Women in the Printing Trades: A Sociological Study.

by Unknown

9.—HOME WORK.

In which branches is this done, and to what extent?

Plant required.

Rates of pay compared with work done inside.

Why, from the point of view of the home worker in each case, is home work done?

10.—INFLUENCE OF WOMEN'S WAGES ON THE FAMILY INCOME.

Occupation of husband.

Amount contributed towards home expenses.

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[APPENDIX II.] DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN TYPICAL FIRMS.

1. A.,[94] A well-known Printing Firm in London. Employée's Information.

[94] Index letters by which reference is made to the firm in the body of the volume, except in the chapter on wages.

WORK.—Folding, sewing, numbering, etc.

REGULARITY.—The work is not seasonal, at any rate at A.

HEALTH.—Numbering is very bad for a weak chest and makes one's head ache as well. Girls with weak chests cannot stand it. Folding, however, is not unhealthy unless the hours are too long.

HOURS.—At B. they are 48 per week; but at A. they are 53½, distributed as follows:—Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.; Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; one hour for dinner and half an hour for tea being allowed each full working day.

GENERAL. The sanitary arrangements are very bad at A., and lavatories open straight out of workrooms, and are in very bad condition. One does not use them unless she wants to get a fever. The company is very mixed. "You can tell that it is rather a low place, because the girls wear curlers and nothing is said. When one works at B. she has to take out curlers before she comes. You can always tell the sort of place when the girls wear curlers."

2. A well-known Printing Firm in London. Forewoman's Information.

WORK.—6 or 7 girls are employed at machine ruling, and a few at vellum sewing and folding.

REGULARITY.—The girls are kept on all the year round.

HOURS.—The hours are from 8 a.m. to 7.30 p.m., with one hour for dinner and half an hour for tea.

PROSPECTS.—Might rise to forewomen, but that not common.

GENERAL.—Work girls have nothing to complain of now; they are always very well looked after.

3. S., Small Printing Firm in London. Employée's Evidence.

WORK.—16 girls and 1 man (who is an engineer) are employed, S. helping himself. Upstairs there are 2 men "blocking," and 2 girls powdering for them. The girls do all the printing, e.g., the informant can set up the type, lock it into the frame, make ready, and then feed the platen machine—which alone is used in this firm. Informant can also clean the machine. She also does "bronzing," i.e., dusting-on bronze with a pad. The girls powdering upstairs do nothing else. A few younger girls fold circulars.

REGULARITY.—Work is steady, and they are always busy.

HEALTH.—Bronzing is most unhealthy. ——'s colour has all gone since she was put on to it a few weeks ago. "You are supposed to have milk to drink, but you never get more than half a cupful at the end of the day, when it is too late. The inspector has been round and has asked about the milk, but of course the manager said that milk was always given." (Informant looked very ill.) She had to stay away from work all the previous Thursday, and lost a shilling in consequence. Her father and mother say she must leave the work or she will die. "You see, they lost a brother of mine at twenty-three and a sister at thirteen, and they don't want me to go off too."

The powdering done by the girls in the blocking room is very unhealthy. None of them can stand it long. They get ill and go off elsewhere. It brings on consumption.

Feeding machines is very tiring.

One girl works the cutting machine, which is unfit for a woman and very dangerous. A girl who worked it lost her finger and was six weeks in hospital, but the firm paid her well not to tell. The printing machines are dangerous, for you often get your fingers caught; it comes back quicker than you expect.

HOURS.—The hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with one hour for dinner and a quarter of an hour for tea; on Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., with half an hour for a meal. They never get away at 6 though, not till 6.30 or later, for there are the machines to be cleaned and things to be cleared up.

GENERAL.—Mr. S. sometimes comes round and talks as if he were the kindest of employers. "He'll say, 'Take care of your head, there, dear.' It makes you sick to hear him. If he'd give better wages it would be more to the point."

4. Q., Job Printing Firm in London. Visit to Works.

WORK.—I went through the works and saw 10 extra young girls sticking on pockets for stamps on to an appeal sheet of ...; one girl feeding a platen machine which was gumming instead of printing; 4 or 5 upstairs in the regular folding room folding....

REGULARITY.—Q. has only 4 or 5 regular hands, and when there is a rush of work, he takes on job hands. "You put up a bill and can easily get 100 if you want them." He dislikes the custom, but does not see how it is to be obviated in the printing trade. "You suddenly have 75,000 circulars to do, and you don't know when the next order will be."

HOURS.—The hours are from 8 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., with one hour for dinner, ten minutes for lunch and ten minutes for tea. Girls prefer this to half an hour for tea and leaving at 7. On Saturdays the hours are from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., no meal time being allowed. The married women, however, rarely come till 9 a.m.

5. L., Printing, etc., Firm in London. Employée's Evidence.

Work.—200 girls are employed at L.'s. Informant does folding now, used to do sewing by machine.

REGULARITY.—The work is regular, "but you never know when the work is coming in. They are always busy with the ... guides at the end of the month, and two or three job hands come in."

HEALTH.—She has always found the occupation healthy.

PROSPECTS.—None; is slow herself. She has worked at L.'s six years, and has never known of anyone becoming a forelady.

DANGERS.—She has never had an accident, and was working on a machine for five years.

HOURS.—The hours are from 8.30 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m., with an hour for dinner (from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.), and half an hour for tea (4 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.) and from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Sometimes they are let off early if there is no work. But some girls go and lark about in the street, and then the manager scolds the forelady and she will not let the others go. She never takes a holiday except Bank Holidays.

GENERAL.—Only talks to a few of the girls, but they are quite a nice set.

6. T., Weekly Newspaper Firm in London. Visit to Works.

WORK.—Folding, gathering, collating, sewing (all sewing by machinery), or stabbing with wire, insetting, wrappering (glue pot), feeding folding machines.

REGULARITY.—It is more or less regular, but there is the regular weekly and monthly work, so there is less fluctuation than in "binding houses."

Tuesday to Friday are busy days, and the forewoman employs some married women who come in as long as they are wanted.

DANGERS.—One stitching machine is dangerous, the forewoman said; the folded sheet has to be pushed along with the hand and there is the chance of the hand being caught.

HOURS.—The hours are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., occasionally till 8; one hour being allowed for dinner and half an hour for tea.

PROSPECTS.—The girls may rise to forewomen and a sort of deputy-forewoman, chosen by forewoman, to overlook certain rooms. The girls are not, as a rule, at all eager for the responsibility.

7. Large Bookbinding Firm in London.

(A.) Manager's Information.

WORK.—Folding, sewing, collating, placing plates, laying-on gold, etc.

REGULARITY.—The work is partly seasonal. They are busy in the winter time, and work to limits allowed by the Factory Acts; they are slack in the summer, and may even have no work for three weeks or so at a time.

DANGERS.—They have only had two accidents. One was with an ordinary sewing machine; the other was with a Bremner machine, when a little girl was setting it up. She caught her finger in it, but was not away from work a fortnight.

HOURS.—They work 48 hours per week, allowing one and a half hours for meals per day, i.e., from 8 a.m to 12, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and from 4.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.; on Saturdays, from 8 a.m to 12. This really comes to 49 hours a week if the girls are punctual, but he reckons 48 hours because they are not punctual.

PROSPECTS.—Only a chance of rising to forewomen.

(B.) Forewoman's Evidence.

REGULARITY.—It is a season trade and they are just beginning to be slack (March) in Miss X.'s shop where the new work is done.

HEALTH.—Miss X. "had been through it all," and thought folding dreadfully tiring. There is nothing specially unhealthy about it.

HOURS.—The hours are supposed to be 49 a week, but if there is any work they do not keep to that. A 48 hours' week only means that the time workers get paid extra. Miss X. worked in a place where they were supposed to have 51 hours a week but rarely made more than 40.

The firm make their girls stay as little as possible when there is no work, but this is very different to most places, as the workpeople are studied here.

(C.) Employée's Evidence.

WORK.—In E., Bible work and new or cloth work are quite separate, and there are separate hands for each. She did folding for the Bible work herself.

HEALTH.—The work is not very healthy. "Sitting all day is bad for you," but there is no special disease. Bible work is light work, as much of it is on India paper; new work is much heavier.

HOURS.—The hours are from 8.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., with an hour for dinner and half an hour for tea, but when busy they work till 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. This happens about thirty times a year. They are allowed to go home if there is not work.

[There is a very nice set of girls at the Bible work; they are particular there about whom they take, and it is a very good house to be in.]

GENERAL.—It is rather dull and tiring working because they are not supposed to talk to each other at Bible work.

8. Printing and Stationery Firm in London. General Information.

TRAINING.—In the BOOK-FOLDING and VELLUM SEWING DEPARTMENT the girls have an agreement to serve two years.

Age at beginning.—Fourteen.

Premium.—None.

Wages.—6 months at 1s., 6 months at 2s. 6d., 6 months at 5s., and 6 months at 7s. 6d. per week.

In the NUMBERING, RELIEF STAMPING, etc., PACKING DEPARTMENT there are no indentures or regular system of apprenticeship but girls are expected to serve about two years.

Age at beginning.—Fourteen.

Premium.—None.

Wages.—Girls start at 1s. per week, for, say, three months, then get three-quarter earnings. Very few are trained in this firm, they take on workers who have learnt elsewhere. How many branches learners are taught seems to depend on chance. Some old hands do all the processes, some only one.

MACHINE RULING.—In this department there is no system. Little girls come and feed at 5s. and 7s. per week. When they have been at it a year or two they are drafted off to other departments.

LITHOGRAPHIC WORK.—There is no regular training in this department. It only takes about two weeks to learn the work done by girls here.

NOTEPAPER FOLDING requires no training. "Why! you could pick it up in a week or two."

WAGES.—The firm does much work for public bodies, and so has to pay "fair" wages. The manager did not seem to know whether this applied to women's work too, but evidently it does.

DEPARTMENT I.—NUMBERING, etc.—The manager gave wages as 11s. to 16s. per week, some being paid on time and some on piece work. The foreman considered 14s. to be about the average. The following girls were questioned:—

One packer got 12s. (time wages) per week.

Another packer got 13s. (time wages) per week.

One piece relief stamper got about 13s. (piece work) per week.

Another piece relief stamper got about 16s. (piece work) per week.

One numberer got 15s. (piece work) per week.

DEPARTMENT II.—LITHOGRAPHIC FEEDING.—Here girls start at 6s. and rise up to 14s. (time wages).

DEPARTMENT III.—MACHINE RULING.—In this department all wages are for time work. Quite little girls receive 4s. or 5s. up to 7s. per week. They are drafted off when they want higher wages than that. There were, however, two older ones in the room who were folding and counting the ruled foolscap paper at 14s. per week.

