cent of the women were earning less than $5 and 56 per cent of the total receive less than $7 per week. Only 18 per cent of the total receive $9 or more. A large majority of these employes are receiving less than a wage sufficient to maintain a woman independently. 48 [48 A special investigation was made of the men's clothing industry. Figures were secured relative to the wages of 1,569 women or more than 60 per cent of the total number employed in this industry. The statistics for the different establishments studied cover the wages of all female employees on the regular factory payroll. The principal facts obtained from this study are summarized by the following table which show both the number and proportion of women falling into specified wage groups. The computations are based on the average weekly wages received by the women during the time of employment. NUMBER OF FEMALES AND PER CENT BY WAGE GROUPS IN FACTORIES WHERE PAYROLL WAS SECURED. Wage. Under $3. $3-$3.99. $4-$4.99. $5-$5.99. $6-$6.99. $7-$7.99. No. earning 160 10. 19 147 9.37 126 8.3 183 11.67 172 10.97 167 10.64 Wage. $8-$8.99. $9-$9.99. $10-$11.99 $12-$14.99 $15 & over. Total. No. earning 189 12.4 148 9.43 186 11.86 79 5.04 12 .76 1,569 100 A number of significant facts are apparent from the fore- going table although a small number of children are included in the aggregate, they form less than one-half of the females classified in the lowest wage group. Again, the first five groups including all those earning less than |7 per week, comprise 15.23 per cent of the total number of females employed, while more than 60 per cent average less than $8 per week. Very few receive more than $12. It is clear therefore that the major- ity of the female wage workersare receiving less than a rea- sonable wage. Evidently a large proportion of the women are not entirely dependent on their own earnings. Annual Wages — In order to eliminate the consideration of unemployment and to learn the amount a steady worker in the clothing might expect as an annual income on which to live, the wages of all women working 11 months or more were given separate consideration. Out of a total of 581 women only 140 fell into this group. The total wages received by these 140 women are shown in the following table: 48] 49 Number of women earning Establishment No. Total No. of women. $55 or more a year. $400-8499 $300-$399 $200-8299 $100-8200 24 25 12 6 1 Totals. 36 68 32 38 43 46 12 1 140 This table shows that 59 or over 42 per cent of the 140 workers who are employed 11 months or more each earn less than $4 or less than an average of $7.70 for the entire year. Again, 81 or 58 per cent of the regular all year workers received more than $4 each but these constitute less than 14 per cent of the entire number of women employed in the five establishments. The remainder because of irregular or part time work naturally earn much less than those working regularly throughout the year. Earnings and Age of Women Workers — The relation which age bears to the wages received although a factor of consider- able importance cannot be shown because the data were not available for a complete study. The following table based on the women workers in two establishments, making men's cloth- ing shows: RELATION OF AGE TO EARNINGS. Age. Earnings Under $4. Under $8 Under $6. $8 and over. Total. 16-17 18-19 8 7 4 2 27 27 17 7 4 4 2 73 61 45 47 13 14 9 7 121 17 56 53 20 25 7 113 135 20-24 . . 121 25-29 42 30-39 43 40-49 1 21 9 Not reported 25 125 344 Totals 47 161 317 305 830 Although the table shows that over one-half of all the workers were receiving less than $8 per week, the relation to age is somewhat obscured by the high proportion of women whose age was not ascertained. IL appears however that wages gradually increase being highest for women about 30 years of 48 — 4. 50 [48 age and then decline, but at best 55 per cent of the women earn less than $8 per week. On the other hand a rapid rise in wages is indicated among the women with only two or three years experience. Rigid limits seem to be reached in a short time and a large proportion of women never reach an $8 wage. Unemployment — A weekly living wage does not consti- tute a yearly living wage and in but a small proportion of cases is the annual wage a product of the weekly wage multiplied by 52. The facts relating to factory one (1) indicate a total sus- pension of activities for a period of seven weeks and a fluctua- tion of the number of women employees during the remainder of the term between 36 and 54, while the number of different women employed during the year was 85. In factory two (2) the forced unemployment lasted only three weeks, and the number of women employees varied from 10 to 16, but forty different women were employed during the year. Factory three (3) did not shut down during the year, but employed 86 differ- ent women and the number working at any one time fluctuated from 33 to 15, the extremes being actually reached within a period of ten weeks. It is clear even from these meager facts that forced unemployment must be a serious problem and that in an industry in which the gravest conditions do not exist. In certain industries of a distinctly seasonable character such as candy makers, paper box manufacturers and the fur indus- tries, unemployment assumes a serious aspect. Irregularity of employment is an important factor of em- ployment. That an alarming amount of such irregularity exists is indicated by the facts presented in the following table relating to the duration of employment in two establishments manufacturing men's clothing. Factory 1. Factory 2. Total. Not over 4 weeks 79 37 19 8 10 5 4 8 9 6 3 9 34 76 21 9 15 14 7 3 9 8 11 11 13 68 155 5-9 weeks 58 9—12 weeks 29 13-16 weeks 23 17-20 weeks 24 21-24 weeks 12 25-28 weeks 7 29-32 weeks 17 33-36 weeks 17 37-40 weeks 17 41—44 weeks : 14 45-48 weeks '>2 49—52 weeks 102 Totals 231 265 496 48] 51 The following table summarizes the irregularity in a typical woman's clothing factory. The table is based on a study of 146 women out of a total of 219 employed. The women who spent less than 4 weeks in the establishment were not studied. Number of women. Average days worked. Average loss of time in days. Per cent of women studied. Regular workers working part of 37 53 32 24 146 73 135.4 288.7 65.9 247.6 S.S 12. 1 17.0 57.6 25.3 ■ Working all year 36.3 Irregular workers working part of 21.9 Working all year 16.5 100 No. in factory less than 4 weeks. . Totals 219 It appears that in the men's clothing factories studied nearly one third of the w^omen studied and in the women's factory, exactly one-third have been employed less than four weeks. Some of these will of course continue, but many never work beyond this time. In the men's clothing factories more than one-half of the women have served less than 6 months, while in the women's clothing establishments the percentage includ- ing those working less than 4 weeks is less higher. Of the total number of women employed in the two classes of establishments 20 per cent and 35 per cent respectively had been employed either regularly or irregularly for the entire year. It is clear therefore that the large amount of woman labor is irregular. Whether this is due to personal conditions or to problems of industry the general effect both upon the regular and irregular worker cannot be advantageous and must seriously affect gen- eral wage conditions. An observation of these facts indicates at least two very important needs. First, the regulation of non-employment; second, the establishment of regular rates of wages that will compensate for a limited amount of forced unem- ployment. Many of the high grade employers are already devising methods of their own for the regulation of non-employment and something has been accomplished through a better system of co-operation between the sales force and factory superin- tendents. One of the factories studied wherein the wage paid per week was exceptionally high shows that the em- ployees in nearly every case actually earn about $2 52 [48 less per week than the full rale of wages. This was brought to the attention of the manager who stated that in order to keep help and to maintain their standard of efTiciency it was neces- sary to regulate unemployment as well as to pay high wages. The recognition by the employer that he cannot evade all responsibility for unemployment is a wholesome tendency and should eventually gain good results. It was found in the factories investigated that the ventila- tion toilets and sanitary conditions were on the whole better in the larger factories than in the smaller ones, though there still remains much to be improved. The condition of the contract shops was not good. Old buildings, cheap and bad locations, carelessness, and rush all contributed to the unsanitary condi- tions and general appearance of unhealthfulness in the shop. There is little work done in unsanitary homes. The control of home finishing seems effective and this phase of the clothing industry needs little attention. The problems of sanitary im- provement and of trade organizations are the chief problems of contract shops. The Corporations — As a part of the intensive investigation in the men's clothing industry a special study was made of the industry from the standpoint of its organization. The end in view was to learn whether by virtue of the privilege granted by the state to a body of men to create a new legal entity with new powers and rights — the corporation — the state was not in one section of its statutes the very evils it would attempt to remedy through remedial legislation. And almost as an auxil- iary to this to answer the objections of many humane and effi- cient manufacturers who with righteous indignation are opposed to any action on the part of the state to interfere with their personal business affairs no matter how low the stipulated wages may be. It was possible to secure information from 167 establish- ments and it was found that all the establishments of more than 25 workers employed women. It is not surprising then that 23 out of the 63 or 36.5 per cent of the establishments em- ploying both men and women, were corporations. This 36.5 per cent incorporated estabUshments employed 100 per cent of the children in the industry, 91.18 per cent of the women in the industry. Therefore the welfare of the women in this industry is dependent upon conditions existing in the cor- porations. Again the proportion of women paid less than $7 48] 53 per week was greater among the corporations than in either establishments organized as partnerships or as individual con- cerns. Method of organization. Per cent female force paid less than $7 per week. Corporations . Partnership. . Individuals. . 38.8 35.2 30.1 It is clear therefore in this industry the conditions under which women labor are closely allied with conditions existing in the incorporated establishments and the president of a cor- poration receiving his protection through statute cannot con- sistently deny the states the right to protect the women wage earners. The results showed that in factories manufacturing about the same grade of goods and employing about the same number of women some paid practically all of their w^omen employees a wage of less than $7 a week, while others employed a very small proportion under that amount. The large establishments employing a large proportion of women paid a larger propor- tion less than $7 per week than did the smaller factories in the same industry. For example in the men's clothing industry 36.7 per cent of the women earn less than |7 per week. The six establishments employing from 100 to 500 w^omen as a class pay a larger proportion of their women employees less than $7 per week, and the range of percentages is from 32 to 46. For the smaller factories the range is even greater because of a lack of organization, but on the whole the smaller factories pay higher wages to a larger proportion of their employees. The factory utilizes the machinery to its highest capacity. In estimating cost of production every effort is made to keep an accurate of the original cost, cost of repairs, depreciation of the machine, and cost of labor. If the industry does not pay a living wage, then only the original cost of labor is paid by the factory. The community must bear the cost of illness, and of old age. Women Adrift — The federal report on wage earning women in St. Louis estimates that 78.4 per cent of the women employed in factories and 79 per cent of those employed in mercantile establishments live at home and that the remainder 21.6 per- 54 [48 cent and 21 per cent respectively are adrift — dependent entirely on their own earnings and without the semblance of their orig- inal home environment. More than 7,000 women therefore must be adrift in St. Louis. There are approximately 35,000 women workers in the city. In addition there are other groups such as waitresses and laundresses, a considerable portion of whom must also be adrift. Cost of Living — Estimates made by investigators in Kansas City, St. Louis and elsewhere in 1,200 cases show the cost of living per week to be: food, $3.50; rent, %2; clothing, $1.53; laundry, 25 cents; carfare, 60 cents; amusements, 20 cents; church, 5 cents; insurance, 10 cents; vacation, 10 cents; medical attention, 20 cents; total, $8.53. In the matter of rent, two of fifty self supporting women were found to be keeping house, 11 boarded in private families, 12 lived in lodgings, and 6 in organized boarding houses. In the decadent gloominess of the downtown district prices range from $1.50 to $4 with a prevailing quotation of $2 a week. In the southside, board with lodging may be secured for $3.50 to $4.50 per week. On the northside are found Italian and Jewish families living in tenements, willing to crowd an additional per- son into congested rooms for a minimum of $3 to $4 a week. The West End is the aristocratic quarter from the standpoint of the working woman. The minimum charge is $4 a w^eek fgr rent with $5 as the prevailing price. The wide spread area of St. Louis residence and business district makes the 60 cents carfare an inevitable feature of a woman's budget. It may be regarded as a part of the lodging cost. It is too often saved at a heavy sacrifice of comfort and in the worst cases at a moral hazard. Investigation of the food cost discloses the importance of the recent rise of prices on the working girl's budget. Investi- gation shows a rise of 50 to 100 per cent in the price of important foods which she purchases. Co-operative housekeeping ofTers much of the atmosphere of a home but the working girl as a housekeeper struggles against severe handicaps. She necessarily visits the market late and gets inferior goods; she craves stimu- lating food because nervously depleted; and she is poorly nour- ished because her work leaves her little energy or inclination for the duties of a housekeeper and because the temptation to save on food to eke out a meager income is too often yielded to. The accurate accounts of the city school board as well as the 48] 55 price lists of the Young Women's Christian Association cafeteria, quoting at cost, support the conclusion that $3.50 is the mini- mum for busy and inexpert housekeepers drawn from among working women. The conclusion that $5.50 represents the minimum charge for board and lodging which will allow a full self support is en- forced by the results of a special study of the nine organized boarding houses in St. Louis. The third important item is the charge of $80 per year for clothing. This is lower than the majority of estimates but agrees with the similar charges in the Kansas City study. The fact that the working girl frequently purchases clothing on the installment plan throws additional light on the seriousness of her problem and on her financial insecurity, The other items in the budget are of less importance judged by money spent — but of vast importance as measured by the content of working women's lives. If it is written that men shall not live by bread alone, should we not write that wage earning women shall not be expected to live upon food, lodging and carfare with a modest provision of clothing? The estimate adds 25 cents weekly for laundry, 5 cents for church, 10 cents for vacation and 10 cents for insurance — repre- senting savings — 20 cents for amusements, and supposing that wages will be high enough to allow an expenditure of $10 for dental medical and optical attention. A study of actual budgets proves that working women are frequently compelled to forego needed medical attention because a meager wage prohibits the expense. The minimum estimate adopted $8.53 per week is approved by the actual income and expenditures of 41 of 50 girls who gave full statement. Of the 41, 9 had incomes of $3 to $5.99 per week, 8 from $6 to $6.99, 8 from $7 to $7.99, 9 from $8 to $9.99, and 7 of $10 or over. Deficits were incurred by 12 women in the three groups with the smallest incomes. Deficits disappear only when the $8 income is surpassed. Practically half of these receiving less than $8 incurred a deficit. And the showing is still incomplete since 33 of the 50 girls were compelled to supplement their wages from other sources. Thus the conclusion is justified that this is the lowest income which will give the desired, universal prevalence of high standards of physical, mental and moral activity among women wage earners. 