331.4 P42m The person charging this material is re¬ sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/millinerytradeinOOperr THE MILLINERY TRADE IN BOSTON AND PHILADELPHIA A STUDY OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY F£S 2 3 1917 A ItHBfriatum PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF BRYN MAWR COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY LORINDA PERRY PRESS OF THE VAIL-BALLOU COMPANY, BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK Copyright , 1916 , 6y WOMEN’S EDUCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL UNION Boston, Mass. The Vail-Ballou, Co., Printers, Binghamton, N. Y. 25JM7CIS ' PAGES TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I—INTRODUCTION The problem of women in industry—Colonial point of view— New attitude—Minimum wage laws and industrial train¬ ing—Importance of millinery as a trade for women— Statistics for Boston and Philadelphia. 1-11 CHAPTER II—DESCRIPTION OF THE MILLINERY TRADE AND OF ITS PROCESSES Characteristics of the trade—Parasitic nature—Requirements that workers live at home—Seasonal character of the in¬ dustry—Small proportion of highly paid workers—Large supply of workers—Social prestige of millinery—De¬ scription of processes—Division of work—System of apprenticeship—Trimmers and designers—Extent of em¬ ployment—Opportunity for advancement. 12-26 CHAPTER III—CLASSIFICATION OF SHOPS ACCORD¬ ING TO STAGES OF INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION Classes of millinery establishments—Private or home millinery —Parlor millinery—Problem of credit—The millinery store—Size of workroom force—Millinery department of a department store—Competition among milliners— Wholesale millinery—Wholesale manufacturing millinery 27-43 CHAPTER IV—THE SEASONS AND THEIR PROBLEMS Retail seasons—Rush work—Dull season—Fluctuations in size of workroom force—Problem of unemployment— Length of season for workers—Relation of experience to length of employment—“Speeding up” and overtime— Suggestions for abolishing overtime—Dissatisfaction of workers with seasons—Supplementary occupations— Chronic over-supply of labor. 44-68 CHAPTER V—WAGES Time and piece wages—Wages of apprentices—Total annual earnings of workers—Nominal and average weekly wages of workers—Wage of piece rate workers—Nominal and TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES average wage of trimmers—Average weekly wage throughout the year—Relation of employment and ex¬ perience to wage. 69-92 CHAPTER VI—MILLINERY WORKERS Nationality of Boston and Philadelphia workers—Age of workers—Educational standards—Age at leaving school —Preliminary occupations—Extent of self-support among workers—Living conditions.93-104 CHAPTER VII—WAYS OF LEARNING MILLINERY The Apprenticeship System— Unwillingness of employers to train apprentices—Danger of exploitation—Qualifications demanded of appren¬ tices—Age preferred—Length of apprenticeship— Wages of learners—Economic waste of system . . 105-115 LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Comparison of the millinery trade of Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Chicago.7 2. Specified occupations of the population, 10 years of age and over, of Boston and of Philadelphia.9 3. Extent of employment in each occupation during the busy season in 97 Boston millinery establishments .... 24 4. Extent of employment in each occupation during the busy season in 94 Philadelphia millinery establishments ... 25 5. Size of workroom force of Boston and Philadelphia millinery stores.35 6. Size of the workroom force of Boston and Philadelphia de¬ partment and women’s wear stores.39 7. Reduction in size of workroom force during the dull season in Boston.47 8. Reduction in size of workroom force during the dull season in Philadelphia.. . 47 9. Fluctuation, week by week, in size of workroom force in 8 Boston establishments for the year 1912.48 10. Length of employment in the year 1912 for workers in 5 Boston retail establishments.51 11. Length of employment in a year of 103 Boston workers, classi¬ fied by occupation and type of establishment.54 12. Length of employment in the year 1912 for 100 Philadelphia workers, classified by occupation and type of establishment 55 13. Length of employment by weeks in the year 1912 of 140 Bos¬ ton workers, classified by occupation and by type of estab¬ lishment .56 14. Length of employment by months in the year 1912 for 133 Boston workers, classified by occupation and by type of establishment.57 15. Effect of experience on length of employment during the year. Boston.57 TABLE LIST OF TABLES PAGE 16. Length of employment by weeks in the spring and fall sea¬ sons of the year 1912, for workers in 5 Boston retail estab¬ lishments, classified by occupation.60 17. Effect of experience on length of employment during the year. Philadelphia.61 18. Nominal weekly wages received by 35 Boston apprentices, classified according to type of establishment.71 19. Total annual earnings of 120 Boston workers, classified by oc¬ cupation and type of establishment.72 20. Total annual earnings of 91 Boston makers.72 21. Nominal weekly wages of Boston and Philadelphia makers. Cumulative statement.73 22. Nominal weekly wages of Boston makers, classified by type of establishment.74 23. Nominal weekly wages of Philadelphia makers, classified by type of establishment.75 24. Average weekly wages of 173 Boston makers. Cumulative statement.75 25. Average weekly wages of 173 Boston makers, classified by type of establishment.77 26. Average weekly wages throughout the year of Boston makers classified by type of establishment.77 27. Average weekly wages throughout the year of Boston makers. Cumulative statement.80 28. Comparison of the nominal weekly wages, the average weekly wages, and the average weekly wages throughout the year of Boston makers.80 29. Complete pay rolls of 7 Boston pieceworkers for the year 1912.... 81 30. Nominal weekly wages of trimmers in Boston and Philadel¬ phia, classified by type of establishment.82 31. Total annual earnings of 29 Boston trimmers.83 32. Nominal weekly wages of trimmers. Cumulative statement 83 33. Average weekly wages of 53 Boston trimmers. Cumulative statement.83 34. Average weekly wages of 53 Boston trimmers, classified by type of establishment.84 35. Average weekly wages throughout the year of 29 Boston trimmers. Cumulative statement.84 36. Average weekly wages throughout the year of 29 Boston trimmers, classified by type of establishment.87 TABLE LIST OP TABLES PAGE 37. Comparison of the nominal weekly wages, the average weekly wages, and the average weekly wages throughout the year received by Boston trimmers.87 38. Relation of employment to nominal weekly wages of 120 Boston workers, classified by occupation.88 39. Relation between nominal weekly wages and length of experi¬ ence of makers in Boston and Philadelphia retail estab¬ lishments .89 40. Relation between nominal weekly wages and length of ex¬ perience of trimmers in Boston and Philadelphia retail establishments .90 41. Nationality of Boston and Philadelphia workers, classified by occupation .94 42. Nationality of Boston and Philadelphia workers, classified by employment in wholesale or retail establishments ... 94 43. Age of Boston and Philadelphia workers, classified by occupa¬ tion .96 44. Age and nationality of 100 Boston workers.97 45. Age and nationality of 119 Philadelphia workers . . . .97 46. Education of Boston and Philadelphia workers.99 47. Age at which Boston and Philadelphia workers leave school 100 48. Extent of self-support among Boston and Philadelphia work¬ ers, classified by occupation.102 49. Living conditions of Boston and Philadelphia workers, classi¬ fied by occupation.103 50. Ways in which Boston and Philadelphia workers learned millinery.106 51. Employment of apprentices in Boston and Philadelphia . . 110 52. Age at which 111 Boston and 115 Philadelphia workers began millinery, classified according to methods of entering the trade.110 53. Age at which Boston and Philadelphia employers prefer ap¬ prentices .Ill 54. Wages received as apprentices at specified ages by Boston and Philadelphia workers.114 LIST OF CHARTS CHART PAGE I. Weekly fluctuation in size of workroom force of three Boston department stores and two millinery parlors . . 50 II. Weekly fluctuation in size of workroom force of two Boston wholesale establishments and the total force of three de¬ partment stores.52 III. Weekly fluctuation in wages received by three Boston piece rate workers.79 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The problem of women in industry, that is, in gainful occu¬ pations as distinguished from the unremunerated work per¬ formed in the home, is by no means a new one in the United States. It is as old as the Union itself. The comparatively new element is the present attitude of the public. General opinion on this question has varied at different periods, in¬ fluenced by the industrial conditions of the times. Throughout its history three problems have been emphasized. All of them have been present at various times and at the same time, but the emphasis has been placed now on one phase, now on another. The colonial point of view that women were “ collateral la¬ borers ’ ’ and that factories afforded employment for a group that might otherwise be idle, is expressed by Alexander Hamilton in his Report on Manufactures, communicated to the House of Rep¬ resentatives, December 5, 1791. “ Besides this advantage of occasional employment to classes having different occupations, there is another, of a nature allied to it, and of a similar tendency. This is the employment of persons who would otherwise be idle, and in many cases a bur¬ then on the community, either from the bias of temper, habit, infirmity of body, or some other cause, indisposing or disqualify¬ ing them for the toils of the country. It is worthy of particular remark that, in general, women and children are rendered more useful, and the latter more early useful, by manufacturing estab¬ lishments, than they would otherwise be. ’ 91 1 The Works of Alexander Hamilton, edited by Henry Cabot Lodge. 12 vols. New York, 1904. Vol. IV, p. 91. 2 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN As the increasing use of machinery in production gradually made possible the substitution of the unskilled labor of women for the more skilled labor of men, emphasis was changed from the usefulness of manufactures in affording employment for “otherwise idle persons” to the supposed competition of women with men and to the evil effects of such rivalry upon the wages, hours and general conditions of men’s labor. This point of view characterized much of the trade-union arguments in the United States during the thirties and forties. The report of the com¬ mittee on female labor of the National Trades’ Union conven¬ tion of 1836 contains the following: “These evils themselves (of the effect of female labor on the health and morals of the workers) are great, and call loudly for a speedy cure; but still another objection to the system arises, which, if possible, is productive of the other evils, namely, the ruinous competition brought in active opposition to male labor, actually producing a reversion of the very good intended to do the guardian or parent, causing the destruction of the end which it aims to benefit ; because, when the employer finds, as he surely will, that female assistance will compress his ends, of course the work¬ man is discharged, or reduced to a corresponding rate of wages with the female operative. ’ ’ 1 Thus the question of women’s labor was treated as subsidiary to the greater and more impor¬ tant one of men’s labor. The recognition that women and men form non-competing groups in industry has transferred the emphasis from the ques¬ tion of the evil competition of women with men, to the broader social problem—the effect of women’s labor upon women, the family and society. A new movement has arisen the object of which is to remedy the existing evils as to hours, wages and conditions of labor of women and children and to raise as far as possible the standard of industry of the workingwoman. It may be compared to that of the early thirties and forties which resulted in the formation of our modern trade-unions to remedy existing evils, with, however, this difference—the early move¬ ment originated with the worker himself, in revolt against 1 A Documentary History of American Industrial Society, edited by John R. Commons and others. 10 vols. Cleveland, Ohio, 1910. Vol. VI, p. 282. INTRODUCTION 3 laissez-faire methods and theories; the present movement has its origin in the awakening of society to the social consequences of woman’s labor. The earlier movement was the result of speculation as to the ‘ ‘ natural rights ’ ’ of man as an individual; the later movement rests upon the theory of the ‘‘natural rights” of society as a whole. The new attitude is reflected in the feeling that since the problem of women in industry is one which vitally affects not only the family but also society itself, the latter is justified in prescribing the conditions under which women and children shall work—that is, in limiting the terms of the labor contract. Three main provisions are a part of every contract, the physical conditions under which the work is performed, the hours of la¬ bor and the rate of wages. The State provides for the first by laws regulating sanitary conditions of labor, which apply to men and women alike. The second provision is covered by laws regulating and limiting the hours of labor, applying only to a limited extent to men. The right of the State to regulate hours of labor affecting women and children is now generally conceded, yet such laws have been declared constitutional only within the last two decades. The first law regulating the hours of labor of women and children was passed by the state of Massachusetts in 1874, 1 and was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court of Massa¬ chusetts in 1876. Further legislation of this sort received a severe setback in 1895 by the Illinois Supreme Court in the case of Ritchie v. The People (155 Ill. 98), which declared uncon¬ stitutional the law restricting the hours of labor of women and girls. 2 The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1907 in the case Curt Muller v. Oregon (208 U. S. 412) definitely settled the question of constitutionality in favor of restriction. Whereupon the Supreme Court of Illinois in 1910 reversed its former decision and in the case of Ritchie v. 1 Labor Laws and their Enforcement, with special reference to Massachu¬ setts, by Charles E. Persons, Mabel Parton, Mabelle Moses, and Three “Fellows.” (Longmans, Green and Co., 1911.) P. 123; Senate Document, No. 33, 1874. 2 Kelley, Florence. Some Ethical Gains Through Legislation. New York, 1905. P. 136 ff. 4 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN Way man (244 Ill. 509) declared constitutional legislation re¬ stricting the hours of labor of women and children. These two cases illustrate the new position. They were pleaded and de¬ cided from the point of view of the right of society to pro¬ tect itself by prescribing the conditions under which women may work. The period of fifteen years intervening between the two Ritchie cases may be considered as a transitional period in which the question of women in industry came to be recognized as primarily a social problem. The present agitation for minimum wage laws is an attempt to regulate by statute the third provision of the labor contract. The minimum wage law alone is not a solution, but should be supplemented by industrial training for girls and intelligent guidance into suitable industries. Industrial training for girls originated with the realization that women’s presence in in¬ dustry is inevitable and, therefore, that girls as well as boys must be fitted for labor. Minimum wage agitation will neces¬ sarily prove a great stimulus to the movement for industrial education for if society sets the lower limit of wages, society must provide some means of making woman’s labor worth it. Vocational guidance in minimizing the economic waste due to the shifting of young workers from one industry to another, is of value in supplementing any system of industrial education. All these reforms must be based upon a thorough and adequate knowledge of the actual conditions of women at work. This need is being met by a number of studies dealing with the prob¬ lem both in the past and in the present. Interest has been cen¬ tered primarily in the factory girl, probably because factory work for women seemed a more radical departure from their traditional sphere. Women’s trades have been neglected. Yet in these trades the problems and characteristics of women at work are reduced to their simplest terms, with no complicating ques¬ tion of competition with men. A study of the millinery trade should be of peculiar value, therefore, to minimum wage boards, to the directors of trade schools for girls, to vocational advisers in employment bureaus and public schools, and especially to those interested in the increasing body of legislation affecting women. INTRODUCTION 5 The millinery trade is defined as the designing, manufactur¬ ing by hand and sale of women’s hats. This definition excludes such trades as flower making, straw machine operating and the making of wire frames by machinery, which may be classified more accurately as the manufacture of millinery sup¬ plies. Some indication of the rank and importance of millinery as a trade for women may be found in the special report of the Federal Census Bureau, “Statistics of Women at Work, 1900.” “At the census of 1900 there were 82,936 women reported as milliners in continental United States, and the occupation was fourteenth in rank among the pursuits in which women are en¬ gaged as breadwinners. Millinery is preeminently a woman’s occupation, 94.4 per cent of all the milliners being women. Only two occupations had a larger proportion of women—that of dressmaker, with 97.5 per cent and that of housekeeper and stewardess, with 94.7 per cent. These three occupations and that of seamstress, with 91.9 per cent, were the only ones in which women constituted over nine-tenths of all persons em¬ ployed.” “In addition to the women engaged as milliners, 3,184 girls from 10 to 15 years of age were so employed. Thus the total number of female milliners was 86,120 or 98 per cent of all the milliners. ’ ’ 1 Literature upon the millinery trade in the United States is limited. Miss Butler’s Women and the Trades gives an ex¬ cellent account of wholesale millinery in Pittsburgh. The United States Census reports and the various State reports furnish a few statistics, but on the whole there is little accurate information about the conditions of the trade in general. The federal census of 1900 was the last to obtain statistics upon custom millinery. In Volume VII (Volume on Manufactures, part 1 pp. XXXVIII-XL) a recommendation is made to ex¬ clude from the census thereafter, reports on the hand trades because of the enormous expenses, difficulties and inaccuracies involved in the collection of such data. This recommenda¬ tion was acted upon and the canvass for the federal census of manufactures of 1905 did not include neighborhood industries i United States Census, Statistics of Women at Work , 1900, p. 75. 6 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN and hand trades. 1 The Massachusetts State Bureau of Statis¬ tics in the census of Massachusetts of 1905, also abandoned the collection of such data. 2 Millinery statistics of the Federal Census of 1900 and 1910, and of the Massachusetts State Census Reports, including data as to some wholesale establishments, cover chiefly the manu¬ facture of millinery supplies and of lace goods. The Annual Report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs, Bureau of Industrial Statistics for the State of Pennsylvania, contains no statistics whatever as to the millinery trade in that State or in Philadel¬ phia. A statistical study of the growth and development of the millinery trade in Boston and in Philadelphia is therefore im¬ possible. It is difficult to determine accurately what proportion of the trade of Boston and of Philadelphia is represented in this study. The figures from “Statistics of Women at Work, 1900/’ are hardly comparable as they are based upon the number of mil¬ liners actually living in Boston and Philadelphia, while the figures of this study are based upon milliners employed in the two cities. The only other source from which statistics may be drawn is Volume VIII of the Twelfth Federal Census, on Manu¬ factures. These were secured in 1900, and can only be used as indicating the probable relative position of the millinery 1 “The census of 1905 was the first in which the canvass was confined to establishments conducted under what is known as the factory system, thus excluding the neighborhood industries and hand trades. The statistics for these mechanical trades have been a confusing element in the census of manufactures, and their omission makes it possible to present the data of the true manufacturing industries of the country. “Reports were not secured from small establishments in which manu¬ facturing was incidental to mercantile or other business; from establish¬ ments in which the value of the products for the year amounted to less than $500. . . . Certain industries, such as custom millinery, custom tail¬ oring, dressmaking, . . . were wholly omitted.” United States Census of Manufactures, 1905, Part II, Introduction, p. 1. 2 “Experience in former censuses in gathering data of the hand trades and neighborhood industries, so-called,—such as dressmaking, millinery, carpentry, blacksmithing, etc.,—resulted in the conviction that the presenta¬ tion of such statistics led to confusion and might better be omitted from the canvass. In this view, the United States Census office coincided, join¬ ing the Massachusetts Bureau in an agreement to confine the statistics of Manufactures entirely to factory or mill industries in the operation of which hand power does not enter or is reduced to a minimum.” Census of Massachusetts, 1905, Vol. Ill, Introduction, pp. x-xi. INTRODUCTION 7 8 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN trade of various cities. New York City ranked first in impor¬ tance, Chicago second, Philadelphia third and Boston fourth in 1900, according to Table 1. New York seems to have kept the lead in the millinery trade of the United States according to the statements of employers and employees of Boston and Phila¬ delphia, who concede to the latter city the credit of having the largest single manufacturing millinery establishment in the United States. In total number of establishments (custom millinery and millinery and lace goods) Philadelphia and Bos¬ ton are about even, but Philadelphia employs more than twice as much capital for all establishments and half again as many em¬ ployees as Boston. Philadelphia millinery and lace establish¬ ments, also, employ a greater amount of capital and a larger number of wage-earners than do the Boston establishments. Perhaps no trade or form of industry reflects to such an in¬ timate degree the predominating social and economic character¬ istics of a community as does a fashion trade. It not only re¬ flects the taste and idiosyncrasies of its customers, but to a very great extent it serves as a gauge of their incomes. People who are fastidious demand seclusion when selecting hats as well as quality in materials and unique styles. This must be paid for, so that the degree of fastidiousness is limited very largely by the economic status. The millinery establishments of Boston and Philadelphia show many of the well-recognized idiosyncra¬ sies and characteristics of the population of the cities in which they are situated. Boston refuses to accept Paris and New York fashions as final, and demands that these styles be “Bos- tonized.” Consequently, a large number of millinery parlors are to be found in that city where foreign styles are modified and adapted to Boston ideas—a class of establishments rarely found in Philadelphia. 1 The fairly even distribution of the various types of millinery establishments in Boston points also to the well-known fact that Boston, being preeminently a commercial city, has no one predominant occupation group with well de¬ fined standards. 