DEPARTMENT IV.—BOOK-FOLDING, etc.—Out of the 45 girls employed in this department, 10 were on time work, and were being paid from 13s. to 16s. per week. The piece workers, according to the forewoman, were making from 13s. to 16s. per week, taking all the year round. Some were making over 20s. per week.

DEPARTMENT V.—VELLUM WORK.—All 15 girls employed here were on time work. They got 11s. per week when first out of their time; 12s. after two years. None were receiving over 12s., except one who "makes up" at 13s. a week. These wages were given by the forewoman. The manager seemed surprised that they were not higher, and remarked that they were lower than in the book-folding department. The forewoman said that in most places the vellum workers got more than book workers, but this firm had arranged otherwise.

DEPARTMENT VI.—The girls FOLDING NOTEPAPER in the warehouse were getting 13s. or 14s. (time wages) per week.

WORK.—Department I.—NUMBERING, RELIEF STAMPING, PERFORATING, PACKING, and GUMMING going on.

The numbering and the stamping are different trades, done by different girls, but most of them can do packing as well, though in some cases they learn packing only. They can mostly do perforating and gumming, odds and ends too. Some were folding postal forms. Special envelope orders are done here. About 35 girls were employed.

There was one man doing the illuminating required and working at a rather heavy press. There was also a good number of youths doing numbering. I tried vainly to find out what they were paid. The manager and the foreman said that they were not doing the same work; it was the same except that a name was stamped on as well as a number (it was on money orders). Two girls were also doing this, but I was assured that that was only "by accident." Two or three boys were perforating and stamping.

DEPARTMENT II.—LITHO PRINTING. Girls were feeding machines and washing rollers. About 12 girls were employed.

DEPARTMENT III.—MACHINE RULING. Little girls were feeding the ruling machines, and a few older ones were counting and folding the foolscap paper; 18 girls were employed.

DEPARTMENT IV.—BOOKBINDING and SEWING. All sorts of folding, sewing and stitching (by machine mostly), eyeletting, etc., etc., were being carried on, and about 45 girls were employed.

DEPARTMENT V.—VELLUM WORK. SEWING, FOLDING, etc., for account books and ledgers was being done; 15 girls were employed, also one girl "laying-on" for cloth work, and two or three running errands.

DEPARTMENT VI.—In the WAREHOUSE were three girls folding notepaper.

REGULARITY.—Work here is constant all the year round. The forewoman in the book-folding department said they only had in job hands about twice a year.

HOURS.—The firm works about 54 hours per week, i.e., from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., with one hour for dinner, half an hour for tea, and ten minutes for lunch. On Saturdays they work from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

OVERTIME.—It was very difficult to get anything definite about overtime pay. The manager first said that they all got 6d. an hour overtime. Then he said that piece workers were simply paid at piece rates. The forewoman in the book-folding department said that time hands got 4d. an hour overtime. In the vellum work they never had any overtime. These extra payments seem to be irregularly made.

PROSPECTS.—The girls can rise to forewoman's position, here or elsewhere. Vellum work forewoman mentioned that two of her young ladies had become forewomen elsewhere.

ORGANISATION.—The manager knew that a Women's Union existed, but thought it was more of a Benefit Society than anything else. He assured me that the problem of the organisation of women's labour was the problem in trade, and seemed vaguely to regret that women were so helpless and ready to be cut down.

MARRIED AND UNMARRIED.—The manager estimated twelve years as the average period that a woman remained in the trade. He fancied that there were a good many married women here; but when we went round and asked the different heads of departments we found that the only married ones were 2 in the litho department, i.e., 2 out of 12 in that department, i.e., 2 out of about 128 employed altogether. In the other departments the forewomen or foremen did not care to have them because they were so irregular. "You can never count on them." Two widows were employed in the book-folding department. The head of the litho department had only lately found out that two of his employees were married—one had run away from her husband, the other's husband was a stone polisher and she had to come out to keep the house going. The manager was very decided that undoubtedly married women's work tended to lower wages. They only want a little to supplement their husbands' earnings. He explained afterwards that his remarks applied more to the provinces than to London. He thought that the thing to aim at in improving the industrial position of women was the abolition of the married woman worker. How this could be done he could not say. The forewoman of the book-folding and sewing department, who had had some experience of married jobbers, said that they would not do ordinary work at ordinary rates, as they did not consider it worth their while. They had not got to earn any money, as they had husbands to fall back upon. The manager said that in the litho department the single girls thought it infra dig. to wash the rollers, but the married women "made no bones about it."

LEGISLATION.—In no case had women been turned away because of restrictive legislation. A certain amount of folding and stitching has to be done by men at night, and he would say that about 2 or 3 men were employed at this for about one hour five nights in the week. Sometimes the folding was not ready till 11 p.m., and the men had to hang about before. The manager thought that the chief grievance of the Factory Acts was that if only one woman in a department was employed overtime, one of the thirty legal nights was thereby used up. The manager thought that it was forty-eight nights you might work overtime, and seemed surprised on looking up the notices to find that it was thirty only. He approved of Factory Legislation on the whole, and thought that women had benefited by it. Personally, he would like to see all overtime abolished by law for men and women. Men worked worse next day when they had had to sit up at night. Public bodies were the worst offenders in the matter, "They have no consciences." The forewoman of the folding and sewing, where overtime was worked, said that her girls disliked overtime very much; and she did not think it worth while working them, as they could do less work next day in consequence. She had much rather that the men did it at night. She and the manager agreed that in places where women did not make a decent wage by working ordinary hours they might want to work at night. As to the effect Factory Legislation had upon the diverting of work from the home to the workshop, or vice versâ, the manager thought that the tendency had been for work to come in to the factory. There used to be much more home work.

MEN AND WOMEN.—According to the manager, there is a hard and fast line drawn by the various Societies in London as to what a woman may or may not do.

In Bookbinding of all descriptions she is practically confined to folding and sewing. She may not touch a glue brush or do any putting of paper books or magazines into paper covers.

In the provinces, on the other hand, the rules of the Consolidated Societies are different. A woman may do flush binding (i.e., books whose covers are cut on a level with the leaves and which have no "turnings in") up and foolscap size, two quires. Hence women do diaries, etc. In certain works at Tonbridge women are set to do this.

Litter-press Printing.—This firm had never tried female compositors. They had 100 men. If they tried to introduce women, all the men would go out and "you'd have a hornet's nest." The idea of paying women at the same rate as men struck them as ridiculous. "They would never be worth as much because they stay such a little time." They might some day try women compositors in their country establishment.

Feeding Printing Machines.—They might not employ women on platen machines because of the Union, but were going to try them on smallish letter-press machines. The Union had no objection to that.

Machine Ruling.—The firm only had little girls for feeding. The foreman remarked that at R.'s, "over the water," they had women to do most of their ruling, but did not seem to think that it would be worth while to train a woman for it. At first he said that the Men's Union would object, then said that he thought they would not; only he would have to give the woman the same pay as a man, "and fancy giving a woman 32s. a week!" This was uttered in a tone of supreme contempt. The manager remarked that he supposed it would not matter paying the woman the same if she did as much work, but the foreman smiled superior to the idea.

WOMEN AND MACHINERY.—The manager thought that the output of printed matter had increased so enormously since the introduction of machinery that more hands than ever were employed.

The forewoman of the folding and sewing department said that it seemed as if there must be fewer employed, and yet she had never turned any off.

HOME WORK.—No home work is given out by the firm. Since so much was done by machinery it was not worth while to send work out.

INFLUENCE ON FAMILY INCOME.—The manager and forewoman and foreman said that none of the girls were working for pocket-money. Most lived at home and helped their parents; some who had no parents lived with relatives.

GENERAL.—The premises were rather nice and the people looked superior and friendly. There was a great gulf fixed between the litho girls and the others. The latter look down tremendously on these former and would not think of speaking to them. They are a much lower set to look at and their language is reported not to be choice. Many of them were arrayed in curlers, whilst none of the girls in other departments wore these decorations.

The vellum sewers were said by their forewoman to be "a nice family party."

9. Lithographic Firm. General Information.

GENERAL.—I saw the manager; he was "very much on the spot," friendly and communicative, and took me all over the works and was quite interested in showing different processes. He said he had to look sharp after his workers, and so they often thought him a bully.

WORK.—Chief work done is lithography, but there is also a certain amount of letter-press work. Engraving and stationery orders are given out in sub-contract.

TRAINING.—In the binding room, i.e., where folding is done, there are no learners now, but they need to have one or two. These apprentices were taken on from fourteen years of age without premiums, and were kept two or three years according to ability. They were paid a few shillings to begin with, and, if good at their work, they rose gradually. If slow and stupid, they got nothing. The forewoman said she did not care to take learners now; "they are more trouble than they are worth."

In the litho room the firm never had apprentices. The new hands come in and begin "taking-off" for about 8s. By-and-by, according to their nimbleness, they are elevated to "layers-on."

In card mounting there is no training. It is picked up in a few months, and new hands start at about 8s. per week, time wages.

WAGES.—Binding Room.—The staff (12 girls) are all on time work, the extra hands are paid piece work. Time wages range from 12s. to 14s. I was shown last week's wages, and they ranged from 7s. to 15s., the forewoman having £1 2s. 6d.; 7s. to 8s. was the predominant figure. Job hands on piece "make as much as 15s. in a full week," I was informed, but the wage book that week showed they had only made about 7s. or 8s.

For overtime, time and a quarter is paid to all time workers, ordinary rates to piece workers.

Litho Work.—All wages in this department are time wages, and vary from 8s. to 12s. or 14s. In the wages book the predominant figure was 7s.; there were two 5s. and some 8s., and up to 12s. When bronzing the workers appeared to get 1s. extra.

Card Mounting.—All time wages paid here, and they were said to range from 8s. to 12s. In the wages book, however, 6s. and 7s. were the predominant figures. Some were as low as 5s., and there were a few girls who had drawn 8s.

NO. EMPLOYED.—There were about 200 employees, of whom one-third were women. The number fluctuated, I was told.

Litho Artists' Work.—8 or 9 men were employed on this, but no women on the premises. The firm often accepted sketches from lady artists living outside, some of whom could even work on stone.

Litho Machine Work.—Girls are employed feeding litho machines, and they have about 30 when busy. When I was there only about 12 were engaged. When bronzing by hand is wanted these girls are set to it (13 were doing it last week). In the same room is

Card Mounting.—There were only 3 girls at that, but sometimes there are as many as 12 or 13. This consists of pasting the advertisement, almanac, etc., on to a piece of cardboard, varnishing it, eyeletting it, tying the bits of cord through (the 3 girls were doing that), and sometimes putting gelatine over the surface—a minor trade, at which they get better paid.