56 [48 ESTIMATES OF LIVING WAGES FOR WOMEN WORKERS. St. Louis. Kansas City. Boston. Oregon State Week. Year. Week. Year. Week. Year. Week. Year. Food 3.50 2.00 1.53 .25 .60 .20 .10 182.00 104.00 80.00 13.00 31.20 10.40 5.00 3.00 2.00 1.50 .40 .60 169.70 74.81 88.99 4.00 2.48 1.92 .55 .52 .54 156.00 128.96 100.00 27.50 27.04 28.00 3. 50 2.00 1.35 .20 .60 .09 .19 .08 .10 300 . 00 Bent Clothing 130.00 25.00 30.00 25 00 Education 17.06 .07 .10 3.65 5.20 10.00 Church .05 .10 2.60 5.20 10.00 Savings 31.63 22.09 Medical .20 10.00 1.00 .42 32.09 .17 15.00 Totals 8.53 443 . 40 8.50 504.28 10.60 551.34 8.28 545 . 00 $10 per week. Minnesota estimate: Food $4.80, rent $2, clothing 50 cents, laundry 25 cents, carfare 25 cents, amusements 10 cents, vaca- tion 10 cents, church 6 cents, medical attention 30 cents, total 18.65. Duluth, Wisconsin, fixes an estimate of $8.50 per week as the lowest estimate. Examination of these figures show that estimates of the necessary cost of living for women workers varied from the mini- mum of $6.50 per week to a maximum of $10.60. The estimates fall into three clearly marked groups. Those of $10 or more, those of $7, and those near the St. Louis and Kansas City esti- mates of $8.50. The estimates below $7 represent the cost of living at the subsistence level, not a living wage. They include only a minimum provision of food and lodging, clothing, laundry and carfare. They allow nothing for illness, or recreation. At the other extreme the estimate of over $10 represent rather an ideal standard of confort rather than a practical living wage. The higher range of prices in Oregon reflected by the higher provision for food accounts for a large part of the increased cost in that case. It will be noted that the St. Louis estimate not only agrees with that of Kansas City but is in close correspond- ence with the estimates made in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin as a basis of actual wage awards. 48] 57 In considering the item of clothing the first influencing factor is occupation. A department store clerk usually is re- quired to wear black or white. She must have a clean blouse each morning. Thus the question of laundry is added to a prob- lem already vexatious. The factory girl on the other hand, while she wears her suit to work, usually dons a gingham apron to run the machine in, by which means her street clothes are saved the wear and tear that those of a girl in a shop receives. Many of course cannot afford the separate aprons which are quite expensive, costing between 50 cents and 75 cents apiece. Standing all day brings the shoe bill up and the practice of buying damaged shoes from 98 cents to $1.15 rather than higher priced footwear seems to be quite universal. Another impor- tant phase of the clothes question is the allowance of time and energy which a girl has to repair and freshen up her wardrobe. Girls put to work at 14 have had but little chance to learn dress- making. Even if they have a few ideas of how to fit or make over, there is but little inclination left to do so after 9 hours of turning bags, or sewing buttons on overalls. The final cost of a wardrobe is also affected by the amount of cash possessed at the date of purchase. Installment houses do a thriving business with wage earning women and for weeks sometimes months an undue amount of each payroll goes faithfully to the advancer of such credit. Of the total number of girls interviewed, 10 sent their laundry out, 17 did it themselves, and 15 were fortunate enough to have it done by someone else free of charge. The average yearly amount spent by those sending their laundry out was $16.54, those doing it at home $5.49. Most of the girls did some sewing but only eleven attempted to reduce their cost of living by buying materials and then making the necessary garments themselves. The average cost for a year for this group was S64.19. That for the group buying ready to wear garments was $72.05. The following figures show an average of what 100 girls spent for clothes April 1, 1913, to April 1, 1914. Winter coat $10, suit $10 (made from remnant), separate skirt $1.50, seven waists $3.71 (three at 57 cents and four 50 cents), four blue underskirts $2.40, two aprons 45 cents, dress materials $1, underwear $2.30, 6 pair hose $2, 2 corsets $2.54, 6 corset covers $2.10, 2 dozen handkerchiefs 60 cents, a pair silk gloves 50 cents, five pair shoes $7.95, purse S2.98, total 58 [48 $50.03. These girls earned an average of $6.49 a week, seaming overalls. Most of them did their own washing and sewing. The following figures show normal outfit of a working girl. Winter: Coat $10, separate skirt $3.75, 3 waists $3, one silk waist $2, one work hat $1.25, dress hat $3, two pair shoes $5, 1 pair rubbers 75 cents, one black petticoat 75 cents, two union sutis $2, one corset $1, 2 pairs gloves $1.18, three corset covers 75 cents, 2 nightgowns $1, 2 aprons 90 cents, cleaning $1.50, total $37.83. Summer: Spring suit $12.50, material for dress $2.50, wash skirt $1, four shirt waists $4, work hat $1.50, dress hat $3.25, white oxfords $1.98, black oxfords $2.25, 5 pairs hose $1.25, 6 vests 90 cents, 4 pairs drawers $1, 2 petticoats $1, 2 pair gloves 50 cents, two jumpers $1.40, total $35.03. Odds and ends, hair pins 50 cents, veil 25 cents, purse $1, umbrella $1, belt 50 cents, powder 50 cents, ties 25 cents, repairs 75 cents, 2 dozen handkerchiefs $1.20, ribbons 44 cents, pins 75 cents, total $7.14. Grand total for year $80.00. This estimate was made in Kansas City. Boston figures show a group of factory girls spent $70.71. Similar figures from St. Louis show an expenditure of $75.00. Reinvestigation of 86 Subpoenas Issued by the Senate Wage Commission as Made by the School of Social Economy of Washington University. Following the June, 1913, meeting of the Senate Wage Commission for women and children of Missouri, held in St. Louis at which 100 women from various establishments, mer- cantile and industrial, were subpoenaed, 86 of these subpoenas were turned over to the School of Social Economy of Washing- ton University. Concerning these subpoenas the school sub- mits to the Commission the following report: "An attempt was made to visit personally every person whose name appeared on the subpoena in her own home. Of the 86 subpoenaed, 35 could not be investigated for one of the following reasons: "(a) Wrong addresses, 12; (b) no address, 13; (c) moved out of town, 3; (d) married, 2; (e) died, 1; (f) men supoenaed, 5; total 35. 48] 59 "Fifly-one cases remain. A printed schedule of questions was filled out for each of these cases with a view of getting definite information concerning — (a) wage income for year; (b) expenditure for year; (c) conditions of employment; (d) living conditions. Each of the 51 girls was visited, some several times, until the schedule was complete and the material ready for analysis. In turn the superintendents of the establish- ments were interviewed on the nature of the previous investi- gation so that the report might present fairly the opinion of the employer and employee. ''Analysis — Speaking generally, the small number of cases renders the report practically worthless as a source of valuable information for the wage situation in St. Louis, because the information is too meager to permit of generalizations. However, it is interesting to note that the proportion of girls adrift and at home as shown by these 51 cases is very similar to that esti- mated in the Federal Report on Wage Earning "Women in Fac- tories and stores; 21 per cent was the proportion registered as adrift in St. Louis. But of the 51 girls visited, 9 girls, or 17 per cent were found to be adrift, that is they board in lodging or boarding houses or were themselves solely responsible for sup- porting a disabled parent or relative. It was difficult to obtain exact data. Most of the girls had never kept an account of their expenditures and could only give a rough guess as to the pro- portion spent for the different articles. A large majority of the 42 girls living at home handed their wages over entirely to their mother. The mother put this into the general saving exchequer and then proceeded to give the girl whatever she desired, with- out reference to the fact whether or not the girl had earned the money. In other cases a certain amount w^as paid regularly to the mother, but even so she was apt to supply the deficit bound to occur from time to time. ''Wage in Case— The model wage was $6 to $6.99. No girl getting less than $3 was subpoenaed and only two who were making between $3 and $3.99. One of these was a cash girl and the other employed in a shoe factory. Both board at home. The average wage of the 51 females was $6.59. However, con- siderable unemployment was registered and this greatly reduced the wage income of the individual girls. Chief among the causes of absence from work was illness or accident, 32 per cent of the cases suffering from unemployment having given this as their reason. Looking for work, vacations and other personal rea- 60 [48 sons were causes assigned in 42 per cent of the cases, and the re- mainder may be classified under 'slack work' and 'stock taking.' " Expenditures for the Year — The estimates under this head are most irregular. Often the girl said that it would be irhpossible to give an estimate. In such cases the expenses mentioned were added and the whole subtracted from the year's income, and in nearly every case the margin left was so small that the agent was tempted to inquire where the girl got the very clothes she had on. "Conditions of Employment — Almost no overtime was found. In some cases there was conflicting testimony on the part of different girls employed in the same establishment. In the case of a telegraph operator the hours worked were perfectly legal and paid for at an increased rate. This was not found to be general. "But of ten cases reporting fines, six were for tardiness, and the amounts ranged from 5 to 15 cents per hour. In shoe factories the girls have to buy the shoes if they spoil them, but one girl interviewed, said that they did this at auction and it caused little trouble. In one case a fine was charged for placing a wrong address on a parcel and another girl was fined 25 cents for laughing. "Commissions were not registered on but one of the sched- ules, though it is well known that several of the large firms pay a set wage and allow from 12 per cent to 2 per cent after a certain amount has been sold. From this one might infer that the girl had not gone beyond the alloted sales. Employers for the most part seemed proud of their places and quite willing to have them investigated. In certain cases they were proud of the conditions of employment. ''Living Conditions — The most serious problem which will naturally be viewed as a result of low wages is the living condi- tions of the working girl. The schedule card provided for a rating of the housing conditions by the agent, which depended solely on the agent's individual opinion. Sanitary conditions and conveniences, airy room, order and number constituted the chief points looked for in proving a good mark. The fol- lowing table will present the situations graphically: A. B. C. D. No report. Housing 16 16 34 18 20 15 12 10 4 2 2 1 Food Health 3 48] 61 "Four girls lived in homes showing very good sanitary conditions. Of these two also had bad food. Poor health was found among girls living in good surroundings. Their poor health was probably due to overstrain. All girls living in homes show- ing bad housing conditions earned $6 a w^eek or under, two earned $6, two earned $5 and one earned |4.20. "The following show the statistical tables of the facts learned in investigating the homes of the girls subpoenaed before the Commission. WAGE GROUPS. Total 51. $3-$3.99 $4-$4.99 $5-$5.99 $6-$6.99 $7-$7.99 $8-$8.99 $9-$9.99 Over $10 No. ca.ses 2 8 6 13 10 3 1 8 AGE GROUPS. Under 14. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 25-30. Over 30. Cases. . . 2 10 10 3 5 2 2 3 . 4 1 1 8 CAUSES OF UNEMPLOYMENT. Slack work Vacation taken . . . Looking for work . Illness or accident . Personal reasons . . Stocktaking Total 28 Total number subpoenas 86 Not investigated 35 Wrong address 12 No address Moved out of town. Married Died Men subpoenaed. . . 13 2 2 1 Re-investigated 51 Total number 51 Number of establishments 23 Number of girls at home 42 Number of girls adrift ! 9 Change in establishment 9 Out of work 3 Overtime. — Limgstras, paying 1 1-3 or 30 cents an hour, optional, no pay. Western Union — legal. Pierce Building, scrubwomen 62 [48 FINES. Causes. Establishments. Lateness Spoiling shoes Wrong address Laughing 10 cents an hour. 15 cents an hour No. of estab- Name of establishment. Estimated of agent. Ush- ment. No. of cases. Adrift. At home. Hous- ing. Food. Health Was-es. per wk. 1 2 American Steam Laundry. . . . 1 1 2 1 1 2 D. B. D. C. B. C. A. C. C. B. D. C. B. C. A. A. Good Poor Good Good Fair Good Fair Good Fair Fair Poor Good Good Good Good Good Fair Good Good Good Good Fair Fair Fair Good Fair Good Good Good Fair Good Fair Good Fair Good Good Good Good Good Good Fair Fair Fair Fair Fair Good Good Good Good Good Good S6.00 7.00 3 Earnhardt Mercantile-. Bemis Bag Factory 6.00 4.00 4 5 1 2 1 2 4.55 7.00 Brown Shoe Co 6.50 6 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 8.90 7 Crundyn Martyn 4.50 8 C. A. A. . .A. B. A. A. A. B. B. A. B. B. A. A. B. C. C. B. A. B. B. B. B. B. B. C. B. C. A. A. A. B. C. D. B. A. C. B. A. A. B. A. A. C. 5.00 9 5.00 10 6.00 6.00 B. B. A. B. B. A. A. B. B. H. C. A. C. A. B. C. B. B. A. B. B. B. C. A. B. A. A. C. C. D. D. A. B. C. A. A. B. A. A. B. 6.00 11 1 1 3 2 1 1 1 5.00 12 4.00 13 Lungstras Cleaning Co Nugents Dry Goods Co National Biscuit Co 11.00 10.00 10.00 14 2 2 6.00 7.00 15 16 1 2 1 1 1 7.00 6.00 Plow's Candy Co 6.00 17 2 2 7.50 Peckham Candy Co 4.50 18 19 1 2 1 2 5.00 6.00 Penny & Gentle's Pieffer Chemical Co 7.80 20 3 3 7.00 10.00 3.00 21 2 2 7.00 St. Louis Envelope Co Sunlight Shoe Factory Standard Stamp Co 7.00 22 23 24 1 1 2 2 1 1 8.00 3.50 6.60 9.00 25 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 6.50 26 27 28 Samuel Cupples Envelope Co. Schleuter Tinware Co Schaper Bros 5.72 4.20 5.00 29 St. Louis Paper Bo.x 6.00 30 Union Biscuit Co 7.00 Union Station Lunchroom. . . . Western Union Friedman Shelby Shoe Co. . . . 