EXCHANGE DEFT. WOMEN'S EDUCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL UNION, BOSTON DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH STUDIES IN ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF WOMEN LONGMANS, GREEN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK, LONDON, BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA * VOLUME I, Part 1. Vocations for the Trained Woman. Oppor- tunities Other than Teaching. Edition exhausted. VOLUME I, Part 2. Vocations for the Trained Woman: Agriculture, Social Service, Secretarial Service, Business of Real Estate. By Eleanor Martin, Margaret A. Post, Fellows in the Depart- ment of Research and the Committee on Economic Efficiency of College Women, Boston Branch, Association of Collegiate Alumnae. Prepared under the direction of Susan M. Kingsbury, Ph.D., Director. 1914. 8vo. Cloth. Price, $1.50 net. Post- age extra. (Weight 2 pounds.) VOLUME II. Labor Laws and their Enforcement, with Special Reference to Massachusetts. By Charles E. Persons, Mabel Parton, Mabelle Moses and Three "Fellows." Edited by Susan M. Kingsbury, Ph.D., Director of the Department of Research. Preface by Edwin F. Gay, Ph.D., Harvard Uni- versity. 1911. 8vo. Cloth. Price, $1.50 net. Postage extra. (Weight 3 pounds.) VOLUME III. The Living Wage of Women Workers. A study of the Incomes and Expenditures of 450 Wage-earning Women in the City of Boston. By Louise Marion Bosworth, Fellow in the Department of Research. Edited with an introduction by F. Spencer Baldwin, Ph.D., Boston University. 1911. 8vo. Cloth. Price, $1.00 net. Postage extra. (Weight 2 pounds.) VOLUME V. Millinery as a Trade for Women. By Lorinda Perry, Ph.D., Fellow in the Department of Research. Prepared under the direction of Susan M. Kingsbury, Ph.D., Director. 1915. 8vo. Cloth. Price, $1.50 net. Postage extra. (Weight 2 pounds.) WOMEN'S EDUCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL UNION PUBLISHERS 264 BOYLSTON STREET, BOSTON VOLUME IV. Dressmaking as a Trade for Women. By May Allinson, A.M., Fellow and Associate Director of the Depart- ment of Research. Prepared under the direction of Susan M. Kingsbury, Ph.D., Director. In the press. 8vo. Cloth. Price, $0.80 net. Postage extra. (Weight 2 pounds.) VOLUME VI. The Boot and Shoe Industry as a Trade for Women. By the Department of Research. Susan M. Kingsbury, Ph.D., Director, May Allinson, A.M., Supervisor of the Investigation, Lila Ver Planck North, Editor. In the press. 8vo. Cloth. Price, $0.80 net. Postage extra. (Weight 2 pounds.) VOLUME VII. Industrial Home Work in Massachusetts. Prepared under the direction of Amy Hewes, Ph.D., Supervisor of the In- vestigation for the Department of Research. In co-operation with and published by the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics. 1915. 8vo. Cloth. Price, $0.80 net. Postage extra. (Weight 2 pounds.) VOLUME VIII. The Public Schools and Women in Office Service. By the Department of Research. Prepared under the direction of May Allinson, A.M., Associate Director. Published by the Boston School Committee. 1914. 8vo. Cloth. Price, $0.80 net. Postage extra. (Weight 2 pounds.) *VOLUME I, Part 3. Domestic Science as a Vocation for Women. Will be published in the fall of 1915. WOMEN'S EDUCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL UNION BOSTON DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH STUDIES IN ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF WOMEN VOLUME VII INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH WOMEN'S EDUCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL UNION BOSTON PREPARED UNDER THE JOINT DIRECTION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BUREAU OF STATISTICS AND AMY HEWES, Pn.D. SUPERVISOR OF INVESTIGATION FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH PUBLISHED BY WOMEN'S EDUCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL UNION BOSTON, MASS. 1915 WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COMPANY BOSTON 1915 -.... PREFACE Is industrial home work a survival of the domestic system of pro- duction? Is it a return to the domestic system whereby the tendency of pro- duction to escape from the home may be checked and women may evade economic parasitism with its resultant social, economic and moral slavery? Or is it a phase of modern industrialism bearing an intimate relation to every feature and problem of modern production? The first intimation of the widespread custom of so-called home work came to the Department of Research in 1910-1911, while pursuing a study of the manufacture of machine-made clothing. At that time our social experts confidently asserted that there were in Massachusetts no sweated industries. And indeed the sentiment prevailed that whatever of home work existed was either a very small, well-regulated system, applicable only to wearing apparel, or was a survival of the domestic system of production, and appeared in the form of products sold through women's exchanges or directly to the consumer. Now, there is without doubt a group of workers, we do not know how large or how important, who carry over the eighteenth century custom of production in the home. These appear as "home milliners," "home dressmakers," "home bakers" and laundresses, who employ less than five workers and do not therefore form "shops," according to Massachusetts law. But the workers who had commanded our attention and aroused our interest formed a far larger and very different group. They did not provide their own materials. They did not produce a completed article. Many of them did not perform a skilled operation. They did not sell to whom and where they wished, but they received from a factory a certain amount of material which they were to fashion into a specified form and send back to the factory for a specified wage, or they received a partially completed article or part of an article together with material upon which they were to perform a specified process, partially or fully completing its manufacture. None of the handicraft stage with all its inspiration for creation remained. The market was no longer open to them, in which they could sell their product, including their labor, to the highest bidder, Vlll PREFACE knowing exactly what part of the total production was due to their skill. They could sell only their labor, and this must be in a much more re- stricted market, and therefore at a much more unsatisfactory bargain. Industrial home work, so called, existent in Massachusetts is therefore not a survival of the handicraft nor even of the domestic system of pro- duction. Some of us saw, or thought we saw, herein the glorious possibility of a return to domestic production, if not the domestic system of production. Here a woman could spend idle days or hours, or the hours when other domestic processes were under way and not requiring close attention, in earning the dollars which her mother and grandmother saved by spinning and weaving and baking and candle making. But this extended investi- gation has brought conclusive evidence and leaves no vestige of a doubt. The present system is in no sense a return to the domestic system, nor does it show any tendency to rehabilitate production in the home whereby women may evade economic parasitism. Industrial home work is distinctly a phase of modern industrialism bearing an intimate relation to every other phase of modern industrialism. In it we see exemplified in its highest development, (1) subdivision of labor; (2) reduction of activities of the workers from those of a trade to that of a process; (3) imposition upon the worker of the burden of charges for waste, inefficiency and transportation; (4) irregularity of employment due to the seasons, to shortage of work, or to rush of work, whereby the burden of unemployment is thrown entirely upon the worker; (5) piece payment whereby hourly earnings can be given only at the maximum amount possible to secure, and actual earnings or even rate of earnings are most difficult to discover; (6) uncertainty of contract; and (7), most noticeable of all, the number of hands through which the work passes from producer to consumer, as seen in the increasing employment of sub- contractors, agents, workers and subworkers. The attendant evils of child labor, of overstrain, of long hours of labor for women, of unsanitary conditions for the worker, of extension of disease to consumers are in danger of being present to a more marked degree than in regular factory life. The home has become, then, an annex to the shop, whereas under the earlier system, even when conditions were most distant from the pure handicraft system, the shop was an annex to the home. Under the present order of things the home is a part of the shop from the point of view of manufacturer, from the point of view of employee, in fact from every point of view except that of the responsibility of the State to PREFACE IX regulate conditions of employment. The late Hon. Carroll D. Wright declared that in a factory the work is carried on under one roof, the processes are performed by machinery, and the article of manufacture passes from hand to hand for completion. According to this definition the kitchens or the living rooms or the bedrooms of at least 20,000 homes in Massachusetts are factories in every sense of the term, except that all the processes of the work are not performed under one roof. The work passes from hand to hand and is often performed by machinery in the home factory as well as in the parent factory. Is this development desirable? Does it make for the best interests of the home and of the community? As it increases in extent and in amount will it result in educational advancement for our children, higher stand- ards for our homes and a strengthening of the family unit? To-day laws applying to the factories do not apply to the annex to the factory which has been established in the home. If the State decides to allow the home to evolve into a factory, is this right? Is it fair to the worker? Is it fair to the consumer? Is it fair to industry? Is it fair to the public? Ought not the factory in the home to be regulated equally with the factory out of the home? That is, should not the State institute a system of regulation and inspection whereby every home shop should be visited regularly and the laws be enforced as to child labor, sanitation, disease, light, cleanliness, hours of labor, contract for pay, proper accom- modations for work? But is this feasible? Is it possible? And even if possible, would exten- sion of regulation and inspection be commensurate with the profit to the worker in the home? Would such extension of regulation and inspection be commensurate with the return in productivity to the State? Would such extension of regulation and inspection be commensurate with the return to the employer? This report is an endeavor to arrive at facts which should enable the public to come to some conclusion with regard to these vital questions. In the fall of 1914, after this report had been issued as Labor Bulletin No. 101 by the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics, a conference repre- senting agencies in Massachusetts which are concerned with social welfare met to consider the need for legislative action with regard to the subject. It immediately sent a committee to confer with the State Board of Labor and Industries. The Board, finding itself embarrassed because of the enforced disorganization of its Department of Home Work Inspection, decided to analyze its current records respecting licensed home workers, and secured the services of the Department of Research of the Women's X PREFACE Educational and Industrial Union. At the close of this preface a sum- mary of the study is reprinted, by the courtesy of the Board, from its annual report. The full text of the study is printed in Industrial Bulletin No. 4. No phase of this or of the later report is of greater significance than that of hourly rate. Difficult to secure, the investigators made very careful experiments and computations with good workers in each type of product, and thus were able to give the hourly earnings of workers in each process. These represented the hourly income for a good worker, and thus the maximum earnings possible to the large majority in that group. Doubtless some are able to make and do make a higher hourly wage, but the great majority do not and cannot exceed that wage. The presentation on rate of wage from the current records of the State Board of Labor and Industries is meager, as the question was not followed up closely on the schedules. But the data secured tend to corroborate the careful analysis of the earlier study and report. On the other hand, in the study made by the Board are clear data as to the cost of proper inspec- tion to the State, and as to the value of home work to the employer, which do not appear in the earlier study. Where employers have but one or two home workers, or workers in many scattered communities, the waste is striking, and the need or value of the system is at once seen to be incommensurate with the cost to the State and to the worker. The resolutions of the committee resulting from consideration of both reports are conclusive. 1 They are as follows: (1) There are but two solutions for the problem of industrial home work, total prohibition or total licensing. (2) Total licensing is impossible, and an attempt would result in the imposition of a tax on the State which is out of all proportion to its value. (3) Total prohibition should be the goal for which we should work, and no steps should be taken which lead in any other direction. (4) At present such a measure would be unwise, as too drastic. (5) At present, for the protection of public health, it would be best to prohibit manufacturing and mercantile establishments from giving out home work when it involves work on children's clothing, doll and doll outfits, toys and games (all things which have to do with children), foods and all things which have to do with foods (frills, skewers, etc.), table linen, handkerchiefs, etc. 1 The committee was composed of Miss Susan M. Kingsbury, representing the Women's Educational and Industrial Union; Mrs. Frank Hallowell, representing the Massachusetts Consumers' League; Mr. Richard Conant, representing the Massachusetts Child Labor Committee. In addition, the bill introduced by the Board was indorsed by Mrs. Wm. Z. Ripley, representing the Massachusetts Women's Trade Union League; Mr. Carroll Doten, representing the Labor Legislation Association; and Mr. Fred R. Johnson, representing the Associated Charities. PREFACE XI (6) In order to enable the Board to enforce the laws now on the statute books every manufacturing and mercantile establishment giving out home work should be required to send a list of such employees to the Board of Labor and Industries each month. On March 17, Mr. George D. Chamberlain, on behalf of the State Board of Labor and Industries, entered the accompanying bill, House No. 1882, before the Legislature, which had the indorsement of the committee, be- lieving that such a movement would result in a better adjustment of factory work both in the factory proper and in the home, and would gradually convince the public at large and the home worker in particular that the extension of the factory into the home will not bring economic production and economic independence to women. AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR REGULATING INDUSTRIAL WORK DONE IN TENEMENTS AND DWELLING HOUSES. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: SECTION 1. Every person operating a manufacturing establishment, and every person acting as a contractor or subcontractor for a manufacturing establishment, who, whether by himself or through agents, servants or foremen, contracts for the manufacturing, altering, repairing or finishing of any articles in a tenement or dwelling house, or gives out material from which any such articles are, in whole or in part, to be manufactured, altered, repaired or finished, in a tenement or dwelling house, shall keep a register plainly written in English containing the names and addresses of the persons to whom such articles or materials are given to be so manufactured, altered, repaired or finished, or with whom he has contracted to do the same, and stating the kind of articles or materials given to each person; and shall issue with all such articles or materials a label bearing the name and place of business of such factory written or printed legibly in English. The register shall be subject to inspection by the state board of labor and industries, or by any of its inspectors or agents, and a copy thereof shall be forwarded once a month to said board, as well as such other information as it may require. The label mentioned in this section shall be exhibited on the demand of said board, its inspectors or agents, at any time while said articles or materials remain in the tenement or dwelling house. SECTION 2. No person operating a manufacturing establishment, or acting as an agent, contractor or subcontractor therefor shall contract for or give out to be manu- factured, altered, repaired or finished in a tenement or dwelling house articles of food or paper frills, napkins, plates, bonbons or skewers which are to be used in connection with food, or any other articles which are to be used in connection with food, or table linen, or handkerchiefs, or toothbrushes, or dolls or articles of dolls' clothing, or toys, or games, or articles of children's or infants' wearing apparel, or materials from which any of the above mentioned articles, or any part of them, are to be manufactured. SECTION 3. The term "wearing apparel", as used in this act, and in sections one hundred and six, one hundred and seven and one hundred and eight, of chapter five hundred and fourteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and nine, shall be held to include all articles, or parts of articles, or ornaments, to be worn, made in whole or Xll PREFACE in part of paper, of straw, of textiles or of leather. Whoever violates any provision of the two preceding sections shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars. SECTION 4. For the purpose of enforcing the provisions of sections one hundred and six to one hundred and eleven, inclusive, of chapter five hundred and fourteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and nine, and for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this act and other related acts, the state board of labor and industries shall have power to appoint and remove, in conformity with the provisions of section eight of chapter seven hundred and twenty-six of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and twelve, as amended by section eight of chapter eight hundred and thirteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen, six inspectors in addition to the number therein provided. SECTION 5. For the purposes of this act the state board of labor and industries may expend, annually, out of the treasury of the commonwealth, a sum not to exceed ten thousand dollars. At the hearing before the committee on social welfare, on March 24, 1915, the bill was indorsed by the following organizations: the Massa- chusetts Child Labor Committee, the Massachusetts Consumers' League, the Women's Trade Union League, the Massachusetts Associated Chari- ties and the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, and no opposi- tion appeared. Nevertheless the bill was referred to the next General Court. In support of the resolution of the committee, I am presenting a list of conclusions based on this report, with statistical data drawn from the study. In addition, the summary of the "Report on Industrial Home Work" made to the State Board of Labor and Industries is reprinted by permission of the Board, so that at least an outline of all of the data now available on the subject may be included in this volume. The reader will find the full report of the State Board in Industrial Bulletin No. 4. Com- plete information and extensive tables are presented, based on very careful returns which had been secured through current records of the Depart- ment of Home Work Inspection in the winter and spring of 1914, before its abolition due to a decision rendered by the Attorney-General. It should be remembered that these records deal with home workers who have been licensed by the Board, a group from which the undesirable, unsanitary, diseased homes have been excluded; and also it must be re- membered that the grade of applicant has been proved to be very much raised by a careful system of licensing. It is to be hoped that such careful, thorough work as that conducted by the Board in the brief in- terval permitted will be encouraged hereafter not only in this department but in all phases of its activity. PREFACE Xlll CONCLUSIONS BASED ON THE STUDY OF INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS, PRESENTED IN THIS VOLUME. A. THE ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF FAMILIES AFFECTED DO NOT JUSTIFY INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK. I. The families involved are not dependent on home work. (a) Only 36 out of 1,450 families are shown to be entirely dependent on home work. (6) 83 per cent of the families have an income of $500 or over, (c) 56 per cent of the families have an income of $750 or over. II. There would not be a great sacrifice if families surrendered this privilege. (a) The total annual income from home work is insignificant. (Report, pp. 46, 47. Information based on pay rolls.) 75 per cent of the families and 77 per cent of the individuals received less than $100. 87 per cent of the families and 88 per cent of the individuals received less than $150. Only 3 per cent of the families and 2 per cent of the individuals re- ceived $300 or over. The median earning for all workers is about $100. (6) This income will have been greatly reduced by abolition of child labor, (c) The homes are " generally comfortable." III. The families involved are not of a dependent class (Report, p. 33). (a) Married women comprise nearly 65 per cent of the women workers sixteen years of age and over. (&) The women workers are not without a male wage earner in the family; 81 per cent of the women workers had male wage earners in the family. (c) Married women are not forced to be dependent. Only 15 per cent of the women workers were widowed, separated, divorced or deserted. B. ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK ARE INJURIOUS TO THE COM- MUNITY. I. The rate of wages is disgracefully low (Report, pp. 50, 51). (a) The hourly rate for 50 per cent is less than 8 cents; for 22 per cent, less than 5 cents. That is, in a week of fifty-four hours 50 per cent have a wage-earning capacity of less than $4.32 per week, and 23 per cent have a wage-earning capacity of less than $2.70 per week. (6) In a week of forty-eight hours 50 per cent have a wage-earning capacity of less than $3.84 per week, and 23 per cent have a wage-earning capacity of less than $2.40 per week. II. The seasons are extremely irregular (Report, pp. 14, 15). (a) Home workers in 134 factories comprise 57.8 per cent of the total number employed, but earn only 8 per cent of the wages. (6) 67 per cent of the families who were not employed the full year were idle because of no work. XIV PREFACE C. CONTINUATION OF WORK IN THE HOME is FRAUGHT WITH GRAVE DANGER IN THE FUTURE. I. From the point of view of health. This may be due to contagious diseases unreported; to infectious diseases not required to be reported; to the introduction of processes which are not healthful; to the im- possibility of regulating posture, light, air, etc. (Report, p. 58). Only 32 out of 1,450 families had a workroom. 32 per cent of the families reporting used the living room or various rooms. Only 50 used a bedroom. 50 per cent of the families reporting used kitchens as workrooms. II. From the point of view of child labor. It is practically impossible to pre- vent child labor. III. From the point of view of hours of labor. IV. From the point of view of wage. It superinduces low standards of pay and thus endangers wages. D. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD PROHIBITION OF INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK is STRONG AND is ADVANCING (Report, pp. 20, 21). I. Trade unions prohibit home work in the garment workers' trade and in the tobacco trade. II. Child labor has been prohibited in Massachusetts since beginning this study. Over one-fifth of workers studied have been cut out of possibility of home work. III. Machines are being introduced to supplant home work. E. REGULATION BY LICENSING AND INSPECTION is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT. I. Licensing has failed in Massachusetts (Report, pp. 23-28). (a) More than one-half the families visited at work on wearing apparel were not licensed. (6) Formerly, 214 families at work on wearing apparel, who were visited, living in 12 cities, were not regulated (with one exception). (c) Massachusetts has been endeavoring to regulate home work since 1891, that is, for twenty-four years. (d) Licensing and inspection has been carried on in the metropolitan Boston district only, whereas wearing apparel is the subject of in- dustrial home work in every corner of the State: Chicopee, North- ampton, Foxborough, Haverhill, Leominster, Newburyport, Reading, Salem, Framingham, West Springfield, Springfield, Worcester. II. There are many other industries which it is as important or more important to license than wearing apparel (Report, pp. 12, 13), e.g.: (a) Paper goods: frills, skewers, boxes, paper plates, paper napkins, paper- doll outfits, flowers, rosettes, fans, caps, and favors. (6) Celluloid goods: fans, bandeaux, napkin rings, boxes, cards for hair- pins, nests for hairpins, etc. (c) Brushes, including toothbrushes. (d) Silk goods, including darning and embroidery silks. (e) Curtains, bedspreads and dresser covers. (/) Toys and games. (g) Human hair. (h) Centerpieces, doilies, towels, table and bed linen, handkerchiefs. (i) Circulars and envelopes. PREFACE XV F. THE EXPENSE TO THE STATE OF ENFORCING THE PRESENT LAW REGULATING HOME INDUSTRY WILL BE VERY GREAT. I. The law introduced last year prohibiting child labor imposes great obliga- tion on the Board of Labor and if properly enforced would mean licensing and inspection of all families carrying on home work. II. The area to be covered for the inspection of wearing apparel, as well as of child labor, is very much larger than heretofore covered or even con- templated (Report, p. 8). (a) Almost one-half of the home work is carried on in towns of between 6,000 and 20,000 population. (6) Over three-fourths of the home work is carried on outside of Boston. (c) 15 per cent is carried on in cities having between 50,000 and 400,000 population. (d) Very little is carried on in rural districts. (e) Much of the home work is carried on in towns other than those in which the factories giving out the work are located. III. The extension of the law to cover the industries which are as important from the point of view of health and sanitation as is wearing ap- parel (see list above) would increase the labor of licensing and in- spection and regulation very largely, and require at least twice as large a force as for wearing apparel alone. IV. The extension of the law to cover all industries and enforce the child labor law would increase the labor of licensing and inspection and require more than four times as large a force as for wearing apparel alone. G. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. I. Industrial home work results in competition between factory workers and home workers, indirectly if not directly. This study shows that there is no competition in process in and out of factory, and con- sequently no direct competition as to wage. (a) It reduces fluctuation of labor in the factories by taking such workers out. (6) It permits employers to emphasize the seasonal character of the trade by permitting them to secure labor at will for short periods, thus introducing labor competition. (c) More steady work to those in the factory who need it should result from the inability of the manufacturers to give out work to the home. Rental space alone would prevent such large numbers being employed at one time and would force longer seasons. II. Industrial home work introduces an unsound economic basis. (a) The employer pays low wages and no rent, takes no risk, imposes charges on worker, and throws responsibility on the contractor. (b) Both employer and worker measure value of service by " compensa- tion" which comes from ability to do work at home, or by the very great competition among workers, due to the large number willing to work, instead of by productive power of services or by the value of the product. Because of inability to restrict or regulate the labor supply, and because of the tremendous supply of rush labor, this becomes extremely dangerous and forces low wages. XVI PREFACE G. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS Concluded. III. The theory that industrial home work will develop production in the home is untenable. (a) The restoration of production to the home has not actually taken place. (6) The increased price of wearing apparel and fancy articles due to higher wages, if the sweated industries were abolished, would force women to produce for their own consumption; thus productivity in the home would continue, but for home consumption and not for the factory. IV. Enforcement of prohibition could be accomplished by the regular inspectors without large increase of labor because directed against the manufac- tures, where other laws are being enforced. (a) The inspector can easily see from the type of product in a factory whether there is danger of home work. (6) Discovery through the schools is possible. (c) Discovery through local health boards is possible. REPORT ON INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK, LICENSED IN MASSACHUSETTS. The following is reprinted from the second annual report of the State Board of Labor and Industries, January, 1915. REPORT OF THE BOARD. Enforcement of the laws by which the manufacture of wear- ing apparel in tenements or dwelling houses is regulated in- volves the granting of licenses to all workers; the maintenance of a list of all such workers engaged by employers; continuous inspection of all such tenements or dwellings to see that they are kept clean; and the revocation of licenses for workers dwelling in tenements or dwellings where contagious or com- municable diseases may appear. Seven distinct processes are necessary to attain these ends : First. The State Board of Labor and Industries must re- ceive applications from any member of a family which desires to do such work. Second. The inspectors of the State Board of Labor and Industries must examine " every room and apartment in which garments or articles of wearing apparel are made, altered, re- paired or finished, for the purpose of ascertaining whether said room or apartment or said garment or articles are clean and free from vermin and from infectious or contagious matter" before a license can be granted. PREFACE XV11 Third. A license must be granted to the member of the family desiring the license. Fourth. The Board must require the employer to send each month to the Board a register of the names and addresses of all persons so employed. Fifth. Inspectors must investigate dwellings and tene- ments where licenses have been granted frequently enough to be assured that they are " kept in a cleanly condition." Sixth. Inspectors must protect the public safety by revok- ing the license whenever infectious or contagious diseases shall appear as reported daily to the State Board of Labor and In- dustries by the local department of health. Seventh. Licenses must be re-issued, if desired, when such dangers to public safety shall have passed. Contemplation of the problem of industrial homework has raised many queries and has developed many diverse theories as to its basis, as to its value, both social and economic, as to its validity, and as to the extent of regulation and restriction desirable. The following analysis of data secured by the State Board of Labor and Industries in the process of performing its function of inspection and regulation endeavors to answer the questions suggested above : Homework is denned, in " Industrial Homework in Massa- chusetts," l as being " the manufacture or preparation within the home of goods intended for sale, in which the work supple- ments the factory process." Modern conditions of production have brought a new set both of industrial and of social conditions. With the concentration of workers in cities, large and small, have grown up the tene- ment districts of cities like New York, Chicago or Boston, which constitute such a problematic feature of these and other cities. The tenement house situation in our big cities involves not only the problem of securing for the dweller light and air and decent conditions of living and sanitation, but it also in- volves the maintenance of proper conditions of work. The results are two quite separate considerations: first, protection of the consumer by insuring that the work shall be done in the home under conditions safe from communicable disease; sec- i See p. 11. XV111 PREFACE ond, protection of the worker, which includes (a) the elimina- tion of child labor, (&) the assurance of regularity and honesty in payment of wages and some return commensurate with the labor expended, and (c) regulation of the hours of labor and of wage rate as compared with the factory worker. Much attention has for a long time been devoted to the first problem, that of protection of the consumer ; but the second problem, namely, the protection of the worker, has up to the present time received but little consideration. It is therefore not only questions of health and sanitation, but also of eco- nomics and finance, which the full report discusses. The analysis of the current records (September, 1913, to July, 1914) which have been collected by the Division of Home- work Inspection in the process of licensing and regulation of homework has been made in order to present to the public all information and knowledge which the Board has been able to gain. Later the Board will publish a bulletin which will in- clude the complete details of this analysis. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. The Extent of the Licensing System. 1. Of the 8,000 applications annually received, only about 6,000 licenses are granted, but this requires about 12,000 visits, or about 2 for each license. Almost one-half of these visits are unnecessary, as fully 44 per cent, of the applicants have given a wrong address, have moved, or do not desire a license. 2. The number of revocations because of communicable dis- ease due to reports from the local boards of health is small, 164 for the year. Considered in relation to homework, which is not now licensed, this number becomes large. At least 656 homes in which homework is being done may contain communi- cable disease. On the other hand, the grade of family to which licenses are granted is good, 21 per cent, of the families being graded by the inspectors as A; 62 per cent, as B; 17 per cent, as C. 3. The number of applicants who do not really desire a li- cense is very large, fully 13 per cent of the applicants, while the proportion of refusals of licenses because of disease, poor sanitation, etc., is 2 per cent, of the applications in ten months. PREFACE XIX 4. The installation of a more strict licensing system in Feb- ruary tended to reduce the number of refusals, to raise the grade of the licensed families, and to decrease the actual num- ber of applications, especially the number of those not desiring work, etc. A lessening of vigilance will doubtless result in an increase of the number of homes in which disease and unde- sirable sanitary conditions appear. 5. The expense of the system for six months of very careful inspection and six months of mere routine granting of licenses was $9,240.69, including employment of about 4.2 investi- gators and 2.6 clerical and supervisory employees and incidental expenses. But there is in the State of Massachusetts about four times as much homework in other industries as in the manufacture of wearing apparel, and many of these industries seem to require regulation equally with those now licensed, viz., manufacture of frills, skewers, paper plates, paper nap- kins, paper-doll outfits, rosettes, caps, favors, bandeaux, cards for hairpins, running pants, tooth brushes, other brushes, cur- tains, bedspreads, dresser covers, human hair, doilies, towels, table linens, bed linens, handkerchiefs and center pieces. Location of HomeworJcers in the State (based on Licenses granted February to August, 1914) 1. During this period 2,439 licenses were granted in 103 towns. The concentration of workers in the metropolitan area, the large suburbs, and a few large outlying manufacturing centers is noticeable. In metropolitan Boston there are 591 licenses, or 24 per cent ; in the large suburbs such as Maiden, Everett, etc., 301, or 12 per cent. ; in Haverhill, with its sub- urbs, 322, or 13 per cent. ; in Newburyport, with its suburbs, 301, or 12 per cent. ; and in Lynn and suburbs there are 131, or 5 per cent. But a large number of workers are found scat- tered throughout the State mostly in towns with 1 to 5 workers. There are 21 towns in which only 1 license was granted during this period. Thirty-four towns have only 1 to 5 licenses, while in 17 towns there are from 5 to 10. Thus in the large ma- jority of towns there are but 10 or less workers, this being true of 69 per cent, or 72 out of 103 towns. 2. The cities and towns where licenses are granted are mostly XX PREFACE grouped in the eastern part of the State, with a few isolated centers, such as Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, which are dependent on Boston for work and materials, and a few inde- pendent centers, such as Worcester and Springfield. An inter- esting fact is that no licenses are to be found in some of the most important manufacturing centers, such as Lawrence, Lowell, Fall River and New Bedford. Location of Industries giving out Homework. 1. The industries which manufacture wearing apparel and which give out homework to 2,633 workers are 14 in number. Their product is as follows: (1) aprons; (2) athletic goods; (3) crocheting; (4) clothing other than pants ; (5) embroidery; (6) hosiery; (7) knit goods; (8) neckwear; (9) pants; (10) sewing; (11) shoe ornaments; (12) taping; (13) sewing on straw; (14) stitching. 2. The order of importance of these industries, gauged by the numbers employed, is as follows : (a) Shoe Ornaments. In this industry there are 93 firms which distribute work. Licenses have been granted to 955 workers, which are distributed over 30 towns. The centers of the industry are to be found in Newburyport, Haverhill, Lynn and Lowell. The maximum number of workers employed by a single firm is 84. On the other hand, many towns are found in which there are only one or two workers. Despite the con- centration of this industry in four towns it is also true that there are 131 workers distributed over 22 towns. (6) Knit Goods. Twenty-six firms are reported in knit goods and 297 workers. Unlike those working on shoe orna- ments, the workers on knit goods are found scattered throughout the eastern and southern part of the State. The maximum num- ber employed by a single firm is 80. In this industry, also, many towns are found with only one or two workers. In at least 4 cases one firm distributes to 5, 8 and 9 towns. (c) Pants. In the making of men's pants there are 50 firms distributing work and 333 workers are employed. Unlike the first two industries, the making of pants centers in the met- ropolitan district. Another feature which distinguishes this in- dustry is that there are small groups of workers employed by many firms in one city. PREFACE XXI (d) Sewing and Crocheting. In sewing there are 46 firms. Thirty-one towns are represented in this industry, which also centers in the metropolitan district. Five firms are found, each of which distributes work to at least 8 towns. Crocheting is found in 48 towns, 37 firms distributing work to 207 work- ers. These 207 workers employed in crocheting are scattered from the extreme western to the extreme eastern part of the State, with the largest center of the industry in Salem. In the remaining 9 industries there are 454 workers. Two of these industries show a tendency to develop a center, viz., aprons, in which 42 workers are found in Boston, and embroid- ery in which 54 workers are found in Boston. The others are scattered throughout the State. Responsibility of Mothers in the Family Group. 1. In more than three-fourths of the families where home- work is done the father is living, this being true of 78 per cent, of a total of 2,205. In practically all the families where the father is living he is at work ; in only 46 cases out of the num- ber reported has he been found idle ; and in practically all the families the mother is doing homework or other work. But in only 42 cases is the mother reported as doing outside work. 2. The largest group in the entire list of families is that in which the father is living and is at work, and in which there are no children at work. In this group, however, there are found to be from 1 to 4 dependent children. The next largest group is 483 out of the 1,410 families, 34 per cent, or over one-third, which are reported as having no dependent children. Almost one-fifth of the families are reported as having 1 or 2 children dependent, while about one-eighth have 3 children de- pendent, and less than one-tenth have 4, but the last group of families mentioned has its income supplemented by boarders in about a fifth of the cases. 3. Of the families where the father is living, 1 child is at work in 148 families. Of these families about an equal num- ber have 1, 2, 3 and 4 dependent children. The number of families where there are more children at work is small. 4. About one-sixth of the total number of families, or 356 out of the total 2,205, have no male wage earner. Of this XX11 PREFACE group, only about one-fourth, or 91 families, have dependent children and no children at work. Of these, 28 take boarders. 5. Of the entire 2,205 families, 40 per cent, have no de- pendent children and 21 per cent, have only 1 dependent child, and only 38 per cent, have 2 or more children. Of the entire number, 82 per cent, have no children at work. Economic Status of the Family. 1. About one-third of the families live in houses for which they pay more than $15 per month, or over $180 per year, and are therefore above the average economic group. About one- fifth live in houses for which they pay $15 to $20 per month. Almost one-fifth (18 per cent.) of the families live in houses for which they pay $10 to $12 per month, or $120 to $144 per year. One-fourth of the families live in houses for which $10 or less is paid per month, or less than $120 per year, or the lowest scale of rents. 2. The income from sources other than homework is reported by the week, and therefore must be estimated as a maximum wage-earning power, or an outside figure. On this basis the incomes fall into three well-defined groups : First. Those whose income is from $780 to $1,560, or 501 families, or 30 per cent, of the total number. Second. Those whose income is $520 and under $750, or 400 families, or 24 per cent, of the total number. Third. Those having an annual income over $312 and not more than $520, or 573, or 35 per cent, of the families reported. A large part of this class supplement their income by taking boarders or lodgers (234 out of 362). The earlier report shows the incomes as somewhat higher, 26 per cent, having between $500 and $750, and only 17 per cent, having under $500 as an income. 3. About three-fourths of the fathers are reported as in skilled occupations. 4. The income from homework is also reported by the week, and therefore the statement of the income is that of the amount it may be possible to earn, not of the actual earnings each week. As the work is so variable and seasonal the yearly statement is the maximum possible to earn, and probably represents in no PREFACE XX111 case the actual annual income. The largest group of families of homeworkers reports $1.50 to $2 per week. Thus 211, or 17 per cent, under steady work might earn $78 to $104 per year ; about two-fifths of the workers earn less than $2 per week, or a possible $104 a year. The maximum weekly income re- ported is about $5. In this study of 1913-14, based on pay rolls, the seasonal character of the work is shown by the very small annual incomes. Thus the largest group, forming 28 per cent, earned under $25 per year, 75 per cent, secured less than $100 per year, and 87 per cent, less than $150 per year. 5. The hourly rate reveals the real place of homework, for it shows an extremely low productive power on the part of the workers, and, from the point of view of wage, casts industrial homework on wearing apparel into the group of sweated trades. This report corroborates the earlier study of industrial home- work, in which 71.4 per cent, of the workers in wearing apparel were proved to be earning less than 10 cents per hour, and the majority between 7 and 10 cents per hour. In the present study the majority seems to be able to secure 8 to 10 cents an hour. Housing Conditions where the Workers live. 1. The proportion of tenements to dwellings in Boston, Worcester and Haverhill is very large, but outside these three cities it is very small. Of the tenements, the majority, or 54 per cent, are in metropolitan Boston and the Haverhill district, 15 per cent, being in Haverhill. In Worcester we also find a fairly large percentage of tenements, 13 per cent, of the total number being in this city, but the proportion in other centers is very small, only 2 to 6 per cent, of the total. 2. Outside of Boston, and in cities not having strict regula- tions as to tenements and house sanitation, there are 560 tene- ments where licensed homeworkers live. 3. The cleanliness and general conditions of the residences of homeworkers are, in fully one-half of the cases, graded as B ; also the cleanliness of buildings of applicants and workroom is very good, only 11 per cent, being graded as C. The majority of houses, when considered as a whole, are graded as A or B, 77 per cent, falling in this class. But in Boston proper the majority of houses, 62 per cent., are graded as C. XXIV PREFACE Conditions of Living: the Number of Rooms and the Size of Family. 1. About half of the tenements in the 103 towns have five and six rooms. Of these tenements, 227, or 24 per cent., have five rooms, and 225, or 23 per cent., have six rooms. In the large centers outside of Boston an even larger proportion of ten- ements are of five or six rooms. In Haverhill 44 per cent, have six or more rooms, while in Newburyport the percentage is 47 and in Lowell, 46. In Boston there is a sharp change to the three-room tenement, 70 per cent, of the tenements having only two or three rooms. Of these, 33 per cent, are found on the third floor and 20 per cent, on the fourth floor. 2. The majority of dwellings throughout the State, on the other hand, have six or more rooms. Considering the State as a whole, 66 per cent, of the dwellings contain six or more rooms. In the metropolitan district the percentage is 55, in the large suburbs, 70, while in the outlying towns it is 78 or more. 3. The average family group is made up of 3 to 4 people, and the prevailing condition is that of one and one-half rooms for one person. Outside of Boston the number of cases where an undue number of occupants are found is very small. In houses of A grade the predominating group is 3 people, and they live in six rooms. In houses of B grade the predominating group is 4 people, and they live in six rooms. In houses of C grade the predominating group is 4 people, and they live in two rooms. Conditions of 'Workrooms. The work is carried on for the most part in the kitchens or dining rooms, the majority being done in the kitchens. The ventilation and heat of workrooms are reported as being of A and B grade. In only 100 out of 2,450 cases is the ventilation reported as C, and this is true in only 134 cases as to heat. Nationality of Workers. Twenty-seven countries are represented outside of the United States. More than one-half of the workers were born in the United States, there being 1,065 native-born workers reported PREFACE XXV and 891 foreign-born. In the order of numbers represented these nationalities are Italians, Canadians, Irish. The Italians are to be found mostly in the making of pants and aprons, the Canadians in the making of shoe ornaments, the Irish in embroidery. The largest number of foreign-born workers is found in the making of pants, the second largest number in the making of shoe ornaments. Nationality and Ages of Members of the Family. The largest number of mothers and fathers are twenty-five to thirty-five years of age, but there are an almost equal number thirty-five to forty-five years of age. More than half of the female workers are twenty-five to forty-five years of age, being almost equally divided between the two ten-year age periods. There is a surprisingly large number of workers over sixty years of age, about as many as in any five-year group before twenty-five or after fifty years of age. SUSAN M. KINGSBURY, Director of the Department of Research, Women's Educational and Industrial Union. BOSTON, April, 1915. CONTENTS PAGE Preface vii-xxv List of Tables xxix-xxxi Introductory 1-9 I. The problem of home work, by Amy Hewes 12-29 1. Extent of home work in industry 12-16 2. Location of home work industries 16-17-= 3. The level of wages 17-19 4. Evils of home work 19-20 5. The attitude of labor organizations . 