The same girls do occasional work in the cutting room; not at the big guillotines, but (a) at feeding a machine which cuts the strips down or blocks into bent shapes like a small almanac of ——'s mustard which I saw; (b) at putting shapes on to huge piles of sheets of advertisements and labels, which are then pressed into the sheets by a heavy top weight being brought down by steam. They were doing some big "flies," on to which a string was to be put, so that they could be whirled round and buzz.

Binding Room.—There were only about 12 girls employed, but there was room for 100, and they have them in at a press of work. They do folding by hand in this firm for certain newspapers and all sorts of advertisements. Wire stitching is also done. They were folding various things, packing up labels, and so on, when I was there.

REGULARITY.—The firm's trade fluctuates, but by no regular fixed seasons; they are always busy before Christmas.

HEALTH.—I was told that it was quite a mistake to think bronzing unhealthy. The manager stated he had known men at it for months at a time without any evil effects. They sometimes imagined themselves ill, but he had never known of a single case of real illness. They grumble at doing it, and pretend that they are afraid of it because then they get extra money (1s. extra a week). They really object to it because it is bad for clothes—as you get covered with dust—and uncomfortable to be all powdered with gold.

He had a machine below on which most work was done, except when there was a great press. Messrs. —— gave him out so many thousand to do; he could not do them fast enough with only one machine, and it was not worth while having more than one as he had not work enough ordinarily. No dust escaped from the machine. As a proof of the healthiness of bronzing he said that he stood for three or four hours in the middle of it all, "keeping them to their work" (which they want), and got all covered over with the dust himself. "You wouldn't get a manager doing that himself if it were unhealthy." He always gave his bronzers one pint of milk a day to drink, he stated with pride.

The other work, folding, card mounting, etc., was all quite healthy. Indeed, work was unhealthy more on account of bad ventilation than of any circumstance belonging to itself; he always had the window open and a board put across the bottom, 6 ins. high, on the most approved plan. The workpeople grumbled very much and tried to paste up every crevice with brown paper, but they could not shut it. They objected to the incandescent burners which he put in, for they liked the heat of the gas and missed it.

DANGERS.—Occasionally girls catch their skirts in wheels and so on, but there are never any "bad accidents." "With people of that class it is 'funk' more than pain that they suffer; they will turn as white as anything from just a little flesh wound with a cog-wheel." The Factory Inspectors were very fussy about fencing machinery, he thought. He told me long stories about men's carelessness and how the boys would sit on the edge of the lift. He fined them 2s. 6d. for it.

HOURS.—The hours are about 54 a week, from 8 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., with one hour for dinner. The women are allowed by the forewomen to have lunch in the middle of the morning and tea in the afternoon, and when the men are industrious the manager has no objection to their taking "snacks." If it is an idler, he objects.

When busy, the work continues till 8 p.m. He had not used special exemption once the last year.

PROSPECTS.—There are no prospects except for the girls in the binding room. The present forewoman ("a jewel") had been with the firm for thirty years; one or two others whom she had trained could take her place.

ORGANISATION.—He had no knowledge of any Women's Unions covering the women employed here. This is a Society house in every branch for the men, but the manager said, "Trades Unionism is all humbug," and he would like to do away with it altogether, if possible; but it is so strong in London that if you want to get good men you must be a Society house.

MARRIED AND UNMARRIED.—He employed 2 or 3 married women amongst litho feeders. The firm ask no questions, but he said he knew most of the workers.

A lot of the job hands were married, but none of the regular hands in binding room.

LEGISLATION.—In manager's opinion legislation had not in any way injured the position of women workers. It did not affect him at all. He never employed men to fold at night, because it would not pay. Occasionally, when the litho machines had to be kept working late, he had to draft in men from other departments to feed them, and he could understand that a small printer, without different departments, would find it awkward.

He would not himself have the place open at night with girls working in it. He would not take the responsibility of that; they would "lark about, etc." He thought it all to the women's advantage that they must not work at night.

The intentions of the Factory Acts are good, and he approved of them in principle, but there was a lot of humbug about them and the L.C.C. regulations,[95] e.g., making him have six basins for lavatory for his workers. They never used more than two, preferring to follow each other, and they broke the others, and then round came the inspector and said you must have six.

[95] This is allowed to stand as an indication of the frequent misunderstandings our investigators met with regarding the L.C.C. This body appeared to be charged with everything that caused irritation.

The L.C.C. put a premium on burglary by making it compulsory to have a way out on to the roof. The Factory Inspector was not a practical man, and ordered a great deal of unnecessary fencing of machinery. He told me how one night he kept the girls late without giving notice (the work came in unexpectedly), and sat by the telephone so as to send up notice to the forewoman if the inspector came. It was not the Factory Acts which kept women from being compositors.

MEN AND WOMEN.—Women did litho artists' work at home, and there was no reason why they should not be quite as good at it as men. It was paid by the merits of the sketch.

Feeding Litho Machines.—He used to have boys, and a few years ago introduced girls. They were much better at it, cleaner, quieter, and more careful to place the paper exactly than boys.

He still had boys for feeding letter-press machines—why, he did not quite know, except that it was the custom; then, having thought about it, he said further, that it was because less care was needed. Girls were no cheaper than the boys were, and were introduced solely on account of being better workers.

He had no women compositors, and employed only 12 men, and he did not see how he could work the two together, though he did not see why women should not do all the setting-up and the display work, though they could not lift the formes. He did not think the Union objected. It never had been the custom though.

He never had women to work cutting machines. The men would object.

Women never rose to mind the printing litho machines; he did not think they could do it.

He had only one platen machine, worked and fed by a boy; but in some places, where cheap things were done by this machine, e.g., paper bags, girls attended to it.

Men used to do folding in his youth, and they still did stationers' folding, notepaper, etc., in some houses.

HOME WORK.—The firm gave out a certain amount of folding when there was a press of work. The forewoman knew of old hands and others who could do it at home. He considered that to be quite a convenient arrangement.

INFLUENCE ON FAMILY INCOME.—Many of the job hands were married women, who liked to come out occasionally for a few extra shillings. Others were single girls, who preferred to be paid by the piece, and go about from house to house, making as much as time workers for shorter hours.

10. Paper Colouring and Enamelling Firm in London, also engaged in Showcard Mounting and Varnishing and Book-edge Gilding. Employer's and Manager's Information.

Both were very communicative. The former, after repeated questions from me as to how things were done, took me over the whole place, intending only to show me the varnishing, and finally letting me see everything. He is a working-class master who has risen. His father had a small business, and he has made it a big one. It is one of the biggest firms in the trade.

TRAINING.—Card Mounting.—The firm indentures apprentices, who agree to stay three or four years. They are taken on at fourteen years of age, and are paid 4s. a week for the first year, and then receive a portion of their piece work earnings, varying according to efficiency, from one-fourth, one-half, three-fourths, two-thirds, and so on, according to skill. They come for a month first to see if they suit.

Paper Colouring and Enamelling.—In this department apprentices are also indentured for two years. They are taken on at fourteen, and are paid 4s. a week first year, then a portion of their piece earnings as above.

Varnishing and Sizing.—No training is given for this. Girls must be tall, or they are no use. Any girl will be "good at it" after three weeks.

The employer remarked that parents could not afford to pay a premium. It was very provoking when girls went off after four years, when a lot of trouble had been spent in teaching them. I was shown some cards which a girl, who was supposed to be competent, had spoilt by pasting the sheet on so that there was a blister; 385 out of 500 were similarly spoilt, and they cost 6d. each, he said.

WAGES.—Card Mounting and Paper Colouring.—Piece work rates are paid here, with overtime at the same rate. It is difficult to give an average. One girl would make 25s., while another girl would only make 7s. at the same work in the same time. After consideration, the head gave it as his opinion that 12s. 6d. a week would be what the ordinary girl would earn, taking the whole year round, slack with busy times. They were kept on all the year at this firm. Sometimes a girl would make as much as 28s.

It was further stated that a girl might make 6d. in less than an hour at night, when the colours were mixed and she was finishing a job, whereas it might take her a whole morning to earn the 6d. next day.

A quick girl could do 1,000 eyelets in an hour, eyeletting being paid at 10d. per 1,000.

Varnishing and Sizing.—Piece work wages are paid here, with overtime at same rates. Wages are reckoned by the lump sum for the gross work done, and divided equally amongst all the hands. The division is made by the firm, not the workers. We asked one girl what she took last week, and she said 14s.; but my guide said that the average would not be so high for the year, say 12s.

WORK.—There are four separate departments or businesses here, in three of which the work is done by women.

Varnishing and Sizing, where 16 girls are employed. The calendars, advertisements, and so on, to be varnished are placed in a pile on a table underneath the long webbing band, and a girl sits there and feeds. They are caught up and passed round rollers, and are sized or varnished as the case may be. Another girl stands facing the machine, seeing that they pass round all right. They are then carried over the top of the top roller along the webbing band, which stretches the full length of the room, till they come to the drum at the end, round which the band passes on its return journey. There girls take them off and place them in racks, the bottom one of which is on a small trolley. When a big pile of racks (about 5½ ft. high) is filled the girls wheel it off, lift up a door, and push it into a big cupboard which takes up all the middle of the room, and above which is a fan. There they are left to dry, and when dry the girls wheel them out again and take out the sheets.

There were two rooms in which this was being done, with about 8 girls in each. There was also a third room at the side, where they make up odds and ends, e.g., make up packets of "Happy Families," fold odd papers, eyelet a few things, and so on. There was only 1 girl in this; sometimes there are several. When a girl comes in first she does this work.

Card Mounting.—About 30 or 40 girls were employed at this. This consists in putting the advertisements, calendars, and so on, on to the big sheets of cardboard and finishing them off. There are various different processes. The board has to be cut, and this is done either by a man or a girl who feeds the rotary cutting machine. The sheet of card is "lined," i.e., the back pasted on, and edges pasted over if required. Then the picture (or calendar) that is to go on it is pasted down, the girls covering the backs of about four pictures (or calendars), and then pressing them down one after another. For some work eyelets are then punched, and in the best work the edges are bevelled by a little machine consisting of a wheel in a trough, along which the edge is pushed. In the case of a good deal of School Board work there is a narrow band of tin or brass at the top which finishes it off, and out of which comes a brass loop by which to hang it up. The men cut the brass into slips, and the girls work about five hand machines, the principle of which is that you put in your map (e.g.), put the tin or brass slip of metal in the right position, pull down a handle, lift it up, and the work comes out with the metal band pressed down on each side and the loop fixed in the middle. For other work, such as big maps, charts, diagrams, and so on, wooden rods are used as rollers, etc., and the work of fastening is done by girls.

