[134] Executive civil service of the United States. Washington, 1908.

[135] C. Milhand—L’ouvrière en France. Paris, 1907.

[136] E. Levasseur—Questions ouvrières et industrielles en France sous la troisième république. Paris, 1907.

[137] C. Milhand—L’ouvrière en France. Paris, 1907.

[138] E. Levasseur—Questions ouvrières et industrielles en France sous la troisième république. Paris, 1907.

[2.—Factory Work of Married Women.—Sweatshop Labor and Dangerous Occupations.]

Married women form a large percentage of working women and their number is steadily increasing, which means a serious problem in regard to the family life of the working class. In 1899, German factory inspectors were instructed to investigate the work of married women and to inquire into the causes which lead them to seek employment.[139] This investigation showed that 229,334 married women were employed in factories. Besides 1,063 married women were employed in mining above the ground, as was shown by the report of the Prussian mining authorities. In Baden the number of married working women increased from 10,878 in 1894 to 15,046 in 1899, which is 31.27 per cent. of all adult female workers. The following table shows the distribution of married women factory laborers among the various trades:

Textile industry111,194
Articles of food and luxury39,080
Stone and pottery industry19,475
Clothing and cleaning trades13,156
Paper industry11,049
Metal works10,739
Wood and carving industry5,635
Polygraphic trades4,770
Manufacture of machinery4,493
Chemical industry4,380
Various5,363
Total229,334

Besides the textile industry, the manufacture of articles of food and luxury, especially the manufacture of tobacco, gives many married women employment. Then comes the paper industry, especially employment in work shops for the assorting of rags, and employment in brick yards. “Married women are mainly employed in difficult occupations (quarries, brick yards, dyeing establishments, manufacture of chemicals, sugar refineries, etc.), implying hard and dirty work, while young working girls under twenty-one find employment in porcelain factories, spinning and weaving mills, paper mills, cigar factories, and in the clothing trade. The worst kinds of work, shunned by others, are taken up by the elder working women, especially the married ones.”[140]