2 A study of Philadelphia millinery establishments points to two 1 For classification of establishments, see Chapter III. 2 See Shadwell, Arthur, Industrial Efficiency. (London, 1909.) P. 205 ff. INTRODUCTION 9 sets of influences which modify the form of establishments—a large body of factory workers in that city, and proximity to New York. A comparison of the population statistics of the two cities as given in Table 2, shows that, according to the United States Census of 1900, a larger proportion of the total population in Philadelphia ten years of age and over was classed under ‘‘manufacturing and mechanical pursuits’’; in Boston, under “trade and transportation” (See Table 2). To meet the demands of this large proportion of factory workers in Philadel¬ phia, a large number of small millinery stores are situated in the districts where the homes of working-men are found, and the many cheap department stores have developed. The absence of millinery parlors in Philadelphia (only five were discovered after careful search) and the comparatively small number of high grade furnishing stores for women argue that customers go to New York for their hats. TABLE 2, COMPARING SPECIFIED OCCUPATIONS OF THE POPULATION (10 YEARS OF AGE AND OVER) OF BOSTON AND PHILADELPHIA. FROM UNITED STATES SPECIAL REPORTS, 12th CENSUS, VOLUME ON OCCUPATIONS, 1904, PP. 432, 461. Boston / Philadelphia i Number Per Cent of Total Population i Number Per Cent of Total Population Total population 10 years of age and over 454,635 1,037,157 Population engaged in:— Manufacturing and me¬ chanical pursuits . Trade and transportation 82,020 i 85,583 18.0 18.8 i I 259,197 | 152,262 25.0 14.7 The material for this study was obtained chiefly from per¬ sonal interviews with employers and employees. A valuable contribution, especially as to seasons and wages, came from the use of Boston pay rolls. An attempt was made, when selecting firms to be visited in Boston and Philadelphia, to include both large and small representative establishments. Questions were asked not only as to competition and the extension of credit 10 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN to customers, but also as to apprenticeship, seasons, wages and number of employees. In Philadelphia definite information as to hours, overtime and workroom conditions was also secured. The Boston Directory for 1911 lists 275 retail and 47 whole¬ sale establishments—a total of 322. Nineteen of the whole¬ sale dealers were not engaged in manufacturing hats, but were either jobbers for out-of-town manufacturers, or were making millinery supplies only. Of the 303 firms that could properly be considered as engaged in the millinery trade, adequate schedules were secured from 103, practically one-third of the number listed in the Directory. The number of persons em¬ ployed in 97 of these 103 shops ranged from 143 during the dull season to 1,429 at the height of the busy season. The Phila¬ delphia Directory for 1912 lists 663 retail and 37 wholesale millinery establishments, a total of 700 firms. These figures should be considerably discounted for two reasons. Among the retail firms were the names of several persons who do home work in the dull season, but because they were employed in workrooms in the busy season, should more properly be classed as employees. Furthermore the list of Philadelphia wholesale firms included wholesale jobbers and manufacturers of millinery supplies as well as firms engaged in making hats; several estab¬ lishments in various parts of the city which were known to be primarily retail firms were also listed under “wholesale mil¬ liners.” Altogether 104 schedules were obtained from Phila¬ delphia firms which employed workers varying in number from 232 in the dull season to 1,959 at the height of the busy season. A thorough knowledge and understanding of any trade must be based upon a knowledge of the experience of workers as well as of employers, not only for the purpose of checking informa¬ tion, but of explaining and supplementing these facts. To this end, schedules were secured from 140 workers employed in Bos¬ ton shops and from 121 workers employed in Philadelphia. In¬ formation from the workers as well as the employers was ob¬ tained by personal interviews. The employees were visited at their homes. Questions were asked concerning their experience in and attitude toward the millinery trade, and their equip¬ ment in the way of general education and specific trade train- INTRODUCTION 11 ing. To know how the workers met and solved such problems as the seasons was also important. As far as possible, without entering into a standard of living study, an attempt was made to ascertain the economic status of each worker. The majority of the names and addresses of Boston workers was obtained from the trade itself—that is, through employers, from the registers of girls seeking new positions through whole¬ sale jobbing houses, and from fellow employees as they were visited. Many names were obtained from the Boston Trade School for Girls, a few from millinery teachers, and a surpris¬ ingly small number from working-girls ’ homes, the Young Women’s Christian Association, and working-girls’ clubs. No Philadelphia employers were asked for names of workers but the lists in that city came from working-girls ’ homes and clubs, from evening schools and settlements, and from fellow workers as they were visited. Limitations in the method of the study and in the scope of the material should be recognized. The proportion of employers visited was certainly sufficient to afford authoritative conclu¬ sions. As the aim of the investigation has been to gain a knowl¬ edge of millinery as a trade for women, interviews with about ten per cent, of the women employed in the busy season may be accepted as valid. But the larger number of pay rolls secured, for 310 workers complete and incomplete, add the most important information and that most difficult to secure accurately from the worker or the employer. 1 That this data verifies the reports from workers and employers strengthens the claim for the validity of these studies. Each study, in the main, verifies the general conclusions of the other, but exhibits sufficient varia¬ tions to justify the claim that both investigations were carried on entirely impartially. i Wages in the Millinery Trade, a study conducted under the New York State Factory Investigating Commission in 1914 (a year later than the completion of this study) by Miss Mary Van Kleeck, supplements this study. It presents information from yearly pay rolls of 40 shops and 3983 workers in New York City. (Ed.) CHAPTER II DESCRIPTION OF THE MILLINERY TRADE AND OF ITS PROCESSES SECTION I Characteristics of the Trade A parasitic trade, as defined by Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb, is one in which the employers “are able to obtain the use of labor not included in their wage-bill.” 1 Two classes of para¬ sitic trades are distinguished—one in which the workers are partially maintained from the incomes of persons unconnected with the industry, and the other in which the employers are en¬ abled to take such advantage of their workers as to pay wages insufficient to maintain them in average health, or to force them to work for very long hours or under dangerous and unsanitary conditions. The first form of parasitism is less vicious than the second and is characteristic of much labor done by women and chil¬ dren. It is illustrated by the labor of those women who are not paid sufficient wages to maintain them in efficiency unless these wages are supplemented by aid from their families or from other sources. “The employer of partially subsidized woman or child labor gains, . . . actually a double advantage over the self- supporting trades; he gets without cost to himself the extra energy due to the extra food, and he abstracts—possibly from the workers at a rival process, or in a competing industry— some of the income which might have increased the energy put into the other trade.’ ’ 2 The second and more vicious form o'f 1 Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, Industrial Democracy. (London, 1897. 2 vole.) Vol. II, p. 749. 2 I lid., p. 750. THE TRADE AND ITS PROCESSES 13 parasitism—the sweated trades—are, to be sure, “not drawing any money subsidy from the incomes of other classes. But in thus deteriorating the physique, intelligence, and character of their operatives, they are drawing on the capital stock of the nation. ... It is taking from these workers, week by week, more than its wages can restore to them. ’ ’ 1 This form of para¬ sitism is a matter of vital social concern, since it makes for physical degeneration. The partially subsidized form of parasitic trades is no less a matter of social concern, and carries with it, perhaps, more insidious effects than do the sweated trades. The physical de¬ terioration of the worker in the sweated trade shouts its warn¬ ing. But the habit of parasitism which is fostered in the work¬ ers of a subsidized trade carries with it a weakening of the will and of the moral fiber, the effects of which cannot be estimated or guarded against. It tends to reduce individual responsi¬ bility and to destroy all feeling of community interests and activity. By removing the emphasis from efficiency, it intensi¬ fies one of the fundamental weaknesses of the position of women in industry, lack of adequate training. It is rendered more in¬ sidious because it is often defended on the ground of pre¬ serving family unity. Considerable apprehension would be aroused if the worker were to receive aid from societv in the form of charity or from illicit sources to supplement wages that are insufficient to maintain efficiency. Millinery is a trade employing partially subsidized woman’s labor. The almost universal requirement of employers that their workers live at home, or have means of support other than their trade, gives evidence of this phase of parasitism. The an¬ swers of employers to the question, “Would you advise a girl to enter the trade ? ’ ’ showed a conscious recognition of this charac¬ teristic. About 75 per cent, of the employers visited in both Boston and Philadelphia would not advise a girl to enter the trade unless she had a home or some other means of support, or possessed exceptional talent—and even then, she would need some additional form of income while learning. Eighteen em¬ ployers in Boston and twelve in Philadelphia most emphatically i Hid., p. 751. 14 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN refused to advise a girl to take up millinery under any circum¬ stances. 1 Most of the millinery workers do live at home. Data on this point were obtained from three sources, the employers, the workers and the United States census. Eighty-six per cent. (89) of the total number of Boston firms and 82 per cent. (86) of the total number of Philadelphia firms reported that the majority of their workers lived at home. Many of these inci¬ dentally supplemented their answers by such significant re¬ marks as, “A girl needs the help of her family,’’ “Make it a point to get girls from good homes, so they can live on their wages,” “Wouldn’t take a girl who doesn’t—a girl can’t live on $6 a week,” “Don’t want a girl who hasn’t a good home—it worries me to turn her off in the dull season.” In Boston 83 per cent. (105) of the 126 workers reporting on this question lived with their families or other relatives, while only 17 per cent. (21) of the number reporting could in any sense of the word be said to be self-supporting. In Philadelphia 84 per cent. (100) of the 119 reporting lived with their families or with rela¬ tives. That this characteristic of millinery workers is not local is shown by United States census statistics. “The proportion of milliners who were apparently the sole support of the families in which they were living was small, being 7.1 per cent, or about 1 in 14. The proportion who were boarding and were there¬ fore apparently dependent upon their own earnings was twice as great, while the number living in families with other bread¬ winners formed 78.7 per cent of the total.” 2 Certain characteristics of women at work and the condi¬ tions of the trade itself are the causes of the parasitic nature of the trade. For this there are three chief reasons:—(1) the seasons; (2) the two distinct processes of the trade, only one of which employs highly paid workers and that a small group; and (3) the over-supply of workers. The seasonal character of the trade constitutes the most potent cause for the millinery worker’s need of a subsidy. There are 1 Ninety-six of the 103 Boston firms visited, and 102 of the 104 Philadel¬ phia firms answered this question. 2 United States Census, Statistics of Women at Work , 1900, pp. 80-81. THE TRADE AND ITS PROCESSES 15 two busy seasons, the fall season, beginning usually in Septem¬ ber and ending in November or December, and the spring sea¬ son, opening a few weeks before Easter and closing in June, altogether varying in length from 6 to 8 months, and occasion¬ ally 10 months. Work is rather leisurely at the beginning of each busy season. The girls returning from their enforced vaca¬ tion are eager to be employed, and are engaged in making “stock” hats for the spring or fall “opening.” Gradually as trade opens the girls are made to work more swiftly upon both “stock” and “order” hats. Orders which ‘‘must be finished by Saturday night at the latest” begin to pile up to¬ wards the end of each week and the whole force is working un¬ der a nerve-racking pressure. This rush continues for several weeks without cessation until perhaps after a particularly busy Saturday, the employer enters the workroom to inform her force that she has no orders for the next week and must dismiss some of her employees. This sudden rush and uncertainty in¬ tensifies the seriousness of the seasonal question. The seasonal difficulty is accentuated by the fact that millinery is a fashion trade in which demand occurs at stated periods and value is in direct proportion to “style.” Boston and Phila¬ delphia depend almost wholly upon Paris and New York for prevailing styles. The exclusive and larger shops each season send representatives abroad to study the new fashions and to obtain the latest materials. A few models from London, Paris and other European fashion centers are imported at consider¬ able expense and copied in the millinery workrooms with varia¬ tions as to size, color and materials. The proprietors of the smaller establishments or the better trimmers of the larger shops as a rule, obtain their ideas from New York. New York, in turn, imports models from Europe which are copied in the work¬ rooms of its wholesale millinery establishments and sent all over the United States as models to be adapted to individual cus¬ tomers. Not only fashion but caprice and uncertainty are character¬ istics of this trade and affect both employer and employee. The milliner must try out different designs to discover the popular ones. Parisian milliners, or some other fashion leaders, must 16 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN take the initiative and even then can have no assurance that their styles will be acceptable. Each individual employee in a fashion trade, with its ever-changing styles, finds that “there is always something new to learn in Millinery.” The worker finds that every new style ushers in some new trick to learn, and that in order to maintain proficiency she must practice it constantly. The shops catering to a fashionable clientele feel the effects most keenly. The increasing use of automobiles, compelling the wearing of close-fitting bonnets, has lessened the demand for elaborate carriage hats and has sounded the note of simplicity in millinery. The custom in Philadelphia, and the law in Boston compelling women to remove their hats during the performance at the opera, has decreased the demand for evening hats. Even the growing custom of going to the country early in the spring and returning late in the fall has noticeably short¬ ened the season and decreased the number of workers required. One employer, as an illustration, stated that she had reduced her force by three or four makers, because the prevailing sim¬ plicity and the popularity of pressed shapes, felts and machine- made hats necessitated fewer workers. Thus the vagaries of fashion and customs affect appreciably the number of workers employed in the workroom and the length of the seasons. The presence of a small proportion of highly paid workers who perform one important process throws a glamor around the whole trade and contribute toward making millinery parasitic. Professor Marshall says, “ If an occupation offers a few extremely high prizes, its attractiveness is increased out of all proportion to their aggregate value. For this there are two reasons. The first is that young men of an adventurous disposition are more attracted by the prospects of a great success than they are de¬ terred by the fear of failure; and the second is that the social rank of an occupation depends more on the highest dignity and the best position which can be attained through it than on the average good fortune of those engaged in it. ” 1 Thus many workers are attracted into millinery by the hope of attaining the high wages or the higher social prestige of the small per- i Marshall, Alfred. Principles of Economics. An Introductory Volume. (London, 1910.) P. 554. THE TRADE AND ITS PROCESSES 17 centage of designers and trimmers. While excellent opportuni¬ ties await the exceptional worker with artistic ability, for the large number of girls who enter the trade, opportunities are few and many of these poorly paid. The large supply of workers lowers the wages paid in the di¬ vision requiring technical skill only and constitutes a third reason for the worker’s need of a subsidy. The majority of employers agree that there is no difficulty in obtaining workers. They do, however, usually qualify this statement by saying that the supply of good workers is insufficient, and the employees as a rule con¬ firm this opinion. It is not uncommon to hear an employee re¬ mark, “Millinery is becoming a poor business—there are too many girls going into it. A good worker, though, has no diffi¬ culty in getting work.” One worker, who had been employed in some of the best shops in Boston at a good wage, said, “I can stay here (her present position) till I die. Madam says she has so much trouble getting good makers that she won’t let me go if she can help it. ’ ’ This surplus of incompetent workers is due primarily to two causes, (1) the social prestige of the trade, which attracts many girls who are neither by nature nor ability fitted for it; (2) the unwillingness of many workers to devote sufficient time to acquire requisite skill and experience. Unlike a man, who expects to maintain a family by means of his trade, a woman usually looks forward to being self-supporting only for the short period until marriage. She sees no neces¬ sity for spending much time in acquiring knowledge and pro¬ ficiency in a trade which at best is only a temporary occupa¬ tion. Ordinarily, to learn millinery an apprentice should spend two seasons, spring and fall, that she may gain experience in handling seasonal kinds of materials. But very often a worker, after giving her time for one season, will represent herself as an experienced maker in some other shop. The capable maker may, and probably does, succeed. It is the large group of less capable ones that swells the ranks of inefficient workers. The social prestige universally accorded to them by workers in other trades is a second equally important reason for the over-supply of workers in millinery. A Russian Jewish girl in a dark, dirty wholesale workroom in Philadelphia said, “Oh, 18 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN it gives one so much better social position than factory work!” “I haven’t such a nice job as Ethel’s,” said a millinery worker’s sixteen-year-old sister, who was employed in a box-factory, ‘ ‘ but I can make as much as she does in a week and usually lots more. Last week I earned $16!” A common reason given by the work¬ ers for taking up millinery is that they thought it was a “re¬ fined” trade, and that they “would meet a better class of peo¬ ple.” This social prestige proves an inducement to two types of girls—the one who wishes to raise herself in the social scale, and the one who wishes to earn pin money and at the same time not to lose social caste. They are willing to accept such social position as the trade gives them in part payment for services. The family or society pays the amount deducted from the wages —the cost of this social position—and thus helps to pay the wages-bill of the millinery trade. SECTION II Description of Processes A general ignorance prevails as to the meaning of millinery terms. “I never tell people I’m a maker,” said one worker. “I just say I’m a milliner, I haven’t time to explain to them what a maker is. ’ ’ An adequate idea of the processes of a trade, however, is necessary to a clear understanding of the trade itself. No such confusion of terms exists in Boston and in Philadelphia as seems to prevail in New York, where such expressions as “im¬ prover,” “preparer” and “milliner” with a corresponding lack of universal definition tend to befog the idea of the processes. While the names applied to the workers in the various processes are not identical in Boston and in Philadelphia, yet no uncer¬ tainty as to the meaning of the terms employed exists. The processes are the same throughout custom millinery no matter under what title the workers who perform them may be known. The work in millinery falls into two distinct divisions, (1) the making and (2) the designing and trimming of the hat, the one requiring skill and dexterity, the other creative and ar- THE TRADE AND ITS PROCESSES 19 tistic ability; the one partaking of the nature of a trade, the other rising practically into the ranks of a profession or an art. Five different positions are distinguished according to the skill and artistic cleverness required, the apprentice, the maker, 1 the copyist, the trimmer, and the designer. The apprentice and the maker form the “making” division, the trimmer and designer, the higher division of designing and trimming, and the copyist performs some of the functions of both divisions. To differ¬ entiate exactly between these various positions is impossible. Perhaps in making, one girl may construct frames more ac¬ curately and firmly than another, and she will be given such work to do. A second girl may stretch velvet over frames more smoothly, leaving less of a “ handled ’ ’ appearance. A third may specialize on bonnets and toques, which require neat, careful workmanship, or another on trimmings for the trimmer. Even the trimmers may specialize on children’s hats, evening hats, bonnets, or toques. The work varies with the establishment. In one, no frames are made by hand and all the bands are purchased by the gross, ready-made; in another, no hat is sent out without the touch of individuality characteristic of a handmade frame. Work is apportioned according to the special ability of the em¬ ployee, but in general the following millinery processes prevail. Millinery is ordinarily learned through a system of apprentice¬ ship by which the beginner gives her time for two seasons to learn both summer and winter work. Only the making processes can be taught. “You can’t teach trimming,” is the sentiment of workers and employers alike. The apprentice usually be¬ gins making bands, which is not very attractive work for an am¬ bitious girl and soon becomes monotonous, but affords opportunity for learning fundamental millinery stitches and for acquiring the knack of handling wire and buckram—two rather difficult materials with which to work. Then she is taught to line a hat, to wire bows, to hem silks and velvets, to make folds and facings, to shirr materials and to sew on braids, all of which must be done so that the stitches do not show. Finally, she learns to i The term “milliner” as used in Philadelphia exactly corresponds to the term “maker” in Boston. The latter, since it is derived from the name of the process, is used throughout this study instead of “milliner.” 20 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN make frames, if she is in a workroom where frames are made by hand, and to cover them with various materials. Ability to sew firmly and to tack is a prime requisite in millinery. Handling millinery materials so as to obtain an artistic appearance re¬ quires practice, and, while it is not surprising that an apprentice often complains that she did nothing but make bands or folds, she thus shows that she fails to realize that these afford practice in the a b c’s of her trade which should be learned with as little expense as possible to her employer. Much of the work is diffi¬ cult and hard to “pick up,” so that the making processes as a rule must be learned. After the apprentice has served her time she is advanced to the position of maker. Employees from one or two of the best shops in Boston used the term “improver’’ to designate a worker who has completed her apprenticeship, in other words, an in¬ experienced maker. This word is commonly used in Philadel¬ phia in the same sense in which it is occasionally used in Boston. It does not apply to a separate process, but rather to the stage of experience, or inexperience of the worker. Thus whenever an employer who used the term was asked to define it, she invariably said, “Oh, an improver’s the same as a maker.” The same meaning is given to the word abroad, as a general term applied to workers just advanced beyond the apprenticeship stage. 1 The word “preparer” was used in a few instances in both cities to designate an advanced maker sitting beside the trimmer, and performing the more difficult and expert work of making. 2 The maker constructs from measurements the wire or buckram frames and covers them with silk, velvet, chiffon, or straw. She has some rather difficult problems to solve. Her trimmer may sketch a hat and tell her to make one like it with no other guide than the sketch, and perhaps a measurement or two. A high 1 Trades for London Girls and How to Enter Them. Compiled by the Apprenticeship and Skilled Employment Association, 36 and 37 Denison House, Vauxhall Bridge Road, S. W. (Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1909.) Introduction p. xviii, also p. 39. 