Paper Colouring and Enamelling by Hand.—Only 12 women were engaged upon this work—a considerable decrease. The sheet of paper to be coloured is placed in front of the girl, who then wets it over with the colour (black when I saw it) by means of a brush like a whitewash brush (the manager said that they were whitewash brushes with the handles taken off), which she dips into a bowl. She then takes another round brush, about 10 ins. in diameter, and brushes over the whole surface, so that the colour lies quite evenly. The sheet of paper is then hung, as it were, on to a clothes line to dry. These lines stretch over the room.

Enamelling is done in identically the same way, only it is enamel, not colour, which is put on.

Enamelled paper is the very shiny coloured paper used for end pages of books, for covering confectionery and similar boxes, etc.

Marbling is never done by this firm. All the coloured paper is in plain colours, marbling being a quite different process.

Book-edge Gilding.—Only men are employed in this.

REGULARITY.—The card mounting department is specially busy before Christmas with calendars, almanacs, etc., but advertisement cards are turned out all the year.

Paper colouring comes in rushes, but is not a seasonal trade.

Varnishing is sometimes busier at one time than at another, but it is not seasonal. The work of this firm is such that no job hands are employed.

HEALTH.—Paper Colouring and Enamelling.—Mr. —— called down one woman who had worked there fourteen years, and her mother before her. She looked very strong and healthy. The other girls were not so robust looking as she, but did not look ill. One was sitting in one of the colouring rooms during the dinner hour, her hands all coated over with paint, eating bread and butter. Mr. —— rebuked her and told her that she ought to wash her hands, and that he was always telling her to do so, but she did not obey, and went on eating stolidly.

The colouring girls were all splashed over, and so were the walls. The rooms were close and dirty. Work was done standing.

Card Mounting.—The rooms were close and dirty, and the work seemed tiring.

Varnishing and Sizing.—The smell and heat were enough to knock one down when one first went in, though one ceased to notice it after a bit. There are hot pipes connected with the machine to dry the papers. The place looked very dirty, and my guide showed me how the dust all stuck to any varnish about, so that the racks, if left out for a day, got covered with flue. The girls did not look strikingly unhealthy. They have to drag heavy loads about. One or two looked a bit pale.

QUALIFICATIONS.—I should judge that strength was required for all three departments, as girls are standing all day. Only tall girls are taken in the varnishing room; short ones would be no good for moving about the racks. The head said that no great intelligence was wanted for any department, but a good deal of "perseverance" for card mounting and paper colouring. If girls are careless at card mounting they spoil the whole thing.

DANGERS.—The only machinery was the varnishing machine, and the firm had never had any accident with it, and there seemed no reason why there should be any. If girls are careless they are dismissed. The employer considered the Compensation Act to be very unfair: "If a girl slips on your iron staircase because her shoelace was undone, you have to pay her."

HOURS.—The hours worked are from 9 a.m. to 7.30 p.m., with one hour for dinner and half an hour for tea; on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. On a board a notice was put up stating that work begins as follows: 9 a.m. for women, 8 a.m. for boys, 7 a.m. for men.

PROSPECTS.—There is 1 girl in the varnishing department who gets "a trifle more than the others," owing to her skill. In card mounting there are no prospects. A foreman manages the paper colouring department, so that there is no chance of the women becoming forewomen. The firm once tried a forewoman, but she was not a success. She could not match the colours properly, etc. Mr. —— and the robust worker seemed to think such a thing beyond a woman's power (especially the latter, who scorned the idea of a forewoman).

ORGANISATION.—The head did not know if there was a Union or not. "They do not give us any trouble."

MARRIED AND UNMARRIED.—Only 1 or 2 married women were employed by the firm, and they were confined to the colouring department. One married woman had been there fourteen years.

LEGISLATION.—My informant did not consider that legislation had injured the woman worker at all, but had benefited her by lessening her hours of labour. Legislation was very hard on him, however, especially in the paper colouring and varnishing work. "A customer comes in with some work at 1 o'clock on a Saturday. You say you cannot do it till Monday. 'Well,' he says, 'I shall get it done elsewhere.' People working at home are found to do it, and as they have not got the machinery or appliances it means that they work at it all Sunday, and make their little children of nine or ten work too, whereas the grown women may not work an hour longer in factories." Mr. —— evidently feels bitterly about this. It would not pay to keep men on this kind of work. He would like more than thirty days a year exemption for overtime. Besides, the girls would often like to make a few shillings extra overtime. This was corroborated by the paper-staining girl.

MEN AND WOMEN.—In the head's youth men used to do all the card mounting; women were introduced for it about twenty-eight years ago. They were brought in because the men drank so and kept away from work. Men used to do paper colouring and varnishing, too, and were replaced by women for the same reason. The Unions gave no trouble about this.

No women were employed in book-edge gilding by this firm. Mr. —— and an old man employee said that some people got their wives to help lay-on the gold and so on, but it did not come to much.

MACHINERY.—Paper colouring and enamelling machinery has diminished women's work considerably. The head used to have 45 women at it—two whole floors—and now only has 11. It is done by machinery elsewhere. A certain amount is still done by hand, and must always be, as it is not worth while putting anything under five reams on a machine.

Varnishing.—The head invented the present machines because the women kept away so. There used to be many more women in the trade.

Card Mounting.—No machines are employed for this. Girls can feed the rotary cutting machine, but it is generally done by a man.

HOME WORK.—No work is sent out from here. A good deal of paper colouring and of varnishing is done by people in their own homes (see under "Legislation").

FAMILY INCOME.—Very little information on this subject could be had here. One girl in the varnishing room was pointed out to me, dressed in black, whose father had recently died. She was the eldest of eleven, and was "keen on picking up an extra shilling or two."

GENERAL.—The whole place was dirty, and there was hardly a vacant inch to squeeze past in. Mr. ——, however, did not seem a bad sort of man; the girls did not seem in the least in awe of him. All the girls looked of the regular factory girl type, sloppy and dirty, and with their hair in curlers or curl papers.

Mrs. ——, the paper stainer, who came down to talk to me, seemed a friendly, rough-and-ready, low-class woman. Her mother worked in the trade, and when she herself was a baby her cradle was rocked on the colouring board, and "many is the night" that she sat up all night as a child helping her mother at home. She seemed to have thriven on it, and to be immensely proud of her industrial career.

11. Bookbinding Firm, West End, London. Employée's Evidence.

WORK.—Trade in the West End is quite different to that in City firms. This employée picked to pieces and sewed.

REGULARITY.—Hers was not a seasonal trade. She was busy all the year round, but in January and July there was a special press, owing to the number of magazine volumes then being bound.

HOURS.—She worked 48 per week, the length of the ordinary day being from 8.30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

PROSPECTS.—She had never known anyone who rose to be a forewoman, but supposed some did rise. Girls from West End shops could not be City forewomen because they knew nothing about machines, and in all advertisements for forewomen knowledge of sewing machines was put as a necessary qualification.

GENERAL.—I asked why their hours were so much shorter than dressmakers, and have come to the conclusion that it was because the men had got an eight-hours' day. She said this class of workers in City shops is lower than in these West End places, and yet in the City workplaces the best industrial training is given.

12. Bookbinding Firm in London. Employée's Evidence.

WORK.—Works at a large place about five minutes' walk away (not the same place where she learned). There are four rooms of women. N. M. works in a room on the third floor, where there are 80 women under two forewomen, sisters. In this room folding, stitching, gathering and sewing (hand) is done.

In the fourth room there are 12 girls doing machine sewing.

The two lower floor rooms each have about 10 or 12 girls. In one of them laying-on of gold is done.

She herself does stitching, folding and gathering, hardly ever sewing.

REGULARITY.—Orders are very slack sometimes, especially just now (August). There had been a great deal of sitting idle, and they had only been making 6s. or 7s. per week. They did not like to go "out to grass" for fear of losing work if it should chance to come in. It was difficult to get off for a holiday. Sometimes they were told at 1 p.m. that they could go home.

HEALTH.—Gold laying-on was unhealthy. The dust got on the chest. Folding and Sewing were very tiring, because "you are sitting in one position all day." Gathering is the most pleasant, because you walk about and get a little exercise that way.

PROSPECTS.—There is not much chance of rising. The forewoman and under-forewoman are sisters, and stay on and on. If one of them were to give up, her successor would be taken from the time workers. The piece workers might rise to be time workers, if they cared.

13. Bookbinding Firm in London. Employée's Evidence.

WORK.—This informant was engaged at gold laying-on exclusively, but was originally a folder and sewer.

REGULARITY.—In this firm it is a seasonal trade, and slack sometimes as well. She left M. because of slackness.

HEALTH.—It is not very healthy. Layers-on cannot have the windows open because of the draught blowing the gold about, also the gas used for "blocking" overheats the rooms. Girls sometimes faint three or four times a day, and get anæmic. After working overtime at ——'s would often stagger in the streets. "You have to drink a lot of tea to keep you up."

HOURS.—48 a week is about the normal working time, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with one hour for dinner and half an hour for tea, as at M., and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays; or else from 8.30 a.m. to 6 p.m., as at N., with one hour for dinner, and 8.30 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturdays. She preferred 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., because then she got a tea half-hour. "One got so faint going on till 6.30 p.m. from 2 p.m."

At O. there was a great deal of overtime; not at M.

PROSPECTS.—She could have been a sort of forewoman at sixteen over 6 other girls at P., but an older hand persuaded her not to; and being ignorant of the ways of the world she agreed not to, and then the older hand became forewoman herself! That was her only chance of promotion.

14. J., Bookbinding Firm in London. Employée's Evidence and Visit to Works.

Work.—Folding, numbering, perforating, sewing. The regular staff do all, but the firm take in job hands for folding only, when busy.

REGULARITY.—The regular hands are kept on all the year round.

HOURS.—The hours worked average 54 a week, from 8.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. My informant said they were "obliged by the Factory Act[96] to have half an hour for lunch from 11 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., but they did not take more than a quarter of an hour, or else they ate whilst working;" dinner from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and tea from 5 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. On Saturdays the hours are 8.30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with 11 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. for lunch.

[96] This, of course, is incorrect.

PROSPECTS.—The girls may rise to forewomen. One who had just risen quickly to that position was going off to be married.

GENERAL.—They can cook food on the premises at this firm.

15. B., Stationery Firm in London. Visit to Works.

WORK.—About 150 to 200 women are employed.

(1) Hand folding and cementing of envelopes (includes putting band round packet).