20-21 6. Remedies proposed prohibition versus regulation . . . 21-29 II. Analysis of conditions in home work industries, by Amy Hewes . . 30-58 1. Sex and age 30-31 2. School attendance 32 3. Marital condition 33 4. Domestic status 33-34 5. Nativity 34-36 6. Previous occupation and training 36-39 7. Yearly earnings 39-41 8. Extent of non-employment 41-43 9. Yearly earnings in relation to age and experience .... 44-46 10. Income from other sources 46-48 11. Hourly earnings 48-50 12. Women home workers and dependents 50-52 13. Charges on earnings 52-53 14. Change of employment 53-55 15. Rent 55 16. Living conditions 56-58 III. Detailed reports by industries 59-134 1. Wearing apparel, by Margaret S. Dismorr . . . . . 59-87 A. Introductory 59-62 B. Men's clothing coats and pants 62-64 ^"" C. Men's clothing shirts and pajamas 65-66 *" D. Women's and children's clothing machine-made . . 66 E. Women's and children's clothing hand-work . . . 67-68 F. Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons .... 68-71 G. Shoes and shoe trimmings 71-74 H. Hosiery and machine-knit goods 74-76 I. Suspenders, garters, and elastic woven goods . . . 76-78 J. Other wearing apparel 78-82 K. The Worker . 82-87 XXV111 CONTENTS PAGE III. Detailed reports by industries Concluded. 2. Jewelry and silverware, by Margaret Hutton Abels . . . 88-107 3. Paper goods, by Caroline E. Wilson 108-118 4. Celluloid goods, by Margaret Hutton Abels 119-126 5. Sporting goods, by Caroline E. Wilson 127-132 6. Other industries, by Margaret S. Dismorr 133-134 APPENDICES. A. Special Reports on Home Work 137-142 B. Extracts from Reports of Inspectors of Home Work 143-149 1. Massachusetts 143-144\ 2. New York 144-147 ^ 3. United Kingdom 148-149 C. Bibliography 150-175 D. Specimen Forms of Inquiry 176-181 Index , 183-191 LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Relation of factory to home workers and wages ...... 3 2. Methods by which information was secured 6 3. Manufacturers, contractors and home workers 7 4. Distribution of home workers by industries 8 5. Relation of home work to factory work in 134 establishments in Massa- chusetts 14-15 SA. Articles listed in laws of 12 States having legislation upon tenement manufacture 22 6. Licensed and unlicensed families of home workers ..... 26 7. Sex and age of home workers in all industries 30 8. School attendance of home workers in all industries 32 9. Marital condition of home workers sixteen years of age and over . . 33 10. Domestic status of women home workers sixteen years of age and over . 34 11. Nativity of home workers : by industries 34 12. Nativity of fathers of home workers : by industries 36 13. Previous occupations of male home workers 37 14. Previous occupations of female home workers 37 15. Training received by home workers: by industries 38 16. Number of individual home workers earning each classified amount a year 40 16A. Percentage of home workers earning less than specified amount a year 41 17. Annual earnings and duration of non -employment for families of home workers in all industries 42 18. Extent and causes of non-employment for families of home workers in all industries 43 19. Number of individual home workers earning each classified amount a year: by age groups 44 19A. Percentage of individual home workers earning less than specified amount a year: by age groups 45 20. Years of experience and annual earnings of individual home workers in all industries 46 21. Annual earnings of families from home work and from other sources in all industries 46 22. Sources of income exclusive of home work for families in all industries . 47 23. Percentage of home workers earning less than specified amounts an hour: by industries 48-49 XXX LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 24. Percentage of home workers earning less than specified amounts an hour: by nativity 50-51 25. Women home workers sixteen years of age and over and dependents . . 51 26. Families of home workers paying charges : by industries .... 52 27. Change of employment: by industries 53 28. Female home workers having other gainful occupation .... 54 29. Male home workers having other gainful occupation 54 30. Families of home workers living in own or rented houses .... 55 31. Living conditions of home workers: by industries 56 32. Living conditions of home workers: by nativity 57 33. Character of room used for home work: by industries .... 57 34. Sex and age of home workers on wearing apparel 82 35. School attendance of home workers on wearing apparel: by age and sex 83 36. Number of families of home workers on wearing apparel earning each classified amount a year 84 37. Percentage of families earning less than specified amount .... 84 38. Annual earnings of families from home work on wearing apparel and incomes from other sources 85 39. Extent and causes of non-employment for families of home workers on wearing apparel 87 40. Relation of home work to factory work in jewelry and silverware estab- lishments 98 41. Contractors for jewelry and silverware manufacturers . . . . 100 42. Sex and age of home workers on jewelry and silverware .... 102 43. School attendance of home workers on jewelry and silverware: by sex and age 103 44. Number of families of home workers earning each classified amount a year: jewelry and silverware 104 45. Percentage of families of home workers earning less than specified amount a year: jewelry and silverware 104 46. Annual earnings of families from home work on jewelry and silverware and incomes from other sources . 105 47. Extent and causes of non-employment for families of home workers on jewelry and silverware 106 48. Sex and age of home workers on paper goods 112 49. School attendance of home workers on paper goods: by age and sex . . 113 50. Number of families of home workers on paper goods earning classified amount a year 115 51. Percentage of families of home workers on paper goods earning less than specified amount 115 52. Annual earnings of families from home work on paper goods and incomes from other sources 116 53. Extent and causes of non-employment for families of home workers on paper goods 117 54. Sex and age of home workers on celluloid goods 123 55. School attendance of home workers on celluloid goods: by age and sex . 124 LIST OF TABLES XXXI TABLE PAGE 56. Number of families of home workers on celluloid goods earning classified amount a year 124 57. Percentage of families of home workers on celluloid goods earning less than specified amount 125 58. Annual earnings of families from home work on celluloid goods and incomes from other sources .125 59. Sex and age of home workers on sporting goods 129 60. Number of families of home workers on sporting goods earning classified amount a year 130 61. Percentage of families of home workers on sporting goods earning less than specified amount 130 62. Annual earnings of families from home work on sporting goods and in- comes from other sources 131 APPENDICES. A. Statement of licenses for entire period of amended law 147 B. Record of licenses for 1913 and 1912 147 C. Outwork (United Kingdom) 149 INDUSTRIAL HOME WOEK IN MASSACHUSETTS INTRODUCTORY PURPOSE AND RESULTS OF THE INQUIRY. The inquiry, the results of which are set forth in this report, was undertaken for the purpose of obtaining information relative to the extent of " home work," so-called, in Massachusetts, the industries in which it exists, its influence upon factory work and wages, the type of family engaged in it, the motive for engaging in it, the nature of the income re- ceived whether supplementary or otherwise and its effect upon family life. The subject was approached, furthermore, with the object in view of ascertaining facts and conditions in their relation to: (a) The workers: The number of persons engaged in home work in Massachusetts by sex, age, and nationality ; the processes upon which they are engaged ; the character of the work and working conditions ; the wages received. (6) The industries employing home workers: The number of estab- lishments in each industry; the ratio of the number of home workers to factory workers ; the ratio of the amounts paid in wages in the two groups ; the determination, as far as possible, of the extent to which home work is increasing or decreasing; whether manufacturers regard it as necessary to the industry; and how far it is, in fact, an efficient method of pro- duction. (c) The public: Whether conditions exist which endanger public health or throw upon society the burden of parasitic industries. While the report may not in all respects answer these questions cate- gorically or as completely as might be desired, it is, nevertheless, believed that the results as presented constitute a fairly comprehensive and accurate picture of this phase of industrial life in Massachusetts and may be useful as a basis for further consideration of this important subject. Informa- tion was obtained from 831 employers, of whom 675 were interviewed by agents of the Bureau. Of this number, 284 were found to be giving out home work. The agents also interviewed 53 contractors or distribu- tors, and 2,409 home workers. Complete information relative to home 2 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS work was r>bt*ii>e Preliminary Report of the New York State Factory Investigating Commission, 1912, v. 1, p. 277. 22 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS the larger establishments, who see in the abolition of home work an advantage to be gained over the smaller and cheaper firms, who rely more extensively upon outside labor. With respect to the second method of meeting the problems involved, namely, regulation by some form of licensing, methods differ widely in the several States. The regulation of home work by statute has been undertaken by 12 in all, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Penn- sylvania, and Wisconsin. Mainly in the interest of the public health these States have regulated the manufacture of various articles of wearing apparel and other articles commonly made in tenements. Eight of these, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin require the licensing of the places in which such manufacture is carried on. Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio require no license, but Connecticut requires the notification of the factory inspector, and Illinois the notification of the Board of Health. New York requires a license for the manufacture of any article whatsoever, and prohibits the manufacture of food and other specified articles. The fol- lowing table shows the articles listed in the laws of the 12 States having legislation upon tenement manufacture. TABLE 5A. Articles listed in the Laws of the 12 States having Legislation upon Tene- ment Manufacture. STATES. Licensing Articles Listed in the Regulations Connecticut, No license required, . Wearing apparel, purses, artificial flowers, cigars and cig- arettes. Illinois No license required, . Wearing apparel, purses, feathers, artificial flowers, cigars and cigarettes. Indiana, License required, Wearing apparel, purses, feathers, artificial flowers, cigars and cigarettes. Maryland, License required, Wearing apparel, purses, feathers, artificial flowers, cigars and cigarettes. Massachusetts, . License required, Wearing apparel. Employment of children under 14 years of age prohibited. Michigan, License required, Wearing apparel, purses, feathers, artificial flowers, cigars and cigarettes. Missouri, No license required, . Wearing apparel, purses, feathers, artificial flowers, cigars and cigarettes. New Jersey, . License required, Wearing apparel, purses, feathers, artificial flowers, cigars and cigarettes. New York, . License required. All articles. Manufacture of food, dolls and dolls' cloth- ing and children's and infants' wearing apparel pro- hibited. Employment of children under 14 years of age prohibited. Ohio No license required, . Wearing apparel, purses, feathers, artificial flowers, cigars and cigarettes. Pennsylvania, License required, Wearing apparel, purses, feathers, artificial flowers, cigars and cigarettes. Wisconsin, . License required, Wearing apparel . purses, feathers, artificial flowers, cigars, cigarettes, and umbrellas. Eight States prohibit the employment of persons outside the family, one permits the employment of three outside persons, and three have no THE PROBLEM OF HOME WORK 23 regulation upon this point. Five States Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania specify the number of cubic feet of air space per person working in a tenement room. All the States except Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, and New Jersey require that every firm employing tenement labor shall keep open for inspection a list of the names and addresses of the persons so employed. In Massachusetts, Mis- souri, and New York the law provides that a tag bearing the words " tenement-made " shall be affixed to articles manufactured " without a license, or otherwise in violation of the provisions of the acts governing tenement manufacture." Other provisions of the various States relate to sanitation, infectious and contagious diseases, and other matters of inspec- tion and registration. The first legislation in Massachusetts regulating conditions in tenement workshops, aside from the ordinary requirements of the general sanitary laws concerning tenements, was an act passed in 1891 (chapter 357). The laws defined the workshop as " any house, room, or place used as a dwelling and also for the purpose of making, altering, repairing, or finish- ing for sale any ready-made coats, vests, trousers, or overcoats, except by the family dwelling there ; " and required the proprietor of such a shop to notify the Chief of the District Police of its location, of the nature of the work done, and of the number of his employees, in order that such premises and the garments made there might be kept under strict sur- veillance. Subsequent amendments 1 made definitions clearer and re- quired workers to obtain licenses from the District Police before receiving employment (Acts of 1893, chapter 246). An Act passed in 1898 (chap- ter 150) prohibited work upon wearing apparel of any description what- soever intended for sale " in any room or apartment in any tenement or dwelling, . . . except by the family dwelling there," while any family desiring to do this work must first procure a license, employers being forbidden to contract in any way with unlicensed workers. The Act of 1891 (chapter 357) provided that if any evidence of infectious disease was found in any workshop or in goods manufactured the Chief of the District Police should notify the State Board of Health to examine the workshop and the materials used, and if found in an unhealthy condition the State Board of Health should issue such orders as the public safety might require. This act also provided for two additional inspectors of the District Police to perform the duties of such inspection. The Act of 1898 (chapter 150) required reports of unsatisfactory conditions to be sent to the local boards of health instead of the State Board. Acts, 1892, c. 296; Acts, 1893, c. 246; Acts, 1894, c. 508; and Acts, 1898, c. 150. 24 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS In 1907 (chapter 537) the regulation of tenement workrooms was transferred from the District Police to the Inspectors of Health of the State Board of Health. In 1912, an act was passed (chapter 726) which provided for the establishment of the State Board of Labor and Industries and to this board was transferred, among other duties, the regulation of tenement workrooms, such transfer taking effect July 1, 1913. 1 On this date the State Board of Health relinquished these duties and for the brief period intervening until the State Board of Labor and Industries was appointed by the Governor in August, 1913, there was no enforcing author- ity for the tenement workshop law. The present law regulating tenement manufacture in Massachusetts is in part as follows : 2 A room or apartment in a tenement or dwelling house* shall not be used for the purpose of making, altering, repairing or finishing therein coats, vests, trousers or wearing apparel of any description, except by the members of the family dwell- i The duties of the State Board of Labor arid Industries in this connection are defined as follows (Acts, 1912, c. 726, 5): . . . "All powers and duties with reference to the enforcement of laws relating to labor and the employment thereof, the inspection and licensing of buildings or parts of buildings used for industrial purposes, the inspection and licensing of the workers therein and of all other industrial employees within the commonwealth, the en- forcement of laws relating to the employment of women and minors, and the institution of proceedings in prose- cution of violations of any of the said laws, now conferred or imposed by law upon the state board of health or state inspectors of health, or upon the chief of the district police, the inspectors of factories and public buildings of the district police, or the inspection department of the district police, of the deputy chief of the inspection department of the district police, with the exception of such duties and powers as are now imposed by law upon the chief inspector of boilers or the boiler inspectors of the district police, and with the further exception of such powers and duties as relate to the inspection of buildings under erection, alteration or repair, are hereby trans- ferred to the state board of labor and industries. Said board may delegate to such commissioner, deputy com- missioners or inspectors as are under its direction such of the above powers as it may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this act. "Buildings used for industrial purposes under the meaning of this act shall include factories, workshops, bakeries, mechanical establishments, laundries, foundries, tenement-house workrooms, all other buildings or parts of buildings in which manufacturing is carried on, and mercantile establishments as denned in section seventeen of chapter five hundred and fourteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and nine." * For the sake of clearness the words " State Board of Labor and Industries" are here substituted in brackets for the words "State Board of Health." ' Definition of a "tenement house " in cities, " A ' tenement house ' is any houne or building, or part thereof, which is rented, leased, let or hired out, to be occupied, or is occupied, or is intended, arranged or designed to be occupied as the home or residence of two or more families, which families may consist of one or more persona, living independently of each other and doing their cooking on the premises, and having a common right in the halls, stairways, yard, courts, cellar, sinks, water-closets or privies, or any of them. Where the occupants of dwelling houses contiguous and vertically divided, each occupied or intended, arranged or designed to be occu- pied as the home or residence of one family or more, have a common right in or use in common the halls, stairways, yards, cellars, sinks, water-closets or privies, or any of them, such dwelling houses shall be deemed to be tene- ment houses and shall be subject to all the provisions of this act." Acts, 191S, c. 786, 2, 1 (/). Definition of a "tenement house" in towns. "A 'tenement house' is any house or building, or part thereof, which is rented, leased, let or hired out, to be occupied, or is occupied, or is intended, arranged or designed to be occupied as the home or residence of more than two families (a family may consist of one or more persons) living independently of each other and having a common right in the halls, stairways, yard, cellar, sinks, water-closets or privies, or any of them, and includes lodging and boarding houses, apartment houses, and flat houses. Dwelling houses built in continuous rows of more than two houses, occupied or intended, arranged or designed to be occupied as the home or residence of one family or more having a common right in or using in common the halls, stairways, yards, cellars, sinks, water-closets or privies, or any of them, shall be deemed to be tenement houses and shall be subject to all the provisions of this act." Acts, 1919, c. 6Sf>, \2,](1 ). THE PROBLEM OF HOME WORK 25 ing therein; and a family which desires to make, alter, repair or finish coats, vests, trousers or wearing apparel of any description in a room or apartment in a tene- ment or dwelling house shall first procure a license therefor from [the state board of labor and industries]. A license may be applied for by, and issued to, any member of a family which desires to do such work. No person, partnership or corporation shall hire, employ or contract with a member of a family which does not hold a license therefor to make, alter, repair or finish garments or articles of wearing apparel as aforesaid, in any room or apartment in a tenement or dwelling house as aforesaid. Every room or apartment in which garments or articles of wearing apparel are made, altered, repaired or finished shall be kept in a cleanly condition and shall be subject to the inspection and examination of the [inspectors of the state board of labor and industries] for the purpose of ascertaining whether said room or apartment or said garments or articles of wearing apparel or any parts thereof are clean and free from vermin and from infectious or contagious matter. A room or apartment in a tenement or dwelling house which is not used for living or sleeping purposes, and which is not connected with a room or apart- ment used for living or sleeping purposes and which has a separate and distinct entrance from the outside shall not be subject to the provisions of this section, nor shall the provisions of this section prevent the employment of a tailor or seamstress by any person or family for the making of wearing apparel for the use of such person or family. Every person, firm or corporation hiring, employing or con- tracting with a member of a family holding a license under this section for the making, altering, repairing or finishing of garments or wearing apparel to be done outside the premises of such person, firm or corporation, shall keep a register of the names and addresses plainly written in English of the persons so hired, em- ployed or contracted with, and shall forward a copy of such register once a month to the [state board of labor and industries.] * At the time the present investigation was in progress, the regulation of tenement manufacture was still in the hands of the State Board of Health. 2 But in spite of the attempt to protect the consumer hy licensing i Acts, 1909, c. 514, 106. The 44th Annual Report of the State Board of Health for 1912 gives the following statistics which are of interest as showing the number of inspections made and licenses granted for that year: Numerical Data for All Districts. Number of licenses granted, 2,511 Number of licenses refused 158 Number of licenses not wanted, 90 Number of licenses revoked, 150 Number of reinspections, 1,093 Number not in at time of visit, 525 Number not found, 340 Of the 150 licenses revoked, 41 were revoked on account of communicable diseases that occurred among the families of the tenement workers as follows: Scarlet fever, 24; diphtheria, 9; measles, 6; chicken pox, 2. "In the Massachusetts Bay district there are approximately about 1,600 licenses outstanding all of the time, and at times the number is as high as 2,200. Of this number fully one-third are held by women residing in the better residential districts where frequent reinspeetion as far as sanitary conditions are concerned is wholly unnecessary. Reinspection once a year in these districts is amply sufficient. What is of importance is to keep track of any possible occurrence of communicable diseases in such homes, and this is done by checking off daily the lists of communicable diseases which are received from the local boards of health. About one-third of the 26 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS families who work on wearing apparel, more than one-half of the families from which information was obtained in the course of the study were un- licensed, as shown by the following table. TABLE 6. Licensed and Unlicensed Families of Home Workers. WEARING APPAREL INDUSTRIES. Number of Families Interviewed Number of Licensed Families Number of Unlicensed Families Number of Families not Reporting as to License All Wearing Apparel Industrie*. 645 29S 339 13 Clothing, men's coats and pants, 109 101 6 2 Clothing, men's shirts and pajamas, 36 36 Clothing, women's machine-made, 17 9 7 1 Clothing, women's handwork, . 74 29 44 1 Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, Shoes and shoe trimmings, Hosiery and machine-knit goods, . Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods, Other wearing apparel, 63 166 136 21 23 41 5 101 1 6 20 158 31 20 17 2 3 4 Outside of Metropolitan Boston only one family was found to have a license (a corset worker in Worcester). That is, 214 families in 12 municipalities Chicopee, Foxborough, Haverhill, Leominster, New- buryport, Northampton, Reading, Salem, Framingham, Springfield, West Springfield, and Worcester engaged in the manufacture of wearing apparel of various kinds, were, with one exception, under no control what- soever in regard to the conditions under which they carried on their work. 2 It is particularly important that such garments as men's shirts and pajamas and articles of women's clothing should be under some kind of supervision. Although the investigation revealed no strikingly unsanitary conditions in the places where such manufacturing is carried on, the fact that more than one-half the families studied were unlicensed and conse- quently free from regulation reveals the possibility of the occurrence of workers live in sections not quite so good, but still not requiring reinspection oftener than twice a year. Strange as it may seem not more than one-third of the licenses are held by women living in the congested districts where frequent reinspection is necessary. . . . The principal home work in the men's tailoring industry is the finishing of men's trousers. . . . There are about 592 licenses held for this industry, nearly 200 of which were not being used at the time of the last inspection." 1 Includes one who used license of a friend whose name is on the pay-roll. * The State Board of Labor and Industries in its first annual report (page 14) aays with reference to the licensing of home workers: "As an instance of constructive effort in finding new fields of home workers the city of Haverhill may be cited. The State Board of Health report gave no intimation of licenses having been granted there, and from private or- ganizations which had been carrying on investigations information was received that very little home work was performed in that place. "One of the investigators of this Board was sent to make a survey of the city, and in studying the shoe industry it was found that the making of ornaments for shoes was largely carried on in the homes. To make the survey as complete as possible, various persons and organizations were consulted, . . . "All were interested and co-operative, and publicity in the newspapers was of great help in acquainting the people with the law. Twenty-two employers in that city have already sent in lists of their home workers, many more have asked for information, and 1,000 applications for licenses in Haverhill alone have been registered up to the date of this report." THE PROBLEM OF HOME WORK 27 disease or other unhealthful conditions at any time, beyond the knowledge or control of the public. Massachusetts is the only State regulating home work which has con- lined its attention to wearing apparel. Games and toys, including dolls, are given out for home work without any restriction. Food, also entirely unregulated, is probably very rarely manufactured or prepared in the homes except by persons who sell directly to the consumer. Macaroni and candy, made in this way by persons acting as independent manufacturers, are frequently offered for sale in retail stores on the premises. Tobacco working in tenements in this Commonwealth is conducted in such a man- ner as to take it, technically at least, from the home-work class. Most of the dwellings in which this work is done are located in Boston and are under the careful regulation of the Cigar Makers Union. This organiza- tion is anxious to discourage tobacco work in dwellings, in order that the larger manufacturers who produce their goods under sanitary conditions as insisted upon by the Union may not have to compete with the tenement- house producers. The label of the Cigar Makers Union is a guarantee that the tobacco products have been made under desirable conditions, since this label can not be used until a committee from the union has examined the building, room, or apartment in which the goods are to be made and has approved of the conditions there. Only union men may work in such places and the room or rooms may not be used for any other purpose than that of cigarmaking. The product of the dwelling-house factories in Bos- ton is generally disposed of to wholesalers and to liquor dealers or direct to the consumer, the union fixing the minimum price at which the differ- ent grades of cigars may be offered for sale by these independent producers. Advocates of regulation admit the defects of the licensing and inspect tion system, but consider abolition out of the question at the present time. An attempt to do away with all outside work might cause many persons who are now able to earn a part of their own living to become dependent upon their relatives or upon the State. These persons who are quite unable to stand the strain and pace of factory work, through physical or mental incapacity, or a weight of domestic responsibility, are, at the present time, useful, busy citizens, contributing as much as they are able and in many cases this is no inconsiderable amount to the industrial process. If their occupations were suddenly taken away from them, not only would the principal wage-earners of their families have heavier burdens of re- sponsibility, but society itself would be the loser in refusing to make use of the great productive capacity which is in the possession of workers out- side the factory walls. Persons who are perfectly able to add their share 28 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS to the wealth of the community would be compelled to live out their days in unproductiveness. Society, at great expense to itself and hardship to the people immediately concerned, would thus bring about a decrease in its own productivity. Those who take this view hold that the task to be undertaken is not the abolition of home work, but the admittedly difficult one of so changing the present methods of regulation that the protection of both worker and consumer may actually be accomplished. 1 In connection with the further regulation of home work, a plan is suggested which has attracted increasing attention in recent years the establishment of minimum wage boards to fix the rate of payment for home work in special trades. The determinations of the Australian Wages Boards, which have been in operation since 1896, and of the more recently established English boards furnish a precedent for those who advocate this form of legal regulation. In Victoria, for example, piece-rates for tailoring are fixed by a special board. Employees are instructed that piece-work scales for outworkers must be so adjusted that they represent the minimum time-rate laid down in the determination of the board. The decision as to the rate per hour which is the equivalent of the piece-rate is arrived at largely on the judgment of the inspectors, who are sometimes experts in the trades concerned. If individual workers find that they have been sent work at a piece-rate which does not equal the minimum time- rate, they may enter complaints. The English boards operate in a very nearly similar way in fixing rates for paper boxmakers and lacemakers. The impression prevails that the wages and conditions of home work have improved since the inauguration of the system. If such a system were inaugurated in Massachusetts, where industrial conditions differ in various respects from those in which the experiment has already been tried, the outcome would depend upon numerous inde- terminable factors. It is possible that home work is at the present time so indispensable to the manufacturers that they would accept a minimum rate corresponding to 12 to 15 cents an hour, for example, for their home workers, and would continue to give out the work in undiminished quan- tity. In that case the income of the workers would increase to a consider- 1 Professor John R. Commons, formerly of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission, has suggested that the chief home work inspector of State labor departments be given large discretionary powers, the dangers of such powers being overcome by public hearings; that the bureau of home work inspection deal with individual persons, firms, and situations, so that those who could not work in the factory should not be deprived of the support gained from home work; that a committee be appointed by such a bureau, to be composed of represent- atives of employers, employees, labor organizations, Women's Trade Union League, Associated Charities, and other interested bodies which could deal with cases of persons desiring to do home work, as the widely varying conditions of work, workers, and localities would appear to demand that the case method be used in dealing with the situation. THE PROBLEM OF HOME WORK 29 able extent, in the event that they continued to work the same number of hours as now; the present study would seem to show, however, that the majority of the families are not totally dependent upon the income from home work, but undertake it in order to gain certain luxuries; in such instances the workers might or might not care to increase their earnings. On the other hand, the increased rate, placed hypothetically at 12 or 15 cents an hour, might fall so heavily on the manufacturers that they would cease to give out home work. In such cases the argument becomes one for prohibition. It is much more probable that this rate would result in the cessation of home work in certain industries but not in others, a condition which would be likely to result in a raising of industrial standards in the industries most in need of such improvement. CHAPTER II ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS IN HOME-WOKK INDUSTEIES BY AMY HEWES In presenting the results of this inquiry, a separate report has been prepared for each of the five principal industries. On the basis of these reports, a comparative study has been made of the conditions in the various industries with a summary of the conditions surrounding home work in general. This general analysis of the results of the investigation is presented in the following tables and the accompanying text. 1. SEX AND AGE. A group of home workers, however extensive, may be expected to show marked differences of age and sex composition as compared with the cor- responding industrial group in a factory. Young children, long ago for- bidden by law to work in a factory, and women, usually prevented by domestic duties from engaging in regular industrial occupations, make up the greater part of the labor force. The following table shows the number and the percentage of male and female workers in specified age groups. TABLE 7. Sex and Age of Home Workers in Att Industries. AGE GROUPS. MALES FEMALES BOTH SEXES Number Percent- ages* Number Percent- ages 1 Number Percent- age^ All Ages. Under five years, Five yeare and under 10, 393 1 83 116 39 16 9 10 7 6 10 11 3 4 4 27 47 100.0 0.3 24.0 33.5 11.2 4.6 2.6 2.9 2.0 1.7 2.9 3.2 0.9 1.2 1.2 7.8 2,016 9 97 155 92 60 79 104 167 191 217 202 135 91 71 151 195 100.0 0.5 5.3 8.5 5.1 3.3 4.3 5.7 9.2 10.5 11.9 11.1 7.4 5.0 3.9 8.3 2,409 10 180 271 131 76 88 114 174 197 227 213 138 95 75 178 242 100.0 0.5 8.3 12.5 6.0 3.5 4.0 5.3 8.0 9.1 10.5 9.8 6.4 4.4 3.5 8.2 14 years and under 16 16 years and under 18, 21 years and under 25, 25 years and under 30 30 years and under 35, 35 years and under 40 40 years and under 45 50 years and under 55, Age not reported,' 1 The percentages in this table are computed on the basis of the number reporting. * The entry " Not reported" in this table and others means that the information in question was not obtained for the numbers given. Of the 2,409 home workers investigated, 242, including 47 males and 195 fema.es, did not supply information as to age. Ten of these workers, all of whom were females, were under 16 years of age, but the exact age was not reported. In the present study the largest number of workers included in any one age group was 271, found in the group 10 and under 14 years, the ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 31 ages at which children have developed sufficient strength and steadiness to perform many kinds of manual work. The employment of children under 14 years of age in factories has been illegal since 1898, but this prohibition was not extended to home work until last year through the passage of the new child labor law which went into effect September 1, 1913. 1 The work done by children is usually irregular, and is crowded into the hours after school closes, sometimes lasting until late into the night. A large number of children, 180, is included in the age group five and under 10 years. Including the 10 children under five years who were found at work, the group of children under 14 years formed over one-fifth 21.3 per cent of the whole number of home workers whose ages were re- ported. The second largest number of persons within a single age group, 227, or 10.5 per cent, lies between the ages of 35 and 40. This group is made up largely of women, for after 14 the boys begin to drop out and the num- ber of men included in the succeeding age groups is almost negligible. At this period in the mother's life the size of the family has increased, usually to its largest dimensions, and the oldest children are not yet old enough to enter the factory. It is deemed necessary to supplement the family income in some way. Home work gives employment in which the mother can supervise her house and her children, and at the same time add something to the family earnings. The table indicates the gradual dropping out of males over the age of 14. Of the 154 males 16 years of age and over 98 were found at work on Paper Goods. These men are largely factory hands who do their part of the family work on tags or other paper goods while they are at home in the evening. It is hardly necessary to comment upon the fact that men take up home work less frequently than do women. The same forces which make it an insufficient and precarious source of income for the self- dependent woman make it a form of occupation which the ordinary man undertakes only in a desultory way to fill his evenings, or as a last resort when disabled or incapacitated by age. Old persons who have left outside employment can often perform the rougher kinds of home work. The present study included 178 persons 60 years of age and over who had taken up home work, or 8.2 per cent of the whole number whose ages were obtained. Acts, 1913, c. 831, 1. (See note 1, on page 19, ante.) 32 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS 2. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. Although a large number of children of school age were found doing home work, the task was usually done outside of school hours, and the numher of children who were not attending school was not very large. Table 8 shows the school attendance for age groups. TABLE 8. School Attendance of Home Workers in All Industries. NUUBBR OF NUMBER OF NUMBEE OF MALES FEMALES BOTH SEXES AGK GBOUPS. In Not in In Not in In Not in School School School School School School Under 18 Years. 229 26 339 84 568 110 Under five years _ 1 1 8 1 Five years and under 10, . 10 years and under 14 80 116 3 91 152 6 3 171 268 9 3 14 years and under 16, .... 28 11 70 22 98 33 16 years and under 18, .... 5 11 17 43 22 54 Under 16 years, exact a?e not reported, . 8 2 8 2 Twelve children, nine girls and three boys, or 2.7 per cent of 451 children found in home work between the ages of five and 14, were out of school at the time the homes were visited, but in no case could the in- vestigator feel certain that the child had been kept out of school for the purpose of helping in home work. One child was epileptic, another men- tally defective, a third had a sore hand, and a fourth was " too nervous to go to school." Seven of the 12 children were workers on Paper Goods, for even a sick or mentally defective child can perform the simple opera- tion of tag stringing, looping a string through the hole in the end of a tag. While home work does not directly interfere with school attendance, the child's strength of body and alertness of mind are impaired by long and late hours of mechanical, monotonous work. This conclusion was supported by the testimony given by public school teachers in a town noted for the prevalence of home work. These teachers, coming from towns where little home work was done, were impressed by the mental apathy and lack of vigor in the children in their classes. The children were fairly regular in coming to school, but they seemed uninterested and the class work dragged. Visits to several of the homes revealed the fact that many of the children in question had stayed up late at night to work on tags. The lack of play and sleep had already begun to affect their physical and mental equipment. This consideration justifies the prohibition of home work for children under 14 years of age enacted in 1913. 1 Acts, 1913, c. 831, 5 1. (See note 1, on page 19, ante.) ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 33 3. MARITAL CONDITION. A study of the marital condition of adult L home workers shows that married persons predominate heavily. The following table shows the number of home workers 16 years of age and over classified as single, as married, and as widowed, separated, divorced, or deserted. TABLE 9. Marital Condition of Home Workers 16 Years of Age and Over in All Industries. MABITAL CONDITION. Males Females Both Sexes Single, Totals. 154 52 1,653 326 1,807 378 Married, Widowed, separated, divorced, or deserted, 96 *6 1,075 252 1,171 258 The preceding table shows that approximately two-thirds, or 64.8 per cent of the home workers 16 years of age and over, were married, 20.9 per cent were single, and 14.3 per cent were widowed, separated, divorced, or deserted. These proportions indicate that in general it is not the widow or the single woman who relies upon home work. The income from this source is uncertain and fluctuating; it provides not primary means of subsistence, but a supplementary income. Naturally, therefore, the ranks of adult home workers are recruited chiefly from the wives of wage-earning men. 4. DOMESTIC STATUS. Table 10 shows the number and the percentage of women home workers at home, with or without adult male wage-earners in the family, and the number and the percentage of women " adrift ". 3 1 The term "adult" as used in this report signifies a person 16 years of age and over. 2 Includes one for whom marital condition was not reported. 8 Following the plan described in "Wage-Earning Women in Stores and Factories " (Volume V of the Report of the United States Bureau of Labor on the Condition of Woman and Child Wage-Earners in the United States), the term "adrift" has been used to designate "both the boarding and lodging women wage-earners, as well as those whose so-called homes have become only impeding wreckage." A girl or woman who has lost one of her parents may still have in the other an effective social protector or an economic stay, and she has been regarded as having one of the essentials of a home; but a woman with no one able to sustain her, economically or socially, in time of need, has been placed in the class of those who have been termed "adrift." A woman deserted or widowed may be said to be "at home" if her children are earning and assisting in the family support; if, on the other hand, they are entirely dependent upon her, they act as liabilities instead of assets, and the woman is essentially "adrift." 34 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS TABLE 10. Domestic Status of Women Home Workers 16 Years of Age and Over in All Industries. CLASSIFICATION. Numbers Percentages Totals. 1,653 100.0 Having male wage-earners in family, No male wage-earners in family, 1,332 243 81.0 14.8 Women adrift, ............. 69 4 2 Domestic status not reported, 9 Only 69 of the 1,644 women home workers 16 years of age and over for whom information was secured were classed as " adrift." Of those at home (1,575), by far the greater number, 1,332, or 84.6 per cent, had adult male wage-earners in the family. This proportion, it may be added, holds almost uniformly throughout the various industries. 5. NATIVITY. The following table shows the number of native-born and foreign-born among the home workers, classified by industries. TABLE 11. Nativity of Home Workers: By Industries. NUMBER OF HOMB WORKKRS IN WEARING APPARRL NATIVITY OF HOMB WORKERS. All Indus- tries Men's Coats and Pants Shoes and Shoe Trim- Hosiery and Ma- chine- knit Other Wear- ing Apparel Paper Goods Jewelry and Silver- ware Sport- ing Goods Cellu- loid Goods Other Indus- tries mings Goods Totals. 2,409 129 207 160 300 912 273 173 96 159 NativeJ>orn. 1,118 6 ISO 60 172 320 174 96 65 82 Native-born of native father Native-born of foreign 605 2 102 44 105 132 96 67 24 33 father, . . 411 3 26 24 56 148 71 19 21 43 Native-born, place of birth of father unknown, 97 - 2 1 11 40 7 10 20 6 Foreign-born. 783 ISO 48 79 111 201 77 6f> 31 51 Armenia, Austria, . 32 3 ~ 9 9 14 : ~ _ 2 Austria (Poland), 6 _ _ _ _ _ - 6 - - Canada (French), 112 _ 7 4 13 3 36 22 11 16 Canada lOther), 100 _ 9 15 32 10 12 12 7 3 England, . 45 _ 1 8 3 18 8 4 1 2 France, 9 _ 2 2 4 _ 1 - Germany, 17 _ 1 2 3 7 1 - 3 Ireland, . 164 _ 4 5 30 81 9 14 2 19 Italy, . . 212 115 2 23 5 54 1 3 8 1 Norway, . Portugal, 3 11 5 : i 2 2 4 _ ~ Russia, . 19 _ _ _ _ 17 2 Russia (Poland), Scotland, 3 12 : i f 3 1 1 3 _ 2 1 Sweden, . . 18 - 5 4 3 1 2 1 - 2 Syria, 11 _ 9 _ J 1 Other foreign countries, 6 - 2 2 1 - 1 - Nativity Not Reported. 613 4 89 12 17 391 ft IS - 26 ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 35 The native-born home workers numbered 1,113, or 59 per cent of all the home workers from whom information was secured as to nativity. 