2 As. an illustration of the lack of confusion of terms in Boston, no worker was interviewed who claimed to be either an improver or a pre¬ parer. The term “milliner” which in New York and in Philadelphia is usually employed to designate one who does the work of a maker, is fre¬ quently applied in Boston to a worker who knows thoroughly both the mak¬ ing and trimming processes. THE TRADE AND ITS PROCESSES 21 degree of accuracy is thus demanded. If one side of the frame varies an eighth of an inch, the hat will not look like the model. The copyist ranks between the maker and the trimmer in point of skill and artistic ability and is usually found in all estab¬ lishments. She does more careful and artistic work than the maker of her establishment, but lacks the initiative and creative ability of the trimmer. She is primarily an imitator. Her work in a high grade custom shop consists in the copying of the frame and trimming of a model hat, either a Paris or a New York hat or one of original design, changing perhaps the color, the size, or the materials used. Fine work and a high degree of ac¬ curacy is required in making the frame to resemble the model, and some degree of skill in copying the trimming. In a whole¬ sale millinery establishment, the copyist (usually called a maker) tacks the trimming to the frames which she has covered and which the designer has perhaps designed and had made up by the hundreds at a wire frame factory. The quality of work done by these two copyists is widely different, the standard of the former being fine work and artistic effect, of the latter, num¬ ber of hats completed. The trimmers and designers do the more artistic and creative work, and have general supervision over the makers at their tables. That the technique of trimming may be learned from observation and practice, and that the ambitious worker with any creative ability at all may work her way into the artistic division, is probably true of trimming as of other arts. And it is generally conceded that the trimmer who has had prac¬ tical experience in making and understands it thoroughly is of greater value in supervising her makers than one who has not had such experience. The trimmer trims the hat even if it be such comparatively simple work as tacking on an ornament or a velvet bow or band. She should have a good idea of “ place¬ ment ” and of the combination of colors and materials. She must see that each hat of the shop bears some distinctive and individual touch and that the customer is “ fitted / 1 The last touches bestowed by the trimmer upon the hat give individuality and may counterbalance poor workmanship in the making. It has been said, “There is less foundation to millinery and more 22 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN finishing and last touches than in any trade; the manipulation of materials is slight and learned quickly compared to other difficult requirements. ’ ’ 1 The trimmer usually sits at the head of a table seating from three to eight makers and apprentices, the number varying with her own speed and the character of the work demanded of the assistants. She must plan the work so that the makers are kept busy preparing materials and making hats and trimmings. She is responsible for the character of the work of her assistants and is expected to maintain the standards of excellence of that establishment. Thus the unit of organization in the workroom is the ‘ ‘ table, ’’ consisting of trimmer and assistants, and in large establishments there are many such tables. A designer, proper, is found only in the largest and the most exclusive establishments, and, wherever employed, takes pre¬ cedence over the trimmer. Often the very best establishments employ no designer, recognized as such, and the trimmers origi¬ nate designs. In the smaller establishments, the proprietor, if a milliner, or the trimmer performs such work. The chief func¬ tion of the designer is that of originating and making new de¬ signs in hat shapes and ornaments and in ways of trimming. She originates and makes the models of the shop, rarely doing “order work,” while the trimmer, copyist and maker alter the models to suit the individual tastes of the customers. The difficulty of differentiating accurately between the trimmer and the designer is illustrated by the following experi¬ ence. One firm reported three designers and three trimmers. Since this was a store professing to copy imported hats, there seemed to be two superfluous designers. Interviews with several workers from this shop brought out the fact that the three trim¬ mers had the privilege of designing, and thus added the title of designer to that of trimmer. This is probably true of other establishments. Their trimmers do some designing, thus ac¬ counting for the small number of designers reported by the millinery establishments in Boston and Philadelphia. The workers in the division requiring technical skill pre- i Oakeshott, Mrs. G. M., Women’s Trades, published by the London County Council. (London, 1908.) P. 28. THE TRADE AND ITS PROCESSES 23 dominate in the millinery trade as shown by Tables 3 and 4. In Boston 1,429 workers were employed at the height of the busy season in the workrooms of the 97 establishments reporting. Of these 1,429 workers, 84 per cent. (1,197) are engaged in the lower division, 74 per cent. (1,059) being makers, and about ten per cent. (138) apprentices. In Philadelphia 1 the per¬ centage of workers engaged in the division requiring technical skill was practically the same as in Boston. Of the 1,794 work¬ ers in 94 firms reporting, 85 per cent. (1,536) are engaged in the technical division, 71 per cent. (1,274)—about 3 per cent, less than in Boston—being makers, and 14 per cent. (262)—about 4 per cent, more than in Boston—being apprentices. Obviously the chance for advancement for the majority of the makers is slight. Often those very qualities—accuracy, neatness and pre¬ cision—that are so desirable in a good maker preclude her ever attaining to the higher position of trimmer. The statements sometimes heard in the trade, that ‘ ‘ a good maker is never a good trimmer,” and that “often the best trimmer can never make” show how keenly the workers themselves realize the line of de¬ marcation between these different grades of work in the same trade. In view of the number of establishments professing to copy imported models, a surprisingly small number of copyists, —only eight in Boston, 2 —was returned. The fact that a copy¬ ist must be an expert maker no doubt led the majority of estab¬ lishments to classify them as such. Frequently a worker would call herself a maker, adding, “but really, though, I’m a copy¬ ist. ’ ’ In both cities, at the height of the busy season about 14 per cent, of the total number of workers were trimmers (198 of the 1,429 workers in Boston and 243 of the 1,794 in Philadelphia). Only 11 designers, so-called, were reported from the 97 estab¬ lishments in Boston, and 15 from the 94 shops in Philadelphia. The designer usually assumes considerable responsibility, thus 1 One thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine workers were employed at the height of the busy season in 102 Philadelphia establishments; but since there are 165 workers included in that total who were not classi¬ fied as to trimmers, makers and apprentices, it is less confusing in other connections to subtract the 165 from 1,959 and use the result, 1,794, as a basis throughout. 2 No copyists were returned from Philadelphia, being included among the makers or milliners as they are called in that city. 24 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN 53 53 O 02 < m m >h go P W H W E-t 0 53 i—t 05 P ft 53 O i—i <5 0 ^ P o o o a o <5 H 53 M Eh 53 H a 5* o p Cl, a H P O Eh 53 H Eh 5xJ H a Eh * O 53 M £ o a 02 co OCCUPATION DURING THE BUSY SEASON IN THE TRADE AND ITS PROCESSES 25 tc CD Sh O OQ >» t-l V c co •d o OQ o 53 -M 10 _ 50 s- «4-l c o o • rH r—H ■+2 d d -u o o cO -*> '® e3 00 be o C • rH 11“ CD > 26 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN these eleven designers are reported from the department stores and wholesale houses where large forces are under their direction and supervision. Since much of the success of a millinery estab¬ lishment depends upon the trimmer and the designer, they are usually given contracts for a definite number of weeks during the season. This privilege is not extended to the maker, who is “turned off” as work slackens and the necessity arises for reducing the force. The proprietor or a worker usually attends to the customers in the smaller establishments. Special salesgirls, though, are employed in the larger shops. A good millinery salesgirl, in meeting the customer and in understanding her orders correctly, aids materially in the workroom and receives good wages. This study, however, does not include the millinery salesgirl. The interest has been centered upon the girl in the workroom. The opportunity for advancement in the millinery trade is, after all, not great. The workers in the mechanical division and those in the artistic division show a proportion of six to one in Boston—six makers and apprentices to one trimmer—and of seven to one in Philadelphia. If, as many employers say, a trim¬ mer should keep from five to eight makers and apprentices busy, the proportion of trimmers employed in the establishments of Boston and Philadelphia is as large as the business will admit. Only one maker in six or seven, therefore, has the opportunity of rising into the higher division where the wages received during the short seasons are sufficient, if expended with foresight and economy, to tide a girl over the dull season without aid from other sources. CHAPTER III CLASSIFICATION OF SHOPS ACCORDING TO STAGES OF INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION “Perhaps the difference is only one between the immediate and the remote causes of industrial evolution, but, at any rate, so far as concerns the characteristic features of the labor move¬ ment as we find them in the documents at our command, it is the extension of the markets more than the technique of produc¬ tion that determines the origin of industrial classes, their forms of organization, their political and industrial policies and de¬ mands, and their fate. Even the inventions of machinery fol¬ low rather than precede the widening of the markets. ’ ’ 1 Pro¬ fessor John R. Commons, in discussing the progress of inven¬ tion and the extension of the market as the two chief factors determining the organization of industrial classes, thus stresses the latter as the more decisive and fundamental. These agents are just as important and active in limiting and defining the forms, organization and problems of industrial establishments. In a trade such as millinery, where no change in the tools of production has taken place, the influence of the expanding mar¬ ket upon the form and organization of industrial establishments is reduced to the simplest form, and can be clearly traced. A striking characteristic of the trade is the existence, side by side, of stages in the development of industry, from the home to the factory. An analysis of millinery establishments is rendered difficult by the wide variations in the type of worker required in shops of the same class. The form of each establishment conforms to the standards and demands'of its customers, so that the difference existing between a Boylston Street store in Boston, or a Walnut Street store in Philadelphia, and a very 1 Documentary History of American Industrial Society , edited by John R. Commons and others. Vol. Ill, p. 28. 28 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN cheap store on Lowell Street in Boston, or on Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia, is one of external appearance only. These es¬ tablishments are, however, variations of the same millinery genus “store,” the differences being due entirely to environ¬ ment. Three general classes of millinery establishments are found in Boston and Philadelphia. These are again divided as follows into six sub-classes which exemplify six stages of industrial evolu¬ tion : (1) Private establishments including (a) private or home millinery and (b) parlor millinery. (2) Retail establishments, comprising (a) the millinery store and (b) the millinery department of a department store. (3) Wholesale establishments, consisting of (a) wholesale millinery and (b) manufacturing wholesale millinery. The names of the different industrial types of establishments are the terms used within the trade itself and to one familiar with it and its conditions they call up distinct and definite pictures. The shading off between the sub-classes is gradual, and some establishments may be found which bear distinctive marks of several industrial stages, yet the six types do exist side by side and are easily recognizable. The three great classes of millinery establishments vary according to (1) market, (2) amount of capital invested, and (3) the relation of the employer to cus¬ tomers and to employees. Private or home millinery represents the lowest stage of the industrial evolution of millinery and is characterized by the combination in the home of trade work with household duties, by a limited personal market, by little or no investment of capital and by no workroom force, or, if any, a very small one. 1 The i An intensive study of home millinery was not attempted in Boston, and only a few (twelve) establishments were visited in Philadelphia. The ma¬ terial for the description of this type in Boston was obtained from a study of shops in four Boston suburbs—five in Cambridge, two in Somerville, and several accidentally encountered in East and South Boston. These are felt to be more representative than some of the more highly developed types found in Philadelphia, which verge very closely upon the next class of CLASSIFICATION OF SHOPS 29 employer conducts her business in the parlor, usually, of her own home. Often the only index to the private milliner is an inconspicuous card tacked over the doorbell, bearing the word ‘‘Millinery/’ or a trimmed hat placed in the front window. The market to which the home milliner caters is limited in size and area, and personal in character. It is, as a rule, so small that the milliner performs all the work herself. Her family, her relatives, some of her friends and a few of her friends’ friends form the majority of her patrons. This number is often in¬ creased by customers of the shop in which she formerly worked, who are attracted to her by low prices. The work is usually upon “orders,” and the milliner rarely maintains a supply of materials, and still more rarely any stock of finished goods. Much of the work of many home milliners consists of what one Philadelphia milliner described as renovating hats—that is, re¬ modelling and brightening up hats that have lost their freshness. The majority of private milliners are either former employees of larger establishments, cautiously making their first venture into the business world, or workers who have been discouraged by their experience in the trade and who attempt by home millinery to supplement other sources of income. Occasionally one with a gift for millinery has never learned the trade. Often the home milliner is a woman with native ability for millinery who has learned to trim her own hats at evening schools, or from private lessons given by workers or employers in the trade or even from millinery “colleges,” and has gradually extended her market. Again, the home milliner may once have been the owner of a more extensive establishment, as was the case of one Philadelphia milliner who, having given up her store, had re¬ tained only a faithful few of her old customers. So little capital is necessary for this type of establishment that to many workers of artistic and executive ability, home millinery offers an opportunity of gaining a foothold upon the business ladder. No machinery is necessary, no outlay is required for establishment—the millinery parlor. Probably the lowest stage of indus¬ trial evolution in the millinery trade is that of the worker corresponding to the seamstress in dressmaking who goes from house to house of her employers, plying her trade. One such worker was met in Boston, but the custom is practically unheard of, and the one case hardly justifies a sep¬ arate classification. 30 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN rent, light and stock. The customers often bring their own ma¬ terials or authorize the milliner to purchase them. The extra trouble entailed by the selection of the goods is repaid— whether adequately or not is another question—by the cash dis¬ count of 10 per cent, usually granted to milliners by millinery jobbers and department stores. The financial success of the home milliner depends to a very large degree upon her patrons. The milliner bargains directly with her customers, and can shift to them the cost of materials. After all, the chief attraction of the home milliner to her patrons is her comparatively low charges. If they know the price of materials, which can be ob¬ tained almost as cheaply at a department store as at the whole¬ sale jobbers, and are unwilling to pay more than just enough to allow the milliner the 10 per cent, discount granted for cash, the remuneration of the home milliner is perhaps little better than the wages of a first-class maker. Unfortunately the aver¬ age customer of private millinery cannot—or will not—under¬ stand the reason for a special return for artistic ability and insists upon paying the milliner no more than a maker’s wages. The home milliner has, however, the added advantages of longer seasons and of greater independence. 1 The business of a private milliner may become so large as to take on many characteristics of the next type of establishment, the millinery parlor. Undoubtedly several shops may be found which occupy this indefinite borderland. Such an establishment was visited in Somerville and was considered the best shop in the city. The workroom force consisted of six employees. The making and selling of hats were carried on in the milliner’s own home occupying three rooms of her large house. Two such establishments were found in Philadelphia, one employing 7, the other 17 workers. Parlor millinery represents the second stage in the industrial evolution of the millinery trade. It is characterized by a wider market than that of home millinery, by the separation of business from the home, by a greater outlay of capital for materials, lOne of the 12 private milliners visited in Philadelphia employed no workers, 3 employed 1 worker, 2 employed 2 workers, 2 employed 3 workers, 2 employed 4 workers, 1 employed 7 workers, and 1 employed 17 workers. CLASSIFICATION OF SHOPS 31 finished goods, overhead expenses, and credits, and by a larger working force. The personal element still predominates in the relations be¬ tween the employer and her customers and workers, and the market of the parlor milliner is more extensive than that of the home milliner. Parlor milliners are of two types—the home milliner who thinks her business will justify the added expense, and the millinery worker or salesgirl who has acquired a clientele among the customers of the establishment in which she worked. 1 In either case, the following is a purely personal one which has been built up through the ability of the milliner to please her customers. Most of the work of such an establish¬ ment is “order work,” and those who habitually patronize the millinery parlor are customers of long standing whose tastes the milliner has studied. The millinery parlor is usually situated on an upper floor of an office building, thus, evidently, making no attempt to attract street trade. The majority occupy but one room with one corner shut off by curtains for a workroom. The more pretentious par¬ lors occupy two or more rooms. One parlor may consist of a carpeted room with a curtained-off workroom, containing some hat boxes, a chair or two, and a mirror and displaying a few hats. Another parlor may consist of a suite of furnished rooms in which no hats are displayed, and only the presence of several mirrors with chairs in front of them serves to indicate the na¬ ture of the business. In another parlor similarly furnished there may be fifty or sixty models about the room. Thus vari¬ ous kinds of establishments, indicating varying degrees of wealth and fastidiousness in the customers, are classed together as par¬ lor millinery, for they have the common characteristic of cater¬ ing to a personal clientele. Millinery parlors are located in the chief shopping district of the city. Of the 40 parlors visited in Boston 37 were in office buildings on Boylston, Tremont, Washington and Winter Streets, and Temple Place. The other 3 parlors were situated in three widely separated localities of the city and might have been i Sometimes a salesgirl will take with her no small amount of her em¬ ployer’s business. An employer estimated that one of his salesgirls took from him $5,000 worth of trade into her own business. 32 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN classified as private millinery. The 5 parlors visited in Phila¬ delphia were found on or near Chestnut, Walnut and Spruce Streets. The parlor milliner must necessarily employ a larger capital than the home milliner to meet the demands of her more ex¬ tended market. She has added the expense of office rent and furnishings. A larger patronage demands more workers, and consequently a greater wages-bill. A fairly large stock of ma¬ terials must be maintained, although the majority of parlor milliners carry very little stock in the form of trimmed hats. Capital in the form of credit extended to customers must also be provided. The problem of credit is a vexing one to the milliner of this class. It weighs especially heavily upon the small shops whose proprietors have barely sufficient capital to carry on business, but who must extend credit for fear of losing patronage. Busi¬ ness relations founded chiefly on a personal basis are bound to¬ gether by peculiarly uncertain and unstable ties. It is an anomaly of human nature that one is prone to demand more unreasonable favors of a friend or relative than of a stranger. The parlor milliner, depending for trade mostly upon friends and relatives, may be forced to extend credit to a majority of her cus¬ tomers, who often pay for last season’s hats as they are ordering this season’s. Slow payment of accounts on the part of the customer causes serious inconvenience to the milliner with little capital, who sometimes is unable to meet her own bills promptly and thus loses the cash discount of 10 per cent—an item which is often by no means insignificant. 1 The difficulty, of course, lies in the over-confidence of the milliner when starting in business. Apparently the small outlay required lures the ambitious worker, equipped with little capital. What she often fails to realize is that the overhead expenses continue throughout the year, while the trade seasons last only about eight months. The proverbial rainy day should be anticipated when the milliner un¬ dertakes the risks and uncertainties of business. 2 1 One milliner estimated that her cash discount paid her rent. 2 Some idea may be gained of the slender margin of many milliners when we note that they complain of extending six months’ credit to the amount of $100 or even less each season. CLASSIFICATION OF SHOPS 33 Forty millinery parlors were visited in Boston, but only 5 establishments of this class could be found in Philadelphia. The larger workroom force of the millinery parlor is a mark of industrial advance over private millinery. Thirty-one of the 40 parlors visited in Boston (about 78 per cent.) and all of the Phila¬ delphia parlors visited employ 7 girls or less in their workrooms. 1 The largest number (14) of the Boston establishments hired 4 or 5 employees. Parlor millinery on a small scale, then, is typical. The explanation is simple. In 19 of the 40 parlors visited in Boston, and in 4 of the 5 Philadelphia parlors, the em¬ ployers trimmed. In all but one of these 19 Boston shops, the force varied from 1 to 5 employees, one, only, hiring 7 makers. A trimmer should keep from 4 to 8 makers and apprentices busy, varying with her speed and the quality of work demanded. But the parlor milliner must wait upon customers, take orders and attend to necessary alterations, so that much of her time is oc¬ cupied with matters other than trimming. As a matter of economy, she maintains a business requiring only the number of assistants which she, herself, as trimmer, can keep busy. Many proprietors of larger establishments who can trim, often employ a trimmer only during the rush season and dispense with her as soon as work slackens. So far as can be ascertained, there are only 4 parlors in Boston employing large forces—17, 20, 23 and 25 employ¬ ees respectively. These parlors verge closely upon the next stage, the millinery store, and are distinguished from it chiefly by their location on the upper floors of office build¬ ings. i The millinery store represents the third stage of the indus¬ trial evolution of the millinery trade. This stage is distinguished from the preceding by (1) a market extended to include ‘‘street’ ’ trade as well as the personal following, (2) a greater outlay of capital and (3) a larger working force. The milliner of this stage deliberately sets about to attract the i In Boston 5 parlors employed 1 worker, 1 employed 2 workers, 4 em¬ ployed 3 workers, 7 employed 4 workers, 7 employed 5 workers, 3 employed 6 workers,. 4 employed 7 workers and 7 employed more than 7 workers. Two parlors did not report. In Philadelphia 1 parlor employed 1 worker, 2 employed 2 workers, 1 employed 6 workers and I employed 7 workers. 34 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN passer-by. For this purpose she rents a shop on some business street where it not only will be convenient for the personal fol¬ lowing but will draw the attention of strangers. She diplays her hats in attractive show windows and maintains a large stock of trimmed hats and millinery supplies to meet the possible de¬ mands of this “transient*’ or “street” trade. Not only does she choose the situation of her store to attract customers, but she adapts her hours to those of her patrons. The closing hours of the downtown shops are regulated by those of the department stores, and are usually from five to six o’clock. The hours of the outlying shops are regulated according to the needs and demands of the neighborhood, especially in a section where a laboring class predominates. The stores are usually open every night in the busy season, and upon stated nights in the dull sea¬ son. One milliner in such a store said that most of the selling is done between the hours of three-thirty and ten o’clock in the evening. The shops in Boston in the lodging districts along Huntington and Columbus Avenues are usually open late in the evening. This is true also of the stores of Hanover and Lowell Streets whose customers are a foreign working class. In Phila¬ delphia in the local shopping streets such as Frankford, Colum¬ bia and Germantown Avenues, the millinery stores are open in the evening, as well as during the day. 1 Millinery stores differ widely in external appearances and numbers employed according to the wealth and tastes of the cus¬ tomers whom they serve. The shops doing cheap work employ from 1 to 12 workers, while the fashionable stores may employ from 7 to 70. The work of the former consists very largely in altering ready-made hats and in trimming pressed shapes; of the latter, in making and in trimming elaborate hats, in blend¬ ing colors and materials. The requisite demanded of workers in the first shop is speed, in the latter, neat and careful work. Stores of the first type aim at quantity and cheapness of prod¬ ucts, and the rivalry among them is keen. Stores of the second i Frequently the owners of the stores in these local shopping districts live over them. This was true of shops on Lowell Street, Boston, and Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia. That they do not belong to the home milliner type is shown by their strenuous efforts to attract transient trade through their well-filled display windows and their large stock of trimmed hats and millinery supplies. CLASSIFICATION OF SHOPS 35 type aim at quality and individuality of product, and there is some not very open competition. More capital is required for a millinery store than for a mil¬ linery parlor. The rent for the street-floor on a good business street becomes a heavy item of expense. 