(2) Machine folding and cementing of envelopes (includes putting band round packet).

(3) Black bordering.

(4) Stamping, plain and relief.

(5) Printing of addresses for circulars, etc. (small machines).

(6) Packing twelve packets in long packets and sample packing.

(7) Vellum sewing (folding, sewing, and looking over).

(8) Perforating (in same room).

(9) Machine ruling.

The number of women at each process in the part of factory seen were as follows:—

(1) About 27, (2) 30, (3) 1, (4) 4 stamping, (5) about 8, (6) 3 and 1 sample packer (probably many more), (7) 4 sewing, 1 looking over, 2 hanging about, (8) 1, (9) 4.

There are 42 other workers who are all older hands.

The girls employed in (1) are a superior grade to those in (2) and will not mix at all. Wages about the same. (3), (4), (5), (6), (7) and (8) are more or less same grade as (1); (9) are lower than (2).

REGULARITY.—The work here is steady all the year round.

HEALTH.—All the girls are healthy, and the work is quite healthy.

HOURS.—They work 51 hours per week.

PROSPECTS.—Envelope hand folders can rise to be cementers or forewomen (envelope hand folders being themselves a superior class to machine folders or machine rulers); packers can rise to be sample packers.

16. R., Stationery Firm (Christmas Cards, etc.) in London. Visit to Works.

WORK.—There are three departments:—

(1) Relief Stamping, with 20 regular hands. These girls work the presses, which are of the newest kind, and some of which are very heavy. They do monograms and all sorts of designs on menus, wedding cards, Christmas cards, ball cards, etc., and stamp in gold, silver, or colours.

(2) Hand Painting, with 21 regular hands. This means filling in stamped-out or printed designs of various kinds of cards with colour, e.g., figures of soldiers, flowers, and so on.

(3) Packing Department, with about 12 regular hands. They do up the cards in packets, fold and gum special wedding envelopes, paste pictures on to cards, tie the little ribbon bows on cards, and do all the many little processes required for finishing this kind of work.

REGULARITY.—The work of this firm is very seasonal. The busy time is for about three months before Christmas, but they are specially rushed for the six weeks before Christmas. The regular hands are kept on all the year round, but about 25 or 30 extra are employed for the packing room for six weeks before Christmas. In the other departments they get a few married hands just to come in and help. They are now (July) preparing books of Christmas cards, but the orders for private Christmas cards do not come in till November and December.

The girls who work in the packing room pack scents, etc., at other times of the year.

HEALTH.—The work is quite healthy and the girls all appeared to be healthy. The premises were light and airy. Two of the relief stamping presses looked very heavy indeed, and the forewoman said that they were really men's work. The girls working them always had the same machines, and did not look ill, though they said that it was very tiring.

Machinery.—Machinery has not displaced women in this firm.

HOURS.—For stamping and packing the hours are from 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. with three-quarters of an hour for dinner and a quarter of an hour for tea; on Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with half an hour for lunch. For painting they are from 9 a.m. to 5.45 p.m., with the same meal hour; on Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The hours of painters had been shortened about a year ago, and it was found that they did just as much work. For the six weeks before Christmas they regularly work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with as much overtime as is allowed, i.e., three nights a week.

PROSPECTS.—They may rise to forewomen; e.g., the forewoman over the stampers came as an ordinary hand.

GENERAL.—There is a dining room, and every girl can pay 3s. a week and get dinner of meat and pudding and tea every day. This covers all expenses, wages of cook, gas for stove, all utensils, etc. Last year there was money over, so they had free meals for a week.

17. G., Large Stationery Firm in London. Visit to Works.

WORK.—About 60 girls are employed. Stationery and Printing with following divisions:—(1) Plain cameo and relief stamping (about 25 girls), (2) illuminating, i.e., putting on the colour by hand (2 girls), (3) envelope folding and cementing (9 girls), (4) packing, including cleaning (girls in each department), (5) folding notepaper (saw 3 little girls doing this), (6) feeding printing machines, big and small, and lithographic machines (about 6 girls), (7) various odd jobs, e.g., cutting visiting cards to proper size, (8) feeding ruling machine (1 girl).

REGULARITY.—This firm's trade is regular. They are busy all the year round, though perhaps they are busiest at Christmas. The bulk of their orders come from the country though.

HEALTH.—The little printing and lithographic girls looked anything but healthy.

MACHINERY.—Machines have not displaced women. There was nothing dangerous about the machinery used, though the small printing machine which 1 girl was feeding might be dangerous.

HOURS.—The hours worked are from 8.30 a.m. to 7 p.m., with one hour for dinner and half an hour for tea; on Saturdays, from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. They work overtime at Christmas.

PROSPECTS.—Girls in (4) may rise to (1), and those in (1) to (2).

18. K., Stationery Firm in London. Visit to Works.

WORK.—Numbering and Perforating; girls also dust and clean up after blocking.

REGULARITY.—The work in this firm is regular, "as they work for the trade."

SKILL.—Intelligence is required for numbering, or else valuable material is spoilt, e.g., the other day a girl, who was six months out of her time, never changed when she came to the 1,000 and so spoilt the work, as one figure came out darker. Three numbers are harder to do than two or four. The firm had tried to take two girls from the blocking work and teach them numbering, but it was no good, they were not intelligent enough.

HOURS.—The hours worked are from 9 a.m. to 7.30 p.m., with one hour for dinner, ten minutes for lunch, and ten minutes for tea; on Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

PROSPECTS.—The girls can rise to be forewomen.

19. I., Stationery and Stamping Firm in London. Employee's Evidence.

WORK.—Stamping, plain and relief, including tradesmen's cards, notepaper, Christmas cards, etc.

REGULARITY.—The work here is regular, because they work for the trade.

SKILL.—The girls need arm strength. Artistic taste is also required. Some never make good stampers on account of deficiency in taste.

MACHINERY.—Machinery has not displaced women.

HOURS.—The hours worked are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with one hour for dinner, and half an hour for tea; on Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

PROSPECTS.—Girls may rise to forewomen. "There is a little girl of fifteen now, who has only been here a year, and the other day Mr. I. (who does not say things when he does not mean them) told her that she would rise to be forewoman one day. She is very good at her work and knows how things should look."

GENERAL.—The girls are very comfortable here. They have a room to themselves upstairs, and a dining room and a stove to cook on.

20. F., Stationery Firm in London. Employee's Evidence.

WORK.—(1) Envelope folding, which includes creasing, gumming, and shuffling.

(2) Envelope cementing.

(3) Plain stamping.

(4) Relief stamping.

(5) Looking over and packing.

REGULARITY.—Slack times vary in different houses. "You never can tell," but summer, as a rule, is slack. Last summer there was very little work all July and August at C. and D. and F. She made only 8d. or 9d. a day sometimes.

HOURS.—At C. and D. the hours worked are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with one and a-half hours for meals; at E., from 8 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., with one and a-half hours for meals on Monday and Tuesday; from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., with one and a-half hours for meals on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

MACHINERY.—Machinery has not taken work from women.

GENERAL.—She remarked that G. was "a dreadful place." The girls cried because there was no work.

21. X., Stamping Firm in London. Employee's Evidence.

WORK.—There are about 100 girls in the stamping room, about 30 of whom pack up the work in boxes, etc. In some places the stampers have to pack their own work. There is also envelope work, etc., done on the firm, but my informant knew nothing of this. Some girls did the hand illuminating, i.e., colouring part of a design that has been stamped.

REGULARITY.—The trade is seasonal, and is slack in the summer and busy in winter.

SKILL.—"You have to be strong to stand the stamping," she said. She herself had to give it up after she had been a learner for two years, and take to packing. Her health gave way; she got very anæmic, and could not stand the strain. Most of the packers were girls who could not stand stamping. They had one very heavy press with big dies, and tried a girl on it, but she got injured internally, so a man was put on it. At R. she heard they had heavy presses. She said she knew of two girls who went there, and both injured themselves. She thinks they had to go to the hospital. The best paying work was done on the big presses. However, many girls stood the stamping all right. Strength is absolutely necessary.

HOURS.—The hours worked are from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., with one and a-half hours off for meals; on Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. When busy they work regularly from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and three nights a week to 9.30 p.m.

22 and 23. U. and V., Two Stamping Firms in London. Employee's Evidence.

WORK.—My informant did plain stamping, but never learnt relief work. She once tried it, but did not get on with it. At U. there were only 5 stampers, at V. quite 30.

REGULARITY.—At U. work came in rushes, and they were always either very busy or else very slack; at V. work was steady all the year.

HEALTH.—My informant herself had grown rather crooked, and had to leave off work. She did not know of any other girls similarly affected though, nor did she consider it unhealthy. A good many were anæmic. She thought that now she has had a rest she might be able to stand it better. The big dies were the bad ones, and were tiring.

HOURS.—At U. the hours were from 9.15 a.m. to 7 p.m., with one hour for dinner and half an hour for tea; at V. from 9.15 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., but at V. one could work till 7 or 7.30 p.m., if one cared. At U. they were then working till 8 p.m. (December). She had never worked later than 9, and that very rarely.

PROSPECTS.—She thought that the chance of rising to forewoman was exceedingly remote.

GENERAL.—Both U. and V. were very nice and respectable shops, and particular about whom they took on. At U. there was a dining room, and things more comfortable than at V.

24. Y., Machine Ruling Firm in London. Visit to Works.

WORK.—There are two departments. (1) Top floor: Machine ruling. (2) Ground floor: Perforating, numbering, and paging.

(1) The following is the general principle of the ruling machine:

There is a band about 1 yd. wide which goes round and round in a large ellipse (one flat side of the ellipse is about 3½ yds. long). Upon this band the sheets of paper are placed by the girls, and by it they are drawn under a row of pens set at the required intervals for the lines. They are then carried up and round by the revolutions of the band—being held in their places by string which revolves with the band—and fall out of the machine with the ink dry.

A good many machines are fitted with a second row of pens which rules the underneath side of the paper as well as the upper.

The pens are fed by a piece of flannel which is kept soaked by a regular flow of ink from a vessel fitted with a small tap.

These machines are worked by power. They used to be worked by hand.

(2) Perforating is done by a machine worked by a treadle. A good many foreign and colonial postage stamps are done here.

Numbering of loose pages, cheques, receipts, etc., is done by a machine with a handle which has to be pulled down by hand.

Paging, which is for made-up books, is done by a machine worked by a treadle.

REGULARITY.—The summer is a slack season in this trade as a rule. The firm are especially slack just now (August) as there are no orders from South Africa.