10.00 31 32 1 3 1 1 2 $25 p.m. 11.25 11.50 1 1 . 53 33 34 1 1 1 1 6.00 10.00 4-5 . 00 48] 63 KANSAS CITY MEETINGS. June 17-18, 1913. Mrs. Nan Sperry with the labor bureaus and formerly with the Kansas City Welfare Board, testified before the commission that the girl who starts into factory work at 14 is a wreck at 28. The woman over 40 in a department store is the exception, Mrs. Sperry testified. In some crafts the length of service is a low as two years. That is the average for a factory girl working piece work. The telephone operator lasts three years, and in five years the shop girl is seriously impaired. Social standing, according to Mrs. Sperry, is largely respon- sible for congested conditions in cities. "Caste lines are sharply drawn among working girls," said Mrs. Sperry. "The teacher ranks first. The saleswoman is next followed by the bookkeeper, stenographer, factory and laundry girls, and the domestic or housemaid is the lowest in the social scale of the working world. "Whom does the housemaid look down upon?" Senator Wilson asked. "She has only herself to look down upon," Mrs. Sperry replied. "The lines are even drawn between the different classes of department store employes. A millinery or cloak saleswoman will quit in a minute if her employer puts her behind the notion counter." Question by Senator Wilson: "What in your opinion is the cause of these caste lines?" Answer: "The wage paid each craft. From an investiga- tion made by the board of public welfare recently it was found that the great majority of fallen women had been domestics or hotel employes." Mrs. Sperry advocated the establishing of a permanent wage commission to arbitrate wage matters. There should be a minimum wage for each craft, based on a scientific basis, she said. Miss Louis Middlestadt, organizer of the Woman's Trade Union League testified as to conditions she found in two fac- tories and a laundry in Kansas City. Miss Middlestadt worked in the factories and got the information first hand. 64 [48 "I have been a factory girl all my life, except a year and a half when I was a housemaid," the witness said. "I went to work for the Boss Glove Manufacturing Company on lower Broadw^ay January 7th in answer to an advertisement. "The forelady told me I could make good money. She said some of the girls made |12 and $13 a week. The company paid the girls 9 cents a dozen pairs for making gloves. They retailed for 7 cents a pair. I worked five days and made 25 dozen pairs. When I got my pay envelope it had $1.85 in it. That included a 10 per cent bonus given the girls at the end of each w^eek. Part of my pay w^as held back. They gave me some hazy sort of explanation of it. "There were 175 girls working there and the company ran an ad. in the papers every day. It read 'Girls wanted, experi- ence unnecessary. Good pay.' I w'orked on the fourth floor. There were tw^o stairw^ays and the door to one of them was locked." "Next to the other stairway, betw^een it and the elevator, was a big oil tank. I believe that in case of fire there many of the girls would lose their lives. There was one fire escape but the girls were given no fire drills. "Many of the girls had had four or five years experience. They left other positions, thinking they could better themselves. Many of them w^ere from laundries, w^here they were forced to stand all day long and they needed the rest, if it could be called that. They sit down at the machines, and in that respect the work is not so hard. But the amount of w'ork a girl must do to make a living soon makes a wreck of her. "It takes about six weeks for a girl to become able to earn 90 cents a day. That means they must go into debt wiiile they are apprentices. Then when they begin to earn the maximum they have their living expenses to pay and the old debts to take care of also. A girl wdll give the best that is in her if she thinks she can increase her earnings. One girl told me that she would stay there if she could make a dollar a day. "The force is constantly changing, the company is after apprentices constantly. The girls don't stay long because they have to work to the point of exhaustion to make a living. "The same girl told me she had w^orked at the Silver Laun- dry for three years and when she quit because of trouble with her feet she was making $8 a week. "I applied for w^ork at Woolf Bros. Laundry March 21st. 48] 65 I was put in the shirt department where twenty to twenty-two girls are employed. Those girls turn out about 1500 shirts a day in nine hours. A shirt passes through eight hands before it is finished. The bosom ironer makes the most money. She gets 50 cents per 100 and can turn out about 500 a day. She told me she had been there a year and felt the weight of ten years. "The finisher was paid 60 cents a hundred. She was paid better because it was the hardest work. That is the reason the girls are paid on the piecework system; because it is hard work. "In the mangle room on the first floor, the girls stand on a cement floor all day. They work nine hours and get $5 a week. The work can be learned in a few minutes and the laundry can get all the girls it wants. One woman had been there four years. She was a picture of despair, no future, nothing to work for but a bare existence. "They dry the clothes in a tub by a sytem that takes 45 minutes. They pay a girl |8 a week to stand over this tub in the intense heat that must be necessary to dry the clothes in such a short time. She lifts the lid every minute or so for nine hours. At noon she simply throws her lunch in and rushes down to the cloak room and lies down to rest the few minutes she has left. Before the nine hour law was passed the girls had to work until 9 and 10 o'clock some nights. "There is no spirit left in the girls. They have great faith in this wage commission and they watch the papers every day for news of what is being done to better their condition. I was discharged because I took some trade union papers to work with me. "I went to work at the Franklin Feather Company, 8 East Third St., May 19th, the work is sorting feathers. It is the hardest and dirtiest work imaginable. They started me in on piece work with a guarantee of $3 a week. They have from ten to thirty girls there always and a few of them make from $5 to $8 a week. But the strain is too much for them; they don't last long at it. Question by Senator Kinney: "Are these girls from the country or are they city girls, and why are they working?" Answer: "They are practically all city girls. They are working because they have to. Many of them live at home and have to support a father or a mother or even a whole family. 48 — 5 66 [48 No girl works who doesn't need to and they don't work for pin money either. A few of them may say so, but a girl isn't going to make a wreck of herself in a few years just when she should be in her prime, if she doesn't have to. Question by Senator Green: "What do you suggest as remedies for these conditions?" Answer: "The age at which children are allowed to go to work should be raised from 14 to 16. Children should be com- pelled to go to a certain grade in school rather than to an age limit. Then there should be a minimum wage for each class of w^ork. Abolish piece work and pay $6 a w^eek to beginners and %\0 to efTicient help." Question: "What per cent of girls give their earnings to their families?" Answer: "About ninety per cent." Question: "How do the different industries rank as to the wages they pay?" Answer: "The laundries pay the least, the feather factories next, and the cracker and candy factories a little better yet." Testimony that whiskey is given fainting girls in the F. W. Woolworth 10-cent store was given by witness No. 6, one of the girl employes. Question by Senator Wilson: "What is done for a girl when she faints or becomes ill?" Answer: "When a girl faints she is taken to the basement and put on a bench. They give her whiskey or ammonia and that's about all they do for her. If she is so ill she can't return to work, sometimes one of the other girls will call the sick girl's home, if she has one, and a relative or friend comes after her." Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "Is the whiskey given under the direction of a physician?" Answer: "No, sir. Usually a floorlady gives it. The store hasn't a physician." Question: "Do they ever call a doctor for a sick girl?" Answer: "I suppose they would if they thought she was going to die." Witness No. 6 said she lived in Kansas City, Kansas and came to Kansas City, Missouri to work because she gets better pay and shorter hours. She started to work 18 months before at $4.50 a week and gets $5 a week now, she said. "I live with my aunt and pay $2.50 a week board," the witness said. "I carry my lunch because it is cheaper. I have a 48] 67 brother in Texas and he helps me some. If he didn't, I don't know how I could get along. If he ever marries I'll be left alone." Question by Senator Whitledge: "You can get married too, can't you?" Answer: "It's not so easy." Question: "How much does your counter take in a week?" Answer: "Twenty dollars a day, except Saturdays when we take in $30. About* $130 a week. There are two of us at the counter and one stool. We are kept so busy though we hardly ever have time to sit down. The counter must be kept in shape and we have to look like we are busy all the time whether we are or not. If we appear not to be busy the floorwalker asks us if we haven't something to do. They don't like for us to sit down." Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "About this basement. Has it ever been inspected by the health department?" Answer: "No not that I know of. I have seen an inspector there several times but a floorwalker usually manages to keep him out of the basement. I have spoken to the floorwalker several times about unsanitary conditions in the basement but it does no good. It's dirty and there is no ventilation. It's the only place the girls have to eat their lunches or to go when they are sick. Question: "Do you ever have to carry stock up from the basement?" Answer: "Nearly always. And it's hard work too." Question: "Aren't there any men there to do that heavy work?" Answer: "Yes, but they won't help if they can get out of it." Question by Senator Wilson: "Do they usually get out of it?" Answer: "Yes." A pretty frank-faced, blue-eyed girl, barely 16 years old, was No. 4, she worked at the Kresge store for $5 a week and was the sole support of her mother and a younger brother. She quit school a year before, obtained a permit, and went to work in a drug store fro $3.50 a week. Now she spends eight hours a day in a basement and gives her money to her mother to pay the rent of $12.50 a month and feed and clothe the others. Her health is perfect, she said, and she is glad of the opportunity to earn a living for her mother and brother. She carries her 68 [48 lu'ncheon every day in order to save a few cents and frequently walks to and from the store to save ten cents. Question by Senator Whitledge: "Do you ever go to the parks or other amusement places." Answer: "Not very often. I have seen Swope Park only a few times." (Swope Park is a big city park.) A widow with three children testified she worked at the Woolworth store for $5 a w^eek and supported the family. Girls from the Swan, Gate City and Faultless Laundries told of girls fainting occasionally from the heat. They are paid from $7 to $8 a week. When girls faint stimulants are given. One girl living alone said she paid $2 a week for room, 50 cents a day for board and bought clothes with the remainder of the $7 wage. "I am trying to keep my children together," said a mother who has two girls working and a boy of 12 in school. "I walk fourteen blocks to work in the Faultless Laundry and get $6 a week. My two daughters, one 18 and the other 16, help me. On Sundays' I stay home, wash, sew, and cook. I never get to the parks." This story of never getting to the parks, even on Sundays was told by most of the laundry workers. One girl asserted she did not care to go out. One of the girls had worked at the Jones Department store as cashier at $5 a week, and had quit to go to the laundry at $7 a week. Another told of becoming overheated and receiving a stroke of paralysis when taken into a cool room. She was ill for two weeks but is able to be at work now. The statement of a social worker that working girls are not welcomed by churches was borne out by the testimony of Witness No. 8. She was asked if she went to church and she answered "sometimes." Question: "Why don't you go more often?" Answer: "I went to a church intending to become a member. The first thing I was asked was who my parents were and how much property they had. I never went back and I haven't joined any other church because I am afraid they will ask me some personal questions like that." Witness No, 8 worked at Woolworths. She has worked there over four years, part of the time while the store was owned by S. H. Knox and Co. She started in at $3.50 a week and makes 48] 69 $6.50 now. She is in charge of a candy counter. She lives at home, and has two younger sisters. Her father is a carpenter. She fainted once, she said, and she was carried to the base- ment and given ammonia. She became so ill that the store notified her mother and she took the girl home. "There was only a bench to lie on," she said. "That's all the care they take of girls." No. 8 said she paid $3 a week board, 75 cents a week for her laundry and 60 cents for carfare. "I couldn't get along on the $2.15 that is left if I didn't live at home," she said. "I am not very strong and I have a doctor bill to pay every month. I haven't had it paid up for sometime now. Last month it was $5. I was at home sick two weeks and it put me away behind. I spend only what I can spare for clothes." Question by Senator Wilson: "Do you attribute your poor health to the fact that you have been working since you were 15 — seven years?" Answer: "It is partly due to that. I am naturally not very strong but the work has been hard and it has helped to make me weaker. I don't think I can stand it much longer. I never go any place at night or on Sunday because I am too tired and need the time to rest." Question by Senator Whitledge: "Is your work harder than that of a woman with four or five children and a house to care for?" Answer: "I can't answer that. I haven't had any ex- perience in that line." Question: "If you will pardon a personal question, I notice you have on rather a becoming hat, and would you mind telling me what it cost?" Answer: "Not at all. It cost $2." Nine other witnesses examined showed they were working in stores for $4.50 and §5 a week. Most of them lived with their parents or relatives and received some assistance from them, and they said they were positive they could not live on their earnings alone. One 16 year old girl who was deserted by her husband when her baby was three months old, testified she found a position which paid her 35 a week. Of this she paid $3 a week to her landlady to take care of the baby while she worked. The landlady soon tired of the baby and after inserting numerous 70 [48 advertisements in the papers the girl found a woman who took care of the baby for $4 a week. The mother worked mornings and nights for her own board and divided the one dollar left her into carfare and lunches for the week. But the baby needed medicine and the mother needed clothes so she finally adopted means other than work to secure money. Waitresses are the best paid women workers in Kansas City with the exception of private secretaries and high class stenographers. Testimony showed that many girls would rather work for low^er wages in factories or stores than in hotels or restaurants. No. 18, a waitress employed at McClintocks, said that she quit a job as cashier at $10 a week to become a w^aitress. Question by Chairman Kinney: "How much did you get as a waitress?" Answer: "$7 a week." Question: "Why did you quit?" Answer: "Because of the tips. Sometimes mj^ tips average $2 a day. Two other women waiters testified their tips ran from $1.50 to $2 a day. Other witnesses examined along the same line declared they had quit restaurant work to go into a factory or store because they preferred a store or factory work even at lower pay. Three working women testified that the strain of piece- work in factories had sent them to physicians to be treated for nervousness. No. 15, a married woman employed by the Loose Wiles Biscuit Company, said she started to work four ^^ears before at $4.50 a w^eek and now earned $9 a week. She weighed 138 pounds w^hen she began and 109 at the time she gave her testi- mony. She stands up nine hours a day and sits down only at lunch. She never goes out at night because she is too tired. She cooks supper after going home and takes care of two children. She went to Kansas City from a Missouri farm. She concluded her testimony with these words: "Oh, how I wish I was back there." No. 17 testified she was the fastest candy wrapper at the Loose Wiles factory. She stood all day and earned $14 a week. She complained only of the system in general. