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192. Пряжа. A manufacturer of stocking yarn, in Spring Valley, New York, writes: "Girls are employed in twisting and reeling yarn. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay some by the piece, and some by the week; those by the week receive $2.50. The wages are the same for men and women. To learn the whole business requires from three to five years; that part done by girls, from one to two months. They are paid while learning. The prospect of employment is as good as that of business generally. Our girls work the year round; they work eleven hours. To shorten the time would be a disadvantage to us, and a loss in wages to the hands. Boys would do for us, but are not so easily governed. The work is easy and comfortable." A yarn manufacturer in Stoughton, Mass., writes me: "I pay $2 per week, and furnish board to those that twist and card. The labor of the women is much cleaner and easier than that of the men. Men receive from $1 to $1.75 per day, board included. I charge them $2.50 per week—women $1.75. Much of the men's labor requires strength, knowledge, and skill. It requires two or three months to learn it well. Women work, on an average, eleven hours and a half. I should like the ten-hour system, but cannot adopt it, unless others do the same. The supply of hands is adequate to the demand. Ladies have done some parts of our work, now performed by men, and have received equal wages; but the labor being hard, and women's dress being inconvenient, we have abandoned the plan."

193. Производство шелковых изделий. The duty on raw silk is so very great that it will not do to import it into the United States for manufacture. We suppose, if a duty in proportion to their value were levied on silk and linen goods, we would no longer be so dependent on other nations for these articles. Or if a reduction were made on the duty of the raw material, capitalists would establish silk manufactures in the United States. Individual failures here are attributed by some to ignorance and want of experience; by others, to the nature of the climate. The support afforded by our Government to the culture of silk has been very fickle—to-day encouraged, to-morrow neglected. The experiments that have been made prove the feasibility of growing the mulberry, and raising the silkworm in this climate. The silk produced was of good quality, and, but for imperfect implements and want of experience, might have done well. The cheapness of labor in older countries affords an advantage that we have not. Most of the raw silk manufactured in the United States comes from China. The women there rear silkworms; they also reel and weave the silk. Not many years back silk winding was done by men in England. "In the silk factories in France, there are two unwholesome processes entirely carried on by women: the first is the drawing of the cocoons, when the hands must be kept constantly in boiling water, and the odor of the putrefying insects constantly fills the lungs; the second is carding the floss, the fine lint of which affects the bronchial tubes. Six out of every eight women employed, die in a few months. Healthy young girls from the mountains soon develop tubercular consumption; and, to complete the dreadful tale, they are kept upon the lowest wages, being paid only twenty cents, where a man would earn sixty." "One silk manufacturer in Valencia, Spain, gives employment to 170 women and young girls." In Lyons, France, many women are employed in the silk manufacture, for particulars of which see Revue des Deux Mondes, Feb. 15th, 1860. Silk weavers mostly work in attics, where they can have the best light to distinguish shades of colors, and where the silk, which moisture would damage, can be kept perfectly dry. In Spitalfields, the silk manufacture is mostly carried on by the workmen at their homes, their families assisting. Each child has his own branch, and the wife hers. It is the same case in the making of lace, artificial flowers, embroidery, straw braiding, &c. The strength of silk is greater than that of cotton, flax, or wool. Machinery is now employed for winding the silk off of cocoons, but formerly it was done by hand. Mrs. O. told us her husband employs a few girls to spool silk, which he dyes for a large dress trimming manufactory next door. The girls earn from $2 to $3 a week. The pasting of patterns of floss silk upon cards was done by men a few years ago in England, but women, after great effort, have succeeded in gaining the work, so much more suitable for them. "A lady in Jefferson county, Ia., has made herself a handsome silk dress from cocoons of her own raising." A manufacturer of silk goods in Paterson, N. J., writes: "We mostly employ girls from twelve to eighteen. The work is not unhealthy. Average pay is $3 per week. To learn, a girl must be about twelve years of age; it takes about two months. Pay begins after two weeks. To learn, one should be smart with her hands, and careful with the material. There is a good prospect ahead for weavers. All seasons are good, except during a panic. They work twelve hours. The time could not be shortened conveniently. If other States worked less time, we could too. We employ a hundred girls and twenty-five boys. Seventy-five per cent. are American. Board, $1.75. Women could be employed more extensively in weaving. Men are employed upon the spinners, women in winding, &c."

194. Ленты. In England, formerly, a woman was not at all engaged in ribbon weaving, as the men thought it an encroachment on their sphere of labor; nor were they even allowed to wind silk preparatory to its use in weaving. Manufacturers of ribbon in West Newton, Massachusetts, write: "We employ from forty to eighty women, and prefer them to men in all departments they are fitted for. They are paid by the week, and earn from $2 to $6, according to the value of their work. It requires from six months to a year to learn the business. Women are paid something while learning. Good character and fair capacity are needed. Our women work eleven hours. If the time was reduced to ten, the loss would be the use of machinery. There is a surplus of hands in New York, by reason of immigration. Women are inferior in mechanical skill, superior in steadiness."

