The change or "doff" occupied
about 20 minutes. It generally occurred five times in the day of the
better worker and thus consumed an hour and forty minutes of her working
time. The hours in the cotton mill are ten and a half a day with five and
a half on Saturday,--58 hours a week.
In order to ascertain the proper task for the speeders, a time-study was
made of the work of one of the abler workers, who may be called Mrs.
MacDermott, a strong and skilful Scotch woman, who had been employed at
speeding in the mill for 14 years. Mrs. MacDermott was employed to teach
the other speeders how to accomplish the same amount in the same time.
The girls now thread the back of the machines with her help. Mrs.
MacDermott, the speeder tender herself, and the doff boys, all working
together, remove the bobbins and fill the frame, thus accomplishing the
change in 7 minutes instead of 20 minutes. The girls are paid, while
learning better methods from Mrs. MacDermott, at their old rate of a
dollar a day. If they accomplish the task allotted, they receive a dollar
a week more flat-rate, a bonus equivalent to a few cents a pound on each
pound received by the management; and this brings the wage to $1.65 a
day, or between $8 and $10 a week.
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