Mrs. Kelly says, concerning it,—and I can think of no more fitting close to a report on industrial conditions:—
“We have never before brought to bear the experience of the people most closely concerned. These are the employers, the workers, the consumers, not the bondholders and stockholders. The employers know, better than any other persons can possibly know, the meaning of the pay-roll in relation to their particular branch of industry. The workers know, as no one else can, what it costs to bring up a family in a particular place in a given year, and what; if anything, can be put away for the future out of a weekly wage. When, therefore, these two participants, and representatives of the consuming public, pool their knowledge and correlate the wages with the cost of living in their community, in the full light of publicity, all the available, intimate knowledge and practical experience is brought to bear upon the wage scale thus established.
“This is a new extension of democracy into a field of industrial bargaining. It gives the moral and legal support of the State to its weakest economic elements, to the women and children. By thus turning on the light, it makes real, for the first time, that which has by the economists and the courts been assumed to exist, but has not yet existed: equality of the two contracting parties. It gives effect to the will of those who have in the past been mere pawns in the hands of masters who have played the game on terms laid down by themselves alone. It gives votes to women in a field in which women most sorely need them, in the determination of their wages. It tends, for the first time, to substitute justice through self-government in industry, for charity.”
Respectfully submitted,
Frances Blascoer.
| SUMMARY OF EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OCCUPATION | Number Employed | Season | Hours Per Day | WAGES | QUALIFICATIONS: | |||
| Hour | Day | Week | Month | |||||
| Teachers Public School Private School | 163 40 | All year 10 mos. | 5½ | $50.00 to $83.33 37.50 to 125.00 | Teachers Certificate. | |||
| Nurses | 75 | All year | $25.00 to $30.00 | Hospital Diploma. | ||||
| Stenographers | 100 | All year | 7-8 | 35.00 to 150.00 | English, Stenography and Typewriting. | |||
| Saleswomen and Clerks[[11]] | 175 | All yr[[13]] | 8-14 | $2.50 to $45.00 | English, good appearance, good manners. | |||
| Seamstresses and Needle Women[[12]] | 100 | All year | 8½-9 | $1.00 to 2.50 .30 to 1.00 | ||||
| Laundry Employees | 150 | All yr[[13]] | 10-13 | $3.50 to $6.00 | ||||
| Cannery Employees | 651[[14]] 142 | 4 mos. All year | 10½ to 14 | .05 to .15 | ||||
| Coffee Sorting and Packing | 70 | 8 mos. | 9 | $3.00 to $7.00 | ||||
[11]. Clerks in the Chinese and Japanese small shops.
[12]. Home employment.
[13]. Largest number employed in winter season.
[14]. Maximum number.