195. Швейный шелк. The first factory for spinning silk in this country was established in Northampton, Massachusetts. There are 156 hands in Massachusetts, engaged in the manufacture of sewing silk. Two other factories have been established since then in Paterson, New Jersey; one for the manufacture of the raw silk, and the other the manufacture of sewing silks, fringes, gimps, and tassels. There is a manufactory in Mansfield, Connecticut, and one in Newport, Kentucky. Most of the sewing silk used in this country under the name of Italian silk is made by American manufacturers. An agent for the manufacture of twist in Paterson, New Jersey, told me their best hands do not earn over $3.50 a week and work eleven hours. They try girls, that wish to learn, two weeks, and if they find them fitted for the work, pay $1 a week. There is no danger from the machinery as in cotton factories, nor has it the unhealthy tendency of cotton, as there are no particles flying from the material like the lint that flies from cotton. It does not require an apt person long to learn. The girls stand all the time. They have to watch the machinery, and tie the threads that break. The agent said, in the Eastern States girls are paid better in silk factories, but they are more competent workers. There some earn from sixty to eighty cents per day. The work is neat and clean. Some manufacturers of sewing machine silk and twist write me from Boston: "We employ fifty women winding and twisting silk. They work eleven hours in winter and twelve in summer, and earn from $3 to $6 per week. Some are paid by the piece and some by the week. Men are paid from $1 to $2.50 a day. Integrity and activity are wanted. The prospect for future employment is good. They work at all seasons. One fourth are Americans. No parts of our occupation are suitable for women but those in which they are engaged." A sewing silk manufacturer in Paterson, N. J., writes: "Our women are engaged in winding and doubling the raw silk and finishing, in skeins and on spools, the dyed material. The work is generally considered healthy. Many children, boys and girls, from ten years and upward, are employed—say forty per cent. of the whole force of help; children at $1 per week—women at $3 and $4. They work sixty-nine hours to the week. State rights prevent the shortening of the time. Each State makes its own laws on the subject, and no unanimity exists. Males and females are employed up to a certain age, say fifteen years, indiscriminately; girls always preferred. The time of learning depends upon the quickness of the hand; some learn in two or three days, some again can scarcely learn at all. The rule of the trade is not to pay learners. It depends on circumstances whether we pay. In brisk times we have about sixty (including children)—women about forty—perhaps less. About half are Americans. Crinoline is in the way to prevent women from performing other parts of the labor. Women are cheaper. Men could not be got, and could scarcely do the work, if they could. Yet no particular qualifications are required. The prospect for an increase of this manufacture depends upon congressmen and the tariff. The best seasons are immediately after the New Year's and Fourth of July holidays." In France, some girls are employed to wind the raw silk from cocoons, and some spin it into skeins of silk. In Dublin, many women are employed in the winding and picking of silk used in making poplin. Near Algiers is an orphan asylum, from which a large number of girls have been apprenticed to a gentleman who owns a silk winding mill in the vicinity. The girls work twelve hours a day.

196. Кружевницы. Large numbers of women are employed in lace making in Belgium, France, Ireland, and England. A normal lace school was established in Dublin in 1847. Lace makers are very closely confined, and in busy times many spend from twelve to twenty hours at their work. Lace making requires care, quickness, and dexterity. Rev. Mr. Hanson mentions the fact that, in Liverpool, there are three Roman Catholic institutions aided by the Privy Council for the industrial training of girls: one, attended by forty pupils, is a laundry; another is a lace school, attended by one hundred and sixty-six; the third, attended by twenty-six, trains domestic servants. Lace making is so injurious to the eyes that, at forty, very few can carry it on without spectacles. In England the process of winding is conducted by young women, while boys are mostly employed as lace threaders. Their condition is a wretched one. Women are mostly employed as lace runners or embroiderers. Mending, drawing, pearling, and joining are mostly done by young children. An interesting account of the business is given in Charlotte Elizabeth's story of the "Lace Runners": "It is proved by unquestionable evidence, that in lace making it is customary for children to work at the age of four or five and six years; and instances are found in which a child, only two years old, was set to work by the side of its mother." The present condition of most of the laboring classes in England is far more depressing and exhausting than the slavery that exists among the colored population of the United States. "The powers of production of a machine for making laces are to hand labor nearly as 30,000 to 5." C. says he and his wife are the only makers of hand lace in the United States, and he has been nine years in the business here. He says, making the figures is most difficult; and he showed me one figure he asked but twenty-eight cents for, that he stated it would require a day and a half to make. I wish I had offered to buy it. He employs a number of girls to put the figures on some kind of a foundation for collars, sleeves, and capes. They also transfer, mend lace, and do other such work. He says, making figures does not pay as well as the other parts, and it would not pay for the salt you use on your potatoes. He does not have lace made, except now and then a figure that cannot be obtained, to fill out a piece that is being transferred or altered, and for which the lady is willing to pay a good price. He says laces are made so much cheaper in the old country, that when imported, paying even a duty of twenty or twenty-five per cent., they are sold as cheap as those he makes. He says he pays his girls nearly twice as much as they are paid in Europe. His report I thought contradictory, and supposed he feared competition. I was told by an English woman, who had been accustomed to making lace from six years of age until the last ten, that it takes seven or eight years to learn lace making in all its parts. She says there are twenty-one processes gone through with in making every kind but pillow lace, in which there are but five processes. When she was a child, none but common laces were made in France, and the making of their finest laces they learned from the English, who went over to France.

197. Мастерицы по починке кружев. I called on M. W., a lace mender. "In New York, she has received from one store, Mme. G.'s, from $20 to $25 a week for work. She thinks in a few years very little work will be ordered from the stores; it will be done by those who make a business of it. The stores derive a handsome profit. She did a piece for one store for $3, that she knows the lady paid $5 for having done; and another piece at $3, that the lady paid $10 for—the storekeeper having such profits for nothing but merely sending it to the lace transferrer. She makes a comfortable living, but works at night as well as through the day. It has injured her eyes and made her nervous. She has had two little girls learning to mend, alter, and transfer lace; one received her board and clothing for her work for three years. One girl, that spent two years with her, is now obtaining a livelihood by her work. She thinks if a bright, steady girl of thirteen should spend two years at it, and then have friends to start her in business, she would be well able to support herself. Lace mending is a separate branch from lace making. In England, if a person can obtain the names of one or two wealthy families, it will at once establish them in business. In doing up lace, little girls can put the pins in the edges to keep it in place until dried. C. and Mme. G., she says, pay her as her customers would, but she prefers establishing herself, and does not so well like store work. Her customers recommend her to their friends, and so she will gradually become known. Lace mending is a nice, clean, respectable business, and can be done at home."

