Part 29

=159. Vinegar.= A plant is now grown from which vinegar is made. "In addition to the consumption of vinegar in culinary uses and the preparation of preserved food, it is indispensable in several branches of manufacture, as in the dressing of morocco leather, and in dye and print works." The labor of making vinegar is too hard and heavy for women. The handling of barrels, changing of liquids, and constant exposure to heat and cold, without cessation of labor, are too great for the female frame to sustain. The workers often pass from a temperature varying from 92° to 105°, to one of extreme coldness." A Boston vinegar manufacturer, writes: "Women are never employed in making vinegar in large quantities. They are not adapted to the occupation. It does not agree with some constitutions. It requires but a short time to learn the business. The prospect for future employment is poor." Some women make vinegar from parings of fruit, tea leaves, &c., for family use.

=160. Yeast.= A manufacturer of yeast powders writes: "There is but a small part of the work that women can do. It requires the strong, muscular arm of a man to do most of it." We know women are sometimes employed for putting up the powders, and are paid by the number of packages.

TEXTILE MANUFACTURES.

=161. Cotton Manufacturers.= Only so far back as 1789, doubts were entertained whether cotton could be cultivated in the United States, while now the amount of calicoes annually produced in the United States is supposed to equal twenty millions of yards. "The number of females employed in the various factories of Lowell, in which textile fabrics are produced, will exceed 12,000. Those engaged in weaving can earn, upon an average, from $2.50 to $4 per week. Those who labor as spinners and spoolers make only from seventy-five cents to $2, but they are generally very young." In the cotton mill at Cannelton, Ind., there were "in 1854, about 200 females. They worked by the job, and their pay was the same as would be given to men for the same work. They earned from $1 to $5.50 per week." We believe, in the majority of factories, the plan of paying some hands by the piece, and some by the week, is adopted. B., manufacturer, told me quite a number of his weavers earn from $5 to $6 a week, being paid by the piece. It requires two or three months to get in the way of weaving well. His hands are busy all the year. His factory is in New Jersey, twenty-five miles from New York. The laws of New Jersey prohibit the employment of operatives more than twelve hours out of the twenty-four, but some evade it. The law, also, forbids the employment of children under ten years of age. The smaller children are engaged in spinning, and not so well paid. It requires but a short time to learn to attend the spinning machinery. There is generally a full supply of weavers to be had, because it pays well. Manufacturers usually have their work done in the country, because living, and consequently labor, are cheaper there. A cotton manufacturer in Rhode Island, who employs about 100 operatives, writes: "I pay both by the piece and the week. When by the week, from $4 to $5. When by the piece, the women are paid at the same rate as the men, but the men are able to make from fifty cents to $1 per week more. It requires from three to six months, to learn. Girls are paid while learning, if they grow up with us. They are employed through the year, and work sixty-nine hours per week, twelve hours per day for five days, nine hours on Saturday. All classes of laborers must work during mill hours. Women keep the rooms and machinery neater than men. About seven eighths of the women employed in our mill are Americans; one half would be the nearer proportion in mills generally in this section, three fourths in some instances. There are other parts that women might be employed in, but the custom has not been introduced in our section, on account of their dress. They pay from $1.50 to $1.75 for board, and are all in private families." The Lawrence Manufacturing Company, at Lowell, write: "Women are employed in carding, spinning, dressing, and weaving. The employment is not unhealthy, and they earn from $1 to $4 a week, clear of board, according to capability and skill--average, say, $2 per week. They work eleven hours a day; men average about eighty cents a day clear of board; their work is altogether too hard for women. The women learn in from one to three months. They are paid, usually, $1 a week, besides their board, while learning. The qualifications needed are respectable character and ordinary capacity. They are employed all the year round. The scarcity of hands is greater in the departments requiring most skill; there is an abundance of inferior sort. We employ 1,300 women; perhaps one third are Americans. They are employed in all branches where it is expedient. The Americans are well informed; the Irish, improving, though low in the scale of intelligence. They have churches, evening schools, and lectures. Work stops at 6.30 and 7 o'clock. They live in boarding houses under our care, well regulated, respectable and comfortable, and pay $1.25 per week." At the New York mills, "361 adult and 99 minor females are employed in the manufacture of fine shirtings and cottonades. Wages of adults are $3.99, and minors, $2.12½ per week. Price of board, $1.50. They work 12 hours per day." The Naunkeag Steam Cotton Company, Mass., "employ 400, and pay by the week, from $2.50 to $3. Those that do piecework, earn on an average, $3.50 per week; six months will enable intelligent hands to earn three fourths pay. Their board is paid for two weeks, while learning, then they receive what they earn. Desirable hands find steady work; they are employed all the year; they work eleven hours a day. We prefer women, because neater and more reliable. They have more time for improvement than is made available. Board, $1.50 to $1.75. Good boarding houses are provided." At Kingston, Rhode Island, a man employing nine girls, pays by the yard, and the girls earn from $4 to $6 per week. Men receive the same wages as women. They work from sun up to sun down, except at meal times. If other mills ran but ten hours, they would. They have work all the year. Hands are rather scarce in that State. All are American. They prefer it to general housework. Women are the best in mills for light work. Female operatives pay $1.50 for board, lodging, and washing. The Jackson Manufacturing Company of New Haven writes: "Women are employed in the various branches belonging to a cotton mill. Average wages of our females are $2.30, and board money $1.25, making $3.55 per week received by them. Some females in our employ earn eighty cents per day; average price of male labor, about eighty-four cents per day. Women are paid less, because they cannot do such work as is done by men. In regard to the time required to learn to do the work in the different departments, much depends upon the dispositions of the learners. Six months would ordinarily be sufficient time to render one competent. Women are usually allowed their board while learning. A good character and good health are needed. There is much changing among help during the spring and summer months, say for four months in the year; but we almost invariably keep our supply good. Our working hours are eleven and a quarter per day. With the exception of our weaving department, but little work is done on Saturday afternoons aside from cleaning, so that our working hours will not average over ten and a half per day. By giving a suitable notice to the overseer, it is so arranged that the help can be absent from their work one day of a month. The largest proportion of American help is found in the weaving and dressing departments. We have in our employ 140 men, 310 females, about one half American. We have good boarding houses, carefully watched, and kept clean in all respects. Our American help are quite intelligent, also some of the foreign. Some of our help attend school during the winter months. Board $1.25 per week--the keeper of the house not paying rent. The houses will each accommodate about twenty persons comfortably." Another manufacturing company pay from $2 to $4 per week, mostly by the piece. The work can be learned in three or four months. Their hands are paid small wages while learning. They have constant employment. They usually work twelve hours per day; three fourths American. From a manufacturer in Gilford, New Hampshire, we learn he employs forty women, who work by the piece, and whose average pay is $3 per week. They work eleven hours. Females are paid the same as men for the same kind of work. Some parts of the business can be learned in one day, others ten, and some hands will learn in one day what others would not in ten. Work at all seasons; spring and fall most busy. It pays better than housework. Board of males, $2.50; females, $1.25 to $1.50. A manufacturer in New York writes: "I employ about twenty women in weaving, twenty-five in spinning, spooling and other branches; boys and girls from fifteen to twenty each, and ten men. Women average about $2.50 per week. Women are paid the same price as men. Weavers earn about $3.50 per week. My mill runs twelve hours per day, the year round. Women are mostly American. The girls have an hour for each meal." A medical man has stated, that the health of operatives is promoted by occupying rooms with large windows on each side of the room, so that the sunlight will penetrate the apartments during the entire day. And those rooms with white walls are more healthy and better for the eyes than those with colored walls.