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "Show me how fast you can wrap?" 48] 71 Answer: "If I had the candy here I would show you. I can work my hands faster than your eyes can follow." Question: "But can you stand up under this strain?" Answer: "No, I am getting nervous." Question: "What causes your nervousness?" Answer: "The rapid work. Question: "Why don't you work slower?" Answer: "I need the money." This witness helps support a family. She testified she realized she could not stand up under the strain more than a year or so longer. As long as the piecework system existed, she declared, girls would try to make just as much as they could. "That's just like we all do." Senator Wilson remarked. No. 16, another employe at the Loose Wiles factory earned $5.50 a week and helps support the family. "I wish I could go back to school," she said. Question by Chairman Kinney: "Could you live on your $5.50 a week if you did not reside at home?" Answer: "No way in the world." Question: "Haven't you been sick?" Answer: I ought to be going to a doctor now, but I can't afford it." Witness No. 20, an employe of the Boss Manufacturing Company a glove making concern testified she started work at $2.90 a week. She now earns $10. Another girl from the same concern testified she was earning $2.50 per week. The company holds back one week's pay This is done to assure the girls resewing gloves that are faulty. No. 22 testified she was making $5 a week at this glove factory and living on that sum. Another girl from the same factory testified she made $2.75 the first w^eek. No. 24 had worked a year at the factory. She earned $2.35 the first week, but now earned from $1.80 to $2 a day. Between 25 and 50 girls are working in the Boss factory many of them under 16 years old. F. A. W^aller, manager of the Boss Mfg. Co. was the next witness called. Question by Senator Wilson: "Why do you employ so many mere children — girls fourteen and fifteen years old?" Answer: "Well they want the work and we have the room." Question: "Why, one of your girls was so infantile when she answered my questions she said 'Yes ma'am'?" Surely 72 [48 there is some reason why they start into commercial slavery at such a tender age. Answer: "We have the room and they want the work." Question: "You don't consider their age at all do you?" You consider only the profit you can make from their childish bodies for your employers, don't you?" Answer: "Hardly that." Question: "But your only reason for employing them is that you have the room for them?" Answer: "Well, many of their parents bring them up and ask us to give them employment." By Senator Wilson: "I should think somebody would have to bring them to work." Question by Senator Whitledge: "Isn't it a fact that the only reason you take these little girls is because you can't get the older ones to work at your factory?" Answer: "Well, we do have trouble getting help." Question: "Why, are you constantly seeking more girls? Why don't they stay with you?" Answer: "I'd give a lot to know that myself." Mr. Waller said he employed 30 girls under 16 years of age. Most of them are foreigners. He declared that if they stayed long enough to learn the trade they could make from $8 to $10 a week. He said the fire escapes were in good condition. The company has a Victrola in the lunch room to entertain the girls while they eat. Most of the girls who testified from department stores live at home. Apparently in this calass of work in Kansas City, few are adrift. Most of those who testified declared if they lived away from home and had to depend entirely on their wages, they could not support themselves on the salaries paid. No. 26, an employee at the Jones Store Company testified she received $6 a week and commissions. Question by Chairman Kinney: "What do those com- missions amount to?" Answer: "From $1 to $4 a week." Question: "Could you live on $6 a w^eek?" Answer: "Probably not, but I have my commissions, too." This witness had a sick husband at home whom she sup- ported. She gets up every morning at 4.30 to do her housework 48] 73 before going to the store. When she gets home at night, she testified, she usually worked until after eleven o'clock. Witness said each clerk pait 25 cents a month into a Mutual Benefit Fund. Anyone sick is cared for out of the fund. No. 27, another Jones Store employe, testified she received $5 a week. Question by Senator Wilson: "Have you anything to sug- gest to better the condition of the girl clerks?" Answer: "I think they ought to get more wages. If I had to live away from home, I could not live on $5 a week." Question: "What would you say would be a fair wage?" Answer: "At least $8 a week." No. 28, another Jones Store employe is paid $6 a week. She seldom makes any commissions. She contributes 25 cents a month to the Mutual Benefit Society. The money is taken out each month by the cashier she said. Witness No. 29 from the Emery Bird Thayer store, began work at $14 a month. She is now saleslady in the cloak depart- ment, and gets $35 a month. She supports herself and helps support a brother who is in school. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "How much money do you have to spend on clothes?" Answer: "About $100 a year." Question: "Have they any benefit society?" Answer: "No, but they have a nurse who looks after the girls. If a girl becomes sick a doctor is called and she is sent home." Question: "Do they stop the pay of the girls when they are ill?" Answer: "I don't know." Question: "Do you have heavy lifting to do?" Answer: "I have no complaint to make." No. 30, another Emery Bird Thayer employe, began work at $12.00 a month, and is now earning $30.00 a month. Question by Senator Green: "How much do you pay for board?" Answer: "$7 every two weeks. I also help support a small brother. My uncle and aunt help me support him." Question: "Do you save anything on your salary?" Answer: "No, what I save I spend on my brother." Question: "Does the store give any free entertainment?'. 74 [48 Answer: "Well, twice in four years we have been given free tickets to entertainments." No. 31 began work at the Emery Bird Thayer store at $3.50 a week and now gets $25 a month. She lives at home. Question by Senator Wilson: "Have you any cause for complaint?" Answer: "Only that we have to work too hard for the money we get." She testified the system of fines for being late to work had been stopped. She complained that the store charged too much for food sold to the girls in the employe's lunch room. "They run it for profit," she testified. "They wouldn't run it otherwise. The food should be served at cost to the girls." Question: "How much ought the girls receive as wages?" Answer: "No less than $7 or $8 a week in any instance." No. 32, an employe of the John Taylor Dry Goods Company, testified she started at $6 a week and at the time the testimony was given was getting $7. She lives at home and uses her money for her own special use. No. 33, started at $5 a week at the John Taylor store and is now getting $7. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "Do you support yourself entirely?" Answer: "Absolutely." Question: "How do you apportion your expenses?" Answer: "Well, my rooms cost $2.50 and my board $2.25 a week, that leaves me $2.25 for my clothes, laundry and other expenses." Question: "Did you come to Kansas City from the coun- try?" Answer: "I did." Question : "Why?" Answer: "I thought I had a better opportunity in the city than in the country." By Senator Wilson: "Well, don't you wish you were back in the small Missouri town, among the home folks?" Answer: "No, I think I have bettered my condition by coming to the city." No. 34 testified she received $8 a week at Taylor's. She said she was satisfied with her work. Witness No. 35, an employe at Kline's Suit and Cloak Com- 481 75 pany, testified she quit a telephone office at $5 a week and went to work at Kline's. Question by Senator Green: "What do you get at Kline's?" Answer: "I get $6 a week." Question: "The work at the store is easier than at the telephone office. " Answer: "I should say it is. Telephone girls have to work harder than any other girls in Kansas City. They work under bad conditions too, and aren't treated right." No. 37, a Scotch girl, 22 years old, came to the United States in 1910, and had been working at the Geo. B. Peck Dry Goods Co.'s store ever since. She started at $25 a month and now gets $35. She pays $4 a week for board and room, walks to work, and in the three years saved $70. When a girl is sick, she said, the floorwomen care for her. This girl worked in Scotland for fourteen shillings or $3.50 a week. There she went to work at 9:30 in the morning, had 20 minutes for tea once in the morning, once in the afternoon, an hour and a half for lunch and was off duty at 7 o'clock. No. 38 and No. 39 also employed at the Peck store received $6 a week. Both declared it meant scrimping to get along. No. 40 is employed at the Bernheimer Dry Goods Store and receives $20 a month. Two other girls receiving $7.50 a w^ek are employed at the same store. One of them supports herself and her baby without aid. Compulsory sick and death benefits are taken from the wages of Montgomery Ward and Company. Witness No. 48 testified that the company takes 3 per cent from the w^ages each week for this benefit. If they are off more than three days the firm pays the doctor bills out of this fund and one-half their w^ages. In case one of the employees dies a benefit of $100 is paid out of the fund. Question by Senator Whitledge: "Isn't that rather a bene- fit to take from your salaries?" Answer: "It is made compulsory." Arthur Young, manager of the Montgomery Ward store testified a minimum wage of $7.50 had been established. The store is a large mail order house and has about seven hundred girl employees. Three girls from the Bemis Bag Company testified that conditions at the factory were bad. They declared the air is 76 [48 full of lint and dust, and the compan^^ did nothing to protect them from it. Question by Senator Wilson: "Don't they furnish you guards for your nose and mouth as some factories do?" Answer: "No." Asa L, Hill, manager of the Kresge 5 and 10-cent store denied that he had ever warned his employes that they must not inform the factory inspector of violations of the nine-hour law, as had been reported to the commission. Question by Senator Wilson: "Didn't you call your employes together when you learned you were to receive a visit from Mrs. Nan Willison Sperry, and tell them not to talk?" Answer: "I believe there was such a meeting called." Question: "And vou told them that Mrs. Sperry was com- ing?" Answer: "I suppose I did." Question: "Why did you tell them that?" Answer: "Because I saw fit." Question: "Did you refuse to take a girl back into your employ who had informed Mrs. Sperry that your store worked overtime?" Answer: "I refused to take her back." Question: "For that reason?" Answer: "That was one of the reasons. I didn't want a girl around who made trouble." Question: "Have you worked your girls overtime?" Answer: "I have, but I discontinued it on a warning from Mrs. Sperry. I do not believe in the nine-hour law. In Colum- bus, Ohio, where I served as manager of one of the Kresge stores before coming to Kansas City, there is no such law." Question: "Do you believe in a minimum wage?" Answer: "No, any such law that fixed a minimum above $5 a week would not work. Girls in my business are worth no more than that." Question: "Then you don't care how much of the flesh and blood of these girls you throw into the maul of commerce so long as you make a profit?" Answer: "I think you are putting it pretty strong." Question: "Well then, do you think a girl can live on $5 or 36 a week?" Answer: "I do not really know." Question: "Have you made any study of the cost of living? 