HEALTH.—The upper floor was exceedingly, almost insupportably, stuffy. The ground floor was fairly airy. The under-forewoman said that working the treadle for paging was very hard work. "It always upset her inside," so she had to give it up.

SKILL.—Strength is required for paging.

DANGER.—They had just had an accident with the perforating machine. The bands upstairs were dangerous to long hair. One girl had her hair caught and was carried right up to the ceiling. The band was loose and slipped off the wheel, so she was let down again with no great injury.

PROSPECTS.—The girls may rise to forewoman; the machine rulers may rise to wet the flannels.

25. Paper Bag Making in London. Employee's Evidence.

WORK.—(1) Cake bags, (2) tea bags, (3) sugar bags. These are different classes of work and some hands can do only one class.

The girls do their own cutting except for the very heavy work, which men do. As a rule, the piece-rate girls make the bag right through from the sheet, i.e., cut the paper, lay it out and paste. Tea bags are made on a tin. There were 150 girls working in the room.

REGULARITY.—The work is irregular, but if a girl can do all kinds it is better for her. "There is always some work, but sometimes you may sit idle doing needlework most of the day."

HEALTH.—"It is very bad for you standing all day long," said my informant. "Girls come in looking lively and healthy, but they soon get run down." The standing and the used-up air are bad, the latter especially in the winter-time when the gas is alight. She herself has lost her health.

MACHINERY.—Machinery had not displaced women.

HOURS.—The hours are from 8 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., with one hour for dinner, ten minutes for lunch, and twenty minutes for tea; on Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The girls have to be in by 8.15 or they are locked out for the morning.

When at overtime they work from 8 a.m. to 9.30 p.m.

PROSPECTS.—The forewoman was at the bench once.

GENERAL.—"On the floor below," said my informant, "are litho girls—not the sort whom you could speak to. That is a very bad trade."

26. Printer's and Bookbinder's Firm in Leeds. Employer's Information.

I was shown over the factory. The rooms are all very large and lofty. Electric instead of steam power is used, and so the factory is far less noisy and cooler than most printing works.

One hundred and twenty girls of a very superior class are employed.

The conditions under which work is carried on here are evidently very good.

They print large advertisement posters, time-tables, magazines, novels, and make account books, cheque books, etc.

TRAINING.—Girls begin by feeding ruling machines, packing, etc., and the length of their "apprenticeship" depends entirely upon the girls themselves. They are put on piece work as soon as they are fit for it; they are taken on about fourteen without premium, and their wages begin at 4s. 6d. or, sometimes, 5s., and rise by degrees till they are paid piece work rates.

WAGES.—Folding and Sewing (piece work).—The pay ranges about 10s., 12s., 16s., up to 25s. per week.

Laying-on of Gold-leaf and Blockers (piece work) yields 18s. to 20s. per week.

Girls who put paper covers on to cheap novels, etc., earn about 20s.

Layers-on (Letter-press and Litho) are paid time wages and receive 8s., 10s., and 12s. per week.

The employer says he has known three sisters take home £4 a week for several months in succession. He thinks it pays well to give high wages.

HOURS.—The hours are 52½ per week: from 7.30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with dinner from 12.30 p.m. to 1.30 p.m.; on Saturdays, 7.30 a.m. till 12.30 p.m.; but overtime is worked thirty days in the year. Piece workers receive no extra pay; time workers get time and a quarter.

WORK.—Folding is done chiefly by hand. There is one machine, but that is self-feeding and a man minds it.

Sewing is done by hand and by machinery.

Perforating is done by a machine worked by power, which has simply to be fed.

Several girls were employed putting the wrappers on to 6d. novels, while others were pasting cloth on to cardboard for school exercise books. Little girls were feeding the ruling machine, punching labels, eyeletting and packing.

Girls were also engaged in gold laying-on and blocking, but none were employed at this when I was there.

In the litho and letter-press printing rooms a large number of very respectable girls, about eighteen years of age, were employed as layers-on. They were feeding large as well as small machines.

REGULARITY.—The girls are employed all the year round, but they are busier in the autumn and winter (from September to May). They are also very busy the last week in each month. Occasionally, in June and July, they only work half-time, but this does not happen often.

HEALTH.—The work is very healthy. Before they had electric power the employer had seen girls fall down and faint when "laying-on" at night when the gas was lit and the room hot. Now that they have electric power and electric light such a thing never happens.

DANGER.—The use of electric power does away with the need of belting shafts, etc. There is simply a small motor on the ground.

ORGANISATION.—There is no organisation amongst the women, though the men are all Unionists.

MARRIED AND UNMARRIED.—Girls all leave when they get married. Occasionally, when they are busy, an old hand who has got married comes back, but 99 per cent. are unmarried. The employer did not know whether they had any married women there then.

FACTORY LEGISLATION.—Factory legislation has in no way limited the usefulness of women. Girls do not mind working overtime when they can make a little extra by it, but the employer said "overtime does not pay anybody." E.g., when layers-on worked overtime they were paid time and a quarter, and it did not pay to give that extra money. The restriction of overtime to thirty days a year worked out very inconveniently for the masters, but this employer thought the factory legislation was a very good thing on the whole.

One direct result of factory legislation here has been the introduction of a self-feeding folding machine worked by electric power, which they use when they are busy instead of getting in extra hands or working overtime. When not busy this machine stands idle, and the folding is done by hand. Another result of factory legislation is that they have to employ more hands than they otherwise would, and so girls sometimes have to work short time.

MEN AND WOMEN.—The employer said there was a clearly drawn line between men's work and women's work. The Union made a great point of keeping women out of what they consider to be men's work, and there would be a "row" amongst them if women were put on, but I found out later on that girls do the laying-on and gold blocking for the backs of books, etc. The employer said he put them on to that about three years ago. At first the men made a fuss about it, but it passed over. His reason for putting girls on was that it was light work quite suitable for a girl. Only skilled girls did it. They would get perhaps 12s. 6d., time wage, while they were learning, and then go on to piece work and earn 18s. or 20s. a week. A man's wage for the same work would be a minimum of 32s. a week (time), as that is the Trade Union minimum, and the Trade Unionists generally get something above the minimum.

This firm was the first in Leeds to introduce girls as layers-on for letter-press and litho machines. That was about twenty years ago. The reason was that it was impossible to apprentice the number of boys required. The Trade Union regulation about the proportion of apprentices to journeymen is very strictly enforced, and it was not fair to employ boys and simply turn them off when they got older; so girls were employed, and now the majority of layers-on are girls. They do the work, on the whole, better than boys, and they are steadier.

MACHINERY.—Machinery is continually being introduced and more women are being employed in spite of the fact that the machines do work so much more quickly. Production is made cheaper and so the demand is greater.

HOME WORK.—No home work is given out.

Relief Stamping Firms. General Summary.

We have information about twenty-one houses where women are employed at stamping (covering over 300 women).

TRAINING.—Out of these nine have a regular system of training, four do not take apprentices, having found them more trouble than they were worth; three have no settled system, while three refused to furnish information on the subject. In four cases indentures were signed, and there were two cases of premiums, in one of which £2 was paid, to be returned with 5 per cent. interest after three years; in the other, £10—with variations. "It varies with the girl," we were told. "Sometimes girls with very respectable parents like to pay a premium, in other cases it is waived." In eight out of the nine houses where there is a regular system of training, the girls serve an apprenticeship varying from two to three years. They begin by a few shillings pocket-money and go on to receive a part of what they make at piece work rates. In one house they gave from two weeks to two months for nothing, during which time their earnings went to the forewoman who taught them.

The following are some of the systems of payment during training:—

(1) 1st year (employed in warehouse), 3s.; 2nd year, half earnings, piece, with 4s. per month pocket-money; 3rd year, three-quarter earnings, with 4s. per month pocket-money.

(2) 1st year, 5s.; 2nd year, 6s. 6d.; 3rd year, 8s.

(3) 2s. 6d. for first 6 months; rising 1s. every 3 months, till 8s. 6d. is reached.

(4) Start at 2s. 6d.; rise to 10s. during training.

(5) 1st year, half earnings; 2nd year, three-quarter earnings.

(6) 3s. or 4s. first 6 months; 5s. second 6 months; then 6s. for 2nd year.

(7) Pay £2 premium. Put on piece work almost at once and receive what they make. Premiums returned with 5 per cent. interest after 3 years.

(8) 3 months, nothing; 3 months, 2s. per week; next 3 months, 3s.; next, 4s.; so on till 8s.

One forewoman considered that three years' training was much too long, and stated that there was a tendency in certain houses to do work cheap by means of apprentices. She said that the girls in such houses get disheartened and sick of work, and when they were out of their time it was no use staying on, for all the work got given to the learners. Some learners are quite quick by the end of three weeks. We often found that when a girl came in to learn stamping she was set to run about the warehouse or to do gumming for the first year. This, it was urged by one employer, was done purely from humane motives. Since the girls were often delicate when they came in, it was far better for them to do odd jobs for a year than to be stuck down at once at some sedentary occupation.

Learners are taken at thirteen or fourteen years of age. Sometimes they are left to "pick things up." Sometimes they are taught by a forewoman or experienced hand. The relief stamper belongs to the upper class of factory girl.

REGULARITY.—Trade is tolerably steady. A few weeks in summer are generally slack, and where there is Christmas card work the six weeks before Christmas are extremely busy.

HEALTH.—We were told almost unanimously that stamping was healthy work, and undoubtedly, where the presses are light, it is so. Some of the presses, however, are very heavy, and the girls who work them acknowledged that the work was extremely tiring. Most houses have men to work their heaviest presses. We heard of three cases in two different houses of internal strain to girls working at these presses, and we heard of one house where the girls in the packing room were recruited from those who could not stand the stamping.

SKILL.—Skill is required for illuminating.

PROSPECTS.—In some cases it is possible to rise to forewoman, or from plain to relief and cameo stamping and occasionally illuminating.

WAGES.—Wages vary from 13s. to 25s. or 30s., mostly piece work. Some of the piece work rates were 9d. per 1,000 impressions, 2d. per 1,000 plain (2,000 can be done per hour); 10d. per ream one die (takes two hours to do one ream), 1s. 8d. per 1,000 impressions.

MARRIED AND UNMARRIED.—Very few relief stampers are married. In some houses married women are not allowed, in some they "come back to oblige" at busy times. In one house only we heard "that many stampers marry, though they might as well not, as they come back to work."

DISPLACEMENT.—Men used to do relief stamping, but women, owing to the cheapness of their labour, have superseded them in all but the heaviest work. For the heavy presses men are still employed, "but it is a poor trade for them."