=162. Batting.= A manufacturer of cotton batting writes: "Women are employed in our factory to tend machinery. They are employed in Europe. It is only unhealthy from being indoor work. We pay, per week, for best hands, $2 and board. They work twelve hours. I think there is a surplus of hands at this time. The work is light and does not require an expenditure of strength. The work is as comfortable as any can be. All parts will not answer for women. Board $1.42. Men are paid $1 more than women, but perform a different part of the work. Learners usually command wages after two weeks. The summer is the most profitable time to manufacture."

=163. Calicoes.= Calico takes its name from Calicot, a town in Malabar, where the art has been practised with great success from time immemorial. Calico printing is the art of producing figured patterns upon cotton. They are transferred to its surface by blocks, or engraved by copper cylinders, by which the colors are directly printed, or by which a substance having an affinity for both the stuff and coloring matter is employed, which is called a mordant. "In England, calico printing employs a vast number of children of both sexes, who have to mix and grind the colors for the adult workpeople, and are commonly called turners. The usual hours of labor are twelve, including meal time; but as the children generally work the same time as the adults, it is by no means uncommon in all districts for children of five and six years old to be kept at work fourteen and even sixteen hours consecutively. They begin to work generally about their eighth year, as in Birmingham and Sheffield, but often earlier." Calico is printed mostly in Lowell, Philadelphia, Saco, Dover, and some other towns. A manufacturing company of lawns and calicoes in Providence, R. I., write: "We employ fifty women in stitching, folding, and tracing pantograph designs. The employment is healthy. We pay from fifty cents to sixty-seven cents per day of ten hours. We have one woman who does a man's work at folding, and is paid a man's wages--$1 per day. The time to learn the business is according to natural ability; very soon with ordinary capacity, say, two weeks. Cool weather is the best for work, but the women are not thrown out of employment at any season. We have more applicants than we can accommodate. The light, clean work, is best for women; the rough and heavy for men. We adopt female labor as far as practicable. Ordinary board is from $2 to $2.50 per week."

=164. Canton Flannels.= A manufacturer of Canton flannels in Holden, Mass., writes: "We employ from twenty to twenty-five women in spinning, spooling, drawing, and speeder tending, warping and weaving. We like them because they are neater, and more reliable, and the work is better adapted to females. They earn from fifty cents to $1 per day of twelve hours. Women are paid the same as men, except the overseers, who get from $1.25 to $1.67 per day. It requires from one week to four to learn the business. We sometimes pay their board while learning, if they are attentive to work. It is as reliable as any business. There is no difference in seasons; we work the year round. The time could not be shortened. In weaving there is no surplus of hands. I would say, that with the present prospects for business, it would be well for many of the females in want of employment to learn to weave. They can make from $4 to $6 a week, but mostly average $4.75. It is healthy work. The labor is not hard, but confining; and the girls are generally happy and contented. Three fourths of ours are Americans."

=165. Carpet Chains.= We were told that in the manufacture of carpet chain, "women are employed in spooling. We saw women employed in weaving various kinds of binding for carpets, webbing for girths, reins, and harness. The hours of labor are nominally ten, which, indeed, seems reasonable, in Philadelphia; but in the suburbs, and some parts of New England, both men and women work fifteen hours. Our informant uses no artificial light on the premises, and when the daylight fails, his workpeople leave off labor. The wages are the usual fifty cents a day. Steady hands are kept in work the year round; but unskilful workwomen are dismissed after fair trial. Men earn double what women earn, though they do not produce double the work, nor do it any better. When machinery is used, women frequently require assistance from a workman."

=166. Cord.= C., of Philadelphia, manufacturer of black and white cord, employs about thirty women in spooling, twisting, balling, and making into skeins. He keeps his hands all the year. He did not permit us to see them, saying they object to being seen by strangers, on the ground that they are "en deshabille." We can bear witness to the probability of this statement, for almost all the women we have seen at work are very untidily clad, and dirty; indeed, in the present total disregard of cleanliness in the workrooms, if they wore better clothes, they would spoil more than they can afford. Ought not employers and workwomen to consider this subject, since it undoubtedly degrades a female, even in her own estimation, as in that of others, to be habitually in what is mildly qualified "deshabille?" The spoolers receive the highest wages, viz., $5 per week; the other hands from $2 to $5. The fine cord is made farther East, as it can there be produced cheaper; the coarser can be made in Philadelphia, at a lower rate. Mr. J., of New York, employs six women, two of them earn $7 each--the others less. It is paid for by the quantity. Prospect for work, good. There are but five factories in New York city, but they do seven eighths of the city business. In Philadelphia most is made. It takes but two or three months to learn. They give employment all the year, and learners receive something from the first.