198. Производство волосяной ткани. "There is some competition in the sale of foreign and domestic hair cloth. The American is of a better quality, and on that ground only are manufacturers able to compete with foreigners, the duty on hair cloth being low. When the hair has been separated from the short hair used for curling, it goes into the more delicate fingers of the hair drawers, who sort it into lengths, each length corresponding to the width of the cloth to be woven. We have seldom seen any mechanical operation requiring more dexterity or constant attention than this. The girls engaged in this work make from $3 to $3.50, and sometimes $4 a week. The weaving is done by hand looms, each worked by two girls—one to handle the hook (answering the purpose of a shuttle), and the other to serve the hair. The prices paid for weaving vary from twenty to thirty-two cents per yard. The average, including plain and figured cloth, is twenty-four cents. A fair average day's work is four or five yards. But this requires two hands, you must remember; so that perhaps a fair estimate of the wages of hair cloth weavers would be from fifty to sixty-two and a half cents per day. The labor is severe, and we should think it impossible, without injury to the health, for young women to work at it more than two thirds of the time." At a hair-cloth manufactory in New York, I was told they employ one hundred girls. The proprietor says they have work all the year. He never knew a woman at the business that could not find employment. The first month they do not receive anything for their work, but after that can earn from $3 to $5 per week. It is paid for by the yard. The more practice a worker has, the better she succeeds. I think it must be dirty work. Another manufacturer told me it does not require long to learn to weave hair cloth, but some time to do it well. He pays $5 per week, but their time is not limited to ten hours. The girls, I saw, were pale and filthy. He thinks the business is likely to extend, and, consequently, the prospect of employment to women in that field of labor is good. He keeps his girls all the year. The Providence Hair Cloth Co. write: "Women are employed in weaving our hair cloth. Every hair has to be put in separately by the fingers of the girl. The only disadvantage to the health of the girl is the close application in sitting so long. We pay our girls thirteen cents per yard for weaving. It requires about two weeks or one month before a girl becomes sufficiently accustomed to the work to weave on full speed. We pay them while learning. No qualifications needed, only general neatness and upright moral character. All seasons are alike. We work only ten hours. Thirty girls have each one loom with which to work; one girl mends the cloth, and three shave and trim the same—making thirty-four in all. One half are American. Women are in all respects superior to men in weaving—same as in cotton looms."

МЕТАЛЛООБРАБОТКА.

199. Железо. "The great heat to be endured and the severe muscular power required, preclude women from the manufacture of iron goods. They are not directly employed, and to a small extent indirectly. We think when women have to perform what is unquestionably man's work, it lowers the standard of female character instead of elevating, and nothing is more disagreeable than to be constantly employed at labor uncongenial to one's nature." From the United States census we learn that in 1850 there were engaged in the manufacture of pig iron 20,298 males, 150 females; in the manufacture of casting iron, 23,541 males, 48 females; in the manufacture of wrought iron, 16,110 males, 138 females. We do not know exactly how these women were employed. The work in rolling mills is very severe and the heat intense. The men have their limbs cased in tin sheaths above their knees. The vast capital required to develop the mineral resources of a country, and the comparative newness of our country, have hitherto prevented more than a partial development of its resources. Many women are employed in dressing and sorting ore in Great Britain.

200. Напильники. The notches in files are made by a chisel acted on by a hammer held in the hand. The edge thrown up in making the notch assists the workman in putting the chisel in the right place, and keeping it there while he cuts the next notch. "It is peculiar that hitherto no machine has been constituted, capable of producing files which rival those cut by the human hand." From a manufacturer in Massachusetts, we learn that "he employs from four to six girls in cutting fine work files, cleaning, and wrapping up, &c. They are largely employed in England. The work is considered healthy. They receive from $3 to $4.50 per week of ten hours a day. Men and women are paid equal wages for the same kind of work. It requires from six months to two years to learn. The prospect for a small number in each factory is good. There is work every day in the year. It is quite a new business in this country. Women are neater and more particular with their work than men. They could do some other parts that are suitable for them, but they would soil their hands too much." A file manufacturer writes me: "Women are paid by the piece in cutlery—in other departments by the day; when by the piece, they receive as much as men; when by the day, one half. It would require three or four years to learn. Most women cannot cut any but small files as well as men, as they have not sufficient muscular power in the hands and fingers. Women are taught in Sheffield, England, by their fathers and brothers, and have what they earn. Good eyesight and stout nerves are the requisites for a learner. No prospect of employment in our business at present. The best localities for manufactures are where files are wanted, in New England and the middle States."

201. Огнестрельное оружие. One manufacturer writes: "I hardly know whether the work could be done by women. It is difficult to learn and hard to practise." A gunsmith told me, guns could be polished by women. They are polished by hand. A manufacturer of guns writes: "I have no women employed in my factory. It is not common for them to work at this business in America, although many of them are employed by gun makers in foreign countries."

202. Петли. A manufacturer of hinges writes: "We employ no women in our manufactory. There are portions of the work that might be done by females as well as male labor. Still we have not adopted the plan." A manufacturer writes from New Britain, Connecticut: "We employ women in packing goods, and making brass hinges, and pay from thirty-eight to sixty-five cents per day of ten hours. We formerly paid women $1.50 per day. We now get the same amount done by girls for sixty-five cents. We employ them because the work is light, and we can get it done at that price. The part done by women requires one month to learn. The prospect for this work in future is good. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but our hands are employed the year round. Other parts of the work could be done by women if they were willing, but the work is dirty. They are superior to men in the same branch, as they handle the work quicker, and are, as a general thing, more steady and reliable. The housework here is mostly done by Irish girls, while American girls prefer working in shops, even at less wages. There are many other branches of our work that might be done by females, for which we pay men $1 and $1.25 per day; but the work is rather dirty, and few here would do it, as they can have cleaner work, and we have never sought that kind of help on that account."

