Fhe Center ruc, SEALSKIN AND SHO. Mave SYMINGTON'S Treen: Lire AS A SOCIETY BELLE, NURSE AND FACTORY GIRL, I can’t take that, sir, They »greed to give me §3, sir, and I've ¢ 1 uel it, sir, and I need the money. [t's all I've earned ia two weeks. You can tuk it or nothing I haveu't time to bother with you any iouger, and he turned away and pretended 10 wark on another pile of clothioy. Betty followed him up and said: Please, sir, don't be so harsh with me. I need the $3 1 bay coal and fd, Some one sick at your house / sup- pose. You have two little sisters and a baby brother to support, I suapose, Taat’s the kind of a story they «ways giveus, This was spoken with a saeer. I didn't say any one wassick at our house or that | had two little sisters tosupport and a baby brother. I wave no sisters and no brother. I] told you my nother died when I was a "ahy, said Buty, with spirit. Oh, then, I suppose you have acrip- pled father or something of that sort, replied the foreman, with an increased sh ser, ¥o, I didn’t say anything ab at my facher. I said they promised t1 pay m= $3 to make these dozen pantal cons, an | I've made them and earned the w ney, and [ need it You've spoiled the cloth anl are not entitled to pay. If you were worth suything we would make you pay for the pom If yon don’t take your ticket aud leave I'll call a policeman | sad have you put out of the building. If you don't give me a ticket for £3 I'll go aad see Mr. Roltheiner, That will do you lots of good, said the foreman, laaghiog ironically. He woualn't feet to you s minute, Well, I'l! ty. See here, If » o leave thel, IO | toa. Wan. to: leave the bargain with them and was to have | matter to Mr. Roltheimer, i] call him up her... the offic *. [ wan: my $3 and if you won's give me the order | want to see him. The foreman whistled down tube and Mr. Roltheimer came ap Mr. Roltheinar asked as he got out of the elevator, Vell, vat is de matter? This girl has spoiled a d zn pairs of pants and de.oands the full price for making them. JI gave Ler sn or- der for $1.50, not wanting to be hard with her, aud she refuses to take it and wants to wee you about it. I wouldn’t let ber annoy you in the of- fice. the Vell, miss, I can’t bodder mit you | irls. You vill half to take dat dol- and a hal- { ur noddiogs. Bat, Mr. Roltheimer, th: panta loons are not ¢ oiled, and I do wveed the money. I worked rca' hard on them. Vat? Dem px ts not spilt! Mine Gott in himmel, dem paots vill not pring dem dree dollars a dozen vat you vant? said Mr. Roltheimer with- out even looking at them. Betty was getting argry and her eyes snapped as she said- Mr. Rolthei mer, you owe me $3. pay tne I will sue you for it. ou. pointing at Betty, vill sue we, tapping himself on the chest, for dem dree dollars. Vell, I'll pe tarot Dat vas sheeck. Vell, sue. sheatleman, pointing to the foreman, vill shvear dem pants ver spoilt ani 1, tapping himse!f on the breast agaiu, vill shvear dem pants ver spoilt. You, pointing at Betty, vill vat you | fle, ve will peat you, and ke chuck- | ed with self-satisfaction. And, my impudent girl, that will not be the worst of it, either, for you. | : If you sue Mr. Roltheimer I will re- | port Jou to the Clothing Manufact- | urers’ Association, and then you can never in get work in sny factory in Cincinnati or any other ciiy in the United States, Betty Broadbird found herself in a tight corner. She knew that what Mr. Roltheimer and the foreman would swear tv would undoubtedly ba believed and the suit would go nst her, aud she bad no knowledge | of what the Clothing Manufactorers’ Association was or its methods, 80 she picked up her order for $1.50 and wirned Lo go down to the «flice to get the money. The foreman held 4 low, harried conversation with Me. Rol- tneimer, in which he tol 4 that gentle man that, as a matter of fact, Betty Broadbird had made ber pautaloons excellently well and suggested it woald be well to give her another lot 0 make, as the bond she had given to return the first lot was good for all she took away for a year. Mr, gave this idea an enthus. tastic J, ond the foreman foi. y to the door saying: Now that we have this matier set ted, we would like to give you a chance to do better on another lot Shall I order another dozen sent down the elevat ir for you? Beuy ether $100 yet for ‘her ten "work and she hesitated, He don’t allow the girls in | If you do not | Dis i A girl cannot live on less than £3 for ten days work sud hoard and lodge perself. I thiuk that | can get some other work that