=167. Dyers and Bleachers.= Dyeing may be divided into seven branches: 1, calico and cotton; 2, fur; 3, fustian; 4, leather; 5, linen; 6, silk; 7, wool and woollen. Silk and wool are of animal origin, and require different treatment in dyeing from substances of a vegetable nature, such as cotton and flax. All the various colors and shades of dyed goods were originally derived from the combination of the four simple colors--blue, red, yellow, and black. Cotton is more easily dyed than linen, and the colors are brighter. Much of what is said under "Print Works" will apply to this subject. They are so similar, a distinction is scarcely necessary. In large manufacturing cities, dyers usually confine themselves to one kind of goods, as wool or silk, and some to certain colors. Dye houses, in other than manufacturing cities and towns, are mostly for the coloring of goods that are worn, or new goods that have been damaged. A great deal of dyeing is done in our large cities. Frequently, persons going into mourning have articles of dress dyed. Steam has taken the place mostly of hard labor. When goods have been well dyed, a casual observer could not detect it. Permanency of color is a desirable item in dyeing. Some women make a living by keeping a little shop, where they receive goods to be colored, and have the work done at dye houses, making, of course, a profit. There is generally a dye house connected with every large factory of woollen goods. A girl who was employed in a dye house says the work is far from being neat. The work of most of the girls is light. It is to put letters or figures on the articles sent, and when dyed, fold and tie them up, and place the numbers on. In the dye house where she was, one girl received $3.50--the others, each, $3 per week. They worked ten hours a day. One girl was employed in finishing the goods--that is, running them over a heated cylinder to smooth and dry them. She says the floors of dye houses are so wet that women would find it not only filthy, but injurious. Mr. Y. says women are not employed in the mechanical department of his dye and print establishment--that the business requires the workers to stand in liquids, and the atmosphere is very damp. A woman would be liable to suffer from exposure of that kind. A girl employed at another place to mark goods, told me she received $3 per week. Was told at C.'s dye house that he employs four girls, paying $3, and $3.50 a week. They put numbers on goods, and do other work of that kind. They work ten hours. A cotton goods bleacher and dyer told me the work was too wet and dirty for women. Most of the winding of cotton for dyeing is done by machinery. By steam power one person could do ten times as much as by a wheel. At one place they paid thirty-five cents for basting together two pieces of cloth eight yards long to be bleached; and a woman could earn from seventy-five cents to $3 per day; but the work could not last long. We called at a dyer and bleacher's. He said: "Very few women are employed in dyeing in this country, but in the old country they are. He has seen them at it in Scotland, and there it is rather better paid than most women's work. They are also employed in bleaching, both by chemicals and exposure to the sun. It is not unhealthy, although in a dye house a person must be wet from the knees down. By wearing thick boots, and leggings of India rubber, they would not be likely to suffer. Occasionally, dyers get some of the chemicals they use into sores on their hands and feet, which may injure them some, but not seriously. He says the work must be done in a certain time, and so they cannot be particular about keeping their feet dry. He pays old women for hanking cotton 37½ cents a score, and so they may earn $2.25 a week." There are mechanical modes of printing textile fabrics. In the Staten Island Dye and Print Works, "there are a good many women and children employed. The latter are principally confined to the printing department, each of the sixty printers engaged there being allowed a child for the purpose of adjusting or distributing the color evenly, previous to the application of the block. The rate of wages paid in this establishment is, we understand, as follows: the printers and block makers are paid by the piece, and when in full work can earn from $60 to $70 a month; the dyers and other workmen receive from 37½ cents to $1.25 a day; the women $6 to $12 a month, and the children from $6 to $8." A dyer writes: "Women are sometimes employed in the finishing department, and are mostly paid by the day. Spring and fall are the busy seasons." One in Walpole, Mass., writes: "I think more than an ordinary degree of intelligence is required for the business, because of the thought and observation necessary." A dyer in Buffalo, N. Y., writes: "I employ two, and sometimes three women. Women are employed in basting work together, and in finishing it after it is dyed. In some places they have charge of the office, and receive and deliver goods. For a healthy person it is not injurious. In finishing, the individual is on his or her feet all the time. I pay from $1.75 to $5 per week, and hands work from ten to sixteen hours. The time could not be shortened, owing to the nature of the business, and the loss during the winter. The comfort and remuneration of the part done by women is very good. Women of equal intelligence with men do better, as it is of female apparel the business mostly consists. In winter they have considerable unoccupied time they could devote to mental improvement." The proprietor of the Chelsea Dye House writes: "We employ about seventy-five women to wash, iron, and finish dyed goods. About one eighth are Americans. It is not unhealthy, to my knowledge, or in my experience. Average pay is $3.50 per week. Those that work by the piece can earn from $3.50 to $6 per week of eleven hours per day. Women are paid all which the business they do will afford. It requires a woman of fair capacity a few weeks to learn. Work is constant for good hands. Work is nearly uniform through the seasons. Large cities are the best localities for business. They pay about $1.75 per week for board in private families of their own standing." A member of a firm at Astoria, L. I., writes: "We employ from seventy-five to one hundred women in washing and dyeing yarns and cloth. We know them to be so employed in Berlin, Prussia. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay by the week from $4 to $5. They work ten hours. We pay men $7 per week for the same work that the females are employed at, because they do more. It requires about four years to learn fully that portion of work done by females. They are paid $2 per week while learning. A good public school education is needed, and temperate, steady habits. The prospects for females are good--eventually they will supersede the men in one branch of the business. The spring and fall seasons are the best. The winter is not so good. About two months in the summer our works are partially stopped. There is a surplus of dyers in Lowell, Mass. We employ women in preference to men, because we believe them to be more intelligent than men--especially emigrants. About two thirds are Americans. They have evening schools, lectures, and church services. Those that board pay about $1.50 per week."