203. Замки. "The Newark Lock Company" employ eight American girls in packing hardware. They are paid by the week, from $3 to $5, and average half the pay of men, who do more laborious work. Women spend six or eight months learning. Activity and neatness are desirable qualities. Women excel in both qualities. We expect to double our business in a year or two. The women work ten hours per day, and have steady employment. Two thirds of all the locks used in the United States are made in the five large lock manufactories of Connecticut. The best locality is near the great emporium, and on tide water, to save freight. Board $2.50." The secretary of the Eagle Lock Company writes: "We employ from one hundred and fifty to two hundred men, and only twenty girls. Our work is not suitable for females, except to pack our locks in paper ready for market. They work by the piece, and can earn from $10 to $25 per month, according to how they employ themselves. They are mostly daughters of men employed by us, and board at home. They are all Yankee girls. We only work ten hours, unless business is driving." "Hardware manufacturers in Cromwell, Connecticut, pay eight women from 50 to 62½ cents per day for packing. They work ten hours a day. The work can be learned in one month. The prospect of work in future is good. Board $1.62 per week." Manufacturers in N. Britain write: "We pay by the day from 50 to 60 cents, ten hours' work. Women are not generally better paid than they now are, because they compete with each other so much in the light, easy, and clean branches of labor, and meet competition in light work from boys. Their time of learning is from six months to a year, and half never learn. They are paid while learning. An eye for putting up work true to the square, and quick fingers, are the most essential qualifications. The business is constantly increasing. Work is the same, or nearly so, at all seasons. Girls employed by us have every personal comfort and convenience that is possible, and are paid as much as men for the same labor. Most of our work is more or less greasy and dirty from iron and brass filings. Girls usually have less natural mechanical intelligence, we think. It may be, however, that the want is from their inexperience in mechanical branches. Our impressions are that New England is the place for manufacturing small wares, requiring great activity and industry. Our workers have the use of a public library and lectures free. Board, $7 to $8 per month—thirty to thirty-one days." A manufacturer of trunk castors, in Massachusetts, writes me that he once employed girls to paint castors, and put them in packages for the dealers.

204. Гвозди. Making wrought nails is too hard work for women. A manufacturing company of nails, in Boston, write me there are no women employed in the nail factories of New England. The work is exceedingly heavy. Another manufacturing company write, they have never known of women being employed in making nails in any country. But we know that in France, women are employed in turning the wheel in making nails, and at Sedgley, E., and the neighboring villages, the number of girls employed in nail making considerably exceeds that of the boys. In England, the part done by girls is attending machinery that splits iron into the proper widths for nails.

205. Заклепки. A manufacturer writes: "We believe no manufacturer employs women in our particular branch of industry. The business requires great strength and exposure to furnaces." The writer suggests that in iron moulding, perhaps a new career might be opened for women. "Innumerable small castings are now being made, such as buckles, eyes, rings, &c., for harness making. As this work is exceedingly light, requiring skilful manipulation, it might be within the scope of women to undertake this branch of industry." The casting is dangerous. The mixture of gases in the hot metal sometimes produces a blowing—that is, the metal is thrown into the air, falling oftentimes on the workers, penetrating their clothes and burning them. A woman's clothes would be unsuitable for this work. The moulding is very light, easy work, and we think as suitable for women as most mechanical labor.

206. Винты. The processes in making screws are forging, turning up, nicking, worming, and tipping. The cutting and polishing of screws, in Birmingham, are chiefly done by women. The machinery used requires care and delicacy.

207. Коньки. Skate manufacturers in Maine write: "We employ from ten to twelve ladies to stitch skate leathers, for about two months in the year, November and December. They are paid by the piece, and average 50 cents a day. All are Americans. Board, $1.50 per week. In the New England States, more American women are employed than foreigners, particularly in country towns."

208. Лопаты. A shovel manufacturer says he employs boys to clean the handles, by holding them as they run over emery belts. He pays the boys $3 a week. For varnishing the iron part of the shovel he pays 10 cents a dozen, and "yesterday a youth was able to do twenty-one dozen." This branch of work, we think, might be done by strong women.

