PREFACE.
The chapters making up the present volume were prepared originally as a series of papers for the Sunday edition of “The New York Tribune,” and were based upon minutest personal research into the conditions described. Sketchy as the record may seem at points, it is a photograph from life; and the various characters, whether employers or employed, were all registered in case corroboration were needed. While research was limited to New York, the facts given are much the same for any large city, and thus have a value beyond their immediate application. No attempt at an understanding of the labor question as it faces us to-day can be successful till knowledge of its underlying conditions is assured.
It is such knowledge that the writer has aimed to present; and it takes more permanent form, not only for the many readers whose steady interest has been an added demand for faithful work, but, it is hoped, for a circle yet unreached, who, whether agreeing or disagreeing with the conclusions, still know that to learn the struggle and sorrow of the workers is the first step toward any genuine help.
Orange, New Jersey, March, 1887.
CONTENTS.
| Page | |
| [CHAPTER FIRST.] | |
| Worker and Trade | [7] |
| [CHAPTER SECOND.] | |
| The Case of Rose Haggerty | [18] |
| [CHAPTER THIRD.] | |
| Some Methods of a Prosperous Firm | [30] |
| [CHAPTER FOURTH.] | |
| The Bargain Counter | [43] |
| [CHAPTER FIFTH.] | |
| A Fashionable Dressmaker | [55] |
| [CHAPTER SIXTH.] | |
| More Methods of Prosperous Firms | [66] |
| [CHAPTER SEVENTH.] | |
| Negative or Positive Gospel | [76] |
| [CHAPTER EIGHTH.] | |
| The True Story of Lotte Bauer | [88] |
| [CHAPTER NINTH.] | |
| The Evolution of a Jacket | [100] |
| [CHAPTER TENTH.] | |
| Between the Rivers | [113] |
| [CHAPTER ELEVENTH.] | |
| Under the Bridge and Beyond | [126] |
| [CHAPTER TWELFTH.] | |
| One of the Fur-Sewers | [139] |
| [CHAPTER THIRTEENTH.] | |
| Some Difficulties of an Employer Who Experimented | [150] |
| [CHAPTER FOURTEENTH.] | |
| The Widow Maloney’s Boarders | [160] |
| [CHAPTER FIFTEENTH.] | |
| Among the Shop-Girls | [173] |
| [CHAPTER SIXTEENTH.] | |
| Two Hospital Beds | [186] |
| [CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH.] | |
| Child-Workers in New York | [199] |
| [CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH.] | |
| Steady Trades and their Outlook | [210] |
| [CHAPTER NINETEENTH.] | |
| Domestic Service and its Problems | [221] |
| [CHAPTER TWENTIETH.] | |
| More Problems of Domestic Service | [233] |
| [CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST.] | |
| End and Beginning | [244] |