=168. Factory Operatives.= The larger number of operatives in our manufactures are females. They are of all ages. They do not remain so permanently in our factories as in those of older countries. They make skilful and active workers. The factory operatives of this country are more favorably situated than those of most countries. Most of them have wholesome food and comfortable homes, or boarding houses. They are not confined in factories from early childhood until they lie down to take their last, long sleep; consequently, they are not stunted and deformed, and prematurely old. The activity and variety attending life in the city are likely to produce great restlessness, and insatiable thirst for excitement. This must be checked, or its results may be ruinous. Vent of the feelings is harmless; wholesome amusements, recreation so far as is possible in the quiet of the country, reading good books, and social intercourse with the virtuous and worthy, will form a good substitute for this artificial excitement. So greatly is the manufacture of materials into cloth, and cloth into goods, facilitated by machinery, that wool taken from the sheep's back to-day, can be worn as clothing to-morrow. The number of factories has greatly increased since the introduction of machinery; nor is it strange, for goods have become cheaper and the demand is greater. The materials for manufacturing are abundant in this country; but the want of workmen acquainted with this business, and the want of capital, have prevented some branches of American manufacture from equalling those of older countries. The improvements in machinery for removing dust and floating cotton in the work rooms, no doubt renders it more healthy than it was. "In proof of his assertion that factory labor shortens life, Dr. Jarrold deposed, that having examined, in the schools, all the children whose fathers had ever worked, or were still working in factories, he found that from one third to one fourth were fatherless." "Out of about two thousand children and young persons taken promiscuously, who were carefully examined in 1832, two hundred were deformed. These were factory operatives." These statements refer to operatives in England. Some women are employed in the manufactories of Birmingham, England, as overseers in the departments where women work, but the number is small, and in our country it is still more uncommon. Cotton and woollen goods are extensively manufactured in the New England States, New York, and Pennsylvania. A gentleman told me that a little more than a year ago, as he came from Vermont, he saw a young man in the cars with about twenty girls, that he was bringing down from Canada to a cotton factory in Massachusetts. The manufacturers had offered a bonus of $5 apiece for girls, and to pay their travelling expenses, and this young man was making a business of it. He says, in busy seasons there is a scarcity of hands in the New England factories. We believe that when men and women do the same kind of work, such as weaving, and are paid by the quantity, no difference is made in their wages. In comparing returns from several factories in Massachusetts, I find weavers earn in them from $4 to $5.50 per week; warpers, $3 to $5; dotters, $3 to $4. Irish women, by working for less wages, have pushed American women out of factories. In Lowell, a few years back, nearly all the operatives were young American girls from the country. Many worked from the most honorable, self-denying motives; some to educate younger members of the family, some to assist widowed mothers or hard-working fathers, some to lay by a sum to support themselves in old age, and some to acquire the means for obtaining a more extensive school education. A manufacturer of printing cloths, Reading, Pennsylvania, writes: "In all countries where there are cotton mills, women are employed as weavers, fly and drawing tenders, spoolers, warpers, dressers, and cloth pickers. The work is not more unhealthy than any indoor employment. Workers earn from $2.25 to $6. Men and women are paid the same for the same kind of work. Our kind of work may be destroyed a year or so by the unsettled state of the country--otherwise it is good. The hands work about eleven hours at present prices, one hour less would reduce wages about 10 per cent. There are openings in cotton mills along the Hudson River, and farther East, and a surplus of hands in mechanical towns inland. The work is lighter than most of womanly employments. Women are superior in attending faithfully to their work, and are more easily managed than men. Board is from $1.50 to $1.75 per week, and is much better than their homes would be, if they were the daughters of day laborers, as many of them are. I would say further, in our branch of business women are treated in all respects as regards their work the same as men, paid the same, and under the same rules and restraint. In our dressing department the women make from $6 to $8, while the men make from $8 to $10, with the same machine at the same price. There are but few mills that employ women dressers, except in Pennsylvania. They are not strong enough; but here the descendants of the old Dutch stock are more masculinely developed, and are taking the place of the men in this branch." A gentleman who has been manufacturing cotton cloth in North Adams, Massachusetts, between twenty and thirty years, writes: "We employ women and girls in our mill. Some of the work requires constant stepping and walking. Wages for spinning girls, $2.50 to $3 per week; for boys the same, for spooling; from $2.75 to $3 for speeder and drawer tenders; $3 for warpers, or $4; all the rates of labor include the board. Farther East, women are employed as dressers, earning from $4 to $6 per week. Weaving is paid for by the piece--most other work by the week, as it cannot so well be let by the piece. To learn to spin on the throstle frames requires from six to eight weeks. The qualifications desired in an applicant are expertness, good behavior, ability to read and write, industry, and a desire to be useful to the employer. In midsummer, hands are most scarce. Good workers are never thrown out of employment except during panics. In this place (North Adams), hands usually work from twelve to twelve and a half hours; Saturdays we close at four o'clock in summer. Farther East, a number of operators work eleven hours; some, twelve; and some, even twelve and a half. The legislature of the General Government is, and has been for many years, against encouraging the industry of the country. Whatever revenue laws would promote the making of iron, wool, cotton, or cutlery, would assist and support agriculture, the making of shoes, and all other branches of labor. The cotton mills can merely subsist. The hours could not be shortened. Those employed in watching, warming, oiling up, superintending, repairing, &c., have the same hours. There has been a demand for hands everywhere in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and adjoining States. Women are more orderly, more easily governed, and more cleanly than men. Their slim fingers enable them to be more expert. They are more attentive, as a general thing, where the labor requires only looking after, creating no fatigue, except that which arises from close attention. For these reasons women are preferable. Their labor is somewhat cheaper than men's of the same age. In Western Massachusetts, about three fourths are American women; in Eastern Massachusetts about one half are, and the other half foreigners. The women have good boarding houses, and live and dress well. Here, a hand can leave his employer by giving two weeks' notice; farther East, four weeks' notice is required. In both places, effort is made to spare them at once, if they desire it. My American work people are above mediocrity; the others, rather below. Children under fifteen years of age are required by law to be kept out of the mills for at least three months in the year, to attend school; more if the parents choose, as the schools are free. Employers, as a general thing, press and urge the children to school, as intelligent hands are worth more than ignorant ones. For good board, women pay $1.50 per week; with lodging and washing, $2. Many hands lay up sums in the savings banks; very many more might do so, if they chose. Good female spinners, speeder tenders, spoolers, warpers, twisters-in, and weavers are always rather scarce. They command from $3 to $6 per week. Widow women, with families of girls to support, can get a good living by such work, and lay up some money if they try." Hitherto few manufactories have been established in the Southern United States: but now that the South will depend more on its own resources, no doubt manufactories of cotton goods will be built up very rapidly. From "Northern Profits and Southern Wealth," we make an extract: "One third of the hands employed in factories at the East are females. At the South, female labor is taking the same direction. At the North, this element of labor is supplied by immigration in nearly its whole extent--a very large proportion of the females employed in the factories being Irish. The Eagle mills in Georgia have one hundred and thirty-six looms, and employ seventy girls, who earn 50 cents to $1 per day. The operatives in all these factories are white people, chiefly girls and boys, from twelve to twenty years of age. On an average they are better paid and worked easier than is usually the case in the North. Country girls from the pine forests, as green and awkward as it is possible to find them, soon become skilful operatives; and ere they have been in the mills a year, they are able to earn from $4 to $6 a week. They are only required to work ten hours a day. Particular attention is paid to the character of the operatives, and in some mills none are received but those having testimonials of good moral character and industrious habits. Churches and Sabbath schools are also attached to several of the manufactories, so that the religious training of the operatives may be properly attended to. In 1860, 45,315 males and 73,605 females were employed in cotton factories. The woollen manufacturers employed as operatives in 1860, 28,780 males and 20,120 females.

=169. Gingham.= From the Manchester Gingham Manufactory, we learn 149 American women are there employed in weaving, winding, spooling, piecing, drawing, reeling, and spinning. "Spinners' maximum is sixty cents per day. Weavers receive twenty-six and eighteen cents per cut. Women receive for winding ten cents per cut, nine cents for spooling, forty cents per day for piecing, for drawing $2.50 per week, and for reeling 1¼ and 1½ cents per doff. We pay the same to men and women for the same kind of work. They are usually about two months learning. Prospect for work is very good. We make a staple article. Summer is the best season; we have steady work the year round. Hands work sixty-nine hours during six days--twelve hours, five days; and nine on Saturday. There is some demand for them; we prefer women for weaving. They pay for board $1.40 per week." The agent of the Gingham Mills, in Clinton, Mass., in reply to a letter seeking information, says: "We employ four hundred females, young and old, in the various branches of cotton manufacture. They are paid from forty cents to $1.25, according to skill and ability; they work 11½ hours. They are paid partly by the piece, and partly by the day. By the piece, and for the same kind of work, women receive as much as men. Some branches are learned very quickly, and some slowly, according to capacity. Women are paid while learning, much to our loss. Ordinary intelligence and complete use of the physical faculties are necessary qualifications. We work at all seasons. The women are very careful to select their times for absence, visiting, &c., when we are preparing the winter style of goods, which are of darker colors, and possibly less profitable to them. They are sure to come back during the manufacture of lighter styles. It is clearly a womanly way of doing business, but the men do the same. The kinds of work women do in mills do not require the strength of men, and so women are employed. It is cheapest to employ women; because, if we employed only men, half the village would be idle. Boys can do all the work that the females do. We have four hundred males also. One third are American. In weaving, where men's and women's work is most justly and fully compared, men do the most and the best in quality. In other branches there is no decided difference. Board $1.50 per week; the houses are of good moral character, and very comfortable."