209. Проволочные изделия. I was told at a wire manufactory, New York, that women are never employed to draw wire. If it be true that wire drawers are a very rough, coarse set of men, it is well girls do not work in the establishments; as the work is such, we presume, that all must be employed in the same apartments. The labor of drawing is such that the hands of the men become almost like iron. Mr. S., Philadelphia, employs a woman to weave fine wire. She learned it in her native country, Scotland. She also sews pieces of fine wire cloth together. She receives $5 a week, and seldom works ten hours a day. Most men and women engaged in wire work are English or Irish, who learned the trade in their own country. I was told it requires some years to attain excellence. Weaving requires considerable strength in both upper and lower limbs. Men wire workers are paid from $1.50 to $2.50 a day. Mr. C., New York, employs a number of women weavers and seamers. They are paid $4 a week. Formerly their girls would want a day to go to a picnic, to get ready for a party, or help their mothers at home. The steam would have to be stopped unless they could get hands to fill their places during the time, which was very difficult and often could not be done. For a while their women gave them so much trouble, they had to stop the machinery altogether. It caused him such annoyance that some of the female members of his family learned, and are now employed. He employs women to cover steel for hoop skirts, and pays $3 a week. A few women are employed at wire weaving in Cincinnati. The wiring and making of bird cages seems to me a field of industry open to female hands. They can be made in any place, and the work is light. Wire could be woven in fenders by women, I think. Mr. C., maker of patent rat traps, employed a number of girls to lace the wires. Some he paid by the week, some by the piece. They mostly earned $3 a week. A small girl could learn it in two weeks. I saw a manufacturer of wire stands for cloaks, mantillas, &c. He employs a few ladies to dress them, paying 25 cents apiece. One of his hands is very expeditious and can cover six in a day. Those that know nothing of the work, he employs in making skirts only, and of course make less. February, March, August, September, and October are the busy months. There are only three places in New York where the work is done. A wire maker, in Lowell, writes: "I employed a girl four years ago in wire weaving, that gave unqualified satisfaction. She left, to obtain a college education. I paid by the piece when I employed her, and at the same rates as I paid men. She used to earn $1 a day, and even did so while attending school; but of course worked before and after school—probably seven or eight hours a day. Most of my work is too laborious for women; but some wire workers that make meal sieves, corn parchers, &c., can, and I believe do, employ them to advantage, by reason of the price of labor being much less for women than men. This kind of business is limited. There are not more than one hundred and fifty men and women, probably, working at the business in New England. A maker of sieves, and wire goods in general, writes from Worcester, Massachusetts: "The business is quite healthy compared with needle work. I employ six women, who earn from $4 to $5 per week of ten hours a day. Men earn from $7.50 to $12. Some goods we manufacture will not justify us in paying women higher prices. (The women should not do it. They would then have to employ men and pay better prices, when women could come in and claim equal wages.) Our kind of work they learn in a few weeks. There will be no falling off, in future, of this work. Most girls like the work. Board, $2 per week in families." A wire manufacturer in Belleville, New Jersey, writes: "We employ females in sewing and winding wire. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay from $2.50 to $4.50 per week. Learners receive $2.50 per week. Board, $2 to $2.50. Men in our establishment average $2 per day. I would say that in some branches of our business, women might take the place of men."

Производство латунных изделий. In some branches of the brass manufacture women are not at all employed—in a few others, they are. At a brass bell foundery, we were told the work is not healthy, and is too heavy for women.

210. Подсвечники. A manufacturer of candlesticks in Vermont "employs from three to four women, because they are better adapted to the work than men. He pays by the piece, from $13 to $15 per month, and employs them the year round. Women are paid as well as men or boys at the same kind of work. It requires from three to five years to learn the business—from one to two years, that part done by women. Women are paid small wages while learning. It is a clean, comfortable business. There are no parts of our work suitable for women in which they are not employed."

211. Крючки и петли. The agent of the Waterbury Hook and Eye Company says: "The hooks and eyes are given out to families to put on cards, for which they are paid by the gross. It pays poorly—probably not more for a child than 50 cents a week. The country and villages around supply plenty of girls for the factories. In good times the hands in the factories are kept employed all the year. We employ three females to pack our finished light work, which is as neat and healthy work as can be in any pleasant factory—pay is $3.50 to $4.50 per week of sixty hours. No males are employed on similar work. Supply and demand regulate prices. Only a short time is required by a competent girl to learn to do our work properly; and pay commences when they commence. Every good qualification which 'flesh is heir to' is needed to make the right sort of help. Prospect for employing more females than heretofore is not flattering. Girls are preferable for any light, neat, tasty work. Ours are Americans, and I believe as comfortable and happy as people are likely to be on this sinful globe. I doubt if much of our other work can be done by females. A place nearest to a large market, where good air and water prevail and means of living are reasonable, is the most desirable place to locate a factory, ordinarily. Churches, schools, libraries, lectures, &c., afford ample means and opportunity for mental and moral culture, for those who work ten hours a day, and can board for $2 a week, and are free from any special cares or anxieties." N. S. & Co., North Britain, write: "We employ nine women to make paper boxes, and pack hooks and eyes. They earn from 60 cents to $1 per day of ten hours, but are paid by the piece. The men earn from $1.15 to $3 per day; but their work is different from the women's. The women learn their part in two or three weeks. Industry and self-respect are the most desirable qualities. The prospect for future employment is good. They work all the year. Board, $2 per week."

212. Лампы. Mr. J. "used to employ girls to cement the glass body on the marble stand, and the top of the body on the metal through which the wick passes. He also employed them in papering to send away. The prospect for workers is poor, because the business is limited. He paid his girls $3.50 a week. No manufactories in the West or South." In 1860 the manufacture of coal-oil lamps formed the principal business of sixteen companies, who employed 2,150 men and 400 women and boys."