48] 77 Answer: "I have not." Question: "Have you heard any complaints that the floor- walkers used offensive language to the girls?" Answer: "I have heard such rumors, but I do not believe them. I think there have been instances where the floorwalker got rough with customers." Question: "What is the condition of your lunch room?" Answer: "It is very good." Question: "Do you eat there?" Answer: "No, sir, but I think it is a very good place to eat." Question: "It is down in the cellar, isn't it?" Answer: "It is down in the basement, but it is a nice base- ment." Question: "Isn't there a room in your stock rooms for them to eat?" Answer: "I suppose there is, but they would raise too much racket." Question: "How much goods does a girl you pay $5 a week sell in a week?" Answer: "She probably averages $100 a week." Question: "How much do you pay your girls?" Answer: "I have sixty girls at $5 a week, twenty at $6, twenty at $7 and a few at $8. I pay none of them $9. C. C. Peters, secretary of the Emery Bird Company testi- fied his firm employed 950 women and girls at an average of $10 a week. Bundle wrappers are paid $5. The store takes only girls living at home and after their references have been thor- oughly investigated, according to the testimony of Mr. Peters. "We employ no women who cannot live on their wages," Mr. Peters testified. "And we pay the same wage to women that we do to men, efficiency being equal." Mr. Peters believed that if a minimum wage of $7 were fixed it would work a revolution in the business of the department stores. He said he would re- place a great many of his girls with boys. Question by Senator Wilson: "Then why don't you use boys now?" Answer: "Because the girls are neater in appearance, more refined and better fitted to come in contact with our trade." Question: "Then you would sacrifice these ideal qualities for the sake of the $2 a week you would be compelled to pay girls under a minimum wage?" 78 [48 Answer: "Only in such instances where they would not meet the trade." Question: "What is your opinion of the possible workings of a wage commission?" Answer: "I think it probable it would be a political commis- sion and highly incompetent." Mr. Peters declared that the employees lunch room was not operated for profit. He testified that 8000 cases had passed through the company's hospital in 1912. No charge is made for the treatment. A teacher is paid $150 a month to instruct the new employees. Sick pay is allowed all old employees and commissions are paid in addition to regular salaries. L. M. Jones of the Jones Store testified that wages had noth- ing with sale percentages cost or overhead charges. Mr. Jones testified: "There is a law of wages without regard to me or my business. I couldn't fix them if I tried. That law is the cost of living, competition, and the efficiency of the worker. De- partment store help is the cruedst, rawest, and most inefficient of all labor. The average boy and girl who comes into my store from school, cannot sit down and figure up the cost of 6 yards of calico at 6 1-4 cents per yard. If the public schools would teach our boys and girls with a little more regard for their ne- cessity of making a living in the world, we wouldn't need a minimum wage law or any other legislation by the state." Question by Senator Whitledge: "But can we alTord to reduce our school, systems to a commercial basis? Future presidents of the United States must come from our public schools." Answer: "The future presidents of the United States will be business men." By Senator Whitledge: "I think the commission is divided on that point." Question: "Have you any 14 year old help?" Answer: "Not if I know it." William Taylor, vice-president of the John Taylor Dry Goods Co., testified he did not work his employees nine hours, and that the store had always taken a close interest in their welfare. "We do not want any girl who is not worth $8 to us," he testified. "None except experienced help is any good to us, and once our girls become experienced we seldom permit them to leave us. I am opposed to a minimum wage law, however." 48] 79 F. B. Heath, testified that the Geo. G. Peck Co. paid an average of $13.84 to its employes. The lowest wage is $6 for sales girls, with beginners at |4 and $5. Mr. Heath doubted the advisability of the minimum wage law. Frank H. Kimball, superintendent at Bernheimer's, testi- fied the minimum pay for beginners is $5, and the average weekly pay with commissions added is $8.25. Sigmund Harzfeld of the Parisian Cloak Company testified his minimum pay was $5 a week, with an average of $14.50 a week. H. H. Gilpatrick, of the Gilpatrick Laundry Co., employ- ing 93 women, testified the minimum wage was $6 and the average $8.21. All but six of the women employed there live at home. He declared the laundry was sanitary and every precaution taken for the comfort of the workers. John B. Dennis, of the Jackson Laundry employing 90 girls, testified the minimum wage was $6. L. J. Ingels, manager of Munger's testified the women em- ployes started at $6, the average wage being $8.10. Sixty girls are employed. Only four of them are adrift. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "Do the girls often faint from heat?" Answer: "We won't average one a year." C. W. Dalrynkle, manager of the Woolworth store testified he started girls to work at $5 a week and that his average wage was $7. Robert Truitt, manager of the National Biscuit Co., op- posed a minimum wage law. "There are too many drones," he testified, "and it would be unjust to the really efficient girl." "Cheap help is the most expensive we have and we would much rather pay a girl $10 than $5. We take them out of the $5 class as quickly as we can, for while we are paying them $5 we are doing nothing but teaching them how to work. As soon as they know^ how to work we put them on piece work and they earn as much as $22 a week. Eighty per cent of our help is on piecework. I treat the girls as I would treat my own daugh- ters. A matron is provided and a restroom and dispensary. A lunch room is maintained at which they can get a good lun- cheon for 6 cents. I eat there myself. The company employs 250 girls. Question by Senator Green: "If the state fixed a minimum 80 [48 wage at $8, could you pay it and compete with other manufac- turers outside the state?" Answer: "We could." H. E. Gould, secretary of the Loose Wiles Biscuit Company testified he employed 472 girls at wages ranging from $5 to $20 — the higher wage representing piece work. By Lieut. Gov. Painter: "There was a girl up here the other day who was plainly suffering from nervousness. She attributed her condition to piece work." Answer: "I don't think piece work is any harder on them than housework. Married women break down sometimes." Lieut. Gov. Painter: "But this woman had a strained look on her face." Mr. Gould: "Well she probably had trouble a't home." • By Senator Wilson: "Do you knowingly pay any girl or woman a wage that you know she cannot live on?" Answer: "There are a good many things that cannot be done in business. Competitive conditions in other cities has rnuch to do with the pay here. The great probability is that girls will get married anyway no matter how much wages they earn. I believe that wages are higher in Kansas City than they were twenty years ago. Anyway, lawyers work on piece work, why not girls? If you pass a minimum wage law in Missouri we will be at a big disadvantage with other states that have no such law. I believe the nine hour law is a good law, but I believe the state has gone far enough in that direction." Mr. Gould denied that any employees in his factory stood nine hours at their work. Frank W. Porter, vice president of the Silver Laundry em- ployed 130 girls. He starts them at $6 and advances them to $7.50 when they become experienced. The company does not ascertain whether girls live at home. His opinion of a minimum wage was that it would mean charity for the inefficient. He admitted that operating a stepping machine was hard work, but denied the statements of a girl witnesses that the lid of the "hot tumbler" had to be raised every few minutes. He said the lid of the machine is raised by a balance weight, and that only once in forty minutes. He denied that some girls are paid only $L50 a week in Kansas City Laundries.. Question by Chairman Kinney: "Can a girl who doesn't live at home maintain herself on $7.50 a week?" Answer: "I doubt if she can." 48] 81 ST. JOSEPH MEETING. November 21st 1913. The average working girl who does not live with members of her family who are able to contribute to her support, should re- ceive a w^age of not less than $10 a week in order to live re- spectably, according to estimates made by witnesses at the St. Joseph meeting. The first wdtness called was employed in the Woolworth ten-cent store. She was 16 years old and received $4.50 a week, being on duty from 8 a. m. to 6 p. m., with an hour for luncheon. Question by Chairman Kinney: "If you did not live with your people could you make all ends meet on your salary?" Answer: 'T do not believe I could." Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "Do you manage to live on the money you earn?" Answer: "No, most of the time I give my wages to my mother if she needs the money, and if I need it she helps me out. As a rule it takes all of my wages to keep me, although at times since I have been working I have been able to save as much as $1 a week. Sometimes if I have a little money ahead I buy pres- ents for members of the family. I do not go to the theatres or other places of amusement." Question: "How many girls work at the store?" Answer: "I do not know." Question: "Do you eat your lunch in the store?" Answ^er: "Yes." Question: "What kind of a place is provided for the girls to rest in?" Answer: "It is not very good. That is, it is not very clean, and is located in the basement where it is gloomy on dark days." Question by Senator Lysaught: "Is there a system of fines employed at the store?" Answer: "Not that I know of." Question by Senator Gates: "Do they allow you to sit down when there are no customers in the store?" Answer: "Why I guess they would if such a thing ever happened, but we are kept busy most of the time." Question: "What happens when one of the girls takes sick?" 48 — 6. 82 [48 Answer: "She goes home if she is able. If she is unable to go home alone, some one is sent with her in a carriage." Question by Chairman Kinney: "When you go to work there are you given any set of rules or anything of that kind?" Answer: "No. We are told what time to get to work, and that we are to wear dark clothing with black lace trimmings and black aprons." Question: "How much money do you take in during the day?" Answer: "It varies. Sometimes $25, sometimes not so much. Question: "How are the sanitary conditions at the store?". Answer: "Very good. We have plenty of light and air, although it sometimes becomes uncomfortable in warm weather." Question: "When one of the girls becomes ill and is forced to leave, who pays for the physician?" Answer: "I don't know as none of the girls has ever become that ill since I worked there." Question: "Do they take off from your wages if you are forced to stay away on account of illness?" Answer: "I don't know. I was away once for three days and I got my pay just the same." Question: "This rest room in the basement is so situated that if a fire should break out while you were in there, you would be able to get out with ease?" Answer: "Yes, I suppose so, if none of the girls became ex- cited." The next witness was a young woman employed at the underwear counter at Lehman Bros. Dry Goods Store. She receives $6 a week and "pms", which sometimes amount to $4 and $5. She began at $5. She testified she lives with her mar- ried sister, she pays board and gives part of her money to her mother. She goes home to luncheon, as there is no place to eat in the store. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "What do you think should be the minimum wage for girls who live away from home and have to depend solely upon what they earn for their support?" Answer: "Not under $9 or $10 a week." Question: "If you had a place at the store to eat your lunch would you take it with you?" Answer: "Yes." Question: "Would it be a saving?" Answer: "Yes." 48] 83 Question: "What kind of rest room do you have there?" Answer: "We have a small room in which llicre are a table, a chair and two or three stools. Question: "When one of you becomes ill, how are you taken care of?" Answer: "I don't know." The third witness, employed at Woolworth's ten cent store, testified she works from 8 a. m. to 6 p. m. for $5 a week. She began at $4 a week. Question by Senator Lysaught: "Have they a rest room where you work?" Answer: "Yes, but it is not decent. The only place we have is a back room with a few old chairs and a table." Witness supports herself and gives her mother money. She helps her mother with housework at night. Question by Senator Lysaught: "What if you are too tired to do this?" Answer: "Well, I just go ahead and don't think about it." Question: "Are you allowed to sit down at the store during the day?" Answer: "We are if we have time, but the store is never free from customers. Of course, we have our noOn hour." Witness testified there is no system of fines for the women employed at the store. She said she was forced to quit school and go to work on account of the illness of her father. Question by Senator Lysaught: "Suppose a fire should break out in the basement w^here your rest room is located. Would you have time to get out?" Answer: "Yes if we would hurry." Question: "What do you think a girl who lives away from home and is dependent solely on what she earns should receive to live?" Answer: "Not less than $9 or SIO a week." The next witness, employed at the same store, gave similar testimony. She declared a girl should receive at least $8 to $10 a week, if she is dependent solely upon what she earns for her support. She receives $4.50 and it takes all it to keep her in clothing, she said. A girl employed in the Martin Barnes Dry Goods Store in the underwear and corset department, testified she received $4 a week, which amount, she said, is not sufficient to support her and allow her to save anything. She testified the sanitary con- 84 [48 ditions of the store are satisfactory, but the rest room for women employes is inadequate. In case a woman becomes ill she is sent home and a physician sent to attend her. Girls who are kept away from work during illness receive no pay for the time they are absent. She said there is no system of fmes for the employes. She lives with her parents and pays $2 a week board, but on her wages could not support herself, she said. She estimated $8 to $10 to be the least wage on which a girl could support herself without help from her family. Another employe of Martin Barnes gave similar testimony regarding the sanitary conditions of the store. She receives $6 a week and is in the notion department, she began at $3 a week. She said there is no complaint by her employers when employes are a few minutes late in reaching the store, and there is no system of fmes. The company provides stools for the women when not busy, and she is satisfied with her position. She lives with her parents and is not dependent solely on her wages for support. She estimated $9 as the minimum wage upon which a girl could live comfortably. An employe of Lehman Bros. Dry Goods Company testi- fied she had been working more than a year and received $5 a week. She began at $5 a week. She and her sister support a family of five. She said there is no comfortable rest room for women employes. When any of the women become ill they are allowed to go home; if seriously ill, they are sent home in a carriage. Her estimate of the minimum wage a girl should re- ceive was $10 a week. An employe of Hirsch Bros. Dry Goods Company testified she had been employed there for 5 years and received $30 a month. She began at $16.50 a month. She is unable to save anything as her family is partly dependent upon her. Her sales each day range from $20 to $100. She makes her own clothes. Question by Senator Green: "How much do you think it costs you each month to live?" Answer: "Well, if I should support my family in anything like comfort it would cost me $15 a week. Of course, I could support myself on considerably less than that. Question: "Do you go home to lunch at noon?" Answer: "No, I eat at the Y. W. C. A." 48] 85 Question: "Do you know of any store in town where they serve food to the employes at cost?" Answer: "I do not think there is a place of that kind in the city." Question: "Are there any places where there is a systematic supervision of the young women employes, or where they pay any particular attention to preserving their health?" Answer: "If there are, I do not know of them." Witness said her hours are from 8 to 6 but if the stock is disarranged, she and the other employes in her department are compelled to remain until it has been placed in order. Another witness of Hirsch Bros, said her salary is $20 a month. She began at $15. She estimated the wage upon which a girl could live comfortably at $10 or $12 a week. Henry K. Miller, president of the Mueller-Keller Candy Company testified as follows: "Our girls work from 7.30 a. m. to 5 p. m. During the summer months, say from April to September, our