=170. Hosiers.= The invention of machinery for making hose is ascribed to William Lee, of England, 1589. Some trace the invention of knit stockings to Spain. The number of hands employed in the manufacture of hose in Saxony amounts to 45,000. Cotton, woollen, linen, and silk are the kinds of hose common to us. The manufacture of hose worn by Americans is mostly English. The amount of capital required, and the small number of good operatives in our country, cause the products of some of our manufactures to be of an inferior quality. Years back knitting was much done, particularly in the country, but the general use of machinery has superseded the knitting needle. In our large cities, the great amount of hosiery worn might make the sale of hose and half hose a payable business. In making cotton and woollen hose, some children wind the cotton, some join the seams, and others sew them on the boards, to put them in shape. We called to see Aiken's knitting machine. It is quite an ingenious affair; price, $65. I think if any two women would buy one, and one should knit, while the other formed the feet and finished them off, it would pay better than sewing. Large quantities of hosiery are made in Germantown, Pa. It gives employment to many women, who, at their houses, finish them off. The United States Government have usually obtained their clothing, shoes, hats, and socks for the army and navy at Philadelphia, but since the war commenced, most of the clothing has been made up in New York. The manufacture of hosiery is very limited in New York. At the principal hosiery establishment we were told they only employ women to seam that are the wives of the weavers, and they do the work at home. It is very poor pay, and is done almost altogether by English women who have been brought up to the business. It would not pay a person to learn it. An English stocking weaver told me that he does theatrical work, as it pays best. He has known two women from his own country that wove hosiery in the United States. One did journey work with her husband in New York. She earned from $4 to $5 per week. Such work is paid for by the piece or dozen. The work pays poorly. A woman cannot earn at it more than thirty-seven or fifty cents a day, being paid eighteen cents a dozen for seaming socks. To seam shirts and drawers pays better, six cents being paid for each article. Weaving stockings by hand looms will not pay in this country--they can be imported so cheaply. It is rather light work. Work done by steam power is not so neat; the selvages are not well made, and the goods must be cut and sewed in seams. Many women are employed in hosiery manufactures where steam is used. A stocking manufacturer in Lake Village, N. H., writes: "Seven hundred girls and married women are employed in this village to make stockings. Wages run from 50 cents to $1 per day of ten hours; some are paid by the day, others by the piece. Men's work, being harder, is better paid. It requires from three to five weeks to learn. Women have their board paid while learning. Spring, summer, and autumn are the best seasons for work. Some work at the business to maintain their families; others, because they have nothing to do. All are Americans. They pay for board from $1.25 to $1.50 per week." A manufacturer writes: "We employ twenty-five females in the mill, and from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five who take work to their homes. Nine tenths are Americans. We pay from $3.50 to $6 per week. It requires but a short time to learn in some departments. They are paid from the time of entering the factory as a learner. It is considered a permanent business. Men and women do not work on the same branches." At the Troy hosiery manufactory, "sixty women are employed in tending knitting machines, winding yarn, and sewing by hand and by machines. The employment is healthy. Their wages run from $3 to $6 per week, average $4.50. They work mostly by the piece, a few by the week. Males and females usually work side by side, and the wages are alike. They are continually learning, from 18 years old to 40. The prospect is good for future employment, and the employment in factories is generally constant. They work twelve hours per day. If shorter time was universal, it would not affect the profits. About one half are Americans. The rooms are well ventilated, and the temperature from sixty to seventy degrees summer and winter."

=171. Men's Wear.= A gentleman in Darby, Penn., writes: "Women are employed in factories equally with men, throughout this section of country, as weavers. They are paid just as well, for the same kind of labor. The employment, for aught I can see, is entirely healthy. They receive from $18 to $25 per month of four weeks. They are paid by the piece. It requires about three months to learn weaving, dependent upon the facility with which the learners acquire knowledge. Learners are never paid while receiving instruction; but on the other hand, they more often pay their companions for the privilege of being taught. Industrious habits and quickness of perception are essential to complete success. By a law of Pennsylvania, sixty hours constitute a week's labor in factories. There is neither a demand nor surplus of hands at present, though a number of factories are in course of erection in this section of country; but they will doubtless be filled as soon as ready, for American women especially prefer factory to household labor. About one half our hands are American. Women have more stability of character than men, and are generally superior to them in the neatness with which they bring the cloth from the looms. Board for operatives is from $8 to $9 per month."

=172. Print Works.= The Calico Print Works, New Hampshire, report: "We employ about 24 girls. The employment is healthy. We pay girls about fourteen years old, thirty-three cents a day for 10½ hours in summer; in winter they work till dark, averaging ten hours. To girls about twenty years old, we pay fifty cents per day. The men and women do different work. The prospect of future employment is good. Hands work all the year the same. The price of good board is from $1.25 to $1.50 per week." The agent of the Pacific Print Works, Lawrence, Mass., gives the following reply to inquiries: "We employ one thousand women in carding, spinning, spooling, warping, and weaving, on sewing machines, sewing by hand, measuring, knotting, ticketing, &c. The employment is generally healthy, but the workers are more or less exposed to bad air and to dust. They are paid from twenty-five cents to $1 per day, according to age or skill. They work from ten to eleven hours per day. Some work but 5½ days, from choice. It would doubtless be a pecuniary loss to shorten the hours. Women are as well paid here, generally, as men, when comparative strength and power of endurance are considered. It requires from three to twelve months to learn. While learning, they usually receive enough to pay their board. The more strength and intelligence they have, the better. The prospect for this employment is good. They work during all seasons. Women are not usually as well fitted as men to attend large machines, but are better for smaller ones. From three hundred to four hundred of our women are continual readers of our library. They pay $1.50 per week for board. It is as good, for the class of people to be accommodated, as any I ever saw." The agent of the print works, Manchester, N. H., writes: "Women are employed in all departments. They average sixty-five cents a day, and work eleven hours. They are paid by the piece, and at the same rate as the men. It requires from one to four weeks to learn. This kind of business is increasing. There is a demand all through New England for female labor in our branch of business. We employ 1,200, and three fourths are American. They are more steady than men. Some of our girls go West to teach, and some teach here. They have separate boarding houses, and pay $1.37 per week, including washing and lights. The houses are kept with as much order as any female school. No operative is received until they certify that they will comply with the regulations," a copy of which we examined, and found to be very good. From the print works at Haverstraw, N. Y., we receive the following information: "Women are employed in sewing, measuring calico, and in the engraving department, in running the pantograph machines, which dispense entirely with hand engraving, die making, and machine engraving. Women are employed in England, but only partially in other European countries. The women earn from $2 to $4 per week. Men receive double the pay of women: I know of no reason but usage. Only a few weeks are necessary to become proficient in our work, except in the engraving department. Men serve seven years to learn the art of engraving and printing. Women learn to trace by the pantograph in three months; become proficient in one year. Ability and good judgment are necessary. The prospect for the employment of females is good in many other departments, particularly designing. We are decided that females could successfully acquire the art and trade of designing and drawing patterns for calico. Wages of males for this work are from $10 to $40 per week--few at the former, more at $20. Ten hours constitute a day. The time could be shortened an hour or two without loss. We employ about forty females, because their labor is cheaper, and they are more reliable. We find women superior in all branches in which they are employed. The trade society forbids their employment in other parts of the work. Ability to read and write are indispensable in some departments. Men pay for board, $3; women, $1.50." The Suffolk print works pay by the piece, and average eighty cents per day. One of the proprietors at the print works in Pawtucket, Mass., writes: "Women are employed in tracing pantograph designs, and receive from fifty to sixty-seven cents per day. We have one woman who does a man's work at folding, and is paid a man's wages. The work is soon learned, with ordinary capacity. A good physical condition is needed. There is prospect for employment as long as calicoes are used. Cool seasons are the best for work--in very warm weather, work is suspended a short time. We employ fifty. The work is light and clean. The number of American women is very small. We adopt female labor as soon as the aid of machinery renders it practicable. Men are superior in strength and endurance. A locality is desirable where a free circulation of air is furnished on all sides. For ordinary board, women pay $2.50." The agent of the Fall River print works writes: "We pay women by the piece. They earn from $18 to $20 a month; have work the year round. For five days in the week they work 10½ hours; on Saturday, 8½. We employ women because they can do more and cost less than men. Localities are sought where there is a good supply of soft water. Board from $2 to $2.50." A lawn manufacturer in Lodi, N. J., writes: "We employ women in engraving, in stitching, and in finishing goods. The work is very healthy. We pay women $5 per week for engraving; from $2.50 to $5 for other branches. The work can be learned in from four to five weeks. The business is increasing. The women are never out of work. One half are Americans. Women are employed ten hours a day; on Saturday, eight. Women are employed, to help the village along. Very comfortable board, $5 per month." The proprietor of some works in Rhode Island writes me: "We employ about twenty women and girls in measuring cloth, sewing the ends together for bleaching and fulling, knotting the ends of the pieces of cloth when folded; also in engraving copper rolls for printing calicoes, with a pantograph engraving machine. The prices vary from $1 per week to $3 and over, working ten hours a day. For the same work, females are paid the same as males. The work is easily learned. Women are paid while learning. Women will be more employed in future. Work is constant, so far as seasons go. There is probably no other branch of this work, in which women may be employed, than those in which they are. Where women are employed they are as valuable as males. Board of women, $1.50 per week." "In the calico mills of Great Britain, girls grind and mix the colors. They are called teerers. They begin at five years of age, and labor twelve hours a day, sometimes sixteen; and are kept late into the night to prepare for the following day."