213. Булавки. The pins made in the United States are not so high priced as English pins. They have not until lately been so well finished. In pin making in England, the drawing and cutting of the wire, the cutting of the heads from the coils, and the trimming are mostly performed by men; the other operations, by women and children. Sometimes, in trimming the pins, a man, his wife, and child work together. For pickling and trimming the pins the price usually paid is two cents a pound. A skilful and industrious worker can head 20,000 pins per day, for which in England they are paid about 30 cents of our money. Pin heading is very sedentary work, and children seven or eight years of age are often kept at it for twelve or thirteen hours, with merely time for hasty meals. Girls at Sedgley and Warrington begin as early as five years of age to work in the pin factories. It is said that at Wiltenhall they are treated with much cruelty, if at all refractory. In Sedgley more women are employed than men, and receive the same treatment. The secretary of the American Pin Company at Waterbury, Connecticut, writes: "Women are employed in tending machines, and in sticking and packing pins, and packing hooks and eyes, and making paper boxes. The work is not unhealthy. The lowest wages by the week is $3.25 while they are learning; afterward $3.50 and $3.75 per week, ten hours a day. Some work by the piece, and earn from $14 to $21 per month. The supply of woman's labor is equal to the demand, at the prices we pay. We work through the year, generally without stopping, except for the holidays. Our average number is fifty. Girls can do the work as well or better than boys, that could be hired at the same price. Most are Americans. They have their Sundays, holidays, and evenings—also a public library and institute lectures at a very small cost—besides religious privileges afforded by six churches. Board, $1.50 to $2 per week." The Albany Company, at Cohoes, sends the following information: "Women, and girls not younger than twelve years of age, are employed in sticking, folding, wrapping, &c. The same work is done in England and Germany. Wages from $6 to $20 per month, working twelve hours a day. Those having had the most practice can usually do the work faster and better, consequently obtain higher wages. They receive pay while learning. The qualifications most desirable are care, attention, and activity. The business is not likely to increase greatly, as the work is mostly done by machinery and the demand for the article is limited. We are busy at all seasons except in extremely hot or cold weather. The hands work twelve hours—by so doing they obtain higher wages. We have more applicants than we wish. We employ from twelve to fifteen, because they can do the work more readily than men. The work is light, and the condition of the women quite equal to that of women otherwise employed to obtain the necessities of life." The agent of the Howe Manufacturing Company, in Connecticut, reports: "Our work is all done by the piece. The earnings of the workwomen vary according to their skill, diligence, and the number of hours spent at work. Average in April last, $11.09—in four weeks. Highest earnings of one individual $22.09 (equal to $5.54 per week). Small girls earn from $1 to $1.50 per week, and work six or eight hours. Men and women do not perform the same kind of labor in our establishment. Why all persons are not paid equally for equal labor, I do not feel competent to explain. A knowledge of our work is soon acquired. Learners are paid for what they do. A good character and reputation, honesty, fidelity, common mechanical ability, and diligence are desirable qualifications. We generally find the hands we want in our own immediate neighborhood. Our work is considered desirable, and much sought for. In all seasons the hands are equally employed, except dry seasons, when we are short of water to drive our machinery. Our stock hands generally stay with us till they get married or lay up so much money that they are able to get along with less labor, or become too old or infirm to work to advantage. Some have stayed with us over twenty years, many over ten years. The number of hours for work is discretionary. We seldom request industrious hands to work more hours than they choose. Our hands sometimes work twelve or fourteen hours, at their pleasure. Small girls, of whom we employ but five or six, seldom work ten hours. The number of women and girls employed in our establishment heretofore has been variable, averaging perhaps thirty. We are using improved machinery, which has already reduced the number, and will reduce it still more. Our work is peculiarly adapted to female labor. Nearly all our hands are American born. In twenty-two years' business, we have seldom, if ever, had an adult woman employed who was unable to sign her name to the pay roll. Our adult women have the churches and lyceum lectures, which I believe they generally attend. Their time for reading, for the most part, will be evenings and Sundays. Small girls can attend our district school free of cost." A manufacturer, in Seymour, Connecticut, writes: "We pay from $3 to $4 per week. We employ no men in sticking and packing, and, if we were not particular as to whom we employ, we could reduce the amount of our monthly pay roll a large per cent. It requires very little practice to learn the part of our business done by women, and in most cases we pay them full wages upon entering the mill. No special qualifications are needed. The kind of business we pursue will always be carried on, but of course can never become very common. No difference in the seasons, and the girls are never thrown out of employment. Under the present regulations they work eleven hours, and the time could not well be shortened, as that would tend to derange the other departments of our business. We have but ten employed at present, but in the course of a few days expect to have about twenty. They are employed because they are peculiarly qualified for the business, and on account of the lower rate of wages as compared with the labor of men. We employ women in all cases when the work is suitable for them. Women as employed by us are superior to men, being more expert and active. The New England States are doubtless the best locality for our business. The females employed by us are all intelligent and of good mental ability."

214. Кольца. The American Brass Ring Co. "employ twenty women at presses, in packing, &c. They are all foreigners. Board, $1.50 per week. The work is not unhealthy. Women are paid fifty cents a day of ten hours. Women are paid $2 a week for four weeks while learning. The prospect of future employment is no better than the business now offers."

215. Весы. H. T., manufacturer of scales and weights, Philadelphia, Penn., writes: "We employ women in making metallic weights. The work is not unhealthy. They earn from $4 to $6 per week. No comparison in the price of labor. Women can make as much as men, if they are willing. It requires almost a lifetime to learn the business; but the part the women work at requires but a day or two. We pay learners. No extraordinary qualifications are needed. A good prospect for increase of employment. No difference in seasons. They work from four to ten hours. Women cannot be employed at our heaviest work, on account of the great physical strength required." I was told at F. & M.'s, New York, that the beams of the scales could be burnished by women. It is done with steel instruments. I suppose the pans could also be burnished by them. Burnishing the back of the plates could be done by women also, but it is somewhat dirty work. Women would have to work in the room with the men, for while the foreman was employed, he would like to keep an eye on the employees. The work is rather heavy for women, but not more so than some in which they are engaged.

216. Прутья для лестниц. A manufacturer of plated stair rods told me "he employs a woman to burnish the rods. She can make from $4 to $7 a week, not working more than ten hours a day, being paid from fifty cents to $1 a hundred. It is work hard on the chest, but he thinks not hard on the eyes. He had one lady who did it at home. In large establishments, rods are now burnished by machinery. The polishing of stair rods is very hard work, and requires strong, stout lads." Another stair-rod manufacturer told me "he has employed a boy to tie up stair rods, but would employ a girl and pay the same price, $1 per day."

217. Производство стальных изделий. No women are employed in the conversion of iron into steel in this or any other country. It is rough, heavy work. It requires great physical strength, and is unsuitable for a woman. No women are employed in the manufacture of axes in this country. It is rough, coarse work, and done by stout, strong men. In one of the largest cutlery establishments in the United States they employ six hundred men, but no females; except six, for wrapping up goods. In the finishing of metals there are three branches: turning, filing, and setting up. In turning, jagged particles of metal fly off, and often enter the eyes of the workers, doing them great injury. Goggles of magnetized iron might be used to prevent this. The magnetized wash is used to prevent the filings from getting down the throats of grinders and polishers. For learning the two parts, turning and filing, four years of apprenticeship are served. The turning requires more skill than physical strength. It might be done by women that were willing to serve so long an apprenticeship.