1 The money invested in from 200 to 600 models made of expensive materials and in the large stock of materials which must be maintained to meet pos¬ sible demands, is by no means a small amount. Much capital is also tied up for the proprietor of a fashionable shop in personal credit extended to the majority of customers. The owners of stores on the lowest level of competition as a rule, however, do business on a strictly cash basis. TABLE 5, SHOWING THE SIZE OF WORKROOM FORCE OF BOSTON AND PHILADELPHIA MILLINERY STORES. BASED ON REPORTS FROM EMPLOYERS. 2 Size of Workroom Force NUMBER OF STORES EMPLOYING SPECIFIED NUMBER OF WORKERS Boston Philadelphia No workers. 1 1 1 worker. 1 3 2 workers. 1 12 3 workers. 1 6 4 workers. 2 9 5 workers. 1 7 6 workers. 5 5 7 workers. — 5 8 workers. 3 4 9 workers. 2 2 10 workers. 2 3 12 workers. — 2 13 workers. 1 — 14 workers. 2 — 15 workers. 4 4 16 workers. — 2 18 workers. 2 — 20 workers. — 1 25 workers. — 1 26 workers. 1 — 28 workers. 2 — 30 workers. — 2 60 to 70 workers. 1 — Total number. 32 69 1 One employer claimed to pay $8,000 a year rent for his store, and other rents as high as $12,000 per year were quoted. 2 One store in Boston and 1 in Philadelphia did not report. 36 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN The milliner of this stage as well as that of the preceding seems to be exposed to the danger of over-confidence when start¬ ing in business. Few indeed have the foresight of one employee, the forewoman of a large workroom, whose ambition it had been to open a little store in a good locality. ‘ ‘ I want , 91 she said, ‘ ‘ to have enough money ahead to pay for my stock and the first year’s rent.” This is an excellent precaution for any young woman to adopt in contemplating a business venture in a fashion trade. Increase in the size of the working force marks the rise in the scale of industrial development. No such clearly marked type is found among the 33 millinery stores visited in Boston as was found among the millinery parlors, although the size of the force is usually larger than in the millinery parlors. This is due pri¬ marily to the fact that the owner of the establishment no longer performs the function of the worker, but finds it profitable to increase the number of assistants. In only 3 stores visited in Boston did the proprietor perform any work in the workroom. Those 3 employed only one maker or none at all, showing that their business was low in the scale of economic production. The working forces of the Boston stores as shown by Table 5, ex¬ hibited wide variations in numbers, ranging, with one exception, from 0 to 28. In 7 stores, only, the numbers employed range from 0 to 5 workers; 19 (57 per cent.) employed from 6 to 15; 5 from 16 to 28; and 1 from 60 to 70. The last is a specialty store and produces in its Boston workroom a large part of the stock for a New York establishment. Twenty-five, or about 76 per cent, of the Boston stores visited, employed more workers than the typical Boston parlor milliner, who hired 5 or less. In Philadelphia the range in numbers employed was practically the same, the limits being with but two exceptions 0 to 25. The striking variation appears in the size of the force. In Phila¬ delphia 38 stores (54 per cent.) employed from 0 to 5 workers, and only 25 (35 per cent.) employed the same number of work¬ ers as the majority of the Boston stores, that is, from 6 to 15 in¬ clusive. While 76 per cent, of the Boston stores employed more workers than the typical Boston parlor milliner, 54 per cent, of the Philadelphia stores employed the same number as a Boston CLASSIFICATION OF SHOPS 37 milliner of a lower stage of production. This is easily explained. No attempt was made in either city to visit the same proportion of shops of each type, and while practically the same number of stores and parlors were visited in both cities (73 in Boston, 75 in Philadelphia), the proportion between the two types is different. In Boston the numbers are about equal (40 millinery parlors, 33 millinery stores), in Philadelphia the millinery store predominated, only five millinery parlors being found. The lack of millinery parlors and the presence of the large number of small stores in Philadelphia are probably due to the following reasons: (1) the parlor does not meet the demands of the large mill population as to hours, situation, cheapness of product and dispatch in selecting hats, which the store does; (2) it cannot compete with high-grade shops in New York, which are near enough to affect business materially; (3) the development of the millinery department of the department store in Philadelphia has probably operated to check the growth in size of the millinery stores. The millinery department of a department store and of a women’s furnishing store represents the fourth stage of indus¬ trial development in millinery establishments. This stage differs from the preceding stages (1) in that the market is no longer a personal one, (2) in the outlay of a greater amount of capital, and (3) in the employment of a larger average workroom force. The millinery section of the department stores ranges from that of the small store selling in the main ready-made hats and consequently requiring but few workers in the workroom, to the department in the large store catering to all classes of custom¬ ers with its millinery supplies, its cheap, ready-made hats, and its ‘ 4 Paris model salon , 9 9 and employing a large force of millinery workers. The women’s specialty store may be the one which makes only misses’ and children’s clothes, or it may constitute the highest class custom shop, where hats are made to match the gowns of the dressmaking department. Personal contact between customers and employers is not a general characteristic of the millinery departments of these stores. Their markets extend to all classes of people, in every part of the city and even in nearby towns and country. Certain 38 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN space in a department store is assigned to millinery and the chief requirement is that the department be made to pay. The em¬ ployer delegates the function of master to a buyer and a designer and reserves for himself that of merchant. The buyer usually purchases all the materials and hires the workers. He may even employ a designer who is usually the forewoman of the work¬ room as well. In many department stores two different kinds and qualities of work are carried on and kept fairly well sepa¬ rated from each other. These are the trimming of the cheaper, ready-made hats, which do not require careful work, and the making of high grade custom hats, which demand good work¬ manship. The kind of work varies also with the different types of establishments. One buyer claims to check up the output of each girl and knows exactly what she is worth. Her speed is the gauge of her value. Another buyer in a high grade depart¬ ment store wants only expert help, and will not keep a girl who is not worth a good wage. The work done in this store rivals that done in the highest type of millinery store or parlor, and quality not quantity is the standard for judging the worth of any one worker. A greater amount of capital is invested in the millinery de¬ partment of this stage than in the preceding stage, and it is ex¬ pended not so much upon overhead expenses as upon finished and unfinished materials and the wages-bill. The burden of over¬ head expenses—rent, heat and light—is not so heavy as in an exclusively millinery establishment, for the show rooms may be filled with other goods during the dull season. But the larger market of the large department stored requires a great stock of finished and unfinished goods, and a large workroom force. Competition among milliners, especially in high grade custom work, is of the personal sort. Advertisements are rarely placed in the papers, and the attention of customers is called to open¬ ings and sales by cards sent to patrons or by notices placed in the windows. Department stores, because of the economies of large scale production and the possibility of utilizing millinery supplies in other departments, and their policy of widely adver¬ tising special sales and openings, are active competitors of all types of millinery establishments. By ordering large quantities CLASSIFICATION OF SHOPS 39 they are able to buy directly from the manufacturer and to im¬ port their own goods, thus saving the middleman’s profits which the small purchaser must pay. They can even obtain better terms from the middleman than can the smaller establishment. The possibility of placing its most desirable workers in other departments during the dull season is a distinct advantage and an economy in retaining the most efficient of their workers. On the whole, the economies of the department store in millinery reach no insignificant amount, and the consumer reaps the benefit in the form of lower prices. The large variety, con¬ venience, and dispatch which the department store offers are items in gaining the favor of customers. For many patrons, how¬ ever, these advantages are more than offset by lack of individual¬ ity. The department store is, therefore, not likely to drive the parlor milliner completely out of business, though its general convenience makes it a serious competitor. TABLE 6, SHOWING THE SIZE OF THE WORKROOM FORCES OF BOSTON AND PHILADELPHIA DEPARTMENT AND WOMEN’S WEAR STORES. BASED ON REPORTS FROM EMPLOYERS. Size of Workroom Force NUMBER OF STORES EMPLOYING SPECIFIED NUMBER OF WORKERS Boston Philadelphia 1 to 10 workers . . . . 5 4 11 to 20 workers .... ' 3 — 21 to 30 workers .... 2 . 1 31 to 40 workers .... 3 i — 41 to 50 workers .... 3 — 51 to 60 workers .... 1 1 61 to 70 workers .... 1 — 71 to 80 workers .... — 1 01 to 100 workers .... — 3 101 to 120 workers .... 1 — 200 workers. — 1 300 workers. — 1 Total. 19 12 The majority of department stores in Boston employ work¬ room forces of 40 employees or less. The 9 workrooms employing 31 or more workers belong to the largest department and women’s furnishing stores in Boston. The 10 stores employing 30 or less may be characterized as follows: 2 work entirely upon chil- 40 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN dren’s and misses’ hats, 2 are high class millinery and dress¬ making establishments, 2 are high grade smaller department stores, 1 combines furs and millinery, and 3 are cheap depart¬ ment stores, one of which took up millinery within the year purely as an experiment. In Philadelphia the 7 workrooms hav¬ ing more than 31 employees are in the largest department stores. Of the 5 having less, 2 are women’s furnishing stores, 2 are small cheap department stores and 1 is a store with a special class of trade. These figures seem to indicate that the smaller working forces are employed either in the smaller, cheaper department stores, which carry a large quantity of ready-made hats pur¬ chased from wholesale firms, or in the women’s furnishing stores which emphasize quality and not quantity, and where millinery is subsidiary to other lines. The size of the millinery depart¬ ments of Philadelphia department stores can be set forth by com¬ paring the number employed in this type of establishment in both cities with the total number of millinery workers. In Phila¬ delphia the number employed during the busy season in the 12 department stores visited was 981, over 50 per cent, of the total number (1959) employed in the city, while in Boston the num¬ ber employed in the 21 stores visited amounted to 533, only 38 per cent, of the total number employed (1429). Wholesale millinery / though still a hand trade, is characterized by some standardization of product, by the production of goods for a general market and by the interposition of a middleman between producer and consumer. Although the tools of produc¬ tion remain the same throughout the trade, wholesale millinery may be said to represent the factory stage in the industrial evolu¬ tion of millinery. It is marked (1) by a market of wide area which may include the whole country, (2) by the investment of a large amount of capital, (3) by a large working force. The wholesale division includes: (1) the jobber 2 who sells mil¬ linery supplies only, such as flowers, feathers, straw and felt 1 Wholesale millinery must not be confused with straw machine operat¬ ing—the making of straw hats by machine—and felt hat making. The basic principles of the two are different and form the foundation of two distinct trades. Wholesale millinery is a hand trade, while straw machine operating is a machine trade, and should be placed under the general class of machine operating. 2 A study of the millinery jobber was omitted as not pertinent. For a CLASSIFICATION OF SHOPS 41 goods, frames, silks, velvets, chiffon, ribbons, wires, and who is virtually the middleman between the manufacturer of these sup¬ plies and the retailer; (2) the wholesale milliner, who combines the manufacture and sale of handmade hats with the sale of millinery supplies; and (3) the wholesale manufacturing milliner (the term used in the trade) who is engaged solely in the manufacture and sale of ready-made hats and who does not sell any millinery supplies. Thus the wholesale division includes the fifth and sixth stages in the industrial evolution of the trade. Wholesale millinery is found in both Boston and Philadelphia, but is more numerous and more highly developed in the former city, due, probably, to the fact that the last stage in the develop¬ ment of the trade—wholesale manufacturing millinery—does not exist in Boston. The market of the wholesale milliner is both local and foreign and is extended beyond the immediate vicinity of the city by salesmen with samples of ready-made hats. The department stores and the cheaper millinery shops of their respec¬ tive cities form the local market. The volume of business of this class of establishment in Boston and Philadelphia, however, is not large enough to make them serious competitors in the for¬ eign wholesale market. Certainly the influence of Boston as a competitor of New York does not extend much beyond New England, whereas New York invades the home territory of the Boston houses. Boston and Philadelphia, therefore, with their few small workrooms cannot compete seriously with New York in the wholesale trade. Only the Philadelphia wholesale manu¬ facturing millinery establishments of the next stage compete actively beyond the local territory. The product of the wholesale millinery establishments in Bos¬ ton and Philadelphia is the cheaper, ready-made variety, the retail prices ranging from $1.49 to $4.98. The better grade of tailored hats is not manufactured in either Boston or Philadel- few weeks before the “opening” many wholesale jobbers employ workers to make up a number of “models” in order to illustrate the new styles and to display their materials for the benefit of buyers. These models are made usually by workers from country shops or from the city who thus learn of the new fashions, and also get in touch with employers looking for workers. 42 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN phia. Fine work is not required of the workers whose most valuable asset is speed, which may be fairly easily acquired when engaged on one model for weeks at a time. Payment by the piece, moreover, tends to result in speed rather than in careful work. The overhead expenses of both the wholesale millinery estab¬ lishments and the wholesale manufacturing milliners are prob¬ ably less than those of the department stores. Lower rents are paid for factory lofts than for department stores, and the pro¬ visions for displaying the goods are not elaborate. The lower overhead charges of the wholesale milliner are, however, offset to some extent by the expenses of traveling salesmen, and of transportation. All the wholesale houses of Boston were visited and about half of those of Philadelphia. These establishments, as other milli¬ nery types, show a tendency to congregate along certain streets, in the wholesale district of the city, in Boston on or near Summer Street, in Philadelphia on or near Arch Street. The workroom forces in Boston varied in number from 9 to 50. Of the 9 establishments, 3 employed from 9 to 20 workers, 4 from 30 to 40 and 2 from 40 to 50. Of the Philadelphia workrooms, 1 did not report, 1 employed from 13 to 15, and the other, 25 workers. The sixth type of millinery establishment, wholesale manufac¬ turing millinery, exists in Philadelphia but not in Boston. It is distinguished from the previous stage by its wider market, necessitating a larger capital and larger workroom force and the long and steady seasons. The market of wholesale manufacturing millinery extends throughout the whole country. The volume of business is so great as to make the work steady and practically continuous through the year. The workroom shuts down only about 2 or 3 weeks each season, in May and in October. The quality of work required is about the same as that of the wholesale millinery establishment and demands the same requisites of the employees —speed and not very fine work. The workers, however, were not paid by the piece as in wholesale millinery, but by the week. Long seasons and steady work constitute the great advantages CLASSIFICATION OF SHOPS 43 of this type of establishment for the usual employee. Only 2 wholesale millinery establishments were found in Philadelphia. Both had large workroom forces; one employed from 80 to 90, the other from 250 to 300 workers. CHAPTER IV THE SEASONS AND THEIR PROBLEMS SECTION I Seasons and the Trade Practically all industries are subject to seasonal fluctuations, differing from each other only in degree. Climatic changes, social activity, traditions and customs, and certain purely economic causes such as the variations in the supply of raw ma¬ terial or a saving by production at certain seasons, form the chief causes of such irregularity. 1 Seasonal fluctuations tend to be¬ come less marked in trades requiring expensive machinery, and to be more apparent as the mechanical equipment becomes more simple. Millinery is influenced by most of the factors indicated and the seasons present the most important problems of the trade both for employers and employees. There were formerly four seasons in the millinery trade, sum¬ mer, autumn, winter and spring. Two of these, the winter and summer seasons, have disappeared for reasons already noted— the summer exodus of customers from the city to the country, the vogue of small automobile hats, and the exclusion of hats from theater and opera. The loss of two seasons may account for divergence of opinion among employers as to change in length of the seasons, the majority of them asserting that the seasons have grown shorter. Fairly definite dates serve to delimit the retail seasons for em¬ ployers—Easter and the Fourth of July for the spring season, Labor Day and Thanksgiving for the fall season. The extra work of the rush season is accomplished by employing more workers, by overtime and by speeding up. The curve of em- i Seasonal Trades , by various writers, edited by Sidney Webb and Ar¬ nold Freeman. (London, 1912.) Pp. 33-36. SEASONS 45 ployment usually rises sharply, continues along a fairly even level for some weeks, and either drops suddenly or slowly de¬ clines towards the dull time. The speeding up curve may be observed in the figures for each week. The work of the week usually begins with the filling of a few orders postponed from the preceding week and with the making of models to replen¬ ish the supply of stock hats. Work at the first of the week is often not rushed even in the busy season. The week-end rush begins about Wednesday afternoon, and the ordinary pace is accelerated. Thursday and Friday are busy days, and by Sat¬ urday afternoon the force is pushed at high speed to satisfy ex¬ acting customers. Overtime is invariably demanded Thursday, Friday or Saturday if required at all. Could a curve be plotted from data as to the daily output of the workroom, the result would be a most illuminating representation of this phase of the season question in millinery. The length of the seasons in each type of establishment is practically the same in both of the cities under consideration, Philadelphia, perhaps, having a little earlier fall season. The wholesale houses, since they supply retail firms, open the milli¬ nery season. The manufacturing wholesale millinery establish¬ ments of Philadelphia, because of their wide market, form the only exception to the uniformity of the seasons of other classes of establishments. Work upon spring hats in these houses begins about the first of November and ends from the first to the fifteenth of May; work upon fall hats begins either the middle of May or the first of June, and lasts until about the middle of October. The workroom is shut down two or three weeks only between seasons. The length of season (from 10J to 11 months) is longer than in any other type of shop. The total length of the busy seasons varies each year in each type of establishment, affected by weather conditions and fash¬ ions, and usually ranges from 6 months in parlor millinery to 8 or 9 months in wholesale millinery. The wholesale manufac¬ turing millinery establishments have, however, a 10J to 11 months season. During each season in the majority of shops there are only 8 to 10 weeks of rush work. A large number of workers are thus taken on at the rush time, work is done under 46 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN high nervous tension and sometimes overtime is required. As work slackens, employees are laid off and only a few retained to fill the diminishing volume of orders. The preceding figures, therefore, do not represent the length of the workers’ seasons, but only that of the trade. The dull season force is handled in various ways. Firms em¬ ploying a few girls for the slack time usually do not keep all of them throughout the dull season, but give them three or four weeks’ vacation in the winter and perhaps six in the summer. Or the girls may come in two or three days a week as work re¬ quires, and hold themselves in readiness to come whenever their employer sends for them. Some firms practice giving the work¬ ers alternating vacations in the dull seasons, so that the entire force is not employed at any given time. In large shops, one or two trimmers and a few makers are kept throughout the year, and these are generally the “best, all-round” makers and not necessarily the most expensive trimmers. For many makers these opportunities of the dull season result in advancement into the trimmer class. Many of the parlor milliners of both cities employ no workers during the dull season. Either the manager does the work herself or the shop is closed. In Boston 14 of the 34 parlors reporting, in Philadelphia 4 of the 5 visited, dis¬ missed their whole force in dull times. As a rule the parlor milliner employs 1 or 2 “general” makers, either giving them shorter vacations than the rest of her force or sending for them as they are needed. The Boston millinery stores, in contrast to the parlors, seldom dismiss all their employees during the dull season. Only four small stores reported no workers in the slack months. In Philadelphia a larger number of stores employed no workers during the dull season—33 of the 67 reporting. Information as to seasons obtained through conversation with employers has been supplemented and made more exact by data taken from Boston millinery pay rolls. Complete pay rolls for the year 1912 were secured from 3 department stores, 2 whole¬ sale millinery establishments and 2 millinery parlors; incom¬ plete pay rolls were obtained from 1 department and 1 millinery store. One cannot generalize from such insufficient data, but certain tendencies may be noted. SEASONS 47 TABLE 7, SHOWING THE REDUCTION IN SIZE OF WORKROOM FORCE DURING THE DULL SEASON IN BOSTON. BASED ON REPORTS FROM EMPLOYERS. Type of Establishment Number of Firms Reporting Number Em¬ ployed in the Busy Season 1 Number Em¬ ployed in the Dull Season Per Cent. Reduction Number of Firms Em¬ ploying no Workers in Dull Season Wholesale 9 285 18 93.6 — Department store . 19 533 50 90.6 3 Store 32 387 44 88.7 4 Parlor 37 224 31 86.1 14 Total 97 1,429 143 92.8 21 i Two department stores, 1 millinery store, and 3 millinery parlors did not report as to number employed in the busy season. The rate of reduction in the size of the workroom force during the dull season is, according to reports from employers, about the same for two cities. At the height of the busy season— as shown by Table 7—1,429 girls are employed in 97 millinery workrooms in Boston. In 76 shops 143 workers were employed TABLE 8, SHOWING THE REDUCTION IN SIZE OF WORKROOM FORCE DURING THE DULL SEASON IN PHILADELPHIA. BASED ON REPORTS FROM EMPLOYERS. Type of Establishment Number of Firms Reporting Number Em¬ ployed in the Busy Season 1 Number Em¬ ployed in Dull Season Per Cent. Reduction Number of Firms Em¬ ploying no Workers in Dull Season Wholesale Department 2 40 3 92.5 1 store . 12 981 159 83.9 2 Millinery store . 69 485 65 86.6 33 Parlor 5 18 2 88.9 4 Manufactur- ing whole¬ sale milli- nery 2 385 — 100. 2 Home 12 50 3 94. 8 Total 102 1,959 232 88.1 50 i In the totals for the busy season are included 165 workers not classi¬ fied by occupation, and omitted in Table 4. One wholesale house and 1 millinery store did not report as to busy season employment. 48 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN TABLE 9, SHOWING FLUCTUATION, WEEK BY WEEK, IN SIZE OF WORKROOM FORCE IN 8 BOSTON ESTABLISHMENTS FOR THE YEAR 1912. 