will pay better. I dou't wuow, These are hard times. There are hundreds of girls idle nud going about offering to do any kind of work for Hittle more than [ enough to eat Betty knew that this was too true, They were now at the cashier's coun- ter, and she bands] Tn her order, say- ing: LH wait, I} cantdo better | may come for thew, jut its better to be earning a little something than walking the streets hunting for work you won't find. | ouly gave you the order for $1.50 af ter you spoild the first dozen, because | I wanted to help you, and expected | you wouid take another dozen, replied | the forman, motioning the cashier to I bold the paltry sum he had counted | ont | Betty tarned to the cashier and said: | Please give me my money; [am io {a hurry to go bome. { Toe cashier looked at the foreman, | who again asked Betty: Then you don’t propose to take another dozan? | Not now, she answered. | The cashier again looked at the | foreman for ivstructions, and he said: | I suppose you will have to pay her, | but it is an outrage. | ber ten days’ bard work and burried bome. Going to her room she quick- {ly changad her clothing, washed the color from her face and hands, and by 11 o'clock was working away on the | vests in Lizzie Knowlton's room as { Miss Mary Stillson. : CHAPTER 1V. SLAVES OF COMPETITION AND COMBIN ATION, Miss otillson, on to the sewing machine some pieces of west with | of Betty Broadbird st Roltheimer's | clothing warehouse with considerable | : {er Jo-day, and I think it will greatly please him.’ | | warmth, You #3, said she, Betty made the {the money. I think it was very wrong the way they treated her, if the | pantaloons were well made; and, Liz zie you say you are sure they were! | Of course they were. I don’t be | lieve they could show as good work | | company. {in their entira stock. But Betty's | experience is pothing new, Miss Siill- son. I have been rerved the same | way several times myself on work I { have done in the factories, No mat {ter how hard we work or how many | pieces we turn out, we pever know bow much we are going to get until | { the foremen or forewomen have made | the deductions for ‘bad work’ aod for | fines. All of the factories are not alike, ‘are they, Lizzie 7 asked Miss Still | son No, some of them are better than | others ; but they are all very strict and exacting. The girls who take the work home do best; but they | must have a good machine, and the | bundles are heavy loads to carry back {and forward, for few of them can afford car-fare. Others dislike to be seen carrying the bundles in the street, Miss Stillson expressed strong dis- | approbation of the manner in which { the tailoresses were treated, «nd stated | her determination to do something for , s soon as she could | | them, as a elas, a4 8000 a4 sho | policy all combined to cause him to {exonerate Mr. Symington from the | | charge which was implied in the see her way clear to its accomplish. | ment, She kept busily at work on | the vests and coats, Lizzie relating to | her, from time to time, her struggles to get work and earn a livelihood Occasionally Miss Stillson entertained | Lizzie with the experience of a Massa- | chusetts school girl ; but she talked | always of a third person, and Lizzie | could only sarmise that possibly the heroine was her handsome and big- hearted benefactress. Together they discussed the possibility of effectiog a change of the systems in the clothing and other factories where women were employed, and the time passed pleas- | antly enough, Miss Stillson haviog got herdened to her work and Lizzie sufficiently recovered to help her con- siderably. Oceasionally old Doetor Hinston dropped in, changed or replenished Lizzie's medigioe, brought some little delicacy for the table or a book or magazine and had a Dleasapt chat with the girls, always addressing the apprentice tsiloress as Miss Stillson, for he, like Auntie Eunice Bradbury, was taken into the confidence of Miss Mamie Symington in a large degree, When the dozen vests were com- pleted Betty Broadbird called again aod tok them to Scott & Carmichael’s wholesale clothing house, from which she had received them. Her exper. jence was in many respects similar to that at Roltheimer's, only she was flued 83} per cent. by Beott & Char- michael, not because the vests wore badly made up, but becanse she had been #0 long in making them, When she delivered the coats to Yanduters i Siig she is completely discour . ras ht only refused sll pay, but ac- of using bu Bet'y Broadbird took her $1.50 for on which she | { was working, related the experiences | | large percentage of profit on : Symington, her thoughts were about equally composed of sadness and bit- terness, She thought how crael the result of her many weeks’ hard work would have been had she been a poor girl, like Lizzie Knowlton, or as her employers had every reason to believe Betty" Broadbird was, It was with the most acute sorrow she thought of the obstacles in the way of a poor, friendless girl making her way ia the world, With intense unger she re- membered the various subterfuges and misrepresentations which ber em- ployers had resorted to that thay might increase their profits on her hard and miserably paid work. She matter all that day and into the even- ing, when a ring of the door bell and the announcement of the servant that Mr. Herbert Standish was in the par- lor brought a temporary suspension. Mamie Symington, on entering the parlor, could not help looking upon Mr. Btandish as co-worker with Rolt~ heimer, Scott & Carmichael and Van. devere & Choufraine, and her greet- ing was not cordial enough to overs whelm the secretary and erstwhile manager of the Symington Clothing Company. He, however, was so well pleased with bimself that he easily overlooked and Aunt Bradbury discussed the | Miss Symiogfon's formal greeting. | sopusl statement for the preceding | year, and had forwarded a copy of it | {to President Paul { Aberdeen, Scotland, where he was en | gaged in buying wool for the Woon- | {socket mills of Massachusetts, in [ which he wns largely interested, and | which mills made the cloth for his | | Cincinnati factory, The curiosity | | which Miss Mamie had shown to learn { something of the business of the , fac- | sitting down | ped | bring a copy of this statement and | tory had prompted Mr. Standish to! those of the three preceeding years out with him, He said : Miss Symington, | mailed the an nual statement for 1885 to your fath- | I hope so, Mr. Standish I pre | sume it shows large profits?’ replied Mamie, whe saw an opportunity to! {secure information voluntarily fiom ! ! Mr. Standish which she bad intend- | ed solleiting him on the morrow. | “The largest in the history of the | We have not only traps! acted a much larger business than in| any other year, but we have made a | i 1 feel very much elated, especially as | this is the first year | have had full | control of the factory. I think your | father turned the business over to me | with some hesitation, and [ think the statement I have sent him will assure | { him and put his mind at ease. I am giad you have succeeded so | well, Mr. Standish, and I hope father will be pleased. You certainly have | worked hard. How is it that you] ave increased your percentage of profit above what father made? Was papa such a poor business man 7 This put a new meaning to the statement for 1885. Could it be possible that Mr. Symington would take the increased percentage of profits as a reflection on his own man. | agement and business methods, as his | daughter ssemed to? That was ao | idea that hal pever entered Mr Standish’s head before, and it rather | {annoyed him. Answer the question | he must and gallantry, discretion and statement. No, no, Miss Symington. Your father is an exceptionally good busi ness man. | only wish I had his ability. Circumstances were excep. tionably favorable last year and we bad the good luck to see them all and take advantage of them. Would you like to see the satoments, Miss Sym. ington? Certainly, Thanks. In what re spects were the circumstances better this year than in previous years, Mr. Standish? Ob, in many ways. [I osuldo’t enumerate them off-hand, but by go- ing through that statement and com- paring it with these I have here, of former years, you may be able to dis cover them,” and he handed Mise Symington the statements of ‘82, "83, '84, feeling that the apalysis he sug- gested was too deep for ber. He did- n't know how thoroughly she had studied the books and statements shown her by the book keeper, nor how practical her education had been, You will excuse me, Mr. Standish, if I take some paper and figurc a Jit- tle. I bave become quite a ‘crank’ in my desire to grasp and comprehend business methods and practices. Mamie went diligently at work, with the statements of four years spread out before her on & stand she had cleared for the purpose. Ocons- ionally she took the statements over to where Mr. Standish sat, and asked him to explain various items. Her sunt came into the room, and Mamie