In some houses they do illuminating, as for this the women are found not to possess sufficient skill and patience. One large house employs 4 men for a superior sort of relief stamping—gold and silver on a coloured surface. The crest or monogram has to be stamped in plain first, then coloured, then stamped with the gold or silver by the men. This last process requires great skill and accuracy and care, for if it is crooked by a hair's breadth the thing is spoilt. Girls are stated not to be accurate and careful enough for this work, although they are employed for the simpler sort of gold stamping.

Where heavy hand machines have come in they have ousted women. One employer considered that if stamping machines worked by steam came in women would be employed on them. In one house, however, where there was machine stamping, it was done by men. We were told by a large employer that there is now a new machine in the market which may supersede female labour. It colours the surface first and then embosses it out. Another new machine requires a feeder only, as the die is coloured, rubbed and stamped down by machinery.

Job Hands. Interview with Agent.

Miss R., like Mrs. B. before her, apparently acts as a sort of bureau-keeper for job hands; sometimes she has work in to do herself and keeps a certain staff, at other times she gets a notice to say that W. has got a big job and wants so many hands; she collects them, sends postcards all round, and goes and works herself too. Very few of her job hands would touch magazine work; they usually work at prospectuses. Mrs. B. used to do all the work for the —— Societies. There were hundreds of job hands, how many she cannot tell at all.

REGULARITY.—The work is quite uncertain. "You never know when there will be work; but July and August are usually the slack months, but this year (1900-01) it has been slack all the year. Job hands, however, do what they like when there is not work, whereas constant hands have to come in and wait whether there is work or not."

HEALTH.—It is hard work, but there is nothing unhealthy about it.

GENERAL.—She spoke with pitying contempt of the "constant" hands and their low prices and the long hours they worked.

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[APPENDIX III.] GENERAL GLASGOW REPORT.

(A.) Letterpress Printing. Machine Feeding and Flying.

Girls are employed to "feed" the machines and to "take off" the impressed sheet. A girl will learn "taking off," or "flying," in a couple of days; but except in the old-fashioned and smaller jobbing-shops flying is now done entirely by machinery. Machine feeding is not so easy and simple a process as it seems. The girls stand and perform the same movement repeatedly, each time giving to the sheet the precise swing required to send it accurately into the grips. The work requires little intelligence, and the extent to which it can be characterised as exhausting depends partly on the speed of the machine, but chiefly on the length of the "run." Three methods of treating the girls may be distinguished. In some shops where there are very long runs, perhaps extending to a couple of weeks, as in the case of the printing of low-priced Bibles, the work is tiring. At the close of a long run the machines have to be prepared afresh, and the girls enjoy a spell for a day or two. This leisure they are sometimes inclined to abuse by interrupting the work of others with conversation, and consequently attempts are being made to employ them on other machines during the interval. This innovation the girls are resisting. In other shops the fatiguing nature of a long run is mitigated by removing the girl to another machine with a different movement, but the "right" of a girl to be so moved about and rested is not recognised; it is simply a matter for the consideration of the foreman. To allow the claim to frequent shifting might prove inconvenient in times of pressure. Lastly, in establishments where the bulk of the work involves short runs, as, for example, in printing the official matter of a municipality or a college, the necessity for frequently preparing the machines affords considerable leisure to the feeders. These intervals explain the groups of girls often to be seen chatting and knitting in odd corners of the machine-room. Some of these shops recognise the right of a girl to feed and keep clean "her own machine" and no other. Where this is the case a girl may be employed feeding for no longer than a quarter of the normal working week of fifty-two and a half hours owing to the shortness of the runs and the length of time spent in re-adjustment. The work is dirty but not dangerous, as all machinery is well-fenced, and accidents are of very rare occurrence. The day's work usually starts at 6.15 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m., with meal hours at 9 and at 2 o'clock and half an hour for tea when engaged on overtime. Saturday's shift is from 6.15 a.m. until 10 a.m. Girls are paid 5s., in a few shops 6s., a week as beginners. They get their first rise in three months, and are gradually advanced to an average wage of 10s., while an expert feeder may earn 11s., or at the outside 12s., a week. When girls find that they can feed well after a comparatively short time in a shop and that they are getting only 7s. or 8s. a week they commonly seek and obtain the average wage elsewhere. Managers fancy "it would not do" to advance a girl abruptly from 6s. to 10s. a week in the same shop, but do not blame the girls for leaving. "It is human nature." Girls are taken on at any age after fourteen, and stay on till they are married or until they are called away to domestic duties. Some remain on after marriage, but not more than 1 or 2 per cent. A few come back as widows. Married and unmarried as workers are "six of one and half a dozen of the other," remarked an employer of both, while another thought married women "less regular" in attendance. There are no signs of married women lowering rates of pay. "Time and a half" is the overtime rate. Women workers who do not get paid overtime when they work beyond the normal day get paid over the holidays, but not otherwise. There are no fines. There is no trade organisation among the machine feeders, and as the various unions of the men are not directly affected they do not interfere. In some firms feeding has been done by girls for a quarter of a century; in others they have been introduced only within the last five or six years. Boys were rough, irregular, scarce, and wanted higher pay. The girls, although they also are drawn from a rough class, are steadier, cleaner, and more economical in the use of material than boys. Besides, there are more of them. There was no inducement for boys to continue at such work, so they have been drafted into certain forms of unskilled, but fairly well paid, labour, such as is offered by the Post Office or bread factories. In some districts they go to the shipyards to assist riveters, and are able to earn straight away twice the wages they would obtain in a printing shop. As overtime by girls is restricted by legislation, young men (over 18) are kept for feeding in one large jobbing-shop where there are often seasons of great pressure (e.g., in the printing of penny monthly diaries and time-tables) and where "rushes" and overtime are inevitable. These young men would not be thus employed but for the restrictions of the Factory Acts, as the manager, for reasons stated above, much prefers girls for feeding. While all modern machines are fitted with self-fliers, not one of the many attempts to provide automatic feeders has proved quite satisfactory. For long runs such feeders as have been designed may serve fairly well, but in shops with much jobbing and many short runs too much time would be spent in adjusting the feeder to the particular job. The sole advantages of a mechanical feeder are that it neither "takes ill" nor "goes on strike." Meanwhile it is imperfect and expensive, and the supply of cheap female labour abundant.

(B.) Lithographic Printing. Machine Feeding.

What has been said of feeders under letterpress printing is generally true of feeders in the lithographic branch. The only difference seems to be one of social position. Girls employed in feeding lithographic machines are "higher,"[97] "less filthy in talk," etc. They form the intermediate class, of which the girls in the bookbinding and warehouse departments are at the top. In one shop where all three classes are employed, the manager remarked that these caste distinctions were "clean cut," and obvious to the most casual observer.

[97] They are supposed to be lower in London, Manchester, etc.—[Ed.]

(C.) Letterpress Printing. Type-setting.

The employment of women as compositors is a "vexed question." In two shops only are they so employed in Glasgow, and both are on the black list of the local trade union. Inasmuch as the conditions which obtain in these shops differ in important respects, they are here described separately.

Firm No. 1 introduced women as compositors some nine or ten years ago, when a dispute with the union ensued. It now employs about a dozen women at the cases. Girls are taken on at any age after fourteen. In three months' time they are able to set up type in "solid dig," i.e., newspaper or book matter, consisting of solid uniform paragraphs. Three girls who have spent about eight years with this firm are declared to be "good at displaying," and "more competent than the ordinary journeyman." Beginners get 6s. a week during the first year, and in the third year are put on piecework rates. There are no indentures. Capable women compositors may earn 24s. a week, while their average earnings may be put at 22s. a week, and they never sink below a pound. Young workers make an average of 18s. a week or thereabouts. The normal week is one of fifty-one hours, made up as follows:—

8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on four days.

8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays.

8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

A compositor sometimes acts as "clicker," i.e., checks the amount of piecework, but this is usually done by a clerk. No married women are employed. Overtime is paid time and a half, and women are fined a penny for being late.

Firm No. 2 employed at one time about two dozen girls in the composing-rooms. They were engaged solely on solid newspaper work, and never in the higher branches of the trade, such as "displaying." Seats were provided for them. They worked a forty-eight hour week for a "stab" wage of 15s. or 16s., and had three weeks' holiday, off and on, for which they were paid. Further, they were never turned away in slack time. But the experiment was not altogether a success, and by to-day the two dozen have dwindled down to two, who set for newspapers and get 16s. a week. The reasons assigned for the gradual reversion to the employment of men are as follows:—

(a) Irregularity of the women's attendance at work.

(b) Their shorter hours.

(c) Marriage.

(d) The introduction of the Linotype machine, of which there are three in this establishment. This was urged as the most important cause of the change back to men.

Of the work in general, it may be said that some intelligence is needed, that no dangerous machinery is used, and that the health of the workers depends largely on the character of the workroom. The special trade disease is that to which men are similarly subject, viz., "consumption" in some of its many forms.

In Glasgow the Typographical Association has strenuously, and, with the above exceptions, successfully, resisted the introduction of women into the composing-room. The attitude taken up by the men may be summarised as follows: No objection would be offered to the employment of women at the case provided that they served the usual seven years' apprenticeship at the same rates as male apprentices, and then on its completion were paid the full standard wage. "Underpaid female labour is equally unjust to the legitimate employer and employee." To allow women unrestricted access to the composing-rooms would probably lead in time, not only to the reduction of the men's wages, but to the undermining of the trade itself. The various branches of the trade which now demand many years of apprenticeship before they are completely mastered by one man would be split up and distributed among a number of highly-specialized workers. Women would be employed for separate departments, and by being continuously kept at one job or branch would become expert therein, but would have no knowledge of the trade as a whole.

The employers, on the other hand, are aggrieved that, while the union prevents women from acting as compositors in Glasgow, the same trade society allows them to work in Edinburgh. The result of the present arrangement is to divert a certain class of trade, viz., "solid dig," or book work, from other centres to Edinburgh. The cause of this is to be found in the non-employment of women compositors in Glasgow, and is not, as sometimes suggested, due to the superiority of Edinburgh printing.

In answer to the claim of the union to equal pay for equal work for women and men, it is urged by the masters:—

(1) Women when employed as compositors at piecework rates get the best, i.e., the simplest jobs. They are put to do what boys would be at when half through their apprenticeship. They are kept always at pretty much the same kind of work, and thus become very skilful at it. Boys, on the other hand, would claim to be shifted on to the higher branches of the trade.

(2) The man who now does the solid type-setting, which the employer wishes to see a woman do, is paid higher than a woman would or should be, because he is liable to be called on at any moment to undertake the more complex operations of his craft, while a woman is not. In other words, the man is paid for potential ability.