1 BASED ON PAY ROLLS. Week Ending Number Employed for Specified Weeks in Grand Total Department Store Wholesale Shop Millinery Store Millinery Parlor A B C Total A B Total A A B Total January 6 • 5 13 8 26 — 6 6 i i ■ 1 3 4 36 J anuary 13 • 7 14 10 31 — 6 6 — 1 5 6 43 J anuary 20 • 5 19 10 34 2 3 5 — 1 5 6 45 January 27 • 6 18 10 34 6 3 9 — 1 7 8 51 February 3 • 5 20 10 35 2 6 8 — 2 5 7 50 February 10 • 7 21 11 39 5 6 11 — 2 6 8 58 February 17 • 6 28 6 40 10 6 16 — 2 7 9 65 February 24 • 7 30 12 49 27 6 33 — 2 10 12 94 March 2 • 8 76 14 98 24 9 33 — 5 16 21 152 March 9 20 79 22 121 25 12 37 — 5 16 21 179 March 16 # 21 78 27 126 15 12 27 — 5 18 23 176 March 23 • 22 79 21 122 12 12 24 — 5 18 23 169 March 30 • 20 76 21 117 11 13 24 — 5 18 23 164 April 6 • 21 80 26 127 11 14 25 — 5 17 22 174 April 13 • 20 80 28 128 11 15 26 — 5 17 22 176 April 20 • 20 79 26 125 10 14 24 — 5 17 22 171 April 27 • 18 78 25 121 10 14 24 — 5 15 20 165 May 4 # 19 78 22 119 10 14 24 — 5 12 17 160 May 11 # 19 78 24 121 10 14 24 — 5 8 13 158 May 18 • 19 70 24 113 8 10 18 — 5 8 13 144 May 25 • 16 48 16 80 8 9 17 — 5 8 13 110 June 1 • 10 44 15 69 5 12 17 — 5 7 12 98 June 8 12 39 15 66 3 10 13 — 3 7 10 89 June 15 # 12 37 15 64 2 11 13 — 3 7 10 88 June 22 9 34 14 57 2 12 14 — 3 6 9 80 June 29 # 9 30 14 53 — 10 10 — 3 5 8 71 July 6 9 31 14 54 — 7 7 — 2 6 8 i 69 July 13 # 9 21 9 39 — 6 6 — 2 4 6 i 51 July 20 # 9 19 9 37 2 3 5 — 1 4 5 47 July 27 # 8 14 8 30 4 3 7 — 1 4 5 42 August 3 # 7 14 10 31 4 7 11 5 1 4 5 ' 52 August 10 s 7 12 8 27 7 13 20 4 1 2 3 54 August 17 9 5 11 5 21 10 13 23 3 1 2 3 1 50 August 24 • 6 18 5 29 14 14 28 4 1 2 3 64 August 31 • 5 35 3 43 17 13 30 6 1 2 3 82 September 7 18 46 24 88 13 19 32 6 6 10 16 ' 142 September 14 9 18 46 24 88 9 22 31 6 6 16 22 147 September 21 16 51 24 91 7 22 29 6 6 18 24 150 September 28 • 16 77 24 117 7 21 28 6 6 18 24 ' 175 October 5 • 17 78 25 120 6 21 27 5 9 19 28 180 October 12 • 17 78 25 120 6 21 27 5 9 18 27 179 October 19 17 77 22 116 6 21 27 5 9 17 26 174 October 26 17 77 21 115 2 21 23 5 8 17 25 168 November 2 17 76 3 96 — 19 19 5 5 17 22 142 November 9 17 75 5 97 — 14 14 5 5 15 20 > 136 November 16 17 60 5 82 — 9 9 5 5 14 19 115 November 23 12 50 5 67 — 6 6 5 5 13 18 96 November 30 9 41 5 55 — 6 6 5 4 12 16 82 December 7 6 28 4 38 — 6 6 5 2 8 10 59 December 14 9 6 28 4 38 — 6 6 3 2 7 9 56 December 21 9 6 25 4 35 — 8 8 3 2 7 9 55 December 28 • 5 23 3 31 — 8 8 2 2 5 7 48 i The shops are numbered A, B, and C for convenience of use in the text and the charts. SEASONS 49 during the slack season, 1 a total reduction in the working force of about 93 per cent. In Philadelphia, Table 8 shows 1,959 workers employed in 102 shops at the height of the busy season. Ninety-eight firms employed 232 workers during the dull season—a total reduction of 88 per cent. The 7 com¬ plete pay rolls given in Table 9 represent Boston workroom forces varying from a maximum of 207 to a minimum of 25 workers, counting the busiest and dullest weeks for each shop—• a reduction of 88.1 per cent. This percentage verifies the em¬ ployers ’ estimates. The percentage of reduction based upon pay roll figures would be greater were it not for the large proportion of workers in department stores where large forces are retained during the dull season. The workroom forces of the 3 depart¬ ment stores, A, B, and C, diminished in size from 130 to 19 workers in the dull season—a total reduction of 85.4 per cent.; while the number of workers employed in the 4 other establish¬ ments—2 wholesale houses and 2 millinery parlors—varied from 77 to 6, making a total reduction of 92.2 per cent. Curves plotted upon the weekly pay rolls show that neither the reduction of the workroom force in the dull season nor the in¬ crease in the busy season is a gradual process. The seasonal curves of the retail establishments, as shown in Chart I, are sufficiently alike to justify certain generalizations. The spring season seems to be longer than the fall season, and the greatest rush of work comes at that time. The employment curve for the summer dull season drops lower than that of the winter dull season, and reaches its lowest point sometime in August. Easter Sunday fell on the 7th of April in 1912, and this date is marked in the curves by the sharp rise the week ending April 6th. The peak of the curve, however, during the spring season was reached not during the week immediately preceding Easter but during the week following. The curves either remain sta- i Either no data at all were obtained from the other 21 firms, or such indefinite information was given as “we keep practically all our girls,” or “our force is about the same the year round,” or, “our girls get about 11 months’ work.” Although the data as to dull season employment were obtained from fewer firms than that for busy time employment, the statis¬ tics are fairly accurate as the firms failing to report were small and probably retained no workers or so few as not seriously to affect the per¬ centages. number OF CHART I, SHOWING WEEKLY FLUCTUATION IN SIZE OF WORKROOM FORCE OF THREE BOSTON number of WORKERS WORKERS employed DEPARTMENT STORES AND TWO MILLINERY PARLORS. BASED ON PAY ROLLS FOR THE YEAR igi2. employed 140 r ~ r r i r ii i i ii i i i . - r -i r - . r - , i i i i 1 1 i , , i , i i t i i i i i i , , , , i i 'i mo MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN 50 8 rH week 6 13 20 27 3 10 17 24 2 9 16 23 30 6 13 20 27 4Ml 18 26 1 8 -16 22 29 6 13 20 27 3 10 17 24 31 7 14 21 28 5 12 19 26 2 9 16 23 30 7 14 21 28 WEEK ENDING January February March , r .April May June July . August September October November December ENDING SEASONS 51 tionary or rise slightly during this week, after which they begin to fall. The seasonal side of millinery and the amount of unemploy¬ ment it entails upon its workers is again seen from the follow¬ ing Table 10, based upon the total weekly employment of the Bos¬ ton retail establishments. The table shows the working season upon which workers can count and what proportion of workers may count on such seasons. TABLE 10, SHOWING THE LENGTH OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE YEAR 1912 FOR WORKERS IN 5 BOSTON RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. Workers Employed Specified Number of Weeks Number of Weeks of Employment Number Per Cent, of Force in Week of Maximum Employment 10 weeks or less. 112 to 150 75 to 100 20 weeks and under 28 ... 75 to 112 50 to 75 28 weeks and under 46 ... 38 to 75 25 to 50 46 weeks and under 52 ... Less than 38 Less than 25 Only 2 pay rolls were obtained from Boston wholesale houses. These employed 32 workers at the height of the busy season and 5 during the dull season. One wholesale house closed its work¬ room for three weeks in June and July, and 11 weeks in the win¬ ter—from the first of November to the week ending January 20. The curves in Chart II show decided differences in the seasons of the two establishments. The shop which closes its workroom part of the year begins its seasons earlier than the retail shops, while the seasons of the other tend to coincide with those of department stores. SECTION II The Seasons and the Workers The problem of unemployment during the dull seasons is vital to the workers in the trade. Although the Boston pay rolls con¬ firm the information received from the employees, these statistics can hardly be considered final on the question. The pay rolls 52 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN SEASONS 53 furnish data as to the number of weeks workers were employed in these 7 establishments during the year, but they do not show whether the workers were employed in other millinery establish¬ ments during the same year. The time of year at which they were employed indicates that some of the workers went into the wholesale houses temporarily until they obtained positions else¬ where, probably in retail establishments. No pay rolls were se¬ cured in Philadelphia but the data obtained from workers show that the length of season is about the same in the two cities. Seasons vary for individuals not only with the type of estab¬ lishment but also with the occupation of workers. In general the trimmers of both cities worked during longer seasons than the makers, and the makers, than the apprentices. The length of each worker’s season varied not only with the fashions and the weather but with her skill, adaptability and usefulness. The length of employment during the first year or appren¬ ticeship period is not important. The vital question is the amount and kind of training received. Employers usually re¬ quire six weeks each of fall and spring work from apprentices, ‘ ‘ in order to teach both kinds of work. ’ ’ In Boston the appren¬ tices visited had not been in the trade a year, and the length of employment varied from 1 to 5 months. 1 According to the pay rolls, 5 apprentices in Boston department stores were employed from 4J to 12 months. 2 The largest number of makers worked less than 10 months dur¬ ing the year both in Boston and Philadelphia, according to Tables 11 to 14. As an average in Boston about a fourth were employed less than 6 months, a third between 6 and 8 months, and a fourth between 8 and 10 months. In detail about 24 per cent. (19) of the total number (78) of makers who reported on this question and 50 per cent. (48) of the 96 makers for whom complete pay rolls were obtained were employed for less than 6 months during the year. Over 30 per cent. (24) of the makers visited and about 24 per cent. (23) of the makers for whom 1 The 8 Boston apprentices visited reported the following number of months’ employment; 2, 1 month; 1, 1% months; 3, 3 months and 1, 5 months. One apprentice did not report. 2 One worked 18 weeks; 1, 26 weeks; 1, 37 weeks; 1, 39 weeks and 1, 52 weeks. TABLE 11, SHOWING THE LENGTH OF EMPLOYMENT IN A YEAR OF 103 BOSTON WORKERS, 1 CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION AND TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT. BASED ON REPORTS FROM WORKERS. 54 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN i Twenty makers and 8 trimmers did not report. One maker, in the group 6 months and less than 8, did not re¬ port as to place of employment. TABLE 12, SHOWING THE LENGTH OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE YEAR 1912 FOR 100 PHILADELPHIA WORKERS, CLASSI¬ FIED BY OCCUPATION AND TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT. BASED ON REPORTS FROM WORKERS. 1 SEASONS 55 1 Number of workers for whom no data were secured:—apprentices, 3; makers, 6; trimmers, 6. Apprentices were employed as follows: 1 less than 6 months; 3, 6 months and less than 8; 1, 8 months and less than 10; 1, 10 months and less than 12. 56 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN TABLE 13, SHOWING- THE LENGTH OF EMPLOYMENT BY WEEKS IN THE YEAR 1912 OF 140 BOSTON WORKERS, CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION AND BY TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT. BASED ON COMPLETE PAY ROLLS. 1 Number of Workers Employed Specified Number of Weeks Weeks of Employ¬ ment AS TRIMMERS AS MAKERS AS APPRENTICES Grand Total Depart¬ ment Stores Par¬ lors Whole¬ sale Houses To¬ tal Depart¬ ment Stores Par¬ lors Whole¬ sale Houses To¬ tal Depart¬ ment Stores Par¬ lors To¬ tal 4 weeks.. _ - . _ - - 1 1 _ — 1 5 weeks.. — — — — — 3 3 — — 3 6 weeks.. — — — — — 1 1 — — 1 7 weeks.. — — — — — 1 1 — — 1 10 weeks.. — — — 1 — — 1 — — 1 11 weeks. . — — — 2 — — 2 — — 2 12 weeks.. — — — 1 — — 1 — — 1 14 weeks.. — — — — — 2 2 — — 2 15 weeks.. — — — 1 1 — 2 — — 2 17 weeks.. — — — 1 — — 1 — — 1 18 weeks.. — — — 1 — — 1 1 1 2 3 19 w T eeks. . — — 2 2 2 — 1 3 — — 5 20 weeks.. — — — — 6 — — 6 — — 6 21 weeks.. — — — 3 — — 3 — — 3 22 weeks.. — — — 3 2 — 5 — — 5 23 weeks.. — — — 6 1 — 7 — — 7 24 weeks.. — — — 4 1 — 5 — — 5 25 weeks.. — 1 — 1 2 — 1 3 — — 4 26 weeks.. — — — — 1 1 1 3 1 — 1 4 27 weeks.. — 1 — 1 2 — — 2 — — 3 28 weeks.. — — 1 1 — — — — — 1 29 weeks. . 1 — 1 2 5 — — 5 — — 7 30 weeks.. — — — 5 — — 5 — — 5 31 Aveeks.. — — 1 1 2 1 — 3 — 1 1 5 32 weeks.. 1 — 1 2 1 — 2 3 — — 5 33 weeks.. 1 — — 1 1 — — 1 — — 2 34 weeks.. — — 1 1 1 — — 1 — — 2 35 weeks.. — — — — 2 — — 2 — — 2 36 weeks.. — — — 2 — — 2 — — 2 37 weeks.. 2 — ' | 2 3 — 2 5 1 — 1 8 38 weeks.. 2 — 2 2 1 — 3 — — 5 39 weeks.. 1 1 — 2 1 — — 1 1 — 1 4 40 weeks.. 2 — 1 3 2 — — 2 — —- 5 41 weeks.. 1 — 1 2 1 1 — 2 — — 4 42 Aveeks.. 1 2 — — 2 1 — — 1 — — 3 43 weeks.. 2 — 1 3 — — — — — — 3 44 weeks.. 2 1 — 3 3 1 — 4 — — 7 45 weeks.. 1 2 — — 2 — — — .— — — 2 46 weeks.. i — 1 — — 1 — — 1 48 Aveeks .. 1 1 — — — — — — 1 49 weeks .. , 1 — 1 2 — — — — — 2 51 weeks. . 1 — — 1 1 — — 1 — — 2 52 weeks. . — — — — 1 — > 1 1 • t — 1 2 Total. . 21 4 12 37 70 11 15 96 5 2 7 140 i This table includes all workers employed both seasons regardless of length of em¬ ployment each season. SEASONS 57 TABLE 14, SHOWING THE LENGTH OF EMPLOYMENT BY MONTHS IN THE YEAR 1912 FOR 133 BOSTON WORKERS, CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION 1 AND BY TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT, BASED ON COMPLETE PAY ROLLS. DERIVED FROM TABLE 13. Number of Workers Employed Specified Number of Months Number of Months of Em¬ ployment in the Year AS MAKERS AS TRIMMERS Whole- Depart- Total Whole- Depart- Total sale Houses ment Stores Parlors Num¬ ber Per Cent. sale Houses ment Stores Parlors Num¬ ber Per Cent. Less than 6 months 10 33 5 48 50.0 2 1 3 8.1 6 months and less than 8 3 18 2 23 23.9 5 3 1 9 24.3 8 months and less than 10 . 2 14 2 18 18.8 2 10 1 13 35.1 10 months and less than 12 . 5 1 6 6.3 3 8 1 12 32.4 12 months — — ■ 1 1 1.0 — — — — Total 15 70 11 96 100.0 12 21 4 37 100.0 i Seven apprentices are omitted from this table. TABLE 15, SHOWING EFFECT OF EXPERIENCE ON LENGTH OF EMPLOYMENT DURING THE YEAR. BASED ON REPORTS FROM 104 BOSTON WORKERS, CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. 1 NUMBER OF MAKERS EMPLOYED NUMBER OF TRIMMERS EMPLOYED Length of Experience in Millinery Less than 6 Months 6 Months and Less than 8 8 Months and Less than 10 10 Months and Less than 12 Total Less than 6 Months 6 Months and Less than 8 8 Months and Less than 10 10 Months and Less than 12 12 Months Total Less than 1 year . 4 4 1 1 year and less than 2. 7 6 3 16 _ 1 -- 2 years and less than 3. 2 4 2 2 10 —• — — 1 — 1 3 years and less than 4. i 1 1 4 5 4 14 1 1 1 4 years and less than 5. 1 1 3 5 1 _ , 1 5 years and less than 10 3 5 5 4 17 1 2 1 4 3 10 10 years and more 1 3 3 2 9 1 3 1 3 2 10 No report . — 2 — 2 4 1 _ i — 1 — 2 Total 19 25 21 14 79 4 3 3 10 5 25 i Apprentices are omitted from this table, and 20 makers and 8 trimmers did not report as to length of employment. 58 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN complete pay rolls were obtained, were employed from 6 to 8 months. A smaller percentage—27 per cent. (21)—of the total number of makers who reported on seasons, and about 19 per cent. (18) of the makers from pay rolls, were employed from 8 to 10 months per year. Only 14 makers interviewed and 7 accord¬ ing to pay roll data were employed at least 10 months per year. One department store employed 1 maker for 51 weeks, one parlor employed 1 maker for 52 weeks, but no maker visited claimed to have worked throughout the year. Over 25 per cent, of the Philadelphia makers reported less than 8 months of employment during the year, while only 2 makers reported less than a 6 months’ season. The largest group, 43 per cent. (32) of the total number answering, re¬ ported seasons 8 to 10 months in length. Eighteen makers re¬ ported seasons lasting from 10 to 12 months, of these, 9 were employed in the wholesale manufacturing houses which have longer seasons than other types of establishments. Five makers employed in millinery stores reported full 12 months employ¬ ment. The trimmers in both cities work during longer seasons than the makers. This is especially true of establishments in which the employer could do no trimming. In Boston 60 per cent. (15) of the 25 trimmers visited, who reported, worked from 10 to 12 months. Ten of these were employed in department stores, in wholesale millinery and in stores and parlors employing large forces. Twenty per cent. (5) reported full time employment— 3 from wholesale establishments and 1 each from stores and par¬ lors. The Boston pay rolls tell a different story, however, only 32 per cent, being employed from 10 to 12 months and none for full time, although 2 trimmers from department stores worked 49 and 51 weeks respectively. In Philadelphia about 54 per cent. (14) of the 26 trimmers reporting on the question of sea¬ sons were employed for periods varying in length from 10 months to one year. Five reported full time employment, 2 from whole¬ sale houses, 1 from a department store and 2 from millinery stores. It is difficult to generalize as to the length of seasons for work¬ ers in various types of establishments. The majority of workers employed in the Philadelphia wholesale manufacturing establish- SEASONS 59 ments work from 10 to 12 months. Makers in wholesale houses and department stores of Boston work less than 8 months, in Philadelphia from 8 to 10 months. A study of the length of the seasons as given in Table 16 based on Boston pay rolls brings out several points. The majority of the workers were employed for longer periods in the spring than in the fall. This is obvious from the curves in Charts I and II based on the total number employed in the shops. The spring season for the majority of the workers varied from 11 to 24 weeks, the fall season from 7 to 18 weeks. It is noticeable that those workers—both makers and trimmers—who were employed both seasons in the same establishment worked longer than those employed but one season. It is also difficult to draw any definite conclusions as to the relation between the length of experience in the trade and the length of employment during the year. Tables 15 and 17 are presented to show the exact situation so far as discovered, and because they may prove of value in some other connection. Some difference may be noted after the workers have had 5 years or more experience. The older makers do not have the extremely short seasons. The trimmers are mostly those of 5 years’ experience. Only 5 of the 19 Philadelphia makers and 12 of the 44 Boston makers employed for less than 8 months during the year had been in the trade for 5 years or more. On the other hand, 28 of the 55 Philadelphia makers and 14 of the 35 Boston makers employed for 8 months or more during the year had spent 5 years or more in millinery. Only 2 Philadelphia trimmers and 3 Boston trimmers had been less than 5 years in the trade. Two general classes of problems connected with the busy and dull seasons are integral parts of the question of seasonal em¬ ployments. The problems of the busy season are the logical results of rush work and involve: (1) taking on a large force of workers which must be dismissed as soon as the early rush is over; (2) nervous strain for both employer and employee in¬ cident to the speeding up process, and (3) unavoidable overtime which accompanies the filling of rush orders. The dull season problem is that of unemployment. The employment of a large 60 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN TABLE 16, SHOWING THE LENGTH OF EMPLOYMENT BY WEEKS IN THE SPRING AND FALL SEASONS OF THE YEAR 1912, FOR WORKERS IN 5 BOSTON RETAIL ESTABLISH¬ MENTS, CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. i * Number of Workers Employed Specified Length of Time Number of IN THE SPRING SEASON AS IN THE FALL SEASON AS Weeks of Employment Makers Trimmers Makers Trimmers But Fall Season Also But Spring Season Only But Fall Season Also But Spring Season Only Total But Spring Season Also But Spring Season Only But Fall Season Also But Spring Season Only Total 1 week . -- .. 9 _ __ 9 1 2 / __ -- 3 2 weeks . — 6 — 1 7 1 1 — — 2 3 weeks . 1 2 — 1 4 1 1 — — 2 4 weeks . •— 1 — 1 2 1 1 i — — 2 5 weeks . 1 1 — 1 3 1 1 — — 2 6 weeks . 2 2 — — 4 — 3 * 1 — 4 7 weeks . 1 1 — — 2 6 2 1 — 9 8 weeks . 1 2 — — 3 7 4 — 2 13 9 weeks . 2 2 — — 4 7 — — — 7 10 weeks . 3 2 — — 5 4 1 1 1 7 11 weeks . 7 2 — — 9 6 4 — — 10 12 weeks . 15 1 — 1 17 6 1 1 — 8 13 weeks . 4 3 — — 7 8 3 4 — 15 14 weeks . 6 2 — — 8 7 — 3 — 10 15 weeks . 3 1 — — 4 3 — — 1 4 16 weeks . 2 2 — 1 5 1 1 1 2 5 17 weeks . 2 — — — 2 5 — 1 1 7 18 weeks . 1 — — — 1 5 — 1 — 6 19 weeks . 2 2 4 — 8 — — — — — 20 weeks . 1 — 1 — 2 1 — 3 — 4 21 weeks . 5 1 1 — 7 — — — — — 22 weeks . 3 1 — — 4 — — — — — 23 weeks . 3 — 2 — 5 — — — — — 24 weeks . 3 2 4 — 9 — — — — — 25 weeks . — — 1 — 1 — — — — — 26 weeks . 1 — — — 1 1 — — — 1 27 weeks . 2 — 2 — 4 — — — — — 28 weeks . — 1 1 — 2 — — — — — 29 weeks . — — 1 i 1 — 1 — — — — — 30 weeks . , 1 — — 1 1 2 — — — — 1 — Total . 72 46 17 7 142 72 25 17 7 121 i Seventeen workers employed both seasons—9 makers and 8 trimmers—are omitted from this table because of difficulty in dividing the number of weeks employed between the two seasons. TABLE 17, SHOWING EFFECT OF EXPERIENCE ON LENGTH OF EMPLOYMENT DURING THE YEAR. BASED ON REPORTS FROM 100 PHILADELPHIA WORKERS SEASONS 61 a «+H o rSi -P bo C a> 05 aS a a> p O c • r*H Ti 03 p o> CO O c: ployment. 62 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN force during the rush season seems inevitable in a fashion trade, especially in shops doing ‘‘order work.” The speeding up proc¬ ess necessary to meet orders promptly, even if it is not pro¬ longed by a period of overtime, often results in complete ex¬ haustion of the workers, who find little time to recuperate until the close of the busy season. Consequently both workers and employers look forward to the dull season as a period of rest. By overtime is meant the time spent by employees at work in excess of the normal hours of labor. Overtime may be de¬ manded of the workers either by prolonging the hours of work into the evening or by curtailing the noon period. Information as to overtime was not definitely sought in Boston, although a few workers incidentally reported extra hours. Overtime was probably not so common in Boston as in Philadelphia, yet it was sufficiently general to be a serious problem. Definite data on this point were obtained in Philadelphia. About 32 per cent. (33) of the 104 establishments visited claimed to do no overtime, while about 59 per cent. (61) of the total number of firms visited reported overtime to some extent. Overtime in many of these shops does not mean extra work for all the employees. Several workers were visited from the same workroom, some of whom reported overtime while others did not. Thirty-three per cent. (40) of the 121 Philadelphia employees visited reported no overtime, while over 51 per cent. (62) of them had worked over¬ time during the year in which the investigation was made. Overtime involves not only such legal questions as the viola¬ tion of provisions regulating the total daily and weekly hours of labor of women and children, but social questions as well. The evils resulting from overtime are three in number, fatigue, un¬ certainty and night work. The injury to the worker’s health caused by overtime has been well explained and interpreted by Miss Josephine Goldmark. After an ordinary day’s work of 84 to 9 hours, a period of rest and recuperation is necessary if efficiency is to be maintained. To continue work after fatigue sets in is to require a constantly increasing expenditure of nerv¬ ous energy out of proportion to the results obtained. The nor¬ mal fatigue is greatly increased on the days that overtime is re¬ quired by the necessity of accomplishing in a given time a larger SEASONS 63 amount of work than usual. To continue this nervous over- stimulation until nine or ten o’clock in the evening is to rob the worker of much needed rest, and results ultimately in deteriora¬ tion both in the quantity and the quality of the product. In Philadelphia 33 employers stated that they did not require over¬ time because it did not pay. The 61 employers who demanded overtime defended their action by claiming that it was more than compensated by the shorter days given employees in the dull season, when they were permitted to begin work at nine or ten o ’clock in the morning and to leave an hour or two earlier in the afternoon. But “the essential thing in rest is the time at which it comes. Rest postponed is rest more-than-proportionally de¬ prived of virtue. Fatigue let run is a debt to be paid at com¬ pound interest. Maggiora showed that after a doubled task, muscle requires not double but four times as long a rest for re¬ cuperation, and a similar need for more-than-proportionally in¬ creased rest after excessive work is true of our other tissues, and of our organism in its totality. ’ ’ 1 The irregularity of overtime and the uncertainty as to when it will be required serve further to complicate the problem. Un¬ certainty is especially characteristic of shops doing ‘ ‘ order work,” and to a lesser degree of shops doing both “stock” and “order work.” Two facts are fairly certain, (1) that overtime will be required the few weeks preceding Easter Sunday, and (2) that it will be demanded toward the end of the week when the workers are already fatigued. Overtime usually means night work. The majority of Phila¬ delphia employees reporting on this point stated that they re¬ turned home between the hours of nine and eleven o’clock. Night work not only results in fatigue and injury to health, and in a lowered industrial output the succeeding day, but also ex¬ poses women and girls to the dangers of returning home late at night alone and unprotected. In the last analysis, the blame for the practice of overtime may be laid squarely upon the shoulders of the customers. The thoughtlessness of customers and their habits of procrastination are the chief causes for irregular overtime. If the employer i Goldmark, Josephine, Fatigue and Efficiency. (New York, 1912.) Part 1, p. 88. 