aid: , { her, | a buogling manger, {man’s said : | you | Peeping | can praise as a brave aspir | ation what I have heretofore | for any general alludon I may have | young ladies to entertain their ¢om- pany, but if Mr. Standish doesn't ob- Fo lum sure itis a much better method thao the usoal gabble one heurs in society parlors, replied Eu- nice Bradbury. You see, Mrs. Bendbury, 1've just completed lust year's statement, und | felt so good over the balance | thought I would bring a copy of it up and show it to Miss Symington, who has conceived such a passion for busi ness, Bhe drew a very wrong infer. ence from it, I am sorry to say, and do to handicap myself by sntagoniz ing Mamie nt the very ontet. He used discretion, sod said : OF course, Miss Symington, it is impossible to tell what the ladies would accomplish in business if they wee all educated to ir, ov “4 Are from boyhood. They might sucoeed beyond our hopes, but the world has employed them in other voeations, iu which they have done much more for! humanity than they ever could have in the bosiness field, and | am well Bat satisfied it has been for the best, now she is figuring to find ‘the whys | there are exceptions to every rule and and wherefores of the increased profit, | explaid Mr, Stand ish. Well, Mamie will find them before | it may be best that, under the condi. | tions in which you are placed as an only child, you should be an excep she quits figuring. She bas the grit tion. But I am more anxious to have of her Beotch and English ancestors, | and has a pretty good head on her, though she takes some novel means of employing herself, Yes, I never knew of a young lady in her position voluntarily devoting | day after uay studying tiresome fig ares iu her father’s office for amuse. | ment, I hope you do not think I do every. | thing for amusement, Mr. Standish, | I cannot conceive of anythiog less | amusing than a strain of brain to | grasp cumplicated proolems for | which you think a woman's wind was never intended, I took lessons from means of amusing myself. | beg your pardon, Miss Symington | Symington, at | I had no intention of making light of | week. | your ideas of occupation, I did oot | see in what way it could be your duty to study book-keeping, and, not con { sidering it an accomplishment, I took | people be meets and it for granted you undertook iL as an odd amusement, i I am my father's only child, Mr. | Standish, and according to the natural course of things I shall outlive him As he has no son or other near rel. tive to leave his large business to, | ida of commercial methods and sys tems. My aunt quite agrees with me he knows of my desire, i hope to surprise him on his return home by my proficiency in a business tion Herbert Standish opened his eyes very wide at the advanced ideas ex- | preised by Mamie, aud at heart re | gretted bringing to her the yearly | statements or making any reference | to them. He determined, however, to | ’ . 3 keep in favor with ber, and from jest ing at her study of book keeping, and | sneering at a woman's mental infer. | jority, be made a complete right | about-face and began complimenting | Men of thirty or over, deeply | absorbed in business, do make love io | They seem to | have the most superficial knowledge | of the mysterious workings of a wo | mind and sentiments. He | i | educa- Now that you have told me why | undertook the study of book consid- ered a girlish eccentricity. Mies | Symington, I tender you my apology | made about your sex not being sdapt- | ed to business | meant no persooal | application of my remarks. You, I the | main. But I am disturbing yon and | interfering with your figuring. 1 | shall converse with Mrs. Bradbury until you have finished your work. There is plenty of time for me to complete this comparison of yearly statements at my leisure, I did not taka your remark about the adapta bility of women to business as a per sonal water at all. My objection to it was because it egotistically declared one-half of the human race incapable of performing something they had not been allowed to try, except in isolated cases, and then under the most advan. tageous circumstances. Personally, | am not vain enough to think I should succeed where ninety-nine out of every hundred of my sex wonld fail, Somehow I have gotten the idea that it does not require the highest order of miad to succeed in business pur. suits, and that is why I think it possi- ble for me to acquire a fair koowl- edge of commercial methods. erbert Standish winced