=173. Spinners.= "Each of the workmen at present employed in a cotton mill superintends as much work as could have been executed by two hundred or three hundred workmen sixty or seventy years ago; and yet, instead of being diminished, the numbers have increased even in a still greater proportion." Again, we read that "a single person can spin as much cotton in Lowell in an hour, as could three thousand Hindoos, by whom at one time cotton cloth was principally manufactured." The wages of cotton spinners in Paris are only from twenty to forty cents per day of twelve hours. We read in the Monthly Review, that "the masters of mills are unanimous in asserting that girls, and they alone are trained to flax spinning, never become expert artists, if they begin to learn after eleven." The small particles set loose in spinning affect respiration, and in the course of time do so very seriously. In many parts of Europe women carry portable distaffs, and spin as they walk. Two kinds of wheels are used for spinning--one for spinning cotton, tow, and wool--the other is used for flax. Steam machinery is mostly used for spinning cotton. The prices usually paid spinners will be found under factory operatives. I inquired of a girl spooling cotton for a weaver of coverlets, what wages she received. She replied: "$1.50 a week, working five hours a day."

=174. Spool Cotton.= A manufacturer at Fall River, Mass., writes: "We employ twenty women in spooling thread, and preparing it for market. The average pay is $3 per week, and they work eleven hours per day. It requires from one to two months to become expert. When learning, they are paid for what they do carefully. The qualifications needed are neatness, and dexterity in their manipulations. They are employed at all seasons. The demand and supply of work people are about equal. We employ twenty females, because the work is adapted to them, and they are quicker in motion than men. They pay $1.75 per week for board."

=175. Tape.= At W.'s, New York, I saw several women weaving tape for hoop skirts. They looked dirty and sad enough. They earn from $2 to $3.50 a week. It does not require long to learn, but they must stand all the time. W. finds it difficult to get good workers. The incessant hum of the machinery in such a low-roofed room would deafen me. I think it must affect the nerves of females. He pays a learner the first month $1.50 a week. After that, if she is competent, she will receive full wages. At the Graham Buildings, I saw the girls putting up tape for skirts. They earn from $3 to $4. The weavers earn from $4 to $6. It requires but a few days to learn to weave, and but a few hours to learn to measure and tie up tape. Most of the girls were Irish. Sixty were employed, and received work all the year.

=176. Weavers.= Weaving is an occupation that was followed by all classes of women in primitive ages. The story of Penelope's shroud has been read as far as Homer is known. In Africa spinning is mostly done by women, and the weaving by men. The invention of machinery has very much done away with manual weaving. Fifty years back all woollen and most of cotton goods were made in that way. Some jeans, coarse flannel, rag carpets, coverlets, and other similar articles are still woven by hand. Now, shawls, dress goods, gloves, hosiery, fine carpets, cassimere, and cloth in all its varieties, are woven by machinery. The uniting of threads, and a constant attention to the machinery, are all that is necessary. The wages vary according to the places, the capabilities of the operatives, the goods woven, and the price of living. "A practical working machine is now in activity, weaving silk by the motive power of electricity. It is applied at Lyons and St. Etienne to the Jacquard loom." Children are extensively employed in Great Britain as drawers to weavers. "The great majority of hand-loom cotton weavers work in cellars, sufficiently lighted to enable them to throw the shuttle, but cheerless, because seldom visited by the sun. The reason cellars are chosen is that cotton, unlike silk, requires to be woven damp. The air, therefore, must be cool and moist, instead of warm and dry." In Philadelphia, the average payment of female weavers is from $2.50 to $4 per week. Spinners and spoolers make but from 75 cents to $2. They are generally unskilful adults or very young girls. The number of female operatives engaged in the manufacture of textile fabrics in Philadelphia exceeds twelve thousand. A manufacturer in Providence writes me: "We do not consider weaving particularly unhealthy. We pay on an average $1 per day, by the piece. They work eleven hours a day; the time could not be shortened. Men spend from three to twelve months learning; women, from three to six weeks. Women are not paid while learning; men are. All seasons are alike. There is always a demand for weavers. We employ twenty-two women, one fourth are American; they are not inferior to men as weavers. Men pay $2 for good board; women, $1.75." A manufacturer of negro cloth in Connecticut writes: "The employment is very healthy. We pay weavers from $3.75 to $5 per week, and some make more by the piece. We pay men and women the same for their labor. Some parts are learned by women in two or three weeks. We generally pay women while learning. We sometimes stop a few days, in July and August, for water. They work eleven hours and a half, except Saturday; then from eight to ten hours. The time could be shortened by adding extra help and looms, equal to difference of time. We prefer women, because they weave more than men. All Americans. They are superior to men in tying knots. Good board, $1.25." A manufacturer of cotton cloths for calicoes writes: "Women and girls are employed in power-loom weaving. Weaving requires a little more labor and skill than the other departments. None under sixteen years are allowed to weave. Women are so employed over New England, much of New York, and Pennsylvania, but mostly in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. There is always a demand for girl weavers. It requires from one to three months to learn to weave. They will continue to grow more expert for three years. They weave by the cut from thirty to forty pounds. The wages of an expert weaver are from $4 to $6 per week; board, $1.50 per week. Men weavers are paid per cut the same. An expert weaver attends four looms, weaving from 150 to 160 yards per day. Seamers generally pay their way at the end of four weeks. The employment is not thought unhealthy.

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=177. Linen Manufacture.= Very little flax has been raised in this country. The quantity grown was mostly for the seed and the fibre. Ireland grows and exports large quantities. The soil is not adapted to its growth. It is the result of the most severe labor and high culture. In France, almost every peasant woman has a flax plot. She tends its growth, reaps, dresses, spins, bleaches, and weaves it herself. Some women are there employed in rotting flax and hemp. Generally, the manufacturers of flax goods confine themselves to special departments. Some take the raw flax, and convert it into yarn, and then stop. Some take the yarn and weave it, and when woven, bleach it; and some only take the unbleached woven cloth, and bleach it. In D. & Co.'s establishment in Ireland, all the departments are combined. Eight thousand people are dependent on this firm for support. Of these, four hundred females are employed in spinning and weaving flax. Hand-loom linen weaving is carried on chiefly in the north of Ireland, and, for the most part, made subsidiary to other employments--therefore, not the sole dependence of families. Women are employed in flax mills, in this country, England, and Canada West. A manufacturer writes from a village in New York: "The business is healthy, and women can do any part of the work, as well as men. Here, men receive from $9 to $14 per month. While learning, I pay my men $11 per month, and board them. The work is done in cold weather, away from the fire, and requires strong, healthy persons, warmly clad. The business is increasing in this country. The best season for work is from October till May, and sometimes later. It is not heavy work. I would pay women $5 a month and board, while learning; but to men would pay $11 a month and board." (Justice!) The treasurer of the Boston flax mills writes: "Dear Madam, women are employed on the different machines in preparing the stock, and in spinning and weaving. They are employed largely in England, Scotland, and Ireland, but not much in the United States. They are paid from fifty to seventy-five cents a day, and from fifty cents to $1 for piecework. Ordinary female hands are paid about one half as much as men of the same stamp; best workwomen about two thirds of same grade of men. Men are employed where it would be too difficult and laborious for women. For most work, a very short time is needed to learn; for the higher grades, often many months or years, according to capacity of worker. Common hands can earn fifty cents at once, and we would pay about that, or more, while learning the better description of work; but should not continue it, if they did not improve. A quick eye and hand, and a desire to give satisfaction, are the best qualifications. The prospect for employment in this branch is good. All the year work is furnished. Average time through the year for work is ten hours forty minutes. It is probable that a mill, where all hands were interested to do their best, would turn off as much work in ten hours as a similar mill would in eleven or twelve hours, where the hands were indifferent or careless. There are but few linen mills in this country, and probably in none of them is there a superfluity of good hands. We employ one hundred and twenty women and children. The work is different from that of the men. Our workwomen are mostly foreigners--Scotch, English, and some Irish. There is as much comfort in this occupation as laboring people would expect. The women pursue different branches. We find a great difference in the capacity of different women, but cannot suggest any superiority or inferiority as regards sexes. The general intellect among our women is very fair for foreigners, but would not be considered remarkable for Americans. Their evenings are their own, although there have been times, occasionally, when we have worked till nine o'clock, paying, of course, for extra work. The mill has a good library, and there is usually evening school in winter for those who wish to attend."

=178. Sewing Thread.= A manufacturer in Andover, Massachusetts, writes: "We employ about one hundred women, who receive about $3 per week, working eleven hours per day. Women are sometimes paid while learning. Morality, industry, and intelligence best fit them for their work. They work at all seasons. Very few are Americans. Women are inferior only in strength to men pursuing the same branch." The secretary of the American Linen Thread Company writes: "We employ about sixty women in spinning, twisting, reeling, rolling, skeining, &c. Those that work by the week receive $3; those by the piece, more or less. Women do the lightest work, and are paid about half as much as men. There is a prospect of this branch of labor increasing. They have work all the year. Those that are paid by the day work twelve hours. The time could not be shortened without serious loss. Most are foreigners. Board, $1.50 to $2." A member of a firm in Schenectady writes: "We have thirty women in our flax and tow factory, because they are best adapted to the work. The work is healthy. We pay from $3 to $4.50 per week, working twelve hours per day. The working time could not be shortened. A superintendent would require from two to three years to learn. A girl, say sixteen years old, would require about a year. Learners receive half wages. Summer is the best season, but they have work all the year. There is no surplus of female workers in the business. Two thirds of our women are American, one third English. Women could not perform that part of the work done by men, and vice versa. One third board, and pay $1.50 per week. The Americans have a common school education, and are intelligent. The larger ones are teachers in Sabbath schools; the smaller ones scholars. The best localities are in the Northern and Western States."--SHOE THREAD. A manufacturer told me, most or all the flax used for shoe thread in this country is imported. "The greater part of the shoe thread used in the United States is spun by machinery, at Leeds, in England, from Russian flax." The flax of this country is not fine enough; and, for bleaching, the climate of this country and Scotland is too changeable. If the bleachers succeed in getting it of a pure white, they extract the substance--the life of the plant--so that it will not retain its strength. Flax is not much attended to in this country, but it is because the tariff is so low that no encouragement is given to manufacturers. Pennsylvania makes more woven goods of coarse linen than any other State, and Philadelphia more than any other city. Labor is so cheap in Europe, that linen can be made there more cheaply than here. Mr. A. employs a number of small girls in his mills for winding the thread into balls, as it is imported in skeins, and pays them from $1.50 to $2 a week. They work only in daylight. He thinks the occupation is well filled. Most factories of the kind are in small towns where living is cheap.

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=179. Woollen Manufacture.= Women and children are not so much employed in the woollen as in other manufactures, owing to the severe labor required in some of the processes. Wool growing is increasing in the United States, particularly in Texas. We doubt not but many woollen manufactures will spring up when business revives. We called on the widow of a wool puller, to ascertain what the business is, and learned that it consists in steeping sheep skins in lime water, then rinsing them in clean water, then removing the wool from the skin, and packing it in bales to send away. The daughter of a wool puller in Utica writes: "Part of the work of a wool puller could be performed by women--that of removing the wool from the skin, and sorting it according to the quality. In Gloucester, England, women were at one time employed as wool pullers. The business is healthy, owing to the presence of disinfectants employed in manufacturing. It could be made respectable and remunerative." A wool puller in Buffalo writes: "I employ some girls in sewing sheep skins. They are paid by the piece, and earn $4.50 a week. Board, $2. It requires a week for a woman to learn her part--a lifetime for a man to learn his. A steady hand and good eyesight are essential. There must be work of this kind as long as boots and shoes are fashionable. The most busy seasons are fall, winter, and spring. The best location is where sheep are raised and bark to be had." People employed in the making of cloth are wool sorters and pickers, scourers, carders, slubbers, spinners, warpers, sizers, weavers, burlers, boilers, millers, giggers or dressers, croppers, singers, fuzers, glossers, drawers, and packers. Some of these are women. I am sorry to say that carding--the most unhealthy process of all--is performed almost exclusively by women, and at low prices.

=180. Blankets.= "Blankets were first made at Bristol, England, by a poor weaver named Thomas Blanket, who gave his name to this peculiar manufacture of woollen cloths." One hundred and twenty-two women are reported in the census of Great Britain for 1850, as blanket manufacturers. A blanket manufacturer in New Hampshire writes: "Women are employed in carding, weaving, and binding. The work is not unhealthy. Average wages are seventy cents per day of eleven hours, and they are paid by the piece. Women receive about two thirds of the wages of men, because they do less laborious work. It requires from one week to three months to learn. They are paid small wages while learning. The manufacture of blankets will increase. Business is the same at all seasons. There is a demand for hands in many of the manufacturing villages, and a surplus in country towns. We have twenty women, all American. They do light work faster than men. They pay for board twenty-one cents per day, in private families."

=181. Carpets.= Mr. Lagrange writes: "The carpets of Smyrna and Caramania, so widely esteemed, are evidence of what woman's genius can produce. They are all woven by feminine hands." In 1858 there were 2,500 persons employed in the manufacture of carpets in and near Philadelphia. Ingrain and Venetian are the kinds mostly made there, but some of a very cheap quality are also manufactured. Those made at Hartford and Lowell are all worsted goods. The business, we believe, has been a successful and lucrative one. It is said that much carpeting is sold in this country, as English, that is in reality American. Our finest carpets are imported. I visited Mr. H.'s carpet factory, New York city, and saw the entire process, from putting the wool in to its coming out in various kinds of carpeting, ingrain, velvet, Brussels, tapestry, &c. From that manufactory we have the following report: "Females tend carding, spinning, spooling, weaving, and other machines, in the manufacture of carpeting. The employment is not unhealthy. The branch of manufacture and the capacities of females vary the wages from 50 cents to $1 per day of eleven hours. Three fourths work by the piece. Males and females are not employed at the same kind of work. The time required to learn any branch of the carpet trade depends on the natural talent and application of the learner. Many never become proficient enough to pursue the business profitably. The prices paid to learners depend on their success. Health, natural talent, and application are essential. The prospect of employment in the business is good. They have work the whole year, except during unusual depressions of the trade. Whether the work time of eleven hours could be shortened would depend on the profit on the quantity produced in ten hours, compared with that produced in eleven hours. There is no demand for female labor at the present time. We employ from 500 to 600 females, because their labor is cheaper. About one third are Americans. The comfort and remuneration is better than the average of other employments in this city. They are employed by us in all branches they can be. Females perform some branches better than men. They have free evening schools, libraries, lectures, and churches in abundance. About one half board. The majority board in private families, the comfort depending generally on the price paid." Carpet manufacturers in Wrentham, Massachusetts, write: "We employ women in winding yarn. It is unhealthy only because of sitting so steadily. Women average $14 per month, and are paid by the piece. They work ten hours a day. It requires but a few weeks to learn the business. Women are paid something while learning. They are employed all the year. We employ eight, because the work is better adapted to them. All the workwomen are foreigners. Men, as a general thing, do not want to be confined to indoor work, unless the wages are high. Good board can be had at $1.50 per week." A gentleman, who was once superintendent of the carpet factory at Lowell, informed me all the weavers were females, when he was there, and earned from $3.50 to $4.00 on an average. They had about thirty pickers (females), whose business it was to pick the knots and loose wool off the carpets.

=182. Carpet Bags.= K. & M., carpet-bag makers, have a factory in Newark. The carpet bags are sewed up and the buttons put in by machines. The lining is put in by hand. It is piecework, and the girls earn from $3 to $6 a week. It requires but a short time to become sufficiently expert to make it pay. The busiest times are from February 1st to June, and from the middle of July to the 1st of November. One of the proprietors thinks the prospect to learners is good, for the business will extend. It has increased five hundredfold in the last five years. Their girls are mostly Americans. Making trunk covers is piecework. The linings could be put in trunks and valises and the varnish put on by girls. The linings could be better put in valises than trunks by women, as they are lighter and less difficult to handle. At H.'s carpet-bag factory, I was told they employ seventy girls, and make from ninety to one hundred dozen bags a day. They keep their hands all the year, with the exception of three weeks. Some work by machine and some by hand. They take learners when busy. A smart girl can learn in making two or three dozen bags--of course, is not paid while learning. They used to allow a few hands, accustomed to the work, to give instruction to learners, having the profits of their work for their time. Those that work by machine can earn from $3 to $4.50; hand sewers from $3 to $6. These work by the piece. Those paid by the week work ten hours, and earn from $2.50 to $5. The gentleman thinks the prospect for learners to enter the business is poor. I think differently, if the statement that he made is true, that there are no manufacturers West or South. A regulation that struck me as being very unjust was, that if a girl learns in their factory and goes elsewhere to seek work, she cannot be taken into their factory again, unless she makes eight or ten dozen bags for them without pay. A manufacturer of carpet and oil-cloth bags writes: "We pay by the piece, and women earn from $4 to $6 per week, working ten hours a day. Women can learn in one month, if skilful with the needle. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but we find work for our hands through the winter. They work at home."

=183. Cassimere.= A manufacturer of cassimere in New Hampshire writes: "We pay mostly by the week, $3.50, working eleven hours a day. We pay the same to women as men. It requires from two to twelve weeks to learn. They are paid what they can earn while learning. There is no surplus of workwomen in this branch of labor. Our girls board in families, and pay $1.34 per week." A manufacturer in Vermont says: "Twenty women are employed by me. They are all American or English. They are paid according to the amount of work they do. Girls that weave make $3, besides board. Some are paid by the yard, and some by the week. They are paid as much as men for the same kind of work. It usually takes four weeks to learn to weave. Learners give their time. Work is performed ten hours a day all the year. Women prefer factory to housework. They pay $1.50 per week for board." A manufacturer in New Hampshire writes: "We pay from $2.50 to $4.50 per week. For the work that women can do in our establishment, they are worth more than men, as they can work quicker. Women soon learn to weave, but for the first six months they are not worth more than half pay. The prospect for future employment is good. The best seasons for work are spring, summer, and fall. They are usually employed ten hours a day. We employ none but American women. Some parts of our business are suitable for women, but we can get boys cheaper. Board $1.25 per week." B. Brothers, of Proctorsville, Vermont, write: "We employ from thirty to forty American women in preference to men, because the work is more suitable for them. Prospects for increase of employment in this line are very flattering. The women average $2.50 per week with board. They work twelve hours a day, and can be employed all the year. They are superior in all respects to men. If they were not, we should employ men. Their facilities for mental and moral culture are good. Women are paid less than men, on account of the work being light. Board $1.50 per week." The Globe Woollen Company (Utica, New York) write: "Our women, seventy-five in number, earn from $3 to $6 a week, and are paid both by the piece and week. Men and women work together in the weaving room. It requires but a few days to learn to weave, although experience is valuable, both on account of wages and excellence of production. Mental and physical ability ought to be combined to insure success. The prospect for future employment is good. Continual employment is given. Our hands work 12 hours each day, Saturdays 10½. One fourth are Americans, and they live and dress well. The demand for labor is good all through the country. There is no part of our business where women could be advantageously introduced, where not now employed. The women have all the facilities a city affords for mental and aesthetic culture."