218. Пряжки. G. Brothers, of Waterbury, employ six women in riveting and other light work on bell clasps. They write: "The girls earn from $3 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. The labor of women is paid twenty-five per cent. less than that of males, because they are not able to do as heavy work. It requires about three months to learn the part of males or females. Our branch of trade is not increasing. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons, but the women are not thrown out of employment during the year. They are superior in light work. Board, $2 per week." A manufacturer in Attleboro' writes: "I employ from twelve to fifteen at packing, at light press work, &c. They are paid from four to six cents per hour. Women are not paid higher, because they are not worth more. I pay men from seven to twenty-five cents per hour. The time of learning depends on the ingenuity of the employed. They have steady work most of the time. They are full-blooded Yankees—have a good deal of fun when the boss is out, and work in a pleasant room. The labor is easy, and they are satisfied with the remuneration. (Perhaps because they can do no better!) A healthy climate, convenience to market and to places where the raw material is made, are advantages. All New-England girls have the advantages of a good education in the common branches." A manufacturer in Middletown, Conn., replies: "Girls are employed by me, springing in the tongues of buckles and packing them—also making paper boxes. They earn from forty cents to $1 per day, being paid by the piece. Their employment is not so heavy or laborious as that of males. It takes from six months to one year to earn full wages. Women will probably always be employed in these branches. Good box makers are always in demand. We employ thirty—all Americans. The balance of my work is rather objectionable for women, unless it be foreign or second-class girls. Women are usually more neat than men. Either water or railroad communication is desirable in seeking a locality. Board, about $2 per week. There was never so great a demand for female help in this part of the country as at the present time. They have started a shirt manufactory about nine miles from here, and are in want of girls; but the greatest trouble there is to find boarding places at reasonable rates." The West Haven Co. report "the employment to be very healthy by giving exercise to the limbs. The pay is from seventy-five cents to $1.50 per day—average $1. Some learn the business in two days, some in two weeks. The hands are paid from the first, and are seventeen in number, all Americans. Women are superior in this branch, because they are quicker with their fingers."

219. Режущие инструменты. The Humphreysville Edge Tool Manufacturing Co. inform me they do not employ females. For polishing they hire strong, rough boys, that they can get cheap, who stand while at work, and stoop over the articles, which produces a strain on the back and compression of the chest. Many find it so injurious they have to give it up, and the majority of those who do keep at it do not last long. The majority of the metal workers in Birmingham do their work at home. Each member of the family has his particular part to perform. An English writer says: "In various branches of the hardware manufacture, both in Birmingham and Sheffield, women may be seen by hundreds in some places, comfortably secluded from the male workers; in others, working side by side with them at the same mechanical process. They are never given to intoxication, and rarely, if ever, to strikes; and it may be very much the absence of these propensities that has recommended them so largely to the notice of the employer. In London the practice is gaining ground."

220. Электрические машины. From the office of Davis & Kidder's magneto-electric machines we receive the following intelligence: "We employ women in covering wire, spools, sewing velvet, papering boxes, &c., &c. They earn from $12 to $24 per month, and are paid by the month. Women are paid nearly one half as much as men—can form no reason why women are not as well paid. It requires about three months for females to learn; they are paid while learning. All it requires is energy. There is no prospect at all for future employment in this branch. We employ our hands through the year; do not deduct from their wages when absent for a week. They work ten hours a day. We employ four, because the work is light and better suited for them than males. All Americans. Those in my employ are well educated. Board in respectable families, $2.50." C. Brothers, of New York, employ two girls for the same kind of work. They pay one $5 a week, ten hours a day—the small girl $3. They have had them but six months, but expect to keep them all the year. Mr. C. thinks the business is so limited that the prospect is poor for learners.

221. Огнестрельное оружие. From the Arms Manufacturing Co., Chicopee, Mass., we receive the following information: "We employ women in burnishing plated ware. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay generally by the piece. Some are paid about eighty cents per day. There is a prospect for steady employment for the few we have, and for no more. They are in no season entirely out of work. Ten hours a day are devoted to work when paid for by the week. All Americans. Easy work and much sought after. Women are inferior in point of strength, superior in cheapness." Sharp's Rifle Co. write: "We employ from ten to thirty women in making cartridges and inspecting primers. We pay about $1 each day, as the business requires good skill and care, and is hazardous. It is generally piece work. Males do the heaviest part of the work, and are paid $1.25 to $1.50 per day. If an individual is skilful, it requires but a short time to learn. Hands are paid while learning. Prospect good of future employment. We have constant work for ten. They are usually employed nine hours. All Americans. They appear very comfortable, and are quite tidy. No other parts of our occupation are suitable for women. Women are superior in forming and folding. $2.50 per week is the price of board."

222. Ножи и вилки. The metals used for knives and forks are iron, steel, and silver, according to use or expense. The dust that arises from the grinding of steel knives, coats the lungs with stone. A German manufacturer of small cutlery told me that in large establishments in some European countries, women put the rivets in the handles of knives, and polish the handles of ivory and pearl. In the grinding of penknives and razors the inclination of the body forward is greater than in any other branch; hence, while less injurious in regard to the amount of dust than the fork and needle branches, they are fraught with greater evil from the position of the body alone. Articles of cutlery are glossed by holding them to a wooden wheel, on which is emery powder. They are polished by holding them to a wheel covered with leather, charged with crocus. Both of these processes are within the range of woman's toil. In a cutlery establishment, I was told the work was too hard for women. The polishing of their cutlery is done by machinery. The Hardware Manufacturing Company, Berlin, Conn., write: "We employ one hundred and forty men, making shelf hardware, and five or six girls to pack it up. They get from fifty to seventy-five cents a day, work ten hours, and all live at home. The work of papering up the goods is light, and requires little skill. The other part of the work about our factory is too severe for women." The Empire Knife Company, Conn., "employ four girls in packing and sharpening. They are paid by the day (ten hours), and earn from $3 to $4 per week. Women receive about the wages of men. It requires from six months to one year to learn. Women are paid while learning. The prospect of future employment is fair. The comparative comfort and remuneration of the work are good. Comfortable board, $3 a week." A company in Northfield, Conn., inform us: "It requires from three to five years to learn the men's part of the work. Some of the women work by the piece, and some by the day, receiving from $3 to $5 per week. The same price would be paid to men. The prospect of future employment is good. They work throughout the year. Women are superior in quickness. A locality should be fixed on where good water power may be had."