plant closes at 1 o'clock on Saturday afternoons. We pay our girls at the start $4.50 a week, if they are unskilled and then advance them as rapidly as they increase their efficiency. The maximum wage is, I believe, $12 a week." Question by : "How did you happen to inaugurate the plan of starting beginners at $4.50 a week?" Answer: "We made investigation elsewhere and found that the average wage paid them was about $4 a week, so we placed ours a little higher. We employ 215 girls and women and we pride ourselves upon the fact that we take an interest in them and their welfare. The second forewoman in each de- partment is a kind of mentor to the girls and she sees after their welfare. For instance, if one of them becomes ill, it is her duty to visit her and see that she wants for nothing. Each Tuesday representatives from the Y. W. C. A. hold a meeting in our factory and all of the girls are urged to attend. If one of them becomes ill, we learn whether or not she has a family physician, and if so, he is summoned. If not, one of our physicians — we employ several — is summoned. Our company pays the bills in case the girl has become ill while on duty. Question by Lieut. Gov. Painter: "What do you do about giving the girls vacations?" Answer: "We encourage this plan where we know the employe is trustworthy and where she has been with us a year 86 [48 or more. We allow our women employes one week off each year, altho.ugh, of course, we do not pay them while they are away. Question by Senator Gates: "Isn't it a fact, Mr. Mueller, that you people prefer girls at $4.50 a week to those who be- come skillful and earn more?" Answer: "It certainly is not. As a rule the beginners cost us more than they earn because of mistakes." E. F. Beasley,' president of the Pearl Laundry testified that women employed in his laundry, work from 7.30 a. m. to 5.30 p. m. The minimum wage is $6 a week and the maximum, is $12 a week. The company employs 54 women. He said it is customary among the laundries not to pay their employes for time they are away during illness. His company provides a rest room, and in case of illness makes certain that the em- ploye has medical attention. Question by : "Did you ever consider the question of shorter hours for your employes?" Answer: "Yes, the laundrymen of the city have had the matter up on several occasions, but nothing has ever come of it. We try to be as careful of our employes as possible, and believe we are doing all we can do. I do not put much faith in this factory inspection business." A widow employed in the Shirt factory of the Tootle-Camp- bell Dry Goods Gompany testified she had worked there five years. Her duties consist of sewing collars on shirts, for which she receives from 7 1-2 cents to 8 1-2 cents each. Some weeks her wages amount to $12., which is not sufficient to support her family. She said that the sanitary conditions at the factory are all that could be desired, but her work is hard. There is no rest room and the women employes eat their lunches at their machines. She arises at 5:45 in the morning in order to get breakfast for her children and reach work in time. A waitress employed at Gibson's Restaur'ant testified that her employer is breaking the fifty-hour law for women. She worked ten hours a day- — from 7 a. m. to 2 p. m. and from, 5 p. m. to 8 p. m. — and worked seven days a week, making 70 hours each week, sixteen hours in excess of the time allowed by law. Question by Senator Greene: "Has Buchanan Gounty no prosecuting attorney?" 48] 87 Answer by Senator Lysaught: "He liasn't been here for some time but he has a deputy." Witness said she received $7.50 per week and that she had a "hard time" to get along. "Once I saved up $5," she said, "but I got sick and had to pay a girl to work in my place." The committee directed that the restaurant proprietor be sent for. Waitresses from the Metropole, St. Joseph, and Haber Hotels were also examined. A waitress employed at the Merchant's Cafe receives $5 a week. She lives with her mother. She is married. She husband gets $45 a month. She receives $1 a week in tips. An employe at the Silver Grill Restaurant testified she re- ceived $5 a week and board for waiting on tables. She has to pay 25c a week for laundry of aprons. She lives with her brother. They rent two rooms for $3 a week, making the rent SI. 50 a week each. She likes her work. She had saved $48 in six months. Her clothes cost $50 to $75 a year. H. J. Barnes of the Martin Barnes Dry Goods Store testi- fied the wages paid 27 women employed at his store ranged from $4 to $15 per week. The average is $7.04 a week. Two receive $4 each; one $4.50; six $5; five $6; five $7; one $7.50; three $8; and one $8.50; one $11; two $15. In the alteration department the salaries are $8, $10 and $12 a week and extra help is paid $1 a day. The dressmakers get $8, $10, $12 and $15, with extra help at $6 or $7 a week. The women work only 54 hours a week. No day do they work more than 9 hours. They are not docked if they go home a little early or arrive a little late, but receive no pay if they are off a half day. There is a rest room on the 3d floor and the women employes are permitted to use it. "The nine hour law works no hardships on the employer," Mr. Barnes tes- tified. Saleswomen are paid according to experience and depart- ments. Those in the suit department get more than those in the notions. Conditions are such that there is a constant de- mand for the best class of saleswomen, Mr. Barnes testified. Mr. Barnes testified that if it is found a girl cannot live on the salary with which she should be started, in the opinion of the firm, she is not employed. He prefers to hire girls who live at home. Miss Nan Dorsey, a welfare worker, told the commission 88 [48 that in several factories the conditions were insanitary. She said there is no plan in any of the factories for looking after the general welfare of the girls when they are not at work, but she found that the individual heads of the factories usually assisted as individuals if any of the girls became ill. Miss Sophia Hersch, Secretary of the Federated Jewish Charities testified to practically the same as did Miss Dorsey. One women with two children supports herself and two children on $9 a week. She works for the Conser Laundry Com- pany. She has to cook the breakfast, leave the children with her mother and work during the day. So busy is she kept that she has to work Sundays as well as week days. She sends the children to Sunday School when possible and would go herself if she had time. She does go once in a while. Another woman employed in the same laundry received $7.50 a week. An employe in the Pearl Laundry testified the girls received from $5.50 to $10 a week. She declared there was no place to take the girls if they become ill suddenly, and testified that last summer on account of intense heat, many were taken sick. She declared there is no rest room and girls who become ill must lie on tables. The ventilation in the laundry is good. There is no dressing room for girls. A girl who has worked four years at the Doniphan Candy Company fixing sample cases, earns $3 to $3.50 in the summer months. In the winter she earns about $8. She pays her mother $2 a week board. About 20 girls are employed on her floor, the second of the building. Sanitary conditions are not very good. There is no dressing room. The ventilation is good. If a girl gets sick she must lie on a table or bench. She works 9 hours a day. Several girls employed are getting 6c an hour. Witness gave her age as 19. She quit school at 14 after complet- ing the 8th grade and started to work because she wanted clothes. Her father is an elevator operator in a packing plant. There are three children at home. One chocolate dipper of the Doniphan Company, working on the first floor, earns $8 to $10 a week before Christmas. Two or three months after Christmas she gets about $7 a week, and then $1 a day. She and a daughter, 8 years old, stay with her father and mother. She pays $3.50 a week for board. Her parents help care for the child. At the factory the girls eat at the tables. There is a gas stove to boil coffee. There is no 48] 89 place to lie down if sick. Girls are sent home in a carriage if they become ill, the firm paying the carriage and doctor bill. A girl employed at WyaLt & Green's boot factory for eight years, is now receiving $12 a week. She began at $2.75. She testified the work is not hard, but the girls must be fast and steady. She is the main support of her family. There is a mother, brother, and sister. The brother is 19 years old but does not work. Sanitary conditions are not good she testified. There are no fire escapes and no fire drills. A married woman at Wyatt & Green's factory testified she receives $15 a week. Her husband is sick and she has to sup- port him. L. C. Snyder, manager of Woolworth's ten cent store tes- tified the girls are given $4 a week to start. If they are efficient the^^ receive a 50c raise. Two girls receive $12 each a week. Snyder testified the rest room is in the basement underneath the sidewalk. It is ventilated by a shuttle in the walk. There is a door leading into it from the main basement. One room is partitioned off for a toilet. The place has been turned over to the girls and they have to keep it clean. Mr. Snyder testified he had written Architect Beltz of the Missouri stores about the condition of the St. Joseph store. He said Mr. Beltz had told him to fix it up as best he could. He said he had told a fire insurance agent a few days before the meet- ing of the commission that it would be a bad thing for the girls to get out in case of fire. He said the firemen could break in the sidewalk, however. At this point Lieutenant Governor Painter ordered written into the record that practically the same conditions had been found in the Woolworth buildings throughout the state. Mr. Snyder testified there are 716 Woolworth stores. 68 girls are employed in the St. Joseph store. F. E. Garver, manager of the Kresge 5 and 10-cent store testified he had only been in St. Joseph a short time. The com- pany pays $4 to $10 a week for its help. The pianist gets $10 a week, one girl gets $8, one $7, eight $6, and the others $4 to $4.50. Girls are employed who live at home. The rest room is in the basement and poorly lighted. W. A. Rainalter, manager of the National Biscuit Company testified that the factory has 175 girls in its employ. Most of them do piece work. Beginners receive $5 a week. Sanitary con- ditions in the factory are good, he said. Mr. Rainalter testified 90 [48 that if girls are paid a minimum scale of $8 a week, he believed it would result in boys being employed. He declared he was opposed to the 9 hour law in busy seasons. J. W. Castle of the Doniphan Company; Ralph W. Douglas of the Douglas factory, and Earnest E. Chase of the Chase fac- tory, gave practically the same testimony as did Mr. Rainalter. Mr. Chase testified that it would be detrimental to Missouri factories if a women's minimum wage were put into effect. Be- ginners in his factory are started at $5 a week. One witness from the Noyes-Norman Shoe Company, married, testified she received but $6 a week. She said she could support herself on not less than $10. A saleswomen in the Leader Dry Goods Company received $8.50 a week. She testified the sanitary conditions of the store were satisfactory. A saleswoman in the glove department of Townsend & Wyatt Dry Goods Store received $9 a week. The store has a well-equipped rest room for its employes. A widow from the same store testified she was paid SIO a week. Upon this she supported herself and two children. The next witness was in the employ of the Richardson Dry Goods Company, in the overall factory on piece work. She tes- tified she rooms with another girl employe and receives from $4 to |5 a week. It costs her S4 a week for living expenses. A 16 year old girl employed in the shirt department of the Richardson store testified she earned on an average of S7.50 per week, the majority of which goes to the support of her family. She testified that sanitary conditions in the department in which she works are not very good. 48] 91 JOPLIN MEETING. February 6, 1914. Conditions in Joplin are not materially different from other cities. In many establishments the sanitary conditions were better. This is particularly true of laundries. It was brought out that bundle wrappers are paid only $2.50 a week. One particularly pathetic case was brought to the attention of the commission. It was that of a widow employed in a laun- dry. She received $7 a week for her services, with which she supports herself and five children. The oldest, a girl of 18 years, had been sick for six months and had no medical attention. The mother w^alks to and from work, a distance of nearly two miles, each morning and night. "It has been tough sledding, but I have managed to make both ends meet in the past, and I suppose I'll have to in the future," said the woman. Throughout the questioning she never whimpered. "I own my own little cottage at the extreme limits of East Joplin," she said, "otherwise I could not exist and support the five children on the low wages I receive. Some day, I hope, the children will be able to assist in filling the family larder." Then, reluctantly, she went deeper into her life. "It is too bad, but you have made a brave fight and you de- serve a better fate," said Senator Whitledge. "I manage besides furnishing board and clothes for myself and four children, four of whom attend school, to carry a life insurance policy for myself and a smaller policy for each of the children. Some day they might need it. I may not always have a job," she continued. Question by Senator Gates: "How do you spend your Sundays and evenings?" Answer: "Always sewing. I am never idle, it is one con- tinuous battle for bread and butter." Question: "Do you never go to amusements or have any diversion?" Answer: "Seldom. Once in a while the children and I go to church or to Sunday school. We see the picture shows but little. We live too far from them, besides we haven't the cloth- ing, the time, nor the money." 