under this bold statement of Mamie of her position, and would have given much to drop a subject that was becoming decidedly unpleasant. Mamie, on the other hand, was pleased at the oppor- tonity of relieving herself of the righteous indigoation which had been accumulating ever since Mr. Standish had spoken so harshly in her presence to Lizzie Knowlion. Mrs Bradbury had never heard Mamie talk 80 radi- cally before, and, in fact, she had pever done so, for at bottom she was mild as ao autumo sunset aod loving as Cupid. The harsh experience she had Jove through as a tailoress had rapidly developed her, by revealiog Wo her the severe struggles a majority of humanity have to undergo that they may be allowed to rest their trespass. ing feet upon the soil of mother earth uotil w kind peture changes their abode to the potter's field. Herbert Standish despised and everything that was {ly in comparing the statements. soything vou figure on those statements than to discuss political economy, All right; 1 have no desire to dis- cuss nuything unplensant, sod 1'll at tend 10 my work and ler you and auntie talk about some congenial sub jeer. This was spoken with a slight tinge of irony in the tone, bat Herbert SBiandish gladly overlooked that and once turned to Mrs. Bradbury, Addressing Mrs. Bradbury, Her. bert Standish seid : I suppose you get letters regularly from Mr. Symiogton ? He writes to the office frequently and is much, Oh, yes, we get one or two letters a He # ates that he is in perf. ct health, weighing the most he ever did. Ais letters to Mamie give de scriptions of the places he the their manners and customs. They are very inter esting. He would like to have Mamie and I join him, but I dread an ocean Mamie has so idea she would rather see more of her own country before visiting distant lands, i | am glad to hear you do not ens : wong FIsile. | feel it my duty to at least get a slight | template going, and J do think Miss Symington is cotrect in see the si desiring to ghts at home bef fé going going {and I am sure father will also when | abroad. This last was said a litle looder. 80 Mamie could hear it, and so ander. standing, she said : Thavk you, Mr. Standish, I glad you approve my course. Fath er, I think, was a trifle impatient with me last summer for visiting in | the East and makiog a trip around the lakes instead of joining him in = tour of Europe, but he thinks d:ffe-. | ently now, I hope. Mr. Symingt n writes that he has not succeeded in making bis purch #2 of wool snd other materiai for his Eastern mille, as he had expected, a keep from talking shop, which en. grossed his mind at all times, even when contemplatiog the wooing of a bride. No, said Mrs. Bradbury, and'l am very sorry, as it prolongs bis stay in- | definitely, as he is now contemplating a trip to Australia or South America to see if he cannot do better by buy ing directly from the wool-growers of those countries, That is news to me. He made no mention of that in his letters to That would keep him absent all sam mer Yes, He writes that if he goes to . . ith 1 s home 1 » | {am sure, will prove an exception even | *''0¢F he will not be home for a year {if my restrictions were correct in more at least. It bas been a great disappointment to Mamie and me, Herbert Standish and Mrs. Brad bury chatted for a long time together, during which Mamie figured diligent At last she seemed to have arrived at some conclusion, and, calling Mr. Standish, said : I am not through yet, oor am 1 clear I am exactly correct; but I fig. ure that in 1884 you made 24 per cent. profit on the output, and this year it is 32 per cent. You paid a t.ifle more fosurance and taxes this year, and added something to the plant, but you figured the last in as profit. Your repairs were less and your foel bill higher. The cost of your raw material averaged within a small fraction of cone per cent. lower, making your gain come almost en tirely on wages, as your selling price fell a trifle, if anything. [I figure your labor was gotten 78 per cent. cheaper than what father paid in 1884. Am I right? Well, Miss Symington, you have been analyzing those satements with a vengeance, said Herbert Standish, with intense surprise. 