64 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN wishes to retain the trade of her best customer, and incidentally that of her best customer’s family and friends, she is almost com¬ pelled to work overtime when given an order for a hat which must be completed at short notice. A little thought and con¬ sideration would minimize the rush for Easter hats which begins two or three weeks before Easter, although the spring models are on display at least two months earlier. Various means have been suggested for abolishing overtime: (1) the better organization of the working force and of the business in general; (2) a campaign of education among custom¬ ers to persuade them to be more considerate in their orders, and (3) legal prohibition. The difficulty of manufacturing hats in anticipation of orders because of the demands for the latest style made by the fashion-following customers hinders the first plan. Short seasons and the fear of losing customers force the acceptance of every order, even though it entails over¬ time upon both employer and employees. The first suggestion, therefore, will not be very effective until some progress has been made in line with the second, namely, in educating customers to be more considerate. For this reason, a consistent policy of edu¬ cation, bringing home forcibly to customers the effects of their whims and caprices, would prove most helpful in minimizing the amount of overtime demanded of millinery workers. The legal prohibition of overtime would be the most effective method of abolishing it, although such a law would present serious admin¬ istrative difficulties. Even if it were not rigidly enforced, its existence upon the statute books would impress upon employers the necessity of gauging more accurately the working capacity of their ecpiipment and perhaps of reorganizing the industry. The majority of millinery workers express the keenest dissatis¬ faction with the seasons, necessitating, as they do, from two to six months unemployment during the year. Irregularity of work demoralizes the workers and causes loss of efficiency. To many employees the prospect of the dull season is depressing and disheartening. It is difficult to save for months of idleness on a wage of $8 or less per week. “Among those living under great economic pressure there is a tendency for the standard of life to expand as far as possible within its narrow confines, SEASONS 65 like a gas under high pressure. The worker spends the greater part of whatever wages he gets. This holds true even when the wage becomes quite high. Irregularity of income appar¬ ently encourages improvidence. Systematic arrangement of a family budget is possible only on the basis of a definite and regu¬ lar income. In fact, the actual money value of the wage de¬ creases with its irregularity. ’ ’ 1 This is true of millinery work¬ ers, and especially of those who are dependent upon their earn¬ ings for a livelihood, and is doubtless the chief reason some are driven to seek illegitimate resources for support. Irregularity of employment is probably a more potent cause of prostitution than low wages, but the two make a formidable combination. Besides demoralization of the worker, unemployment results also in loss of efficiency. Many workers realize that however badly they may need rest, they pay for the long dull season rest in loss of skill. For millinery is a trade in which the worker —especially the maker—must “always keep her hand in.” The solution of the seasonal problem usually attempted is the dovetailing of millinery with some other business or trade—the employer combining it with other businesses, the employee with other occupations. A few shops carry on dressmaking and millinery. Though the off season in dressmaking is not so dull as in millinery, the two tend to coincide. Therefore, a separate force must be engaged to handle each kind of work. The com¬ bination of millinery with neckwear and novelties has been at¬ tempted since materials left over from millinery may be utilized, but two of the larger firms that have tried the plan have not found it effective. One employer taught millinery to two or three private pupils during the dull seasons, charging $25 apiece. Obviously, this supplemented the employer’s income but not that of her force. One shop employed its force during the winter dull season in making spring hats, resulting in the accumulation of such a surplus that the firm was forced to dis¬ miss the girls in the early part of May in order to clear out the stock. Another proprietor tried the plan of making frames and ornaments between seasons, but the fashion changed and the stock was of no value. The department stores and the millinery i Seasonal Trades , edited by Sidney Webb, and others, p. 50. 66 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN stores often prolong the season and reduce stock by means of bargain sales. The plan employed by dressmakers and tailors of offering an inducement to early shopping in the form of a reduc¬ tion in the price of all orders to be filled in the dull season has been suggested as one remedy. The tailor uses this system pri¬ marily for the benefit of his workers, and in order to do so, cuts heavily into his own profits. Employees attempt to solve the problems of seasonal unemploy¬ ment by combining millinery with some other occupation. This question is greatly complicated by the two dull seasons. If milli¬ nery is a worker’s regular trade, she must necessarily be an ir¬ regular hand in one or perhaps two other occupations. Many find it difficult or are unwilling to devote the time and energy necessary to mastering another trade or two, and the secondary occupation must often be unskilled or of a lower grade. Con¬ sciously or unconsciously, most workers feel that to become un¬ skilled laborers, even for a short time, lowers their standards of efficiency and payment. This attitude is not confined to milli¬ ners. “Not only does less skilled work injure the finesse re¬ quired in the highly skilled workman, but there is also a strong prejudice against such a descent. One foreman says that a mechanic who is out of work would not go to the gasworks in the winter; he believes he would rather starve. It is generally found out, and would be against him on the next job. . . . These limitations which surround the skilled workman are of great importance, for few occupations are entirely unskilled, and there are thus few alternatives for the man of any degree of specialization. ’ ’ 1 Statistics of the supplementary occupations show that the majority of those seeking dull season employment entered less skilled trades. Fifty-three employees in Boston, about 37 per cent, of the number interviewed, and 29 in Philadelphia, about 24 per cent, of the number interviewed, reported dull season oc¬ cupations for the preceding year. The chief secondary occupa¬ tion reported was that of salesgirl, 26 employees in Boston and 17 in Philadelphia following this trade. Most of the workers were employed during the rush season just before Christmas. i Seasonal Trades, edited by Sidney Webb and others, pp. 48-49. SEASONS 67 A few were employed in other stores, some as millinery sales¬ girls during the evening. “Selling’’ as a secondary occupation for very many workers, affords work for the winter season only. Moreover, the holiday rush coming so soon after the busy season in millinery, is especially trying for the worker. Only a small proportion of workers entered trades allied to millinery. Two retail employees in Boston, and 1 in Philadel¬ phia reported wholesale millinery work during the dull season. New York milliners claim that wholesale houses offer excellent dull season opportunities, but in Boston and Philadelphia the wholesale business is not large enough to afford the employment to be found in New York. Only the cheaper hats are made, and many retail workers are of the opinion they lose more in trade efficiency than they gain in wages, since the work required is of a low grade and the “fashion hints” of little value in high- class retail shops. Three workers from each city reported that they were engaged in dressmaking during the dull season. As millinery and dressmaking are both sewing trades this would seem a logical solution. But two facts militate against this com¬ bination—the dull seasons tend to coincide and the work re¬ quired is essentially different in character. In Boston two workers reported teaching millinery as an occupation, one in a summer school, the other in an evening school. Other occupa¬ tions reported by Boston workers included: printing 1, machine operating 2, waiting on table 2, office work 1, photography 3, telephone operating 1, factory work (candy, soap) 5, bookbind¬ ing 2, cash girls 2, errand girl 1, pasting samples 1. Philadel¬ phia workers reported the following secondary employment: in¬ specting in a department store 1, paper box factory 1, address¬ ing envelopes 1, and embroidery 1. Straw machine operating has been suggested as a secondary trade, and one school is offering instruction in it to its millinery pupils. This plan seems of dubious value. One requirement of a secondary occupation is that it be conveniently situated, another, that it offer employment. Although there are in Bos¬ ton a few establishments for the manufacture of straw hats, they are not sufficiently important to be listed among the industries of that city in the Federal Census of Manufactures of 1905. 68 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN Seven establishments employing an average of 267 workers were listed for Philadelphia. 1 Obviously the demand for workers is not great. The owner of a large straw hat factory situated out¬ side of Boston did not consider the plan of combining the two trades feasible. The objections are two-fold—(1) straw machine operating is a skilled trade in which skill can be acquired only through practice, and (2) the seasons of the two trades do not permit a satisfactory combination. The straw hat season begins in November, and lasts well into or through the millinery spring season. Consequently the employer would consider the milli¬ nery worker undesirable who could not be relied upon for the whole season. It might be more logical to combine millinery as a secondary trade with straw machine operating. Furthermore it is doubtful whether the millinery employees would take kindly to the scheme. To those workers willing to accept social prestige in part payment for wages, factory work would be distasteful. The peculiarities exhibited by the seasons’ curve are partly due to the fact that the market of the trade is local, and can re¬ spond readily to sudden demands made upon it. It would be difficult to meet these demands if there were not a large body of millinery workers in reserve, in other words, if there were not a chronic over-supply of labor. This leads to the conclusion that perhaps this over-supply exerts as much influence upon the ir¬ regularity of employment in millinery as do climatic conditions and the fashions. The scheme of dovetailing several trades is a weak and unsatisfactory method of solving the problems of unemployment; it is the method of following the line of least resistance, and not that of attacking the root difficulties, the fashions and the over-supply of labor. Much good would result from an organization of employers who would work together to solve the seasonal problems and to modify the vagaries of fashion; much good would also result from the organization of employees who would unite to secure protection for themselves and to raise their own industrial standards. Much good, too, would result from a campaign of education among consumers to bring about a modification of their present inconsiderate de¬ mands. As the trade now exists, it is an excellent example of an absolutely unorganized, unregulated trade. i Census of Manufactures, 1905, pt. 11, p. 980. CHAPTER V WAGES Either from ignorance or from optimism the average girl who enters the millinery trade fails to appreciate the effect of seasons on wages and only after actual experience does she realize that months of unemployment make serious inroads upon the yearly earnings. Wages received by millinery workers must be con¬ sidered in relation to the equally important question of seasonal unemployment. Time wages is the prevailing method of payment. Retail establishments, wholesale manufacturing millinery firms of Philadelphia, and many of the wholesale firms of both cities al¬ ways pay time wages to their employees. A few of the whole¬ sale firms of Boston and Philadelphia pay piece rates to makers but rarely to trimmers or apprentices. These firms often com¬ bine both systems, giving time wages to the makers employed throughout the year, and piece rate wages to those employed only in the busy season. It is not uncommon for one worker to receive time wages when the season opens and piece wages as the amount of work begins to increase. Some workers prefer piece wages to time wages. They feel that they are “getting what they earn”—that the amount of their wages is determined chiefly by their own skill. Piecework¬ ers sometimes attempt to increase wages by speeding up and by shortening the noon period. Many workers prefer time wages, stating that they earn as much or more than pieceworkers, with¬ out experiencing the disadvantages of that system. Certain terms must be defined before analyzing the wages received by millinery workers. By “nominal weekly wage” is meant the time wage received by a worker as specified in her agreement with the employer. The term is applicable to the wages reported by employees and to those of the Boston pay rolls. 70 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN A nominal weekly wage is given for every worker regardless of length of employment, and is some indication of earning capac¬ ity. The “average weekly wage” shows the variation in wages due to absence from the trade, not because of general trade con¬ ditions, but because of the illness of the employee, or other per¬ sonal reasons. It is obtained by dividing the total amount re¬ ceived by the number of weeks of employment. Only workers who have been employed 4 weeks or more in one season are in¬ cluded in such a table. Since workers find difficulty in remem¬ bering the deductions made from their wages because of absence from work, this term is employed only in connection with data obtained from pay rolls. This is true also of the “average weekly wage throughout the year” which shows the effect of the seasons upon wages. It is obtained by dividing the total amount re¬ ceived by 52. Only workers are included who, according to the pay rolls, were employed 4 weeks or more during each of the two seasons. Data as to wages were obtained from the employees themselves and from the workroom pay rolls of 9 Boston firms. The pay roll information in general verifies that obtained from the workers. The wages of apprentices reporting in Boston and Philadel¬ phia are discussed in the chapter on apprenticeship and will be considered here but briefly. The wage question is of minor im¬ portance to apprentices as they hardly expect to be self-sup¬ porting while learning their trade. Pay rolls were obtained for 35 apprentices and the wages are presented in Table 18. Sixty per cent. (21) of this number were employed in department stores at nominal wages varying from $1 to $6 per week. Nine¬ teen of the 21 were employed in one department store, most of them only for a week or two. All but 2 of the apprentices in wholesale houses were employed by one firm. Fifty-one per cent. (18) of the total number received $2 or less per week, and 80 per cent. (28) received $3 or less per week. These wages are higher than those reported by the workers themselves, but the pay rolls are from the two types of establishments that would be least likely to require apprentices to “give” their time. Furthermore, learners receiving no wage would probably not be on the pay roll. WAGES 71 The problem of the wages paid to makers is more important than that of any other group since they constitute about three- fourths of the total number of workers in the trade. The ap¬ prentices at one end of the scale receive instruction in part pay¬ ment for services and are not self-supporting. The trimmers at the other end receive high wages, and are entirely self-support¬ ing. According to the Boston pay rolls, the total annual earn¬ ings of Boston makers (See Table 19) ranged from less than $50 to less than $475 per year. The median total annual earn¬ ings was $210.52. As shown in Table 20, about 9 per cent, earned less than $100, and only 10 per cent. $400 or more per year. One-half of the 91 makers earned less than $200, but the largest percentage (63.7) earned between $100 and $300 per year. TABLE 18, SHOWING NOMINAL WEEKLY WAGES RECEIVED BY 35 BOSTON APPRENTICES, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT. BASED ON FAY ROLLS. Number of Workers Receiving Specified Wage Nominal Weekly Wage Department Stores Stores and Parlors Wholesale Houses Total $1.00 and less than $1.50 . 6 1 7 $1.50 and less than $2.00 . — — 4 4 $2.00 and less than $2.50 . 7 — — 7 $2.50 and less than $3.00 . — — 2 2 $3.00 and less than $3.50 . 5 1 2 8 $3.50 and less than $4.00 . 1 — 3 4 $4.00 and less than $5.00 . — 1 — 1 $6.00 and less than $7.00 . 2 — — i 2. Total . 21 2 12 35 From a recent investigation $9 was estimated to be the mini¬ mum weekly wage necessary to insure a decent standard of living for women in Boston. 1 If this be taken as a standard, a study even of the nominal weekly wages paid to makers in the millinery trade reveals some significant facts. Table 21 shows that the wages reported by Boston makers varied from less than $4 to $15 per week, while those reported by Philadelphia makers varied from less than $3 to less than i Bosworth, L. M., The Living Wage of Women Workers, p. 11. 72 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN TABLE 19, SHOWING TOTAL ANNUAL EARNINGS OF 120 BOSTON WORKERS, CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION AND TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT. 1 BASED ON COMPLETE PAY ROLLS. Number of Workers Receiving Specified Total Annual Earnings Total Annual Earnings AS MAKERS AS TRIMMERS Depart¬ ment Stores Parlors Whole¬ sale Houses Total Depart¬ ment Stores Parlors Whole¬ sale Houses Total Less than $50 .... 1 — — 1 — — — — $50 and less than $75 . 2 — — 2 — — “ / 1 $75 and less than $100 . 5 — — 5 — — ~ ' $100 and less than $125 9 1 — 10 — — — ' $125 and less than $150 5 — 2 7 — — ■ “ 1 $150 and less than $175 7 4 2 13 — — — — $175 and less than $200 6 2 — 8 — — — — $200 and less than $225 6 — 2 8 — — — — $225 and less than $250 3 — 2 5 — — — — $250 and less than $275 1 — 2 3 — — — — $275 and less than $300 3 — 1 4 — — 1 1 $300 and less than $325 1 — — 1 — — — — $325 and less than $350 5 — 1 _ i 5 — — — — $350 and less than $375 2 1 j — 3 — — — — $375 and less than $400 6 1 i _ 7 1 — — 1 $400 and less than $425 2 2 4 — 1 — 1 $425 and less than $450 2 — i i 3 1 i — — 1 $450 and less than $475 1 — l 2 1 — — 1 $475 and less than $500 — — — — 1 2 — 3 $550 and less than $575 — — — — 2 — 1 3 $575 and less than $600 — — — — 2 — 1 3 $625 and less than $650 i — — — — 4 — 1 5 $650 and less than $675 — — — — 1 — — 1 $675 and less than $700 — — — — 2 — — 2 $725 and less than $750 — — — — 1 1 — 2 $775 and less than $800 — — — — 1 — — 1 $800 and less than $825 — — — — 2 — — 2 $900 and less than $925 — — — i — 1 — — 1 $1300 and less than $1325 — — — — 1 — — 1 Total Number Workers . 67 11 13 91 21 4 4 29 1 No worker is included in this table who was employed less than 4 weeks each season. TABLE 20, SHOWING TOTAL ANNUAL EARNINGS OF 91 BOSTON MAKERS. BASED ON COMPLETE PAY ROLLS. Annual Income , MAKERS RECEIVING SPECIFIED AMOUNTS Number ± Per Cent. Less than $100. 8 8.8 $100 and less than $200 . 38 41.8 $200 and less than $300 . 20 21.9 $300 and less than $400 . 16 17.6 $400 and less than $475 . 9 9.9 Total. 91 100.0 WAGES 73 $13 per week. Sixty-eight per cent. (51) of the total num¬ ber (75) of Boston makers reporting, and 75 per cent. (157) of the Boston makers for whom pay rolls were secured received nominal weekly wages of less than $9. The percentage of those earning less than $9 is even greater in Philadelphia, 79 per cent, or 47 of the 59 makers who reported. Over one-half of the makers received a nominal wage of less than $8 per week—54 per cent. (41) of the Boston makers interviewed, 58 per cent. (121) of the Boston makers on the pay rolls and 62 per cent. (37) of the Philadelphia makers reporting. The percentage of makers receiving $10 or more per week is small—28 per cent, of the Boston makers interviewed, 15 per cent, of the Boston makers for whom pay rolls were obtained and about 12 per cent, of the Philadelphia makers visited. Nominal wages of makers vary according to type of establish¬ ment as shown by Tables 22 and 23. In general, makers in de¬ partment stores receive the highest wages, those in millinery stores rank second, in the millinery parlors third, while those employed in wholesale houses receive the lowest wages. Of the TABLE 21, SHOWING NOMINAL WEEKLY WAGES OF BOSTON AND PHILADELPHIA MAKERS. 1 CUMULATIVE STATEMENT. BASED ON PAY ROLLS AND REPORTS FROM WORKERS. Makers Receiving Specified Wage According to Reports From Nominal Weekly Wage BOSTON WORKERS BOSTON PAY ROLLS PHILADELPHIA WORKERS Number Per Cent. Number PerCent. Number Per Cent. Less than $3.00 ___ - - - - ----- - 4 6.8 Less than $4.00 13 4.0 12 5.8 8 13.6 Less than $5.00 18 14.7 19 9.1 14 23.7 Less than $6.00 25 33.3 43 20.7 17 28.8 Less than $7.00 35 46.7 89 42.8 25 42.4 Less than $8.00 41 54.7 121 58.2 37 62.7 Less than $9.00 • i 51 68.0 157 75.5 47 79.7 Less than $10.00 . | 54 72.0 176 84.6 52 88.1 Less than $11.00 65 86.7 190 91.3 56 94.9 Less than $12.00 — — 195 93.8 58 98.3 Less than $13.00 73 97.3 208 100.0 59 100.0 $15.00 and less 75 100.0 — — — — i Seven Boston and 6 Philadelphia makers did not report. Seventeen Boston and 15 Philadelphia wholesale pieceworkers are omitted. TABLE 22, SHOWING NOMINAL WEEKLY WAGES OF BOSTON MAKERS, CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF ESTABLISH- 74 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN 1 Seven makers did not report and 17 wholesale makers are omitted. WAGES 75 makers reporting a nominal wage of less than $7 per week in Boston, the largest proportion (17 of the 27 reporting) was found among those employed in parlors, the next largest (12 of the 22 reporting) among millinery store makers and the small¬ est (4 of the 24 reporting) among those working in department TABLE 23, SHOWING NOMINAL WEEKLY WAGES OF PHILADELPHIA MAKERS CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT. BASED ON REPORTS FROM WORKERS. 1 Number or Makers Receiving Specified Wage Nominal Weekly Wage Manu- Whole- Depart- Milli- Total facturing Firms sale Firms ment Stores nery Stores Number Per Cent. $2.00 and less than $3.00 1 - - 3 4 6.8 $3.00 and less than $4.00 2 — — 2 4 6.8 $4.00 and less than $5.00 | — 1 1 4 6 10.2 $5.00 and less than $6.00 — — — 3 3 5.1 $6.00 and less than $7.00 4 1 — 3 8 13.5 $7.00 and less than $8.00 1 1 7 3 12 20.3 $8.00 and less than $9.00 2 — 5 3 10 16.9 $9.00 and less than $10.00 1 — 3 1 5 8.5 $10.00 and less than $11.00 — — 1 3 4 6.8 $11.00 and less than $12.00 —i — — 2 2 3.4 $12.00 and less than $13.00 — — — 1 1 1.7 Total. 11 3 17 28 59 100.0 i Six makers did not report and 15 wholesale workers are omitted. TABLE 24, SHOWING AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES OF 173 BOSTON MAKERS. CUMULATIVE STATEMENT. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. MAKERS EARNING SPECIFIED AVERAGE Average Weekly Wage WEEKLY WAGE Number Per Cent. Less than $3.00. 10 5.8 Less than $4.00. 16 9.3 Less than $5.00. 37 21.4 Less than $6.00. 70 40.5 Less than $7.00. 100 57.8 Less than $8.00. 131 | 75.7 Less than $9.00. 146 84.4 Less than $10.00. 159 91.9 Less than $11.00. 167 96.5 Less than $12.00. 173 100.0 76 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN stores. Data obtained from Boston pay rolls (Table 22) show 55 per cent. (27) of the wholesale workers receiving less than $7 per week, 40 per cent. (53) of the department store mak¬ ers and 31 per cent. (9) of those employed in millinery stores and parlors. In Philadelphia the largest proportion of workers reporting a nominal wage of less than $7 per week was found among the employees of the two types of wholesale establish¬ ments (9 out of 14), the next largest (15 out of 28) among millinery store employees, and the smallest (1 out of 17) among department store workers. Workers are frequently absent from employment for various reasons, and their weekly wage is thus reduced, so that a nomi¬ nal weekly wage is merely an indication of the earning capacity of a millinery worker employed full time. It is impossible to ascertain from the pay rolls the reasons for absences, but these reductions in the weekly wages may fairly be ascribed to the workers, and not to the conditions of the trade. Only one pay roll, that of a small parlor, was obtained in which the wages of the workers were not docked for absence. Including the makers in this parlor, pay rolls were obtained from only 13 which did not show reductions. For the majority of the makers these reduc¬ tions averaged from 25 cents to $1 per week, but for 35 of the 173 makers working 4 weeks or longer in one season, they varied from $1 to $2 or more. By definition, the average weekly wage indicated the actual earning power of the worker. Tables 24 and 25 show that 57 per cent. (100) of the total number of makers employed 4 weeks or more in one season received an average weekly wage of less than $7 per week, and 84 per cent. (146) of less than $9 per week. A comparison of the cumulative percentages of Tables 21 and 24 shows that over 84 per cent, of the workers employed for a period of 4 weeks or more received an average wage of less than $9 per week, while over 84 per cent, of the total number of workers, regardless of time employed, received a nominal wage of less than $10 per week. Adam Smith stated that wages vary for different occupations according to their “constancy or inconstancy of employment,” that whatever a workman in a seasonal trade earns “while WAGES 77 TABLE 25, SHOWING AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES OF 173 BOSTON MAKERS, CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. Number of Makers Receiving Specified Wage Average Weekly Wage Depart¬ ment Stores Millinery Stores and Parlors Wholesale Firms Total Number Per Cent. Less than $1.00 - • 1 1 .6 $1.00 and less than $2.00 1 — — 1 .6 $2.00 and less than $3.00 8 — — 8 4.6 $3.00 and less than $4.00 4 1 1 6 3.5 $4.00 and less than $5.00 16 1 4 21 12.1 $5.00 and less than $6.00 20 1 12 33 19.1 $6.00 and less than $7.00 16 6 8 30 17.3 $7.00 and less than $8.00 16 9 6 31 17.9 $8.00 and less than $9.00 12 2 1 15 8.7 $9.00 and less than $10.00 8 3 2 13 7.5 $10.00 and less than $11.00 5 3 — 8 4.6 $11.00 and less than $12.00 5 1 — 6 3.5 Total . 111 27 35 173 100.0 TABLE 26, SHOWING AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR OF BOSTON MAKERS 1 CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. 2 Average Weekly Wage Throughout the Year NUMBER OF MAKERS RECEIVING SPECIFIED WAGE Depart¬ ment Stores Millinery Parlors Wholesale Firms Total Number Per Cent. Less than $1.00 . 