1 Among the foreign-born the Italians predominated, most of them being employed on Wearing Apparel, over 100 as home finishers in the North End of Boston. Nearly as numerous are the natives of Ireland, somewhat concentrated in Paper Goods, owing to the fact that a large group of tag stringers was found in an almost wholly Irish neighborhood. French Canadians, third in number, are distributed more evenly among the various industries, with a slight concentration in the jewelry industry. Canadians of other than French origin and natives of Great Britain are next in order of numbers. The representatives of other countries are com- paratively few. A total of 43 persons born in Turkey is made up largely of Armenians engaged in work upon slippers and garters. It is noticeable that the countries from which the Jewish people come are only slightly represented. The fact that the majority of the home workers are of native birth indicates a point at which the findings of the present study are at variance with popular impression. The general view, fostered by special studies of home work processes in selected sections of the large cities, seems to be that home work is done almost wholly in Italian and Jewish families. In a state-wide survey of the dimensions of the present study the foreign character of the workers has decidedly lost emphasis, and the large share of the work performed by American-born persons comes into prominence. The only striking exception is the case of work on men's coats and pants, where the workers are almost wholly of Italian birth, living in the North End of Boston. It is of course difficult to assign any one explanation of the prominence of native-born workers which would be wholly satisfactory. In view of the low earnings available from home work, even with maximum effort (a subject which will receive further consideration at a later point in the report), the explanation may lie in the fact that the newly arrived immigrant family is obliged to be self-supporting and consequently its members are under the necessity of finding better paid and more regular employment. > The total population of Massachusetts in 1910 shows the following percentages: Native-born, 68.6 per cent; foreign-born, 31.6 per cent. 36 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS The following table, showing the nativity of fathers of home workers, gives a slightly different order of places of birth than the order of the home workers themselves considered in Table 11. TABLE 12. Nativity of Fathers of Home Workers: By Industries. NUMBER OF HOME WORKERS IN NATIVITT or FATHERS. All Indus- tries Men's Coats and Pants Shoes and Shoe Trim- Hosiery and Ma- chine- knit Other Wear- ing Apparel Paper Goods Jewelry and Silver- ware Sport- ing Goods Cellu- loid Goods Other Indus- tries mings Goods Totals. 2,409 129 207 160 300 912 273 173 96 159 Native-born. 605 2 102 44 106 132 96 67 24 53 Foreign-born. 169 123 78 107 168 495 163 84 62 99 Armenia, 33 _ 8 10 15 m _ Austria, . 7 _ _ 1 _ _ _ _ 6 Austria (Poland), 6 _ _ _ _ _ 6 _ Canada (French), 198 _ 15 6 22 14 70 25 21 25 Canada (Other), 116 _ 14 16 34 19 13 9 5 6 England, 104 _ 3 12 5 53 18 9 2 2 France, . 21 _ 3 4 8 1 5 Germany, 45 _ 2 4 6 20 6 2 5 Ireland, . 391 _ 14 12 60 207 26 25 6 41 Italy, . 307 118 2 27 8 131 4 3 13 1 Norway, Portugal, 4 17 5 : 1 1 4 2 7 : - Russia, . 33 _ _ _ _ 32 _ 1 _ _ Russia (Poland), Scotland, 11 24 - 4 8 5 2 2 3 1 - 9 1 Sweden, 20 _ 5 4 4 1 2 2 _ 2 Syria, . 13 _ 10 1 2 _ Other foreign countries 9 _ 1 3 2 1 1 _ _ 1 Nativity Not Reported. 446 4 27 9 27 285 u 22 20 S7 Natives of Italy and Ireland make up the largest numbers among the home workers of foreign descent, as among those of foreign birth, but in this case the Irish are in the lead. This order clearly reflects the char- acter of the older immigration, and represents the days before the immi- grants from Northern Europe were outnumbered by the Southeast Euro- peans. Germany and France, other elements of the older immigration, are also represented in this table by slightly larger numbers than in the table showing the nativity of the workers themselves. 6. PREVIOUS OCCUPATION AND TRAINING. The following tables show the number of home workers, by sex, in the various industries who were, prior to beginning home work, employed in the specified groups of occupations. ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 37 TABLE 13. Previous Occupations of MALE Home Workers 16 Years of Age and Over: By Industries. Total NUMBER PREVIOUSLY EMPLOYED IN Num- Mil Num- ber iNum- L __ INDUSTRIES. ber of Male Home Work- ers 16 and Over Factory in the In- dustry Other Man- ufac- turing Trade and Trans- porta- tion Do- mestic and Per- sonal Service La- borers Build- Trades not Re- porting as to pre- vious Occu- pation ber having no pre- vious Occu- pation All Industries. 154 39 48 18 1 9 7 7 25 Wearing Apparel. 28 18 3 1 _ J 1 f 1 Clothing, men's coats and pants, I - - - - 1 - - - Clothing, men's shirts and pa- jamas, . . . 2 _ 2 _ _ _ _ _ Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods 2 _ 1 1 _ - Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, . . . 1 _ _ 1 Shoes and shoe trimmings, . Other wearing apparel, 21 1 18 1 _ - 1 - 2 _ Celluloid Goods. 1 _ 1 _ _ _ _ _ M Jewelry and Silverware. 9 7 1 1 _ _ . _ _ Paper Goods. 98 14 39 12 1 7 4 _ SI Sporting Goods. 12 2 4 _ I 4 - Other Industries. 6 - 2 - - - 1 s TABLE 14. Previous Occupations of FEMALE Home Workers 16 Years of Age and Over: By Industries. Total Num- NUMBER PREVIOUSLY EMPLOYED IN Num- ber Num- ___ INDUSTRIES. ber of Female Home Work- ers 16 and Over Factory in the In- dustry Other Man- ufac- turing Agri- cultural Pur- suits Trade and Trans- porta- tion Do- mestic and Per- sonal Service Profes- sional Service House- wives not Re- porting as to pre- vious Occu- pation ber having no pre- vious Occu- pation All Industries. 1,653 297 324 6 65 121 32 445 12 351 Wearing Apparel. 708 185 184 1 32 S2 17 234 8 1S6 Clothing, men's coats and pants, 119 38 17 _ _ 3 _ 56 4 I Clothing, men's shirts and pajamas, 40 14 7 _ 2 1 1 8 3 4 Clothing, women's ma- chine-made, . 23 _ 11 _ 1 _ 1 4 1 5 Clothing, women's hand- work, . 76 1 14 1 6 11 4 30 _ 9 Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods, . 23 1 4 1 5 11 Hosiery and machine-knit goods 156 15 27 _ 4 4 1 67 38 Neckwear, dress trim- mings, and buttons, . 75 2 29 _ 6 3 2 13 _ 20 Shoes and shoe trimmings, 173 54 8 - 12 4 7 52 - 36 Other wearing apparel, . Celluloid Goods. 23 66 10 16 7 11 1 4 1 1 3 5 - 1 26 Jewelry and Silverware. 208 73 44 1 7 9 6 24 3 41 Paper Goods. 383 41 66 2 9 43 3 141 88 Sporting Goods. 155 2 51 1 7 6 3 IS 1 51 Other Industrie*. 133 30 38 6 9 28 20 A considerable number of home workers were formerly employed in factories in the same industry in which they now do home work; 336 38 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS such workers, or 34.7 per cent, and 372 persons who were previously employed in other manufacturing concerns, or 38.5 per cent, were found among 967 home workers who reported having had a previous gainful occupation. There were 121 women, or 12.5 per cent, who were formerly engaged in domestic or personal service. Thirty-two women, most of whom have been teachers, are classed under " Professional Service." Only six persons, all women, were formerly engaged in agricultural occupations. Thirty-nine of the 122 male home workers who reported having had a previous occupation had worked in factories in the same industry. There were 821 persons, including only 25 males, who had had no previous gain- ful occupation. The proportions are approximately the same among the various industries. The following table shows the number of home workers in the various industries who received training, either from employers or from other persons, the number who received their training from previous employ- ment in factory work, and the number who reported that no training was necessary for the kind of work which they were doing. TABLE 15. Training Received by Home Workers: By Industries. Total XT,.-,,, K-,. NUMBER OF WORKERS WHO RECEIVED TRAINING Number report- Number not re- INDUSTRIES. IS umber of Home Workers FREE From Previous Work in ing no Training Neces- porting as to Training Re- From From Employer Others Factory sary ceived All Industrie!. 2,409 364 674 147 1,037 187 Wearing Apparel. 1796 166 1353 76 70 101 Clothing, men's coats and pants, . 129 4 81 23 2 19 Clothing, men's shirts and pajamas, 44 8 21 2 1 12 Clothing, women's machine-made, 26 2 11 1 10 2 Clothing, women's hand-work, 76 2 51 1 12 10 Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods, 51 12 24 15 - Hosiery and machine-knit goods, Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons 160 79 17 28 112 25 8 9 4 8 19 9 Shoes and shoe trimmings, Other wearing apparel, Celluloid Goods. 207 24 96 88 5 15 53 5 4 25 7 16 14 4 18 27 3 5 Jewelry and Silverware. *87S 4 *143 37 64 15 Paper Goods. *912 40 *17 6 8S7 IS Sporting Goods. 173 98 45 1 3 26 Other Industries. 169 $1 44 11 65 8 1 Includes three workers who paid others for their training. * Includes two workers who paid others for training. Includes one worker who paid others for training. The ease with which the ordinary kinds of home work are learned, and the simplicity of the processes involved are indicated by the fact that only six persons out of 2,222 who reported as to previous training received any kind of paid instruction. Nearly one-half, or 46.7 per cent, of the home workers received free training from employers before the work was ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 39 taken from the factory, or from members of their families, friends, or neighbors, who were often home workers themselves. One thousand and thirty-seven workers, or 46.7 per cent, reported " no training necessary"; the members of this group had no training for home work aside from be- ing shown a sample or having the process demonstrated by a forewoman or contractor. One hundred and forty-seven persons learned how to perform the home work process while they were factory workers. Training of one kind or another was given the majority of the workers in each of the five principal industries except Paper Goods, where many of the proc- esses are extremely simple. In this industry 93 per cent of the workers had no training before taking up the work. 7. YEARLY EARNINGS. The following tables show the earnings, for the year preceding the date on which the pay-rolls were obtained, of 715 individual home workers and of 363 of this number whose payments from the factory extended nine months or more of the year for which information was secured. 1 Table 16 shows the classified annual earnings for all individual workers for whom pay-rolls were obtainable and also the classified annual earnings of those who received payments for nine months or more out of the year. Table 16 A shows the data by cumulative percentages. The second part of these tables is presented in order to indicate the extent to which non- employment is a factor in relation to average earnings. Comparison of the following tables shows that the earnings of the nine-months class were considerably higher than the general average for all workers. The difference in earnings becomes more apparent in the higher wage groups where 39 of the 42 persons who received $200 or more for the year are found to be in the group of steady workers. These tables bring out the strongest objection to home work, which is based on the low maximum earnings. It has been argued that even the greatest industry and diligence can not raise the earnings above a level insufficient to main- tain existence. If the wages shown in the present study are typical of those paid for home work in general throughout the Commonwealth, as there seems to be good reason to believe, we can be certain that only in the rarest cases does home work bring in a living wage. Pay-rolls were obtained also for 379 "group workers." The groups, including from two to nine workers, were represented by single names on the manufacturers' pay-rolls. They were not included in tables as the individual earnings could not be determined. 40 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS TABLE 16. Number of Individual Home Workers Earning each Classified Amount a Year: By Industries. All Individual Home Workers. Total Num- Num- ber NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL HOME WORKERS EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT A YEAR ber of Re- INDUSTRIES. Indi- vidual Work- ers port- ing Earn- ings Less than *25 $25 to $49.99 $50 to $99.99 $100 to $149.99 $150 to $199.99 $200 to $249.99 $250 to $299.99 $300 and over All Industries. 996 715 208 145 196 83 41 14 12 16 Wearing Apparel. 630 842 95 66 85 46 23 9 7 12 Clothing, men's coats and pants, 92 18 6 3 5 1 2 1 Clothing, men's shirts and pa- jamas, Clothing, women's machine- 32 30 1 4 11 2 5 3 1 3 made, 10 7 4 2 _ 1 _ _ _ Clothing, women's hand-work, . 72 7 1 1 1 2 1 _ 1 _ Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods, 6 5 5 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Hosiery and machine-knit goods, . 115 95 20 18 40 16 1 - - - Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, 49 37 15 9 5 3 2 1 _ 2 Shoes and shoe trimmings, . 132 126 37 28 15 19 13 3 4 7 Other wearing apparel, . Celluloid Goods. 22 S6 17 36 6 18 2 9 6 4 3 1 2 1 Jewelry and Silverware. 163 111 55 18 IBS 9 S 2 S 3 Paper Goods. 78 62 18 IS 11 9 7 2 1 1 Sporting Goods. 105 102 16 26 48 12 1 _ 1 Other Industries. 94 62 7 20 25 6 6 - - Individual Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Industries. _ S63 15 59 142 69 39 13 11 15 Wearing Apparel. _ 167 6 21 63 37 23 8 7 12 Clothing, men's coats and pants, - 8 - 1 3 1 - 2 1 Clothing, men's shirts and pa- jamas, m 25 _ 1 10 2 5 3 1 3 Clothing, women's machine- made, 2 _ _ 1 _ 1 _ _ _ Clothing, women's hand-work, . - 5 - - 1 2 1 - 1 _ Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods, .... Hosiery and machine-knit goods, . ~ 61 5 11 30 14 1 ~ _ Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, 11 2 2 3 2 _ 2 Shoes and shoe trimmings, Other wearing apparel, . 54 1 5 1 6 15 13 3 4 7 Celluloid Goods. _ 9 _ 2 2 1 f 1 _ _ Jewelry and Silverware. - S6 1 4 17 6 1 f I 2 Paper Goods. _ 34 1 8 7 7 7 | / 1 Sporting Goods. - 81 7 17 43 IS 1 - 1 Other Industries. "- 37 m 7 20 6 6 -* ~ m ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 41 TABLE 16A. Percentage of Individual Home Workers Earning less than Specified Amount a Year: By Industries. All Individual Home Workers. Total Num- PERCENTAGE OP INDIVIDUAL HOME WORKERS Num- ber EARNING A YEAR ber of Re- INDUSTRIES. Indi- port- vidual ing Less Less Less Less Less Less Less Less Work- Earn- than than than than than than than than ers ings $25 $50 $100 $150 $200 $250 $300 $350 All Industries. 996 715 29.1 49.4 76.8 88.4 94.1 96.1 97.8 99.0 Wearing Apparel. 630 342 27.8 46.8 71.6 85.1 91.8 94.4 96 6 98 2 Clothing, men's coats and pants, 92 18 33.3 50.0 77.8 83.3 83.3 94.4 100.0 100.0 Clothing, men's shirts and pa- jamas, 32 30 3.3 16.7 53.3 60.0 76.7 86.7 90.0 96.7 Clothing, women's machine- made, 10 7 57.1 57.1 85.7 85 7 100 100.0 100.0 100.0 Clothing, women's hand-work, . 72 7 14.3 28.6 42.9 71.4 85.7 85.7 100.0 100.0 Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods, .... 6 5 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Hosiery and machine-knit goods, . 115 95 21.1 40.0 82.1 98.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, . . . 49 37 40.5 64.9 78.4 86.5 91.9 94.6 94.6 100.0 Shoes and shoe trimmings, 132 126 29.4 51.6 63.5 78.6 88.9 91.3 94.4 96.0 Other wearing apparel, . 22 17 35.3 47.1 82.4 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Celluloid Goods. 36 36 60.0 75.0 86.1 91.7 97.2 100.0 100.0 1000 Jewelry and Silverware. 153 111 49.5 61.3 82.0 90 1 92.8 97.3 99.1 Paper Goods. 78 62 29.0 600 67.7 82.3 93 6 96 8 98.4 1000 Sporting Goods. 106 102 14,7 39. S 86.3 98.0 99.0 99.0 100.0 100.0 Other Industries. 94 62 11.3 43.5 83.8 91.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 1000 Individual Home Workers Employed Nine Months or Over. All Industries. _ 363 4.1 20.4 59.5 78.5 89.3 92.8 95.9 98.1 Wearing Apparel. _ 167 3.6 16.2 47.9 70 .1 83.8 88 .6 92.8 96 4 Clothing, men's coats and pants, - 8 12.5 50.0 62.5 62.5 87.5 100.0 100.0 Clothing, men's shirts and pa- jamas, _ 25 _ 4.0 44.0 52.0 72.0 84.0 88.0 96.0 Clothing, women's machine- made _ 2 _ _ 50.0 50.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100 Clothing, women's hand-work, . _ 5 _ _ 20.0 60.0 80.0 80.0 100.0 looio Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods, .... Hosiery and machine-knit goods, . _ 61 8.2 26.2 75?4 98.4 100.0 looTo 100.0 100.0 Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, _ 11 _ 18.2 36.4 63.6 81.8 81.8 81.8 100.0 Shoes and shoe trimmings, _ 54 1.9 11.1 22 2 50.0 74.1 79 6 87 90.7 Other wearing apparel, . Celluloid Goods. : 1 9 100 22 2 100.0 44.4 100.0 66.7 100.0 88.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Jewelry and Silverware. _ 35 2.9 14.3 62.9 80.0 82.9 88.6 94.3 97.1 Paper Goods. _ 34 2.9 26 5 47.1 67 6 88 2 94.1 97.1 100.0 Sporting Goods. - 81 8.6 29.6 82.7 97.6 98.8 98.8 100.0 1000 Other Industries. - 37 18.9 73.0 86 6 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 8. EXTENT OF NON-EMPLOYMENT. Closely related to earnings and indicative of their real significance for the worker is the duration or regularity of employment. The follow- ing table shows the number of families earning specified amounts who were employed 12 months of the year preceding the date on which pay- rolls were obtained, the number who were without employment for speci- fied periods, and the number who began home work less than one year prior to the dates on which pay-rolls were obtained. 42 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS TABLE 17. Annual Earnings and Duration of Non-employment for Families of Home Workers in All Industries. NUMBER NOT EMPLOYED Number who TntAl Number started ANNUAL EARNINGS FBOM HOME WORK. i o tai Number of Families Em- ployed 12 Months Less than Three Mouths Three Months and Less than Six Six Months and Less than Nine Nine Months and Less than 12 Months not Stated Home Work after begin- ning of Year All Families. 1,450 417 192 214 228 117 92 190 Less than $25, 305 8 18 79 70 22 100 $25 and less than $50,. 223 32 30 58 61 10 32 $50 and less than $100, . 295 127 55 64 32 1 2 14 $100 and less than $150, . 128 77 29 13 5 2 2 1150 and less than $200, . 68 47 14 6 _ $200 and less than $250, . 22 13 6 1 _ _ _ 2 $250 and less than $300, . 24 20 2 1 1 _ _ $300 and less than $350, . 13 9 2 1 _ _ 1 $350 and less than $400, . 9 6 1 2 _ _ $400 and less than $450, . 4 3 _ 1 _ _ _ _ $450 and less than $500, . _ _ _ _ $500 and over, 3 2 _ 1 _ _ _ _ Earnings not reported, . 356 73 45 49 48 36 66 39 Conclusions as to the social significance attaching to the extent of non- employment should not, however, be drawn too hastily. The reasons for non-employment, the time spent each day in the work, the other resources of the families concerned, are only a few of the matters which may prop- erly be taken into account before a verdict is pronounced for the abolition of the system. A conspicuous feature of home work in all of the industries studied is the irregularity of employment. In the study of the preceding table the difficulties which the pay-rolls for home workers presented should be borne in mind. In some cases, data for the full year were unavailable, and in others our agents could not be sure that a person apparently idle was not working under another pay-roll number, or perhaps working with a group of persons who might be represented by a second person on the pay-roll from time to time. 1 In spite of the insufficiency of the pay-roll data, however, the information which was secured concerning non-employ- ment has sufficient corroboration in the testimony of the workers to demon- strate the large amount of idleness which, for one reason or another, seems to be the inevitable concomitant of home work. The preceding table, which was compiled from the pay-rolls, shows that only about one-half of the workers whose records were available worked nine months or more out of the 12. The explanations of the irregularity of employment, as they were 1 In such cases the schedules relating to the earnings of the workers were discarded. ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 43 given by the workers, are reflected in the following table which clearly shows that the responsibility lies only partly with the industries con- cerned and that the preference of the worker is a factor which must always be taken into consideration. The table shows the number of families of home workers who were idle for the specified causes for the specified periods. TABLE 18. Extent and Causes of Non-employment for Families of Home Workers in All Industries. NUMBER NOT EMPLOYED Number who Tntnl Number started CAUSES OF NON-EMPLOYMENT. 1 Ot 111 Number of Families Em- ployed 12 Months Less than Three Months Three Months and Less than Six Six Months and Less than Nine Nine Months and Less than 12 Months not Stated Home Work after begin- ning of Year All Causes. 1,450 417 192 214 228 117 92 190 Enforced Idleness due to an In- dustrial Cause, 431 _ 106 123 122 62 18 _ Dull season, .... 400 _ 102 113 111 57 17 _ Other employment, . 19 - 2 4 7 5 1 - Strike, 12 _ 2 6 4 .. __ _ Illness, 73 _ 17 S3 ft 7 6 _ Voluntary Idleness, 124 - 23 33 36 n 8 _ Change of Residence, 6 - _ 1 3 i _ _ Started Home Work after beginning of Year 190 _ . _ _ _ _ 190 Other Causes, 11 _ 4 _ 3 4 _ Employed 12 Months, 417 417 _ _ - Causes not reported, 199 41 34 43 19 61 ~ Seasonal fluctuations in the home-work trades register their effects immediately upon the employment of the workers. The long and frequent periods of idleness are more often caused by dull seasons than by all the other causes combined, as shown by the large number of workers (400) who were absent for this reason. Only about one-fifth (19.3 per cent) of the workers who spoke of their long periods of idleness were out of work through their own preference. These mentioned such reasons as the fol- lowing : " I had a quarrel with the forelady and I wouldn't work for her any longer " ; " The children take too much time " ; "I can't do home work " ; and (t You get tired of the work so soon." A considerable number, 190, had been at work only a few months at the time of the investigator's visits, and consequently reported somewhat extended periods of idleness which were due merely to their late entrance into the trade. Such causes as strikes and illness appear infrequently. Only one person was idle on account of the revocation of a license; in this case it was revoked because she had persisted in working on articles of wearing apparel in her kitchen. 44 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS 9. YEARLY EARNINGS IN RELATION TO AGE AND EXPERIENCE. The following tables show the earnings by age groups, for the year preceding the date on which the pay-rolls were obtained, of 715 individual home workers and of 363 of this number whose payments from the factory extended over nine months or more in the year for which information was secured. 1 Table 19 shows the classified annual earnings for 715 individual home workers for whom pay-rolls were obtainable, and also the classified annual earnings of the 363 workers who received payments for nine months or more out of the year. Table 19 A shows the data by cumulative percent- ages. The second part of these tables is presented in order to indicate the extent to which non-employment is a factor in relation to average earnings. TABLE 19. Number of Individual Home Workers Earning each Classified Amount a Year: By Age Groups. All Individual Home Workers. Total XTi**n NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL HOME WORKERS EARNING Num- K^* nt j\um- ber Re- EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT A YEAR AGE GROUPS. ber ol Indi- vidual iv^-i port- ing Earn- Less than $25 to $50 to $100 to $150 to $200 to $250 to $300 and Work- ers ings $25 149.99 199.99 $149.99 $199.99 $249.99 $299.99 over All Ages. 996 715 208 145 196 83 41 14 12 16 Under 18 years, 15 13 9 2 _ 1 _ 1 s. _ 18 to 20 years, 27 19 7 3 2 5 1 1 _ _ 21 to 24 years, 63 36 21 4 7 3 1 _ _ _ 25 to 29 years, 128 80 28 16 17 12 4 _ 1 2 30 to 34 years, 133 86 23 17 26 8 5 2 2 3 35 to 39 years, 143 106 28 27 31 13 3 1 1 2 40 to 44 years, 136 100 28 18 33 12 8 1 _ _ 45 to 49 years, 76 63 18 13 19 7 3 1 1 1 50 to 54 years, 61 49 16 11 10 4 4 2 1 1 55 to 59 years, 48 38 8 4 15 4 3 2 1 1 60 yeara and over, . 112 91 14 22 26 9 7 3 4 6 Age not reported, 54 34 8 8 10 5 2 - 1 - Individual Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Ages. _ 36J 15 59 142 69 39 13 11 15 Under 18 years _ 2 _ _ _ 1 .. 1 m _ 18 to 20 years, - 9 - 1 2 5 1 - - - 21 to 24 years, _ 10 1 3 4 2 M 25 to 29 years, - 32 1 5 11 9 4 - 1 1 30 to 34 years, - 44 1 5 19 7 5 2 2 3 35 to 39 years, _ 50 4 11 18 11 2 1 1 2 40 to 44 years, - 52 2 6 24 11 8 1 - - 45 to 49 years, _ 31 _ 6 14 5 3 1 1 | 50 to 54 years, _ 26 3 3 9 3 4 2 1 1 55 to 59 years, . _ 28 1 3 13 4 3 2 1 1 60 years and over, _ 64 2 15 20 7 7 3 4 6 Age not reported, ~ 15 1 8 4 2 ~ ~ ~ 1 Pay-rolls were obtained also for 379 "group workers." The groups, including from two to nine workers, were represented by single names on the manufacturers' pay-rolls. They were not included in the tables as the individual earnings could not be determined. ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 45 TABLE 19A. Percentage of Individual Home Workers Earning less than Specified Amount a Year: By Age Groups. All Individual Home Workers. Total PERCENTAGE OF INDIVIDUAL HOME WORKERS Num- ber of Nuni- berRe- EARNING A YEAR AGE GROUPS. Indi- port- ing Less Less Less Less Less Less Less Less vidual Earn- than than than than than than than than Work- ers ings $25 $50 $100 $150 $200 $250 $300 $350 All Ages. 996 715 29.1 49.4 76.8 88.4 94.1 961 97.8 99.0 Under 18 years 15 13 69.2 84.6 84.6 92.3 92.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 18 to 20 years, 27 19 36.8 52.6 63.2 89.5 94.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 21 to 24 years, 63 36 58.3 69.4 88.9 97 2 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 25 to 29 years, 128 80 35.0 55.0 76.3 91.3 96.3 96.3 97.5 100.0 30 to 34 years, 133 86 26.7 46.5 76.7 86.0 91.9 94.2 96.5 98.8 35 to 39 years, 143 106 26.4 51.9 81.1 93.4 96.2 97.2 98.1 99.1 40 to 44 years, 136 100 28.0 46.0 79.0 91.0 99.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 45 to 49 years, 76 63 28.6 49.2 79.4 90.5 95.2 96.8 98.4 100.0 50 to 54 years, 61 49 32.7 55.1 75.5 83.7 91.8 95.9 98.0 100.0 55 to 59 years, 48 38 31.1 31.6 71.1 81.6 89.5 94.7 97.4 100.0 60 years and over, 112 91 15.4 39.6 68.1 78.0 85.7 89.0 93.4 94.5 Age not reported , 54 34 23.5 47.1 76.5 91.2 97.1 97.1 100.0 100.0 Individual Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Ages. _ 363 4.1 20.4 59.5 78.5 89.3 92.8 95.9 98.1 Under 18 years _ 2 _ _ _ 50.0 50.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 18 to 20 years, - 9 _ 11.1 33.3 88.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 21 to 24 years, _ 10 10.0 40.0 80.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 25 to 29 years, - 32 31.2 18.8 53.1 81.3 93.8 93.8 96.9 100.0 30 to 34 years, _ 44 2.3 13.6 56.8 72.7 84.1 88.6 93.2 97.7 35 to 39 years, - 50 8.0 30.0 66.0 88.0 92.0 94.0 96.0 98.0 40 to 44 years, _ 52 3.8 15.4 61.5 82.7 98.1 100.0 100.0 100.0 45 to 49 years, - 31 19 4 64.5 80.6 90.3 93.5 96.8 100.0 50 to 54 years, _ 26 nTs 23.1 57.7 69.2 84.6 92.3 96.2 100.0 55 to 59 years, _ 28 3.6 14.3 60.7 75.0 85.7 92.9 96.4 100.0 60 years and over, . _ 64 3.1 26.6 57.8 68.8 79.7 84.4 90.6 92.2 Age not reported, . - 15 6.7 60.0 86.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 In comparatively unskilled processes, such as the majority of those under consideration in the present study, the effect of long experience upon the individual's earnings is not so marked as it would inevitably be in occupations requiring a higher degree of skill. Thirty-three per cent of the workers in the following table had five years' experience or more, but their earnings, although in general higher than those of the other groups, show no marked difference. It is probably true that the failure of long experience to provide large earnings is due not so much to maladjustments in the labor situation as to the character of the work itself and the fact that the families in which it is done do not expect it to furnish a complete support. 46 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS TABLE 20. Years of Experience and Annual Earnings of Individual Home Workers in All Industries. Total NUMBER HAVING EXPERIENCE OP Number ANNUAL EARNINGS FROM HOME WORK. Number of In- dividual Home Workers Less than One Year One Year and Less than Five Five Years and Less than Ten Ten Years and Less than Twenty Twenty Years and Over not re- porting Years of Ex- perience All Individual Home Workers. 996 154 460 171 100 36 75 Less than $25, . 208 61 88 25 14 3 17 $25 and less than $50, 145 21 60 35 18 2 9 $50 and less than $100, 196 8 95 45 24 8 16 $100 and less than $150, 83 42 12 16 7 5 $150 and less than $200, 41 _ 19 7 12 1 2 $200 and less than $250, 14 2 8 2 1 1 _ $250 and less than $300, 12 2 8 2 $300 and less than $350, 9 1 4 4 _ _ $350 and less than $400, 5 1 3 1 _ $400 and less than $450, 2 _ _ 2 _ Earnings not reported, 281 60 142 30 12 13 24 10. INCOME FROM OTHER SOURCES. The low earnings of home workers and the large extent of non-employ- ment have been shown in previous tables. It is important in connection with these facts to form an estimate of the size of the outside incomes of the families concerned, in order to determine whether home work is the source of a large or small part of the total income. The following table shows the number of families with annual incomes exclusive of home work classified by the annual earnings from home work. TABLE 21. Annual Earnings of Families from Home Work and from Other Sources: All Industries. NUMBER HAVING ANNUAL INCOME EXCLUSIVE OP XTitwi Total HOME WORK OF Num- iNum- ber de- ANNUAL EARNINGS FROM HOME WORK. Num- ber of Fam- ilies Under $50* $50 and under $250 and under $500 and under $750 and under $1,000 and under $1,250 and ber not re- porting In- pendent on Home Work $250 $500 $750 $1,000 $1,250 over come only Totals. 1,450 1 41 155 299 295 16S 177 283 36 Under $25, 305 _ 3 25 65 63 38 44 67 _ $25 and under $50, 223 _ 6 16 45 47 36 21 51 1 $50 and under $100. 295 _ 9 22 60 74 33 45 45 7 $100 and under $150, 128 _ 2 19 26 27 15 14 22 3 $150 and under $200, 68 _ 4 7 10 16 4 11 14 2 $200 and under $250, 22 _ 3 2 2 2 3 4 4 2 $250 and under $300, 24 1 2 _ 3 3 1 5 4 5 $300 and under $350, 13 _ _ 3 _ _ 2 4 4 $350 and under $400, 9 _ 1 1 1 1 - 2 3 $400 and under $450, 4 _ _ _ 2 _ _ _ 1 1 $500 and over, 3 _ _ _ I 1 _ _ _ 1 Earnings not reported, 356 - 11 63 82 61 32 31 69 7 From the testimony of the home workers who were personally visited, it was possible to estimate the annual incomes, exclusive of home work, ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 47 of 1,131 families. In each case the workers specified the income of the family from each member, giving the occupation in which he or she was engaged. It is possible that the incomes were placed too high in some cases, as the agents had good reason to believe that the principal wage- earners in several families were subject to periods of non-employment which the persons interviewed were disinclined to mention. However, even with the allowances which must be made for cases of this kind, the annual incomes of the majority of families reach a fairly high level. More than one-half (56.1 per cent) of the families interviewed reported an income (exclusive of home work) of $750 or more a year ; and in the case of 15.7 per cent of the whole number this income reached $1,250 a year, or even higher. On the other hand, 43.9 per cent had an annual income outside of home work of less than $750, and in several cases the supple- mentary earnings from home work were also so low that it is difficult to imagine how any family or individual could manage to exist on so small an amount. There were 36 families entirely dependent upon home work for support. It is noticeable that the amount of home-work earnings shows no constant relation to the size of the family's outside income; evidently we can not assume that the poor family gives more time and effort to home work than the comfortably situated family. The really significant feature of the table is the surprisingly high level of total in- comes which it reveals. In the following table the data in regard to the sources of outside in- comes are brought together for the 1,131 families which supplied this in- formation. TABLE 22. Sources of Income Exclusive of Home Work for Families in All Industries. SOURCES OF INCOME. Total Num- ber of Fam- ilies NUMBER WITH INCOME EXCLUSIVE or HOME WORK OF Num- ber De- pend- ent on Home Work only Less than 150 $50 and less than $250 $250 and less than $500 $500 and less than $750 $750 and less than $1,000 $1,000 and less than $1,250 $1,250 and Over In- come not Stated All Sources. Agriculture, .... Boarders and lodgers, Building trades, . . Domestic and personal service, Laborers, unskilled, Manufacturing same industry, Manufacturing other industries, 1,450 8 63 95 80 79 157 304 67 16 22 248 275 36 1 1 41 9 2 4 1 2 15 6 2 155 12 4 12 46 10 35 6 4 4 12 10 299 1 6 19 23 19 25 89 3 1 1 68 44 295 13 27 12 5 44 76 1 1 65 51 16S 1 1 17 9 1 20 36 3 1 32 42 177 12 16 6 3 34 26 4 3 5 28 40 283 6 9 12 16 23 40 39 4 4 41 88 36 36 Professional service, Rent or income from property owned, .... Trade and transportation, Source not reported, Dependent on home work only, 1 Includes pensions, relief from city, town, societies, etc., and alimony. 48 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS The main source of outside income in the families of home workers was the factory. Not only the father of the family, but the children who have reached the age of 14 seem to turn to factory employment as an occupa- tion which requires little training and will yield a regular weekly wage from the beginning. 11. HOURLY EARNINGS. 1 The percentage of home workers earning less than specified hourly amounts in each of the home work industries is shown in the table which follows. TABLE 23. Percentage of Home Workers Earning INDUSTRIES. Total Num- ber of Home Workers Num- ber who re- ported Hourly Earn- ings PERCENTAGES OF HOME Less than 4 cents Less than 5 cents Less than 6 cents Less than 7 cents Less than 8 cents I All Industries. 2,409 1,067 11.6 22.5 34.7 46.4 50.0 2 Wearing Apparel. 796 4*4 6.0 19.6 36.6 49.5 65.8 3 Clothing, men's coats and pants, . 129 103 1.9 8.7 31.1 52.4 58.3 4 Clothing, men's shirts and pajamas, . 44 18 . - - 5.6 16.7 16.7 5 Clothing, women's machine-made, 26 10 - 20.0 40.0 40.0 40.0 6 Clothing, women's hand-work, 76 24 12.5 16.7 41.7 41.7 50.0 7 Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods,. 51 20 - 20.0 35.0 40.0 60.0 8 Hosiery and machine-knit goods, . 160 79 12.7 35.4 57.0 68.4 72.2 9 Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, 79 47 4.3 10.6 25.5 34.0 38.3 10 Shoes and shoe trimmings, .... 207 118 7.6 27.1 38.1 51.7 60.2 11 Other wearing apparel, 24 15 - 6.7 20.0 33.3 33.3 12 Celluloid Goods. 96 61 - - 2.0 3.9 6.9 13 Jewelry and Silverware. 73 160 4.4 9.4 19.4 22.5 15.6 14 Paper Goods. 918 22 36. 49.5 59.0 78.8 79.3 15 Sporting Goods. 173 ISO 6.2 17.7 SO.O 39. 2 41.6 16 Other Industries. 159 70 4.3 10.0 12.9 22.9 25.7 Hourly earnings for all industries were not concentrated around any given rate. In general, however, the high percentages were found in the lower part of the wage scale; 50.0 per cent of the whole number earned less than eight cents an hour. The percentages receiving less than eight 1 The hourly earnings were computed from piece-rates and the rate of work for individual workers. The rate of work was calculated from the length of time required to do a given piece of work; that is, it takes the worker 20 minutes to crochet a given medallion, her rate of work b three medallions an hour; if she is paid eight cents for a medallion, her hourly earnings are then estimated as 24 cents. ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 49 cents an hour in the five principal industries were as follows: Paper Goods, 79.3 per cent; Wearing Apparel, 55.8 per cent; Sporting Goods, 41.5 per cent; Jewelry and Silverware, 25.6 per cent; and Celluloid Goods, 5.9 per cent. The extremely unskilled and simple processes on Paper Goods bring the low rate of pay indicated in the table. Work on jewelry, on the other hand, is shown as a comparatively well-paid occupation on account, of the large number of chainmakers, performing a difficult and well-paid process, who were included in the study. The rate on Celluloid Goods is kept high Less than Specified Amounts an Hour: By Industries. WORKERS EARNING AN HOUR Leas than 9 cents Less than 10 cents Less than 11 cents Less than 12 cents Less than 13 cents Less than 14 cents Less than 15 cents Less than 16 cents Less than 17 cents Less than 18 cents Less than 19 cents Less than 20 cents 61.3 65.5 76.3 77.7 82.0 84.8 86.7 91.8 92.9 93.8 94.9 95.5 1 65.0 71.4 77.6 79.3 83 .4 85.0 87.1 90.8 92.4 92.9 94.6 95.4 2 71.8 88.3 90.3 91.3 95.1 96.1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 3 16.7 16.7 50.0 50.0 55.6 55.6 61.1 77.8 77.8 77.8 77.8 77.8 4 60.0 60.0 70.0 70.0 90.0 90.0 ' 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 100.0 100.0 5 54.2 54.2 70.8 70.8 75.0 79.2 87.5 95.8 95.8 95.8 100.0 100.0 6 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 7 75.9 77.2 81.0 81.0 82.3 86.1 87.3 87.3 93.7 94.9 97.5 97.5 8 51.1 55.3 74.5 78.7 80.9 83.0 85.1 89.4 91.5 91.5 93.6 93.6 9 65.3 72.0 72.9 75.4 80.5 80.5 80.5 86.4 87.3 88.1 89.8 93.2 10 46.7 46.7 53.3 60.0 60.0 66.7 66.7 80.0 80.0 80.0 80.0 80.0 11 11.8 IS. 7 47.1 47.1 66.7 70.6 74.5 84. S 84. S 84. S 84. S 84. S 12 SS.l 38.8 65.0 58.8 63.8 67.6 70.6 85.0 86. S 90.6 92.6 93.8 13 86.5 88. S 91.0 91.0 93.7 95.9 95.9 97.7 97.7 98.2 99.1 99.1 14 68.5 69.2 918. S 93.1 93.1 96.9 96.9 99.2 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 15 45.7 48.6 61.4 62.9 68.6 76.7 81.4 87.1 88.6 88.6 88.6 88.6 16 on account of the recent development of the industry, and the fact that the work is done principally by factory employees, working at home after factory hours, who demand a rate of pay which approaches the factory rate. The large number of foreign-born home workers makes desirable an analysis of wage data by nativity. The following table shows the per- centage of home workers earning less than the specified hourly amounts classified by nativity. 50 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS TABLE 24. Percentage of Home Workers Earning XT._rt PERCENTAGES OF HOME Total INum- ber who NATIVITY or HOME WOUKEKS. Num- ber of Home re- ported Hourly Less than Less than Less than Less than Less than Workers Earn- ings 4 cents 5 cents 6 cents 7 cents 8 cents 1 Totals. 2,409 1,067 11.6 22.5 S4.7 46.4 50.0 2 Native-born. 1J1S 694 11. 3 S3. 9 S4.8 44. S 47 .8 3 Native-born of native father 605 363 8.8 18.7 30.0 39.7 44.1 4 Native-born of foreign father 411 214 13.1 30.4 40.7 50.0 52.3 5 Native-born, place of birth of father unknown, 97 17 41.2 52.9 64.7 70.6 70.6 6 Foreign-born. 783 443 11.4 20. S S3 .6 47.7 61.7 7 Armenia, 32 19 15.8 31.6 52.6 73.7 89.5 8 Canada (French) 112 68 8.9 14.7 22.1 29.4 33.8 9 Canada (Other) 100 50 8.0 14.0 22.0 42.0 44.0 10 England 45 27 14.8 22.2 40.7 44.4 48.1 11 Germany, 17 11 - 18.2 18.2 27.3 27.3 12 Ireland 164 85 24.7 31.8 41.2 55.3 61.2 13 Italy 212 127 5.5 13.4 33.9 53.5 57.5 14 Sweden 18 11 9.1 27.3 36.4 45.5 45.5 15 Other foreign countries, 83 51 9.8 25.5 39.2 47.1 47.1 16 Nativity Not Reported. 513 24 6.0 29.2 60.0 76.0 75.0 It appears that 50 per cent of all the home workers earned less than eight cents an hour. The hourly earnings of the native-born workers were slightly higher than those of the foreign-horn, since more than one- half (51.7 per cent) of the foreign-born earned less than eight cents an hour, while a smaller proportion (47.8 per cent) of the native-born earned less than eight cents. Among the foreign-born the Germans earned the highest hourly amounts and the Italians, Irish, and Armenians the lowest. 12. WOMEN HOME WORKERS AND DEPENDENTS. Table 25, opposite, shows the number of women home workers 16 years of age and over who worked as individuals and who contributed toward the support of the family, and the number of dependents * in the family, classified by the annual earnings from home work as obtained from pay-rolls. 1 The term "dependent" as used here means any person living with the family who did not contribute toward the support of the family. ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS Less than Specified Amounts an Hour: By Nativity. 51 WORKERS EARNING AN HOUR Less than 9 cents Less than 10 cents Less than 11 cents Less than 12 cents Less than 13 cents Less than 14 cents Less than 15 cents Less than 16 cents Less than 17 cents Less than 18 cents Less than 19 cents Less than 20 cents 61.3 65.5 76.3 77.7 82.0 84.8 86.7 91.8 92.9 93.8 94.9 95.5 1 58.1 60.8 71.5 72.7 78.5 81.5 83.5 90.6 91.6 92.9 94.6 95.5 2 55.9 58.7 70.2 71.3 76.6 80.7 82.6 89.3 90.4 91.7 94.2 95.0 3 60.3 63.1 72.9 74.3 80.8 81.8 84.1 92.1 93.0 94.4 94.9 95.8 4 76.5 76.5 82.4 82.4 88.2 94.1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 5 64.6 71.0 82.4 84.0 86.4 88.9 90.6 93.5 94.7 95.1 95.1 95. S 6 89.5 94.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 7 50.0 51.5 72.1 75.0 79.4 82.4 82.4 91.2 91.2 92.6 92.6 92.6 8 52.0 56.0 72.0 72.0 76.0 82.0 82.0 84.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 9 51.9 51.9 63.0 66.7 70.4 77.8 81.5 81.5 81.5 85.2 85.2 88.9 10 36.4 45.5 45.5 54.5 54.5 54.5 63.6 63.6 72.7 72.7 72.7 72.7 11 76.5 80.0 92.9 92.9 94.1 95.3 96.5 98.8 98.8 98.8 98.8 98.8 12 70.1 83.5 89.0 89.8 92.9 93.7 96.9 98.4 98.4 98.4 98.4 98.4 13 54.5 63.6 72.7 81.8 81.8 90.9 90.9 90.9 90.9 90.9 90.9 90.9 14 68.6 74.5 86.3 88.2 88.2 90.2 92.2 96.1 98.0 98.0 98.0 98.0 15 79. 79 .2 79.2 8S.S 87.5 91.7 91.7 91.7 91.7 91.7 100.0 100.0 16 TABLE 25. Women Home Workers 16 Years of Age and Over and Dependents. Total Number nf NUMBKR HAVING Number ANNUAL EARNINGS FROM HOME WORK. OI Women Home Workers 16 and Over No Depend- ents One Depend- ent Two Depend- ents Three Depend- ents Four Depend- ents Five Depend- ents Six Depend- ents or more not re- porting Number of De- pendents Totals. 968 362 231 173 102 47 22 23 8 Less than $25, 203 73 45 42 17 8 10 5 3 $25 and less than $50, 143 59 33 12 20 10 3 5 1 $50 and less than $100, 196 84 42 31 20 11 3 5 $100 and less than $150, 81 29 25 13 9 1 1 2 i $150 and less than $200, 37 14 11 7 4 1 _ $200 and less than $250, 12 7 2 3 _ _ _ $250 and less than $300, 7 5 1 __ 1 $300 and leas than $350, 7 3 3 1 _ _ _ $350 and less than $400, 2 1 1 _ _ _ _ _ _ Earnings not reported, 280 87 69 64 31 16 4 6 3 Three hundred and sixty-two, or 37.7 per cent of the individual women home workers, had no persons dependent upon them, a proportion which 52 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS is fairly uniform throughout the various wage groups and 231, or 24.1 per cent, had one dependent only. From this point the numbers steadily decreased to 23 who had six or more persons dependent upon them. The 23 persons with six or more dependents and the 22 persons with five de- pendents, with one exception, all fall within the four lowest wage groups. Many of these cases are those of mothers with large families of young children who can not find enough free time for home work to bring in large earnings. Evidently it is the woman with a small family and fewer domestic responsibilities who is able to secure an income from home work. 13. CHARGES ON EARNINGS. The low rate of pay for home work is reduced still further, in some cases, by the necessity of paying charges for equipment, materials, and transportation to and from the shop or factory. The following table shows the number of families of home workers in the various industries who paid charges for equipment, material, transportation, other miscellaneous charges, and the number paying no charges. TABLE 26. Families of Home Workers Paying Charges: By Industries. NUMBER FATING CHARGES Total XT.*_r. FOR Num- L __ Num- i __ Num- ber INDUSTRIES. IN um- ber of Fam- ilies Equip- ment Ma- terial Trans- por- tation Other ber paying two Charges ber paying no Charges not re- porting as to Charges All Industries. 1,450 506 12 318 19 U25 715 9 Wearing Apparel. 646 269 6 205 19 7ff 220 6 Clothing, men's coats and pants, . 109 85 _ 1 _ _ 22 1 Clothing, men's shirts and pajamas, . 36 15 _ 15 _ 4 9 Clothing, women's machine-made, Clothing, women's hand-work. Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven 17 74 1 29 2 1 9 61 18 3 42 8 9 - goods, 21 2 _ 2 _ 17 _ Hosiery and machine-knit goods. Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, . Shoes and shoe trimmings, 136 63 166 62 75 1 2 8 53 46 1 2 1 24 67 10 66 1 1 Other wearing apparel, .... Celluloid Goods. 23 68 IS - 10 S : : 12 43 1 Jewelry and Silverware. 197 158 1 12 _ 7 33 _ Paper Goods. 96 4 1 as _ 1 269. _ Sporting Goods. 137 60 39 _ 38 76 _ Other Industries. 117 & 4 37 3 74 4 i Includes four paying three charges. * Includes three paying three charges. * Includes two paying three charges. Includes one paying three charges. More than one-half of the workers paid charges of one kind or another. The charges are most general among the jewelry workers, more than four- fifths of whom incurred some expense in carrying on their work, usually an expenditure of about 35 cents for pliers. In each of the other important industries, with the exception of Men's Coats and Pants, Hosiery and ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 53 Machine-knit Goods, and Shoes and Shoe Trimmings, less than one- half of the workers paid charges ; in Paper Goods, where the materials are generally inexpensive and tools are seldom necessary, the workers very rarely pay charges of any kind. In general, the expenses incurred by the workers in connection with their work may be said to be of very little importance. 14. CHANGE OF EMPLOYMENT. The following table shows the number of home workers employed at home work by more than one manufacturer, in the same or in other industries, for the specified periods during the year preceding the date the home worker was interviewed. TABLE 27. Change of Employment: By Industries. NUMBER EMPLOYED BY OTHER Num- Total MANUFACTURERS ber not INDXJSTKIES. Num- ber of Home Workers em- ployed by other Manu- Less than One Month and less Three Months and less Six Months and less Nine Months MlJ Num- ber of Months one Month than Three than Six than Nine and Over not re- ported fac- turers All Industries. 2,409 25 39 56 12 20 71 2,186 Wearing Apparel. 796 14 15 17 4 6 41 699 Clothing, men's coats and pants, . 129 I _ _ 5 123 Clothing, men's shirts and pajamas, 44 _ 1 1 _ 1 2 39 Clothing, women's machine-made, 26 _ 2 1 _ 1 22 Clothing, women's hand- work, 76 2 1 _ 1 6 66 Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods, 51 4 3 7 2 _ _ 35 Hosiery and machine-knit goods, 160 5 _ 6 149 Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, 79 2 5 2 2 3 9 56 Shoes and shoe trimmings. 207 _ 2 5 _ 1 10 189 Other wearing apparel, 24 - 2 _ 2 20 Celluloid Goods. 96 3 7 14 _ 6 66 Jewelry and Silverware. 27S 6 10 M 4 6 9 217 Paper Goods. 912 1 6 2 904 Sporting Goods. 17 S 1 4 2 S 2 6 167 Other Industries. 169 1 S 1 2 1 8 143 Workers seldom change to another industry, but they occasionally change work under one employer for work of the same general kind under another, the proportion varying greatly in the different industries. The percentage of the whole number of workers reporting such changes is, how- ever, very small less than 10 per cent. Two hundred and twenty-three workers reported some change of employment, and 152 gave the number of months which they had spent in the employ of other manufacturers. Sixty-four of these made a change which lasted less than three months. Smaller numbers had other employment for a greater length of time. Such changes may or may not mean an interval of non-employment, but in any case they show the instability of the ordinary home worker's occupation. The following tables show the number of male and female home work- ers 16 years of age and over in each of the home-work industries who had 54 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS had gainful occupations other than home work and the number who had had no other gainful occupations. TABLE 28. FEMALE Home Workers 16 Years of Age and Over having Other Gainful Occupation: By Industries. Total Num- L __ ~f NUMBEB EMPLCH 'ED IN Num- ber not INDUSTBIES. oer oi Female Home Work- ers 16 and Over Factory in the In- dustry Other Man- ufac- turing Agri- culture Trade and Trans- porta- tion Do- mestic and Per- sonal Service Profes- sional Service No other gainful Occu- pation re- porting as to other gainful Occu- pation All Industries. 1,653 90 70 7 35 71 13 1,364 3 Wearing Apparel. 708 27 23 6 11 28 9 601 S Clothing, men's coats and pants, 119 15 8 96 Clothing, men's shirts and pa- jamas, 40 1 2 -. _ 2 pp 33 2 Clothing, women's machine- made, 23 1 2 _ _ _ 1 18 1 Clothing, women's hand-work, 76 1 _ 2 5 1 67 Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods 23 1 _ _ 1 1 _ 20 _ Hosiery and machine-knit goods, 156 2 4 3 4 4 2 137 _ Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, 75 m 5 _ 1 8 1 60 _ Shoes and shoe trimmings, . 