Another unfortunate result of the speed at the
sewing-machines is that the girls are more apt than before to run the
needles through their fingers.
The folding in this department is also exhausting, and the management is
trying to find a better system of conducting this process than that now
employed. The folders here stoop and pick up the sheets and fold them
lengthwise and crosswise. The task is 1200 a day; and the wage with the
bonus comes to between $6 and $7 a week. But after the bonus is earned,
payment is, for some reason, not suitably provided on work beyond the
task. One worker said she used to fold one or two pieces above the amount
without any objection, but lately she had folded as many as 200 beyond,
without payment.
From the folders the sheets are carried away to a mangle, where they are
folded over again by young girls. The work is light, but the payment of
$5.80 to $6 for 770 pieces an hour is low. The mangle is well guarded. By
an excellent arrangement here, the material is piled on a small elevator,
so that the girl at the mangle does not have to stoop or lift, but
easily adjusts the elevator, so that she can feed the mangle from the
pile at her convenience. The girl at a mangle can earn from $7 to $8 and
is not tired in any way by her work.
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