223. Иглы. Most of the needles used in Europe and America are manufactured at Redditch, fourteen miles from Birmingham, where there are about a dozen very large factories. The number manufactured in Redditch amounts to about seventy million per week. The process is a very long and painful one. The drilling is done by young women. The constrained posture and rigid gaze of the women on the eyes of the needles as they drill, is distressing. It requires a perfect steadiness of hand. In addition to this, the small channel observed on each side of the eye is made by women with a suitable file. The picking out of defective needles, and laying perfect ones with the heads one way and the points another, is performed by children. Dr. G. C. Holland writes: "We candidly admit that the physical evils produced by needle grinding exceed all that imagination has pictured." The needle grinders in England are said to be ignorant and dissipated. One half can neither read nor write. The dust which is evolved in the process of needle grinding, contains a much larger amount of steel than is produced by any other grinding. Mr. Aiken, inventor of the knitting machine, has the machines and needles both manufactured. He says "he supposes he could teach women to do most of the work on needles, if he would give the time and trouble. He pays $1 per day to hands in the needle room." In the manufacture of Bartlett's sewing-machine needles, but a few small girls are employed, at from $1 to $1.50 per week, for smoothing the eye by running an oiled thread through it. Formerly they employed girls to perforate the eye, but it is now done by machinery. A manufacturer of knitting needles writes us: "The winter season is the best for work, and the Eastern States furnish the best localities for manufactories." A maker of sewing-machine needles told me the tools are rather heavy, files and a lathe being used. They pay a boy of fourteen years $3 a week, and one of eighteen, $5.50. C. employs girls to envelop and label needles. They earn from $3 to $4 a week, and do it at home. It takes a long time to become expert. They are paid from the first, but not much. The business is limited. They could have it done for less in England, but prefer to put labels on for parties in this country, who want to be considered manufacturers. G. & B. employ some girls to label and paper needles they import. They pay two cents and a half for putting the labels on forty papers. The labelling is done in the latter part of winter and early spring.

224. Перья. (Steel and Quill). A thousand million steel pens are said to be produced annually at Birmingham, England. We are indebted to some writer in an English paper for a description of the part taken by women in the manufacture of Gillott's pen in Birmingham. The number of women employed in his factory is four hundred. "If not altogether manufactured by woman, she has had, by far, more to do in its manufacture than men. He may have forged and rolled the metal, but she cut it from the sheet, gave it its semi-cylindrical form, stamped it, ground it on a wheel to make it flexible, split it, helped to polish it, and finally packed it in a box, or sewed it upon a card in readiness for the market. And whoever wishes to see her thus employed, may find her seated in an airy and comfortable chamber, with two hundred or three hundred companions similarly engaged—all healthy and merry, and singing at their work, while pens in all stages are clicking and glittering through their fingers at the rate of something like one hundred gross a day, each." An attempt has been made to manufacture steel pens in this country, but, I think, as yet without success. The makers of the Washington medallion pen had some girls to come from England to work for them, but found they could not keep up the factory, because of the prices they had to pay for labor. The duty on steel pens is thirty per cent., yet they can be imported for less than it would cost to make them here. Some one writes to the editor of the Englishwoman's Journal as follows: "Madam, I have been told that quill pens made by hand are far superior to those made by machinery, and are therefore used in some of the principal offices of London. Besides which, very many persons are unable to write except with quill pens; rejecting the best and most expensive ones made of any kind of metal. Might not the making of them be a suitable occupation for some young women, who, from lameness or other infirmities, might be unable to follow a more active life?" In New York, some quills are made into pens by machinery, but women, we believe, are not employed.

225. Физические приборы. K., in Brooklyn, told me that in the old country it is customary to spend seven years learning to make philosophical apparatus, but in this country boys do not like to be apprenticed so long. The business is not fast enough for Americans. It requires close and constant application. The burnishing is quite hard work. The occupation has a tendency to render one intellectual and scientific. Most young men leave it to become physicians and preachers. Dr. McG., of China, is one of the number. The work is mostly done by lathe, but the polishing by hand. I think women could do it, if they were brought up to it. Instruments are made in Europe, and imported for less than they could be made in the United States. Business is now very slack. K. used to have several apprentices, that he boarded and paid $1 a week during the first year. The next year he increased their wages to $1 a week more, the next year another $1, &c. In small establishments an instrument is carried through all its processes by the same workman. The business is done in the United States on so small a scale as not to afford a sufficient subdivision to furnish any part suitable for women. P. does not know of any women being employed in this country in this trade. He thinks there is much of it they could do, and in process of time it will be done in the United States. In France and England, there are many women who learn with their fathers and husbands, and work with them. Many women are employed in making small compasses, that require a nice adjustment and care in pasting, but a separate room would be necessary, and that he has not. A manufacturer of nautical instruments writes me, he does not know of women being employed in any part of his business in any portion of the world. The brass on philosophical instruments is polished by hand, but a manufacturer told me he would not have even the polishing done by inexperienced hands, as they are very particular with the finishing off of their work.