173 6 2 _ 2 7 3 153 _ Other wearing apparel, Celluloid Goods. 23 66 IS 8 3 1 f 1 4 1 17 47 - Jewelry and Silverware. SOS 16 2 _ 4 4 5 179 _ Paper Goods. S8S 6 S5 _ 11 21 290 _ Sporting Goods. 155 6 1 2 10 _ 136 _ Other Industries. 1SS 8 2 6 6 1 111 TABLE 29. MALE Home Workers 16 Years of Age and Over having Other Gainful Occupation: By Industries. Total Num- u rt - ~.t NUMBER EMPLOYED IN Num- ber not INDUSTBIES. ber oi Male Home Work- ers 16 and Over Factory in the In- dustry Other Man- ufac- turing Trade and Trans- porta- tion Do- mestic and Per- sonal Service Un- skilled Labor Build- T&. No other gainful Occu- pation re- porting as to other gainful Occu- pation All Industries. 154 22 47 18 1 7 4 64 1 Wearing Apparel. Clothing, men's coats and pants, 28 1 : fl 2 * 1 1 21 - Clothing, men's shirts and pa- jamas 2 _ 2 m Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods, .... 2 _ - 1 - - 1 - - Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, 1 M m _ _ m . 1 Shoes and shoe trimmings, . 21 - - 1 _ -. _ 20 - Other wearing apparel. 1 - - - - 1 - - - Celluloid Goods. 1 _ 1 M .. M _ . _ Jewelry and Silverware. 9 6 1 _ _ _ _ S - Paper Goods. 98 16 S9 12 1 5 2 2S Sporting Goods. 12 1 2 4 - 1 4 - Other Industries. 6 ~ 2 ~ ~ " S 1 Information as to the number of workers 16 years of age and over who had gainful employment aside from home work was available for 153 men and 1,650 women, as shown in the foregoing table. Fifty-four men, or 35.3 per cent of the male home workers, and 1,364 women, or 82.7 ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 55 per cent of the female workers, had no other gainful employment. As has been previously mentioned, home work is seldom a man's principal occu- pation. The male workers who are included in this study are, in most cases, with the exception of the hand turn shoe workers, merely helpers, for example, factory hands who spend two or three hours each evening in the family task of stringing tags. Consequently, only a small proportion of the men appear in this table under the heading " No Other Gainful Occupation." It is the housewives with irregular hours of work and oc- casional periods of leisure during the day who are most likely to become home workers and who make up almost wholly the 82.7 per cent of women who have no other gainful occupation. 15. RENT. The table following shows the number of families receiving specified annual incomes, including earnings from home work, living in houses owned or rented, and the number paying annual rents of specified amounts. TABLE 30. Families of Home Workers Living in Own or Rented Houses, with Relation of Rent to Income. NUMBER LIVING IN NUMBER PAYING ANNUAL RENT OF Total ANNUAL INCOME IN- Num- $100 $150 $200 $250 CLUDING HOME WORK. ber of Fam- ilies Own House Rented House Less than $100 and less than and less than and less than and less than $300 and Over Amount not re- ported Rent Free $150 $200 $250 $300 Totals. 1,450 266 1,184 92 267 212 105 28 19 441 20 Less than $400, . 98 23 75 11 19 11 _ _ 31 I $400 and less than $500, 46 8 38 8 16 7 3 _ _ 3 1 $500 and less than $600, 61 10 51 10 24 11 2 _ _ 4 $600 and less than $700, 72 10 62 14 36 3 5 1 _ 3 _ $700 and less than $800, 111 17 94 17 39 23 10 2 3 _ $800 and less than $900, 102 26 76 5 28 25 9 5 3 1 $900 and less than $1,000, 89 19 70 5 23 24 9 3 2 2 2 $1,000 and less than $1,250, 143 36 107 5 26 41 16 6 2 11 $1,250 and over. Income not reported, 182 546 62 55 120 491 3 14 24 32 39 28 29 22 9 4 7 6 5 376 4 9 Although, in general, the families of home workers appeared to have a fairly secure economic status, occasionally facts came to light in the course of the inquiry which indicated that a part of the group under con- sideration had a low standard of life. About one-half (49.7 per cent) of the families giving information as to the amount paid for rent, paid less than $150 annually, or about $12 a month, surely not an amount in- dicating a high scale of expenditure. On the other hand, a few families, 47, or 6.5 per cent, paid $250 or more for rent. The striking fact, espe- cially when taken in connection with the facts just given, is that nearly one-fourth (266, or 18.3 per cent) of the families owned their own houses. 56 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS 16. LIVING CONDITIONS. The following table shows for families of home workers in each in- dustry the average number of persons per room and the number of home workers living in families in which there was an average of less than one person per room, one but less than two persons per room, two but less than three persons per room, three but less than four persons per room and four persons and over per room. TABLE 31. Living Conditions of Home Workers: By Industries. Total XTi* Average V , , , NUMBER OP PERSONS PER ROOM INDUSTRIES. JN um- ber of Home Work- ers IN um- ber of Per- sons per Room Less than One One but less than Two Two but less than Three Three but les- than Four Four and Over Not Re- ported All Industries. 2,409 0.9 1,012 1,121 194 20 1 61 Wearing Apparel. 796 0.9 399 273 93 14 / 16 Clothing, men's coats and pants, . 129 1.9 3 45 69 9 3 Clothing, men's shirts and pajamas, 44 0.7 34 10 _ Clothing, women's machine-made, 26 0.8 11 9 5 _ _ 1 Clothing, women's hand-work. 76 0.7 46 26 3 _ _ Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven goods, . . . . 51 1 2 16 35 _ _ _ _ Hosiery and machine-knit goods, Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, 160 79 0.8 7 101 51 52 22 6 5 - - 1 Shoes and shoe trimmings, 207 0.7 123 64 5 5 1 9 Other wearing apparel, 24 7 14 10 _ _ .. _ Celluloid Goods. 96 l'.4 37 49 9 _ _ 1 Jewelry and Silverware. 73 09 148 103 18 _ _ 10 Paper Goods. 912 1.0 49 670 70 6 _ 18 Sporting Goods. 173 0.8 104 66 5 _ _ _ Other Industries. 169 0.8 76 60 7 1 - 16 Notwithstanding the good living conditions which prevailed in nearly all of the homes which were visited, a number of instances of overcrowd- ing were discovered; 215 persons were living in families with two or more persons to a room, and 21 were living in families with three or more per- sons to a room. All but two of the more serious cases of overcrowding were found among the workers employed on Wearing Apparel, viz., among the Italians at work on men's clothing in the North End of Boston. The situation in the North End is receiving an increasing amount of attention from the Boston Health Department, which is making a persistent at- tempt to do away with crowded sleeping arrangements in the tenements. Two instances of three persons to a room were discovered in the course of visits to Russians at work on paper articles. With such living arrange- ments as these, it is almost inevitable that the workers should have no separate work-place, but should use any room in which space for their tools and materials can be found. The home workers engaged in work on Men's Coats and Pants, Celluloid Goods, and Garters, Suspenders, etc., show the most crowded housing conditions. The following table shows the living conditions by nativity. ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONS 57 TABLE 32. Living Conditions of Home Workers: By Nativity. NATIVITY OF HOME WORKERS. Total Number of Home Workers NUMBER or PERSONS PER ROOM Less than One One but less than Two Two but less than Three Three but less than Four Four and Over Number not Reported Totals. Native-born. Foreign-born. Armenia, . Austria, Austria (Poland), Canada (French), 2,409 1,113 783 32 3 6 112 100 45 9 17 164 212 3 11 19 3 12 18 11 6 513 1,012 697 280 10 1 2 42 58 33 3 7 68 15 3 6 4 1 5 11 5 6 135 1,121 424 384 21 2 4 65 39 9 6 10 87 106 5 12 1 5 7 5 313 194 53 101 1 4 1 3 6 81 1 1 2 1 40 20 6 11 9 2 S 1 1 61 32 7 1 2 3 1 gg Canada (Other), England, . France, Germany, . Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, . Russia, Russia (Poland), Scotland, . Sweden, Syria, . . . Other foreign countries, Nativity Not Reported. The native-born lived in less crowded conditions than the foreign-born, more than one-half 55.2 per cent of the native-born lived in houses or apartments where there was more than one room to a person, while only 36.1 per cent of the foreign-born had as much as one room to a person. The Italians showed especially crowded quarters, with 42.7 per cent living with two or more persons to a room. There are usually not many spare rooms in the houses of the home workers and the work is necessarily done in the rooms occupied by the family. The following table shows the kind of room used for a workroom by each of the 1,377 families of home workers for whom information was secured. TABLE 33. Character of Room used for Home Work: By Industries. Total NUMBER OP FAMILIES USING AS WORKROOM Num- INDUSTRIES. ber of Fam- ilies Bed- room Dining Room Kitchen Living Room Vari- ous Rooms Work- room Not re- ported All Industries. 1,450 50 157 691 213 234 32 73 Wearing Apparel. 645 32 76 260 140 89 26 22 Clothing, men's coats and pants, 109 1 _ 104 1 1 _ 2 Clothing, men's shirts and pajamas. 36 2 6 16 7 4 _ 1 Clothing, women's machine-made. 17 2 1 2 5 1 3 3 Clothing, women's hand-work, 74 10 16 14 20 9 4 Garters, suspenders, and elastic woven poods, Hosiery and machine-knit goods, Neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons 21 136 63 7 6 26 10 10 30 12 1 46 18 9 11 15 6 2 1 10 Shoes and shoe trimmings, Other wearing apparel, 166 23 3 1 17 57 15 40 2 35 4 13 1 1 Celluloid Goods. 68 1 16 _ 40 .. 1 Jewelry and Silverioare. 197 1 25 98 IS 68 1 1 Paper Goods. 96 S 35 180 SI 86 S SO Sporting Goods. 137 8 IS 70 6 15 S s Other Industries. 117 e 7 67 IS 7 17 58 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS Only 32 families used a regular workroom, 13 of whom were shoe- makers working in small shops. In the majority of cases 691, or 50.2 per cent the kitchen was used as a workroom. The kitchen is naturally the most convenient work place for the large number of workers who are married women; in their case home work alternates with housework at almost every hour of the day and they need to have their work close at hand where it can be picked up or dropped at any minute. Apparently for the same reason, the next largest number of persons or groups, 234, or 17.0 per cent, used any room which happened to be convenient at the time, or in " various rooms," as they are termed in the table. Two hundred and thirteen persons or groups, or 15.5 per cent, used living rooms for their work places. One hundred and fifty-seven persons or groups, or 11.4 per cent, used dining rooms for their work places, and 50 persons or groups, or 3.6 per cent, used bedrooms for their only workrooms. Thirty- two of these bedrooms were used for the manufacture of wearing apparel ; 10 for hand-work on women's clothing; six for neckwear or dress trim- mings; seven for hosiery and machine-knit goods; and nine for other articles of wearing apparel. The number of bedrooms recorded by our agents may be smaller than the actual number used in the households which were studied, as the workers, mindful of the law, usually made an attempt to conceal the fact that their work was done in sleeping-rooms. CHAPTER III DETAILED EEPOETS BY INDUSTRIES 1. WEARING APPAREL BY MARGARET S. DISMORR A. Introductory. The scope of home work, once a complete industrial system in itself, has been continuously narrowed and restricted in the manufacture of wearing apparel. Since the introduction of power machinery, specializa- tion has invaded the field of the home worker, and her work is confined more and more to the mere finishing and manipulating of machine products which were once entirely the product of the home. Instead of the home- stitched shirt of Thomas Hood's day, we now know only the factory prod- uct; but the home worker still turns the collar and cuffs and occasionally makes the buttonholes. Instead of home-knit sweaters and hose and under- wear, we have machine-knit garments from the factory, but many of these garments are still home-finished. The factory shoe has all but superseded the home product, but the bow on the shoe and the beading on the slipper are still made at home almost without exception in Massachusetts. The mechanical inventions which threatened to take production out of the home have, by their very deficiencies, created many new kinds of home work ; but the home worker is not solely an improver of machine products. Any process requiring little skill or supervision and a minimum of mechan- ical power, which does not involve the use of valuable or bulky materials, may usually be found in the home. Some of the processes which possess all of these characteristics, and therefore commend themselves perfectly to home work, are: Reeling straw braid, making shoe bows, and knotting fringe for dress trimmings. Manufacturers of wearing apparel secure workers in three ways: By advertisement, through personal acquaintance and the application of the women themselves for the work, and through agents. 60 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS Newspaper advertisements such as the following may be found in the Sunday editions of the Boston newspapers : WOMEN to make bungalow aprons at home; must be neat and good stitchers. Room Street. HAND SEWERS, experienced on neckwear and waists. Mrs , Street. EMBROIDERERS AND CROCHETEKS, experi- enced on muslin underwear ; bring samples of work; work given out daily Co., Street. WANTED. Experienced dress trimming ornament makers; work can be taken home. Apply to Co., Street. Such advertisements attract numbers of applicants, but many are un- tried workers and this entails loss of time and materials until the more desultory and the less efficient have been weeded out. Occasionally an attempt is made to discourage those workers who are suspected of coming from dirty homes or of trying to live upon their home work earnings. This is easily effected by ordering them to apply to the State Board of Labor and Industries for a license, reducing the rate of pay, giving them a less profitable kind of work, or simply refusing to employ them. The method of securing home workers used by factories in small towns and country districts is a very simple one. The work is at first given only to the manufacturer's family and then to other persons connected with the factory. If it proves satisfactory they are allowed to show their friends how to do it and the circle of home workers widens. Soon it becomes a matter of common knowledge among the neighbors that the knitting mill or the shirt shop is giving out work, and the applications for it are numer- ous. Simultaneously, the rates of payment go down. Home work once started in a small community may, in the course of a generation or two, become an established custom so that country factories are able to cling to it when those in larger centers have long since adopted more modern methods. Securing home workers through agents or contractors is a de- velopment of the preceding method. The prominence of the home worker in almost every industry con- nected with the manufacture of wearing apparel appears to be due in part to its seasonal character. The manner in which the workers adjust them- selves to industrial seasons is particularly noticeable in their relations to such variable industries as the manufacture of straw hats, hand-knit goods, REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 61 women's neckwear, and men's coats and pants. Pay-rolls of factories in these industries show relatively greater fluctuation in the total amount paid to home workers month by month than in the amount paid to factory workers, and similarly the number of outworkers varies through the year more than the number in the factory. Many manufacturers give up home work entirely during the dull season, which may last from a few weeks to six months, a fact often mentioned by them in support of the statement that home workers never try to live on their earnings. Home work, then, is largely confined to the simpler processes and is most general in the seasonal industries ; but it is not confined to any particu- lar grade or kind of article. It is hardly possible to walk down the aisles of any department store without seeing ample evidence of the home work- er's activity. The embroidered baby-clothes sold at a first-class store are as likely to have come from the hands of a home worker as the cheapest neckwear on the bargain counter, and the consumer can not avoid home- work products by paying reasonably high or even extravagant prices. On the whole, however, there is less home work in connection with custom- made than with ready-made clothing, and with men's than with women's and children's garments. The relation of home work to factory work varies widely in the differ- ent establishments studied. Many manufacturers have all their work done in homes and have no factory or only such rooms as are necessary for pre- paring and inspecting the work done outside ; they often use home, office, or store for this purpose. Others have home work upon a small proportion of their product only, most of it being factory-made ; some send out all of their product to home workers for some minor process, as in the case of shirt manufacturers; others again have home work and factory work in connection with the same process. This last combination sometimes indi- cates a transitional stage between home and factory where the machine process is gradually superseding hand work, but more usually it is due to lack of space for a full number of inside workers at the busy season or to the use of inside workers as sample makers whose product is copied by home workers. Home workers constituted over four-tenths of the total number of per- sons employed by 57 wearing apparel factories reporting on this point, but received only one-tenth of the total amount paid in wages. This shows beyond question the incidental character of home-work earnings. Home workers do not earn and usually do not attempt to earn a living wage. Most of the home work on wearing apparel is distributed directly to the workers. Usually they or their children call at the office, store, or 62 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS factory from which the work is given out, but in some cases, where ma- terials are exceptionally bulky, the factory sends a team to deliver and collect work at regular intervals. Indirect distribution, through contrac- tors, middlemen, or agents, is the usual method when the home workers live in country districts or at a distance from the factory, when they are immigrants and can not be communicated with except through one of their own race, or when the work-materials are of some value and personal over- sight is necessary to prevent loss or theft on the part of the workers. The following groups of wearing apparel industries are treated in this report : PAGES Men's Clothing Coats and Pants, 62-64 Men's Clothing Shirts and Pajamas, 65-66 Women's and Children's Clothing Machine-made, 66 Women's and Children's Clothing Hand-work, 67-68 Neckwear, Dress Trimmings, and Buttons, 68-71 Shoes and Shoe Trimmings, 71-74 Hosiery and Machine-knit Goods, 74-76 Suspenders, Garters, and Elastic Woven Goods, 76-78 Other Wearing Apparel Gloves, Straw Hats, and Hand-knit Goods, . . 78-82 There appears to be but little home work on corsets and ostrich feathers found in Massachusetts. Four corset makers were interviewed, two of whom had never employed home workers^ one used to employ them at stitching but has now given up the system, and one reported home work of a very occasional nature, the boning of a cheap grade of corset. The regular home work on corsets seems to be confined to making garters, which is not done directly for corset makers but for the garter manufac- turers who supply them. The two ostrich feather shops reported no regular home work, but occasionally knotting willow plumes was done at home by their inside workers. B. Men's Clothing Coats and Pants. (1) THE INDUSTRY. The men's clothing industry of Massachusetts centers in Boston, where 169 of the 174 establishments visited are situated. 1 The remaining five are in Springfield and North Brookfield. The large manufacturers of Boston are mostly on Washington Street and in the wholesale district, while their contract tailors are to be found The Bureau of Statistics in its Report on the Statistics of Manufactures for 1912 presented returns for 158 manufacturers of men's clothing in Boston. The difference between this figure and that given above is due in large part to the inclusion in the present study of a greater number of small custom establishments. REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 63 in the tenement district of the North End surrounded by their labor force. / Only four of the large firms do the actual tailoring of the garments on their own premises, and three of these give out home work on ready-made pants. The others subdivide the work on coats, vests, and pants among contract tailors, to whom they send the cut-out garments to be made up at a stated price a dozen. Thus, each manufacturer has usually at least one coat maker, vest maker, and pants maker, and these tailors do all the work except designing, cutting, and trimming. Practically all of the contract tailors for whom addresses were obtain- able were visited, but the constant shifting of such small establishments made them hard to trace. Many had closed their shops on account of a labor disturbance. Eighty-six were interviewed, 36 of whom gave out home work. Very few of these kept complete pay-rolls and addresses of home workers. Thirty-nine whose shops were closed could not be traced. In addition, 16 shops engaged in the manufacture of knee-pants, overalls, and other tailored garments were visited. From only two of these was home work given out. The heads of the establishments visited were mainly Russian Jews, a few were American or British, and the remainder mostly Italian. Home work was found to be general in the manufacture of ready-made pants. It was occasionally found on coats and custom pants. No home work on vests, overalls, or knee-pants was found, but two overall manu- facturers employed home workers on heavy shirts and sailor blouses. In general, there is less home work on custom than on ready-made garments. Home work on coats is confined to the making of buttonholes and is only used to supplement the work of shop employees at exceptionally busy times. The home workers are paid at the same rate as inside workers, three cents a hole being the rate of payment for holes which a quick worker is said to make at the rate of one dozen an hour. Home work on pants consists of finishing, i.e., sewing on 11 buttons, making the upturn at the bottoms, putting on buckles, sewing in stiffening and lining at the waist, and taking out basting threads. When this is done the garments are pressed at the shop and are then ready for sale. Some- times the home work includes in addition one or more of the following processes: Tacking down pockets, sewing in hanger and manufacturer's label, making five buttonholes, and putting rubber in the upturn at the bottoms. The rate of pay, which is the same for both shop and home workers, varies from 7% to 9% cents a pair; the usual rate is one dollar a dozen or eight cents a pair, the work on a single pair requiring a little over one hour in most cases. Heavy bundles of pants may be seen carried 64 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS by children of home workers to and from the tailor shops for transportation is usually attended to entirely by the employee. Children not infrequently help their parents by sewing on buttons, but the greater part of the work is done by adult women. Workers complain of painful backs and impaired digestion due to the stooping posture required, but, on the whole, the work does not seem to be especially injurious physically except that it neces- sitates the carrying of heavy bundles and that most of the women work up to within a short time before childbirth and begin work soon after. (2) THE LABOE SUPPLY. Boston tailors rarely have to advertise for home workers since they live in the midst of a congested immigrant colony. The Italian women of the North End are glad to supplement the irregular earnings of their hus- bands. News of opportunity for employment spreads quickly in a crowded tenement and even the most recent arrivals are promptly initiated into the trade. Each pants maker uses from one to 12 finishers outside his shop as well as those inside. A total of about 340 homes in the North End l licensed for work on clothing was listed by the State Board of Health, practically all of these being homes of pants finishers. Forty-one tailors reported in all about 200 home workers in their employ. Nearly all of the pay records of home workers show great irregularity of work, but statements of tailors and home workers indicate that the worker sometimes fills in the dull season of one employer by working for another. The home workers are the marginal element in the tailor's labor force the first to be laid off in the slack times of midsummer and mid- winter, the last to be taken on in the rush of Spring and Autumn. The elasticity of the home labor force is the feature which particularly com- mends it to the clothing trade. It adjusts itself to the intense seasonal fluctuations of the industry more readily than the regular working force. The contract system under which nearly all of the men's clothing in Boston is produced places a premium upon home labor ; for the contractor is successful in proportion to the amount of work he can get out of his employees at the lowest possible wage and with the smallest overhead charges. No home-work contractors were found in the men's clothing in- dustry. The contract tailors themselves act as contractors for the whole- sale dealers, not only in relation to home workers, but to all the workers on the garments except cutters and trimmers. They employ no sub-contrac- tors outside of their shops. 1 The North End corresponds roughly to Ward Six, and the part of the North End in which the greater num- ber of home workers live is bounded by Commercial, Clinton, North, and Union Streets, and Washington Street North. REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 65 C. Men's Clothing Shirts and Pajamas. (1) THE INDUSTRY. Eighteen firms were engaged in the manufacture of shirts in Massa- chusetts. Ten of these were in the Metropolitan District of Boston and in Haverhill, six in the central part of the State, and two in the western part. Sixteen manufacturers were interviewed, three personally and 13 by letter. Eight reported home work, employing altogether from 130 to 140 home workers in the busy season. Five of these firms manufacture fine ready-made shirts and pajamas and three manufacture custom shirts. The work given out is turning collars, cuffs, neckbands and facings and making buttonholes and pa jama frogs. In no case was the making of the entire garment at home reported. Turning collars, cuffs and neckbands is unskilled work. The materials are given out from the factories in bundles of a dozen or a dozen pairs just as they come from the machines, wrong side out. The home workers wet the corners, turn them right side out on a punch or cornering iron, which resembles a screw driver, clamped to the table, and press them with a hot iron and tie them up by dozens. Turning facings is still more simple work. The facings are strips of cotton or silk with which the front opening of the shirt is lined and require merely creasing by the home worker before they are stitched on at the factory. This creasing is done with the finger nail or against the edge of the table. Making pa jama frogs is easy work, requiring a certain knack which is soon acquired. Silk braid is given out to the worker on spools, and she cuts it into pieces of a certain length and curves them into shape by pulling the cord at the edge. They are then sewed together in the trefoil form and the ends trimmed. None of the above operations are performed inside the factories; but this is not the case with buttonholing, which is given to home workers only at busy times and usually from custom factories, which feel most keenly the pressure of the busy season. Most of this work is done by adult women, but children sometimes work at the turning of collars, cuffs, neck- bands, and facings especially the last, which do not require the use of a hot iron. "No children were found working on pa jama frogs. Pates of Pay. Turning shirt collars, $0 . 02| and SO . 02f a dozen. Turning shirt cuffs 01| to .05 a dozen pairs. Turning shirt neckbands, 01 to .03^ a dozen. Turning shirt facings, . OOf for three dozen. Making pajama frogs, ........ .05 a dozen. 66 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS (2) THE LABOR SUPPLY. Most of the home work on shirts was concentrated in one city. Em- ployers had no difficulty in obtaining a ready supply of workers from the numerous applications which were made. There is no regular seasonal variation in the home work on ready-made shirts and pajamas, although some of the factories shut down entirely for two weeks during the Summer. Custom shirt work is subject to periods of seasonal pressure and not much home work is given out except at such times. D. Women's and Children's Clothing Machine-made. (1) THE INDUSTRY. Ninety-seven manufacturers of women's and children's machine-made clothing were interviewed, 92 of whom were found in Boston and the remainder in Worcester, Salem, Somerville, Stoneham, and North Brook- field. Fifty-one of these manufactured ready-made waists and skirts and 19 manufactured ready-made and custom-made suits. No regular home workers were employed by these establishments, but inside employees often took work to do at home, both on ready-made and custom goods. The re- maining 27 firms manufactured machine-made muslin underwear, collars, aprons, wrappers, house dresses, and children's night-suits and rompers; nine of these manufacturers employed home workers. The work given out was confined to the making of aprons, kimonos, rompers, and night-suits, which were cut out in the factory and made up at home upon a foot-power sewing machine. In some cases buttons and buttonholes were also home work. Only one home worker on kimonos was found. Rates of Pay. Percale work aprons, $0.15 to $0.75 a dozen. Percale rompers (with buttons and buttonholes), . . . .50 to 1.50 a dozen. Flannelette night suits (with buttons), 40 a dozen. Silk and satin kimonos, 1.00 to 1.25 each. (2) THE LABOR SUPPLY. The nine firms reporting home work employed altogether about 175 home workers. These were obtained by newspaper advertisement and by the applications of the workers themselves. There is no marked dull sea- son in this work. Most of the firms employing home workers had no fac- tory, but simply a cutting room and office or retail store, or a combination of all three. Occasionally, however, inside stitchers were employed as well as home workers. In most cases work was distributed directly from the factory, office or store to the workers. REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 67 E. Women's and Children's Clothing Hand-work. (1) THE INDUSTRY. Ten manufacturers of women's and children's hand-made and hand- embroidered clothing were interviewed, seven of whom were located in Boston, one in Worcester, one in Springfield, and one in Maiden. Seven of these firms employed home workers. Altogether they reported the names of more than 1,000 workers, most of whom were in Worcester, Springfield, and Metropolitan Boston. The products of these factories are women's hand-embroidered waists and underwear and children's hand- made or hand-embroidered dresses. They are, for the most part, high- grade goods and the " factories " themselves are sometimes high-class specialty shops where no manufacturing is carried on but from which materials are distributed to home workers. The work given out is em- broidering muslin underwear, night gowns, and waists, embroidering ma- chine-made children's dresses, and making by hand the finest grade of children's ready-made dresses and other garments. Most of this work, be- ing fairly skilled, is done by adult women. No children under 14 years of age were found at work. Rates of Pay. 1. Muslin underwear with spray designs: Night gowns (front and sleeves), * $1 .00 to $1 .30 a dozen. Chemises (front), 2.00adozeD. Corset covers (front), 1.00 a dozen. Union suits (four pieces), 3. 60 a dozen. 2. Irish lace medallions for night gowns, 1.00 a dozen. 3. Children's clothing: Tucked dresses, : .85 each. Infants' wrappers, .95 each. Rompers, 35 to .75 each. Petticoats, 70 each. Bonnets, 70 each. Embroidered animals on rompers, 1.00 a dozen. Embroidered collars and cuffs of dresses, 3. 00 a dozen. (2) THE LABOR SUPPLY. This kind of work is subject to the same seasonal variations as other wearing apparel but fluctuations are not so violent. The American manu- facturer of embroidered underwear has to compete directly with the product of older countries, particularly of France, where labor is cheap and such goods are produced largely in convents and institutions. He has 1 See Plate I, figure 1, facing p. 74. 68 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS recourse to the use of home labor with its two-fold advantage of saving rent and labor cost. The latter can be reduced to an especially low figure in this kind of work, as many women look upon embroidery as a pastime and their earnings from it as pocket money. Consequently, they are will- ing to work for piece-rates so low that they often can not make more than three or four cents an hour. Home work is, moreover, particularly suited to this industry, as the non-professional worker often gives an individual and painstaking care to the work which can not be equalled by the ma- jority of factory workers. As in the case of home work on machine-made clothing, the employer usually has no factory. Sometimes he has a cutting room, a stitching room, and an office from which the machine-made gar- ments are distributed to the embroiderers. More usually he has a retail store. Large stores often employ a few inside workers on the better grade of hand-made goods, and these are frequently supplemented or even re- placed by home workers. The methods of distributing this work are various. The salaried con- tractor and the contractor who makes what profit she can from the workers are both found in this industry, but the work is usually given directly to the workers themselves unless they live at a distance, in which case the contractor acts as a distributing center for the neighborhood. F. Neckwear, Dress Trimmings, and Buttons. (1) THE INDUSTRY. The manufacture of women's neckwear is the most seasonal and tran- sitory of all industries connected with Wearing Apparel. It is also most often subject to periods of sudden pressure due to changes in fashion, for neckwear styles change so rapidly that the manufacturer who makes up such goods in advance of the demand runs a serious risk of having them left on his hands. This explains the prevalence of home work in this industry, for the home labor force is easily increased, diminished, or dis- banded in response to the shifting conditions of the trade. Reports as to home work were received from 35 manufacturers of neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons, 28 of whom employed home workers. Twenty-seven of these, located in Boston, Easthampton, New- buryport, and Springfield, were interviewed in person, and eight, located in Boston, Chicopee, Northampton, and Reading, reported by letter. Fifteen of the 35 manufacturers make women's neckwear, all 15 of whom have home work, and seven of the nine who manufacture men's ties have home work. Home work is given out by three of the seven who make dress REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 69 braid, fringe for dresses and curtains, and uniform regalia; of four who make plain and fancy buttons, three have home work. The home process on women's neckwear is hand-sewing and lace- making. The workers make silk and satin bows and balls, and ribbon flowers and leaves. They also crochet Irish lace for jabots, bows, and collars. The work is pleasant and attractive and many women who have no other hobby give their spare time to it. The rates of pay are low and those who look to it as a regular source of income have to work long hours in order to make it pay. Changes in style mean changes in rates and probably few of the piece- rates which were collected from hundreds of workers, contractors, and manufacturers in the season 1912-13 would hold good for another year; although the hourly earnings of the workers are said to remain fairly constant from year to year whatever the prevailing style of the moment. The following rates are for work distributed directly to the workers : Rates of Pay for Making Women's Neckwear. Fancy bows, hand-made, $0 . 02 to $0 . 50 a dozen. Fancy bows, machine-made, 10 to .75 a dozen. These bows retail at 19, 25 and 50 cents a piece. The time required to make them is about eight hours for a dozen at 75 cents, and from six to nine hours for a dozen at 50 cents. Ribbon flowers and apples for neckwear, . .03 to .60 a dozen. The smallest size of ribbon rose at eight cents a dozen requires about one hour to make a dozen. The ribbon has to be cut out, padded with worsted, folded round in the shape of a rose- bud, and sewed together with two ribbon leaves at the back. The larger roses at 40 cents a dozen require about two and one-half hours. A dozen forget-me-not bows at five cents a dozen require about three-quarters of an hour. A dozen rose neck-pieces (sprays of six rosebuds with 16 leaves attached to a wire frame) at 60 cents take about six hours. The apples are of silk, padded with cotton, and tinted pink on one side by the worker. The following rates are for work distributed through contractors: Fancy bows, hand-made, $0 . 25 to $0 . 70 a dozen to contractor. . 20 to . 65 a dozen to worker. Retail price, 25 to .50 each. Wholesale price, up to 4 . 50 a dozen. These bows are of silk, muslin, or hand-made Irish lace, or a combination of various materials. The home work on men's neckwear is the making of four-in-hand ties and bows. The ties are cut out, stitched, lined, sewed, and pressed with a hot iron. The bows are cut out, stitched inside out, turned, padded, and attached to a piece of pasteboard which has a clip at the back to fit the collar button. 70 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS Rates of Pay for Making Men's Neckwear. Four-in-hand ties, $0.12 to $0.40 a dozen. Wholesale prices, $2.25, $4.25 and $4.50 a dozen. Retail prices, 25 cents to 55 cents each. Bows, 3. 50 a gross. A highly skilled home worker with a power machine can make 10 dozen 40-cent ties in about seven hours and a gross of bows in 14 hours. The following are specimen rates of pay for making dress trimmings, carding buttons, etc. : Rates of Pay for Work on Dress Trimmings, etc. Braid loops and frogs, $0.20 and $0.24 a dozen. 1 . 20 a gross. Half a dozen of the 20-cent loops can be made in one hour. Dress fringe (one to three knots), 03 to .09 a yard. One yard of three-knot fringe at nine cents can be knotted in 50 minutes. Irish lace buttons, .02 a dozen. About four dozen can be made in one hour. Buttons (carded), pearl, bone, and fancy covered, . . .01 to .05 a gross. It takes about 10 minutes to card one dozen of the plain buttons at 1J cents. (2) THE LABOR SUPPLY. The 28 manufacturers reporting home work on neckwear, dress trim- mings, and buttons employed altogether about 1,250 home workers in their busy season, but when the trade is dull some of them give up all their home workers and the others reduce the force considerably. The workers are usually secured by means of newspaper advertisements. The season for making women's neckwear continues from early Autumn until about June with a slight depression in January, but it is at its height in the weeks preceding Christmas and Easter. The regular season is modified by occasional periods of extreme pressure and slackness, due to unexpected turns of fashion and the introduction of new styles. Work on dress trimmings is given to home workers only in the busy season. Men's neckwear, dress trimmings, and buttons are not especially subject to seasonal fluctuations, so far as the work of the home worker is concerned. Manufacturers of women's neckwear usually have more home workers than inside workers. The work is given out by retail stores and by jobbing and mercantile houses, which have no inside workers, or by neckwear factories, which have inside workers all the year round and employ home REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 71 workers chiefly at the busiest times. Home work on men's ties, on the other hand, is merely supplementary to factory work and is usually given to former inside employees; only one of the manufacturers interviewed had all his work done by home workers. The explanation of this lies in the fact that men's ties of the cheaper grades are always machine-made, and the home sewing machine can not long compete with the power ma- chine. Only one home was found in which a power machine had been in- stalled. Most of the work on dress trimmings and buttons is done in the factory and even the processes which can be performed at home are usually divided between home and factory. Distribution through contractors is more usual in the women's neck- wear industry than in any other kind of work on wearing apparel ; but a large proportion of the work, as well as all home work on men's ties, on dress trimmings, and on buttons, is distributed directly from the factory to the workers. Contractors have no written agreement with manufac- turers but they usually have fixed days for taking out and bringing back work, and contract to get it done within a certain time. Rates of pay are fixed by manufacturers either independently or by bargaining with con- tractors, who pay the home workers out of these rates, deducting a com- mission of from five to 25 per cent. Neckwear contractors frequently contract for home work on hand-knit goods also, and are nearly always themselves home workers as well as contractors. Most of the Armenian home workers on women's neckwear are supplied with the work through contractors of their own race. G. Shoes and Shoe Trimmings. (1) THE INDUSTRY. Six hundred and sixty-six establishments manufacturing boots and shoes and boot and shoe findings are listed by the Bureau of Statistics. Most of these are located in Boston, Brockton, Lynn, Haverhill, Salem, Marl- borough, Beverly, and Newburyport. The 31 manufacturers interviewed were located in Boston, Lynn, Haverhill, Newburyport, Worcester, Maiden, and Reading. Twenty-four of the 31 manufacturers interviewed reported home work. Ten of these manufacture shoe trimmings such as bows and beading; 12 make turn and welt shoes, chiefly women's and children's ; and two manufacture baby shoes, moccasins, and soft slippers. Seven reported no home work and five of these are manufacturers of turn and welt shoes and two manufacture boots and linings and baby shoes. The latter two formerly gave out home work but have discontinued it. Home shoemakers are employed only on those operations which can not 72 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS be more advantageously performed by power machines. The processes performed by home workers on shoes are the following: Making hand- sewed turn shoes; making babies' moccasins and sewing on buttons and pasting in linings of baby shoes; making machine-knit worsted slippers, and crocheting worsted slippers by hand; beading slipper vamps; and making shoe bows, rosettes, and other trimmings for slippers. Within the memory of persons yet living, Massachusetts shoe factories were distributing the stock and materials for making shoes to families of home workers who not only lasted the shoe and sewed sole and upper to- gether, but also did the stitching upon the upper at first by hand and later on their home sewing machines. With the introduction of power machinery the latter process has been taken into the factory stitching room, and heeling also is now a factory process. The work is no longer so profitable to the home worker, and his work is confined to a special kind of shoe. The work is either on a specially soft kid shoe, intended for the use of elderly women and invalids and retailing at two or three dollars a pair, or else on an inferior grade of shoe retailing at about one dollar a pair. In the former case hand-sewing is supposed to make a more pliable shoe ; and in the case of the cheap shoe it has the advantage of allowing for weak places in the poor grade of leather used, while a machine operator can not make this discrimination. In either case, the turn shoe is of a light, pliable make, for, as its name implies, it has to be made inside out and then turned. Only one factory sends out satin slippers to be made at home; the colored shoes are regularly made in the factory, but white ones, which are liable to be soiled when machine-made, are sent out to be sewed by hand. The regular hand-sewed turn shoes are rarely made inside the factory. No welt shoes or machine-made turn shoes were found in the homes, owing to the fact that mechanical power is required. Work on hand-sewed turn shoes was given out by eight Massachusetts manufacturers employing about 400 home workers, most of whom were men. About one-half of these workers were residents of New Hampshire. The factory supplies the shoemaker with the materials for making the shoe already cut out, and with lasts, tacks, and thread. Babies' moccasins are almost entirely a home-work product. Hand- work on baby moccasins is always done at home and only cutting out and stitching of back seam and lining are factory work. Sewing machine- knit worsted slippers is one of the numerous processes in which the home worker merely supplements the work of the machine. Machine- knit worsted slippers are given out to home workers only for sewing to- REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 73 gether uppers and soles and tying bows. Hand-crocheted worsted slippers are made throughout by the home worker, the factory merely supplying yarn, soft soles, ribbon, and thread. Much of the work on worsted slippers and baby moccasins is done in the Summer and Autumn and work on baby shoes is usually heavy before the Christmas season. Some lines of baby shoes are made only for the Christmas trade. Hand-knit slippers, shoe bows, and beading are entirely the product of the home worker; usually only samples are made in the factory. Beading is fairly skilled work. The pattern is stamped on a kid or satin vamp and has to be worked over in beads with a fine needle. Workers usually complain that the work is trying to the eyes. Shoe bow making is light and easy, but monotonous. Rosettes are more elaborate and are seldom made by the same workers who make bows or beading. Work on shoe trimmings has a summer season and a winter season. In Summer, home workers are occupied with beading and rosettes for winter slippers ; in Winter they make bows and buckles for light shoes and pumps for Summer. These seasons overlap and there is consequently no great ir- regularity in shoe trimming work. Much of the work on shoes and shoe trimmings was done in country districts, and consequently a large proportion of it was distributed by con- tractors. Some of the contractors receive a fixed commission from the manufacturer, while others are paid at the regular rates for the work they give out, and make their profits by paying the workers as much less than the regular rates as they can. Most of the work on turn shoes is dis- tributed directly; the shoemakers either carry the shoes themselves or express them, paying the charge one way. Slipper beading and shoe bows and rosettes were given out to home workers by the 10 shoe trimming man- ufacturers and four of the shoe manufacturers visited. In all, about 1,700 were employed by the 14 firms. As in the case of hand-knit and machine-knit slippers, baby shoes, and moccasins, workers were secured either by advertisement or by the application of themselves or their friends. Bates of Pay. Making hand-sewed turn shoes, $0.15 to $0.24 a pair. Making babies' moccasins, 02| a pair. Trimming babies' moccasins, 02 a pair. Sewing and trimming machine-knit slippers, . . . . 02 to 02 a pair. Crocheting worsted slippers, '. . . .lla pair. Beading kid or satin slippers, 15 to 1 . 