(3) If women were taken on freely to do solid setting, it is not at all likely that they would seriously aspire to the higher stages of the compositor's craft.

(a) Partly for physical reasons. Women are not fitted to handle the heavy formes.

(b) Partly because they could not be relied upon to go through a full course of training. They would be continually leaving in the middle or at the end of it, and employers, therefore, would not take the trouble to train them. "The pick of the girls get married. The qualities which make a girl smart and successful at her work would similarly make for her success in the marriage market."

(4) The cheaper type-setting of women is needed in order to compete successfully with the Linotype machine. There is no doubt that to a certain extent the comparatively low price of women's labour tends to retard the introduction of machinery.

(D.) Bookbinding.

In the bookbinding trade girls fold, put in plates and illustrations, collate, sew by hand and by machine. Sewing used all to be done by hand, but machines were introduced some fifteen years ago. In the case of primers and stitched books girls do all except print the covers. They make cloth cases as distinct from leather cases. Girls also lay the gold leaf on covers, which are subsequently stamped by machines operated by men. For at least half a century women have worked in these branches, but while in earlier days they learnt a variety of operations the tendency now is to keep them to a special process or machine. Hence a smart girl can pick up her task in a week. The old custom of a four years' apprenticeship still survives. Girls start at fourteen, or at thirteen if they have passed the fifth standard. The initial wage is still in some shops 3s. a week, but there is a decided upward tendency, which in one case was found to reach 4s. 6d. for beginners. On the termination of the apprenticeship an average wage of 10s. a week is paid, but in the exceptional case referred to above the average was given as 12s. 6d., while 15s. is earned by expert pagers, coverers, and perforators who have been in the employment of the firm for some time. A chargewoman gets about 15s. a week, while the principal forewoman in a firm employing nearly 300 girls in its bookbinding branch is paid a guinea per week. Folders and hand-sewers are paid piecework rates in the large shops, but not in the smaller ones. To the casual visitor these pieceworkers exhibit a remarkable swiftness and accuracy, and the work must involve no small physical strain. Although the girls engaged in folding and the allied processes are as a rule of higher intelligence than mill girls and machine feeders and drawn from different social strata, there are many who come, frail and under-fed, from very poor homes. To these especially the early hour at which the day's work begins is a hardship. On a Glasgow winter's morning to start work at 6.15 on a hurried bite of bread and margarine, with the distant prospect of more bread and margarine three hours later, leads logically to "broken time." There has been some slight tendency towards beginning at 8 o'clock and stopping on Saturdays at 1, but two of the largest firms still adhere to 6.15 a.m. and finish on Saturdays at 10 a.m. The manager of one of these characterised the system as a "relic of barbarism," and said he had tried to alter the hour to 8 o'clock, but the men vigorously opposed the change and the scheme had to be dropped. As matters now stand, and owing to the great irregularity of the attendance during the week, work has often to go on from 11 till 2 on Saturdays. Otherwise in this establishment overtime is systematically avoided, the manager maintaining that the normal week of 52½ hours is quite exhausting enough for the girls. When, as at seasons of unusual pressure, overtime is reluctantly resorted to, it is paid time-and-a-quarter, as in the case of men. The busy season lasts from August to March, but the girls are hardly affected, and have plenty of work round the year. In another large firm, where much railway printing is done, the conditions differ somewhat. The hours are as follows:—

6.30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturdays till 1 p.m.

There are small fines for spoilt work, but the money goes to the Workers' Benevolent Fund. These fines do not amount to more than sixpence per head per annum. Overtime is worked to the full limit. It is paid at a higher rate, but not at the same proportionally higher rate as men. Girls are never suspended in slack seasons, but are put on time wages of 13s. or 14s. a week for the best workers.

The employment of married women is regarded as exceptional, but all large firms have a small number of such—3 or 4 per cent., perhaps. The usual practice is for girls to come from school and remain on until they get married or leave for some domestic purposes. Some come back as widows or when living apart from their husbands. Some firms boast a considerable number of workers who have been employed for very long periods, ranging from 15 to 30 years and upwards. There are no signs of married women lowering the rates of pay. It is customary for those who return after a long absence to do so at the old wages. Efforts have been made from time to time to organise the women into unions, but they have invariably proved disappointing. Indirectly the women have gained by the successful efforts of the men to shorten the hours of toil. Generally speaking the attitude of the men's unions is not so much one of hostility as of indifference to women's work, except where it threatens to encroach on the men's preserves. There is no positive agreement as to the line of demarcation; it is determined tacitly by use and wont. The men profess to see a tendency among employers to extend the field of female labour. This extension of woman's sphere they deprecate as likely to lead to the lowering of men's wages. Just as men are never employed in folding in the bookbinding department of a publishing firm, so certain processes are invariably never done by women. As a rule men do the heavier and more complicated work, while women do that which is preparatory or supplementary. In jobbing-shops where odd volumes come in to be bound in various styles women are unsuitable, and men do the work right through; but in large publishing houses where orders run into thousands women specialise on particular processes. Women's work is apt to be extended where there are large quantities involved and where the work can be sub-divided. While women perform many of these sub-divisions quite as skilfully as men, they do not exhibit a like concentration of effort, and are more inclined to scamp.

Opinions differ as to the amount of homework done nowadays. The plant required is just a folder—a piece of bone. There is no doubt that to some extent folding is still done at home by the older girls who have during the day been employed in the factory. One employer admitted that on "not more than three or at most four nights in the year" do girls take work home from his shop. The cause is set down to the impatience of the public. Everybody wants his order executed immediately. Rates paid for homework are, if anything, a shade less than those paid for work done in the factory. While such work increases the total earnings this is not the main motive for undertaking it. A good deal of it is forced, and due to the urgency of the public demand. During very busy months some firms have a great deal of folding done as outwork by widows and married women not now employed in the factory during the day. But this practice is declining. Twopence per 1,000 extra is paid by one firm, i.e., 10d. as against 8d., for this outwork to compensate for lack of facilities in the home.

Despite the great number of sewing and folding machines introduced in recent years there are probably more women employed at the trade than ever. There is more work. The small shops tend to retain women's labour. Their jobs are so small in amount and varied in character that it would not pay them to introduce machinery. Further, in the large shops, folding machines have not always proved satisfactory. Doubtless, had men been engaged in folding during the last fifty years, employers would ere this have perfected a folding machine, but the cheapness of women's labour takes away some of the incentive to invention. Sometimes the introduction of a machine reduces women's work in one department and increases it in another. Take as an example the wire-stitching machine used in the production of tens of thousands of penny pocket time-tables and diaries. If the diary is not out during the first three days of the month it may as well not appear at all. There is a short selling time during which sales are keen. Without the device of the stitching machine the only way in which large quantities of such ephemeral publications could be placed quickly on the market would be by the employment of a very large staff of women. But the big and rapid output possible by means of the machine, although it reduces the work of women stitchers, brings increased work to the women folders.

(E.) Machine Ruling.

Girls who start as feeders are sometimes promoted to the supervision of simple ruling machines. Men look upon this with disfavour, as it used to be considered their work. One firm is said to have only two men now employed where there were once forty, and the two that remain are tenters, who supervise the girls and the machines. Machine ruling is paid at time rates. Wages rank as high as 17s. a week, where men formerly got 28s. For more complex machines girls would need to be specially trained, but managers think they could easily be prepared, as intelligence rather than strength is necessary. The girls themselves believe they would succeed if given a chance.

(F.) Type and Stereotype Founding.

No type founding is done in Glasgow, and no women are employed here in stereotype founding. Such work is considered unsuitable for women, and there seems no likelihood of their taking it up.

(G.) Paper Staining.

This work has always been done by women. There is no formal apprenticeship, but it takes a couple of years before the girls are thoroughly initiated. They are taken on at thirteen or fourteen at a wage of 4s. a week, paid 5s. at the end of the first year and 6s. at the end of the second. Afterwards their wages range from 12s. to 14s., with an average of about 12s. 6d. per week. There is no piecework and no fines are exacted. The working hours are 56 per week, distributed as follows:—

6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturdays, 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Work is plentiful all the year round. No dangerous machinery is used, and there is no special trade disease. The girls remain on till they get married. They are drawn from the "better sort" of working-class families, and some were reported as coming to the factory on cycles. They have no trade organisation, and there do not seem to have been any attempts on the part of the girls to supplant men in the allied processes. No machinery has yet been devised capable of doing the work of the girls.

(H.) Paper-box Making.

Girls come from school and begin by dabbling about the shop and running messages. Presently they become "spreaders," and in two or three years' time "coverers," the highest position open to them. The cutting of the paper and cardboard is done by machines, which men operate. The material thus prepared to the required sizes is passed on to the girls to be glued up into boxes. The girls use no machinery, and stand to their work at benches. At the height of summer, and despite the gluey atmosphere of the workrooms, the girls have the usual reluctance to open windows. Wages start at 3s. or 3s. 6d. Spreaders are paid from 5s. 6d., to 7s. 6d.; coverers, 10s. and 11s. Hours vary from shop to shop. Some begin at 8 and finish at 6.30 (Saturdays, 12.30), with a meal hour at 1 o'clock. Others allow an hour and a quarter for dinner, so as to enable girls to get home. The week is then arranged as follows:

7 a.m. to 9.15 a.m. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 3.15 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. Saturdays, 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

(I.) Pattern-book Making.

This trade consists in making pattern-books for travellers, and is usually found in close alliance with box-making. Girls get 4s. to start, and rise to 13s. a week. The hours in one factory visited were found to be as follows:—

8 a.m. to 1 p.m. 2 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. without a break.

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[APPENDIX IV.] WOMEN IN THE PRINTING TRADES IN BIRMINGHAM.

Fifteen firms were visited.

No women compositors were found in the chief printing businesses visited in Birmingham. The wife of the manager of one factory said that ten years ago in non-society places there had been a very few women compositors in Birmingham. They took 15s., as compared to 33s. taken by the men compositors for the same work. It is now fifteen years since the informant left the trade, and she believes that at present none exist in Birmingham. She imagines that it is the strength of the Compositors' Union which has driven them out.

Only one owner of a printing business considered that factory legislation was detrimental to the interests of women in the printing trade. He says that he keeps a number of youths where he would otherwise employ women, as in stress of trade overwork has to be done, including Sunday work, e.g., at the time of the great cycle boom. He tried to get permission for the women to work on Sunday, but could not.

Another manager considered that the Compositors' Union spoilt the chance of women workers in the printing trade. He himself, if it were not for the Union, would like to train girl compositors. No other printer expressed this opinion. All said that, on the whole, men were better in the compositors' room, as they could be set on any job, and the pressure of women would necessitate much rearrangement.