1 have not yet time to go throngh them in that way, and cannot say whether you are oor rect or not, but I presume you are, Assuming I am correct, Mr. Stand- ish, uotil we discover the error, So you please tell me how it was that you got the work done so cheaply? Ob, 1 watched everything very closely. You see times are pretty bard, sud a great many men cannot get work they must send their wives and girls out to search for it, and that Gh TAT al almost ing, ng was to select those who did best . : Cy y w | { “Yi. Mr. Standish that day completed the | your book-keeper as a duty, not as a [dently enjoying his life abroad very Rm | id Mr. Standish, unable to looger | nud they saw that the girls worked steadier and turned out mors goods per machine, How dis you get yoor cloth cheap- You must have gotbon your cloth nearly 2 percent, chhesper. ert Perhaps we used a trifle inferior | grade. Infect | am quite sure we did, but gor the same figure for the ma ufactured goods we did in 1884, Then, if my figures are correct, Mr, (5S andish, your . extraordinary good shoving for 1BB5 results from two things-—paying cheaper wages and |furuishing loferior goods! Herbert Scandish did not want to admit this, but thers seemed no way tout, and after hesitaling he said : Well, according to yur figures; that would seem 10 be two of the causes, Now, the goods you manvfactore are sold priucipally to the poorer classes Clas o called—{rom clerks down to day Ia'orere—are they pot? Yes. Ihe merchants, business men, bave their clothes made by custom tailors, Theo, us « matter of fact, your in creased profits come from pinching poor girs wages wn on YDE 008 hand apd~freiog an inferior quality {of elo hes upor their bea hers fathers on the other ? That, : is | the gensus of business ? Why, Miss Svmington, sai | Standish, In sn iodigoation he | Bo lunger restain, you figure and tal like a labor agitator. [iL is 8 busi | ness man's duty to take advantage of {the law of supply and demsod in labor as much as 10 the materials be {buys for his store or his factory. Laboriug men take advantage of it tn securing the hgh st possible wages when Lhe demand jor ther services | great, | Yes; both sides take sdvantaze of that inexorable law, IRDOC wes thier jar. Nd Ey 1Y is but the fd can ir take such advaotage of it | his empl wer ? : Certainly. “q ao must take a how he not see ivan age ol {are good and iabor { Can he at such 1imes | vantage of can. He it when Limes in demand. take such ad as to entirely ahsorb his employer's profits ? Well, no simply shot is Such a own ihe empioyment, jut when times are hard the | ployer takes advantage of the super. abundance of labor to cut wages down until the laborer’s profits are {entirely eliminated and often an { actual loss of bis capital follows.” how that can be, nor | de I understand what you mean by a { laborer’s profits an | capital, I call all a laborer earns over the bare necessity of sustaining himself | and family profiis—what he may in- | vest in the purchase of 8 home, a pice {dress for his wife or daoghter, an ex- tra piece of furniture, sowe books or { the like, I understand the profit, but | about the c*pit al of a laborer ? (ten a laborer is " : vata) thing would factories aud slop ali em- | | cannot ses how forced me | © deb § must be reased. assed to the ex tent of that debt. His strength land years are also reduced, and | thus again is his capital reduced. I understand you, and under. standing you, I must change my | my answer to your main question {from no to yes. Manufacturers | frequent lose money on account of the high wages they have to pay. Do 1 understand you to say that manufacturersdeliberately continue business after they are paying are they realize that the wages they are paying are causing them io lose money, or that they deliberately start in on enterprise when they know the wages they must pay will cause a loss of all profit and and an absorption of capital? No; I wouldn't say they deliber- ately do, but such inciden's do oe- cur, Then they are no more excep- tions. But laborers, in bard times are forced by a general law to work for prices which extinguish their profits and absorb portions of their capital. They have no alternative. It is work or starve, and starvation meaos not only a los of all profits but of all capital.” Of course, Miss Symington, I know the laborer sufferers at times, but we cannot control the supply and demand of labor. True, Mr. Stand sh, but to some measure you can control the wages paid him. This year, you say, was an exceedinly bad one for working people. Yet you made it an ex- ingly owe for vour come panv by lucreasing hardships for our laborer in two ways ~cuitin his wages and deteriorating h WALeCS are int clo hing fie Qur factory alone didn't cs ablish It was made -
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