00 a pan-. Making flat pump bows, .05 a dozen. Making rosettes of chiffon or satin, 25 a pair. 74 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS (2) THE LABOR SUPPLY. Many of the workers belong to families which have made shoemaking their main business for generations and are well known to the factories, so that manufacturers have no difficulty in securing a sufficient number. The old New England turn shoe men are now dying out and many of them believe that their craft will die with them; but the work is being taken up by Italian immigrants who prove no less able and are often quicker workers. These latter, however, work in groups in regular work- shops, while the New England shoemakers usually work alone and have only occasionally been found using workshops not connected with their homes. Consequently, while the supply of labor for hand-sewed turn shoes shows no sign of decrease, home work on these goods will probably dis- appear in a few years. Work on hand-sewed turn shoes is usually slack in Summer, a fact which may be due not so much to industrial causes as to the habits of the workers, most of whom turn to agricultural or other pursuits in the summer months and work on shoes either irregularly or not at all at this season. H. Hosiery and Machine-knit Goods. (1) THE INDUSTRY. Sixty-eight knitting mills 1 in Massachusetts are listed by the Bureau of Statistics, 50 of which are in the eastern part of the State. The in- dustry centers in Metropolitan Boston, where 32 of the mills are located, 11 of these being in the town of Needham. Thirty-seven knitting mills were visited, all of which used power machinery, and in addition three of the hand-frame workshops were visited. The products of these factories are men's, women's, and children's knit underwear and hosiery; sweaters, caps, and mittens; infants' coats and leggings, etc. Home workers are employed on all of these garments except men's knit underwear. Of the 27 establishments reporting home work, 10 employed home workers to finish sweaters, six to finish caps, gloves, mittens, and infants' leggings, and one for both kinds of work. Six establishments had home workers to crochet the beaded edging on women's and children's underwear. One had all of the above processes performed at home. Two establish- ments had home workers to mend men's half hose, one to embroider > Includes establishments classified in the Annual Report on the Statistics of Manufactures for 1912 under hosiery and machine-knit goods and also under hand-knit goods. Those establishments which are classified in the aforementioned report under hand-knit goods are workslnps in which the product is knitted by machines operated by hand power. There are no factories in Massachusetts which make what is commonly known as hand-knit goods. PLATE I. Fig. 1. Leggings on which "seaming" is done at home (43 cents a dozen). Fig. 2. Hand-embroidered gown (embroidering on front and sleeves, $1.20 a dozen). Fig. 3. Baby's moccasins (making, *% cents a pair; trimming, 2J-6 cents a pair). Fig. 4. Hand-frame knit glove, "seaming" partly completed (seaming, 16 cents a dozen pair). Fig. 5. Hand-crotcheted edge on union suit (30 cents a dozen). REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 75 " clocks " on women's silk hose, and one to run ribbon through women's underwear. In addition, one of the above firms had a few home workers parting cuffs, running rubber through knit belts, and making advertising samples. The work on sweaters, leggings, gloves, etc., is " seaming." l The worker rips a short strand of worsted from the edges which are to be joined and threads it in a blunt needle. The loose stitches thus left are then worked together, making a flexible seam. The smooth, inconspicuous seams in loosely-knit garments are made by hand in this way, for the machine-made seam is a hard ridge. The pockets, collars, and cuffs of sweater coats, the feet and legs of leggings, and sometimes the joinings in caps, bonnets, and mittens, are hand-seamed. This process and the em- broidering of " clocks " are the most highly skilled of the home processes on machine-knit goods. Both involve careful counting of stitches and are trying to the eyes. The finishing of caps often includes gathering up the top and making a clipped worsted ball or tassel. This is fairly unskilled work and is sometimes done by children. Clipping the worsted for the tassel sends lint flying and is said to affect the health of the worker after a while. No other ill effects were reported by workers on knit goods ex- cept the eye strain from crocheting and from seaming on dark materials. Rates of Pay. Finishing sweater coats (cuffs, collars), Finishing sweater coats (pockets), Finishing leggings (closed feet), .... Finishing leggings (open feet with straps), . Finishing mittens, $0.12 to Finishing caps (with clipped tassel), . . 12 to Crocheting edges on women's underwear: Medium neck, Same, with front opening, Low neck, Low neck and arms, Crocheting edges on infants' underwear: Shirts, 25 to Bands, 25 to Mending men's half-hose: "Bad" mending, Other mending, Threading ribbon in women's underwear, . 04 to Threading rubber in knit belts, . . . Embroidering clocks on women's silk hose, $0.16 each. . 40 a dozen. .43 a dozen and upward. .36 a dozen and upward. . 16 a dozen pairs. .25 a dozen. . 21 a dozen. . 25 a dozen. . 30 a dozen. .55 a dozen. ,45 a dozen. 10 a dozen. . 08 a dozen pairs. . 03 a dozen pairs. 1 1 a dozen. . 17 a dozen rows and upwards. . 50 a dozen pairs. 1 See Plate I, figures 1 and 4, facing p. 74. 76 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS (2) THE LABOR SUPPLY. The 27 manufacturers of hosiery and machine-knit goods who give out home work reported all together 1,544 home workers. The labor supply is ample for every kind of work given out from the knitting mills. In most cases home workers are secured through agents or by other workers. The heads of the numerous small firms and hand-frame workshops give out work directly to their relatives and neighbors. The busy season in this industry extends through the Winter, but there is no marked dull period, as the seasons for knitting summer and winter garments follow closely upon one another. The knitting-frame and its successor, the power knitting-machine, have to some extent superseded the home work of the hand-knitter, but at the same time they have created a new home industry, the hand-finishing of machine-knit goods. Before circular knitting-machines were introduced, the fingers of machine-knit gloves always had to be seamed up by hand ; 1 before the double-shell machine was perfected, all edgings and trimmings of the machine product had to be put on by hand ; 1 and hand work was required to pick up the dropped stitches and mend the holes left by the imperfect early machines. In those localities where the old frames are still in use the knitter's whole family is often employed in hand-finishing the product of his few machines. As knitting machinery becomes more perfect, less and less hand work is necessary upon each garment ; but the output is so enormously increased that the number of hand-finishers grows larger rather than smaller. The three original home processes of seaming, trimming, and mending are still in evidence, although in some cases no longer re- quired in order to produce a well-made article; for home work will con- tinue to characterize the industry so long as the word " hand-finished " is accepted by the consumer as a hall-mark of quality. Work on machine-knit goods is distributed directly from the factory or by contractors who receive a fixed commission from the manufacturer. I. Suspenders, Garters, and Elastic Woven Goods. (1) THE INDUSTRY. Thirty-two firms were engaged in manufacturing suspenders, garters, and elastic woven goods in Massachusetts. Nearly all of these were located in the Eastern half of the State; eight were in Boston, five in Worcester, five in Chelsea, four in Easthampton, and 10 in nine other i Soe Plate I, figure 4, facing p. 74. REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 77 cities and towns. Of the six firms reporting home work, three were in Worcester and three in Boston. The products of these factories are suspenders, garters, hose supporters, belts, and razor strops; elastic webbing, cords, braids, corset bandages, trusses, and shoe gores, and all kinds of narrow elastic fabrics and webs. The work given out by the six establishments reporting home work is almost entirely confined to stringing buttons and loops on non-elastic webbing and stringing buckles on elastic webbing for hose supporters and garters. Occasionally pasting pads for suspenders is included. Stringing buttons, buckles, and loops on webbing is very easy and re- quires no training. Children do it more rapidly than adults. The worker needs only to be instructed how far to slip these on the webbing so as to leave just the right amount to be turned under and stitched in the factory. A few workers complain that the buckles cut their fingers, especially when the webbing is a little too wide for the buckle. There seem to be no other ill effects upon health except when children are kept working till late at night. The rate of pay is said to be determined on the basis of 10 cents an hour. Pasting suspender pads is also easy work. The firm sends out card- board and cloth cut to the proper size and shape and the worker pastes the cloth on the cardboard and turns it under neatly around the edge. This work is usually done by machinery in the factory, but sometimes a new style or shape can not be done on the machines and so is sent out to home workers. Rates of Pay. l Stringing buttons on non-elastic webbing, .... $0.07-$0.08 a gross pair. Stringing buckles on elastic webbing, . 16 a gross pair. Stringing loops on elastic webbing, .20 a gross pair. Pasting pads for suspenders, .03 a dozen. (2) THE LABOR SUPPLY. The six establishments employing home labor reported 92 names upon their pay-rolls. It was found in the course of the agent's visits that 21 of these names represented 51 persons actually engaged upon the work given out to these 21. Assuming the same proportion of group workers for other pay-rolls, the 92 names reported represent a total of 223 workers, or 32.2 per cent of the total number of workers employed by the six firms. The securing of a sufficient number of home workers in this industry occasions no difficulty, as the work is easy and clean and can be carried about from 1 The workers stated that a gross means a double gross, so that a gross pair means 576. 78 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS place to place. Many of the workers are factory employees and their rela- tives or friends. Children apply for this work in vacation and some of them do a little after school during the school year. Although two manufacturers reported a marked shift in their home labor force, their pay-rolls showed slight irregularity in the number at work from month to month or in the amounts paid them, and the workers reported that they could secure work the year round if they so desired. Many children work during the summer vacation when adults are likely to take less home work or to drop it altogether. The home work product in this industry is an unfinished one and merely prepares for the factory work which is itself an intermediate proc- ess in the case of the hose supporter firms which sell to the corset manu- facturers hose supporters ready to be stitched on corsets. Two of the firms reporting home work have given out the work regu- larly since they began business somewhat less than 10 years ago. Two others, established before that time, have introduced home work within the last 10 years. On the other hand, one large establishment formerly employing many home workers has discontinued the practice and arranged its work in such a way as to keep the inside force busy the whole year. One firm gives out home work only when it would not pay to install a new machine for a passing style. The only contractor found in this industry receives a commission of 33% per cent of the price paid the worker as remuneration for carrying the work back and forth and instructing the workers. All other work is given out directly from the factory, the workers calling for it once daily, or oftener, and paying car fare, if necessary. In all cases the manufac- turer sets the rate, supposedly on the basis of factory rates. One manu- facturer stated that his standard was 10 cents an hour. Few home workers were found, however, who could earn that amount. J. Other Wearing Apparel. Twenty-one manufacturers of other kinds of wearing apparel were interviewed, 14 in person and seven by letter. The former were located in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Foxborough, and the latter in Boston, Westborough, and Foxborough. Eight of the 21 reported home work. Their products are canvas and kid gloves, straw hats, and hand- knit goods. Those reporting no home work included six manufacturers of corsets and ostrich feathers and one buttonhole maker. REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 79 ( 1 ) GLOVES. Six establishments were engaged in the manufacture of gloves in Massachusetts. Five of these were in Boston and one in Brockton. Three employed home workers. One factory in Gloversville, New York, em- ployed a few home workers in Massachusetts. Two of the three factories reporting home work manufactured men's and women's kid gloves. The third manufactured workingmen's canvas and flannel gloves. Home workers stitch the kid gloves on a gauge machine such as is used in glove factories. The canvas gloves are made inside out on an ordinary sewing machine; the wrist hands are of knitting mill waste and the gloves are sometimes lined with flannel. Rates of Pay. Making leather gloves, $0.80 to $1.35 a dozen pairs. About four hours are required to make a dozen pairs at $1.10. Making canvas gloves: Light canvas, 15 a dozen pairs. Heavy canvas, 17 a dozen pairs. About two hours are required to make a dozen pairs at $0.15. Women who have not heen trained in a glove factory can not do kid- glove making at home, consequently the supply of home workers is strictly limited. Only two Massachusetts manufacturers send out such work, and together employ only about 10 home workers. These workers have been brought up in the glove industry and most of them come from Gloversville, N. Y., where home work on gloves is general. Owing to the scarcity of the labor supply and the skilled nature of the work, they are able to command high wages in Massachusetts. Canvas glove makers, on the other hand, do arduous but comparatively simple work which requires no special equip- ment ; consequently, they can easily be secured or replaced by advertising in the newspapers. One manufacturer reported that he employed about 15 canvas glove makers. It is not known to what extent home work on workingmen's gloves is done in Massachusetts, for many of the employers who advertise for home workers in Boston papers are located in other States, No seasonal fluctuations occur in the manufacture of gloves. Home work on gloves is supplementary to factory work, and is only given out where inside help can not be secured. Materials for glove making do not pass through the hands of contractors, but are always distributed directly from the factory to the workers. 80 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS (2) STRAW HATS. The straw hat industry of Massachusetts was first established in Fox- borough, where hats have been made since the early nineteenth century. Home work was characteristic of the industry until recently, but at the present time only two out of 19 establishments in Massachusetts are regu- larly employing home workers. Hat factories usually devote the Summer entirely to the manufacture of felt goods for the coming Winter, conse- quently, no straw braid whatever is sent out to the home workers from April until October. The object of employing home workers on straw reeling is to save space which would otherwise have to be given up to a highly seasonal, unskilled operation not requiring the use of mechanical power. The chief operation performed by home workers on straw hats is mending and reeling braided straw or chip before it goes to the machine operators who stitch it into hat shapes in the factory. Straw hat braid is imported in the form of skeins of varying quality, some skeins being full of breaks and weak places while others are in unbroken lengths. These are delivered to the home workers in bundles of 100 at a time. Each worker is provided by the factory with a reel and swift, which are a pair of wooden winding wheels resembling spinning-wheels but turned entirely by hand. Between reel and swift sits the " reeler " who unwinds the straw or chip from the reel to the swift, rebraids and mends it wherever a break appears, ties each coil in three places as she takes it off the swift, and finally binds up the coils in bundles of 100. Rates of Pay. The most usual rate of pay is one cent a skein. As mending and winding a skein may take any period of time from a few seconds to 10 minutes, the hourly earnings are variable, usually, however, averaging about 15 cents. (3) HAND-KNIT GOODS. The manufacture of hand-knit goods is not carried on in factories in Massachusetts. 1 The articles are usually made by home workers in the employ of wholesale and retail stores and fancy goods manufacturers. Hand-knit goods include aviation caps, automobile bonnets, infants' coats, and other small articles. Hand-knit shoes have already been mentioned in connection with home work on shoes. The four establishments giving out 1 Those establishments which are classified under "hand-knit goods" in the annual reports of the Bureau of Statistics on the Statistics of Manufactures are establishments in which knit goods are made by machines op- erated by hand. REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 81 this kind of work include a department store, a hosiery shop, a wholesale dry goods house, and a fancy neckwear workroom. The work is mostly crocheted with fine or coarse yarn. Making avia- tion caps is very simple. Infants' coats require more skill and care, especially where two colors are used. Rates of Pay. Aviation Caps, two sizes : Rates to home worker, $0 . 65 and $0 . 30 a dozen. Rates to contractor, .75 and . 35 a dozen. Retail prices, .75 and . 50 each. About one hour is required to make the small sized cap at $0.30 a dozen. Crocheted Infants' Jackets: Rate to home worker, $2 . 75 a dozen. Wholesale price, 9 . 00 a dozen. Retail price, . . . . 1 . 50 each. Crocheted Slippers : Rate to home worker, $0.30 a dozen pah's. Rate to contractor, . .40 a dozen pairs. Retail price, .25 a pair. About one hour is required to make a pair and a half. The four establishments reporting home work on hand-knit goods em- ployed altogether about 300 home workers. The number could be esti- mated only with difficulty, as most of this work was distributed through contractors. Workers are secured by advertisements in the newspapers and by inquiries of contractors among their personal acquaintances. In spite of the low rates the work is popular because it is pleasant and easily handled. The demand for hand-knit goods is strictly seasonal, but in many cases the home workers who make hand-knit goods during the Autumn and early Winter are employed on fancy neckwear at the Christmas season and in the Spring, passing naturally from the crocheting of wool caps to the crocheting of lace bows and jabots. Both kinds of work are distributed by the same contractors. Nearly all of the work on hand-knit goods passes through the hands of contractors, probably for two reasons : First , the yarn of which the gar- ments are made is a fairly valuable material and home workers are said to be apt to keep it and not do the work, unless carefully supervised. One manufacturer who distributed the work directly tried to avoid this difficulty by requiring a 50-cent deposit of all women taking out work, but he re- 82 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS ported that in spite of this his losses were considerable. Second, a large part of the labor force is made up of immigrants, mostly Armenians, who are particularly fitted for such work, often because they learned to do it in the Turkish schools and these people can most easily be dealt with through a middle woman of their own race. Of the four contractors interviewed, three gave out also fancy neckwear and Irish lace work, thus combining two seasonal industries which partly supplement and partly overlap each other. Two of the four were Armenians. K. The Worker. (1) SEX AND AGE. Home work on Wearing Apparel is predominantly women's work. The following table indicates the comparatively small numbers of men and of children employed. TABLE 34. Sex and Age of Home Workers on Wearing Apparel. AGE GROUPS. MALES FEMALES BOTH SSXKS Number Percent- ages! Number Percent- ages i Number Percent- sees' All Ages. Under five years, Five years and under 10, 10 years and under 14, 14 years and under 16, 16 years and under 18, 84 1 3 2 1 2 2 3 1 16 2 100.0 3.1 9.4 6.3 sTi 3J 6.3 6.3 9?3 3.1 50.0 762 3 24 23 18 31 49 83 98 99 80 70 47 36 72 29 > 100.0 0?4 3.3 3.1 2.5 4.2 6.7 11.3 13.4 13.5 10.9 9.6 6.4 4.9 9.8 M 4 27 25 18 31 50 83 99 101 82 70 50 37 88 31* 100.0 oTs 3.6 3.3 2.4 4.1 6.5 10.9 12.9 13.2 10.7 9.2 6.5 4.8 11.5 21 years and under 25, 30 years and under 35, 45 years and under 50 55 years and under 60 Age not reported The percentages in this table are computed on the basis of the number reporting. * Includes four females under 16 yean of age, whose exact ages were not reported. The 765 home workers who furnished information as to age and sex in- cluded only 32 males and only 31 children under 14. Twenty-one of the 32 males were engaged in shoemaking, the only home process on Wearing Apparel which requires masculine strength; the remaining 11 assisted their wives or mothers in various unskilled processes, such as creasing shirt facings or winding straw braid, during spare time. The reason for the small proportion of children employed is probably to be found not in the nature of the work, for much of it is entirely unskilled, but rather in the fact that, as a class, Massachusetts home workers on Wearing Apparel are REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 83 economically above the need for child labor in the home. Children are, however, extensively used to carry bundles of home work to and from the factory. It will be seen that here, as in other industries studied, the age of home workers centered round the group " 35 years and under 40 ", but that the proportion of children under 14 was appreciably less in this group of industries, and that the proportion of persons 60 years of age and over was larger, comprising no less than 11.5 per cent of the total number visited, as compared with a corresponding percentage of 8.2 for all industries. The home worker on Wearing Apparel was found to be, as a rule, the wife and mother, living at home and keeping house, a wage- earner only in what she terms her leisure time. Less than one-fifth of the women 16 years of age and over were single, while two-thirds were married ; the remainder slightly less than one-sixth were widowed, separated, divorced, or deserted. (2) SCHOOL ATTENDANCE*. The following table shows the number of children under 18 years of age by specified age groups attending and not attending school. TABLE 35. School Attendance of Home Workers on Wearing Apparel: By Age and Sex. AQB GBOUPS. NUMBER OP MALES NUMBER OF FEMALES NUMBER or BOTH SEXES In School Not in School In School Not in School In School Not in School Under 18 years. Five years and under 10 6 1 3 2 - 61 3 24 21 9 4 11 2 9 67 4 27 23 9 4 11 2 9 14 years and under 16 16 years and under 18, Under 16 years, exact age not reported, . It will be seen from the above table that only a small number of per- sons under 18, who were working at home on Wearing Apparel, reported that they were not attending school at the same time, and none of those out of school were less than 14 years of age. The fact of school attendance alone, however, does not register the effect which home work may have upon a child's educational opportunity, as is emphasized elsewhere in this report. Where short hours of sleep and indoor confinement characterize the work of minors in this industry, it is safe to assume that the most regular school attendance may fail to secure for the pupils even normal advancement 84 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS (3) EARNINGS AND INCOMES. (a) Annual Earnings from Home Work. The annual earnings of home workers were obtained from the pay- rolls of the manufacturers, and the number of persons earning the amounts paid by the manufacturers was made known when the person in whose name the work was taken out was interviewed. The data here presented are for home workers who were employed during the year preceding the date the pay-rolls were obtained and also for those home workers who received payments for nine months or more of the year. TABLE 36. Number of Families of Home Workers on Wearing Apparel Earning each Classified Amount a Year. NUMBER OF WORKERS IN FAMILIES. Total Num- ber of Fam- ilies Num- ber re- port- ing Earn- ings NUMBER OF FAMILIES EARNING A YEAR Less than $25 $25 to $49.99 $50 to $99.99 $100 to $149.99 $150 to $199.99 $200 to $249.99 $250 to $299.99 $300 and over All Families. One worker. Two workers, . Three workers, Four workers, . Five workers, . 645 530 90 17 5 3 427 342 66 11 5 3 117 95 16 3 2 1 76 65 11 105 85 16 3 1 61 46 12 2 1 32 23 4 2 2 1 10 9 1 9 7 2 17 12 4 1 Families of Home Workers employed for Nine Months or Over. All Families. m 213 7 25 65 49 32 9 9 17 One worker, _ 167 6 21 53 37 23 8 7 12 Two workers, . _ 35 _ 4 10 10 4 1 2 4 Three workers, - 6 1 1 1 2 Four workers, . _ 3 ft _ 1 2 . m Five workers, . ~ 2 1 1 ~ "" TABLE 37. Percentage of Families of Home Workers on Wearing Apparel Earning less than Specified Amount a Year. NUMBER OF WORKERS IN FAMILIES. Total Num- ber of Fam- ilies Num- ber re- port- ing Earn- ings PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES EARNING A YEAR Less than $25 Less than $50 Less than $100 Less than $150 Less than $200 Less than $250 Less than $300 Less than $350 All Families. One worker, Two workers, . Three workers, Four workers, . Five workers, . 645 530 90 17 6 3 427 342 66 11 5 3 27.4 27.8 24.2 27.3 40.0 33.3 45.2 46.8 40.9 27.3 40.0 33.3 69.8 71.6 65.2 54.5 60.0 33.3 84.1 85.1 83.3 72.7 60.0 66.7 91.6 91.8 89.4 90.9 100.0 100.0 93.9 94.4 90.9 90.9 100.0 100.0 96.0 96.5 93.9 90.9 100.0 100.0 97.4 98.2 93.9 90.9 100.0 100.0 Families of Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Families. _ 213 3.3 15.0 45.5 68.5 83.6 87.8 92.0 94.8 One worker, _ 167 3.6 16.2 47.9 70.1 83.8 88.6 92.8 96.4 Two workers, . _ 35 11.4 40.0 68.6 80.0 82.9 88.6 88.6 Three workers, _ 6 16.7 16.7 33.3 50.0 83.3 82.3 83.3 83.3 Four workers, . _ 3 33.3 33.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Five workers, . 2 50.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 85 The majority of the home workers on Wearing Apparel, 69.8 per cent, earned less than $100 in the year at home work, while 27.4 per cent earned less than $25. Home work earnings in this industry rarely exceeded $300 for the year, barely 4.0 per cent having this amount or more. Only three families earned $500 or over. In two of these families the home workers were turn shoemakers, 1 one worked with an assistant and the other was helped by his wife. The third was a girl worker who stitched chil- dren's rompers on a sewing machine, with the help of her two sisters. These workers gave their whole working time to home work. Home work on Wearing Apparel, although on the whole better paid than some home industries, is not so profitable that women without other means of support would be likely to take it up. " They take up this work," said a manufacturer who knew her home workers intimately, " like you or I might pick up a book and read it, and I pay them accordingly." (&) Incomes from All Sources. Information as to income was obtained from the workers, and their home-work earnings were copied from the pay-rolls of the 41 factories employing them. The following table shows the family incomes and home-work earnings, for the 12 months preceding the date the pay-rolls were obtained from the manufacturers, of families having one or more home workers on Wear- ing Apparel. TABLE 38. Annual Earnings of Families from Home Work on Wearing Apparel and Incomes from Other Sources. NUMBER HAVING ANNUAL INCOME EXCLUSIVE OF HOME TV* Total WORK or .De- pend- ANNUAL EARNINGS FBOM HOME WORK. Num- ber of Fam- Under $50 and $250 and $500 and $750 and $1,000 and $1,250 Not ent on Home Work ilies $50 under under under under under and Stated Exclu- $250 $500 $750 $1,000 $1,250 Over sively All Families. 645 1 28 101 150 105 53 48 129 SO Under $25, 117 2 16 22 21 14 12 30 _ $25 and under $50, 76 _ 3 7 18 15 5 6 21 j $50 and under $100, 105 _ 3 9 27 26 11 9 16 4 $100 and under $150, 61 1 12 15 9 8 5 9 2 $150 and under $200, 32 _ 4 4 3 7 2 3 7 2 $200 and under $250, 10 _ 2 2 1 1 2 2 $250 and under $300, 9 1 2 _ 1 1 4 $300 and under $350, 6 _ 1 _ _ 1 4 $350 and under $400, 6 _ 1 _ _ _ _ 2 3 $400 and under $450, 2 _ _ _ _ _ _ $500 and over, 3 _ _ _ 1 1 _ _ _ 1 Earnings not reported, 218 - 10 51 62 26 12 12 39 6 1 One of these turn shoe workers was entirely dependent upon home work, having no other income. 86 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS Nearly three-fourths of the families furnishing information had an annual income of at least $500, exclusive of home work; considerably more than one-third had $750 or over; and one-fifth had at least $1,000. Information as to the number in the families was not available. (c) Hourly Earnings. 1 The number of home workers on Wearing Apparel from whom in- formation as to hourly earnings was secured was 434. Of this number 303 reported hourly earnings of less than 10 cents and 173 reported less than six cents. There were 112 workers who earned 10 cents or more an hour but only 18 of these earned 20 cents and over. The lowest hourly earnings were those of the workers on Hosiery and Machine-knit Goods, on Men's Coats and Pants, and on Shoes (other than turn shoes) ; about one-half of these workers received hourly earnings of less than seven cents. Among the workers on Men's Coats and Pants 41.7 per cent earned five cents and less, while 21.7 per cent earned 10 cents and over. Work on Men's Shirts and Pajamas and Neckwear appeared to be relatively well- paid home work. Forty-eight home workers on shoes reported as to their hourly earnings. Of this number, 25 were earning five cents and less, while 13 were earning 15 cents and over, but only 10 were earning more than five cents and less than 15 cents. These returns reflect the division of the home shoe workers into two well-marked groups the makers and trimmers of babies' moccasins, who are low-paid " leisure-time workers," and the turn shoe workmen, the best paid of all home workers on Wearing Apparel. Sixty-three home workers on shoe trimmings who reported on this point included only 21 earning five cents and less, while over one- half of them (32) were earning more than five cents and less than 10 cents, but only 10 were earning 10 cents or over. The fact that only 112, or about one-third of the Wearing Apparel workers interviewed, made more than 10 cents an hour is significant. It shows that even by working 54 hours a week but few of these home workers could make as much as $5.40 a week, and this estimate does not take into account possibilities of seasonal or other non-employment 1 See Table 23, pp. 48 and 43, ante, on Hourly Earnings of Home Workers: By Industries. REPORT ON WEARING APPAREL 87 (4) EXTENT AND CAUSES OF NON-EMPLOYMENT. The following table shows the extent and the causes of non-employ- ment. TABLE 39. Extent and Causes of Non-employment for Families of Home Workers on Wearing Apparel. XT,, ,>, U rt - NUMBER NOT EMPLOYED Number who G*. -* J CAUSES OF NON-EMPLOYMENT. Total Number of Families rsumber Em- ployed 12 months Less than Three Months Threa Months and Less than Six Six Months and Less than Kine Nine Months and Less than 12 Number of Months not reported started Home Work after begin- ning of Year All Causes. 645 175 90 106 109 51 37 77 Enforced idleness due to en indus- trial co use. 207 _ 68 64 65 25 6 _ Dull season, 183 _ 54 56 46 23 4 _ Other employment. 12 - 2 2 5 2 1 - Strike, 12 2 6 4 Illness, . 52 _ 7 SO 16 4 f _ Voluntary idleness, 68 _ 11 IS tl 8 1 _ Change of residence, 3 _ 1 1 1 _ Started home work after beginning of year, . 77 _ _ _ 77 Other g ^ g ^ 3 i w Employed twelve months 175 175 _ T _ _ Causes not reported, 64 ~ IS 8 IS 9 2t ~ Five hundred and eighty-one families of home workers on Wearing Apparel reported as to the extent and cause of non-employment during the year. Of this number, 207 were out of work part of the year on ac- count of industrial causes, usually dull season, 58 were voluntarily idle, and 52 remained out of work through illness. HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS 2. JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE BY MARGAEET HUTTON ABELS A. Introductory. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut have corne to be the leading States in the Union in the manufacture of jewelry. In Boston, in revolutionary times, the Revere family did a thriving business as gold and silversmiths. A little later, in North Attleborough, a French- man, remembered only as "the foreigner" and Serile Dodge in Provi- dence, were making breastpins, ear-drops, watch keys, and silver spoons. When Nehemiah Dodge, the pioneer of jewelry manufacture in the modern sense, introduced machinery and invented rolled plate, enterprising Attle- borough jewelers on the pretense of purchasing presents for country cousins are said to have ascertained the secrets of the Providence manufacturers and thus launched Attleborough upon its career as a jewelry manufac- turing town. For more than 100 years, through periods of prosperity and seasons of depression, the industry has increased and spread from these centers. The fall in the price of silver in 1893 and 1894 led to its use in a great variety of silver novelties so that nearly all leading jewelers be- came silversmiths also and it is increasingly difficult to separate the two industries. In this study no attempt has been made to make such a separation. How long home work has been carried on in the jewelry towns can not be ascertained, but one firm reported the employment of outside workers for over 50 years. It is in Attleborough, Plainville, Mansfield, Taunton, and Norton that most of the firms employing home labor are located. The Boston jewelers, who never adopted the Dodge methods and even now do chiefly order work upon the best grades of jewelry, employ no home workers. For this study 252 jewelry and silverware firms were interviewed, 197 in person, and 55 by correspondence. Of these, 70 employed home workers, 66 being in Attleborough and vicinity, and four in Cambridge, Somerville, and North Swansea. Among the products of these factories are included all kinds of jewelry and silverware, but those of interest in a study of home work are mesh bags, chains, enameled pins and brooches, and a general line of the cheaper grades of jewelry. REPORT ON JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE B. Processes and Bates of Pay. Home work processes connected with the jewelry industry may be divided into four groups: (1) Various processes upon mesh bags; (2) turning, linking, and soldering chains; (3) painting on enamel; and (4) miscellaneous processes mostly upon very cheap grades of jewelry. (1) MESH BAGS. By far the largest number of workers is employed upon mesh bags for 13 firms. There are three kinds of mesh: Ring, lock (known also as hook and eye and unbreakable), and punch (called also fish scale and coat of mail). There is a bewildering number of sizes and styles of bags and an equally bewildering variation in rates of pay for home work. The size of the ring, the degree of difficulty of the pattern, the season of the year, the number of contractors concerned, the nationality of the worker, and other considerations enter into the fixing of rates of pay. The following list of processes and rates will give an idea of the range of prices in 1912 and 1913 and the usual price for some of the common styles and sizes of bags and the processes connected with their making : Processes and Rates of Pay for Home Work on Mesh Bags. I. Ring Purses. 1. Linking, 1 $0.04 to $1.40 each. .08 to .25 a thousand rings. Two-inch bags (coarse links), 04 to .05 each. Three-inch bags (coarse links), . . . . .06 to .08 each. Four-inch bags (coarse links) (30 doubles), 10 each. Each bag is begun with a chain of alternating single and double links. If the double link occurs 15 times the size of the bag is said to be 30 doubles. Five-inch bags (coarse links) (40 doubles), 12 each. Five-inch bags (medium links) (66 doubles), . .35 to .65 each. Five and one-half-inch bags (fine links), 55 each. Six-inch bags (medium links) (86 doubles), . .55 to .72 each. Six-inch reverse bags (medium links), . . . .45 to 1.00 each. Six-inch full bags (fine links) (104 doubles), . 1 . 30 to 1 . 65 each. A full bag is one which is to be shirred at the top before hanging in a six-inch frame. Often the price is the same for the full as for the plain bag although the former requires more work. Fringe, 15 to .18 a yard. Fringe is sometimes made separately by special workers to be linked to the tops or bottoms of plain bags. 1 A linking process on which there is a patent has been omitted from this list. 90 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS Insertion, $0.10 a yard. Insertion and daisies are also made separately and are sometimes of intricate patterns. Bands, $0.25 to .45 a yard. Bands are the plain straight portion of certain styles of bags. Children often make the bands while adult workers add the tops, fringes, etc. Opera tops, 25 a yard. 2. Closing bags (bottom and one side), . . . .08 to .54 a dozen. Bags from some factories go through the hands of three sets of workers, being linked up by one set, closed by another, and hung by a third. 3. Hanging bags on frames 09 to .24 a dozen. Three-inch bags (13 rings at top), 17 a dozen. Bags are usually hung on the frames in the factory by hand or by machines which press and rivet them to the frames, but some firms send them out to home workers. 4. Repairing bags and mesh, 15 to . 18 an hour. Bags poorly made are often sent to some experienced worker or agent to be repaired. Mesh made in sheets by machinery often has rents in it which are repaired and soldered by workers at home. II. Lock Mesh Bags. Linking, $0.04 to $2.40 each. Four and one-half-inch bags, . . . . .37 to .40 each. ///. Punch Purses. Making, $0 . 10 to $2 . 00 each. Four-inch bags, 15 each. Bags from machine mesh: Four-inch bags, .06 each. Seven-inch bags, .08 each. This mesh comes from the factory in rolls twice the width of the bag to be made. It must be separated with the fingers, made into the desired shape, and closed at the side and bottom. Trimming bags with spangles, 02 each. The spangles are put on with the rings which close the bottom of the purse. Most of the work upon mesh bags consists in the linking or hitching up of ring mesh. Rings made of silver or German silver are weighed out to the worker and instructions given as to the style of bag desired. Anyone who can use pliers can readily learn to make ring purses. Each ring is taken up with the pliers from a pad on which the rings are spread; it is opened by being pressed against a grooved thumb ring worn upon the left hand, or against a screw in a bench pin; it is then put into place in the bag and closed with the pliers. The same tools and methods are used for closing the bags at the side and bottom and for linking them to the frames. Sometimes the bags must be shirred at the PLATE II. Fig. 1. Charm, made at home ($1.35 a gross). Fig. 2. Ring on which the stone was glued at home (three cents a gross). Fig. 3. Lock mesh bag as it comes from the home worker. Fig. 4. Wooden-headed hat pin on which seed pearls were cemented (36 cents a dozen). Fig. 5. Ring mesh bag, the chain having been put on in factory (six cents to eight cents apiece). Figs. 6 and 8. Metal watch fobs, assembled at home (50 cents a gross). Fig. 7. Punch purse, ready for sale. Fig. 9. The beginning of a ring mesh bag of 30 doubles. . REPORT ON JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE 91 top before they are hung into the frame. In some cases links are left at the top of the bag (or below the fringe of the top) through which a long neck chain is run or a short chain upon a thumb ring. 1 Agents sometimes give their workers with each new style of bag a diagram showing the number of doubles, the number of rows of links to be tapered, gathered, or left loose, and in fact, every detail of the bag. A skillful worker needs no instruction except this diagram. 2 For the mending of machine-made ring mesh, a foot bellows and gas blower are needed. Rings of solder-filled wire are linked into the holes in the sheets of mesh with pliers and the added links soldered in the gas flame, the solder running out of the wire of which the rings are made and closing them. Lock mesh bags are made of links resembling hooks and eyes and are considered by most workers to be harder to make than the ring purses. Some workers use a little upright wooden frame in making this mesh. The work is hung upon a crossbar which is raised from time to time as the work progresses. Lock mesh can not be made by machinery. 3 Punch purses take their name from the punch formerly used in making them. The plates (or scales) were placed upon a board and their points pressed down around the connecting rings with the punch which had to be pounded with a hammer. A special kind of pliers is now used in place of the punch, hammer, and board. Much of this mesh is now produced in sheets by machinery. It is sent to home workers in rolls twice the width of the desired bag. The worker separates the mesh by hand into the proper pattern and closes the bottom and one side with pliers. 4 (2) CHAIN. Chain ranks second in importance among home work products in Jewelry in spite of the increasing number of chain machines and in spite of competition with imported chain made by very cheap labor in the Black Forest. Rope chain and some other kinds can not be made by machine ; unsoldered chain in general is said to be produced more cheaply by home work than by factory labor. Twenty-five firms in and about Attleborough give out chain to be hitched up, turned, soldered, or as- sembled at home. Linking or hitching up chain is the most important of the chain proc- esses. It is very easy or very difficult, depending upon the pattern and 1 See Plate II, figure 5, facing p. flO. 2 See Plate II, figure 9, facing p. f 0, showing the beginning of a ring mesh bag of 30 doubles. 3 See Plate II, figure 3, facing p. 90, showing a lock purse as it comes from the home worker. See Plate II, figure 7, facing p. 90, showing a punch purse ready for sale. 92 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS the size of the links. The simpler process can be readily learned; the more complicated, such as rope, requires six months' practice even in the factory. The necessary equipment for chain making is a pair of pliers (or two pairs) and a pad upon which to spread the links so that they may be readily picked up with the pliers. 1 Eope chain requires also fine wire which is wound around the chain as it is being made and holds it in place till it is soldered. 2 Some chain is linked in very long pieces which are afterwards cut into the required lengths in the factory or sold in large quantities uncut. Rope is hitched up into foot lengths which are mended (fastened together) in the factory, soldered, and then cut into the lengths required for necklaces, watch chains and other purposes. The links are weighed out to the workers so that any loss may easily be detected. Link- ing chain is clean and pleasant work ; it can be picked up at odd moments and dropped at any stage of progress; it can be carried from place to place, and in a jewelry community neighbors often visit as they link. Turning machine-made chain, usually block chain, is another opera- tion performed largely by home workers. 3 The links are turned to make the closings of two consecutive links come together so that two links may be soldered at once. This process is performed by hand and requires no skill. Though charging and soldering are usually done in the factory, this work is by some firms given out to agents, who do part of the soldering themselves with the aid of a charger, and give out part to such home workers as have the necessary equipment in their homes. Often the chain comes to the contractor in the greasy state in which it leaves the machine and must be cleaned in potash, rinsed in hot water, cut into the required lengths, and dipped into a borax solution to make it ready for soldering. Cutting before soldering wastes one link to a length, after soldering, two links. Block chain gets its name from the fact of its being laid upon a block to be soldered. A small piece of solder is placed, with pliers, upon each joining and heat applied from a gas blower. Either a foot bellows or an electric motor is used to furnish the pressure. When soldered the chain is stretched from a hook to test its strength, and is then ready to be returned to the factory for its silver coating. Rope chain also is sometimes soldered in the home. The chain is dipped into a solution containing potassium cyanide and then drawn through a hole in a plate to be made even. The ends of the wire with which the chain is wound in the making 1 See Plate III, figures 8 and 9, facing this page, showing rope chain and links of which it is made. 1 See Plate III, figure 7, facing this page, showing a necklace of fine rope chain. ' See Plate III, figures 1 and 2. PLATE III. Fig. 1. Machine-made chain, turned and sol- dered at home. Fig. 2. Machine-made block chain, turned at home. Fig. 3. End chain, linked at home. Fig. 4. Two-plier chain, linked at home. Fig. 5. Very difficult block chain, linked at home. Fig. 6. Pinch chain, linked at home. Fig. 7. Necklace of fine rope chain, linked at home. Fig. 8. Rope chain, linked at home. Fij. 9. Links of rope chain (figure 8). Fig. 10. Rope chain, linked at home. Fig. 11. Parts of a swivel, assembled at home. Fig. 12. Double curb chain (with link of same) linked at home. Fig. 13. Watch chain, assembled at home. REPORT ON JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE 93 are twisted into loops and each length fastened by these loops into a frame like a bow which holds the chain taut for soldering. The charger now puts upon each link joining a tiny piece of solder and the solderer applies the heat. To remove the black from the soldering, the chain is washed in boiling water and oil of vitriol. Finally it is looked over, mended, if necessary, and drawn again through the plate. Assembling of chain is another home operation and consists in putting on bars, drops, swivels, barrels, catches, and ornaments. 1 It requires no skill except the ready use of pliers. Kates of pay for home work on chain vary less than those on mesh bags because the demand for chain is less seasonal, the styles less frequently changed, and the work more skilled, for the most part, so that it is given out to only the more intelligent workers; while the value of the material makes it desirable to employ only reliable workers. The work is well paid because it is done mostly by Americans who are skilled workers and can not be replaced by foreigners. The rate depends largely upon the difficulty of the design and the fineness of the links. Gold chain often is paid for at a higher rate than brass chain of the same style. Rates of Pay for Home Work on Chain. 1. Linking, Single curb, $0. 01 a foot. Sometimes the chain is linked up plain and curbed in the factory afterwards, and some- times links are curbed in the factory first and left open just the right distance for linking. Solder link curb (linking and soldering), .... .05 afoot. This link is made of solder-filled wire and can be soldered without charging as the heat brings the solder out at the joining. Double curb, 2 $0.40 to .90 a 100 feet. Some firms send out single curb chain to be unhitched and "doubled" at home. Rope (unwired), 3 . . . . . . . .02 to .08 afoot. Some cheap grades of rope chain are made without wiring and soldering. Rope (linking and wiring), 06 to .17 afoot. Rope (unsoldered brass), 02 to .16 afoot. Rope (wiring only), .01 afoot. Linking and wiring are occasionally done by different workers. 1 See Plate III, figure 13, facing p. 92. * See Plate III, figure 12, facing p. 92. See Plate III, figure 10, facing p. 92. 