1 1 - 2 2.2 $1.00 and less than $2.00 9 — — 9 9.9 $2.00 and less than $3.00 13 1 2 16 17.6 $3.00 and less than $4.00 14 6 2 22 24.1 $4.00 and less than $5.00 8 — 4 12 13.2 $5.00 and less than $6.00 3 1 — 4 7 1 2 7.7 $6.00 and less than $7.00 8 — — 8 8.8 $7.00 and less than $8.00 8 3 — 11 12.1 $8.00 and less than $9.00 ' 2 1 1 4 4.4 Total. 66 12 13 91 100.0 1 No maker who was not employed both seasons for at least 4 weeks each season, was included in this table. 2 The pay roll for the millinery store covered only one season. 78 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN he is employed, must not only maintain him while he is idle, but make him some compensation for those anxious and de¬ sponding moments which the thought of so precarious a situation must sometimes occasion. 7 71 This requirement can not be met by millinery makers, as a study of the average weekly wage throughout the year clearly shows. According to the pay rolls of 91 Boston makers as given in Tables 26 and 27, not a single worker received an average weekly wage throughout the year of $9. Of these 91 makers, 67 per cent. (61) received an aver¬ age weekly wage throughout the year of less than $5 and only 33 per cent, received $5 but less than $9. A comparison of the nominal weekly wage, the average weekly wage, and the aver¬ age weekly wage throughout the year received by Boston makers, summarized in Table 28, throws into strong relief the effect of the millinery seasons upon wages. It is telling evidence that some reform is needed to enable this large proportion of mil¬ linery workers to become a self-supporting group of women. The seasons should be extended, or the dull seasons occupied by feasible secondary occupations, else the workers must be subsi¬ dized. Seventeen pieceworkers employed in Boston wholesale houses, and 15 employed in Philadelphia were interviewed. In addition complete pay rolls were obtained from 7 piece workers from one Boston firm, and are printed in Table 29. Workers A and B were paid time wages for 3 weeks at the beginning of the spring season and for 3 weeks at the beginning of the fall season. These were ‘‘ old 7 7 workers who, with the time workers employed throughout the year, attended to the first orders of the season. These pay rolls are printed in full to illustrate the fluctuating wage received by piece workers. The wages varied from $2.50 to $17.26 a week for the best worker, and from $1.50 to $8.14 per week for the worker receiving the smallest total annual amount. The curves of Chart III plotted on the pay rolls of three workers portray these fluctuations in wages. Many wholesale makers claim that they receive higher wages i Smith, Adam, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. (Everyman’s Lib., 2 vols., London and New York.) Vol. I, p. 92. WAGES 79 » 80 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN TABLE 27, SHOWING AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR OF BOSTON MAKERS. CUMULATIVE STATEMENT. BASED ON TABLE 26. Average Weekly Wage Throughout the Year MAKERS RECEIVING SPECIFIED WAGE Number Per Cent. Less than $3.00. 27 29.7 Less than $4.00. 49 53.9 Less than $5.00. 61 67.0 Less than $6.00. 68 74.7 Less than $7.00. 76 83.5 Less than $8.00. 87 95.6 Less than $9.00. 91 100.0 than makers in retail shops. This did not prove true of whole¬ sale time workers, and it is doubtful if it is true of the majority of pieceworkers. Table 29 shows that only 1 of the pieceworkers from whom complete pay rolls were obtained averaged more than $9 per week, 1 between $7 and $8, 1 between $6 and $7, 3 between $5 and $6, and 1 between $4 and $5. The average weekly wage throughout the year varied from $1.91 to $5.63. On the whole it may be said that the majority of wholesale mak¬ ers do not receive as high wages as retail makers. The trimmers who form only from 12 to 14 per cent, of the total number of millinery workers receive wages which are not only a payment for skill but also for artistic ability. Their in¬ comes represent wages of supervision, for trimmers superintend the work of their makers, and in small establishments bear the re¬ sponsibility of the whole workroom. TABLE 28, COMPARING THE NOMINAL WEEKLY WAGES, THE AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES, AND THE AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES THROUGH¬ OUT THE YEAR OF BOSTON MAKERS. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. Type of Wage Return PER CENT. OF MAKERS HAVING THE TYPE OF WAGE RETURN OF SPECIFIED AMOUNT Less than $5 Less than $7 Less than $9 Less than $11 Less than $13 Nominal weekly wage . 9.1 42.8 75.5 91.3 100.0 Average weekly wage . 21.4 57.8 84.4 96.5 100.0 Average weekly wage throughout the year . 67.0 83.5 100.0 — — TABLE 29, GIVING COMPLETE PAY ROLLS OF 7 BOSTON PIECEWORKERS FOR THE YEAR 1912. Week Ending AMOUNT RECEIVED FOR SPECIFIED WEEK BY Worker A Worker B Worker C Worker D Worker E Worker F Worker G January 6 — — «- — — - 1 — January 13 . — — — — — — — January 20 . $ 3.50 $ 3.50 — — — I — — January 27 . 6.00 6.00 — — — — — February 3 — — — —• —• — — February 10 . 6.00 6.00 — — — — — February 17 . 6.00 6.00 — — — — — February 24 . 6.00 6.00 — — — — — March 2 . . 6.50 6.50 $ 3.35 $ 3.75 $ 3.35 $ 4.60 $ 1.50 March 9 . . 7.42 5.08 5,86 2.83 *4.06 3.61 4.50 March 16 12.20 9.37 7.60 6.31 5.04 7.42 4.50 March 23 12.40 10.14 6.19 5.09 4.51 5.31 4.51 March 30 13.96 10.86 7.25 6.47 6.87 6.64 4.64 April 6 15.08 11.48 5.82 7.61 5.67 9.61 5.16 April 13 . . . 17.26 13.30 6,28 8.09 6.78 8.59 4.95 April 20 . 14.20 10.91 10.13 7.78 5.63 9.78 4.43 April 27 . 9.92 8.81 4.85 3.90 3,10 7.71 4.40 May 4 ... 5.95 5.30 2.50 1.40 — 3.30 2.00 May 11 7.55 5.83 2.50 — — 2.75 2.00 May 18 2.50 2.00 2.50 — — .90 1.65 May 25 — — — — — — — June 1 — — — — — — — June 8 — — — I — — — — June 15. — — — — — — June 22 . — — — — — — June 29 . — — — — — — — July 6 — — — — — — — July 13 . . . — — — — — — — July 20 . — — — — — — — July 27 . — — — — — — — August 3 — — 1 — — — — August 10 — — — — — — — August 17 7.00 6.00 — 3.35 5.00 — — August 24 6.00 6.00 2.90 3.74 5.00 5.00 3.35 August 31 6.00 6.00 5.00 5.00 4.15 3.75 4.00 September 7 . 8.40 6.43 3.10 3.16 3.08 4.93 5.05 September 14 11.63 10.78 1.95 6.15 5.71 6.36 1.63 September 21 15.86 10.48 5.88 7.11 6.67 6.64 5.85 September 28 12.09 10.97 5.81 6.86 7.24 6.14 7.26 October 5 11.28 10.53 5.77 7.33 5.97 7.58 8.14 October 12 12.91 11.72 5.15 5.48 6.46 7.30 7.45 October 19 12.47 10.49 8.94 6.49 6.00 6.64 5.14 October 26 8.00 7.15 6.15 10.85 7.00 8.00 7.15 November 2 . 6.00 7.00 — — — — — November 9 . 6.00 7.00 — — — — «— November 16 6.00 6.00 — — — — — November 23 10.92 — — — — — — November 30 — — — — — — — December 7 . — — — — — — — December 14 . — — — — — — — December 21 . — — — — — — — December 28 . — — — — — — — Total income $293.00 $243.63 $115.48 $118.75 $107.29 $132.56 $99.26 Average weekly wage Average weekly 9.16 7.86 5.25 5.65 5.36 6.03 4.51 wage through- out the year . 5.63 4.68 2.22 2.28 2.06 2.55 1.91 82 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN Number not reporting, in Boston, 10; in Philadelphia, WAGES 83 TABLE 31, SHOWING TOTAL ANNUAL EARNINGS OF 29 BOSTON TRIMMERS. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. Total Annual Earnings TRIMMERS RECEIVING SPECIFIED ANNUAL INCOME Number Per Cent. Less than $500 .... 8 27.6 $500 and less than $ 600 6 20.7 $600 and less than $ 700 8 27.6 $700 and less than $ 800 3 10.4 $800 and less than $ 900 2 6.9 $900 and less than $1000 1 3.4 $1300 and less than $1325 1 3.4 TABLE 32, SHOWING NOMINAL WEEKLY W'AGES OF TRIMMERS. CUMULATIVE STATEMENT. 1 BASED ON REPORTS FROM WORKERS AND ON PAY ROLLS. Trimmers Receiving Specified Wage According to Data from Nominal Weekly Wage BOSTON WORKERS BOSTON PAY ROLLS PHILADELPHIA WORKERS Number Per Cent. Number Per Cent. Number Per Cent. Less than $10.00 2 8.7 6 8.9 1 4.0 Less than $15.00 8 i 34.8 16 23.9 14 56.0 Less than $20.00 16, 69.6 42 62.7 19 76.0 Less than $25.00 19 82.6 52 77.6 21 84.0 Less than $30.00 20 86.9 61 91.0 23 92.0 Less than $35.00 22 95.7 64 95.5 24 96.0 Less than $40.00 23 100.0 64 95.5 24 96.0 Less than $45.00 — — 65 97.0 24 96.0 $50.00 and less • — 67 100.0 25 100.0 i Number not reporting in Boston, 10; in Philadelphia, 7. TABLE 33, SHOWING AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES OF 53 BOSTON TRIM¬ MERS. CUMULATIVE STATEMENT. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. Average Weekly Wage TRIMMERS RECEIVING SPECIFIED WAGE Number Per Cent. Less than $10.00 6 11.3 Less than $15.00 26 49.1 Less than $20.00 42 79.2 Less than $25.00 50 94.3 Less than $30.00 51 94.3 Less than $40.00 53 100.0 84 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN TABLE 34, SHOWING AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES OF 53 BOSTON TRIMMERS, CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. NUMBER OF TRIMMERS RECEIVING SPECIFIED WAGE IN Average Weekly Wage Department Stores Millinery Stores and Parlors Wholesale Houses Total $ 6.00 and less than $ 7.00 . ____ 2 2 $ 7.00 and less than $ 8.00 . — — 1 1 $ 8.00 and less than $ 9.00 . — — 1 1 $ 9.00 and less than $10.00 . 1 — 1 2 $10.00 and less than $11.00 . 3 — — 3 $11.00 and less than $12.00 . 2 1 — 3 $12.00 and less than $13.00 . — 2 — 2 $13.00 and less than $14.00 . 3 — — 3 $14.00 and less than $15.00 . 7 1 1 9 $15.00 and less than $16.00 . 4 2 — 6 $16.00 and less than $17.00 . 1 1 — 2 $17.00 and less than $18.00 . 2 1 2 5 $18.00 and less than $19.00 . 2 1 — 3 $20.00 and less than $21.00 . 1 — — 1 $21.00 and less than $22.00 . — 1 2 3 $23.00 and less than $24.00 . 3 — — 3 $24.00 and less than $25.00 . 1 — — 1 $27.00 and less than $28.00 . — 1 — 1 $30.00 and less than $40.00 . 1 1 — 2 Total. 31 12 10 53 TABLE 35, SHOWING AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR OF 29 BOSTON TRIMMERS. CUMULATIVE STATEMENT. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. Average Weekly Wage Throughout the Year TRIMMERS RECEIVING SPECIFIED WAGE Number Per Cent. Less than $10.00 6 20.6 Less than $15.00 19 65.5 Less than $20.00 27 93.1 Less than $25.00 29 100.0 The total earnings of Boston trimmers for whom pay rolls were secured are given in Table 19 and summarized in Table 31. They varied from about $300 to about $1,325 a year. The med¬ ian total annual earnings was $597.49—over twice the median ($210.52) for makers. WAGES 85 Only 5 trimmers received as little as the better paid makers, (that is between $275 and $475) while the majority (58 per cent.) earned between $500 and $800 a year. According to Table 30, the nominal weekly wages of Boston trimmers varied from less than $10 to $50 per week, those of Philadelphia trimmers from less than $10 to $45. A small percentage of trimmers received less than $10 a week, but these were employed mostly in wholesale houses. Only 1 Philadelphia trimmer, employed in a small store, 2 trimmers interviewed in Boston, and 6, working in wholesale houses, for whom pay rolls were obtained, received a nominal wage of less than $10 a week. Only 4 trimmers were interviewed in either Bos¬ ton or Philadelphia who received $25 or more a week but pay rolls were obtained for 15 who received this wage or even more. Among these 15 trimmers, 3 were called “designers” on the pay rolls, and earned respectively $50, $45 and $35 per week. In a department store doing medium grade work were 3 New York trimmers, employed for one season each, whose wages exceeded that of the head of the workroom. Table 32 shows that 69 per cent, of the Boston trimmers and 76 per cent, of the Philadel¬ phia trimmers who reported received a nominal wage of less than $20 per week and about 63 per cent, of the Boston trimmers for whom pay rolls were obtained. Of the trimmers interviewed about 61 per cent, of the Boston trimmers, 72 per cent, in Phila¬ delphia and 54 per cent, of the' Boston trimmers for whom pay rolls were obtained, received between $10 and $20 per week. Those trimmers who were paid a nominal weekly wage of $25 or more usually assumed considerable responsibility. The nominal weekly wages received by trimmers as well as makers seem to vary with the type of establishment in which the workers were employed. (See Table 30.) But the number studied, when classified by type of establishment, becomes meager and any analysis must be considered as suggestive and not con¬ clusive. Trimmers employed in wholesale establishments re¬ ceived the lowest wages in both cities. Statistics from Boston pay rolls verified this tendency. In general the largest propor¬ tion of trimmers receiving a nominal wage of $15 or more in Boston were employed in millinery stores and parlors, and the 86 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN next largest in department stores. In Philadelphia the largest proportion of the highly paid trimmers were employed in mil¬ linery stores. The wages of trimmers are docked for absence so that the nominal weekly wage does not represent actual earnings. The average amount of such deductions varied from 25 cents to $3 or more per week according to the pay rolls. Wages of only 5 of the 53 trimmers were not docked, while for the majority, the weekly wages were reduced from 75 cents to $2. The average weekly earnings of Boston trimmers are summarized in Table 33. All but 3 trimmers earned less than $25 per week and about 68 per cent, received between $10 and $20. Table 34 shows the average weekly wages of trimmers classified by type of establishment. Four trimmers, employed in wholesale houses, received an average weekly wage of less than $9, 11 per cent, earned less than $10 and almost one-half (49 per cent.) less than $15 per week, and about 38 per cent, between $10 and $15 and only 3 trimmers $25 or more. As the number given for each wage interval and type of establishment is small, conclusions based on these figures must be tentative. The average weekly wage throughout the year received by trimmers, as given in Table 35 (based on Table 36), shows that 20.69 per cent. (6) of the 29 studied averaged less than $10 per week, 66 per cent. (19) less than $15, and 34 per cent. (10) be¬ tween $15 and $25. A comparison of the nominal weekly wage, the average weekly wage and the average weekly wage throughout the year shows the reductions in the wages of trimmers due to loss of time in the working week and the working year. The latter would probably be greater if the annual income of all trimmers studied could be secured from the pay rolls. The comparison is sum¬ marized in Table 37. Many employers stated that they usually retained during the dull season the general “all-round” maker who could trim, and study of the relation between the nominal weekly wage and the number of weeks employed during the year seems to verify this assertion. According to Table 38 it was the highly paid maker and the average trimmer earning from $15 to $20 a week, who WAGES 87 TABLE 36, SHOWING AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR OF 29 BOSTON TRIMMERS, CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. NUMBER OF TRIMMERS RECEIVING SPECIFIED WAGE IN out the Year % Department Stores Parlors Wholesale Houses Total $ 7.00 and less than $ 8.00 - 1 - 1 $ 8.00 and less than $ 9.00 1 — 1 2 $ 9.00 and less than $10.00 — 2 1 3 $10.00 and less than $11.00 . 2 — — 2 $11.00 and less than $12.00 . 1 — — 1 $12.00 and less than $13.00 1 — — 1 $13.00 and less than $14.00 , 1 1 — 2 $14.00 and less than $15.00 7 — — 7 $15.00 and less than $16.00 2 — — 2 $17.00 and less than $18.00 . 2 — 2 4 $18.00 and less than $19.00 2 — — 2 $20.00 and less than $21.00 1 — — 1 $23.00 and less than $24.00 . i 1 — — 1 3? oi/cil ••••••• 21 4 4 29 TABLE 37, COMPARING THE NOMINAL WEEKLY WAGES, THE AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES, AND THE AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR RECEIVED BY BOSTON TRIMMERS. BASED ON PAY ROLLS. Type of Wage Return PER CENT. OF TRIMMERS HAVING THE TYPE OF WAGE RETURN OF SPECIFIED AMOUNT Less than $10 Less than $15 Less than $20 Less than $25 Less than $30 Less than $40 $50 and Less 8.9 23.9 62.7 77.6 91.0 1 95.5 100.0 11.3 49.1 79.2 94.3 98.1 100.0 — 20.7 65.5 93.1 100.0 — — — Nominal weekly wage . . ' . Average weekly wage . Average weekly wage throughout the year . were employed for the longest seasons. Table 38 also shows that the majority of makers receiving less than $7 a week worked during shorter seasons than the majority of the makers earning $9 or more a week. Thus only two makers earning $11 or more, worked less than 33 weeks during the year and 60 per cent, of the group earning $9 and less than $11, 71 per cent, of the 88 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN 02 02 tn O PQ bo a o P. a> u "o c 55 H MILLINERY WORKERS 103 21 per cent. (19) of the makers, claimed to be self-supporting. The workers claiming to be partially self-supporting were those who lived with their own families or with relatives. Some paid board to the family when working, but whenever an emergency arose or they were unemployed, they relied upon their family or relatives for aid. One Boston worker expressed the situation as follows: “We all live together. I pay board when I am working. When I’m not working, the others pay board.” The majority of millinery workers in both cities lived with their parents or with relatives as shown by Table 49, 83 per cent. (105) of the total number (126) reporting in Boston and 84 per cent. (100) of the 119 Philadelphia workers reporting. Only 16 per cent, of the total number of Boston and Philadel¬ phia workers reporting on home conditions could be said to be living independently. A larger percentage of trimmers were adrift than of makers—about 35 per cent. (10) of the 29 Bos¬ ton trimmers reporting, and 22 per cent. (7) of the 32 Philadel¬ phia trimmers. Only 12 per cent, of the total number of mak¬ ers reporting in each city lived independently, and none of the trade school girls were included in this number. TABLE 49, SHOWING LIVING CONDITIONS OF BOSTON AND PHILA¬ DELPHIA WORKERS, CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. BASED ON REPORTS FROM WORKERS. 1 Number of Workers Living as Specified Living Conditions IN BOSTON IN PHILADELPHIA Mak¬ ers Trim¬ mers Total Trim¬ mers Total Num¬ ber Per Cent. Makers Num¬ ber Per Cent. With par¬ ents 82 17 99 78.6 68 19 87 73.1 With other relatives 4 2 6 4.8 7 6 13 10.9 Boarding and lodg¬ ing . . 6 5 11 8.7 2 2 1.7 Boarding in working girls’ homes . 2 2 4 3.2 10 3 13 10.9 Keeping house 3 3 6 4.7 — 4 4 3.4 Total . 97 29 126 100.0 87 32 119 100.0 i Number not reporting, in Boston, 14; in Philadelphia, 2. 104 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN To sum up, the majority of millinery workers are Americans or Irish-Americans with American standards as expressed in their education and in the ages at which they go to work, while only a small percentage are foreign. Although the chief motive of the workers in entering the millinery trade was not the need for immediate economic independence, yet many did choose the trade because of a feeling that they ‘‘had to go to work .” Most of the workers lived with their families or with relatives, and the seasonal nature of the trade demands that their wages be so subsidized. Though not entirely dependent upon their own efforts for their livelihood, the majority of the workers felt that they ought to contribute something to their own sup¬ port. With comparatively high family standards, it is not sur¬ prising that the millinery workers should turn from factory work and enter a trade where they do not lose social caste, and may even advance their own social position. Many doubtless regard this social prestige as an adequate supplement to the inferior wages they receive, but the large number of such work¬ ers is one element tending to lower the wages of millinery workers, and exerts almost as strong an influence as trade conditions themselves. There is no adequate reason why workers with more than the average education, with sufficient means to enable them to spend one year in acquiring a trade should be willing to work for wages that do not insure a decent standard of living unless supplemented from other sources. To bring about any permanent cure for the low wages of millinery, not only the present unregulated, unorganized condition of the trade, but also the attitude of the workers toward industry in general must be changed. CHAPTER VII WAYS OF LEARNING MILLINERY SECTION I The Apprenticeship System Apprenticeship is gradually disappearing from most trades chiefly because of the increased use of machinery and the con¬ sequent minute subdivision of labor. There are two reasons for the persistence of the system in the millinery trade, (1) the unchanged form of the tools of production, (2) the fact that the processes of the trade are not susceptible of a minute subdivision of labor. The character of apprenticeship has, how¬ ever, appreciably degenerated. The girl wishing to learn the trade makes arrangements with some milliner by which she agrees to give her time for one or two seasons as determined by her initiative and ability. In return for the work she may accomplish she is to receive instruction in the arts and proc¬ esses of millinery. Nothing is said as to the employer’s re¬ sponsibility for the girl’s moral and physical welfare, nothing about further school training. No indenture papers are made out and no means are provided of holding either the employer or the apprentice to the terms of the agreement. Although both employers and employees recommend only the apprenticeship method of learning the trade, yet the growing unwillingness on the part of employers to train their own ap¬ prentices points to a still further degeneration of this traditional system. Employers object to apprentices (1) because they use the time of valuable workers in teaching, (2) because they waste costly material and (3) because often by the time the learner has acquired sufficient knowledge and skill to repay the time and effort expended in teaching her, she demands wages. This reluctance in accepting beginners is more generally shown 106 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN in Boston than in Philadelphia. Fifty Boston shops and 29 Philadelphia shops were visited in which no learners were em¬ ployed. But girls who enter the trade must be trained and the opportunity for training afforded by the Boston Trade School for Girls probably constitutes the reason for the large number of Boston employers who refused apprentices. No such sub¬ stitute has been offered in Philadelphia, so that milliners must continue to train their own workers. TABLE 50, SHOWING WAYS IN WHICH BOSTON AND PHILADELPHIA WORKERS LEARNED MILLINERY. BASED ON REPORTS FROM WORKERS. 1 Workers Learning the Trade as Specified Method of Learning the Trade IN BOSTON 2 IN PHILADELPHIA Number Per Cent. Number Per Cent. Apprenticeship 89 58.6 113 93.4 Trade School .... 42 27.6 — — “Picked it up” . . . 10 6.6 3 2.5 Other ways, colleges, etc. 11 7.2 5 4.1 Total. 152 100.0 121 100.0 1 Number not reporting in Boston, 9. 