Old-Time Profit Makers.
The proprietor of that mill was accustomed to make a contract with his help on the first day of April for the coming year. That contract was supposed to be sacred, and it was looked upon as a disgrace to ignore the contracts thus made. On one of these anniversaries a mother with several children suggested to the proprietor that the pay seemed small.
The proprietor replied: "You get enough to eat, don't you?"
The mother said: "Just enough to keep the wolf from the door."
He then remarked, "You get enough clothes to wear, don't you?" to which she answered, "Barely enough to cover our nakedness."
"Well," said the proprietor, "we want the rest." And that proprietor, on the whole, was as kind and considerate to his help as was any other manufacturer at that time.
The opportunities for an education among the factory help were exceedingly limited, as you can well see, both from the standpoint of time and from the standpoint of money.
But, gentlemen, we are living in better days. We work less hours, get better pay, live in better homes, and have better opportunities to obtain an education.
In place of eighty-four hours we now work fifty-eight hours per week, a difference of twenty-six hours, and as an employer of help I am glad of it. We are not allowed to employ children at the tender age that was in vogue seventy-one years ago; as an employer of help, I am glad of that.
We get better pay for our services. There is at least an advance of two hundred per cent, and in many cases more than that.