92 [48 During the testimony it developed that her husband was killed in a mine accident near Webb City more than a year ago. The first witness called was an 18-year old employe of the Woolworth Store. She testified she received $4 a week. This was the lowest wage paid at that store. She declared she gave $2 a week to her parents for board; that she took her lunch and ate it at the store; that she stood up all day and was pretty tired at night; that the toilet rooms at the store were not clean, and that she worked nine hours a day. "Do you ever get anything ahead?" asked Senator Kinney. "I never have yet," replied the girl. This question was asked almost all the girls and only in one instance was there a reply in the affirmative. One girl said she had joined a Christmas Savings club and was trying to save $2 a week, but she didn't believe she could keep it up. Witness No. 2 also worked at Woolworth's. She said she started working 6 months before, and if she had not been forced to go to work she would have completed the ninth grade in January. She lives with her parents and has to get up at 6:30 o'clock every morning to be on time at the store. She lives about a mile distant from it and walks both ways. She said she practically never had any money to attend even a 5-cent picture show and she doesn't always go to Sunday School and church, because she is too tired. The third witness testified that she works for the Newman Mercantile Company as a bundle wrapper. She worked nine hours a day, she said and received $2.50 a week. Question by Senator Whitledge: "What's that you say?" Answer: "I only get $2.50 a week. Question: "How long have you worked there?" Answer: "About four months. Question: "Do you think the firm will ever raise your pay?" Answer: "Yes, most of the girls who start at $2.50 a week are paid more after they have been there five or six months. "Do you ever have time to sit down?" asked Senator Cates. "Oh, yes," she replied, "we have time to sit down and rest." The bookkeeper from Newman's store took the stand next. Question by Chairman Kinnes: "How many girls are re- ceiving $2.50 a week at the store where you work?" Answer: "I don't think more than half a dozen." Question: "How many receive $3 a week?" 48] 93 Answer: "About the same number. Most of the girls receive $4 after they have been there six months." Question: Are there any paid $5 and $6 a week?" Answer: "Yes, I think about a dozen receive $5 and prob- ably the same number receive $G." Question by Senator Whitledge: "What do you think is a living wage for a girl?"' Answer: "Well, I don't see how a girl could board and clothe herself for less than $8 a week." Witness had worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma before going to Joplin. Wages are better in Tulsa than Joplin, she said. She said the store fined girls who were late to work in the morning. No rest rooms are provided. Clerks are given one week's vaca- tion after they had been there a year. "I don't think I ever knew of a firm that was more consider- ate of their help than Newman's," said the witness. "Are you satisfied with your job," asked Senator Kinney. "I certainly am," came the quick reply. The next witness testified that she works at the Ramsay Dry Goods Company's store. She said she goes to work at 8:30 o'clock and quits at 5:30 and gets $6 a week. Of this amount she has to pay $3 for board. She said the toilets in the store are clean and sanitary. "What would happen if you got sick?" asked Senator Lys- aught. "Oh, I don't know," replied the girl. "I guess the city would just have to take care of me." This witness said she would like to tell something about Woolworths where she was formerly employed. Senator Kin- ney assured her the commission wanted every bit of information it could obtain. The girl said that when she worked at the ten- cent store girls were not allowed to leave their counter during working hours to wash their hands. The next girl to testify worked at Ramsay's store, and re- ceived $4.50 a week. She formerly worked at L. S. Boucher's cigar factory. The first day she worked there, she said she made ten cents. When she got more proficient she earned from $4.00 to $4.80 at the factory. Witness No. 7 was a little girl who works at Ramsay's and gets $4 a w^eek. Her mother is living but she doesn't live with 94 [48 her. She pays $1 a week board, %1 a week for clothes, $1,20 a week for carfare and lunches and 50 cents for laundry. "That leaves you 30 cents," said Lieutenant Governor Pain- ter. "What becomes of that?" The girl did not know. Then she added that most weeks she borrowed a dollar from friends, and the next week had to borrow another to pay it, so she always owed a dollar. The next witness worked at the Keystone Laundry for $6.50 a week. She was well satisfied with her position, and declared the rooms were all kept clean and that it was a nice place to work. The ninth witness also worked at the Keystone Laundry. She said her wage is $8 a week, that her parents are dead and that she payed $2.50 a week for board. She thought that if she had to pay regular board she could not live on less than $8. The next girl said her mother and two little brothers depend mostly on her salary of $4.50 a week, which she receives from the Christman Dry Goods Company. She said she never spends more than ten cents for lunch, but that she generally gets a "full meal" for that amount at her grandfather's home. Another witness testified she received $5.50 weekly from Christman's. She said the girls there are fined when they ar- rive late for work, but she never has been fined. Witness No. 12 said she made $9 a week at Boucher's cigar factory, and that she lives with her mother. "Do you help support her?" asked Senator Lysaught. "I do it all," said the girl. The next witness also worked at Boucher's, making $6 a week. She lives with her parents, but her father is out of work. She said she and her sister, who gets $3 a week at Boucher's, for piece work, support the family. She said she goes to Sunday School and church regularly. A girl who works at the New Method Laundry gets $4.95 a week, all of which, she said, goes to the support of the family. A widow with a 9-year-old daughter to support testified she worked at the New Method Laundry, averaging $4.95 a week. She said she pays her mother $3 a week for board, and had to buy clothes for herself and for her daughter with what is left of the weekly earnings. Arthur R. Eustice, manager of the Woolworth, 5 and 10- cent store testified he employed 27 girls besides three male floorwalkers and two stock boys. The girls are paid between 48] 95 $4 to $8 a week. Seven are paid $5 a week, beginners $4 and up to $8.50 for two girl employes. "Did you consider how the girls are able to exist on the mini- mum wage?" Mr. Eustice was asked by Chairman Kinney. "No, I never did," said Mr. Eustice. Question by Senator Gates: "Did you concern yourself to determine if the girls live at home, whether they have parents or anyone dependent upon them?" Answer: "To a certain extent only. We strive to hire girls who live at home while working, but do not inquire further." Question: "Why do you try to employ girls only who live at home?" Answer: "Because they are more dependable and faithful in their work generally." Question: "Do you concern yourself whether the girl can live decently on the wages paid her?" Answer: "No, I have not, for none that I employ has to depend upon her wages entirely, I believe.' ' • Mr. Eustice declared appearances were considered in em- ploying girls. A rest room is provided, but there was no lounge. The girls that become ill are cared for. Mr. Eustice determines the pay each person shall receive. He said each person that had been in the firm's employ a year was given a week's vacation with pay, for two years, a two week's vacation with pay, and for ad- ditional service, a Christmas present, in addition. The pay roll per week for the girls amounst to $150. The profits of the Woolworth establishment were inquired into. Question by Senator Cates: "Isn't it a fact that the Wool- worth Company could pay the girl employes a minimum wage of 46 or $7 and still realize a profit on the investmcnl?" Answer: "Yes, perhaps it could, but I do not know." Question: "Would you hire girls at $2.50 a week if it were possible to do so?" Answer: "I don't know, but I believe not." Question: "What do you think of the plan of the state ■fixing the wages?" Answer: "I have not considered the proposition." To questions relating to the dividends paid by the Joplin store, or volume of business done by it annually, Mr. Eustice declined to answer. He was asked if the managers were not ex- pected to make as good showing as possible, which tended to re- 96 [48 duce the wages paid to girls. Mr. Eustice admitted managers were expected to do that. ''How did you arrive at the $4 minimum scale?" Lieuten- ant Governor Painter inquired. "Because we could get them for that," said Mr. Eustice. Managers or proprieters of the various laundries of Joplin then were summoned before the commission. J. W. Walker, manager of the Keystone Laundry, appeared to testify first. He employs 15 girls now at wages ranging be- tween $4 and ^8, excepting the forewoman who is paid $14 a week, he said. Question by Lieutenant Governor Painter: "How did you arrive at the $4 a week minimum wage?" Answer: "It seemed to be the uniform price when I came here. The more they learn the more money they pay." Question: "Have you ever figured out what it would cost for a girl to live comfortably?" Answer: "No, I have not, except in a general way." Question: "Do you know how much it would cost to re- place the girl employes with men." Answer: "No, a man should not get more than a w^oman for the same work, however. I do not believe that I could employ men at the same price, though." Question: "Would you prefer girls to men if the same wage were paid." Answer: "Yes, generally, because the work is more adapt- able to women and therefore they can do better and more efficient work." Mr. Walker was asked what conveniences had been made for the workers. He testified that the sanitary conditions were good, and that he had a place for a lunch room, but had never fitted, it up. "I intend to do so, however," he said. "I have taken special interest in the girls' welfare and try to get them to save their earnings and become more efficient in their work." Question by Lieutenant Governor Painter: "Do you try to get the girls who receive $4 a week to save their money?" Answer: "They could not do so very well, but I am no slave driver and try to do the best possible by them." Question by Senator Whitledge: "If a higher price for labor were paid, could you continue to make a profit?" Answer: "Not without charging more for laundry work." Question: "Could your average patron afford to pay more?" 48] 97 Answer: "Some could pay more and probably would do so. We have some though that never have paid, and never would do so at any price." J. G. Richardson, one of the proprieters of the New Method Laundry, testified next. He employs 23 girls, at wages ranging from $4 to |8 a week, he told the commissioners. Question by Lieutenant Governor Painter: "How did you arrive at the minimum?" Answer: "It is the prevailing minimum." Question: "Could you afford to pay more." Answer: "No, we pay all they are worth and could not afford to pay more. I had intended to increase the general wage this winter, however, but had to abandon the project on account of a slump in the business." Mr. Richardson testified he did inquire whether a girl lived at home for had to support herself. "It makes no difference to me whether a girl lives with her parents. I do prefer to hire home girls because they are more permanent." Question by Senator Whitledge: "Do you believe in a state minimum wage law?" Answer: "I do not believe it would be practical." He did suggest a form similar to that now existing in Kan- sas, where each employe serves 6 months or more as an appren- tice. P. E. Stearns of the Star Laundry said he employed 14 girls, at wages ranging from $4 to $7, except the forewoman. "I used to pay but a minimum wage of 13.50, but later in- creased it. I believe they deserved the extra half-dollar. "What do you think of the nine-hour-a-day law in this state?" asked Chairman Kinney. "I do not like it. It interferes with business and is of no benefit to the employes. Under the old system the girls worked overtime perhaps during the first half of the week, and toward the end were permitted to work but a half day." "Do you believe in a minimum wage law of $8 a week?" asked Senator Whitledge. "The public would simply have to pay the difference." said Mr. Stearns. P. Taylor, one of the proprietors of the Joplin Laundry, employs from 15 to 20 girls, at wages ranging from $4 to $10 a 48—7. 98 [48 week, he testified. The average was about $5.50, he said. But two women received Ihe maximum of $10 a week. A small dressing room, but no lunch room, is provided, he said. "The girls generally use the work tables to dine upon," he said. "I do not inquire whether an employe lives at home or supports herself." Question by Lieutenant Governor Painter: "Do you ever figure out how much it costs a woman to live?" Answer: "No I do not. There are so many different styles of living?" Question: "Why do you employ women in preference to men?" Answer: "Because they are more efficient and can be hired for less wages." Marriage was the one setback Mr. Taylor brought to the at- tention of the commission. He did not recommend any remedy. "About the longest any girl ever works is three years."' he said. "Then they run away and get married, just about the time they are earning a good salary. When a man marries he is more apt to 'stick' than before. It is just the reverse of women." "Isn't it a fact," inquired Senator Gates, "that they quit generally because they can get better pay some where else?" "The matter of wages does not enter into the question, I have concluded. When they get a chance to marry, they are off?" "Who fixes your salary," came from Lieutenant Governor Painter. "I do," said Taylor. "How do you determine what you are worth?" "That isn't the question. I make it as high as I can con- sidering the profits of the business." "Don't you believe that if the girls were fixing your salary they would decrease it and add the difference to their own?" asked Senator Whitledge. "Yes, I guess they would and you couldn't blame them." replied Mr. Taylor, Two Star Laundry employes appeared. The first said she receives $7 a week sorting "Rough dry work." Her husband is divorced from her, she said. A ten year old daughter and her- self are supported by the $7 weekly income. "I never can save anything, however," she said. "I don't 48] 99 know what I would do if either of us should become ill. I am just existing as it is — never have a penny ahead for a rainy day. A woman needs from |8 to $9 a week to live comfortably." She said she has no other relatives near. All of the $7 is expended before the week is ended, she said. She has worked at the laundry two years. "How much have you managed to save in that time?" asked Lieutenant Governor Painter. "Twenty-five cents," she answered. Comparison of wages received in stores, factories and laun- dries, as compared to domestic work was taken up by Senator Gates. "Why do girls and women abandon the homes to work in factories and stores?" he inquired. "Because they do not have to work on Sundays or holidays, and they have regular working hours," was the opinion expressed by the witness, and it received the assent of the two following witnesses. They admitted that girls could save more as domes- tics than in any other general store or factory work. Albert Newman, president of the Newman Mercantile Com- pany testified the range of wages in the Newman store are from S2.50 to $5 a week for women. Newman's maintains a fine system for tardy help, but it seldom is enforced, Mr. Newman said. "To whom does the money derived from fines go?" asked Chairman Kinney. "To the company, but we enforce it only when an employe becomes chronically dilatory." Mr. Newman testified that many girls are not worth what is paid them, but that they were retained to fill the various de- partments. "While some departments lose us money, others are highly profitable, so in that way we are able to maintain a general average," said Mr. Newman. Commissions are paid all employes, he said, which increased the weekly salary. "It brings out the best that is in them," he explained. The employes are permitted to use the public rest room and also the employes' apartments on the fifth floor, he said. Mr. Newman said marriage laws are not sufficiently strict and that this results in many deserted wives having to seek work. "Of seventy-nine women we employ," Mr. Newman de- 100 [48 clared, "thirty-one have been married, and the husbands of only one or two are dead." Mr. Newman testified the firm employs girls who live at home when this class of employes can be hired. But, he added, it would rather employ men. This is impractical because boys