But in another part of the factory the girls at the tentering machines
had wished to lump their rest intervals and to take them altogether in
fifty-minute periods in the middle of the morning and of the afternoon.
Here the "spare hands" intervals at the machines fell awkwardly, and they
were obliged to work for an unduly long time. The girls became exhausted
with the monotony in these longer stretches of work; and further wearied
themselves by embroidering and sewing on fancy work in the long rest
periods. Here the girls were much less contented than in the other
departments.[50]
After the cloth is dry and passed through calendering machines where men
are employed, it is run into yard lengths by a yarding machine or
"hooker." At the yarding machines the girls stand under the frame holding
the wooden arms that measure off the cloth back and forth. The workers
here used to earn $7.50 a week. They watch the machine, mark defects in
some kinds of cloth, by inserting slips of paper, stop the machine when
the material runs out, and lift the pile of measured cloth to a table
where it is taken up by the cutters and folders and inspectors.
After the bonus system was introduced at the machines where the heavier
material is measured, the yarding machines were all elevated to small
platforms, so that the pile when finished would be on a level with an
adjacent table, and the worker need not lift and carry the heavy weight
of cloth to the table, but could slide the work.
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