94 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS Rope (linking, wiring, charging, and soldering), . $0.23 to $0.27 a foot. Rope graduates (9 inches) (unwired), . . . .08 to .10 afoot. Graduates are made of several sizes of links and taper from the center to the ends. They are more difficult to make than ordinary rope chain. Rope graduates (9| inches) (wired), .16 afoot. Vest chain (bright work) (9 inch with drop), ... .04 apiece. Bright work is made of links colored before being hitched up. Pinch, 1 01| to .20 afoot. Balloon, 06 to .16 afoot. Twoplier, 1 .04|afoot. Two pairs of pliers are used for this chain. Globe 08 to .12 afoot. Block (special style), 8 .05 afoot. This chain is very difficult to make. Little cubes of gold are inclosed in gold wire. End, '. .01| to .02 afoot. 2. Turning, Machine-made chain, . . . . . . .20 to .25 a 100 feet. Block (turning and soldering), .02 to .09 afoot. 3. Soldering, Block, 01 to .02^ a foot. Single curb, 00 J to .01 afoot. Rope (charging and soldering), .16 afoot. Rope (small graduates), .14 afoot. 4. Assembling, Putting on swivel and ornaments, .06 a dozen chains. Putting on barrel and catch, 20 a gross (150). Chain comes from abroad in 25 meter lengths. The ends must be pulled out till smooth links are left. Half links are then added to fasten the barrel and catch. Putting on bar and swivel, 15 a gross (150). Clipping and putting ring hi coat chain, . . . .25 a 100. (3) PAINTING ON ENAMEU Painting on enamel pins and brooches was reported as being done by home workers for seven jewelry manufacturers in Attleborough. This work is done through agents who have had training in painting in art schools or from private teachers. The agents make the designs and set See Plate III, figure 6, facing p. 02. 1 See Plate III, figure 4, facing p. 92. * See Plate III, figure 5, facing p. 92. REPORT ON JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE 95 the prices for the work. The firms send out to the agents the enameled articles to be painted and the agents do part of the painting in their own studios with the aid of assistants and give out part to home workers, most of whom they have trained by some weeks' experience in the studio. This work is quite easy for one who is artistically inclined, is well paid, rapidly done, and interesting. It is, however, dependent upon a fad which, according to one agent, is revived about once in seven years only. Paints, brushes, palette knives, and other equipment are such as are used in china painting. Very few colors are needed for the simple designs used on pins and brooches; these are usually pink or blue for the flowers, green for leaves, and yellow for centers. Rates of Pay for Home Work in Painting on Enamel. Veil pins, $O.OOHo$0.01 each. Cuff pins, .00| ea h. Buckles, 01 to .04 each. Sash pins, .03 each. Brooches, OOJ to .01 each. Pendants, .01^ each. (4) MISCELLANEOUS PROCESSES. In addition to work upon mesh bags, chain, and enameled articles there are various home-work processes upon jewelry which are insignificant if viewed separately, but assume some importance in the aggregate. Thirty- two firms reported such processes. Most of this work requires little or no skill and is connected with the cheapest grades of jewelry. A little stone setting is done by workers trained in the factory upon the better grade of jewelry, but most of it consists only in dropping imita- tion stones into their settings, with the fingers, and pressing down upon them the points of the settings with a small screw driver or similar tool ; while some of it is the mere child's play of dipping glass stones into glue and pasting them upon rings such as come in prize boxes of candy and pop-corn. 1 Cementing seed pearls on silver pins and silver and wooden- headed hatpins is another home-work process requiring little skill, the pearls being stuck into the cement till the surface is covered. 2 The rate of pay depends upon the size of the pin or hatpin. Beads are strung upon corset lacings with a long needle and a barrel is afterwards fastened to one tinned end of the lacing and a catch to the other. The beads are colored in the factory later. Beads known as fine 1 See Plate II, figure 2, facing p. 90. 2 See Plate II, figure 4, facing p. 90. 96 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS pearls are imported from Germany, already strung, in bunches of half a gross strings and given out to home workers who tie a barrel on one end of each string and a catch on the other with a close tight knot of the string. Other home-work processes may be passed with a mere mention, such as the assembling of metal fobs, 1 pin stemming, the making of watch charms, 2 slipping the springs and rings into swivels, 3 putting springs into cigar lighters, center wiring (or putting wires into rings to make catches on chains), fastening metal bands around "pearls" for stickpin heads, setting pictures in campaign buttons, carding collar buttons, and burnish- ing pearl pins. There are also several home-work processes upon optical goods, chiefly bending guards or finger pieces, ear loops, and temples for eye glasses, and knotting eye-glass cords and putting them into envelopes. The bending of the metal parts of eye glasses is done over a bench pin, with pliers, and re- quires some skill. Various sewing processes are carried on at home for jewelry firms such as making outing flannel bags to cover silverware, shirring pieces of dis- play ribbon in the center and cutting the ends, fringing display ribbon and making display bows, making velvet display rolls with the manu- facturer's name outlined upon them, sewing ribbon for badges ; sewing silk fobs, and making powder puffs for vanity cases. A few firms pay for this kind of work by the hour. Rates of Pay for Miscellaneous Home-work Processes. Stone setting, $0.01 a stone. Stone setting (bending down points), . . $0.05 to .10 a gross. Stone setting (with glue), 03 a gross (150). Cementing pearls on pins and hatpins, . . .08 to .30 a gross. Bead stringing, 05 to .25 a gross strings (150). Putting barrel and catch on beads, 25 a gross. Pin stemming, 10 to . 15 a gross. Turning backs of beauty pins, 03 a gross. Assembling metal fobs at $0.05 an operation, . . 45 to 1 . 50 a gross. Making charms, 50 to 1 . 35 a gross. Assembling swivels, 05 a gross. Putting springs into swivels, 12 a gross. Putting springs into cigar lighters, 02^ a 100. Center wiring, 10 a gross. Putting bands around "pearls", 03 a gross. Setting pictures in campaign buttons 05 a gross. 1 See Plate II, figures 6 and 8, facing p. 90. * See Plate II, figure 1, facing p. 90. > See Plate III, figure 11, facing p. 92. REPORT ON JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE 97 Carding collar buttons, $0. 01 f a gross. Burnishing pearl pins, . ... SO . 14 to . 30 a gross. Bending nose guards, 20 to . 25 a 100. Bending ear loops, 10 a 100. Bending temples, 20 a 100. Knotting eye-glass cords, 15 to . 17 a gross. Shirring and cutting display ribbon, 20 a roll (80 pieces). Fringing display ribbon, 05 a dozen. Making display bows, 03 a dozen. Making and outlining velvet display rolls, . . . .25 each. Sewing ribbon for badges, 01 each. Sewing ribbon on fobs and cutting ends, . . . 25 to . 65 a gross. Sewing (various operations), 15 to 17| an hour. In the main, home work upon Jewelry and Silverware is not delete- rious from the standpoint of the health of the worker. Some processes, such as hitching up and soldering fine chain, assembling metal fobs, and making fine mesh, are, however, hard upon the eyes. Charms sometimes cut the fingers so that bandages must be worn. Those workers who depend upon their home work for partial support (chiefly purse makers) complain that the many hours of work after the household duties are performed and the consequent lack of out-door exercise tell upon their general health. Parents are not willing to admit that their children are harmed by this work, hut neighborhood stories of the injurious effects of forced work and night work on the part of a few children of poor parents seem to be confirmed by the unhealthy appearance of the children themselves. It was difficult to determine the number of home workers in Jewelry and Silverware because very often the names on the pay-rolls represented group workers, and because most of the work was done through contrac- tors, many of whom kept no records of workers or the amounts paid them and one-half of whom lived outside of Massachusetts. The total of 9,702 home workers was made up from pay-rolls, reports of manufacturers and contractors, and estimates of the number employed by contractors. The 9,025 mesh workers made up more than nine-tenths (93.0 per cent) of the whole number; workers on miscellaneous processes take second place (337) ; chain workers, third (315) ; and painters on enamel last (25). C. Relation of Home Work to Factory Work. The relation of home work to factory work in respect to numbers em- ployed and wages paid is shown in the following table. Complete data were available for 41 firms and these only are included in the table. 98 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS TABLE 40. Relation of Home Work to Factory Work in Jewelry and Silverware Establishments Employing Home Workers. Factory and Home Workers. PROCESSES. Number of Estab- lishments Total Number of Workers Total Labor Cost Jewelry and Silverware. Mesh bags 41 10 12,948 9838 $2,205,890 662 791 Chain, . . 18 1,659 923,362 Painting on enamel, 3 224 129 597 Miscellaneous processes 10 1,227 490,140 Factory Workers. PROCESSES. WORKERS WAGES Numbers Percent- ages Amounts Paid in Wages a Year Percent- ages Jewelry and Silverware. MAR!) bags 3,246 813 1,344 199 890 25.1 8.3 81.0 88.8 72.5 $2,015,034 516,512 896,872 128,784 472,866 91.3 77.9 97.1 99.4 96.5 Chain, V . Miscellaneous processes Home Workers. Jewelry and Silverware. Mesh bags. 9,702 9 025 74.9 91 7 $190,856 146,279 8.7 22 1 Chain, 315 19.0 26,490 2.9 25 11.2 813 0.6 Miscellaneous processes, 337 27.5 17,274 3.5 D. The Labor Supply. The problem of home work assumes some importance in an industry where 74.9 per cent of the total number of workers are home workers who receive only 8.7 per cent of the total amount paid in wages. The relative importance of home work in mesh bags is evident from the fact that while other classes of home workers comprise but a small proportion of the total number of workers, more than nine-tenths of the labor force of mesh-bag manufacturers is outside labor. The army of over 9,000 mesh-bag makers can not be martialed from the immediate vicinity of the factories employing them. A few firms give out work directly to factory employees, their friends and relatives, and other persons living near enough to call for the work, but most of the workers are secured through contractors and at least one-half of them live in Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Some mesh has been sent to workers in Maine and even as far away as Nebraska. When the mesh bag business first came into prominence manufacturers paid agents REPORT ON JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE 99 in Providence, Newark, Attleborough, and elsewhere to establish schools for teaching the work. There was a charge of one dollar to the learner. The workers so taught gave lessons to friends and neighbors till whole communities understood the work. Contractors now find plenty of workers among friends and neighbors except in the busy season from August or September to Christmas when they are obliged to resort to various devices to obtain the desired number of workers such as advertising and sending agents to new communities. There are a few steady workers favored by the contractors and given the best paying work, but the majority shift from firm to firm and from contractor to contractor. Chain workers, numerically insignificant in comparison with mesh workers, are, as a rule, employed more steadily during the year and some- times year after year by the same firms. Linkers of the better grades of chain are very largely former chain makers in the factory or their friends and relatives whom they have taught. A firm very seldom advertises for linkers unless it is just starting in business. The supply of trained workers is still adequate but not sufficiently large to materially lower rates of pay as has been done in the case of the rates for mesh bags. The 25 women who paint on enamel at home are employed through contractors who have no difficulty in securing workers from acquaintances and applicants. There is scarcely any shift among these workers. Work- ers on miscellaneous articles are usually employed directly by the firms and the supply is sufficient except in country districts. Some manufac- turers say that they give out work to old employees who can no longer come to the factory because of ill health, age, or family cares and that they always give the preference to those who need work. These statements seem to be confirmed by interviews with their workers. E. Reasons for Home Work. The reasons given for the employment of home instead of factory labor are lack of floor space in the factory, the seasonal character of the demand for the product, the inadequacy of the local supply of labor, and the difficulty of supervising so many workers as would be needed in the rush season. Some manufacturers give the added reason that it is a charity to provide work for the many women who need the money but can not leave home to come to the factory. No manufacturer of mesh bags reported the employment of home labor for more than 10 years and most of them have begun outside work within seven years. In spite of the invention of mesh machines which will doubtless ultimately do away with home work on ring and punch purses, the amount of home work on these articles seems to be increasing. 100 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS On the other hand, although outside labor on chain has been long established in the industry, there is no indication that it is increasing in amount. It is probable that ultimately machines will take the place of chain makers of all kinds of chain, but no machine has yet been invented for some of the more difficult kinds of chain and these are still made by home linkers. Rope chain is the most important of these. Home work reduces the labor cost of its production. It can be imported at the price paid here for labor only, but the rope chain made by intelligent American women is superior in quality to that made in the Black Forest where children do the linking and charging and adults do only the soldering. Unsoldered brass chain is also still made at home because it can be done more cheaply outside than inside the factory. Painting on enamel is not, strictly speaking, a jewelry process and the factories are not equipped for such work nor are the employees trained for it. As it is dependent upon a style which soon passes, it is cheaper for the manufacturers to have it done outside by those who have the proper training and equipment than to introduce the necessary equipment and workers into their factories. As work on miscellaneous processes is mostly unskilled and can be done without factory supervision, it is done more cheaply in the home than in the factory. This is especially true of those processes upon which whole families, including young children, are employed. F. Method of Distribution. Workers almost invariably call for their work and return it to the factory or to the office or residence of the contractor. There are no charges for transportation except an occasional car fare. The contracting system is a unique feature of the Jewelry and Silverware industry in Massachusetts, and especially in the mesh bag business as may be seen from the following table. TABLE 41. Contractors for Jewelry and Silverware Manufacturers. KIND or WORK DONE THROUGH CONTRACTORS. Total Number of Con- tractors i NUMBER OF CONTRACTORS IN- TERVIEWED IN NUMBER OF CONTRACTORS NOT INTERVIEWED IN Massa- chusetts Rhode Island Massa- chusetts Rhode Island Con- necticut New Jersey All Processes. Making mesh bags Linking, turning, and soldering chain, Painting on enamel, .... Stone setting, 100 88 9 2 24 13 8 2 1 26 25 25 25 19 19 4 4 2 2 1 All but two contractors reported are women. ' One chain and three mesh contractors employing workers living in Massachusetts bring the total number of contractors who employed Massachusetts workers up to 28. REPORT ON JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE 101 Almost nine-tenths of the contractors in the industry handle mesh. The contract system developed when the sudden demand for purses made it impossible for firms to secure workers enough in their own vicinity and it has increased with the increase in business. It relieves the manufac- turer of the annoyance of dealing with the individual workers, of the difficulty of supervising their work, and of the necessity of keeping rec- ords of their earnings. By this system the territory from which workers may be drawn is largely extended. Several firms have 50 contractors or more. Some of these are themselves workers who carry a little work to relatives or friends in their immediate vicinity; others have a room in their homes set aside for receiving workers and giving out mesh; still others have regular offices, pay from $10 to $15 a month for advertising and as much for express, pay out to home workers in the rush season from $35 to $75 daily, carry a heavy insurance, handle from one to two tons of mesh a year, and make an annual profit of $4,000 or $5,000. The average expense to the contractor is about three cents a bag and the usual profit is five cents a bag. The large contractors do business for several firms both in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and most of them have sub-contractors. The manufacturers establish the rate of pay and the con- tractors get the work done as cheaply as possible and make what profit they can. Only two were reported as working on salary. Certain con- tractors do their best to keep the price up for their workers, but many are accused of undercutting, which is said to be responsible in part for the rapidly declining rates of pay. All but two of the contractors found in this industry were women, nearly all married women and housekeepers. In almost all cases, mesh contractors pay express one way. Nine contractors, all women, were found handling chain for eight factories. The contractors call for the light work at the factory but the firms usually deliver to the contractors the heavy chain to be turned and soldered, paying either one-half or all of the transportation charges. The contractors for enamel painting make sample patterns which they submit to the manufacturers for approval or revision. Rose, daisy, violet, or forget-me-not designs may be adapted to various styles and sizes of pins and brooches to suit the demands of different firms. The contractors set the price for this work, but sometimes lower it upon protest from the manufacturer. They entirely control the price paid the workers. "No transportation charges for workers or contractors were reported. Some- times firms deliver the work to the contractors and sometimes the contrac- tors call for it. 102 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS G. The Worker. (1) INTRODUCTORY. A detailed study of the workers on Jewelry and Silverware does not confirm the popular impression that all home work is an occupation of our foreign population whose low standards of living make them willing to accept very low wages and whose unsanitary surroundings spell danger to the consumer of their product. The jewelry industry is centered in a locality largely American where the coming in of foreigners has been re- sisted and resented. It was, therefore, not surprising to find that over two-thirds (69.3 per cent) of the home workers in this industry were native-born and that many of them were of the same social status as their employers. Of the foreign-born considerably over one-half (62.3 per cent) were Canadians, largely French; Southern Europeans were represented by only a few workers. The demand for cheap labor to meet the greatly reduced prices of mesh bags is, however, resulting in the employment of more and more purse makers in communities of foreign population and in sending more and more work outside Massachusetts, especially to Khode Island. (2) SEX AKD AGE. The following table shows the predominance of girls and women among the home workers in this industry. TABLE 42. Sex and Age of Home Workers on Jewelry and Silverware. AGE GROUPS. MALES FEMALES BOTH SEXES Number Percent- ages i Number Percent- ages i Number Percent- ages i AH Ages. Under five years. Five years and under 10, 10 years and under 14, 14 years and under 16, 16 years and under 18, 18 years and under 21, . 21 years and under 25, 25 4 6 4 2 2 1 4 100.0 21.1 31.5 21.1 10.5 10.5 5.3 250 2 7 19 9 4 8 17 34 27 27 33 19 12 8 7 17 a 100.0 .9 3.0 8.1 3.9 1.7 3.4 7.3 14.6 11.6 11.6 14.2 8.1 5.2 3.4 3.0 273 2 11 25 13 4 8 17 36 27 27 35 19 12 8 8 21 100.0 .8 4.4 9.9 5.2 1.6 3.2 6.7 14.2 10.7 10.7 13.9 7.5 4.8 3.2 3.2 30 years and under 35, 35 years and under 40, 40 years and under 45, 45 years and under 50, 55 years and under 60, 60 years and over, Age not reported. 1 The percentages are baaed on the number of home workers whose ages were reported. * Includes five females under 16 years of age, but whose exact ape was not reported. REPORT ON JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE 103 (3) SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. Although there was practically no interference with the school attend- ance of children under 14 years of age, who constitute 15.1 per cent of the home workers in this industry, as contrasted with 21.3 per cent for all industries, there was some complaint from grade teachers that children employed at night upon home work were listless and dull in school. These children were mostly from the French-Canadian families. Most of the children worked only during the summer vacations, or for an hour after school. It is probable that more children of high-school age would be doing home work but for the fact that many of the girls and still more of the boys work in jewelry factories after the close of school and all day Saturday. The following table shows that the problem of child labor in reference to school attendance is not a serious one. TABLE 43. School Attendance of Home Workers on Jewelry and Silverware: By Sex and Age. NUMBER OP NUMBER OP NUMBER OF MALES FEMALES BOTH SEXES AGE GROUPS. In Not in In Not in In Not in School School School School School School Under 18 Years. II _ 36 10 50 10 Under five years Five years and under 10, 4 - 1 7 1 11 1 10 years and under 14, 6 _ 18 1 24 1 14 years and under 16 4 _ 7 2 11 2 16 years and under 18 _ _ 4 _ 4 Under 16 years, exact age not reported, . ~ 3 2 3 2 (4) EARNINGS AND INCOME. (a) Annual Earnings from Home Work. The following tables show the earnings for the year preceding the date of obtaining the pay-rolls for 111 individual home workers and 40 groups of from two to six home workers, and for 56 individuals and groups who received payments during nine months or more of the year, for which in- formation was obtained. 104 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS TABLE 44. Number of Families of Home Workers Earning Each Classified Amount a Year: Jewelry and Silverware. NUMBER OP WORKERS IN FAMILIES. Total Num- ber of Fami- lies Num- ber re- port- ing Earn- ings NUMBER OF FAMILIES EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT A YEAR Less than 825 $25 to $49.99 $50 to $99.99 $100 to $149.99 $150 to $199.99 $200 to $249.99 $250 to $299.99 $300 and over All Families. One worker, Two workers, Three workers, Four workers, Five workers, Six workers, 197 153 24 13 3 3 1 151 111 22 12 3 2 1 69 55 8 4 2 18 13 2 2 30 23 5 2 17 9 2 3 2 1 4 3 1 4 2 2 4 3 1 5 1 1 Families of Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Families. _ 56 1 6 22 14 2 4 3 4 One worker, _ 35 1 4 17 6 1 2 2 2 Two workers. _ 13 _ 1 5 2 2 1 1 Three workers, _ 5 _ 1 3 _ 1 Four workers, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Five workers, _ 2 _ _ _ 2 _ _ _ _ Six workers, - 1 - - - 1 - - - - TABLE 45. Percentage of Families of Home Workers Earning kss than Specified Amount a Year: Jewelry and Silverware. NUMBER OF WORKERS IN FAMILIES. Total Num- ber of Fami- lies Num- ber re- port- ing Earn- ings PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES EARNING A YEAR Less than $25 Less than $50 Less than $100 Less than $150 Less than $200 Less than $250 Less than $300 Less than $350 All Families. One worker, Two workers, Three workers, Four workers, Five workers, Six workers, 197 153 24 13 3 3 1 151 111 22 12 3 2 1 45.7 49.5 36.4 33.3 66.7 57.6 61.3 45.5 50.0 100.0 77.5 82.0 68.2 66.7 100.0 88.7 90.1 77.3 91.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 91.4 92.8 81.8 91.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 94.0 94.6 90.9 91.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 96.7 97.3 95.5 91.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 99.5 99.1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Families of Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Families. _ 56 1.8 12.5 51.8 76.8 80.4 87.5 92.9 98.6 One worker, _ 35 2.9 14.3 62.9 80.0 82.9 88.6 94.3 97.1 Two workers, _ 13 7.7 46.2 61.5 69.2 84.6 92.3 100.0 Three workers, _ 5 _ 20.0 20.0 80.0 80.0 80.0 80.0 100.0 Four workers, _ _ _ B- _ _ _ _ _ Five workers, _ 2 _ _ _ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Six workers, - 1 - - - 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Almost one-half of the individuals and groups of home workers on jewelry earned less than $25, and almost nine-tenths of them earned less than $150. Even of those who worked for nine months or more over one-half earned less than $100 and none as much as $400. It is evident REPORT ON JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE 105 that only in the case of a few individuals could life be sustained on these earnings. They are, as a rule, comparatively small additions to the family incomes, over one-half of which are $1,000 or more. (&) Incomes from All Sources. The following table shows that the amount contributed by home work to the family incomes is in most cases inconsiderable. TABLE 46. Annual Earnings of Families from Home Work on Jewelry and Silverware and Incomes from Other Sources. NUMBER HAVING ANNUAL INCOME EXCLUSIVE OF HOME WORK OP ANNUAL EARNINGS FROM HOME WORK. Totals $250 and under $500 $500 and under $750 $750 and under $1,000 $1,000 and under $1,250 $1,250 and over Income not Re- ported All Families. 197 3 23 47 34 44 46 Under 125, 69 1 9 15 13 15 16 $25 and under $50, ... 18 2 2 5 6 3 $50 and under $100, 30 4 7 4 6 $100 and under $150, 17 - 3 2 3 5 $150 and under $200, 4 _ 1 1 _ 1 $200 and under $250, 4 - - - $250 and under $300, 4 _ _ 3 _ _ $300 and under $350, 4 - - - 2 $350 and under $400, 1 .. 1 _ M Earnings not reported, 46 - 3 13 8 9 13 (c) Hourly Earnings. The amount which an ordinary worker can make in an hour at the present rates of pay is significant in determining whether or not, by steady employment, a home worker in this industry could earn a living wage. The number of home workers on Jewelry and Silverware from whom in- formation as to hourly earnings was secured was 160. Of this number about one-fourth (25.6 per cent) earned less than eight cents an hour, about one-third (32.5 per cent) earned 14 cents an hour and over, and 41.9 per cent earned between eight and 14 cents an hour. The most usual rate of 10 cents an hour is a high one for home work and would permit an individual working nine hours a day to make a living. (5) EXTENT AND CAUSES OF NON-EMPLOYMENT. The following table shows the number of families for whom pay-rolls were obtained who were idle for the specified causes for the specified periods. 106 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS TABLE 47. Extent and Causes of Non-employment for Families of Home Workers on Jewelry and Silverware. NUMBEB NOT EMPLOYED Number who Number Started CAUSES OF NON-EMPLOYMENT. Totals Em- T Months Less than Three Months Three Months and Less than Six Six Months and Less than Nine Nine Months and Less than 12 Months not Stated Home Work after begin- ning of Year All Causes. 197 31 20 31 33 35 21 26 Enforced idleness due to an in- dustrial cause, . 86 _ 17 2S 19 15 12 _ Dull season, 84 - 17 23 19 13 12 - Other employment, . 2 - - - - 2 - - Illness 7 1 S S Voluntary idleness. S3 _ 2 6 9 15 _ Started home work after beginning of year 26 26 Employed twelve months, SI SI - _ - - - - Causes not reported. 14 ~ ** 3 2 2 7 m The cause of non-employment in nearly one-half of the instances re- ported was industrial. The seasonal character of the mesh hag business accounts in large measure for the high percentage of workers who were idle three months or more. The voluntarily idle include children who make purses only during vacations and adults who work only for Christ- mas money or who stop work for the spring and autumn house-cleaning and sewing or go into the factory for part of the year. (6) WORKING CONDITIONS. From the consumers' standpoint the conditions under which the work is done are of little importance because almost all the articles taken into the homes are afterwards cleaned or colored at the factory. For the housekeeper the kitchen table is often the most convenient place for the home work which she picks up at odd moments. To this, she screws her bench pin, and on this she spreads out her links or parts to be assembled. The kitchens of these workers were found to be usually large and well ventilated, warm in Winter, and one-half of the workers reported doing their work there. More than one-fourth (29.5 per cent) of the workers, especially chain linkers, did their work in any room convenient at the moment. One enamel painter had a regular work room. There is, then, nothing about this industry to necessitate working under unsanitary con- ditions and the homes in a large majority of instances were found to be in most satisfactory condition, and in none was there overcrowding. REPORT ON JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE 107 (7) SUMMAEY. The main findings may be summarized as follows: (1) The majority of the home workers on Jewelry and Silverware were native married women not dependent upon home work for a living. (2) Few children engaged in this work to an injurious extent. (3) While annual earnings were small, the hourly earnings of the skilled workers were sufficient to enable the home worker to earn a living wage if steady employment were given. Rates on mesh bags are, how- ever, rapidly decreasing and few workers could make a living at purse making. (4) There is small menace to worker or consumer from the sanitary conditions of the homes in which the work is carried on. 108 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS 3. PAPER GOODS BY CAROLINE E. WILSON A. Introductory. The paper goods industry of Massachusetts is distributed among 165 factories located in various sections of the Commonwealth, but principally in the eastern portion and in the Connecticut Valley. Of the 46 estab- lishments visited, seven reported home work. The principal products are boxes, labels and tags, stationery, and novelties. Four factories which produce confectionery supplies, boxes, tags, and novelties are included in the present study. B. Processes and Rates of Fay. Home work on Paper Goods is almost entirely hand-work. The simplest process, tag stringing, is entirely unskilled. 1 The operation is practically the same for all tags from small jewelry and cut glass tags to heavy shoe and baggage tags. 2 A string is looped through the eye of the tag, leaving the ends ready for tying. Stringing jewelry tags is more difficult, owing to the use of fine silk with which they are strung. The work on " spangled tags " is the only instance of machine home work on Paper Goods. 8 " Spangles " are small four-pronged metal caps which are to be fastened in the ends of small parchment tags. The tags come in long strips partially cut out. The worker puts the tag and the cap in the proper places in a machine which is worked by a foot treadle. One movement of the foot treadle clinches two prongs to the tag and leaves two others for fastening the tag to articles. The process is slow and re- quires accuracy. The machines are owned and kept in repair by the manufacturers. Seven of the workers have had them in their homes for several years. Owing to the fatigue caused by the monotony of perform- ing the same process an infinite number of times, tag stringing is fre- quently described as " nervous work." Workers also report that it is hard on the eyes, and that fewer children would need glasses if there were no work on tags. Making boxes is done by former employees who have been specially trained for the purpose. The boxes sent to the home are ring, jewelry, and coin boxes. The worker is provided with paste, glue, brushes, and i See Plate IV, facing this page; figures 7 and 14, Christmas tags. See Plate IV, facing this page; figure 11, baggage tag. 1 See Plate IV, facing this page; figure 4, dry-goods tag; figure 5, spangled tag, front and back; figure 10, jewelry tag. PLATE IV. Fig. 1. Skewer, made at home. Figs. 2 and 3. Flags, assembled at home. Fig. . Dry goods tag, strung at home. Fig. . Spangled tags, front and back, made at home. Fig. . Frill for chop. Figs, and 14. Christmas tags, strung at home. Fig. . Tennis ball, sewed at home. Fig. . Baseball, sewed at home. Fig. 10. Jewelry tag, strung at home. Fig. 11. Baggage tag, strung at home. Fig. 12. Whip snap, knotted at home. Fig. 13. End of teaming whip, braided at home. REPORT ON PAPER GOODS 109 molds of various sizes by the manufacturer, and uses a special workshop table upon which the materials are spread. Pasteboard frames, cut and marked, and paper already cut are sent from the factory. The worker fits the frames over the mold and pastes the paper covering over the bottom and sides. The top is made in the same way. If the box is to be hinged, the worker pastes heavy pieces of paper from the inside of the top to the inside of the bottom of the box. The boxes are sent back to the factory for the linings. Drop fronts for fancy boxes are made from pasteboard with red, gold, and flowered coverings. The process of making paper flowers is exceedingly complicated, and varies with the kind of flower made. The making of the carnation is perhaps typical. The parts of the flower are cut out at the factory. The home worker wraps a long wire stem in green paper, fastens to it a green calyx, and surrounds the calyx with numerous folded petals. Cloves are pounded and put at the base of the petals in order to give the flower a fragrance. Buds and leaves are wound in near the base of the stem. Other work in the homes includes fancy red and white bells made by pasting fringed tissue paper to buckram frames; frills for chops, wound around and pasted together ; l paper flags, cut out and pasted on sticks or pins ; 2 paper napkins, folded so as to bring the decorated corners out- side; cardboard with tissue paper coverings on which jewelry is to be displayed; jewelers' mats of plush and velvet for show cases; and caps to be put inside costume crackers. The workers using fancy paper com- plained of the tiresome effect of red paper on the eye. The eye-strain is so soon felt that they are not able to work on red continuously for any length of time. Rates of Pay. Tags, $0.06 to $0.20 a 1,000. Boxes, . 12 to 2.50 a gross. Drop fronts, 25 to .69 a 100. Flowers, 10 to .30 a dozen. Bells, .20 to .50 a dozen. Frills, 30 a 1,000. Flags, 25 to 1.50 a 1,000. Napkins, 20 to .40 a 1,000. Jewelry tissues, 05 a 100. Jewelry mats, 68 to .75 a dozen. Caps, .23 a 100. 1 See Plate IV, facing p. 108; figure 1, akewer; figure 6, frill for chop. * See Plate IV, facing p. 108; figures 2 and 3, flags. 110 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS C. The Labor Supply. The supply of home workers on Paper Goods more than exceeded the demand, except in one case where the local supply had been exhausted. The exception was a town in which between five and six hundred families strung tags or did some other kind of paper goods work. The manufac- turer in this town found it necessary to establish sub-stations in other towns in order to secure a sufficient supply of home workers. The exact number of home workers in this industry could not be ascertained. Between 1,500 and 2,000 names appeared upon the pay- rolls ; but in many instances a single name represented a group of workers, so that the number at work was appreciably greater than the pay-rolls indicated. The workers were recruited in part from former employees and their families and friends; a factory employee may become handi- capped for factory work and still be able to do home work; or a woman employee may marry and wish to continue her work at home. Some- times a former employee who has been an especially good worker is favored with rush or special orders by her former foreman. Factory employees sometimes take work home for themselves or their families when leaving the factory. In one factory where this is not allowed it is neces- sary for other members of the family to go after the materials. Informa- tion concerning a demand for additional workers spreads so quickly that the need is supplied almost immediately. One contractor at a sub-station where the work is irregular reported that his method was to announce to two or three of his workers that a consignment of tags was expected on the following day ; these workers spread the news so effectually that more than a sufficient number were on hand when the tags arrived. The staple articles of this industry are in constant demand. The orders for tags, always strong and comparatively steady, have been in- creased by the establishment of the parcel post far beyond any point known in recent years. Nevertheless, slight variations occur. One of the sub-stations obtained only an intermittent supply of work lasting for a few weeks or as long as six months. When tags are being distributed, each home worker is required to take out work every night unless she can fur- nish a good excuse. Failure to do this causes the worker to lose her number, and with it her chance to secure work for some time to come. In certain towns on Cape Cod tag stringing has been done regularly for nearly 60 years, except in the cranberry season and during the summer months when the demand for servants comes from the cottages and summer hotels, and then tag stringing is temporarily abandoned. At this season REPORT ON PAPER GOODS 111 the manufacturer can make good the deficiency by sending work to sub- stations where there are school children having their vacations. The irregularities in the supply of home work are confined mainly to the rush and special orders for the fancy articles which can not be antici- pated. Some of the articles, such as favors, lose their freshness and must be made for immediate use. The rush for Christmas boxes and novelties brings abundant work for several months, and then ceases entirely. The supply of labor is so large that irregularities coming from the workers, such as the abandonment of home work for work in the stores in the holiday season or vacations, have little effect upon the industry. As a rule it is that part of the process which is simple and easily performed by hand which is done in the homes. Tag making in particular lends itself easily to home work, as it requires little teaching and no supervision. Nevertheless, machines for tag stringing are already in use in the factory, and it is possible that at no distant time the process will no longer be carried on in the homes. D. Method of Distribution. Work was distributed to the homes in two ways: Directly from the factory and indirectly through contractors. Only one of the paper goods factories employed contractors or middlemen to distribute materials. The six connected with this firm had various business agreements with the manufacturer. Two received regular salaries; in this case the manufac- turer was responsible for the contractor's office or the " tag-shop," and the running expenses. One contractor received a commission for every 1,000 tags handled, the firm maintaining the office. The other three contractors were also on commission, but were responsible for the expenses of carry- ing on their part of the business. The manufacturer delivered and col- lected the tags handled by each contractor. The tags were then called for by the worker at the contractor's shop at times specified by him. One of the contractors received a fresh supply of tags every afternoon, gave them out to the workers about four o'clock, and required that they be brought back before nine the next morning. This contractor refused to give tags to persons who had to pay car fare, his reason being that " they would lose money on it." Rates of pay for home work were determined by the manufacturer. E. The Worker. Home-work processes on Paper Goods offer a wide opportunity for the labor of the unskilled, the aged, and the very young. To be sure, several skilled processes are included among those which have previously been 112 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS described; but these are in the minority, and in Paper Goods, probably to a greater extent than in any of the other industries included in the present study, the unskilled and untrained workers predominate. The simplicity of the processes and the ease with which they can be performed explain to a large extent the striking fact of the age composition of the paper goods workers the large number of young children and aged persons who have become home workers. (1) SEX AND AGE. The following table shows the predominance of children and women among the home workers in this industry. TABLE 48. Sex and Age of Home Workers on Paper Goods. AGE GROUPS. MALES FEMALES BOTH SEXES Number Percent- ages 1 Number Percent- ages 1 Number Percent- ages 1 All Ages. Under five years, Fire years and under 10 10 years and under 14 14 years and under 16 16 years and under 18, 304 1 72 100 33 15 9 9 4 1 7 5 2 5 38 100.0 0.4 27.1 37.6 12.4 5.6 3.4 3.4 1.5 0.4 2.6 1.9 1.1 0.7 1.9 608 7 71 97 49 30 27 20 21 20 36 33 23 9 8 27 M30 100.0 1.5 14.9 20.3 10.2 6.3 5.6 .2 .4 .2 .5 .9 .8 .9 .7 .6 912 8 143 197 82 45 36 29 25 21 43 38 26 9 10 32 168 100.0 1.1 19.2 26.5 11. 6.0 4.8 3.9 3.4 2.8 5.8 5.1 3.5 1.3 1.3 4.3 21 years and under 25, 25 years and under 30, 35 years and under 40 45 years and under 50, 50 years and under 55 55 years and under 60, 60 years and over, Age not reported, 1 The percentages in this table are calculated on the basis of the number reporting. * Includes one female under 16 years of age, but whose exact age was not reported. In all the industries combined, about one-fifth of the home workers were children under 14. The surprising degree to which children of paper goods workers have taken up the occupation, or have been forced into it, is indicated by the fact that three-fourths of all the children found doing home work were in this industry and made up nearly one-half of all the persons working on Paper Goods. The work which is given to the children is usually not difficult, but it is mechanical and monotonous and means the loss of the out-of-door play-time which is almost indispensable for growing children. The children begin work as soon as school closes in the afternoon and many of them are kept at work until long after the hour when children in more well-to-do families are asleep. REPORT ON PAPER GOODS 113 Old people seldom compete with the nimble-fingered children in string- ing tags, but they adapt themselves easily to some of the simpler opera- tions on other articles. Several elderly men were found folding paper napkins, and two elderly women in a small town near Boston worked 10 hours a day making paper flowers. The latter lived in a comfortable home, but old age had left them without a sufficient source of income; they were too old to go " into the world " to earn money, as they said, and they apparently worked quite cheerfully the long hours which were neces- sary to make their incomes anything beyond a mere pittance. (2) SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. The following table shows the number of children under 18 years of age, by age groups, attending and not attending school. TABLE 49. School Attendance of Home Workers on Paper Goods: By Age and Sex. AGE GROUPS. NUMBER OP MALES NUMBER OP FEMALES NUMBER OF BOTH SEXES In School Not in School In School Not in School In School Not in School Under 18 Tears. Under five years Five years and under 10, 10 years and under 14, 14 years and under 16, 16 years and under 18, Under 16 years, exact age not reported, . 196 70 100 22 4 25 1 2 11 11 206 68 05 36 6 1 49 7 3 2 13 24 402 138 195 58 10 1 74 8 5 2 24 35 Fortunately, home work on Paper Goods seldom involves absence from school. Very few children were found out of school at the time when the agents visited the homes, and nearly all of these had the excuse of tem- porary illness. Apparently no children were kept out of school for the sole purpose of doing home work, although several of the " sick " chil- dren were busily engaged on some of the simpler processes when the visits were made. The ill effects lie mainly in the physical and mental lassitude which seems to be an almost invariable effect of home work upon growing children. This increasing inactivity as the busy seasons in Paper Goods progress is the very general problem of the public school teachers in the towns where home work is common. In the age-group, under 16, boys and girls were found in nearly equal numbers; while women made up more than three-fourths of the home workers 16 years of age and over in this industry. The men who are listed 114 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS in the tables were nearly all working men, who helped on the paper goods work only in the evening. They seldom worked steadily and rarely had long hours to give to the task. It was the women, particularly married women with homes of their own, who were found in home work in the greatest numbers. For the wife of a factory worker the busiest hours of the day are in the morning, and at night when the men come home from work. Several hours in the middle of the day can usually be utilized for such simple processes as tag stringing, which can be taken up or put aside at a moment's notice. Several of the workers seemed to have a box of tags always beside them, so that not a minute might be lost. The woman home worker living away from home, or " the woman adrift " as she has come to be called, is very seldom found doing home work of this kind. The rates of pay are so low that the impossibility of making a living from them must be apparent at the start, and the woman who has her own way to make seeks out other occupations. Instead, it is the wife or mother of a factory worker, with a regular weekly wage com- ing into the family, who utilizes home work to afford a small margin for those things which otherwise the family must do without. Occasionally the woman home worker is herself a factory employee. One such instance was found in a thrifty family in a small town, in which the father, the only male member of the family, had been an invalid for several years, and the three grown daughters had taken his place in the support of the family by working in a nearby factory. In the evening they joined the mother and father in doing home work on fancy paper articles. (3) EARNINGS AND INCOMES. (a) Annual Earnings from Home Work. The rates of pay for the various articles were so low that even with fairly steady work, the annual earnings for individual workers seemed exceedingly small, and were, in fact, decidedly lower than in most of the other industries under consideration. The following tables show the number and percentage of individual home workers and groups of home workers who earned the specified annual amounts during the year pre- ceding the date pay-rolls were obtained. REPORT ON PAPER GOODS 115 TABLE 50. Number of Families of Home Workers on Paper Goods Earning each Classified Amount a Year. NUMBER OF WORKERS IN FAMILIES. Total Num- ber of Fam- Num- ber re- port- ing Earn- NUMBER or FAMILIES EARNING A YEAR Less than $25 to $50 to $100 to $150 to $200 to $250 to $300 and ings $25 $49.99 $99.99 $149.99 $199.99 $249.99 $299.99 over All Families. 296 247 68 62 50 28 20 7 7 5 One worker, 78 62 18 13 11 9 7 2 1 1 Two workers. 60 46 13 13 12 6 1 1 Three workers, 39 34 12 5 7 7 2 1 _ Four workers, 50 46 16 13 10 1 4 _ 2 Five workers, 39 31 5 11 3 2 5 3 2 Six workers, 14 13 1 5 4 1 2 _ Seven workers. 