physically are fit to earn larger wages than the firm can afTord to pay to an inexperienced person. As regards preference for male employes, Mr. Newman pointed out what he believes is a peril to women in a minimum wage scale for feminine workers. "After a bo^^ attains even a mediocre degree of efficiency," he said, "he is more efficient than two girls who each get $5 a week. An efficient man is capable of doing the work of three ordinary girls. If a minimum wage scale is fixed at a high amount, women workers will be discharged and men will take their positions." "Patrons prefer to be served by men," Mr. Newman said. P. A. Christman of the Christman Dry Goods Company said the firm he represented employs thirty-four women. They are paid as follows: Eleven get from $10 to $23; eleven get from $6 to $10; six get from $5 to $6, and six get from $4 to $5 a week. The least experienced employes — bundle wrappers, get as low as tA a week, he said. Mr. Christman added that the firm loses money when it employs a girl at a wage as low as $4 a week. He also said his firm employs girls who live at home and that girls who do not live at home with parents are cared for when they become ill. He believes a minimum wage for women would drive women from stores, if it were made high enough. Mr. Clifford Condon of the Ramsay Dry Goods Company said 32 women were employed at the Ramsay store. The lowest wage is $3.50 a week, paid to bundle wrappers. The average wage is $9.10 a week. The hours are eight in the winter, and nine the remainder of the year. Question by Chairman Kinney: "What effect would a minimum wage of $7 a week have?" Answer: "It would lower the wages of high-priced girls." Of the thirty-two girls employed by the Ramsay Company, only four live away from home. " 'Home girls' are hired be- cause it is easier to 'get a line on them,' " he said. Mr. Newman was permitted to give additional information, off record. He said it would be necessary to hire cheap girls in 48] 101 every department and that his firm could not allord to hire the most efTicient girls in the city, in a body, as a representative of another firm had declared his firm would do gladly. "It is required that cheap labor be employed?" Mr. New- man declared, "because there are times when patrons demand quick service and 'rushes' develop. When trade is not brisk these cheaper employes are not needed and it would bankrupt a depart- ment to have to pay them wages of expert employes." L. S. Boucher, cigar factory owner, employs forty women. They are paid as follows: Two get $15, five get $10, ten get $7, ten get $6, ten get $5 and three get $3 a week. In the Boucher factory women are paid for piece work. The first week girls earn from $2 to $3. In three or four months they are paid $5 or $6 and in two or three months more they are paid as high as $8 a week. The most efficient girls are put into the cigar making department, starting again at as low a wage as $2 a week. Within a year they earn as much as $10 a week. Mr. Boucher said he started in the business when he was 16 years old at a weekly wage of $1.50. He said he believed girls cannot live on the wages they get when they start to work in his factory unless they have outside aid. 0. D. Bittick, formerly a truant officer, said he believes employers employ girls who live at home because parents have to pay part of the wages. "It costs $5 a week to keep a girl," Mr. Bittick declared. "The stores pay half of this in some cases and the parents pay the remainder." Low wages received by parents is the cause girls have to be- gin work at a young age, Mr. Bittick declared. Mrs. Mary F. Robinson engaged in welfare work, appeared before the commission and pleaded for the commission to work in behalf of a minimum wage scale for girls. She suggested |8 as a proper amount. 102 • [48 SPRINGFIELD MEETING. February 5. 1914. Girls in Springfield are living adrift on $3 a week. Some are getting board for $2 a week, attend church and eliminate amuse- ments. They are clothing themselves on $1.50 a w^eek and in some instances walk more than a mile to work. In the ten cent stores $5 a week is the maximum wage, but the majority get only $3.50. Laundry conditions are good. The system af assessing fines prevails at dry goods stores. Tardy clerks are fined for being a minute late in one place. The money goes to a mutual aid association. Wm. Reps of the Reps Dry Goods Store testified that he employed 30 girls. He furnished the following list of salaries paid: Two at $5 a week, eight at $6, one at $7.50, two at $7, one at $8, two at $9, one at $9.50, four at $10, two at $11, one at $13, one at $15, and one at $35 a week. The $35 salary is drawn by the head of the millinery department. Mr. Reps declared that inexperienced employees were not worth more than $5 a week to him. W. G. Rathbone of the Frank B. Smith Laundry testified his minimum wage was $5 a week and the maximum $15. Mr. Rathbone testified the laundry had a reading room and lunch room. Coffee is served free in winter and iced tea in the sum- mer. The following scale of wages prevailed: Two girls at 8 cents per hour, eight girls at 9 cents, nine girls at 10 cents, twenty- one at 11 cents, nineteen at 12 cents, ten at 13 cents, four at 15 cents, one at 17 cents, one at 19 cents, one at 22 cents, one at 28 cents. Ben J. Martin of the Martin Overall Factory admitted that he allowed gasoline to remain in the rooms where women are working. There are usually two or three gallons in the room at a time, said Mr. Martin. Question by Chairman Kinney: "Would you remain in this room a minute if you knew there was one gallon of gasoline in danger of exploding?" Answer: "I probably would not." Senator Lysaught suggested to Mr. Martin that a lunchroom where coffee is served and a rest room would be effective in in- creasing the efficiency and good will of the employees. 48] 103 R. E. Smith of the Woolworth ten cent store testified the employees received from $3.50 to $10 per week. Eight girls receive $3.50 per week. Question by Lieutenant-Governor Painter; "Do you know how girls live on $3.50 a week." Answer: "Most of them live at home and receive help from their families." It is possible a few of them do not." 0. L. Keltner, manager of the Kresge ten cent store testified the wages in his store ran between $4 and $8 week per week. F. X. Heer of the Heer Department store testified that his employees were fined 10 cents for tardiness. He declared the money thus received went into a mutual benefit association for the aid of girls who are sick or in distress. Employees also con- tribute monthly to the fund. Question by Chairman Kinney: "Suppose a girl was never tardy and never sick and contributed to the fund several years. Would she, on leaving your employ, get back what she had put in?" Answ^er: "She would not." Mr. Heer testified the minimum wage in his store is $5 a week. One girl, however, received but $3.75. One employe of the Woolworth ten cent store testified she received $3,50 a week. She pays $2 a week board at the home of a friend. She gets up at six o'clock in the morning and walks to work and does not get home until seven o'clock in the evening. Her recreation consists of going to church and Sunday school. A married woman with seven children is employed at the Heer store at $5 a week. Her husband is also working. Gro- ceries for this family cost from $8 to $13 a week. A widow employed at Rep's store testified she was paid $7 a week. She has an 18-year-old son who helps her. One woman employed at the Martin Ovarall factory tes- tified that she received but $4 a week. Thirty-five girls are em- ployed in that factory. Wages range from S4 to $9 a week. There is a well kept rest room. No evidence of intentional injustice or unkindness developed during the investigation. In a few instances, a genuine personal interest on the part of employers was indicated by the beginning of welfare work. Not one witness testified she was able to save money. Some girls who appeared did not wear even substantial clothing. Few of them testified that they had finished the grade 104 [48 schools. Most of them got as far as the fifth, sixth, and few of them to the seventh grade when they quit to help the family. Girls were questioned from all department stores, shops and laundries. A large per cent of those testifying were from 18 to 22 years old. Practically all declared there were stools behind the counters in the stores and that the general conditions where they were employed were good. Only a few girls were found to be adrift. One or two girls who worked in smaller laundries testified that the conditions are bad as to rest rooms, sanitation and heat. In the summer it gets very warm and sometimes the girls get overheated. In the winter one establishment has only the steam from the machinery for heating. Witnesses from this establishment testified that it frequently gets cold and employees are made ill as a result. These condi- tions, however, were not general. 48] 105 REPORT OF SECRETARY. To the Missouri Senate Wage Commission for Women: I beg leave to submit the following report; attached hereto being the report of Senator Geo. D. Gates for your commission: The commission convened first in St. Louis May 20, 1913. Senator Michael Kinney was chosen chairman. All members of the commission wxre present. Meeting was held at the Planters' Hotel. Women and girl employees from factories, stores, laun- dries, box factories and other places were subpoenaed and gave testimony. An office w^as maintained in the Leathe Building for the secretary, and from this place the sergeant-at-arms with his assistants served subpoenas. On motion of Lieutenant-Governor Painter it was decided not to make public the names of girls giving testimony, but that their names be written into the official record as taken by J. L. Roberts' stenographer. On motion of Senator T. B. Whitledge it was voted to allow members of the commission, the secretary and the stenographer $8 a day for hotel expenses. It was also decided to hold all meet- ings open. Their testimony was submitted. The sergeant-at-arms was empowered to employ such help as he deemed necessary to serve subpoenas and make investiga- tion. On motion of Senator Wilson all checks were to be signed by Ghairman Michael W. Kinney and Lieutenant-Governor Painter. At its first sitting the commission was in session five days and adjourned to meet June 4 in St. Louis. Checks were ordered drawn to pay necessary bills and expenses. June 3 the commission met again in St. Louis and held a four-day session. All members were in attendance. More evi- dence w-as heard, employers being called at this session. Senator Whitledge offered a resolution to make Senator Geo. B. Gates treasurer. The motion was adopted. Senator Whitledge moved that the commission visit other states at a later date to investigate the possible effect of minimum wage legislation. Lieutenant-Governor Painter suggested that this matter be taken up after the chief cities of Missouri had been visited. It was decided to hold meetings in Kansas City and St. Joseph at the call of the chairman. 106 [48 More than 200 witnesses were heard at the St. Louis meet- ings. On order of Chairman Kinney a meeting was called in Kan- sas City June 17th, 1913. Testimony was taken in all lines of work from employers and employees. The expense bills were allowed and checks drawn for same. All members were present. The commission was in session three days and 80 witnesses were examined. On order of Chairman Kinney a meeting was called for St. Joseph November 20th, 1913. Members were delayed in reach- ing St. Joseph and the meeting was held November 21st. Wit- nesses were heard from all lines of work. Senator Wilson having resigned, Senator T. J. Lysaght was appointed to take his place. Senator Cates w^as unable to attend the meeting. On order of Chairman Kinney the secretary was instructed to call a meeting of the commission in Springfield February 5th and Joplin February 6th, 1914. Meetings were held in both places on the dates fixed. Senator Greene again brought up the question of visiting other states where the minimum wage is in force. Lieutenant-Governor Painter opposed the motion and the question was dropped. It was decided to meet in St. Louis at a later date and arrange for the report. One hundred witnesses were heard at the Springfield and Joplin meetings. A meeting was called for St. Louis August 18th, at which time the secretary and stenographer were instructed to make up a report to be submitted not later than December 15th. Senator Cates and Senator Lysaght were unable to attend this meeting. On later instructions from Chairman Kinney, the secretary made up a summary report of all the evidence taken, the whole tes- timony being of such volume that it was not deemed advisable to transcribe it in entirety. 48] 107 COST OF LIVING ESTIMATE. An assistant commissioner of the Missouri Bureau of Labor declares that the average wage of eight million wage-earning women is $6 per week, 52 weeks in the year, making the total earnings $312.00. If holidays are to be deducted from $312.00 the average wage is even less than $6. She submitted the fol- lowing figures as the cost of living of a working girl. The cloth- ing expenditures are based on "sales," but what women earning only $6 per week has the money to take advantage of this money saving enterprise. Miss Quick made an investigation in an or- ganization where there were 700 members and found only 27 out of the 700 did not have to contribute to their homes. Winter clothing — Shoes Hose, 4 pairs at 16 cents a pair Shirtwaists, 6 at 98 cents each Petticoat Dress skirt Rubbers Coat Hat Gloves Dress Suit Underwear, 3 suits at 75 cents each . . Corset Corset covers, 3 at 50 cents each Half-dozen handkerchiefs at 10 cents. Umbrella Silk waist Nightgowns, 3 at 50 cents each Kimona Incidentals Summer clothing — Shoes Hose, 4 pair at 15 cents a pair Shirtwaists, 2 at 98 cents each Hat Summer coat Gloves, 2 pairs at 50 cents Summer dresses, 2 at $4.50 each Underwear, 4 suits at 75 cents each Corset Corset covers, 2 at 50 cents each Handkerchiefs, 1 dozen at 10 cents each . Room and board, S4 a week, 52 weeks. Car fare, 60 cents a week Lunch, 60 cents a week Laimdry, 50 cents a week Church contribution, 5 cents a week . . Total expenditutes Receipt for year at *6 a week . Deficit .50 .60 .88 .98 .00 .75 .00 .00 .69 .00 98 25 00 50 60 98 98 50 00 00 $208. 31 31 26 10 $64.19 30.16 306 . 80 S401. 14 312.00 $89 . 14 108 [48 One welfare worker in New York, makes the following es- timate on the cost of living for working girls: Room rent: Two rooms and bath for three girls uniting on rental of $3 a week . . Meals: Breakfast, 15 cents; lunch, 15 cents; dinner, 25 cents; total 55 cents daily. Carfare and newspapers daily, 12 cents Expense per week Expense per year Clothes per year, 1 cloth suit Linen suit . . . ; One wash dress Three waists at $1 each Stockings, 6 pairs, 50 cents, and 6 pairs, $1.50 Shoes, 3 pairs at $2.50 each Rubbers, 2 pairs at 75 cents each Gloves, 3 pairs at 69 cents and 3 at 59 cents One extra skirt Dress extras Underwear Clothes per year Income for 52 weeks at $6.50 General expenses for year $295 . 88 Cost of clothes per year 52 . 90 Total expenses Omitting unnecessary car fare ($31.20) the expenses of the year are Total saved for year (meals outside also saved) $1.00 3.85 .84 $5.69 295.88 $15.00 5.00 2.50 3.00 5.00 4.00 $52 . 90 338.00 348 . 78 317.58 20.42 The second year no extra skirt is required, those from the suits being used. MICHAEL KINNEY, Chairman. 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