2 The apprenticeship statistics for Boston are based on experience of workers and 21 women who were in business for themselves. The majority of workers in both cities obtained their training as apprentices as shown in Table 50. In Boston over 58 per cent. (89) of the 152 workers reporting, in Philadelphia 93 per cent. (113) of the 121 workers visited learned the trade as apprentices. In Boston about 27 per cent. (42) of the total number reporting received their trade education at the Boston Trade School for Girls, about 7 per cent. (11) learned in other ways, and over 6 per cent. (10) stated that they “just knew how.” Over 2 per cent. (3) of the Philadelphia workers claimed that they “picked it up” and 4 per cent. (5) learned in various other ways. In Boston, of the 11 workers learning millinery otherwise than as apprentices or at the Trade School, 2 learned the trade in public schools in Russia, 1 in an industrial school in Germany, 1 at a branch of the Young Women’s Chris¬ tian Association, 4 in private classes conducted by milliners, 1 WAYS OF LEARNING THE TRADE 107 in a Boston public evening school, and 2 at subsidized evening schools. In Philadelphia, 2 learned at the Drexel Institute, 1 at the Wanamaker Institute, 1 at a Philadelphia evening high school, and 1 in a private class conducted by a Philadelphia milliner. Fees were usually paid for instruction by these workers. The Boston worker who had acquired her trade in a German industrial school and the one who had learned it at the Young Women’s Christian Association paid small sums, and the 4 girls who received instruction in private classes paid sums varying in amount from $15 to $25. In Philadelphia, all except the girl who learned at an evening school paid fees varying from $12 to $60. From these figures it is seen that a system of ap¬ prenticeship is the chief method of learning the millinery trade, and that other methods, except the trade school method, may be dismissed with a word. The chief objection to the apprenticeship system as it now exists is the danger of exploitation to which the beginner is often exposed. The younger girl may not realize what she should be taught nor to what extent the running of errands is necessary to a proper knowledge and practice of the trade. However, it must be admitted that the errand girl does learn something of the matching of colors, of materials and of the terms used in millinery. The older apprentice with a better idea of her rights and ability to give expression to them is not often exposed to the evil of exploitation. But this is not the only danger to which the younger girl is exposed. Often the moral atmosphere of the workroom is not desirable. The work is not of such a nature as to demand the entire attention of the worker, and the opportunities for con¬ versation, except in the height of the rush season, are many. The older worker has had sufficient experience to be able to dis¬ criminate between the true and the false, and to have formed her moral concepts; but the younger worker may be injuriously affected by this atmosphere and should not be exposed to it until she has developed sufficient moral stamina to resist it. Care should be exercised by the apprentice in the selection of the place to learn her trade. She should enter a shop where she will be taught all parts of the work. Once she has thor- 108 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN oughly learned the fundamentals, a girl of ordinary ability should be able to adapt herself to the work in any grade of shop. Emphasis should be placed upon the making of frames. The better class shops lay stress upon handmade frames and the maker who has not learned this essential is seriously handi¬ capped in any effort to enter a high grade custom shop. Millinery is taught best in the smaller millinery parlors and stores. The force is small, the workroom is usually close to the display room, and there is less likelihood of the young girl being used as a go-between for the workroom and the display room. She is under the direct supervision of the employer who, if she teaches the trade, teaches it well. She may be used as a general utility girl, to run errands, perhaps sweep and dust, but in smaller places the work of an apprentice is of economic value, and it is to the advantage of the employer to train this cheaper labor, to supplement the more expensive. Often the apprentice is one of the workers retained during the dull sea¬ son to do much of the simpler work, such as preparing trim¬ mings, hemming velvets, lining hats, making bands, while the employer performs the more expert processes. The apprentice in a small shop may lack the wide knowledge gained by ex¬ perience in a large establishment, but after learning the funda¬ mentals of the trade, she may add the wider experience. An apprentice often finds it advisable to leave the shop in which she served her apprenticeship in order to gain experience in many workrooms. The apprentice is usually found in the millinery parlor and in the millinery store, occasionally in the department store, more often in the high class furnishing store, but never, in the exact sense of the word, in wholesale millinery. In some of the most fashionable shops apprentices are really an economy and it is not surprising to find that they sometimes constitute about one-third of the whole force. The department stores prefer to hire errand girls who can pick up the trade if they find time and opportunity. In wholesale millinery where speed is essential, only experienced workers are wanted. Further¬ more, pieceworkers object to losing valuable time in teaching learners. Factory work, however, is readily learned, and the ap- WAYS OF LEARNING THE TRADE 109 prentice is usually put upon piecework at once and “gets what she earns.” Table 51 presents a summary of the employment of appren¬ tices in Boston and Philadelphia establishments. One hundred and eighty-four apprentices, about 10 per cent, of the total num¬ ber of workers, were employed in the Boston establishments visited. Fifty of the 97 establishments reporting did not take any apprentices during the season in which this study was made, although only 25 made it a practice not to employ appren¬ tices. The discrepancy between the number of apprentices ac¬ tually employed and the number usually employed may have been partly due to the comparatively simple style of hats for the season, requiring but little work. In Boston the largest number of apprentices (101) was found in the workrooms of the millinery stores. Department stores ranked second with 64 apprentices. The Philadelphia workrooms visited during the year 1910-11 employed 262 apprentices, almost 13 per cent, of the total number of workers and about 3 per cent, more than were reported by the Boston establishments. Only 29 of the Philadelphia firms reporting, as compared with 50 in Boston, took no apprentices during the season in which this study was made. The largest number of apprentices (113) was found in the workrooms of the millinery stores, as in Boston, and the department stores ranked second with 89 learners. The whole¬ sale manufacturing milliners employed 45. The qualifications demanded of apprentices are high. Em¬ ployers, as a rule, say that they wish a bright girl who can sew, who has a taste for millinery and who comes from a good home. Only 5 Boston employers specified any educational requirement, 2 desiring grammar school graduates and 3, girls with some high school work. Only a few had any opinion for or against any nationality, 10 preferring Americans, 2, foreigners, while 1 wished no Americans, another no Irish, and still another no Jews. Two preferred Protestants. In Philadelphia no em¬ ployer laid down any educational qualifications and, as in Bos¬ ton, only a few expressed any preference as to nationality, Fifteen employers preferred Americans, 1, a German, wished Germans, another, colored, employed only colored girls, 5 re¬ fused Jews and 1, Italians. 110 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN TABLE 51, SHOWING EMPLOYMENT OF APPRENTICES IN BOSTON AND PHILADELPHIA. BASED ON REPORTS FROM EMPLOYERS. 1 IN BOSTON IN PHILADELPHIA Type of Establishment Number of Appren¬ tices Usually Em¬ ployed Number of Appren¬ tices Actually Em¬ ployed Number of Shops Actually Em¬ ploying Appren¬ tices Number of Shops Em¬ ploying no Appren¬ tices Number of Appren¬ tices Usually Em¬ ployed Number of Appren¬ tices Actually Em¬ ployed Number of Shops Actually Em¬ ploying Appren¬ tices Number of Shops Em¬ ploying no Appren¬ tices Manufacturing millinery / 45 45 2 0 Wholesale 6 — — 9 — — — 3 Department store 64 40 8 11 89 95 10 2 Millinery store 101 65 18 14 113 102 45 18 Parlor . 38 33 21 16 5 6 3 2 Private — — — — 10 14 8 4 Total 209 138 47 50 262 262 68 29 i Number not reporting, in Boston, 6; in Philadelphia, 7. TABLE 52, SHOWING AGE AT WHICH 111 BOSTON AND 115 PHILADELPHIA WORKERS BEGAN MILLINERY. 1 CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO METHODS OF ENTERING THE TRADE. BASED ON REPORTS FROM WORKERS. Number of Workers Beginning Trade at Specified Age Age of Beginning Millinery IN BOSTON IN PHILADELPHIA As Ap¬ prentice From Trade School Various Ways No Ap¬ prentice¬ ship Total As Ap¬ prentice From Wana- maker and Drexel Insti¬ tutes Various Ways No Ap¬ prentice¬ ship Total 12 years . — — 1 _ — — 2 — 1 , — 2 13 years . 1 2 — — 3 1 — — — 1 14 years . 12 13 — 1 26 22 — — — 22 15 years . 10 14 2 1 27 21 — 1 — 22 16 years . 11 8 1 2 22 19 1 — — 20 17 years . 10 2 — — 12 14 — — — 14 18 years . 5 3 — — 8 13 — 1 — 14 19 years . 1 — — — 1 5 — — — 5 20 years . 4 — — — 4 4 — — 1 5 21 years . 7 — 1 i 8 8 1 — 1 I . 10 Total . 61 42 4 4 111 109 2 2 2 115 i Number not reporting, Boston, 50; Philadelphia, 6. WAYS OF LEARNING THE TRADE 111 i Three wholesale houses, included in the total for Philadelphia, did not employ apprentices. 112 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN According to Table 53, over 37 per cent. (38) of the Boston employers interviewed considered 16 years or under as the best age at which girls should begin their millinery training, while over 56 per cent. (59) of the Philadelphia milliners preferred girls of 16 years or under. Over 28 per cent. (29) of Boston milliners and 19 per cent. (20) of Philadelphia employers inter¬ viewed thought that girls should begin millinery at the age of 16, while over 57 per cent. (59) of Boston milliners and only 22 per cent. (23) of Philadelphia employers placed 16 years as the minimum age. Only 8 per cent. (9) of Boston firms as con¬ trasted with over 37 per cent. (39) of the Philadelphia milliners thought the girl from 14 do 15 years of age sufficiently mature to learn the trade. These numbers become more significant when it is remembered that the compulsory school age in both Massachusetts and Pennsylvania is placed at 14 years. 1 Unless she is exceptionally persistent and able, the girl of 14 or 15 will experience some difficulty in finding an opportunity to learn the trade under the apprenticeship system, and the trade school seems to be the logical place for such a girl. However, there seems to be a contradiction, for Table 52 shows that the largest number in each city began millinery at the age of 16 or under. This apparent discrepancy may be due to the larger number of trade school girls in Boston and the attitude of employers in Philadelphia. Furthermore, many of the present employees began work in years when the apprenticeship system was more highly developed and more generally practiced. Employers of both cities are nearly unanimous as to the length of time necessary for apprenticeships. The majority (62 of the 67 Boston firms reporting, 65 of the 68 Philadelphia firms report¬ ing)' expressed the opinion that two seasons—spring and fall— was the minimum time in which a girl of average ability could expect to learn the fundamentals of the trade. The apprentice must be able to handle both summer and winter materials, which i Since the above statement was written, Massachusetts has introduced a law which will tend more strenuously to prevent girls under 16 entering the trade. This law permits any city or town to require at least 4 hours schooling per week during working hours. Pennsylvania on the other hand has just passed a law by which employment of children between 14 and 16 years of age is limited to 51 hours per week of which 8 hours must be devoted to vocational instruction. i WAYS OF LEARNING THE TRADE 113 are dissimilar and require different treatment. The experience of the workers who acquired their trade as apprentices con¬ firms the opinion of the employers in favor of two seasons. Although the proportion of employers is somewhat larger, this doubtless is due to the inexact use of terms. Employers fre¬ quently consider a girl an apprentice who has begun to earn a small wage, but the worker may not so consider herself. In Boston, 46 out of 83 reporting, and in Philadelphia, 88 out of 109 reporting, spent 2 seasons or longer in learning millinery. A study of the wages received as learners by the 89 Boston workers who served apprenticeships as presented in Table 54 shows that 81 per cent. (71) of them gave their time, the rest earning from $1 to $5 per week. In Philadelphia only 40 per cent. (45) of the workers who learned the trade as apprentices gave their time, the others often receiving as much as $4 a week. If apprentices are paid at all, they are rarely paid less than $1 per week, which is supposed to cover carfare and lunches. The majority of girls who receive more than $1 or $1.50 per week were errand girls who were allowed to employ the time between errands in learning the trade. It is the con¬ sensus of opinion of both employers and employees that the method of learning millinery while doing errands, or the paid apprenticeship system, is less satisfactory than the method of “giving time.” Some idea of the extent of economic waste through the present millinery apprenticeship system may be found in the statements of employers. In both Boston and Philadelphia 57 employers gave estimates of the percentage of apprentices who were not successful. The majority in both cities acknowledged that the greater number never became expert workers, only 4 firms in Boston and 3 in Philadelphia claiming that the beginners whom they had trained were universally successful. Only about a third in Boston and a fourth in Philadelphia estimated that more than half of their apprentices were successful. This economic waste may be accounted for in two ways. The appren¬ ticeship system tests the workers, and the majority of the girls who do not possess requisite ability drop out at this stage. Perhaps the chief reason is the impatience of the learner to TABLE 54, SHOWING WAGES RECEIVED AS APPRENTICES AT SPECIFIED AGES BY BOSTON 114 MILLINERY AS A TRADE FOR WOMEN 1 Not reporting as to wage in Boston, 2; in Philadelphia, WAYS OF LEARNING THE TRADE 115 secure wages. The employer is forced to put her on such work as running errands, sweeping and dusting, which will justify the payment of a small weekly wage. The girl who does not advance so rapidly in the trade as she had expected, becomes discouraged and enters some other industry in which returns are more immediate. On the whole, the apprenticeship system does not seem to be satisfactory. Some other more efficient method of training millinery workers should be found. For the older worker, prob¬ ably the workroom is the best place to learn the trade. She is protected against the evil of exploitation, and she can learn more rapidly and advance more quickly. For the young girl of 14 to 16, or even 18 years, the trade school or some place equally removed from the exigencies of the trade affords a surer road to success. INDEX Absence from Employment, see Docking. Advancement, opportunity for, 23, 26. Age of Workers, 95-99; age at leaving school, 98-100; at en¬ tering trade, 112. Americans, as millinery workers, 93-95, 97, 104. Artistic Division, proportion of workers in, 26. Apprentices, learning the trade, 19-20; number employed during busy season, Boston, 24; Phila¬ delphia, 25; extent of employ¬ ment during year, 53; wages, 70-71, 113-114; statistics of employment, 109-110; quali¬ fications demanded, 109; age preferred, 110-112; length of training, 112-113. Apprenticeship System, 105-115; reasons for persistence in milli¬ nery trade, 105; objections of employers, 105-106; proportion of workers so trained, 106; dangers, 107; best type of es¬ tablishment for, 107-108; eco¬ nomic waste involved, 113, 115. Average Weekly Wage, definition, 70; see also Wages. Bargain Sales, as means of pro¬ longing season, 66. Busy Season, extent of employment in Boston, 24; Philadelphia, 25; workroom force, Boston and Philadelphia establish¬ ments, 47; problems connected with, 59, 62. Buyer, function in department store, 38. Centers of Trade, 8. Children, legislation as to hours of labor, 3-4; statistics of em¬ ployment, 5, 7. Competition, among millinery stores, 34-35; department stores, 38-39. Contracts, type of workers having, 26. Copyist, work, 19, 21; number em¬ ployed during busy season, 24. Credit, problem in private millinery trade, 32. Customers, responsibility for over¬ time work, 63-64; education of, 64, 68. Department Store, number of mil¬ linery workers, Boston, 24; Philadelphia, 25; millinery de¬ partment, 37-40; characteris¬ tics, 37; kinds of work, 38; capital required, 38; competi¬ tion with other establishments, 38- 39; size of workroom force, 39- 40; in dull and busy sea¬ sons, 47; fluctuations in size, 48; weekly fluctuation, 50, 52; length of employment, Boston, 54; Philadelphia, 55; employ¬ ment by weeks, Boston, 56; by months, 57; wages of appren¬ tices, 71; annual earnings of 118 INDEX workers, 72; nominal weekly wage, Boston, 74; Philadelphia, 75; average wage, Boston, 77; nominal wage of trimmers, 82; average wage, 84, 87. Designers, work, 18-19, 21-22; proportion among workers, 23; number employed during busy season, Boston, 24; Philadel¬ phia, 25; wages, 85. Docking, for absence, 76, 92. Dressmaking, combination of with millinery, 65, 67. Dull Season, working force, 46; Boston and Philadelphia estab¬ lishments, 47; rate of reduction of workroom force, 49 ; prob¬ lems connected with, 59, 62; secondary occupations for, 65- 68. See also Seasons. Earnings, see Wages. Easter Season, overtime work, 63. See also Seasons. Education of Workers, 98-99 ; rea¬ sons for leaving school, 99-100. Efficiency, effect of irregular em¬ ployment on, 65. Employees, see Workroom Force. Employers, opinions as to advisibil- ity of trade for girls, 13-14. Employment, extent of during busy season, Boston, 24; Philadel¬ phia, 25; relation to nominal weekly wages, 88. Experience in Trade^ relation to length of employment, 57, 59, 61; relation to nominal wage, 89, 90. Fall Season, length, 44; employ¬ ment by weeks during, 59. Fashion Trade, as gauge of in¬ comes, 8; effect on seasonal problem, 16. Fatigue, evil effects of, 62-63. Forewomen, length of employment during year, Philadelphia, 55. Hamilton, Alexander, on employ¬ ment of women, 1. Health of Workers, effect of over¬ time on, 59, 62-64. High School Education, workers with, 99. Home Millinery, 28-30; character¬ istics, 28-29; capital require¬ ments, 29-30; advantages, 30; working force during dull and busy seasons, 47. Home Parlors, see Parlor Mil¬ linery. “ Improvers,” designation, 20; num¬ ber employed during busy sea¬ son, Philadelphia, 25. Income, effects of irregularity of, 65. Incompetency of Workers, 17. Industrial Evolution, as illus¬ trated in the millinery trade, 27-43. Irregularity of Work, demoraliz¬ ing effects of, 64-65. Irish, as millinery workers, 93-95, 97, 104. Jews, as millinery workers, 93-95, 97-98. Jobber, business, 40-41. Labor Contract, right of society to limit, 3-4. Learning Trade, 19-20; ways, 105- 127; apprenticeship system, 105-115. Living Conditions of Workers, INDEX 119 proportion living at home, 14, 103. Makers, work, 18, 19-21; demar¬ cation from trimmers, 23; num¬ ber employed during busy sea¬ son, Boston, 24; Philadelphia, 25; opportunity for advance¬ ment, 26; in dull season, 46; extent of employment during year, 53-57; by type of estab¬ lishment, Boston, 54; Philadel¬ phia, 55; by weeks, Boston, 56; by months, 57; length of em¬ ployment by seasons, 60; by experience, 61; wages, Boston and Philadelphia, 71-78; total annual earnings, Boston, 72, 73; nominal wages, Boston and Philadelphia, 73; Boston, 74; Philadelphia, 75; average wages, Boston, 75, 77, 80; rate of advance, 91, 92; proportion self-supporting, 101-103. Manufacturing Firms, number of workers, Philadelphia, 25; length of employment, Phila¬ delphia, 55; nominal weekly wages, Philadelphia, 75; nom¬ inal wages of trimmers, 82. Manufacturing Wholesale Mil¬ linery, seasons, 45; workroom forces during dull and busy sea¬ sons, 47. Markets, effect on millinery trade, 27. Mechanical Division, proportion of workers in, 26. Milliners as Teachers, see Classes Conducted by Mil¬ liners. Millinery Store, see Retail Shop. Millinery Trade, definition, 5. Minimum Wage, relation to indus¬ trial education, 4; for women workers, 71. Nationality of Workers, 93-95, 104; preference of employers, 109. Nerve Strain, in connection with busy season, 59, 62-63. Neckwear, combination of with mil¬ linery, 65. Night-work, in connection with overtime, 62, 63. “ Nominal Weekly Wage,” defini¬ tion, 69-70. See also Wages. Novelties, combination of with mil¬ linery, 65. Occupations of Workers, preced¬ ing millinery, 100-101. Opportunities in Trade, 13-14, 17. See also Advancement. Order Work, home milliner, 29; parlor milliner, 31. Overtime, in rush season, 44-46, 49; definition, 62; extent of, 62; evils resulting from, 62-63; responsibility for, 63; reme¬ dies, 64. Parasitic Trade, definition, 12; forms of, 12-13; millinery, 13- 14, 104. Pay Rolls. See Wages. Parlor Millinery, number of work¬ ers, Boston, 24; Philadelphia, 25; characteristics, 30-31; clientele, 31; location, 31-32; capital requirements, 32; work¬ room force, 33; dull season force, 46; workroom force dur¬ ing dull and busy seasons, 47; fluctuation in force by weeks, 48; weekly fluctuation in size of force, 50; length of employ- 120 INDEX ment, Boston, 54; by weeks, 56; by months, 57; wages of apprentices, 71; annual earn¬ ings of workers, 72; nominal weekly w’ages, Boston, 74; av¬ erage wage, 77; nominal wage of trimmers, 82; average wage, 84, 87. Piece Rate Wages, attitude of workers toward, 69. See also Wages. Pieceworker, weekly fluctuation in wages, 78-80; chart, 79; pay rolls for year, 81. “ Pin Money ” Theory, 101. “ Preparer,” designation, 20. Prostitution, relation to irregular¬ ity of employment, 64-65. Retail Shops, number of millinery workers, Boston, 24; Philadel¬ phia, 25; distinguishing fea¬ tures, 33; customers, 34; types, 34-35; capital requirements, 35; workroom force, 35-36; dull season force, 46; work¬ room force during dull and busy seasons, 47; fluctuation in size of force by weeks, 48; length of employment, Boston, 54; Philadelphia, 55; employ¬ ment by weeks, Boston, 56; wages of apprentices, 71; nom¬ inal weekly wages of makers, Boston, 74; Philadelphia, 75; average wage, Boston, 77; com¬ parison with wages of whole¬ sale houses, 80; nominal wages of trimmers, 82; average, 84. Rush Work, 15; characteristics, 45-46; season of greatest, 49. See also Busy Season. Salesgirls, employment in large shops, 26. Salesmanship, as secondary oc¬ cupation for milliners, 66-67. Seasonal Problem, attempted solu¬ tions, 65-68. See also Dull Seasons and Unemployment. Seasons, 14-15, 44-68; length, 44- 45; in manufacturing whole¬ sale establishments, 45; the seasons and the trade, 44-51; the seasons and the workers, 51-68; dissatisfaction of mil¬ linery workers with, 64; effect on wages, 69, 78. Self-Support, among millinery workers, 14; opportunity for in millinery trade, 26; among workers, 78, 101-104. Shops, classification of, 27-43; types of establishments, 28. Social Prestige, as reason for entering trade, 16-18, 100, 104. Speeding up Process, in rush sea¬ sons, 44-45; effects of, 59, 62. Spring Season, length, 44; em¬ ployment by weeks, during, 59. Straw Machine Operating, as secondary occupation, 67-68. Subsidizing Workers, 101, 104. See also Parasitic Trade. Supplementary Occupations, dif¬ ficulties in connection with, 65-66, 67-68; statistics regard¬ ing, 66-67. Sweated Trades, effect on work¬ ers, 13. Teaching Millinery, as secondary occupation, 65, 67. See also Classes Conducted by Mil¬ liners. Time Wages, see Wages. Trade Processes, 12-26; descrip¬ tion of, 18-26; divisions, 18- 19. Trade Unions, early attitude INDEX 121 toward employment of women, 2 . Trimmers, work, 19, 21-22; per cent, of workroom force, 23; number employed during busy season, Boston, 24 ; Philadel¬ phia, 25 ; length of employ¬ ment during year, Boston, 54; Philadelphia, 55; by weeks, Boston, 56; by months, 57, 58; by seasons, 59, 60; by experi¬ ence, 57, 61; wages, 71; total annual earnings, Boston, 72; wages of supervision, 80; nom¬ inal weekly wages, 82, 83; total annual earnings, 83 ; average weekly wage, 83, 84 ; varia¬ tion of wage by establishments, 85-86 ; average wage through¬ out year, 84, 87 ; relation of employment to wage, 88; re¬ lation of experience to wage, 90; rate of advance, 91; nom¬ inal wage, 92 ; age compared with makers, 95-96 ; propor¬ tion self-supporting, 101-103. Uncertainty, in connection with overtime, 63. Unemployment, 51-68; due to sea¬ sonal variations, 51; extent of during year, 64 ; attempted solution, 65-68; in relation to wages, 69. See also Dull Seasons. Vocational Education, importance of for girls, 4. Wages, 69-92; time and piece rates, 69; nominal and aver¬ age wage, 69-70; of appren¬ tices, 70, 71, 113, 114; makers, 71-73; nominal weekly wages, 73-76, 88, 89; average weekly wages, 75-78, 80; trimmers, 72, 82-88, 90-92; piecework¬ ers, 79, 81; relation of wages to length of employment, 88; to length of experience, 89, 90; to personal qualities, 90, 91. Wholesale Houses, number of millinery workers, Boston, 24; Philadelphia, 25; workroom force in dull and busy sea¬ sons, 47; fluctuation in size of, 48, 53; length of employment, Boston, 54; Philadelphia, 55; employment by weeks, Boston, 56; by months, 57; dull sea¬ son opportunities, 67; wages of apprentices, 71; annual earnings of makers, 72; nom¬ inal weekly wages, Boston, 74; Philadelphia, 75; average wage, Boston, 77; nominal weekly wage of trimmers, 82; average wage, 84; minimum, 85; average wage throughout the year, 87. Wholesale Millinery, character¬ istics, 40, 41; market, 41; ad¬ vantages, 42-43; workroom force, 42; wholesale manufac¬ turing millinery, 42-43. See also Manufacturing Firms. Women in Industry, attitude of public towards, 1-4; competi¬ tion with men, 2; labor legis¬ lation, 2-4; statistics of em¬ ployment, 5-10; remedial legis¬ lation, 2-4; effect of parasit¬ ism on, 13; living wage, 71. Working Season, Boston retail es¬ tablishments, 51. Workroom Force, Boston and Philadelphia stores, 39-40; in rush seasons, 45; in dull sea- 122 INDEX son, 46; reduction during dull season, 47 ; rate of reduction, 47, 49; weekly fluctuation in size, 48, 50 ; in wholesale houses and department stores, chart, 52 ; length of employ¬ ment, 51. Workers, supply, 17, 68; propor¬ tion in technical and artistic divisions, 22-23 ; unemploy¬ ment among, 51-68; national¬ ity, 93-95; age, 95-98; age at leaving school, 98-100; educa¬ tion, 98-99; reasons for leaving school, 99-100; previous occu¬ pations, 100-101; self-support, 101-103; living conditions, 103; age at entering trade, 112. VITA I, Lorinda Perry, was born in Melvin, Illinois, on December 23, 1884. My parents being Eugene Beauharnais Perry and Eliza¬ beth Wilson Perry. I attended the public schools of Melvin, Illinois (1890-1900), the Illinois State Normal University (1900-01, 1902-04), the University of Illinois (1906-07, 1908- 10) and Bryn Mawr College (1911-13). I received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1909, and the degree of Master of Arts in 1910 from the University of Illinois. I held a scholarship in Economics at the University of Illinois, in 1909-10, the Radcliffe Research Fellowship at the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1910-11, and the resident fellow¬ ship in Economics at Bryn Mawr College during the years 1911- 13. During the year 1910-11, Miss Elizabeth M. Riedell and I were engaged in an investigation of the millinery trade in Boston under the supervision of Professor Susan Myra Kingsbury, director of the Research Department of the Women’s Educa¬ tional and Industrial Union, Boston, Massachusetts. I also at¬ tended a seminar of Dean Edwin Francis Gay at Radcliffe College. During 1911-12, the Consumers’ League of Pennsyl¬ vania carried on an investigation of the millinery trade in Phila¬ delphia under my direction. It was my privilege to study at the University of Illinois with Dean David Kinley, Professor Evarts Boutell Greene and Professor James Wilford Garner, and at Bryn Mawr College with Professor Marion Parris Smith, Professor William Roy Smith and Mr. Sydney D. M. Hudson. I presented myself for the written and oral examinations for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in May, 1913, my major subject being Economics, my minor subjects Political Science and American History. I wish to express to Dean Kinley, Professor Greene and Pro¬ fessor Garner my appreciation of the inspiration and stimulus VITA which they have been to me in my work. I wish to acknowledge m.v indebtedness and gratitude to Professor Kingsbury who sug¬ gested the subject of this study, and has given assistance and criticism most generously; to the Consumers’ League of Penn sylvania, whose investigations have added much to the value of this study; and especially to Professor Marion Parris Smith for pertinent criticism, valuable suggestions, and timely encourage- HBnE'.i . ' 1 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 3 0112 064641050