11 11 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 Eight workers, Nine workers. 4 1 3 1 1 2 ~ 1 Families of Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Families. _ 126 2 25 35 26 19 7 7 5 One worker, _ 34 I 8 7 7 7 2 1 1 Two workers, . _ 29 1 9 11 6 1 1 Three workers, . _ 17 2 5 7 2 1 _ Four workers, . _ 20 _ 6 7 1 4 _ 2 Five workers, . _ 13 _ 2 2 4 3 2 Six workers, _ 5 _ _ 2 2 _ Seven workers, . _ 5 _ _ 1 1 _ 1 1 1 Eight workers, . Nine workers, . : 2 1 : : 2 : 1 TABLE 51. Percentage of Families of Home Workers on Paper Goods Earning less than Specified Amount a Year. rp . | Num- PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES EARNING A YEAR NUMBER OF WORKERS IN FAMILIES. lotal Num- ber of T?om ber re- port- ing Less Less Less Less Less Less Less Less J? 8,1X1- ;i;_ Earn- than than than than than than than than ilies ings $25 $50 $100 $150 $200 $250 $300 $350 All Families. 296 247 27.5 52.6 72.9 84.2 92.3 95.1 98.0 99.2 One worker. 78 62 29.0 50.0 67.7 82.3 93.5 96.8 98.4 100.0 Two workers, 60 46 28.3 56.5 82.6 95.7 97.8 97.8 97.8 97.8 Three workers, 39 34 35.3 50.0 70.6 91.2 97.1 100.0 100.0 100.0 Four workers, 50 46 34.8 63.0 84.8 87.0 95.7 95.7 95.7 97.8 Five workers, 39 31 16.1 51.6 61.3 67.7 83.9 93.5 100.0 100.0 Six workers, 14 13 7.7 46.2 76.9 76.9 84.6 84.6 100.0 100.0 Seven workers, 11 11 27.3 45.5 63.6 72.7 72.7 81.8 90.9 100.0 Eight workers. 4 3 33.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Nine workers, 1 - - 100.0 . 100.0 Families of Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Families. _ 126 1.6 21.4 49.2 69.8 84.9 90.5 96.0 98.4 One worker, _ 34 2.9 26.5 47.1 67.6 88.2 94.1 97.1 100.0 Two workers, - 29 3.4 34.5 72 4 93.1 96.6 96.6 96.6 96.6 Three workers, _ 17 11.8 41.2 82 4 94.1 100 100.0 100.0 Four workers, _ 20 _ 30.0 65.0 70.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 95.0 Five workers. _ 13 _ 15.4 30.8 61.5 84.6 100.0 100.0 Six workers, _ 5 _ _ 40.0 40.0 60.0 60.0 100.0 100.0 Seven workers, _ 5 _ _ 20.0 40.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 Eight workers, _ 2 _ _ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100 Nine workers, ~ 100.0 100.0 116 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS Over nine-tenths (92.3 per cent) of the individual workers and groups of workers in the paper goods industry whose pay-rolls were available earned less than $200 from home work in the year preceding the date pay-rolls were obtained. Fortunately the workers are not subject to as frequent or extended periods of non-employment as those in certain other industries. In home work on tags (constituting a large part of home work on Paper Goods) practically no seasonal fluctuations are noted. (&) Incomes from All Sources. The following table shows the number of families of home workers receiving specified annual incomes, exclusive of home work, and annual earnings from home work. TABLE 52. Annual Earnings of Families from Home Work on Paper Goods and Incomes from Other Sources. NUMBER HAVING ANNUAL INCOME EXCLUSIVE OF Num- Total HOME WORK OF ber De- _ __. j ANNUAL EARNINGS Num- pend- FBOM HOME WORK. ber of Fam- ilies $50 and under $250 $250 and under $500 $500 and under $750 $750 and under $1,000 $1,000 and under $1,250 $1,250 and Over In- come not Stated ent on Home Work Exclu- sively All Families. 296 9 28 59 69 38 51 41 1 Under $25 68 1 4 20 18 7 8 10 _ $25 and under $50, . 62 2 3 8 14 15 9 11 _ $50 and under $100, . 50 4 6 10 9 4 11 5 1 $100 and under $150, . 28 1 6 2 9 2 4 4 _ $150 and under $200, . 20 3 5 1 6 4 _ $200 and under $250, . 7 1 _ 1 2 1 2 _ $250 and under $300, . 7 - 3 1 2 1 - $300 and under $350, . 3 _ _ 2 _ _ _ 1 _ $350 and under $400, 1 _ 1 _ _ _ _ $400 and under $450, . _ 1 _ _ _ _ _ Earnings not reported, 49 - 7 10 13 6 10 3 - The meager earnings from home work made up only a small item in the income of most of the families at work on Paper Goods. Only one family made an attempt to live on the proceeds of home labor. More than one-half had an outside income of $750 or more a year and more than one-third had over $1,250. Many of such families might give up home work and still not lack the necessities of life; but a smaller group, that with outside earnings of less than $750 a year, was made up of many families who were saved from keen deprivation of one kind or another by the small margin which corresponds to the home-work income. (4) EXTENT AND CAUSES OF NON-EMPLOYMENT. On the whole, non-employment plays only a small part in determining the low level of pay in this industry. The simplicity of the processes and a plentiful supply of labor, resulting in an extremely low piece-rate, REPORT ON PAPER GOODS 117 make a high hourly or weekly rate impossible for even the most rapid workers. The following table shows the extent and the causes of non- employment. TABLE 53. Extent and Causes of Non-employment for Families of Home Workers on Paper Goods. NUMBER NOT EMPLOYED Number Number Started CAUSES OF NON-EMPLOYMENT. Totals Em- ployed 12 Months Less than Three Months Three Months and Less than Six Six Months and Less than Nine Nine Months and Less than 12 Months Not Stated Home Work after begin- ning of Year All Causes. 296 102 30 28 69 6 28 S3 Enforced idleness due to an in du* trial cause, . 54 _ 8 8 57 1 _ 4 Dull season. 50 _ 8 6 35 1 _ Other employment, . 4 - 2 2 - - Illness 8 m 4 _. 1 . M Voluntary idleness, 12 - 2 6 S . 1 - Change of residence, 2 - _ - 2 - - - Other 1 _ 1 _ _ M n Started home work after beginning of year, .... Employed 12 months, SS 102 102 ~ : : _ U Causes not reported, 88 ~ IS U 25 S 27 " The workers interviewed rarely mentioned any cause of non-employ- ment beside the dull seasons which affect the supply of work on some of the more elaborate articles, such as fancy boxes. A few persons had given up work because they had tired of it or had decided that the rates of pay were too low to make the occupation a profitable one, or for other personal and voluntary reasons. The main source of income in the household of the ordinary home worker was factory employment. The father, and often the sons and daughters over the age of 14, enter factory work, as the line of employ- ment offering the least resistance to the untrained person, and find that " once a factory hand always a factory hand." In many cases the prin- cipal wage-earners of the family are themselves at work on Paper Goods in the factory. With the prevailing piece-rates from six cents to 20 cents a thousand, it is very difficult for the ordinary tag stringer to earn much more than seven or eight cents an hour. The more complicated processes were much better paid, but the proportion of skilled workers was so small, and the tag stringers so numerous that in comparison with the other indus- tries the hourly rates for paper articles appear lower than those in any other of the important industries studied. Fortunately for the paper goods workers, their earnings are seldom depleted by charges for materials, equipment, or transportation, which 118 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS make up a much more important item in some of the other industries. In nearly every case the workers themselves call for their materials at the factory and, for a few workers who live at a distance, this trip involves the expenditure of 10 cents for car fare ; but in the majority of cases the homes are so near the factory or the delivery station that not only no money but only a few minutes' time is necessary in order to transfer the materials to the home. A rather common aspect of home work in many industries is the fre- quency with which the workers change from employment under one manu- facturer to employment under another. In Paper Goods such changes are rarely made, probably because the principal firms which give out home work are few in number and practically have a monopoly of the home labor supply. (5) WORKING CONDITIONS. Throughout the course of the study particular attention was paid to the character of the places in which work was carried on, sanitation, and the possibility of contagious disease. Only two regular workrooms were found, and in most cases the work was done in the kitchens where food was in preparation and young children were cared for. In a few families bedrooms were used for workrooms. In general, however, the rooms were up to a fair standard of cleanliness and sanitation. No cases of contagious disease were found in places where home work was being done. There is no provision for licensing the tenement manufacture of paper articles in Massachusetts. In many ways disease might as easily be trans- mitted through articles of this kind as through the various articles of wearing apparel which have fortunately received more attention. Paper napkins, flowers, and frills for chops, are potentially quite as efficient germ-carriers as various articles of clothing, and there appears to be no reason why the control of home manufacture should not be extended to such articles as these, not only for the protection of the consumer, but to insure better working standards among those who share in the productive process. REPORT ON CELLULOID GOODS 119 4. CELLULOID GOODS BY MARGARET HUTTON ABELS A. Introductory. In 1770 Obadiah Hills established the comb industry in Leominster, making horn combs by hand in his kitchen. Since his time, the " comb shop " has flourished and Leominster produces a large portion of the combs and hairpins made in the United States. About 1895, celluloid began to displace horn, hoof, shell, and ivory as material for combs. This com- position was discovered by the Hyatt brothers of Albany, New York, in 1869 and has gained steadily in favor in spite of the prejudice against it due to its inflammability. At the present time, celluloid is used almost exclusively in the manufacture of combs and hairpins, and an ever in- creasing number of toilet articles and novelties is made from it. Massa- chusetts leads the United States in this industry and 28 out of a total of 41 factories in the State making celluloid, horn, hoof and shell hair orna- ments and toilet articles, and celluloid novelties are located at Leominster. The others are situated at Athol, Attleborough, Fitchburg, Lowell, New- buryport, and Worcester. Fifteen firms, 14 of them in Leominster, give out work to be done in the home. B. Processes and Rates of Pay. (1) HAIRPINS AND BUTTONS. Twelve manufacturers send out to a few women the simple work of preparing cards and boxes for hairpins, and sewing hairpins and buttons on cards. A list of the processes with the rate of pay for each follows : Sewing cards to hold hairpins, $0 . 35 a 100. .08 a dozen. Sewing is done over wooden forms to make stitches even. Sewing hairpins on cards, $0 . 25 to $0 . 72 a gross cards. Two or three pins on a card. Pasting small wooden blocks on cardboard nests (or boxes) for hairpins, $0.20 a 1,000. Pasting gummed labels on nests for hairpins, 04 a 100. Pasting gummed labels on display rolls, 12 an hour. Sewing buttons on cards (with shanks), $0. 12 to .25 a gross. Sewing buttons on cards (without shanks), 15 to .30 a gross. 120 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS (2) CELLULOID NOVELTIES. Five firms employ the majority of all home workers on celluloid novel- ties. The work consists largely in linking chains, putting fans together, and weaving baskets. Chains are made of celluloid links which are so flexible that they are easily put together by hand and many children were found helping with this work. 1 Sometimes the links come to the worker uncut, in which case a slit must be made with a clip in every other link used. Sometimes the links come in pairs, one cut and one uncut, which must be broken apart. The rates paid for work on chains follow : Rates of Pay. Linking celluloid chains for fans, .... $0.01? to $0.02 per 48 inches. Fastening celluloid chains on picture frames, 10 a dozen. The work upon fans comprises five processes, usually performed by different persons : (1) Stringing, or counting out and assembling the middle and outside ribs and putting a pin through them at the bottom; (2) rivet- ing, or clipping off the pin after adding the handle, and hammering the clipped end to make it hold; (3) pegging, or covering the ends of the pins with celluloid pegs which are dipped with a pick into liquid celluloid; (4) running ribbon through the slits in the ribs with a tape needle; and (5) cementing this ribbon to the ribs with liquid celluloid, which becomes a part of the article cemented. 2 Stringing and running in the ribbon can readily be done by children. A list of processes and rates follows : Processes and Rates of Pay. 3 Stringing, $0.09 to $0.12 a gross. Assembling the ribs and putting a pin through them. Riveting, 09 a gross. Putting on handle, clipping off end of pin and hammering clipped end to make it hold. Pegging, 06 a gross. Putting celluloid pegs over ends of pins and cementing. Running ribbon into fans with tape needle, . . . .25 to .65 a gross. Cementing ribbon on fans, . 24 to . 48 a In weaving baskets, the first process is preparing the comb parts, cor- responding to the warp in cloth weavings. 4 The comb part is cut to fit the See Plate V, figure 1, facing this page. ' See Plate V, figures 1 and 2, facing this page. ' For all work on fans a gross means 150. * See Plate V, figure 6, facing this page. PLATE V. Fig. 1. Celluloid fan with the ribs strung, the handle put on, and the rivet put in but not cov- ered with the celluloid pegs. The ribbon has been run in part way but not cemented. The chain is complete. Fig. 2. Small fan complete, with metal chain. Fig. 3. Woven napkin ring completed. Fig. 4. Brush holder. Before it was bent and fastened with the handle, the strips of colored celluloid were run in by home workers. Fig. 5. Soap box on which the celluloid cameo has been cemented. Fig. 6. Comb part of a basket. Fig. 7. Comb part cemented into bottom of basket and strand with which it is to be woven. Fig. 8. Completed basket with the cover on. REPORT ON CELLULOID GOODS . 121 bottom of the basket where it is secured with eight or 10 clothespins for 10 or 15 minutes until dry. These comb parts are then sent to other workers who place them over wooden forms clamped to the table, and weave celluloid strands in and out so rapidly that an observer's eye can not follow the operation. 1 Two strands 52 inches long are required for a basket four inches long, 2% inches wide, and 1% inches deep. When the weaving is finished the top strand is cemented to the ends of the comb parts to prevent raveling and the basket is ready to go to the factory to have the top rim cemented on and the cover fitted. 2 A list of processes and rates follows : Rates of Pay. Cementing bottoms on baskets (4 X2|X1 inches), .... $0.60 a gross. Weaving baskets (4X2|X1| inches) and cementing tops, . . . .12 a dozen. Weaving napkin rings and cementing tops, 3 09 a dozen . There are also many miscellaneous processes upon celluloid novelties which are done outside the factory. A list of these with the rates of pay for each follows: Rates of Pay. Stitching pincushions, $0 . 25 a gross. Made from scraps of velvet and satin. Celluloid rims are put on in the factory. Stitching pincushions and stuffing with sawdust, 30 a gross. Cementing celluloid cameos on tops of soap boxes, 4 . . . .20 a gross. Cementing bottoms on soap boxes, 20 a gross. Cementing pegs on bottoms of soap boxes, 16 a gross boxes. Cementing bottoms on glass coasters of celluloid, 06 a dozen. Sandpapering pegs (for bottoms of boxes), 02 a gross. Running ribbon into bandeaux and tying bow at one side, . . .60 a gross. Running ribbon into baskets and tying bow, 60 a gross. The work on Celluloid Goods is, in general, clean and easy, requires little or no training, does not necessitate the maintenance of a tiresome position, can be done intermittently and in any part of the house, and is not hard upon the eyes. Weaving and cementing only, require any degree of skill. The two objectionable features of the work are the inflammability of celluloid and the odor of the cement. Celluloid is, however, not ex- plosive and is inflammable only in direct contact with flame or when heated highly enough to cause decomposition of the material. Although the cement is not poisonous, the odor is apt to make workers ill until they i See Plate V, figure 7, facing p. 120. * See Plate V, figure 8, facing p. 120. * See Plate V, figure 3, facing p. 120. * See Plate V, figure 5, facing p. 120. 122 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS have become accustomed to it and is so distressing to some workers that they are obliged to confine themselves to processes into which the use of cement does not enter. C. The Labor Supply. The average number of home workers employed by the 14 firms re- porting was 134 for the year. Interviews with 58 workers, whose names were taken at random from five pay-rolls, showed 96 persons actually doing the work taken out by these 58. If the proportion of workers to names upon the pay-rolls is the same for the whole industry, there were about 222 home workers on Celluloid Goods, or 18.5 per cent of the total number of workers of the 14 establishments. These received 1.5 per cent of the whole amount paid for wages. Most of the home workers in this industry are relatives, friends, or neighbors of the factory employees and contractors. Usually the supply of workers is sufficient to meet the demand, and an occasional advertise- ment in the rush season brings more than can be employed. The shift is inconsiderable among the workers who sew cards and prepare boxes and among those who do the skilled work for contractors, but it is marked among those working directly for the factories and doing the unskilled work on novelties. Sewing cards for hairpins has been done at home for many years but is steadily decreasing in amount because boxes are more and more used in place of cards. Home work upon celluloid novelties has been done to some extent for four or five years, but in 1912 the fad for these articles created a demand which was met by the employment of a greatly increased number of outside workers. When the fad declines the amount of home work will undoubtedly be greatly reduced. D. Method of Distribution. Home workers call for the work at the factory or at the residences of the contractors and pay no charges for transportation, except car fare in the case of those who live at a distance. Often factory employees carry the work back and forth for friends and relatives. Contractors" pay for the transportation to and from the factory of the work which they give out. Thirteen, or 28.9 per cent of the home workers, paid charges for equipment, such as wire cutters, pinchers, etc. Only two contractors were found in this industry and they handled the more skilled work. One contractor had a monopoly of one process. The REPORT ON CELLULOID GOODS 123 manufacturers determine the rate of pay to the contractors and the latter get the work done as cheaply as they can in order to obtain the highest possible profit. E. The Worker. Personal data regarding the home worker, including the work, the conditions under which it is done, and its effects upon his health, and the welfare of his family have profound social significance and must receive consideration in some detail. The nativity of the home worker, because indicative of his standard of living, is of primary importance in this dis- cussion. The prevalence of native-born workers and the preponderance of the thrifty French Canadians among the foreign-born account for the rel- atively high standard among celluloid workers. There was, however, a noticeably large number of Italians among the workers' fathers. A num- ber of workers of other nationalities complained that the Italian foremen in the factories favored their countrywomen in giving out home work and that the increasing Italian population was partially responsible for reduc- tions in rates of pay. (1) SEX AND AGE. The following table shows the age and sex of all home workers on Celluloid Goods. TABLE 54. Sex and Age of Home Workers on Celluloid Goods. MALES FEMALES BOTH SEXES AGE GROUPS. Number Percent- ages Number Percent- ages Number Percent- ages All Ages. 6 100.0 90 100.0 96 100.0 Under five years, . . Five years and under 10, .. 2 33.3 11 12.2 13 13.5 10 years and under 14, . 3 50.0 8 8 9 11 11.5 14 years and under 16, . 5 56 5 52 16 years and under 18, . 18 years and under 21, . : : 3 6 3 3 6 7 3 6 3.1 6.3 21 years and under 25, . _ _ 10 11 1 10 10.4 25 years and under 30, . _ _ 2 2 2 2 2.1 30 years and under 35, . i 16.7 11 12.2 12 12 5 35 years and under 40, . . 8 12 8.9 13.4 8 12 8.3 12.5 45 years and under 50, . _ _ 2 2.2 2 2.1 50 years and under 55, . _ _ 3 3 3 3 3.1 55 years and under 60, . _ _ 3 3 3 3 3.1 60 years and over, . . 6 6.7 6 6.3 The prominence of two classes of workers is shown by this table: Children between the ages of five and 14 years, whose nimble fingers make quick work of running ribbon in fans and linking chains, and women of the age-group to which mothers of young children belong. 124 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS (2) SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. After 14 years of age, children drop out of the home work ranks to go into the factories. A questionnaire sent to a high school in a celluloid community showed only one home worker among the pupils although all had some gainful occupation, often factory work, in which they were en- gaged after school hours and on Saturdays. That home work does not interfere with the school attendance is evident from the following table. TABLE 55. School Attendance of Home Workers on Celluloid Goods: By Age and Sex. NUMBER OF NUMBER OF NUMBER OF MALES FEMALES BOTH SEXES AGE GROUPS. In Not in In Not in In Not in School School School School School School Under 18 Years. 5 _ 19 8 24 8 Five years and under 10 2 i. 9 2 11 2 10 years and under 14, 14 years and under 16, 3 ~ 8 1 4 11 1 4 16 years and under 18, *" 1 2 1 2 (3) EABNINGS AND INCOMES. (a) Annual Earnings from Home Work. The supplementary character of the incomes from home work is clearly indicated by the fact that the majority of the workers in this industry 16 years of age and over were married women with adult male wage-earners in their families, and emphasized by a comparison of the small amount of annual earnings from home work, which were often less than $25 and seldom more than $100, with the total family incomes, which were oftener over $1,000 than under $500, as shown in Tables 56, 57, and 58. TABLE 56. Number of Families of Home Workers on Celluloid Goods Earning each Classified Amount a Year. NUMBER OF WORKERS IN FAMILIES. Total Num- ber of Fam- ilies Num- ber Re- port- ing Earn- ings NUMBER OF FAMILIES EARNING A YEAR Less than $25 $25 to $49.99 $50 to $99.99 $100 to $149.99 $150 to $199.99 $200 to $249.99 $250 to $299.99 $300 and over All Families. One worker, Two workers, . Three workers, Four workers, . Six workers. 58 36 13 4 4 57 36 12 4 4 1 24 18 3 2 17 9 7 1 t 4 1 1 3 8 2 1 8 2 1 1 - - Families of Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Families. _ 11 _ 8 2 2 3 1 _ _ One worker. _ 9 2 2 2 2 1 _ _ Two workers, _ 1 _ _ _ 1 _ _ _ Three workers, - 1 1 ~ REPORT ON CELLULOID GOODS 125 TABLE 57. Percentage of Families of Home Workers on Celluloid Goods Earning less than Specified Amount a Year. NUMBER OF WORKERS IN FAMILIES. Total Num- ber of Fam- ilies Num- ber Re- port- ing Earn- ings PERCENTAGE OK FAMILIES EARNING A YEAR Less than $25 Less than $50 Less than $100 Less than $150 Less than $200 Less than $250 Less than $300 Less than $350 All Families. One worker, Two workers, . Three workers, Four workers, . Six workers, 58 36 13 4 4 1 57 36 12 4 4 1 42.1 50.0 25.0 50.0 25.0 71.9 75 83.3 75.0 25.0 87.7 86.1 91.7 100.0 100.0 9S.O 91.7 91.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 98.2 97.2 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Families of Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Families. _ 11 _ 27.S 45.5 63.6 90.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 One worker, _ 9 _ 22.2 44.4 66.7 88.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 Two workers, . _ 1 _ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Three workers, ~ 1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 (6) Incomes from All Sources. The following table shows the number of families with annual in- comes, exclusive of home work, of specified amounts classified by the annual earnings from home work. TABLE 58. Annual Earnings of Families from Home Work on Celluloid Goods and Incomes from Other Sources. NUMBER HAVING ANNUAL INCOME EXCLUSIVE OF Total HOME WORK OF ANNUAL EARNINGS PROM HOME WORK. Number of Families $250 and under $500 $500 and under $750 $750 and under $1,000 $1,000 and under $1,250 $1,250 and Over Incomes not re- ported All Families. 58 4 14 14 3 12 11 Under $25, ... . 21 3 7 5 2 4 3 $25 and under $50, 17 _ 4 2 1 4 6 $50 and under $100, 9 1 2 3 2 1 $100 and under $150, 3 1 _ 1 1 $150 and under $200, 3 _ 1 _ 1 $200 and under $250, 1 _ 1 _ _ Earnings not reported, 1 ~ ~ 1 These incomes, for families living in a town of less than 20,000 in- habitants where the cost of living is comparatively low, and only one of whom paid as much as $250 for rent, indicate that there was, except in a few cases, no real necessity for home work. (4) WORKING CONDITIONS. Although the prevailing hourly earnings of 10 cents would yield to a steady worker enough to sustain life, non-employment, due to the seasonal character of the industry and its dependence upon a fluctuating demand 126 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS for novelties on which home work is done, makes it impossible for any worker to make a living from this work. Of the 58 families of home workers in this industry investigated, 36 started home work after the beginning of the year and 21 were found upon examination of the pay- rolls to have been without work during some part of the year, five, less than three months; seven, three months and less than six months; seven, six months and less than nine; two, nine months and less than 12. Twenty of these workers were not employed because of dull season. The income from home work was not materially cut down by charges. All workers called for their work, which is light enough to be carried easily, and only two paid car fare. The equipment charge paid by a few was usually for a 60-cent clip with which to cut rings for chains. The greater number paid no charges. Almost one-third of the women workers 16 years of age and over had other gainful occupations and did home work only at odd moments. About one-third of the total number of home workers worked for more than one manufacturer. No experience is needed to prepare for most of the home work on Celluloid Goods. Living arrangements were not characterized by over-crowding; the average number of persons to a room was 1.4. More than one-fourth of the workers found the kitchen the most convenient place for work which they picked up at odd moments, and the kitchen table a suitable place for clamp- ing the weaving forms. This room was found in most instances to be large and well ventilated. Many workers carried their work from room to room or took it to the porch in warm weather. F. Summary. Home workers on Celluloid Goods were largely married women, and children under 14 years of age, of American or French-Canadian birth; apparently, they did not work from necessity and their earnings were small additions to the family income; the hourly rate was comparatively high, but unemployment cut down the annual earnings to a low figure; charges were negligible; little training was required; and the living and working conditions were satisfactory. REPORT ON SPORTING GOODS 127 5. SPORTING GOODS BY CAROLINE E. WILSON A. Introductory. Eighteen firms in Massachusetts are engaged in the manufacture of Sporting Goods. Twelve of these, including two Boston firms, are in the eastern part of the State. Three are in Springfield, and three are in neighboring towns in the Connecticut Valley. Eight of the factories re- ported that home work was given out by them. The products of these establishments included balls of various kinds, running pants, and fishing and hunting goods. The varieties lending themselves most easily to home work are baseballs, squash balls, tennis balls, and running pants. Of the four establishments studied, two gave out work on baseballs, one on tennis balls and squash balls, and one on running pants. B. Processes and Rates of Pay. The work on baseballs consists in stitching on the outside covers by hand. The cover, cut from hide, or, in the case of the cheaper balls, from prepared cloth, is laid over the ball and held in place by tacks or clamps while the edges are pulled together with pliers and stitched. The stretch- ing of the covers of the more expensive balls is an operation requiring a considerable amount of strength, and, as the cover must be wet, the hands of the worker often become swollen and stiff from their cramped position. Tennis balls are sent to the home with the covers already glued on; the seams are stitched back and forth by the worker leaving the stitches almost invisible. The material sent to the homes for the making of squash balls consists of rubber balls and knitted covers to be put over them. The worker rips open the cover, inserts the rubber ball, and catches up the edges with the same thread which was ripped out. Running pants are sent to the worker for the machine sewing only ; the process is simple, the work resembling that on plain underwear. The home work on balls is a hand-finishing process, the main part of the operation being done at the factory. The home work on running pants, however, is the principal process in their manufacture. Since the contractor does the buttonholing and finishing, the only part of the opera- tion actually performed at the factory is cutting out the garments from the whole cloth. 128 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS Rates of Pay. Baseballs, $0.08 to $0.50 a dozen. Squash balls, 30 a dozen. Tennis balls, 15 a dozen. Running pants, 30 a dozen. C. The Labor Supply. The supply of labor for home work on balls seems to be highly elastic. The employers reported that an advertisement for extra home workers during the busy season usually brings in more workers than they can use. The workers in one town reported an instance in which their demand for a higher rate five cents more a dozen caused the manufacturer to extend the work into neighboring towns, where so many persons were found willing to accept the low rate that the workers were obliged to withdraw their demand or lose the work. The supply of labor for run- ning pants was recruited from the contractor's immediate neighborhood. Owing to the nature of the sports concerned, the demand for tennis and baseballs is seasonal. Baseballs are made mainly in the Winter to anticipate the summer demand. The tennis balls soon lose their elasticity and must be made for immediate use; consequently the busy season in their manufacture is Spring and early Summer. A limited demand for tennis balls for winter use comes from the South, and to meet this a small number of balls is made in the otherwise dull season. The demand for running pants is comparatively steady. The baseball workers go directly to the factory for their materials. The tennis balls are delivered to the workers directly from the factory by wagon. The materials for the running pants come indirectly to the worker through a contractor who gets them from the factory and dis- tributes them to the workers from her home. D. Method of Distribution. From the time when the running pants are cut from the whole cloth until they reach the consumer, they are handled at least six times in con- nection with the different processes. 1. The garments are cut out at the factory and sent to the contractor. 2. The contractor does the buttonholing and distributes the goods to the home workers. 3. The machine stitching is done by the home worker who receives 30 cents a dozen pairs. 4. The contractor finishes the articles, that is, sews on the buttons and tapes, REPORT ON SPORTING GOODS 129 and returns them to the factory, receiving 50 cents a dozen pairs for the finished garments. 5. The product is forwarded to the retail dealers from the factory. 6. The running pants are sold at the retail shops for 50 cents a pair. E. The Worker. Home work on Sporting Goods offers very little opportunity for the labor of young children, for the sewing on baseballs requires some degree of skill and often a considerable amount of strength. (1) SEX AND AGE. The following table shows the number and percentages of home work- ers of each sex in specified age groups. TABLE 59. Sex and Age of Home Workers on Sporting Goods. AGE GROUPS. MALES FEMALES BOTH SEXES Number Percent- ages 1 Number Percent- ages 1 Number Percent- ages 1 All Ages. Under five years, Five years and under 10, . 14 2 1 2 100.0 15.4 7?7 15.4 7.7 7.7 7?7 7.7 30.7 159 1 2 1 1 2 2 13 21 28 20 9 16 15 24 4 100.0 0.6 1.3 0.6 0.6 1.3 1.3 8.4 13.6 18.1 12.9 5.8 10.3 9.7 15.5 173 1 4 1 1 2 2 14 23 29 21 9 17 16 28 5 100.0 0.6 2.4 0.6 0.6 1.2 1.2 8.3 13.7 172 12.5 5.4 10.1 9.5 16.7 14 years and under 16, 16 years and under 18, 18 years and under 21, 25 years and under 30, 35 years and under 40, 40 years and under 45, 45 years and under 50, 55 years and under 60, 60 years and over. Age not reported, 1 The percentages in this table are calculated on the basis of the number reporting. The majority of the workers were adults, mostly women, between the ages of 25 and 45. Only five children under 14 seemed to have any share in the work. Old people in the families of baseball workers were some- times kept busy threading needles, clipping ends of thread, and packing the balls. Of 173 persons at work on Sporting Goods, only 14 were males. Some of these were old men who had given up active outside work, and a few were disabled or temporarily out of employment. A woman who had a good output of baseballs said that she could not earn much if it were not for her " two fathers ", her own and her husband's father, both over 70, who lived with her and did nearly all of the rougher work on her product. Very few women were without a male wage-earner in the family. 130 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS Usually the husband turns in the whole of his weekly wage toward the family expenses. Where the husband is dead, sons and daughters take up the responsibility of the family expenses. As the children's wages are raised from time to time the necessity for the mother's carrying on home work disappears. (2) EARNINGS AND INCOMES. (a) Annual Earnings from Home Work. The following tables show the number earning specified amounts and the percentage earning less than specified amounts. TABLE 60. Number of Families of Home Workers on Sporting Goods Earning each Classified Amount a Year. NUMBER OF WORKERS IN FAMILIES. Total Num- ber of Fam- ilies Num- ber re- port- ing Earn- ings NUMBER OF FAMILIES EARNING A YEAR Less than $25 $25 to $49.99 $50 to $99.99 $100 to $149.99 $150 to $199.99 $200 to $249.99 $250 to $299.99 $300 and over All Families. 137 133 19 30 64 13 4 _ 2 1 One worker, 105 102 15 25 48 12 1 1 Two workers, . 29 28 4 4 15 3 _ 1 I Three workers, . 2 2 1 1 _ Four workers, . 1 1 - 1 - - - - Families of Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Families. _ 107 7 21 59 13 4 _ 2 1 One worker, _ 81 7 17 43 12 1 _ 1 Two workers, . _ 23 3 15 3 _ 1 j Three workers, . _ 2 _ 1 1 _ _ Four workers, . ~ 1 * 1 - - - TABLE 61. Percentage of Families of Home Workers on Sporting Goods Earning less than Specified Amount a Year. rp i ft l Num- PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES EARNING A YEAR NUMBER OF WORKERS IN FAMILIES. Num- ber of ber re- port- ing Leas Less Leas Leas Less Less Less Less Earn- than than than than than than than than uiea ings $25 $50 $100 $150 $200 $250 $300 $350 All Families. 137 133 14.3 36.8 85.0 94.7 97.7 97.7 99.2 99.2 One worker, 105 102 14.7 39.2 86.3 98 99.0 99.0 100.0 100.0 Two workers, . 29 28 14.3 28.6 82.1 82 1 92.9 92.9 9C.4 96.4 Three workers, . 2 2 _ 50.0 50.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100 100.0 Four workers, . 1 1 - ~ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100 100.0 Families of Home Workers Employed for Nine Months or Over. All Families. _ 107 6.5 26.2 81.3 93.5 97.2 97.2 99.1 99.1 One worker, _ 81 8.6 29.6 82.7 97.5 98.8 98.8 100.0 100.0 Two workers, . _ 23 13.0 78.3 78.3 91.3 91 3 95.7 95.7 Three workers, . _ 2 _ 50.0 50 100 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Four workers, . ~ ~ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 REPORT ON SPORTING GOODS 131 All but seven of the 133 families for whom complete pay-rolls for the year were available, earned less than $150. In general, the earnings cor- responded to those in other industries, except that they did not run as high as in Wearing Apparel. In Sporting Goods only two individual home workers earned more than $150 in the course of the year, one of whom made between $150 and $200, and one between $250 and $300. The aggregate earnings of groups of workers ranged only slightly higher; three groups of two workers each earned $150 and less than $200; two groups earned over $200, one between $250 and $300, and one between $350 and $400. (&) Incomes from All Sources. The following table exhibits the incomes from sources exclusive of home work. TABLE 62. Annual Earnings of Families from Home Work on Sporting Goods and Incomes from Other Sources. NUMBER HAVING ANNUAL EARNINGS EXCLUSIVE OF Total HOME WORK OF De- __ j ANNUAL EARNINGS FROM HOME WORK. Num- ber of Fam- ilies $50 and under $250 $250 and under $500 $500 and under $750 $750 and under $1,000 $1,000 and under $1,250 $1,250 and Over In- come not Stated pend- ent on Home Work Only All Families. 1ST 2 9 32 32 24 16 21 1 Under $25, . 19 _ 6 4 2 3 4 $25 and under $50, 30 _ 3 7 6 8 5 $50 and under $100, 64 2 3 11 19 11 11 7 _ $100 and under $150, 13 1 5 2 2 3 _ $150 and under $200, 4 _ 1 2 _ 1 _ $200 and under $250, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ $250 and under $300, 2 _ _ _ _ _ 1 _ 1 $350 and under $400, 1 _ _ _ _ 1 _ _ _ Earnings not reported, 4 1 1 1 1 Although the earnings of Sporting Goods workers ranged lower than in Wearing Apparel, the families as a rule had substantial incomes from other sources. Over three-fifths (62.6 per cent) of the 115 families for whom information was available had an annual income, exclusive of home work, of $750 or over, and 40 of those, or more than one-third (34.8 per cent) had an annual income of more than $1,000. In a few cases ex- tremely low incomes were reported. As is to be expected from the low level of annual earnings, the hourly rates were grouped about an extremely low figure, 68.5 per cent earning eight cents an hour or less. (3) WOKKLNG CCKFTDITIONS. Owing to the seasonal nature of their occupation, a considerable num- ber of workers of all grades of earning capacity were non-employed in the 132 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS course of the year. The period of non-employment lasted usually from one to six months, quite long enough to seriously handicap any workers who might be dependent on home work earnings for a part of their support. A number of workers were idle for a time on account of household duties or because they had tired of the work, and a still smaller number were obliged to give it up on account of illness ; but such causes affected only a small number of workers as compared with the seasonal fluctuations of the trade and their far-reaching effect. The needles, wax, and tweezers used in connection with these processes formed a varying item of expense for the worker, in addition to the five cents a week charged as rent for the clamps used in stitching balls. About 40 per cent of the workers called at the factory or at the contractor's shop for their materials, and the rest had them delivered. If they were obliged to call for the goods, car fare would make an additional item of expense for those living at a distance. The margin of profit is so small that one contractor, according to a statement which she made to the investigator, refused to give work to people who must necessarily pay car fare in order to get their materials. Very few workers reported that they had changed employers during the year. The establishments making Sporting Goods were few in num- ber, so that a worker in a small city or town would find it hard to get work in her own trade except under one manufacturer ; and, although the various home processes connected with other industries could easily be learned, the workers rarely changed from one occupation to another, even in the dull seasons of their own industry. Over one-half of the persons carrying on home processes on Sporting Goods were found at work in their kitchens,, alternating sewing on balls or running pants with various household duties. In a few cases where the families lived in crowded quarters, bedrooms were used for work- places. Only three regular workrooms were found. In general, however, the rooms were clean and well-kept, and sometimes gave evidence of un- usually high standards of housekeeping. Occasionally, in the tenement districts of the larger cities conditions were found which seemed in urgent need of regulation. The conditions in those homes where cleanliness was little regarded and where disease might prevail without the knowledge of those who give out the work show, conclusively, the necessity of such regulations as would afford protection both to the worker and the public. REPORT ON OTHER INDUSTRIES 133 6. OTHER INDUSTRIES BY MARGARET S. DISMORR A. Introductory. Among the other industries in which home work was found to a less extent than in the five principal ones considered, those giving out work on brushes and silk materials employed the largest numbers of outside workers. Home workers on brushes and silk goods were found chiefly in the rural parts of Massachusetts. The work was usually carried on in the kitchen, where conditions as to hygiene and cleanliness were frequently unsatisfactory. Silk was picked on the floor and tooth brush bristles were picked on the floor or table, over a piece of black paper or cardboard. Every tooth brush, however, is sterilized at the factory when finished. B. Brushes. Three manufacturers of brushes, located in Boston, Attleborough, and Northampton, reported home work. The products are hair brushes and tooth brushes. The chief processes performed in homes are " drawing " brushes and picking bristles. Both hair and tooth brushes can be hand drawn, but home work is most usual on tooth brushes. All tooth brushes with cement stripes at the back are hand drawn, that is, the bunches of bristles are wired and " drawn " through the holes in the head by hand. This is done with the help of a machine which holds the bristles, brush, and spool of wire in position and which, by the pressure of the worker's foot on a treadle, releases the right quantity of bristles to fill one hole. The worker threads the wire through a hole, loops it round the bunch of bristles, and then draws the wire tightly back through the hole. . This bends the bristles double and fixes them in the hole. When the brush has been drawn, the wired grooves at the back are filled with cement at the factory. Most tooth brushes have about 40 holes and can be drawn in a few minutes. The payment to home workers for this work varies; a specimen rate is $1.32 for drawing a gross of brushes. Picking bristles, or separating black from white bristles in order that tooth brushes may be all of one shade, is less skilled work and is often done by children. The work is trying to the eyes, especially when done at night. The rate of payment is one dollar a pound and the time required for a pound is usually about 20 hours. The variable quality of the bristles makes the process longer in some cases and shorter in others. When the picking is easy a worker can make from 10 to 20 cents an hour. 134 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS All other work on tooth brushes is done in the factory and even the two processes above mentioned are occasionally performed there. Bristles can be put in brushes by power machines in the factory instead of being drawn; in fact, the stapling machine is actually beginning to displace home workers in this process. All of the home workers on brushes call for their work and return it to the factory at their own expense. There are no contractors in this industry. C. Silk Goods. Reports as to home work were received from 11 establishments pro- ducing silk and silk goods. Two of them gave out home work. In addi- tion, a box factory reported home work on darning silk samples. The work done by home workers includes picking silk, reeling and labeling embroidery silk, mounting " silk cultures " for advertisement, and wind- ing specimens of darning silk to be sold with silk hose. The largest num- ber of home workers is employed at picking silk, that is, removing cotton threads from raw and spun silk waste. The 50-pound sacks of waste are called for and returned by the workers or their children, and much of the work, which is entirely unskilled, is done by children. The rate of pay is $3 a sack. Most of the families take about a week to pick a sack ; but their hours of labor are irregular, and as this work is never done in the factory, it would be difficult to estimate how much could be earned in a week by a steady worker. APPENDICES APPENDIX A SPECIAL REPORTS ON HOME WORK The question of home work has had an increasing amount of attention in this country since the early nineties. The Report of the Select Com- mittee of the British House of Lords, published in 1890, aroused great interest in the United States and stimulated inquiries into the extent to which the sweating system prevailed and the evils which it involved. The term " sweating system " was used to indicate both home work as it has been defined in this report and work in small shops under contractors; it describes the excessively long hours and high rate of speed which existed almost universally in the small shops and home workrooms. At that time the system was supposed to be confined almost wholly to making ready- made clothing. The seventh biennial report of the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1892, contains the results of an extensive investigation of the sweating system in Chicago. The canvass of the bureau included 666 establish- ments and 10,933 employees, of whom one-fourth were men and boys. There were 1,836 persons reported as home finishers. The report gives a synopsis of the piece-rates for the various kinds of work, but presents no classified wages. Six possible remedial measures were enumerated as follows, but no recommendations were made: 1. The licensing of contractors. 2. The prohibition of the manufacture of tenement-made articles. 3. The regulation of the age at which children may work, and the hours of labor for women and children. 4. The placing of tags on all articles made by contractors. 5. The equipment of all shops with mechanical power for running machines. 6. The provision of separate apartments for pressers. In 1893 the Committee on Manufactures of the United States House of Representatives made an investigation into the " effect of the so-called ' sweating system ' of tenement-house labor upon manufactures of clothing and other manufactures 'V The Committee found that approximately i House Report No. 2309, 52nd Congress, 2nd Session. 138 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS 50 per cent of the ready-made clothing was made under sweat-shop con- ditions, and that the wages of the tenement workers were fully 25 per cent less than those paid in large shops for the same work. The Com- mittee recommended Federal legislation requiring the adoption of a tag by which any article could be traced directly to the spot where it or any part of it was made. Licensing, registry, and inspection of workrooms were left to State and municipal authority. The results of an investigation of the sweating system in Philadelphia are presented in the report of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Industrial Statistics for the same year. The adoption of a tag to be affixed to all tenement-made goods was recommended. In 1896 a report by Henry White, secretary of the United Garment Workers of America, was published by the Federal Department of Labor. 