The women folders'
wage on lighter work was $7.50. As will be seen, this request was met by
Scientific Management. The wage was increased far beyond ten per cent.
The output was increased, both by improved mechanical methods, and by a
standard of more expert work, to from 447 to 887 pieces a day. The
engineers of Scientific Management had not on either one side or the
other any part whatever in the strike. But undoubtedly one of its
contributing causes was a distrust aroused by the rumor that a new system
of work was to be inaugurated.
The Cloth Finishing establishment bleaches, starches, and calenders
dimities, muslins, percales, and shirtings, and folds and wraps them for
shipping. The factory has good light and good air and an excellent
situation in open, lightly rolling country. About two hundred young
women, Americans, Scotch, English, and French-Canadians are now employed
here on the bonus and task system, most of them whom I saw living with
their families in very attractive houses in pleasant villages near. One
or two were on the gloomy, muddy little streets of a French-Canadian mill
town. These girls, too, were in well-built houses and not living in
crowded conditions. But all their surroundings were dingy and
disagreeable.
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