PLAN No. 959. WORKING IN GOLD
A factory that works with gold employs designers in the same way as does the platinum factory.
The metal itself first goes to a melter and roller, who puts it into crucibles, then into the furnace, and then rolls it into ingots. The work is heavy, and necessitates standing and the use of both arms and feet. Wages are $25 per week.
In the cheaper-grade factories the gold, instead of going to the engraver for piecework, goes directly to the press and stamping room, where it is pierced by machines, stamped and pressed into patterns by the gross. Conditions of work are the same as in the first department, except the presswork, which is fairly light, but necessitates the use of one leg. Wages range from $18 to $25 per week.
The article then goes to the jeweler, who assembles the parts, solders them in the center, and shapes them by the aid of small machines and blowpipes, according to samples shown him. Wages are from $18 to $40 per week.
The work next goes to the polisher, either a man or a girl, who does the polishing seated at a buffing wheel. The polisher earns from $18 to $35 per week.
If the article is to be dipped in a solution to change its color, it then goes to the colorer, who is often also a polisher, and earns the same wages.
When fine work is done by an engraver, his work is much the same as in a platinum factory. Very expert work is paid from $40 to $60 per week. The same statement applies to the stone setter, who is paid by the piece, and often makes from $70 to $100 per week.
The article lastly goes to the finisher, who is here again merely an ordinary jeweler who inspects the completed work.
The toolmaker has charge of making the stamping dies, at 75 cents an hour.
Advantages of The Jewelry Trade
The advantages of the jewelry trade for men with disabled legs are many. First of all the work is seated and requires little physical strength. Most of the processes are carried on at long tables near windows, with articles laid on a sort of easel in front of the men and manipulated with small instruments. The trade itself is such as to insure good working conditions—good light, sanitary workrooms, fair precautions against fire (the sprinkler system is in many factories) and space sufficient to avoid overcrowding. There are no unpleasant odors or unsanitary by-products such as are found in many industries, and there is little noise. Hours have been shortened in the past 10 years from 55 to 44 per week in New York City and Newark and to 48 throughout the rest of the country. Employment is stable, and the fairly skilled mechanic finds work all the year round. The busy season is in summer and fall; but the spring, which is light, is utilized for developing new ideas for quality production later and stock taking for the holiday season.
As an old stone setter put it, “Training in jewelry work is a good investment, and never leaves a man with a trade on his hands and no value in the market for it.”
Another important advantage of the jewelry trade is its demand for man labor. The industry is a steady, probably a developing one, with possibilities of extended export trade. It can probably absorb a large number of men. Jewelers find it hard to get apprentice boys, chiefly because the apprenticeship is long and poorly paid, but that difficulty is done away with for soldiers, who are paid by the Government while in training. Platinum factories employ on an average 70 to 80 men, gold factories from 400 to 500. There are nearly 150 factories in Newark and about 300 in New York, who assert that they need labor and will pay good prices to get it. Employees start at some such process as soldering, at $10 to $15 per week, and can work up to $20 to $30, and in the better class work later to $60 and $75, or even $125.