1 The report summarized the sweat-shop legislation of the various States up to that time and indicated a belief that the evils of the system were gradually being corrected. Three investigations of sweating in the garment-making trades in Wis- consin are summarized in the report of the Wisconsin Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1901-1902. The first two covered 79 shops employing 1,177 persons. Ninety-two per cent of the male workers were found to receive seven dollars a week or more and 90 per cent of the female workers six dollars a week or less. The third investigation had to do with the inspec- tion of shops. A fourth investigation in the same industry is summarized in the report of the Wisconsin Bureau of Labor Statistics for 1903-1904. The range of wages was found to be substantially the same as in the pre- vious investigation. Since the publication of these reports, interest has spread to the other branches of tenement industry. The Consumers' League has published studies into the conditions of home manufacture in various industries. A study by Mary Van Kleeck under the direction of the Committee on Women's Work of the Russell Sage Foundation, published in 1913, de- scribes the working conditions of an industry conspicuous for its relation to home work artificial flower making. 2 The investigation included 110 families of home workers, with 371 members who worked on flowers. Almost one-half of the workers (48.7 per cent) were found to be under 16 years of age. Over 10 per cent were under eight years of age. The average weekly earnings from home work for 102 families were $4.92. 1 Bulletin of the Department of Labor, No. 4, May, 1896. * Artificial Flower Makers. By Mary Van Kleeck. Published by The Survey Associates. New York. 1913. SPECIAL REPORTS ON HOME WORK 139 The volume includes a study of conditions of employment in the artificial flower trade in Paris. The report describes two possible remedies for the evils of the system, the establishment of minimum wage boards and the prohibition of home work, but no positive recommendations are made. The Immigration Commission reported home work in 421 out of 8,605 immigrant households studied. 1 In the City of Boston home work was found in 49 out of 1,416 households. The principal occupations included were tailoring, dressmaking, and sewing. " Men's Ready-made Clothing ", the second volume of the Woman and Child Wage Earners series published by the Federal Bureau of Labor, includes a section on home work in the clothing industry. 2 The study in- cluded 1,015 home workers in five cities Chicago, Rochester, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The average weekly earnings were found to be $3.21. The report emphasizes the danger to the consumer of contagion from home finishing. A special investigation of manufacturing in tenement houses was made for the "New York State Factory Investigating Commission by the National Child Labor Committee. The Committee reported 13,268 licensed tenements in New York, each containing anywhere from three to 40 or 50 different apartments in which the manufacture of 41 specified articles may be carried on. Strong emphasis is laid upon the evils of home work, the spreading of disease, the employment of young chil- dren, the effect on school attendance, the low wages of home workers, and the cost of home work to the community. A more extensive investigation was recommended before any radical legislation should be attempted. The following comment is made on the present regulation of home work : By home-work or tenement-work is meant any kind of manufacturing done for a manufacturer, contractor or agent by persons not working on the premises or under the supervision of such a manufacturer, contractor or agent, the wages and rates of payment for these workers being fixed by the persons giving out the work. In its essence home-work, as thus defined, is unlawful, or at least beyond control by law. In New York State we have a Labor Code, certain sections of which exist for the express purpose of regulating conditions under which manufacturing may be carried on in the State, but by giving out home-work a manufacturer is literally able to break every law on the statute books. His work may be done in unclean, unsanitary surroundings, it may be performed by little children or minors work- ing long hours after 5 P.M., when the law frees the girl and boy workers in the factories, or by young girls working far into the night. Home-work means un- regulated manufacturing, carried on beyond the possibility of control as to hours 1 Reports of the Immigration Commission, Vol. 26, p. 94. 1 Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United States, Vol. 2, pp. 215-318. 140 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS of women's work, child labor, night-work of minors, or cleanliness and sanitation of work-places. In its efforts to inspect the 13,000 licensed tenements in New York city, the Department of Labor is attempting the impossible. From the point of view of the community, the greatest objection to home-work is its lawlessness. 1 Investigations have been undertaken from time to time in European countries. The Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed in 1838 to investigate the sweating system in England, reported in 1890 that the evils of home work, low wages, long hours, and unsanitary conditions, " can hardly be exaggerated ", 2 The report continues : " The earnings of the lowest class of workers are barely sufficient to sustain existence. The hours of labor are such as to make the lives of the workers periods of almost ceaseless toil, hard and unlovely to the last degree. The sanitary conditions under which the work is conducted are not only injurious to the health of the persons employed, but are dangerous to the public, espe- cially in the case of the trades concerned in making clothes, as infectious diseases are spread by the sale of garments made in rooms inhabited by persons suffering from smallpox and other diseases." The recommenda- tions deal mainly with the advisability of additional regulation and inspec- tion. The report was followed at frequent intervals by minor reports by public and private agencies. In 1908 the House of Commons appointed a Select Committee on Home Work. In its report 3 the Committee depre- cates " the almost complete absence of statistics on the subject," but pre- sents no material with which the want may be supplied. The report con- sists almost wholly of the minutes of evidence from the various witnesses heard. The remedies recommended are: First, wages boards, to fix and adjust minimum time and piece-rates; second, regulation and inspection to supplement the action of the boards. A report on lingerie by the French Bureau of Labor, covering the home workers on white goods, 4 has been followed by reports on the arti- ficial flower industry, 5 and the boot and shoe industry. 6 The investigation of the artificial flower industry covered 416 of the 24,000 workers in- eluded in the industry in France. Fifty per cent of the workers in Paris were found to earn between 150 and 450 francs ($30 and $90) a year. Sixty-one per cent of the persons investigated worked 10 hours a day or more in the good season, and 26 per cent 12 hours a day or more. The recommendations were: First, an adjustment of the feather industry to State of New York. Preliminary Report of the State Factory Investigating Commission. Albany. 1912. Fifth Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Sweating System. London. 1890. Report from the Select Committee on Home Work. London. 1908. Enqu6te sur le Travail a Domicile dans 1'Industrie de la Lingerie. Office du Travail. Paris. 1907-1911. Enqufite sur le Travail a Domicile dans I'lndustrie de la Fleur Artificielle. Paris. 1913. Enqudte sur le Travail a Domicile dans I'lndustrie de la Chaussuro. Paris. 1914. SPECIAL REPORTS ON HOME WORK 141 the flower industry in order that workers may be skilled in both trades and so avoid the dull season ; second, a minimum wage for home workers. A minimum wage is also advocated as the necessary remedy by Paul Boyaval in " La Lutte Contre la Sweating-System." For the third inquiry into home work, the boot and shoe industry was chosen, because, unlike the other industries investigated, it employs more men than women and because mechanical tools play an important part in the work. About 900 persons furnished the data on which the report is based, 724 being workers, 130, manufacturers, and the remaining 46, contractors, trade union secretaries, etc. The earnings of home workers were found to be generally higher in the boot and shoe industry than in the white goods or artificial flower industries, but being the earnings of men, were often insufficient. Gross earnings are much reduced by the cost of materials and tools. About 33 per cent of the home workers em- ployed on specialties reported net annual earnings of from 600 to 900 francs ($120 to $180), the earnings of the men being decidedly higher than those of the women. Half the men engaged in the work reported that their hours of labor ranged from 11 to 12 a day, while at least one- fifth of the men worked from 13 to 16 hours a day; 50 per cent of the women worked from eight to 10 hours a day and at least 30 per cent from 11 to 13 hours a day, although the long days are less frequent among the women. According to the authorities consulted, home work in the boot and shoe industry is gradually disappearing in the large cities and indus- trial towns; in the country districts it not only persists but increases. Home work in Germany has been subject to official and private inves- tigation since the eighties. A government report on the garment trades, published in 1896, 1 describes the low rates of pay and the long and irregular hours prevalent in all trades, especially women's clothing. More recent is a survey of home work in the Handworterbuch der Sozialen Hygiene 2 in which the number of home workers in the Kingdom of Saxony is estimated at 315,620. A recent study in Belgium by Pierre Verhaegen 8 outlines the char- acteristics and evils of home work and the difficulties of two possible remedies prohibition and regulation. The minimum wage is recom- mended as the real solution of the problem. A study by Alessandro Schiavi, 4 under the direction of La Societa TJmanitaria of Milan, emphasizes the supplementary nature of the income * Kleider und Wasche-Konfektion. Kaiserliches Statistisches Amt. Berlin. 1986. * HandwSrterbuch der Sozialen Hygiene. Leipzig. 1912. Travail a Domicile et Sweating System. By Pierre Verhaegen. Brussels. 1912. 4 Saggio di un'Inchicata sul lavoro a domicilio in Milano (1908). By Alessandro Schiavi. 142 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS from home work and the close connection of the problem with the problem of housing. The regulation of convent labor and an extensive investiga- tion into home work in the great urban centers is recommended. The first volume of the results of an official investigation of home work in the Netherlands, covering about 18,000 workers, was published in 1911. 1 The report emphasizes the urgent need of reform in respect to the length of the working day, the rates of pay, and the conditions of work. An investigation in Finland 2 in 1907, covered 621 shops and 3,205 workers in the clothing trades. The average length of work was found to be from nine and one-half to 10 hours and the range of wages from eight cents to $1.15 a day. The reports show little uniformity with regard to the recommenda- tions made. In general, it may be said that the prohibition of home work is seldom advocated except in this country. The general trend seems to be toward the establishment of a minimum wage, with the support of adequate inspection and regulation. 1 Onderzoekingen naar de toestanden in de Nederlandsche Huisindustrie. The Hague. 1911-1914. UndersSkning af Nalarbeterskornas. By Vera Hjelt. Helsingfore. 1908. APPENDIX B EXTKACTS FEOM KEPOETS OF IJSTSPECTOKS OF HOME WORK The following extracts summarize the work of inspection of tenement manufacture in Massachusetts, JSTew York, and the United Kingdom. 1. MASSACHUSETTS. 1 STATE BOARD OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIES. The State Board of Health on June 1, 1913, relinquished all powers it had held under the former statute. Because of the interval of several weeks before the appointment of this Board, and because of the fact that it was found impossible to organize an investigating force prior to the 1st of September, employers of home workers felt it their right to give out work to persons holding licenses previously issued by the State Board of Health, or without licenses at all, at least until such time as the Com- monwealth should provide means for granting proper licenses to their workers. Thus the new Board started its work on this problem with an accumulation of unlicensed workers and a long waiting list of those de- siring inspection. The problem was attacked first through the applications that came in, and by searching out the various establishments employing home workers. As an instance of constructive effort in finding new fields of home workers, the city of Haverhill may be cited. The State Board of Health report gave no intimation of licenses having been granted there, and from private organizations which had been carrying on investigations information was received that very little home work was performed in that place. One of the investigators of this Board was sent to make a survey of the city, and, in studying the shoe industry, it was found that the making of ornaments for shoes was largely carried on in the homes. To make the survey as complete as possible, various persons and organizations were consulted, as follows: Board of Trade, Haverhill Shoe Manufacturing Association, " Haverhill Herald/' " Haverhill Gazette," Board of Health, Business Agent of Boot and Shoe Workers' Union, school authorities, relief organizations, nursing association. 1 First Annual Report of the State Board of Labor and Industries, 1913, pp. 13-18. Boston. 1914. 144 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS All were interested and co-operative, and publicity in the newspapers was of great help in acquainting the people with the law. Twenty-two employers in that city have already sent in lists of their home workers, many more have asked for information, and 1,000 applications for licenses in Haverhill alone have been registered up to the date of this report. This same method is being followed in Worcester, where we have had the benefit of the investigations of the child labor committee, the officials of which were most generous with information and help. Springfield and the surrounding towns have also been visited and canvassed in the same manner. It has been most gratifying to find that our endeavors are meeting with co-operation, as is evidenced by the fact that 100 employers are send- ing to us each month lists of their home workers, without compelling us in any case to resort to prosecution under the provisions of sections 106 to 111 of chapter 514 of the Acts of 1909. Statistical Report. Total number of visits made from Sept 1, 1913, to Jan. 1, 1914, . . . 4,690 Total number of licenses granted, . . . 2,834 Licenses refused, 154 Licenses revoked, 55 Not found and not in, 1,544 Reinspected, 94 Not desiring work, 165 2. NEW YORK. 1 On October 1, 1913, there were outstanding 11,183 licenses in the greater city. Ten inspectors were detailed to this Division 2 during the year, and . . . their labors combined produced visitations to 17,023 different tene- ments and other buildings affected by the law, and in every section of the greater city, as follows: 10,985 licensed tenement houses, 325 licensed rear shop buildings, 1,959 buildings for which requests had been filed for new licenses, 284 revisits to buildings where licenses had been denied, 2,601 observation visits to buildings suspected of violating the law (this was very largely due to patrol work in congested sections) and 869 licensed build- ings against which sanitary orders had been issued as result of regular inspections. These figures of compliance visits take no account of revisits for the same purpose, nor of hundreds of other revisits made to enforce orders 1 Thirteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor of the State of New York, for the 12 months ended September 30, 1913, pp. 49-52. Albany. 1914. 8 Division of Homework Inspection in the State Bureau of Factory Inspection. REPORTS INSPECTORS OF HOME WORK 145 promptly. I canceled 1,587 licenses during the year, while 198 were revoked for sanitary causes, as required by law. There were 77 applica- tions canceled for various reasons. A total of 162 children under 16 years of age were reported at work in the home, 111 of which number attended school. The balance, who attended no school, were nearly all new arrivals in this country. These children were found at work after school hours, or on days when the schools were not in session. All chil- dren reported as not attending school were promptly referred to the Board of Education to be attended to under the Compulsory Education Law, as no power was vested in this Division to treat otherwise. There were 447 persons found illegally employed in living rooms by the tenant worker therein. All such violations were promptly dealt with by having the out- side hands discharged or the work stopped by tagging. In all cases where the tenant employer hesitated or refused to comply, the application of the tenement tag had the desired effect. A total of 856 persons, not members of the family, were found employed by custom dressmakers. This employment was legal, for it was consistent with the provisions con- tained in section 100, relating to work of this class done on the ground floor or second floor of tenement houses. Very largely as the result of patrolling in certain sections of the city where work is congested, 1,837 owners or agents were served with notice under section 105 for work being done in un-licensed houses. Quite a good many owners will not allow tenants to do work of a public character in their apartments if they know it, and in consequence of our notice the offending tenant is often ordered to cease work or move. I caused investigation to be made of 500 houses where work had ceased or licenses were removed, and in only 17 of this number was work found going on which came under the law. I consider this a very remarkable showing on this point. There were 26 cases of disease reported by the inspectors, and only four of such cases were found in living rooms where work was also reported. The tenement tag was used in 228 cases, while in 36 of these cases the inspector also seized the goods tagged as provided in section 102. The tag is a most effective argument to use in obstinate cases, as it leaves the offender no choice but to clean or remain idle. Its use also has the merit of arousing the anger of the worker, very often to the fighting pitch. It is a common act of the inspectors to call in a policeman or a second inspector when he has a case where the work must be stopped by the use of the tenement tag. Two of the inspectors were severely assaulted this past season. In one case a father and son fell upon the inspector and beat him, notwith- standing the fact that a second inspector was present. These parties 146 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS were arrested and received a thirty-day jail sentence for their act. In the second case, the assault was by a woman sympathizer, on a woman inspector, who had seized some coats in a very dirty house and was removing them to the express office. The assault was made on the street, and the inspector was so badly injured that she was incapacitated for work for nearly three months, having been cut and scratched by the assailant from which blood poisoning set in. During all this time she was under medical treatment. I make mention of these cases here to indicate some of the difficulties the inspector has to contend with in his efforts to enforce the law. The strike of the ready-made clothing workers caused considerable slackness in home work during its continuance. As soon as a settlement was reached there was a rush by employing contractors to make up for the time lost by the strike, and work was sent out to tenement houses wherever a worker could be obtained, without any regard for law or license. As a result of this condition, the inspectors were kept very busy for months, but by a liberal use of both the tag and the courts, a check was placed on the contractors, and a more normal condition made to prevail. Altogether 74 employers were haled to court on the complaint of the inspectors for placing out their work unlawfully. The total of all persons found at work in living apartments this year is 16,714, against 16,303 reported last year. The number of stores and other shops found in tenement houses was 1,134, with 3,266 workers, including the pro- prietors, against 1,500 shops and 4,140 workers last year. These com- parisons show that the total of all workers varies but little. This fact will be further emphasized if the comparisons be extended to the past four years. I removed licenses from a total of 1,785 buildings, and 1,728 new licenses were granted. These figures do not mean the stopping of the work of so many old tenement workers and admitting a new flock in their places; it is merely indicative of the moving about of the people engaged in this class of labor. This condition is constant. Out of a total of 20,083 workers found in licensed buildings of all sorts, the numbers at work on different classes of goods were 7,530 on custom-made clothing; 8,417 on ready-made clothing; 1.747 on artificial flowers; 1,015 on feathers, and 1,374 on other articles. These workers were distributed by races as follows: Italians, 10,753; Jews, 6,544; Germans, 1,127 ; Americans, 666, with the remainder scattered among 28 other nationalities with but small numbers in any one. The general conditions are as satisfactory as can be expected, and I might add, as good as the weather and the Street Cleaning Department REPORTS INSPECTORS OF HOME WORK 147 will permit in the so-called congested (neglected) sections of the city. The bulk of inspection work is done between October and May of each year, when the housing conditions are at their very worst, yet we do not find any real intolerable conditions or abuses. We find, as we always will find, the poor, who have no time for anything but to struggle for existence, the untidy who must be forced to observe even ordinary cleanly conditions, and congestion of families crowded into single apartments in twos and threes by reason of high rents. There seems to be no cure for these conditions, but rather a tendency to constantly increasing them. We find no real antagonism to the enforcement of the law from any source, except in an isolated case here and there. Employers, especially the manufacturers, lend willing co-operation to the advice or suggestions of the officers of the Department. (Signed) DANIEL O'LEARY, Chief of Homework Division. TABLE A. Statement of Licenses for Entire Period of Amended Law (October 1, 1904 to September SO, 1913.} CLASSIFICATION. New York State New York City Remainder of State Applications received 21,117 20,323 794 Applications granted, 19,291 18,519 772 Applications refused, 236 214 22 Applications canceled, 1,579 1,579 Applications pending, 11 11 _ 7,011 6,839 172 Licenses revoked for unlawful conditions 497 497 Total number of licensed premises, September 30, 1913, .... 11,783 11,183 600 TABLE B. - Record of Licenses for 1913 and 1912. 1913 1912 CLASSIFICATION. New York New York Remainder New York State City Of State State Total Applications. 2,069 1,965 104 1,944 Applications pending October 1, 1912, . 27 27 _ 6 Applications received during year, . 2,042 1,938 104 1,938 On first investigation: 9,069 1J965 104 1,944 Applications granted, . t 1,609 1,524 85 1,746 Applications refused, . 408 389 19 136 Applications canceled, . Applications pending, . , , 41 11 41 11 35 27 On reinvestigation of applicatio rw pr eviously re fused SOI 284 17 117 Applications granted, . 205 194 11 91 Applications refused again, 60 54 6 19 Applications canceled, . . . 36 36 - 7 Licenses canceled at request of licensee, 1,628 1,587 41 3,480 Licenses revoked for unlawful conditions, * 198 198 226 148 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS 3. UNITED KINGDOM. 1 The Home Work Orders are being satisfactorily enforced. This sub- ject is dealt with at greatest length by the Lady Inspectors, and the in- dustries which came under special observation were : cosaques and Christmas stockings, shrimp shelling and potting, machine-made lace, and file-cutting, but machine-made lace called for special attention, and Miss Anderson herself made some personal study of the conditions prevailing (see Particulars) and reports fully thereon. Miss Martindale visited outworkers employed in file-cutting. She found the women had all been employed previous to marriage in the factories, and were, with few ex- ceptions, aware of the dangers and of the advisability of not carrying on the work in the kitchen and living-rooms. She does not think this is a trade likely to increase as regards home work, as files are now being cut by machinery. Miss Ahrons reports on cosaques. 1 Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories and Workshops for the Year 1912. London. 1913. Pages TXVI, 247. REPORTS INSPECTORS OF HOME WORK 149 i ii ~ r i i t i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i o o fl -2 ~ 1-4 W on J --H | 10 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 <* 1 1 1 1 1 y. 2 I'l | ^S O 1 H ggjH 1 CO | - | | | | | | | I 1 01 1 1 04 1 O^OJ | 00 1 t> 1* 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Is 55 II ~>0> 1 C0040S 1 1 1 t^iQ 1 1 1 OSU504 1 t>-000 1 1 ^ 1 1 So H II i o i i 5 225 ' o** * ' ' ' *~ l ' ' ' ^c* * 1 ' ^SSS^ ' '^ c<1 ' g"S s g CO 1 III C^OO 1 1 1 1 1 1 rl t 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 IP i j||||| g 2 i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i 1 >W M c-2 |s-s^ 5 -313 ' 5j ' 3**^ 1 1 1 -00Ot* 1 1 g00040404CO 4 | |2 ' S| ' Sa888. a ES||E-ia at 2 gS agag8a'8ss'5issa!s-ssa''s i a s ^ M ' r K S . ./I - 1 . . ^ fa ^ *O fe ^ 3-^5 *O r5 S 2 "^ B : 1 o> " 111 : ~ o : V ^' ^O 03 A ^ - ^ I J J* -2 1 il 1 i 1 1 .a J^ c3 45 6 I a 4 i % J JH ^3 g, c > 3 > t ,c fc" 1 ^ ^ J ^ J J o o > cj -2- o ll ^ < PH o S -5 CO S 5 5 < > a j ft O S I 1 I : * -2 d 09 VHH r * * c) d o g 1 O t^ *o S p 'C S s ^ 2 p '53 '53 o < *o JM S W 3 1 C" 1 c3 d *> a> ' H r-i ^S- 2 ^ CO & ,d a -s i i ; ^ .a I 'C 'S ' H S ^ -2 S *C t 3 * ,g j g J S Sj "^^ . 73 1 H '43 1 1 X | T3 "1 T3 d 8 ^ lf--J C . "fi S "^ vS 1 4 ft 4 i , i : ' g S 1 ! i ' | t C i J i 4 1 ! 1 \ e | T: c ; 2 i- 7 1 j M j i ? ! 1 : _ 1 ] 1 . 1 a * a 1 s 1 43 .2 'S I *0 ^d 1 *s >> | i g ^a 2 1 03 b s o I 1 i g d 1 4^ CO C^ 1 1 1 s 3 o 1 1 n 3 (M ec -* l^ 00 o l-H CO 180 HOME WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS > lljjl 1 : : i 6 1 o ; ; ; jj M c) Amount. . . home worker i & i : i ; i s ini: 1 B I 3 p : e : : rt j N^ S 'g 1 i * a 5 s 1 o *o _S IH g : . @ x ^ J o a ^_^ O x- ^ 2 H II S I S i-J C 3. Other occupations .... 5. Seasons: (a) Busy 6. Amount of home work 1 T> f~\ T>~o. a ,nn 0+Q (c) Deductions or pre 8. Distribution: (o) Toe 9. Workers: (a) Number D 3 E a D i I- y =5 t 5 ' (0) supply 10. (o) Manufacturer (d) Retail price 1 1 i C r 9 >> i 2 ! 4 H SPECIMEN INQUIRY FORMS 181 o * 1 I - ^ ^ o fc i ^ 1 < 1 ^ w Q Q ^ o g 4 g i d t> f> t> M 1 s 1 ^ a 1 * ^ ^ o >H 3 s 5 3g o -1. < 1 S H Is | * > C3 *S f-i ' g - 1 |g5 w i o | | g | I! o H i - i - 1 15 * CO Ui * eo uj H INDEX INDEX ABOLITION OF HOME WORK, see PROHIBI- TION OF HOME WORK. "ADRIFT," meaning as applied to women, 33 (ft. nt.). ADVERTISEMENTS, home work, 16, 60. AGE OF HOME WORKERS, xxv; in all in- dustries, 30-31; wearing apparel in- dustry, 82-83: jewelry, 102; paper goods, 112-113; celluloid goods, 123; sporting goods, 129. ARMENIANS, as home workers, 82. ARTIFICIAL FLOWER MAKING, report on working conditions, 138-139; investi- gation of, in France, 140-141. See also PAPER FLOWERS. ASSEMBLING CHAIN, method of, 93. BASEBALLS, home work processes, 127; rates of pay, 128; seasonal character of work, 128. BASKETS, home work processes and rates of pay, 120-121. BEADING, 73. BEAD-STRINGING, 95-96. BEDROOMS, use as workroom, xiv, 57-58; for paper goods manufacture, 118; for sporting goods manufacture, 132. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HOME WORK, 150-175. BLACK FOREST, chain making in, 100. BOOTS, see SHOES AND SHOE TRIMMINGS. BOXES, see PAPER BOXES. BRUSHES, home work on, 133-134; rates of pay, 133. BUTTONS, home work on, 68-71; rates of pay, 70; celluloid, home work processes and rates of pay, 119. BUTTONHOLE MAKING, rates of pay, 63; for men's shirts, 65. CANDY, tenement manufacture, 27. CELLULOID GOODS, 119-126; rate of pay per hour, 48-49; overcrowding among workers, 56; centers of industry, 119; processes and rates of pay, 119-121; novelties, 120-121; character of work, 121; effect on health, 121-122; labor supply, 122; charges on earnings of workers, 122; method of distribution, 122-123; the worker, 123-126; sex and age, 123; school attendance, 124; earnings and incomes, 124-125; work- ing conditions, 125-126; seasonal char- acter of industry, 125-126. CHAIN MAKING, 91-94; home work proc- esses, 91-93; rates of pay, 93-94; labor supply, 98-99; reasons for home work, 99-100. CHARGES ON EARNINGS OF HOME WORKERS, 52-53; in celluloid goods industry, 126; in sporting goods industry, 131. CHILDBIRTH, employment of women home workers near time of, 64. CHILD LABOR, danger of, xiv. See also CHILDREN AS HOME WORKERS. CHILD LABOR LAW, of 1913, 19(ft. nt.), 20. CHILDREN AS HOME WORKERS, prohibi- tion of, 4; Massachusetts law regard- ing, 19 (ft. nt.); age and sex, 30-31; school attendance, 32; physical effects, 32, 103, 107; men's clothing industry, 63-64; finishing caps, 75; elastic woven goods, 77-78; wearing apparel, 82-83; tag stringing, 111; paper goods, 111, 112-113; celluloid goods, 123, 126; sporting goods, 129; brushes, 133; silk goods, 134; report of New York in- spector regarding, 145. CHILDREN'S CLOTHING, 66-68. See also WOMEN'S CLOTHING. CHRISTMAS BOXES, 111. CIGAR MAKERS' UNION, regulation of tene- ment house manufacture, 20, 27. CLOAK, SUIT AND SKIRT MAKERS' STRIKE, 20, 21 ; effect on home work, 146. CLOTHING MANUFACTURE, reference to Massachusetts laws regarding, 11. See also CHILDREN'S CLOTHING, CUSTOM- MADE CLOTHING, MEN'S CLOTHING, READY-MADE CLOTHING, WEARING AP- PAREL, WOMEN'S CLOTHING. 186 INDEX COATS, home work processes, 63. See also MEN'S CLOTHING. COMB INDUSTRY, establishment of, 119. CONSUMER, protection of, xvii. CONSUMERS' LEAGUE, restriction of tene- ment manufacture, 21; studies of con- ditions of work, 138-139. CONTAGION, through home work, see DIS- EASE, TRANSMISSION OF. CONTRACT SYSTEM, in connection with home work, 64; in clothing industry, 68; neckwear, 71; shoes and shoe trim- mings, 73; elastic woven goods, 78; hand-knit goods, 81; mesh bags, 98-99; jewelry and silverware, 100-101; cel- luloid goods, 122-123. CONTRACT TAILORS, men's clothing industry, 62-63, 64. CONTRACTORS FOR HOME WORK, in jewelry industry, 100-101; paper goods, 111; sporting goods, 127, 128. CORSETS, home work on, 62. CROCHETING, number of firms giving out home work, xxi. CUSTOM-MADE CLOTHING, home work on, 63; seasonal character, 64, 65. DANGERS OF HOME WORK, xiv. See also EVILS OF HOME WORK. DEPENDENTS, in families of home workers, 50-52; dependent children, xxi-xxii. DINING ROOM, use as work room, 58. DISEASE, number of licenses revoked be- cause of, xviii; transmission of through home work, 118, 139, 140. DISTRIBUTION OF HOME WORK, methods, 60- 61; in jewelry and silverware industry, 101; paper goods, 111; celluloid goods, 122-123; sporting goods, 128-129. DISTRICT POLICE, home work licenses se- cured from, 23; duties transferred to State Board of Health, 24. DOLLS, home work on, 27. DOMESTIC STATUS OF HOME WORKER, 33- 34; table showing, 34. DOMESTIC SYSTEM, relation of home work to, vii-viii. DRESS TRIMMINGS, home work on, 68-71; rates of pay, 70; seasonal character, 70. See also WOMEN'S CLOTHING. EARNINGS OF HOME WORKERS, xiii, xxii- xxiii, 2; level of wages, 17-19; yearly earnings, 39-42; in relation to age and experience, 44-46; wearing apparel in- dustry, 84-86; jewelry industry, 103- 105; paper goods, 114-116; celluloid goods, 124-125; sporting goods, 130- 131; artificial flowers, 140; boot and shoe industry 141; report of English investigation, 140. See also HOURLY RATE OF EARNINGS. ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF HOME WORK, xiii, xv. ELASTIC WOVEN GOODS, 76-78; location of industry, 76-77; home work processes, 77; rates of pay, 77, 78; labor supply, 77-78; contract system, 78. EMBROIDERY, 67, 68; rates per hour, 68. EMPLOYMENT, change of, among home work- ers, table showing, 53. ENAMEL PAINTING, 94-95; rates of pay, 95; labor supply, 99; reasons for home work, 100. ENGLAND, home work in, 137, 140. EVILS OF HOME WORK, viii, 19-20, 39; re- port of New York Factory Investigat- ing Commission, 139-140; report of English Committee, 140. EYE GLASSES, home work processes on, 96. EYE STRAIN, from tag stringing, 108; from work on paper goods, 109. FACTORY, definition of, ix. FACTORY LAWS, exemption of home indus- tries from, ix. FACTORY WORK, relation to home work, 14- 15, 61; in jewelry and silverware in- dustries, 97-98. FACTORY WORKERS, competition of home workers with, xv, 2, 18-19; relation to home workers, 3; proportion of home workers to, 15, 16. "FAMILY," as used in reference to home worker, 7. FAMILIES OF HOME WORKERS, grade, xviii; size, xxiv; economic condition, xiii, xxii-xxiii; status of, 18. FANS, celluloid, home work processes and rates of pay, 120. FINLAND, report of home work in, 142. FLOWERS, artificial, see ARTIFICIAL FLOWER MAKING, also PAPER FLOWERS. FOOD, tenement house manufacture, 21, 27. FOREIGN-BORN WORKERS, see IMMIGRANTS AS HOME WORKERS. FRANCE, home work in, 140-141. INDEX 187 FRENCH-CANADIANS, employment in jewelry industry, 102, 103; on celluloid goods, 123. GAMES, home work on, 26. GARMENT TRADES, see WEARING APPAREL. GARTERS, see ELASTIC WOVEN GOODS. GERMANY, home work in, 141. GLOVES, rates of pay, 79. GREAT BRITAIN, home work inspection, 148- 149; table showing, 149. HAIR BRUSHES, see BRUSHES. HAIRPINS, celluloid, home work processes, and rates of pay, 119. HAND-KNIT GOODS, 80-82; seasonal char- acter, 81 ; rates of pay, 81 ; labor force, 82. HAND-MADE CLOTHING, home work on, 67- 68. HANDICAPPED, employment of on home work, 27. HEALTH, MASSACHUSETTS STATE BOARD OF, on status of home workers, 18; regula- tion of tenement manufacture, 24. HEALTH OF WORKERS, see PHYSICAL EF- FECTS OF HOME WORK. "HOME," definition of, in connection with home work, 11; status of, under home work, viii-ix. HOME WORK, definition of, xvii, 11, 176. HOSIERY, 74-76; location of industry, 74; home work processes, 74-75; rates of pay, 75; labor supply, 76. HOURLY RATE OF EARNINGS, x, xiii, xxiii, 48-51; on jewelry, 105, 107. HOURS OF LABOR, 19; in boot and shoe in- dustry, France, 141; in clothing trades, Finland, 142. HOUSING CONDITIONS, xxiii. ILLINOIS BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, re- port on sweating system, 137. IMMIGRANTS AS HOME WORKERS, 34, 35, 49, 51; overcrowding among, 57; in jewelry industry, 102; number of fam- ilies employed, 139. INCOMES ASIDE FROM HOME W^ORK, xxii, 17, 18, 46-48; of workers on wearing ap- parel, 85-86; jewelry industry, 105; paper goods, 116; celluloid goods, 125; sporting goods, 131. See also EARNINGS. INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM, relation of home work to, viii. INDUSTRIES GIVING OUT HOME WORK, re quiring regulation, xix; location, xx- list of, 5, 12-13; detailed reports,; 59- 134. INFECTION, through home work, see DIS- EASE, TRANSMISSION OF. INSPECTION, cost of, x; difficulties, xiv; scope of Massachusetts law, 4; defects of system, 21; reports of inspectors, 143-149; Massachusetts, 143-144; New York, 144-147; United Kingdom, 148- 149. INSPECTION DEPARTMENT, STATE BOARD OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIES, xii, xviii. INSPECTORS, see TENEMENT WORK IN- SPECTORS. INVESTIGATIONS OF HOME WORK, conclu- sions from present study, xiii-xvi; scope of present study, 5-9; method, 6; connection of Women's Educational and Industrial Union with, 8; special reports, 137-142; Consumers' League studies, 138-139; reports from Euro- pean countries, 140-142. IRREGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT, see UNEM- PLOYMENT. ITALIANS, overcrowding among, 56-57; con- tract tailors, 63; workers on celluloid goods, 123. JEWELRY, 88-107; rates of pay, 48-49, 89- 90, 93-94, 95, 96-97; manufacturing centers, 88; home work processes, 89- 91; mesh bags, 89-91; chain work, 91- 94; painting on enamel, 94-95; mis- cellaneous processes, 95-97; physical effect, 97; relation of home to factory work, 97-98; labor supply, 98-99; reasons for home work, 99-100; method of distribution, 100-101; the worker, 102-107; sex and age, 102; school at- tendance, 103; earnings and income, 103-105; extent and causes of non-em- ployment, 105-106; working condi- tions, 106; summary, 107. KITCHEN, use as workroom, xiv, xxiv, 57, 58; in jewelry manufacture, 106; paper goods, 118; celluloid goods, 126; sport- ing goods, 132. KNIT GOODS, number of firms and workers, xx. See also HAND-KNIT GOODS, and MACHINE-KNIT GOODS. 188 INDEX LABOR SUPPLY FOR HOME WORK, men's clothing industry, 64, 66; women's and children's clothing, 66, 67-68; shoes and shoe trimmings, 74; hosiery and machine-knit goods, 76; elastic woven goods, 77-78; jewelry and silverware, 98-99; paper goods, 110-111; celluloid goods, 122; sporting goods, 128. LABOR AND INDUSTRIES, MASSACHUSETTS STATE BOARD OF, on home work legisla- tion, 4; duties and powers, 24 (ft. nt.); inspection of home work, 143-144; study of licensed home workers, ix-x; reprint from, xvi-xxv. LABOR LAWS, standards for home and fac- tory work, ix, 4. LABOR ORGANIZATIONS, attitude toward home work, 20-21. LADY INSPECTORS, England, extract from report on home work, 148. LEGISLATION REGARDING HOME WORK, committee appointed to consider, ix; membership, x (ft. nt.); resolutions adopted, x-xi; bill entered, xi; text, xi-xii; organizations endorsing, xii; what enforcement of present law in- volves, xv ; scope of Massachusetts law, 4; states having regulations, table showing, 22; Massachusetts regula- tions, 23-25; text of law, 24-25. LICENSE FOR HOME WORK, limitation of Massachusetts provisions, 4; states re- quiring, 22; Massachusetts law, 25; li- censed and unlicensed families, 26; no provision for paper goods workers, 118; record of licenses, New York, 147. LICENSING SYSTEM, limitations, x; difficul- ties, xiv; extent of, xviii-xix; expenses, xix. LIVING CONDITIONS OF HOME WORKERS, xxiv, 3, 19, 56-58; by industries, 56; by nativity, 57; among workers on cellu- loid goods, 126. LIVING ROOM, use as workroom, xiv. LIVING WAGE, home work inadequate for, 39. MACARONI, tenement manufacture, 27. MACHINE-KNIT GOODS, 74-76; location of industry, 74; home work processes, 75- 76; rates of pay, 75; physical effects of work, 75; labor supply, 76; distribu- tion of goods, 76. MACHINE-MADE CLOTHING, 66. MANUFACTURERS, attitude toward home workers, 18. MARITAL CONDITIONS OF HOME WORKERS, 3, 33. MARRIED WOMEN, proportion of home work- ers represented by, xiii, 3, 4, 33; re- sponsibility for family support, xxi-xxii; employment on paper goods, 114; on celluloid goods, 126. MEN AS HOME WORKERS, 30, 31; number having other gainful occupation, 54- 55; employment on paper goods, 113- 114. MEN'S CLOTHING, 62-66; coats and pants, 62-64; location of industry, 62-63; physical effects of work, 64; labor sup- ply, 64; seasonal character, 64, 65; shirts and pajamas, 65; home work processes, 65; rates of pay, 65; labor supply, 66. MEN'S GARMENT WORKERS, strike, 20-21. MEN'S NECKWEAR, see NECKWEAR. MESH BAGS, home work processes, 89-91; rates of pay, 89-90, 107; method of manufacture, 90-91; number of work- ers, 97; proportion of home to factory workers, 98; contract system, 99, 100- 101; teaching work, 99; seasonal char- acter, 106. MINIMUM WAGE BOARDS, for home work industries, 28, 140, 141, 142. MOCCASINS, see SHOES AND SHOE TRIM- MINGS. NATIVITY OF HOME WORKERS, xxiv-xxv, 34- 36; per cent native born, 35; nativity of fathers, 36; hourly earnings by, 50- 51; in jewelry industry, 102; celluloid goods, 123; report of New York in- spectors, 144-147. NECKWEAR, 68-71; seasonal character, 68, 70; home work processes, 69; rates of pay, 69; labor supply, 70-71; methods of distribution, 71. NETHERLANDS, report of home work in, 142. NEW YORK STATE, home work inspection, 144-147. NON-EMPLOYMENT, see UNEMPLOYMENT. NORTH END, BOSTON, center of men's cloth- ing industry, 63. NOVELTIES, celluloid, processes and rates of pay, 120-122. INDEX 189 OCCUPATIONS OF HOME WORKERS, previous employment and training, 36-39; change of employment, 53; other gain- ful occupations, 54-55. OPTICAL GOODS, see EYE GLASSES. OVERCROWDING, in families of home work- ers, 56. PAINTING, see ENAMEL PAINTING. PAJAMAS, see MEN'S CLOTHING. PANTS, READY-MADE, number of firms and workers, xx; rate of pay, 63. See also MEN'S CLOTHING, and RUNNING PANTS. PAPER FLOWERS, home work processes, 109. See also ARTIFICIAL FLOWER MAKING. PAPER GOODS, 108-118; per cent of workers without training, 39; rates per hour, 48-49, 109, 116, 117; location of in- dustry, 108; home work processes, 108- 109; physical effects, 109, 113; labor supply, 110-111; number of home workers, 110; method of distribution, 111, 118; the worker, 111-118; sex and age, 112-113, 114; school attendance, 113; earnings and incomes, 114-116; extent and causes of non-employment, 116-118; charges on earnings, 117-118; working conditions, 118; need for li- censing, 118. PAPER BOXES, home work processes, 108- 109; rates of pay, 109. PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT, in connection with home work, 16. PHILADELPHIA BUREAU OF INDUSTRIAL STA- TISTICS, investigation of sweating sys- tem, 138. PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF HOME WORK, from manufacture of men's clothing, 64; machine-knit goods, 75; elastic woven goods, 77; wearing apparel, 83; jewelry and silverware, 97; tag stringing, 108; paper goods, 109, 113; celluloid goods, 121-122. PROHIBITION OF HOME WORK, x; special articles, x, xi; movement for, xiv; en- forcement of, xvi, 21-22; hardship in- volved, 27-28; attitude of European countries, 142. PROTOCOL AGREEMENT, in cloak-makers' strike, 21. PURSES, see MESH BAGS. READY-MADE CLOTHING, see WEARING AP- PAREL. REGISTER, of home workers proposed, xi. REGULATION OF HOME WORK, difficulties, xiv, 21-29; states having legislation re- garding, 22-23; minimum wage boards, 28; manufacture of sporting goods, 132; attitude of European countries, 142. REMEDIES FOR HOME WORK EVILS, report of Illinois Bureau of Statistics, 137; recommendations of European reports, 140-141. RENT, paid by home workers, xxii; table showing, 55. ROOMS, number in tenements of workers, xxiv. RUNNING PANTS, home work processes, 127; rates of pay, 128; method of distribu- tion, 128-129. RUSSIAN JEWS, as contract tailors, 63. RUSSIANS, overcrowding among, 56. SANITARY CONDITIONS, tenement work- rooms, Massachusetts law, 25; home work on jewelry, 106, 107; paper goods, 118; sporting goods, 132; brushes and silk goods, 133. SAXONY, home workers in, 141. SCHEDULES, used in home work study, speci- men forms, 176-181. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE OF HOME WORKERS, table showing, 32; workers on wearing apparel, 83; jewelry, 103; paper goods, 113; ceUuloid goods, 124. SEASONAL CHARACTER OF HOME WORK, xiii; effect on earnings, 17, 19; on employ- ment, 43; in clothing trade, 65, 66. "SEAMING," on machine-knit goods, 75. SEED PEARLS, cementing on pins, 95. SEWING, number of firms giving out home work, xxi. SEX OF WORKERS, 30-31; on wearing ap- parel, 82-83; jewelry, 102; paper goods, 112-113, 114; celluloid goods, 123; sporting goods, 129-130. SHIRTS, see MEN'S CLOTHING. SHOE INDUSTRY, investigation of home work in, 141. SHOE ORNAMENTS, see SHOES AND SHOE TRIMMINGS. SHOES AND SHOE TRIMMINGS, 71-74; loca- tion of industry, xx, 71; hand- work, 72; home work processes, 72-73; seasonal 190 INDEX character, 73, 74; contract system, 73; labor supply, 74; report of Massa- chusetts inspectors, 143-144. SILK GOODS, home work on, 133, 134; rates of pay, 134. SILVERWARE MANUFACTURE, 88-107. See also JEWELRY. SLIPPERS, see SHOES. SPANGLES, see PAPER GOODS. SPORTING GOODS, 127-132; centers of in- dustry, 127; products, 127; processes, 127; rates of pay, 48-49, 128; labor supply, 128; method of distribution, 128-129; seasonal character, 128, 131- 132; the worker, 129-132; sex and age, 129-130; earnings and incomes, 130- 131; working conditions, 131-132. SQUASH BALLS, home work processes, 127; rates of pay, 128. STONE SETTING, 95. STRAW HATS, home work processes and rates of pay, 80. STRIKES, home work issue in, 20-21. SUSPENDERS, see ELASTIC WOVEN GOODS. SWEAT-SHOPS, clothing manufacture in, 137-138. "SWEATING SYSTEM," definition, 137; re- ports of investigations, 137-142. TAG STRINGING, employment of children, 20, 32; home work processes, 108; ef- fect on health, 108; regularity of em- ployment, 110-111; distribution, 111; piece rates, 117. TAILORS, employment of home workers, 62- 63, 64. TENEMENT DISTRICTS, proportion of home workers in, 3, 16-17; center of clothing industry, 62. "TENEMENT TAG," use in regulating home work, 145, 146. TENEMENT HOUSE MANUFACTURE, restric- tions on employment of children in, 3; regulation of workrooms, 22, 25. TENEMENT WORK INSPECTORS, duties, xvi, xvii; difficulties encountered, 145-146. See also INSPECTION. TENEMENT WORKROOMS, definition, 23. TENNIS BALLS, home work processes, 127; rates of pay, 128; seasonal character of work, 128. TOBACCO, tenement manufacture, 20, 27. TOOTH BRUSHES, see BRUSHES. TOYS, home work on, 27. TRAINING, received by home workers, 38-39. UNDERWEAR, home work on, 67; study made by Women's Educational and In- dustrial Union, reference, 8. UNEMPLOYMENT, in connection with home work, 3, 4, 17, 19, 61; extent and causes of, 41-43; in wearing apparel industry, 87; jewelry industry, 105-106; paper goods, 116-118; celluloid goods, 125- 126; sporting goods, 131-132. UNION LABEL, effect in tenement manufac- ture, 20. UNITED STATES COMMITTEE ON MANUFAC- TURES, investigation of sweating sys- tem, 137-138. UNITED GARMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, report on sweat-shop legislation, 138. WAGE BOARDS, see MINIMUM WAGE BOARDS. WAGES OF HOME WORKERS, low level of, xiii; 17-19; compared with factory workers, 15, 16; in garment trades, 138, 139. See also EARNINGS OF HOME WORKERS. WEARING APPAREL, definition, xi-xii; home work regulation, xvi-xvii, 4, 24-25; rates of pay, xxiii, 48-49; overcrowd- ing among workers, 56; processes adapted to home work, 59; methods of securing workers, 59-60; seasonal char- acter, 60-61; proportion of home to factory workers, 61; distribution, 61- 62; industries employing home work, 62; the worker, 82-87; sex and age, 82-83; school attendance, 83; earnings and incomes, 84-86; extent and causes of non-employment, 87; sweating sys- tem, 137, 138; unsanitary conditions of manufacture, 140. WILLOW PLUMES, home work on, 62. WOMEN AS CONTRACTORS, for jewelry fac- tories, 101. WOMEN HOME WORK INSPECTORS, 148. WOMEN AS HOME WORKERS, dependency, xiii ; number having dependents, 51 ; num- ber having other gainful occupations, 54-55; men's clothing, 64; women's and children's clothing, 67; wearing apparel, 82, 83; jewelry industry, 102, 107; paper goods, 114; celluloid goods, 123; sporting goods, 129-130. INDEX 191 WOMEN'S CLOTHING, 66-68; location of in- dustry, 66; home work processes, 66; rates of pay, 66, 67, 141; labor supply, 66, 67-68; hand-work, 67-68; advan- tage of home work, 68. WOMEN'S EDUCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL UNION, part in home work investiga- tion, 8. WORKROOM, character of room so used, xiv, 57-58; condition of, xxiv. WORKSHOP, definition of, 23. WORKERS, protection of, xviii; location, xix- xx ; type of, in wearing apparel indus- try, 82-87; jewelry, 102-107; paper goods, 111-118; celluloid goods, 123- 126; sporting goods, 129-132. RETURN Government Documents Department TO ^ 350 Main Library 642-2568 LOAN PERIOD 1 2 3 4 5 6 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS DUE AS STAMPED BELOW JAN Z 6 1984 P-ECD IN nrp DOCS DEPT. Ut ^ 2 2 1983 19$ % RECEIVED JUN 2 9 199 5 CIRCULATION t EP T UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY FORM NO. DD7. 68m. 1 /82 BERKELEY, CA 94720 TL J4J6O BERKELEY LIBRARIES 314787 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY